The U.S. Department of Defense Humanitarian Demining Research and Development Program

In 1994, the United States initiated a research and development (R&D) program to develop new, internationally shareable technologies for humanitarian deminers and for U.S. troops performing peacekeeping and stability operations. The Humanitarian Demining (HD) R&D Program is part of the overall U.S. effort to assist with the global landmine problem

Humanitarian Demining Requirements Workshop

The 2010 Humanitarian Demining Requirements Workshop will gather mine-action participants from governmental and nongovernmental agencies and various international organizations to share information and ideas pertaining to new technology development, and to discuss the latest results from global demining activities. Selected participants from approximately 12 countries will attend this year’s gathering 21–23 June 2010. Each demining organization is expected to share a presentation detailing its specific activities with the workshop participants

Capital Expansion and Organizational Growth: A Cost-Effective Analysis for Huntington Family Centers

Huntington Family Centers Inc., is a nonprofit social service agency located in the near-Westside of the City of Syracuse, N.Y. The agency currently employs 75 people and offers 25 programs, ranging in focus from preschool to services for senior citizens. It has developed a business plan with the goal of increasing program services by 35% over the next two years. However, as new programs are considered, it will be forced to rent space due to the lack of functional space at its primary are considered, it will be forced to rent space due to the lack of functional space at its primary location. Ideally, Huntington Family Centers would prefer to deliver all of its services at its primary location, where the organization can better serve the needs for the near-West side community. HFC has identified four mutually exclusive options, which address these concerns. A cost-effective analysis was conducted to identify the option with the highest cost-effective ratio. As a result, renovating the vacant Adele Nelson Building and restructuring the floor plan proved to be the most cost-effective option

Handheld Standoff Mine Detection System (HSTAMIDS) Operational Field Evaluations (OFE\u27s) in Cambodia

The Handheld Standoff Mine Detection System is a dual sensor mine detector. It was developed for the US Army and combines Metal Detector and ground penetrating radar. This system has produced vast improvements in mine clearance rates

A catchment-scale method to simulating the impact of historical nitrate loading from agricultural land on the nitrate-concentration trends in the sandstone aquifers in the Eden Valley, UK

Nitrate water pollution, which is mainly caused by agricultural activities, remains an international problem. It can cause serious long-term environmental and human health issues due to nitrate time-lag in the groundwater system. However, the nitrate subsurface legacy issue has rarely been considered in environmental water management. We have developed a simple catchment-scale approach to investigate the impact of historical nitrate loading from agricultural land on the nitrate-concentration trends in sandstones, which represent major aquifers in the Eden Valley, UK. The model developed considers the spatio-temporal nitrate loading, low permeability superficial deposits, dual-porosity unsaturated zones, and nitrate dilution in aquifers. Monte Carlo simulations were undertaken to analyse parameter sensitivity and calibrate the model using observed datasets. Time series of annual average nitrate concentrations from 1925 to 2150 were generated for four aquifer zones in the study area. The results show that the nitrate concentrations in ‘St Bees Sandstones’, ‘silicified Penrith Sandstones’, and ‘non-silicified Penrith Sandstones’ keep rising or stay high before declining to stable levels, whilst that in ‘interbedded Brockram Penrith Sandstones’ will level off after a slight decrease. This study can help policymakers better understand local nitrate-legacy issues. It also provides a framework for informing the long-term impact and timescale of different scenarios introduced to deliver water-quality compliance. This model requires relatively modest parameterisation and is readily transferable to other areas

U.S. Humanitarian Demining R&D Program: Emerging Technologies

The Humanitarian Demining (HD) Research and Development (R&D) Program is continually innovating and applying new technology to the demining of landmine fields. Through these changes, the goal of worldwide mine clearance is within reach

The Nitrate Time Bomb (NTB) Model: a simple but effective method to investigate the impacts of historical nitrate loading on long-term groundwater nitrate concentrations

Nitrate water pollution, which remains an international problem, can cause long-term environmental damage and threaten both the economy and human health. Agricultural land is the major source of nitrate water pollution. It can take decades for nitrate leached from the soil to discharge into freshwaters. However, this nitrate time lag in the groundwater system has generally been ignored within the water resource management in many countries including the UK. We present a nitrate time bomb (NTB) model to modelling nitrate processes in the groundwater system. Whilst NTB contains simplified conceptual models, it can represent the major nitrate and hydrogeological processes in the groundwater system at both national and catchment scales, such as spatio-temporal nitrate loading, low-permeability superficial deposits, dual-porosity unsaturated zones and nitrate dilution in aquifers. The NTB model has been successfully used to simulate annual nitrate concentrations from 1925 to 2150 in the major aquifers in Great Britain and four local aquifer zones in the Eden Catchment, England. Monte Carlo simulations were undertaken to analyse parameter sensitivity and calibrate the model using observed datasets. These results help decision makers to understand how the historical nitrate loading from agricultural land affects the evolution of groundwater quality due to the nitrate time lag in the groundwater system. This NTB approach will be particularly valuable to evaluate the long-term impact and timescale of land management scenarios and programmes of measures introduced to help deliver water quality compliance. This model requires relatively modest parameterisation and is readily transferable to other areas