Home About us Contact
|
Home About us Contact | ||
|
|
||
Traditional Means (traditional + mean)
Selected AbstractsNapoleon's Lost Legions: French Prisoners of War in Britain, 1803,1814HISTORY, Issue 295 2004GAVIN DALY During the Napoleonic Wars, over 100,000 French prisoners of war were held captive in Britain. These prisoners remain a marginal group in the military history of the period, yet they represent a key turning point in the history of European prisoners of war, and their predicament offers insights into the nature of the French Revolution. This article considers the treatment and experiences of French prisoners, and in particular seeks to understand the circumstances surrounding their long-term captivity. Unlike eighteenth-century prisoners of war, prisoners of the Napoleonic Wars remained captive for the duration of the conflict, unable to return home through the traditional means of prisoner exchange or officer parole. This radical departure from the past gave rise to the modern practice of interning prisoners of war for the entire duration of a war. This historic shift was, on the one level, a result of the actions of one man , Napoleon Bonaparte. Yet, as this article highlights, it must also be understood as part of the long-term social and cultural legacy of the French Revolution. [source] Long-term study of a portable field robot in urban terrainJOURNAL OF FIELD ROBOTICS (FORMERLY JOURNAL OF ROBOTIC SYSTEMS), Issue 8-9 2007Carl Lundberg The armed forces have a considerable amount of experience in using robots for bomb removal and mine clearing. Emerging technology also enables the targeting of other applications. To evaluate if real deployment of new technology is justified, tactical advantages gained have to be compared to drawbacks imposed. Evaluation calls for realistic tests which in turn require methods dictating how to deploy the new features. The present study has had two objectives: first, to gain a comprehensive view of a potential user of man-portable robots; second, to embed a robot system with users for assessment of present technology in real deployment. In this project we investigated an army company specialized in urban operations performing their tasks with the support of the iRobot Packbot Scout. The robot was integrated and deployed as an ordinary piece of equipment which required modifying and retraining a number of standard behaviors. The reported results were acquired through a long-term test ranging over a period of six months. This paper focuses on the characteristics of the users and their current ways of operation; how the robot was implemented and deployed. Additionally, this paper describes benefits and drawbacks from the users' perspective. A number of limitations in current robot technology are also identified. The findings show that the military relies on precise and thoroughly trained actions that can be executed with a minimum of ambiguity. To make use of robots, new behavioral schemes, which call for tactical optimization over several years, are needed. The most common application during the trials was reconnaissance inside buildings with uncertain enemy presence when time was not critical. Deploying the robot took more time than completing the task by traditional means, but in return kept the soldiers out of harm's way and enabled them to decrease weapon deployment. The range of the radio link, limited video feedback, and the bulky operator control unit were the features constraining the system's overall performance the most. On the other hand, did properties of the system, such as ruggedness, size, weight, terrain ability, and endurance, prove to match the application. The users were of the opinion that robots such as the Packbot Scout would be a valuable standard feature in urban intervention. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source] Validation of theory of n -column separations with gas chromatograms predicted by commercial softwareJOURNAL OF SEPARATION SCIENCE, JSS, Issue 1 2007Yuping Williamson Abstract A probability theory for the average number of compounds resolved by the partial separation of complex mixtures on n columns was tested using commercial-software predictions of gas chromatograms. Such n -column separations are traditional means for addressing peak overlap, in which one chooses additional columns of different selectivity to separate compounds that cannot be separated by a single column. Gas chromatograms of five types of complex mixtures containing from 99 to 283 compounds were predicted for eight stationary phases using both optimized and other temperature programs. The number n of columns for different mixtures varied from 2 to 5. The numbers of compounds separated as singlet peaks at different resolution thresholds were compared to predictions, as evaluated with point-process statistical-overlap theory based on a Poisson distribution. A good agreement between theory and results was found in all cases corresponding to low saturation. Both good and poor agreements were found for cases corresponding to high saturation. A good agreement also was found for results based on