Surface temperatures in New York City: Geospatial data enables the accurate prediction of radiative heat transfer

Three decades into the research seeking to derive the urban energy budget, the dynamics of the thermal exchange between the densely built infrastructure and the environment are still not well understood. We present a novel hybrid experimental-numerical approach for the analysis of the radiative heat transfer in New York City. The aim of this work is to contribute to the calculation of the urban energy budget, in particular the stored energy. Improved understanding of urban thermodynamics incorporating the interaction of the various bodies will have implications on energy conservation at the building scale, as well as human health and comfort at the urban scale. The platform presented is based on longwave hyperspectral imaging of nearly 100 blocks of Manhattan, and a geospatial radiosity model that describes the collective radiative heat exchange between multiple buildings. The close comparison of temperature values derived from measurements and the computed surface temperatures (including streets and roads) implies that this geospatial, thermodynamic numerical model applied to urban structures, is promising for accurate and high resolution analysis of urban surface temperatures.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figure

Cool marble building envelopes. The effect of aging on energy performance and aesthetics

Marble envelopes represent a relatively common architectural solution used in variety of historic, modern and contemporary building facades. White marble envelopes have been shown to reduce solar heat gains, while improving indoor thermal comfort and energy efficiency in summer time. While marble is useful in this context, the urban atmosphere accelerates the degradation of marble elements. This leads to changes in optical characteristics, hence the aesthetics, and affects the energy efficiency benefits offered by white marble facades. These issues are investigated in order to predict the impact of degradation on energy performance and to the aesthetic value, such as change of color and luminosity. In this study, surface degradation of white marble is analyzed by means of accelerated weathering in the laboratory while examining changes to the optical characteristics of the materials. A dynamic simulation is carried out to assess the energy performance of a building as a case study

Dynamics of the urban lightscape

The manifest importance of cities and the advent of novel data about them are stimulating interest in both basic and applied “urban science” (Bettencourt et al., 2007 [4]; Bettencourt, 2013 [3]). A central task in this emerging field is to document and understand the “pulse of the city” in its diverse manifestations (e.g., in mobility, energy use, communications, economics) both to define the normal state against which anomalies can be judged and to understand how macroscopic city observables emerge from the aggregate behavior of many individuals (Louail, 2013 [9]; Ferreira et al., 2013 [6]). Here we quantify the dynamics of an urban lightscape through the novel modality of persistent synoptic observations from an urban vantage point. Established astronomical techniques are applied to visible light images captured at 0.1 Hz to extract and analyze the light curves of 4147 sources in an urban scene over a period of 3 weeks. We find that both residential and commercial sources in our scene exhibit recurring aggregate patterns, while the individual sources decorrelate by an average of one hour after only one night. These highly granular, stand-off observations of aggregate human behavior – which do not require surveys, in situ monitors, or other intrusive methodologies – have a direct relationship to average and dynamic energy usage, lighting technology, and the impacts of light pollution. They may also be used indirectly to address questions in urban operations as well as behavioral and health science. Our methodology can be extended to other remote sensing modalities and, when combined with correlative data, can yield new insights into cities and their inhabitants

Urban climate and resiliency: A synthesis report of state of the art and future research directions

The Urban Climate and Resiliency-Science Working Group (i.e., The WG) was convened in the summer of 2018 to explore the scientific grand challenges related to climate resiliency of cities. The WG leveraged the presentations at the 10th International Conference on Urban Climate (ICUC10) held in New York City (NYC) on 6–10 August 2018 as input forum. ICUC10 was a collaboration between the International Association of Urban Climate, American Meteorological Society, and World Meteorological Organization. It attracted more than 600 participants from more than 50 countries, resulting in close to 700 oral and poster presentations under the common theme of “Sustainable & Resilient Urban Environments”. ICUC10 covered topics related to urban climate and weather processes with far-reaching implications to weather forecasting, climate change adaptation, air quality, health, energy, urban planning, and governance. This article provides a synthesis of the analysis of the current state of the art and of the recommendations of the WG for future research along each of the four Grand Challenges in the context of urban climate and weather resiliency; Modeling, Observations, Cyber-Informatics, and Knowledge Transfer & Applications

Frequency and clinical patterns of stroke in Iran - Systematic and critical review

