scholarly journals Application of wearable EEG sensors for indoor thermal comfort measurements

ACTA IMEKO ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 214
Author(s):  
Silvia Angela Mansi ◽  
Ilaria Pigliautile ◽  
Camillo Porcaro ◽  
Anna Laura Pisello ◽  
Marco Arnesano
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Comfort ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Wearable Sensors ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Thermal Conditions ◽  
Ambient Temperatures ◽  
Human Thermal Comfort ◽  
Power Spectral ◽  
Wearable Eeg

Multidomain comfort theories have been demonstrated to interpret human thermal comfort in buildings by employing human-centered physiological measurements coupled with environmental sensing techniques. Thermal comfort has been correlated with brain activity through electroencephalographic (EEG) measurements. However, the application of low-cost wearable EEG sensors for measuring thermal comfort has not been thoroughly investigated. Wearable EEG devices provide several advantages in terms of reduced intrusiveness and application in real-life contexts. However, they are prone to measurement uncertainties. This study presents results from the application of an EEG wearable device to investigate changes in the EEG frequency domain at different indoor temperatures. Twenty-three participants were enrolled, and the EEG signals were recorded at three ambient temperatures: cold (16 °C), neutral (24 °C), and warm (31 °C). Then, the analysis of brain Power Spectral Densities (PSDs) was performed, to investigate features correlated with thermal sensations. Statistically significant differences of several EEG features, measured on both frontal and temporal electrodes, were found between the three thermal conditions. Results bring to the conclusion that wearable sensors could be used for EEG acquisition applied to thermal comfort measurement, but only after a dedicated signal processing to remove the uncertainty due to artifacts.

scholarly journals The potential for domestic thermal insulation retrofits on the South African Highveld

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Newton R Matandirotya ◽  
Dirk P Cilliers ◽  
Roelof P Burger ◽  
Brigitte Language ◽  
Christian Pauw ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Comfort ◽  
South African ◽  
Thermal Insulation ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Prolonged Exposure ◽  
Winter Season ◽  
Thermal Conditions ◽  
The South ◽  
Ambient Temperatures ◽  
Human Thermal Comfort

The South African Highveld is a portion on the inland plateau characterized by low winter ambient temperatures. Studies done in several climatic regions around the world have found a positive relationship between inadequate housing and low indoor temperatures during the winter season. Prolonged exposure to low indoor temperature is a threat to human physical health. This study characterizes indoor human thermal comfort conditions in typical low-income residential dwellings during the winter season. Mapping indoor human thermal comfort can assist in exploring the potential for domestic thermal insulation retrofits interventions. In-situ temperature measurements were done in 2014, 2016 and 2017 across three Highveld settlements of kwaZamokuhle, kwaDela, and Jouberton. The sample included a mixture of old (pre-1994), post 1994 Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) as well as non-RDP structures. Findings were that 88% of sampled dwellings in Jouberton 2016, 86% in Jouberton 2017, 62% in kwaDela and 58% in kwaZamokuhle had daily mean temperatures below the WHO guideline of 18°C. These low indoor temperatures indicate poor insulation in these sampled dwellings. Across all settlements, insulated dwellings had higher daily mean indoor temperatures than non-insulated dwellings. These findings indicate the potential to use thermal insulation retrofits in improving indoor thermal conditions as the majority of dwellings are non-insulated thereby exposing occupants to low indoor temperatures.

Transient Human Thermal Comfort Response in Convective and Radiative Environments

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohamad Al-Othmani ◽  
Nesreen Ghaddar ◽  
Kamel Ghali
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Comfort ◽  
Thermal Conditions ◽  
Activity Level ◽  
Convective Heating ◽  
Convective System ◽  
Clothing Insulation ◽  
Indoor Space ◽  
Human Thermal Comfort ◽  
Walking Activity ◽  
Local Thermal Comfort

In this work, human transient thermal responses and comfort are studied in non-uniform radiant heating and convective heating environments. The focus was on a change from walking activity of human in outdoor cold environment at high clothing insulation to warm indoor environment at sedentary activity level associated with lower clothing insulation. A transient multi-segmented bioheat model sensitive to radiant asymmetry is used to compare how fast the human body approaches steady state thermal conditions in both radiative and convective warm environments. A space thermal model is integrated with the bioheat model to predict the transient changes in skin and core temperature of a person subject to change in metabolic rate and clothing insulation when entering conditioned indoor space. It was found that overall thermal comfort and neutrality were reached in 6.2 minutes in the radiative environment compared to 9.24 minutes in convective environment. The local thermal comfort of various body segments differed in their response to the convective system where it took more than 19 minutes for extremities to reach local comfort unlike the radiative system where thermal comfort was attained within 7 minutes.

scholarly journals Investigating the Behaviour of Human Thermal Indices under Divergent Atmospheric Conditions: A Sensitivity Analysis Approach

Atmosphere ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 580 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ioannis Charalampopoulos ◽  
Andre Santos Nouri
Keyword(s):  
Energy Balance ◽  
Thermal Comfort ◽  
Thermal Conditions ◽  
Radiation Condition ◽  
Additive Models ◽  
Balance Model ◽  
Climate Index ◽  
Atmospheric Conditions ◽  
Thermal Indices ◽  
Human Thermal Comfort

