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The use of ordnance gelatine has been widespread in the field of ballistics as a simulant for soft tissue when assessing ballistic threats. However, the traditional method of preparing ordnance gelatine is time-consuming and requires precision to ensure that the final mold meets the required specifications. Furthermore, temperature control is necessary post-production, and there are limitations on its usage duration. To address these issues, manufacturers have developed pre-mixed, gelatine-like products that are stable at room temperature and require less preparation time. Nonetheless, it is uncertain whether these new products can perform in the same manner as the gold standard of ordnance gelatine. This study used five types of blocks, including ordnance gelatine (10% and 20%), Clear Ballistics (10% and 20%) and Perma-Gel (10%) and subjected them to 9 mm, 0.380 Auto fired from a universal receiver and a 5.56 × 45 mm ammunition fired by a certified firearms instructor. Delta-V and total energy dissipation were measured after each test using data collected from ballistic chronographs placed in front of and behind each block. High-speed video was recorded, and a cut-down analysis conducted. The findings revealed variations in energy dissipation and fissure formation within the block, with greater energy based on fissure formation observed in the ordnance gelatine. Additionally, the high-speed video showed the occurrence of secondary combustions occurring in the premixed gelatines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Determining a ship's identity is usually based on a critical and integral analysis of several approaches and lines of evidence. Based on Harpster's seminal work, an insight into this endeavour is developed here for the Deltebre I site. The archaeological information obtained since 2008 from the remains of the cargo, hull structure, equipment, and personal possessions, combined with documentary data, helped to address the dating, type, function, and provenance of the vessel. More specifically, we discuss its links with the British ordnance ships Southampton and Magnum Bonum, lost in 1813 at the mouth of the Ebro river, Spain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research project, reported in three parts, focuses on Henry Nock’s ‘screwless lock’, or, as it is called in documents at the time of its manufacture, the ‘Duke’s Lock’, in the most important production variant of this novel and sophisticated design. This is the 5.5in long ‘Type 2’ Duke’s Lock, as fitted to the final design iteration of the Board of Ordnance’s Duke of Richmond’s Musket (DoRM), namely its rammer-to-the-muzzle (RTM) version. The three papers report the results of the first published systematic assessment of the Duke’s Lock’s interchangeability. No statement has yet been found in archival material to suggest that the lock is, or was considered to be, interchangeable, or that it has interchangeable components, but the authors of many secondary works think that it was, and therefore we set out to investigate this important matter systematically. This, the first paper, presents the findings of a five-lock component exchange experiment, which permits 20 component interchange tests. Measurements of key dimensions have also been made to assist in understanding the fits at which interchangeability was achieved. The exchange experiments establish that from 50% to 100% of the lock’s small components are interchangeable, with two especially surprising results: all cocks exchange on the large centres of the locks (20/20 or 100%), and all sears which can be tested are found to exchange between bents (17/17 or 100%). Tests assessing the complete assembly of all components in the lock thickness direction, omitting problematic individual components, show success rates of 16/20 (80%) and 14/20 (70%). The results of this process are placed in a material context through metallographic analysis of components of a less well-preserved Board of Ordnance 5.5in Duke’s Lock by Nock, and, for comparison, on an almost contemporary Board of Ordnance India Pattern Musket lock. The analysis has revealed that many components of the Duke’s Lock are made of steel rather than wrought iron, and that, for the centres and some other key components, these steels were selected because their properties suited machine turning, and this reflects Nock’s expert use of lathes within a factory that was using steam power by 1795. The analysis is supported by the disassembly and technical examination of some locks, including one that was partially completed, to analyse methods of construction. As regards archival sources, we have built upon Howard Blackmore’s seminal paper of 1956 by discovering additional archival data in the Ordnance Bill books, specifically the records of transactions with Nock’s executors after his death in 1804, to as late as 1808. This has allowed an improved understanding of the number of locks supplied and the uses to which they were put. The Ordnance Bill Books show that Nock delivered 12,010 Duke’s Locks in only 29 months, between 4 July 1793 and 25 November 1795. Together the papers explore how Henry Nock was able to produce the remarkable figure of 12,010 interchangeable locks in 1793–95, five years before the production of 10,000 interchangeable locks was achieved in France by Honoré Blanc, who is widely regarded as the first in this field. Significantly, Nock’s work also preceded that of Samuel Bentham, Mark Brunel and Henry Maudslay on the famous machines for making interchangeable components – in wood – for the blocks required for ships’ rigging; the three principals began their work on this in 1799. The present three-part study not only firmly establishes Henry Nock’s leading position in the field of firearm development but also as one of the pioneers of interchangeable manufacture at scale in engineering more widely, both nationally and internationally. Part 2 uses studies of the marks on a sample of 25 locks to reveal more about the manufacturing system for Duke’s Lock and how the people within the system were organised. The final paper, Part 3, discusses the small changes in design and inspection made during and after production that are revealed in the earlier Parts, and also how the design of George Bolton’s later patent lock was influenced by Nock’s work and the experience of his workmen. