Local body cooling to improve sleep quality and thermal comfort in a hot environment

The effects of local body cooling on thermal comfort and sleep quality in a hot environment were investigated in an experiment with 16 male subjects. Sleep quality was evaluated subjectively, using questionnaires completed in the morning, and objectively, by analysis of electroencephalogram (EEG) signals that were continuously monitored during the sleeping period. Compared with no cooling, the largest improvement in thermal comfort and sleep quality was observed when the back and head (neck) were both cooled at a room temperature of 32°C. Back cooling alone also improved thermal comfort and sleep quality, although the effects were less than when cooling both back and head (neck). Mean sleep efficiency was improved from 84.6% in the no cooling condition to 95.3% and 92.8%, respectively, in these conditions, indicating good sleep quality. Head (neck) cooling alone slightly improved thermal comfort and subjective sleep quality and increased Stage N3 sleep, but did not otherwise improve sleep quality. The results show that local cooling applied to large body sections (back and head) could effectively maintain good sleep and improve thermal comfort in a hot environment.     

Airborne bacterial assemblage in a zero carbon building: A case study

Currently, there is little information pertaining to the airborne bacterial communities of green buildings. In this case study, the air bacterial community of a zero carbon building (ZCB) in Hong Kong was characterized by targeting the bacterial 16S rRNA gene. Bacteria associated with the outdoor environment dominated the indoor airborne bacterial assemblage, with a modest contribution from bacteria associated with human skin. Differences in overall community diversity, membership, and composition associated with short (day‐to‐day) and long‐term temporal properties were detected, which may have been driven by specific environmental genera and taxa. Furthermore, time‐decay relationships in community membership (based on unweighted UniFrac distances) and composition (based on weighted UniFrac distances) differed depending on the season and sampling location. A Bayesian source‐tracking approach further supported the importance of adjacent outdoor air bacterial assemblage in sourcing the ZCB indoor bioaerosol. Despite the unique building attributes, the ZCB microbial assemblage detected and its temporal characteristics were not dissimilar to that of conventional built environments investigated previously. Future controlled experiments and microbial assemblage investigations of other ZCBs will undoubtedly uncover additional knowledge related to how airborne bacteria in green buildings may be influenced by their distinctive architectural attributes.     

Potential pitfalls of smart city development: A study on parking mobile applications (apps) in Hong Kong

Smart cities are built upon information and communication technologies (ICTs) to enable a broad range of advanced services. Through a comprehensive literature review, this study identified four pitfalls brought by the pervasive application of ICT, including information insecurity, privacy leakage, information islands, and digital divide. Therefore, a questionnaire survey together with 27 interviews was conducted in Hong Kong to investigate how the public perceived these pitfalls within the context of mobile apps providing real-time parking information which form a major part of smart mobility. System insecurity and privacy leakage were found to arouse worries among the app-users while their awareness of protecting personal data was found to have room for improvement. Islands of real-time parking information occur as a result of the lack of collaboration among private carpark operators. Digital divide existed widely among the disadvantaged groups and the problem cannot be solved by mere provision of ICT facilities. Overall, technologies alone cannot make a city smart or smarter. It is the suitable way in which ICTs are used to serve all citizens that matters.     

Fractional Gravitational Grey Wolf Optimization to Multi-Path Data Transmission in IoT

Wireless Personal Communications - The advancements of technology in the field of communication made WSN based IoT attractive and applicable to various areas. It is comprised IoT nodes that work on...     

Electrically Active States of Charge Capture and Transfer Causing Slow Recombination in Thallium-Bromide Crystals at Low Temperatures

TlBr single crystals grown by the Bridgman–Stockbarger method are studied. It is established that frozen-conductivity effects manifest themselves under interband excitation by light at temperatures below 200 K. Herewith, clearly pronounced superlinear dependences of the induced photoconductivity on the strength of the applied electric field manifest themselves. The results of studying thermally stimulated conductivity evidence that these phenomena can be associated with the filling of trap states with thermal activation energies of 0.08–0.12 eV. This state can be removed due to thermal quenching at temperatures of ?180 K because of the emptying of energy states with an activation energy of 0.63–0.65 eV filled after optical generation.     

Damage Threshold of Ni Thin Film by Terahertz Pulses

Damage in a thin nickel film irradiated by subpicosecond pulses of terahertz (THz) radiation in the range of 1–3 THz at electric-field strengths up to 20 MV/cm at the center of a focal spot is observed. The damage threshold fluence is evaluated for single-pulse experiments. The damage pattern induced by multiple THz pulses has the appearance of a complex periodic structure in the form of elongated channels of metal film discontinuity that are perpendicular to the in-plane electric field direction of THz radiation.     

The effect of TiO2 nanotube morphological engineering and ZnS quantum dots on the water splitting reaction: A theoretical and experimental study

Ordered arrays of TiO₂ nanotubes with smooth and rippled morphologies were prepared by one-step titanium oxidation in NH₄F and ethylene glycol solution. The samples were then decorated with ZnS using a microwave-assisted solvothermal method. The experiments under constant or pulsed applied voltage resulted in smooth and rippled TiO₂material morphologies, respectively. Field emission scanning electron microscopy, incident photon-to-current efficiency, linear sweep voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy were used to investigate the structure and morphology of the TiO₂ nanotubes, along with their photoelectrochemical activity in the water splitting reaction. An envelope function was proposed to correlate the anisotropic morphologies and broad distribution of mobility due to the random nature of charge carrier transport. The smooth and rippled morphologies were evaluated using the transmission line model. First-principles quantum mechanical calculations based on the density functional theory at the B3LYP level are conducted to obtain a better understanding of optical properties of TiO₂.     

Evaluation of the minimum face clearance of a high-speed gas-lubricated bearing with Navier slip boundary conditions under random excitations

Motivated by ongoing developments in aero-engine technology, a model for a coupled gas-lubricated bearing is developed in terms of an extended dynamical system. A slip boundary condition, characterised by a slip length, is incorporated on the bearing faces which can be relevant for operation in non-ideal extreme conditions, notably where external vibrations or disturbances could destabilise the bearing. A modified Reynolds equation is formulated to model the gas flow, retaining the effects of centrifugal inertia which is increasingly important for high-speed operation, and is coupled to the structural equations; spring-mass-damper systems model the axial stator and rotor displacements. A novel model is developed corresponding to a bearing experiencing an external random force to evaluate the resulting induced displacements of the bearing components. The minimum face clearance is obtained from a mapping solver for the modified Reynolds equation and structural equations simultaneously. In the case of random excitations, the solver is combined with a Monte Carlo technique. Evaluation of the average value of the minimum gap and the probability of the gap reaching a prescribed tolerance are provided. Extensive insight is given on the effect of key bearing parameters on the corresponding bearing dynamics.