Historical perspectives - The Moniac A Hydromechanical Analog Computer of the 1950s

The Moniac, or Phillips machine as it is more commonly known is unusual, perhaps unique, in the world of analog computers and simulators in employing hydraulic components to simulate dynamic systems, rather than electrical or mechanical devices. While the machine may seem quaint to us now, it is difficult to imagine that any other contemporary simulator would have been quite so successful in directly demonstrating the dynamic behavior of an economic system both to students and professional economists. This article aims to bring wider attention to the machine while emphasizing the relationship between Phillip's work and control engineerin

Coping with a changing world: the UK Open University approach to teaching ICT

The rapid pace of change in the ICT field has affected all HE providers, but for the UK Open University (UKOU), used to print-based courses lasting eight years or more, it has been a particular challenge. This paper will present some of the ways the UKOU has been coping with this problem by discussing the design of three courses, the first developed almost a decade ago. All three are distance learning courses that are either core or optional in a variety of bachelors' degrees, including the BSc programmes in: Information and Communication Technology; IT and Computing; and Technology; as well as the BEng (Hons) engineering programme. The first course, Information and Communication Technology: people and interactions is a level 2 (second year undergraduate) course first presented in 2002. It is predominately a print-based course with an eight year lifetime. The second course Networked Living: exploring information and communication technologies is a level 1 (first year undergraduate) course first presented some three-and-a-half years later in 2005. It is expected to have a course life of five years, and uses a mix of print-based (60%) and computer-based (40%) material. Both these courses use assignments as key tools for annual updating. The third course, Keeping ahead in ICT is aimed primarily at equipping students with advanced information searching and evaluation skills that will serve them well in professional life, and is presented at level 3 (final year undergraduate). It was first presented in 2007 and has an expected course life of 8 years. It uses much less print than in most OU courses, and has a greater reliance on third-party resources such as newspaper, conference and journal articles, websites, and other electronic resources. Some elements in each block are designed to change from year to year, in order to retain currency. Finally, the paper will look forward to the development of a new level 2 course with an expected first presentation in 2010, drawing out the lessons learned about course updating, and predicting the approach that the course team may tak

The role of A. A. Andronov in the development of automatic control in Russia

Control engineering saw rapid development in many countries in the period immediately following the Second World War. Engineers and scientists concerned with control problems formed new professional groupings; university courses in the subject began to be offered; and research groups were set up in industrial, academic, and government laboratories. Hitherto secret wartime work was widely disseminated, and new military, industrial and other applications of the emerging discipline were identified. Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Andronov (1901-1952) was a key figure in the development of control engineering in the former Soviet Union during this period. The aim of this paper is to give a brief introduction to Andronov's work, concentrating on his background in nonlinear dynamics, and his subsequent role in stimulating Soviet research into control engineering — most significantly in the wake of the founding of his Moscow seminar on the topic in 1944

An interview with Hans Sartorius

Hans Sartorius carried out seminal work on control engineering in Germany from the 1930s onwards. This article is an edited version of an interview carried out with him in 1994 (first publication)

“He was the father of us all.” Ernie Guillemin and the teaching of modern network theory

Historians of electrical technology deal routinely with inventions, inventors, large-scale socio-technological systems, and corporate and institutional history. Yet one category of major contributor to the development of the discipline is rarely considered in detail: the engineering educator. This paper presents the contribution of one of the outstanding teachers of electronics of the twentieth century – in particular, a teacher of communications networks, circuit theory and filter design so important to modern telecommunications systems – Ernst (Ernie) Guillemin

The development of automatic control in France

This paper discusses the history and development of automatic control in France

An exhibition that has yet to be

Winfried Oppelt was one of the great pioneers of German control engineering. In 1972 he made a detailed proposal for a permanent exhibition on control engineering at the Deutsches Museum, Munich. The intriguing proposal, which was never realised, included a set of detailed hand drawings by Oppelt. This paper, drawing on an earlier German publication, presents Oppelt's ideas and indicates why it was not accepted

From compliance to concordance: meeting the needs of patients?

Abstract of a pharmacy practice research paper presented at the British Pharmaceutical Conference, Glasgow, 23-26 Sep 2001. Interviews with 21 English speakers of Pakistani origin with type 2 diabetes. Results suggest that it may be more appropriate to link concordance to an approach which seeks to sensitively elicit patient narratives as a basis for shared understanding

Simulation of seismic events induced by CO2 injection at In Salah, Algeria

Date of Acceptance: 18/06/2015 Acknowledgments The authors would like to thank the operators of the In Salah JV and JIP, BP, Statoil and Sonatrach, for providing the data shown in this paper, and for giving permission to publish. Midland Valley Exploration are thanked for the use of their Move software for geomechanical restoration. JPV is a Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Early Career Research Fellow (Grant NE/I021497/1) and ALS is funded by a NERC Partnership Research Grant (Grant NE/I010904).Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Who are the obese? A cluster analysis exploring subgroups of the obese

Background Body mass index (BMI) can be used to group individuals in terms of their height and weight as obese. However, such a distinction fails to account for the variation within this group across other factors such as health, demographic and behavioural characteristics. The study aims to examine the existence of subgroups of obese individuals. Methods Data were taken from the Yorkshire Health Study (2010–12) including information on demographic, health and behavioural characteristics. Individuals with a BMI of ≥30 were included. A two-step cluster analysis was used to define groups of individuals who shared common characteristics. Results The cluster analysis found six distinct groups of individuals whose BMI was ≥30. These subgroups were heavy drinking males, young healthy females; the affluent and healthy elderly; the physically sick but happy elderly; the unhappy and anxious middle aged and a cluster with the poorest health. Conclusions It is important to account for the important heterogeneity within individuals who are obese. Interventions introduced by clinicians and policymakers should not target obese individuals as a whole but tailor strategies depending upon the subgroups that individuals belong to