Proving Grounds of Urbicide: Civil and Urban Perspectives on the Bombing of Capital Cities

In the bombing of urban settlements, the main impacts have been on resident civilians, living space and non-military functions. This is shown in the bombing of London, Berlin and Tokyo in the Second World War, arguably the first and only serious tests of strategic air power and urbicide to determine war outcomes. The history and scope of raiding of these capital cities differed in many ways, but the civilian experience and urban implications were very similar. The bombings attacked the most vulnerable areas, where resident populations found themselves poorly protected at best. The intentions, as well as results, of the raiding are examples of urbicide, planned to kill indiscriminately and destroy all elements of urban existence. Yet, a disarticulation emerges between the political, industrial and war-controlling functions of the capitals, which the bombing was supposed to disable but could not, and the plight of their citizens. The bombing was encouraged as ‘spectacular violence’, even though militarily inconclusive and, in seeking to avoid combat while terrorising non-combatants, it experimented with an approach to armed violence that would prevail after 1945. Despite enormous changes since 1945, the plight of bombed civilians has changed little

Human response research update

The methods, sources, instrumentation, the new facility at Aberdeen Proving Grounds, (APG) performance tests, and APG sources are briefly outlined. This presentation is represented by viewgraphs only

Aerosol tests conducted at Aberdeen Proving Grounds MD.

Test data are reported that demonstrate the deposition from a spray dispersion system (Illinois Tool Works inductively charging rotary atomization nozzle) for application of decontamination solution to various surfaces in the passenger cabin of a Boeing 737 aircraft. The decontamination solution (EnviroTru) was tagged with a known concentration of fluorescein permitting determination of both airborne decontaminant concentration and surface deposited decontaminant solution so that the effective deposition rates and surface coverage could be determined and correlated with the amount of material sprayed. Six aerosol dispersion tests were conducted. In each test, aluminum foil deposition coupons were set out throughout the passenger area and the aerosol was dispersed. The aerosol concentration was measured with filter samplers as well as with optical techniques Average aerosol deposition ranged from 3 to 15 grams of decontamination solution per square meter. Some disagreement was observed between various instruments utilizing different measurement principles. These results demonstrate a potentially effective method to disperse decontaminant to interior surfaces of a passenger aircraft

From a Competition for Self-Driving Miniature Cars to a Standardized Experimental Platform: Concept, Models, Architecture, and Evaluation

Context: Competitions for self-driving cars facilitated the development and research in the domain of autonomous vehicles towards potential solutions for the future mobility. Objective: Miniature vehicles can bridge the gap between simulation-based evaluations of algorithms relying on simplified models, and those time-consuming vehicle tests on real-scale proving grounds. Method: This article combines findings from a systematic literature review, an in-depth analysis of results and technical concepts from contestants in a competition for self-driving miniature cars, and experiences of participating in the 2013 competition for self-driving cars. Results: A simulation-based development platform for real-scale vehicles has been adapted to support the development of a self-driving miniature car. Furthermore, a standardized platform was designed and realized to enable research and experiments in the context of future mobility solutions. Conclusion: A clear separation between algorithm conceptualization and validation in a model-based simulation environment enabled efficient and riskless experiments and validation. The design of a reusable, low-cost, and energy-efficient hardware architecture utilizing a standardized software/hardware interface enables experiments, which would otherwise require resources like a large real-scale test track.Comment: 17 pages, 19 figues, 2 table

Computational Finite Element Analysis Of Extreme Loading Response Of Structural Insulated Panel (Sip) Building Subsystems

In the reconstruction after Hurricane Katrina, the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency (mema) investigated of the possibility of utilizing structural insulated panel (sip) construction for hurricane cottages that would be resistant to a category 3 hurricane through a joint project with a local architect, Bruce Tolar, and FMS Engineering, LLC, Mobile, Alabama. The connections between the sip panels, including a cam-locking device comto sip panel construction, were identified as vulnerable under high velocity wind loads. At that time, there were no published guidelines for performing a computational finite element analysis of the sip system, and thus it was not possible to obtain the necessary system response data. By observation of blast experimental tests performed by Aberdeen Proving Grounds in association with the United States Military Academy, west point, major failure of the system was observed at two critical connections in the sip wall assembly. Using abaqus cae, a model of a static panel transverse bending test was reproduced to validate the modeling procedure. A finite-element based model of the sip hut was created and validated using the displacement and impulse data measured during the blast tests and provided by Aberdeen Proving Grounds, Maryland. The fe model of the sip hut was then altered to investigate the structural response of the sip hut to a high velocity wind loading on the same wall assembly. The detailed connection response gathered from the abaqus model was evaluated and improvements to the currently comconnection detailing used in osb/eps sip construction are recommended to improve structural performance under high velocity wind loading