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Artillery designers are always searching for means of improving a gun’s external and internal ballistic properties and this resulted in both new theories surrounding gun construction based on the properties of materials and new methods of building guns capable of firing heavier projectiles to greater ranges. The concept of the accelerator gun sought to achieve the same result without the need for larger and heavier guns and reducing recoil through the use of multiple propellant charges fired sequentially, thus accelerating the projectile without the need for a single high-pressure discharge. It was a quest initiated in France, pursued in the United States and then adopted by a desperate Germany during the latter years of World War 2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study investigates the corrosion behavior and microstructural changes in seventeenth-century cast iron cannons exhibited at the Archaeological Museum in Goa. Chipped samples from four cannons underwent analysis for surface morphology, microstructure, and elemental composition using optical microscopy, SEM-EDX, and X-ray diffraction. FTIR spectroscopy was employed to identify the molecular structure of organic compounds, metal oxides, and oxyhydroxides on the surface. The findings reveal that the pearlite matrix of the cast iron contains graphite flakes, leading to a distinctive form of graphitic corrosion on the cannon surface. Highly localized graphitic corrosion areas on the surface have resulted in pits or series of pits, posing a potential risk to the structural integrity of the cannons over time. The study identifies the presence of chloride as a contributing factor to the corrosion process, working in tandem with graphitic corrosion of the cast iron. Understanding these corrosion mechanisms is crucial for developing strategies to ensure the long-term preservation of these historical artefacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the determination of the critical crack depth in howitzer cannon barrels, which is essential for ensuring operational safety, particularly under high-pressure conditions during firing. The fracture-mechanics-based approach, emphasizing the stress intensity factor Ki, is employed to evaluate crack propagation. Specifically, the R6 procedure is applied to assess the failure assessment diagram (FAD), crucial for identifying critical pressures concerning varying crack shapes and depths. The study examines the utilization of high-strength steel 35NiCrMoV12-5 in two distinct heat treatments (materials A and B). Experimental tensile tests and measurements of the critical stress intensity factor Kic were conducted on both materials. The Finite Element Method (FEM) using Abaqus/CAE software was used in combination with experimental results. The FEM model was used to analyses semielliptical cracks of different depths and two different shapes. Stress intensity factor distributions along the crack tip were derived, indicating the material resistance to crack propagation.. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sumptuary laws that regulated clothing based on social status were an important part of the political economy of premodern states. We introduce a model that captures the notion that consumption by ordinary citizens poses a status threat to ruling elites. Our model predicts a non-monotonic effect of income—sumptuary legislation initially increases with income, but then falls as income increases further. The initial rise is more likely for states with less extractive institutions, whose ruling elites face a greater status threat from the rising commercial class. We test these predictions using a new dataset of country and city-level sumptuary laws. It is unfortunately an established fact that both men and womenfolk have, in utterly irresponsible manner, driven extravagance in dress and new styles to such shameful and wanton extremes that the different classes are barely to be known apart. —Nuremberg Ordnance of 1657, Quoted in Hunt (1996) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unexploded ordnance (UXO), often deployed in WWI and WWII, are still present on the seabed posing a risk to seabed construction. UXO surveys identify potential UXO targets which are then investigated and removed where necessary; however, approximately 96 per cent of targets investigated on projects included in this study were non-UXO (false positives). Here we investigate methods of improving statistical confidence in targets picked through the improved classification of magnetic response, utilizing simulation methods and historic data. A simulation of the induced magnetism of UXO was developed to model the most likely dimensions and orientation of a given source item. Modelling results and measured variables were combined in an optimization algorithm, hereon referred to as 'the classifier'. We document the results of integrating the magnetic responses of 3027 targets from 18 offshore wind projects into the classifier. Five of these projects were performed as tests in which the target results were unknown during