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In this article, we advance a hypothesis for the rupture of thin fibrous cap atheroma, namely that minute (10-μm-diameter) cellular-level microcalcifications in the cap, which heretofore have gone undetected because they lie below the visibility of current in vivo imaging techniques, cause local stress concentrations that lead to interfacial debonding. New theoretical solutions are presented for the local stress concentration around these minute spherical inclusions that predict a nearly 2-fold increase in interfacial stress that is relatively insensitive to the location of the hypothesized microinclusions in the cap. To experimentally confirm the existence of the hypothesized cellular-level microcalcifications, we examined autopsy specimens of coronary atheromatous lesions using in vitro imaging techniques whose resolution far exceeds conventional magnetic resonance imaging, intravascular ultrasound, and optical coherence tomography approaches. These high-resolution imaging modalities, which include confocal microscopy with calcium-specific staining and micro-computed tomography imaging, provide images of cellular-level calcifications within the cap proper. As anticipated, the minute inclusions in the cap are very rare compared with the numerous calcified macrophages observed in the necrotic core. Our mathematical model predicts that inclusions located in an area of high circumferential stress (>300 kPa) in the cap can intensify this stress to nearly 600 kPa when the cap thickness is <65 μm. The most likely candidates for the inclusions are either calcified macrophages or smooth muscle cells that have undergone apoptosis.

The work presented herein addresses the problem of sensor placement optimization in urban water distribution networks by use of an entropy-based approach, for the purpose of efficient and economically viable waterloss incident detection. The proposed method is applicable to longitudinal rather than spatial sensing, thus to devices such as acoustic, pressure, or flow sensors acting on pipe segments. The method utilizes the maximality, subadditivity and equivocation properties of entropy, coupled with a statistical definition of the probability of sensing within a pipe segment, to assign an entropy metric to each pipe segment and subsequently optimize the location of sensors in the network based on maximizing the total entropy in the network. The method proposed is a greedy-search heuristic.

A building’s energy performance is a complex multi-dimensional metric consisting of a variety of parameters. Presented herein are the results of a stochastic analysis of the factors affecting a building’s energy performance. The analysis is based on the Dwelling Energy Assessment Procedure (DEAP) (amended for cooling loads) and the general guidelines prescribed by the European Energy Performance of Buildings (EPBD) Directive 2010/31/EU. Modifications to the DEAP model are made for investigating the effect of variable external weather conditions on a building’s energy performance, and to incorporate the additional energy requirement for cooling. Subsequently, a stochastic analysis for three dwelling types is performed to assess the impact of 68 factors on the energy performance of buildings, for 12 different regions in Europe. It is concluded that (1) the factors with the greatest impact on energy use are in descending order, the floor area, external weather conditions, dwelling’s envelope u value (roof, window, walls, and floors), the space heating system, ventilation, windows area and walls area; (2) the energy performance of a building follows a lognormal probability distribution function; (3) buildings in colder EU regions exhibit higher energy profiles and higher variability in their energy profiles than those in warmer regions.

Amongst the principal separation processes used to treat effluents in the water industry is the sedimentation of solid particulates from the carrier fluid known as mixed liquor by the force of gravity. New York City DEP is in the process of upgrading its Upper East River water pollution control plants (WPCP’s) to incorporate biological nitrogen removal (BNR). The rectangular final settling tanks (FSTs) are a central link in the treatment process and often times a limiting factor in terms of the solids handling capacity especially when high throughput requirements need to be met. The objective of this study was to develop a 3D Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model based on the exact geometry of the existing Gould II type FSTs in Battery “E” at the Wards Island WPCP and calibrate and validate it with in-situ data collected at the site. The goal of this study is to illustrate how the different modeling approaches applied on the physical phenomena that take place in the tank affect the outcome of a CFD model and its predictions. It is common for internal baffles to be added at the inlet and within the tank to handle high flow requirements such as wet weather storms. This model has been used as a tool to assess the internal behavior of such baffles and assess the clarifier’s performance based on different inlet baffle configurations.

