The 2004 Asian International Workshop on Advanced Reliability Modeling is a symposium for the dissemination of state-of-the-art research and the presentation of practice in reliability engineering and related issues in Asia. It brings together researchers, scientists and practitioners from Asian countries to discuss the state of research and practice in dealing with reliability issues at the system design (modeling) level, and to jointly formulate an agenda for future research in this engineering area. The proceedings cover all the key topics in reliability, maintainability and safety engineering, providing an in-depth presentation of theory and practice.The proceedings have been selected for coverage in:• Index to Scientific & Technical Proceedings® (ISTP® / ISI Proceedings)• Index to Scientific & Technical Proceedings (ISTP CDROM version / ISI Proceedings)• CC Proceedings — Engineering & Physical Sciences

The 2006 Asian International Workshop on Advanced Reliability Modeling (AIWARM) is the second symposium in a series of biennial workshops for the dissemination of state-of-art research and the presentation of practice in reliability and maintenance engineering in Asia. It brings together researchers and engineers from not only Asian countries but also all over world to discuss the state of research and practice in dealing with both reliability issues at the system design phase and maintenance issues at the system operation phase. The theme of AIWARM 2006 is “reliability testing and improvement”. The contributions in this volume cover all the main topics in reliability and maintenance engineering, providing an in-depth presentation of theory and practice.

This volume includes chapters presenting applications of different metaheuristics in reliability engineering, including ant colony optimization, great deluge algorithm, cross-entropy method and particle swarm optimization. It also presents chapters devoted to cellular automata and support vector machines, and applications of artificial neural networks, a powerful adaptive technique that can be used for learning, prediction and optimization. Several chapters describe aspects of imprecise reliability and applications of fuzzy and vague set theory.

Given that for centuries, the standard tool to understand diseases in tissues was the microscope and that its major limitation was that only excised tissue could be used, recent technology now permits the examination of diseased tissue in vivo. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) has promising potential when applied to coronary artery disease. OCT has the capability to identify coronary plaque and to distinguish between plaques that are stable and unstable. If the plaques are stable then OCT can direct percutaneous intervention (angioplasty or stenting). Optical coherence tomography is a light-based imaging technology that allows for very high resolution imaging in biological tissues. It has been first applied in ophthalmology, where it soon became the golden standard for the assessment of (epi-) retinal processes. The unique imaging capabilities have raised the interest of researchers and clinicians in the field of cardiovascular disease, since OCT offers unique possibilities to study atherosclerosis pathophysiology in vivo. With over 1.1M Americans having a heart attack this year because of unstable plaque rupture, OCT may have an increasingly important role in the early diagnosis of coronary artery disease. This unique publication offers the reader the basic background to OCT and its role in the diagnosis and management of coronary artery disease. The Handbook of Optical Coherence Tomography in Cardiovascular Research introduces the cardiovascular application of this technology. Clinicians, biologists, engineers and physicist are discussing different aspects of cardiovascular OCT application in a multidisciplinary approach. The handbook offers the readership a concise overview on the current state of the art of vascular OCT imaging and sheds light on a variety of exciting new developments. The physics, technical principles of OCT and its application in a broad spectrum of cardiovascular research areas are summarized by highly recognized specialists. The potential of OCT in peripheral and coronary arteries and in developmental cardiology are described. Each research area is introduced by a clinical expert in the field followed by discussion of different aspects from an engineering, biomedical and clinical perspective. Specifically, the current capabilities for plaque characterization, detection of vulnerable plaque, guidance of interventional procedures, Doppler-assessment, and molecular contrast imaging are being described. The Handbook of Optical Coherence Tomography in Cardiovascular Research targets researchers and clinicians involved in the field of atherosclerosis. The summary of basic physics, engineering solutions, pre-clinical and clinical application covers all relevant aspects and will be a valuable reference source.

This book is intended to serve as a reference text for advanced scientists and research engineers to solve a variety of fluid flow problems using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). Each chapter arises from a collection of research papers and discussions contributed by the practiced experts in the field of fluid mechanics. This material has encompassed a wide range of CFD applications concerning computational scheme, turbulence modeling and its simulation, multiphase flow modeling, unsteady-flow computation, and industrial applications of CFD.

Recent developments in information science and technology have been possible due to original and timely research contributions containing new results in various fields of applied mathematics. It is also true that advances in information science create opportunities for developing mathematical models further.