This paper aims to analyse and conclude about the behaviour of the most commonly used human thermal comfort indices under a variety of atmospheric conditions in order to provide further information about their appropriateness. Utilising Generalized Additive Models (GAMs), this article examines the indices’ sensitivity when exposed to diverse classified atmospheric conditions. Concentrated upon analysing commonly used human thermal indices, two Statistical/Algebraic indices (Thermohygrometric Index (THI) and HUMIDEX (HUM)), and four Energy Balance Model indices (Physiologically Equivalent Temperature (PET), modified PET (mPET), Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI), and Perceived Temperature (PT)) were selected. The results of the study are twofold, the identification of (1) index sensitivity to parameters’ variation, and change rates, resultant of different atmospheric conditions; and, (2) the overall pertinence of each of the indices for local thermal comfort evaluation. The results indicate that the thermohygrometric indices cannot follow and present the thermal conditions’ variations. On the other hand, UTCI is very sensitive under low radiation condition, and PET/mPET present higher sensitivity when the weather is dominated by high radiation and air temperature. PT index provides the lower sensitive among the human energy balance indices, but this is adequately sensitive to describe the thermal comfort environment.

Exploring the Connected Brain by fNIRS: Human-to-Human Interactions Engineering

2019 ◽  
Vol 893 ◽  
pp. 13-19
Author(s):  
Laura Angioletti ◽  
Maria Elide Vanutelli ◽  
Giulia Fronda ◽  
Michela Balconi
Keyword(s):  
Near Infrared ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Ecological Studies ◽  
Simple Analysis ◽  
Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy ◽  
Human Interactions ◽  
Interpersonal Synchrony

Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) is a relatively new neuroimagingtechnique adequate and useful for exploring neural activity in social contexts involving humaninteractions. Compared to functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI), fNIRS is easy-to-usesafe, noninvasive, silent, relatively low cost and portable, and applicable to subjects of all ages, thusresulting in a good option for ecological studies involving humans in their real-life context.Moreover, by using hyperscanning technique, fNIRS allows recording the hemodynamic cerebralactivity of two interacting subjects in an ecological context or during a shared performance. Thus,moving from a simple analysis about each subject’s neural response during joint actions towardsmore complex computations makes possible to investigate brain synchrony, that is the if and howone’s brain activity is related to that of another interacting partner simultaneously recorded. Here,we discuss how connectivity analyses, with respect to both time and frequency domain procedures,permitted to deepen some aspects of inter-brain synchrony in relation to emotional closeness, and tohighlight how concurrent, cooperative actions can lead to interpersonal synchrony and bondconstruction.

Analysis of the Influence of Age on Human Thermal Comfort

ICCREM 2020 ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Boshuai Dong ◽  
Chunjing Shang ◽  
Ming Tong ◽  
Jianhong Cai
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Comfort ◽  
Human Thermal Comfort

OVERVIEW OF URBAN HEAT ISLAND (UHI) PHENOMENON TOWARDS HUMAN THERMAL COMFORT

2017 ◽  
Vol 16 (9) ◽  
pp. 2097-2111 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohanadoss Ponraj ◽  
Yee Yong Lee ◽  
Mohd Fadhil Md Din ◽  
Zainura Zainon Noor ◽  
Kenzo Iwao ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Comfort ◽  
Urban Heat Island ◽  
Heat Island ◽  
Human Thermal Comfort ◽  
Urban Heat

PyDOSS: An open-source Python-based communicable disease outbreak surveillance system designed and used in a COVID-19 community care facility (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Fang ◽  
Jonathan Kia-Sheng Phua ◽  
Terrence Chiew ◽  
Daniel De-Liang Loh ◽  
Lincoln Ming Han Liow ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Open Source ◽  
Surveillance System ◽  
Community Care ◽  
Communicable Disease ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Disease Outbreak ◽  
Disease Spread ◽  
Healthcare Team ◽  
Increased Risk

BACKGROUND During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak, community care facilities (CCF) were set up as temporary out-of-hospital isolation facilities to contain the surge of cases in Singapore. Confined living spaces within CCFs posed an increased risk of communicable disease spread among residents. OBJECTIVE This inspired our healthcare team managing a CCF operation to design a low-cost communicable disease outbreak surveillance system (CDOSS). METHODS Our CDOSS was designed with the following considerations: (1) comprehensiveness, (2) efficiency through passive reconnoitering from electronic medical record (EMR) data, (3) ability to provide spatiotemporal insights, (4) low-cost and (5) ease of use. We used Python to develop a lightweight application – Python-based Communicable Disease Outbreak Surveillance System (PyDOSS) – that was able perform syndromic surveillance and fever monitoring. With minimal user actions, its data pipeline would generate daily control charts and geospatial heat maps of cases from raw EMR data and logged vital signs. PyDOSS was successfully implemented as part of our CCF workflow. We also simulated a gastroenteritis (GE) outbreak to test the effectiveness of the system. RESULTS PyDOSS was used throughout the entire duration of operation; the output was reviewed daily by senior management. No disease outbreaks were identified during our medical operation. In the simulated GE outbreak, PyDOSS was able to effectively detect an outbreak within 24 hours and provided information about cluster progression which could aid in contact tracing. The code for a stock version of PyDOSS has been made publicly available. CONCLUSIONS PyDOSS is an effective surveillance system which was successfully implemented in a real-life medical operation. With the system developed using open-source technology and the code made freely available, it significantly reduces the cost of developing and operating CDOSS and may be useful for similar temporary medical operations, or in resource-limited settings.