The response of homogeneous and isotropic turbulence to streamwise straining action provided by planar expansion waves has been studied experimentally in the CCNY shock tube research facility at several Reynolds numbers. The reflection of a propagating shock wave at the open endwall of the shock tube generated an expansion fan travelling upstream and interacting with the induced flow behind the incident shock wave which has gone through a turbulence generating grid. A custom-made hot-wire vorticity probe was designed and developed capable of measuring the time-dependent highly fluctuating three-dimensional velocity and vorticity vectors, and associated total temperature, in non-isothermal and inhomogeneous flows with reasonable spatial and temporal resolution. These measurements allowed the computations of the vorticity stretching/tilting terms, vorticity generation through dilatation terms, full dissipation rate of kinetic energy term and full rate-of-strain tensor. The longitudinal size of the straining zone was substantial so that measurements within it were possible. The flow accelerated from a Mach number of 0.23 to about 0.56, a value which is more than twice the initial one. Although the average value of the applied straining was only between S11 = 130 s−1 and S11 = 240 s−1 and the gradient Mach number was no more than 0.226, the amplitude of fluctuations of the strain rate S11 were of the order of 4000 s−1 before the application of straining and were reduced by about 2.5 times downstream of the interaction. This characteristic of high-amplitude bursts and the intermittent behaviour of the flow play a significant role in the dynamics of turbulence. One of the most remarkable features of the suppression of turbulence is that this process peaks shortly after the application of the straining where the pressure gradient is substantial. It was also found that the total enthalpy variation follows very closely the temporal gradient of pressure within the straining region and peaks at the same location as the pressure gradient. Attenuation of longitudinal velocity fluctuations has been observed in all experiments. It appears that this attenuation depends strongly on the characteristics of the incoming turbulence for a given straining strength and flow Mach number. The present results clearly show that in most of the cases, attenuation occurs at large times or distances from the turbulence generating grids where length scales of the incoming flow are high and turbulence intensities are low. Thus, large eddies with low-velocity fluctuations are affected the most by the interaction with the expansion waves. Spectral analysis has indicated that attenuation of fluctuations is not the same across all wavenumbers of the spectrum. The magnitude of attenuation appears to be higher in cases of finer mesh grids.

In this article, we advance a hypothesis for the rupture of thin fibrous cap atheroma, namely that minute (10-μm-diameter) cellular-level microcalcifications in the cap, which heretofore have gone undetected because they lie below the visibility of current in vivo imaging techniques, cause local stress concentrations that lead to interfacial debonding. New theoretical solutions are presented for the local stress concentration around these minute spherical inclusions that predict a nearly 2-fold increase in interfacial stress that is relatively insensitive to the location of the hypothesized microinclusions in the cap. To experimentally confirm the existence of the hypothesized cellular-level microcalcifications, we examined autopsy specimens of coronary atheromatous lesions using in vitro imaging techniques whose resolution far exceeds conventional magnetic resonance imaging, intravascular ultrasound, and optical coherence tomography approaches. These high-resolution imaging modalities, which include confocal microscopy with calcium-specific staining and micro-computed tomography imaging, provide images of cellular-level calcifications within the cap proper. As anticipated, the minute inclusions in the cap are very rare compared with the numerous calcified macrophages observed in the necrotic core. Our mathematical model predicts that inclusions located in an area of high circumferential stress (>300 kPa) in the cap can intensify this stress to nearly 600 kPa when the cap thickness is <65 μm. The most likely candidates for the inclusions are either calcified macrophages or smooth muscle cells that have undergone apoptosis.

The interaction of traveling expansion waves with grid-generated turbulence was investigated in a large-scale shock tube research facility. The incident shock and the induced flow behind it passed through a rectangular grid, which generated a nearly homogeneous and nearly isotropic turbulent flow. As the shock wave exited the open end of the shock tube, a system of expansion waves was generated which traveled upstream and interacted with the grid-generated turbulence. The Mach number of the incoming flows investigated was about 0.3 hence interactions are considered as interactions with an almost incompressible flow. Mild interactions with expansion waves, which generated expansion ratios of the order of 1.8, were achieved in the present investigations. In that respect the compressibility effects started to become important during the interaction. A custom designed vorticity probe was used to measure for the first time the rate-of-strain, the rate-of-rotation and the velocity-gradient tensors in several of the present flows. Custom made x-hotwire probes were initially used to measure the flow quantities simultaneously at different locations inside the flow field. Although the strength of the generated expansion waves was mild, S = [special characters omitted] = 50 to 100 s−1, the effect on damping fluctuations of turbulence was clear. Vorticity fluctuations were reduced dramatically more than velocity or pressure fluctuations. Attenuation of longitudinal velocity fluctuations has been observed in all experiments. It appears that the attenuation increases in interactions with higher Reynolds number. The data of velocity fluctuations in the lateral directions show no consistent behavior change or some minor attenuation through the interaction. The present results clearly show that in most of the cases, attenuation occurs at large [special characters omitted] distances where length scales of the incoming flow are high and turbulence intensities are low. Thus large in size eddies with low velocity fluctuations are affected the most by the interaction with the expansion waves. Spectral analysis indicated that spectral energy is shifted after the interaction to lower wave numbers suggesting that the typical length scales of turbulence are increased after the interaction.