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Cerebrovascular disease is the second commonest cause of death, and over a third of stroke deaths occur in developing countries. To fulfil the current gap on data, this systematic review is focused on the frequency of stroke, risk factors, stroke types and mortality in Iran.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Thirteen relevant articles were identified by keyword searching of PubMed, Iranmedex, Iranian University index Libraries and the official national data on burden of diseases.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The publication dates ranged from 1990 to 2008. The annual stroke incidence of various ages ranged from 23 to 103 per 100,000 population. This is comparable to the figures from Arab Countries, higher than sub-Saharan Africa, but lower than developed countries, India, the Caribbean, Latin America, and China. Similarly to other countries, ischaemic stroke was the commonest subtype. Likewise, the most common related risk factor is hypertension in adults, but cardiac causes in young stroke. The 28-day case fatality rate is reported at 19-31%.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Data on the epidemiology of stroke, its pattern and risk factors from Iran is scarce, but the available data highlights relatively low incidence of stroke. This may reflect a similarity towards the neighbouring nations, and a contrast with the West.</p

Review: optical fiber sensors for civil engineering applications

Optical fiber sensor (OFS) technologies have developed rapidly over the last few decades, and various types of OFS have found practical applications in the field of civil engineering. In this paper, which is resulting from the work of the RILEM technical committee “Optical fiber sensors for civil engineering applications”, different kinds of sensing techniques, including change of light intensity, interferometry, fiber Bragg grating, adsorption measurement and distributed sensing, are briefly reviewed to introduce the basic sensing principles. Then, the applications of OFS in highway structures, building structures, geotechnical structures, pipelines as well as cables monitoring are described, with focus on sensor design, installation technique and sensor performance. It is believed that the State-of-the-Art review is helpful to engineers considering the use of OFS in their projects, and can facilitate the wider application of OFS technologies in construction industry

Evaluation of Anti-angiogenic Activity of Silver Nanoparticle Synthesis by Rubina tinctorum L (Ru-AgNPs) Using Chicken Chorioallantoic Membrane (CAM) Assay

Abstract Background: Angiogenesis occurs in physiologic (wound healing) and pathological conditions and plays an important role in tumor growth, progression and metastasis. Therefore, the inhibition of angiogenesis can be an important approach to treat cancer diseases. In recent years, the use of nanoparticles has been developed to control cancer cells and prevent tumor growth. Various studies have shown the role of nanoparticles in reducing angiogenesis and inhibition of cancer cells. So, in this study, the anti-angiogenic effect of silver nanoparticle synthesis by Rubina tinctorum L (Ru-AgNPs) on Chicken Chorioallantoic Membrane (CAM) was investigated. Materials and Methods: In an experimental study, 60 eggs were randomly divided into 6 groups including control, laboratory control and 4 treatment groups (10 eggs/group). On the second day of incubation, a window was created on the eggs. On the 8th day, the chorioallantoic membrane of samples was treated with different concentrations of nanoparticles and on the 12th day, the image was taken from all samples. Finally, the number and length of vessels on the chorioallantoic membrane and following that weight and length of the embryo from crown to squattiest were measured. Quantitative data were analyzed using LSD-test. Results: The results showed that the Ru-AgNPs significantly reduced the length and number of blood vessels in the treated groups compared to the control group. Also, the comparison of length and weight of embryos in treated samples with control group showed that the Ru-AgNPs had an inhibitory effect on the length of the embryos, but the weight did not differ significantly in the treatment with the control group. Conclusion: Considering the inhibitory effect of the Ru-AgNPs on the angiogenesis of the chorioallantoic membrane, with further studies, this compound can be used to control and inhibit pathological angiogenesis in many diseases such as cancers

A Hyperspectral Survey of New York City Lighting Technology

Using side-facing observations of the New York City (NYC) skyline, we identify lighting technologies via spectral signatures measured with Visible and Near Infrared (VNIR) hyperspectral imaging. The instrument is a scanning, single slit spectrograph with 872 spectral channels from 0.4–1.0 μ m. With a single scan, we are able to clearly match the detected spectral signatures of 13 templates of known lighting types. However, many of the observed lighting spectra do not match those that have been measured in the laboratory. We identify unknown spectra by segmenting our observations and using Template-Activated Partition (TAP) clustering with a variety of underlying unsupervised clustering methods to generate the first empirically-determined spectral catalog of roughly 40 urban lighting types. We show that, given our vantage point, we are able to determine lighting technology use for both interior and exterior lighting. Finally, we find that the total brightness of our scene shows strong peaks at the 570 nm Na - II , 595 nm Na - II and 818 nm Na - I lines that are common in high pressure sodium lamps, which dominate our observations