For the very short-period sdB eclipsing binary HW Vir, we present new CCD photometry made from 2000 through 2008. In order to obtain consistency of the binary parameters, our new light curves, showing sharp eclipses and a striking reflection effect, were analyzed simultaneously with previously published radial-velocity data. The secondary star parameters of M 2 =0.14 M ⊙ , R 2 =0.18 R ⊙ , and T 2 =3,084 K are consistent with those of an M6-7 main sequence star. A credibility issue regarding bolometric corrections is emphasized. More than 250 times of minimum light, including our 41 timings and spanning more than 24 yrs, were used for a period study. From a detailed analysis of the O-C diagram, it emerged that the orbital period of HW Vir has varied as a combination of a downward-opening parabola and two sinusoidal variations, with cycle lengths of P 3 =15.8 yr and P 4 =9.1 yr and semi-amplitudes of K 3 =77 s and K 4 =23 s, respectively. The continuous period decrease with a rate of −8.28×10 −9 d yr −1 may be produced by angular momentum loss due to magnetic stellar wind braking but not by gravitational radiation. Of the possible causes of the cyclical components of the period change, apsidal motion and magnetic period modulation can be ruled out. The most reasonable explanation of both cyclical variations is a pair of light-travel-time effects driven by the presence of two substellar companions with projected masses of M 3 sin i 3 =19.2 M Jup and M 4 sin i 4 =8.5 M Jup . The two objects are the first circumbinary planets known to have been formed in a protoplanetary disk as well the first ones discovered by using the eclipse-timing method. The detection implies that planets could be common around binary stars just as are planets around single stars and demonstrates that planetary systems formed in a circumbinary disk can survive over long time scales.Depending on the thermal inertia of their massive atmospheres, the hemispheres of the planets turned toward the stars can experience substantial reciprocating temperature changes during the minutes-long primary eclipse intervals.

In this study, we developed a novel heart rate (HR) monitoring approach in which we measure the pressure variance of the surface of the ear canal. A scissor-shaped apparatus equipped with a piezoelectric film sensor and a hardware circuit module was designed for high wearability and to obtain stable measurement. In the proposed device, the film sensor converts in-ear pulse waves (EPW) into electrical current, and the circuit module enhances the EPW and suppresses noise. A real-time algorithm embedded in the circuit module performs morphological conversions to make the EPW more distinct and knowledge-based rules are used to detect EPW peaks. In a clinical experiment conducted using a reference electrocardiogram (ECG) device, EPW and ECG were concurrently recorded from 58 healthy subjects. The EPW intervals between successive peaks and their corresponding ECG intervals were then compared to each other. Promising results were obtained from the samples, specifically, a sensitivity of 97.25%, positive predictive value of 97.17%, and mean absolute difference of 0.62. Thus, highly accurate HR was obtained from in-ear pressure variance. Consequently, we believe that our proposed approach could be used to monitor vital signs and also utilized in diverse applications in the near future.

A variationally coupled BEM-FEM is developed which can be used to analyse dynamic response, including free-surface sloshing motion, of 3-D rectangular liquid storage tanks subjected to horizontal ground excitation. The tank structure is modelled by the finite element method and the fluid region by the indirect boundary element method. By minimizing a single Lagrange function defined for the entire system, the governing equation with symmetric coefficient matrices is obtained. To verify the newly developed method, the analysis results are compared with the shaking-table test data of a 3-D rectangular tank model and with the solutions by the direct BEM-FEM. Analytical studies are conducted on the dynamic behaviour of 3-D rectangular tanks using the method developed. In particular, the characteristics of the sloshing response, the effect of the rigidity of adjacent walls on the dynamic response of the tanks and the orthogonal effects are investigated.