resolving complex mixtures by a single column subject to two temperature programs. The moments and distribution of the number of resolved compounds were computed by Monte Carlo simulation, thus gauging the significance of departures between results and theory. The potential of such simulations to explore the limitations of theory was briefly investigated. [source] Positive reinforcement training affects hematologic and serum chemistry values in captive chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PRIMATOLOGY, Issue 3 2006Susan P. Lambeth Abstract Positive reinforcement training (PRT) techniques have received considerable attention for their stress reduction potential in the behavioral management of captive nonhuman primates. However, few published empirical studies have provided physiological data to support this position. To address this issue, PRT techniques were used to train chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) to voluntarily present a leg for an intramuscular (IM) injection of anesthetic. Hematology and serum chemistry profiles were collected from healthy chimpanzees (n=128) of both sexes and various ages during their routine annual physical examinations over a 7-year period. Specific variables potentially indicative of acute stress (i.e., total white blood cell (WBC) counts, absolute segmented neutrophils (SEG), glucose (GLU) levels, and hematocrit (HCT) levels) were analyzed to determine whether the method used to administer the anesthetic (voluntary present for injection vs. involuntary injection) affected the physiological parameters. Subjects that voluntarily presented for an anesthetic injection had significantly lower mean total WBC counts, SEG, and GLU levels than subjects that were involuntarily anesthetized by more traditional means. Within-subjects analyses revealed the same pattern of results. This is one of the first data sets to objectively demonstrate that PRT for voluntary presentation of IM injections of anesthetic can significantly affect some of the physiological measures correlated with stress responses to chemical restraint in captive chimpanzees. Am. J. Primatol. 68:245,256, 2006. © 2006 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Development and potential of new generation photocatalytic systems for air pollution abatement: an overviewASIA-PACIFIC JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING, Issue 4 2009Melvin Lim Abstract Photocatalysis is the process by which various undesired substrates are reduced or oxidised on the surface of a photoresponsive material when exposed to a sufficiently energetic irradiation source. Together with other processes like photolysis and ozonation, photocatalysis forms a larger, important group of technologies known as Advanced Oxidation Processes or AOPs. This short review begins with an introduction to the fundamental processes and entities involved in general semiconductor photocatalysis. Various major air pollutants are considered, along with their health effects and traditional means of abatement. Recent advances in photocatalytic materials (including the use of novel materials other then titania), together with heterogeneous photoreactor design (in particular, of the flow-type) are then described. Concluding remarks are included, along with some recommendations for possible future work. Copyright © 2009 Curtin University of Technology and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Web-based consultations for parents of children with atopic dermatitis: results of a randomized controlled trialACTA PAEDIATRICA, Issue 2 2009Trine S Bergmo Abstract Aim: To analyse how web-based consultations for parents of children with atopic dermatitis affect self-management behaviour, health outcome, health resource use and family costs. Methods: Ninety-eight children with atopic dermatitis were randomly assigned to intervention and control groups. The intervention group received remote dermatology consultations through a secure web-based communication system. The control group was encouraged to seek treatment through traditional means such as general practitioner visits and hospital care. Both groups received an extensive individual educational session prior to the intervention. Results: Thirty-eight percent of the intervention group used web-based consultations 158 times ranging from 1 to 38 consultations per patient. We found no change in self-management behaviour, health outcome or costs. The intervention group tended to have fewer visits to practitioners offering complementary therapies than the control group, and we found a positive correlation between emergency visits at baseline and messages sent. Both groups, however, reduced the mean number of skin care treatments performed per week and had fewer total health care visits after the intervention. Conclusion: We found no effect of supplementing traditional treatment for childhood dermatitis with web-based consultations. This study showed that web consultations is feasible, but more research is needed to determine its effect on self-management skills, health outcome and resource use. [source] | ||||||||||