classification. Finally, the classifier was deployed on a live project, Hollandse Kust Zuid 3 and 4 Offshore Wind Farm, in which it enabled the removal of 67 targets from the from the 1200-target investigation list. The classifier proved to be a valuable additional tool to assist the target rationalization process, reliably and repeatably distinguishing UXO from other items, thereby reducing false positives and repeatably demonstrating no threshold UXO false negatives. Assumptions and limitations of this methodology were highlighted, which must be understood and considered when integrating this approach on future projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Between 1854 and 1856 the shape of private and public collections of arms, armour, and ordnance were influenced directly by the conflict with Russia, especially from the main theatre in the Crimea and its key military engagements including Alma, Balaklava, Inkerman, and Sevastopol. While antiquities and some examples of militaria had entered private collections through personal travel during the first half of the nineteenth century, it was the outbreak of war with Russia that perhaps had the strongest influence on collections. The new theatre of war provided fresh opportunities to begin a collection or expand an existing one. Moreover, a greater number of individuals from all levels of society were given chances to acquire objects than hithertofore, from militaria to objets d'art to ordinary domestic items. Pictures and photographs were often the most highly prized, particularly of the time before war had started and the destruction of cities such as Sevastopol had occurred.1 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the use of a deep learning neural network (DLNN) as a tool to improve maritime safety by classifying the potential threat to shipping posed by unexploded ordnance (UXO) objects. Unexploded ordnance poses a huge threat to maritime users, which is why navies and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) around the world are using dedicated advanced technologies to counter this threat. The measures taken by navies include mine countermeasure units (MCMVs) and mine-hunting technology, which relies on the use of sonar imagery to detect and classify dangerous objects. The modern mine-hunting technique is generally divided into three stages: detection and classification, identification, and neutralisation/disposal. The detection and classification stage is usually carried out using sonar mounted on the hull of a ship or on an underwater vehicle. There is now a strong trend to intensify the use of more advanced technologies, such as synthetic aperture sonar (SAS) for high-resolution data collection. Once the sonar data has been collected, military personnel examine the images of the seabed to detect targets and classify them as mine-like objects (MILCO) or non mine-like objects (NON-MILCO). Computer-aided detection (CAD), computer-aided classification (CAC) and automatic target recognition (ATR) algorithms have been introduced to reduce the burden on the technical operator and reduce post-mission analysis time. This article describes a target classification solution using a DLNN-based approach that can significantly reduce the time required for post-mission data analysis during underwater reconnaissance operations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: In creole bovine breeds, it is essential to know the change in morphological traits related to the size of the animal; this morphological change is known as allometry. With allometric studies, the function of body structures and their relationship with the performance and survival of breeds and species can be analyzed. The aim of this study was to describe the allometric growth of certain body parts of the Sanmartinero creole bovine breed, from an early age. A total of 79 females with an age range of 0.5 to 10 years were studied. Body measurements were obtained individually: cannon perimeter, thoracic perimeter, body length, withers height, and body weight. Functional and production indices were obtained for animals aged more than 3 years: corporal index, anamorphosis index, dactylo thoracic index, and the relative thickness of the cannon. The correlation between body weight and cannon perimeter did not show any tendency towards a plateau. In other words, in the Sanmartinero bovine, a very early development of the cannon perimeter is detected, which could cause bone fragility in heavier animals. The data suggest a low harmony with appendicular bone development, that is, less robust shaft bones to support body mass. Therefore, the measurement of the thoracic perimeter, the withers height, and the thorax perimeter should be considered in genetic improvement programs of the Sanmartinero creole bovine. The variation in the dimensions of the body of living beings in relation to their size, function, or shape is known as allometry. Allometry studies allow the analysis of the function of body structures and their relationship with the performance and survival of breeds and species. The aim of this study was to describe the ontogenetic characteristics of the weight of certain bone elements of the Sanmartinero creole bovine breed, from an early age (6 months) until maturity. A total of 79 females of the Sanmartinero creole bovine breed with an age range of 0.5 to 10 years were studied. Body measurements were obtained individually using standard procedures: cannon perimeter, thoracic perimeter, body length, withers height, and body weight. Functional and production indices were obtained for animals aged more than 3 years (n = 53): corporal index, anamorphosis index, dactylo thoracic index, and the relative thickness of the cannon. The correlation between body weight and the