Techniques are provided for characterizing processor designs and estimating power consumption of software programs executing on processors. The first electrode layer has an outer surface comprising a noble metal in at least one of elemental and alloy forms. The current flow region has a configuration that causes a void to be opened at a point of localized heating due to current crowding within the current flow region and that causes the void to propagate across the current flow region. Improved input methods include methods for entering non-deterministic information to retrieve deterministic information. The second signal path is connected in parallel with the first signal path and is configured to receive the encoded signals delayed by the delay mechanism. The CHF mortality risk metric is then calculated as a ratio of ventilatory response and the slope of the heart rate reserve.