scholarly journals Evaporative Cooling Options for Building Air-Conditioning: A Comprehensive Study for Climatic Conditions of Multan (Pakistan)

Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (12) ◽  
pp. 3061 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shazia Noor ◽  
Hadeed Ashraf ◽  
Muhammad Sultan ◽  
Zahid Mahmood Khan
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Comfort ◽  
Co2 Emissions ◽  
Air Conditioning ◽  
Evaporative Cooling ◽  
Cooling Capacity ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Maximum Temperature ◽  
Human Thermal Comfort ◽  
Work Input ◽  
System Configurations

This study provides comprehensive details of evaporative cooling options for building air-conditioning (AC) in Multan (Pakistan). Standalone evaporative cooling and standalone vapor compression AC (VCAC) systems are commonly used in Pakistan. Therefore, seven AC system configurations comprising of direct evaporative cooling (DEC), indirect evaporative cooling (IEC), VCAC, and their possible combinations, are explored for the climatic conditions of Multan. The study aims to explore the optimum AC system configuration for the building AC from the viewpoints of cooling capacity, system performance, energy consumption, and CO2 emissions. A simulation model was designed in DesignBuilder and simulated using EnergyPlus in order to optimize the applicability of the proposed systems. The standalone VCAC and hybrid IEC-VCAC & IEC-DEC-VCAC system configurations could achieve the desired human thermal comfort. The standalone DEC resulted in a maximum COP of 4.5, whereas, it was 2.1 in case of the hybrid IEC-DEC-VCAC system. The hybrid IEC-DEC-VCAC system achieved maximum temperature gradient (21 °C) and relatively less CO2 emissions as compared to standalone VCAC. In addition, it provided maximum cooling capacity (184 kW for work input of 100 kW), which is 85% higher than the standalone DEC system. Furthermore, it achieved neutral to slightly cool human thermal comfort i.e., 0 to −1 predicted mean vote and 30% of predicted percentage dissatisfied. Thus, the study concludes the hybrid IEC-DEC-VCAC as an optimum configuration for building AC in Multan.

Azo (Hydrazone) pigments: general principles

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Christie
Keyword(s):  
High Performance ◽  
Metal Salt ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Precipitation Process ◽  
Ambient Temperatures ◽  
Technical Performance ◽  
Chemical Structures ◽  
General Chemical ◽  
Physical Form

Abstract This paper presents an overview of the general chemical principles underlying the structures, synthesis and technical performance of azo pigments, the dominant chemical class of industrial organic pigments in the yellow, orange, and red shade areas, both numerically and in terms of tonnage manufactured. A description of the most significant historical features in this group of pigments is provided, starting from the discovery of the chemistry on which azo colorants are based by Griess in the mid-nineteenth century, through the commercial introduction of the most important classical azo pigments in the early twentieth century, including products known as the Hansa Yellows, β-naphthol reds, including metal salt pigments, and the diarylide yellows and oranges, to the development in the 1950s and 1960s of two classes of azo pigments that exhibit high performance, disazo condensation pigments and benzimidazolone-based azo pigments. A feature that complicates the description of the chemical structures of azo pigments is that they exist in the solid state as the ketohydrazone rather than the hydroxyazo form, in which they have been traditionally been illustrated. Numerous structural studies conducted over the years on an extensive range of azo pigments have demonstrated this feature. In this text, they are referred to throughout as azo (hydrazone) pigments. Since a common synthetic procedure is used in the manufacture of virtually all azo (hydrazone) pigments, this is discussed in some detail, including practical aspects. The procedure brings together two organic components as the fundamental starting materials, a diazo component and a coupling component. An important reason for the dominance of azo (hydrazone) pigments is that they are highly cost-effective. The syntheses generally involve low cost, commodity organic starting materials and are carried out in water as the reaction solvent, which offers obvious economic and environmental advantages. The versatility of the approach means that an immense number of products may be prepared, so that they have been adapted structurally to meet the requirements of many applications. On an industrial scale, the processes are straightforward, making use of simple, multi-purpose chemical plant. Azo pigments may be produced in virtually quantitative yields and the processes are carried out at or below ambient temperatures, thus presenting low energy requirements. Finally, provided that careful control of the reaction conditions is maintained, azo pigments may be prepared directly by an aqueous precipitation process that can optimise physical form, with control of particle size distribution, crystalline structure, and surface character. The applications of azo pigments are outlined, with more detail reserved for subsequent papers on individual products.

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