Hygroinduced motion is a fundamental process of energy conversion that is essential for applications that require contactless actuation in response to the day-night rhythm of atmospheric humidity. Here we demonstrate that mechanical bistability caused by rapid and anisotropic adsorption and desorption of water vapour by a flexible dynamic element that harnesses the chemical potential across ver...

STUDY OBJECTIVES To evaluate the effects of humidification on nasal symptoms and compliance in sleep apnea patients using continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP). DESIGN A randomized, crossover design was employed. SETTING The study was conducted at two suburban community-based hospital sleep laboratories. PATIENTS Data were collected on 38 obstructive sleep apnea patients (mean age, 4...

introduction water vapor is an essential climate element. through latent heat exchanges, the water vapor is considered as the principal way of energy transport through the global atmosphere and it is also a dominant greenhouse gas (held and soden, 2000). over the oceans, warmer surface temperatures may lead to increased evaporation and, therefore, greater specific humidity, but an approximately...

Humidity induced change in the refractive index and thickness of the polyethylene glycol (PEG) coatings are in situ investigated for a range from 10 to 95%, using an optical waveguide spectroscopic technique. It is experimentally demonstrated that, upon humidity change, the optical and swelling characteristics of the PEG coatings can be employed to build a plastic fibre optic humidity sensor. T...

Factors were analyzed that limit the range of environmental conditions in which stress from heat may be relieved by evaporative cooling in shaded animals. Evaporative cooling reduces air temperature (Ta), but increases humidity. Equations were developed to predict Ta reduction as a function of ambient temperature and humidity and of humidity in cooled air. Predictions indicated that a reduction...

In this article, we report on a room-temperature humidity sensing device using graphene oxide (GO) thin films synthesized by chemical exfoliation. Changes in the device conductivity are measured for varying relative humidity in the experimental chamber. Experiments are carried out for relative humidity varying from 30% to 95%. We observe a difference in the results obtained for low relative hum...

Understanding the mechanism of humidity transduction calls for experimental data and a theory to interpret the data and design new experiments. A comprehensive theory of humidity transduction must start with agreement on what humidity parameters are measured by hygroreceptors and processed by the brain. Hygroreceptors have been found in cuticular sensilla of a broad range of insect species. The...

OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS Vocal fold surface fluid (VFSF) is important in hydration and defense of underlying epithelial cells. The objective of this study was to quantify changes in the ionic composition of VFSF after altering the humidity of inhaled air. We tested the hypothesis that low humidity exposure would increase the concentration of VFSF sodium (Na(+)) and chloride (Cl(-)) ions but that h...