cannon perimeter showed no trend towards a plateau. In the Sanmartinero creole bovine, therefore, a very early development of the cannon perimeter is detected, which could lead to bone fragility in heavier animals. Therefore, data suggest little harmony with appendicular bone development, i.e., with less robust cannons which are those necessary to support body mass. It is suggested that in genetic improvement programs of the Sanmartinero creole bovine, the measurement of the cannon perimeter, the withers height, and the thoracic perimeter should be considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With advancements in both the quality and collection speed of magnetic data captured by uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV)-based systems, there is a growing need for robust and efficient systems to automatically interpret such data. Many existing conventional methods require manual inspection of the survey data to pick out candidate areas for further analysis. We automate this initial process by implementing unsupervised machine learning techniques to identify small, well-defined regions. When further analysis is conducted with magnetic inversion algorithms, then our approach also reduces the nonlinear computation and time costs by breaking one huge inversion problem into several smaller ones. We also demonstrate robustness to noise and sidestep the requirement for large quantities of labeled training data: two pitfalls of current automation approaches. We propose first to use hierarchical clustering on filtered magnetic gradient data and then to fit ellipses to the resulting clusters to identify subregions for further analysis. In synthetic data experiments and on real-world datasets, our model successfully captures all true targets while simultaneously proposing fewer computationally costly false positives. With this approach, we take an important step towards fully automating the detection of high-risk subregions, but we wish to emphasize the importance of prudent skepticism until it has been tested and proven on more diverse data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article considers logistics and supply in the China Relief Expedition. In the China campaign, as in all armed conflicts, the availability of matériel and subsistence determined what military options were available to commanders. In 1900, because of a strong industrial base and a burgeoning logistical network, the US Army, Marine Corps, and Navy demonstrated an increased capacity and capability to project power on hemispheric scales. Throughout the entirety of their intervention in China, Americans moved animals, artillery, medical supplies, men, ordnance, and subsistence across great distances – over sea and land, to and within the theatre of operations – with remarkable efficiency under difficult conditions. Thus, the China Relief Expedition was instructive for the US profession of arms, and pointed to a future in which large-scale combat operations on land and at sea would require careful integration and more extensive logistical support than military operations of nineteenth-century conflicts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The transcript is of one from a number of interviews with disaster risk reduction (DRR) "pioneers" carried out in 2022 as a part of the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) project to record the history of the field. It aims to enable one of the "pioneers" to explain his role in the emergence of disaster studies and provide critical commentary on what he considers is wrong with current DRR approaches. Design/methodology/approach: Terry Cannon was interviewed to explain the beginnings of his involvement in disasters research and to comment on his views on progress in the field of disaster risk reduction since his early work in the 1980s. The transcript and video were developed in the context of the UNDRR project on the history of DRR. Findings: The interview provides an account of the origins of the book "At Risk" and why it was considered necessary. This is put into the context of how the field of DRR has emerged since the 1980s. It elicits opinions on what he considers the gaps in both his early work (especially in the book "At Risk" of which he was a co-author) and in the field of DRR recently. Originality/value: It provides historical context on how early disaster research developed the alternative framework of "social construction" of disasters, in opposition to the idea that they are "natural". It challenges some of the approaches that have emerged as DRR and has been institutionalised, including its increasing difficulty in supporting the ideas of social construction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

8-month-old, 80 animals, including 40 males and 40 females of Rakhshani sheep were randomly selected from Pirkani sheep farm district, Naseerabad, Baluchistan. The results showed that the average cannon bone circumference in Rakhshani ram was 8.05±0.20 cm and in ewe was 7.53±0.11 cm, statistically significant between male and female of Rakhshani breed. The body weight was higher (P<0.05) in male which was 27.08±0.64 kg and in female 23.91±0.38 kg. The average body height was 65.47±0.82 and 59.98±0.58 cm in rams and ewes, which was significantly higher in rams (male) as compared to ewes (female). The body length was observed as 69.89±0.54 cm and 63.37±0.84 cm in rams and ewes. Rakhshani rams have larger (P<0.05) body length compared to ewes. The cannon bone circumference has strong positive influence on body weight, body height and body length of Rakhshani sheep (P<0.05). The genetic correlation of cannon bone circumference for body weight, body height, body length for male was 0.657, 0.830, 0.783, and for body weight, body height 0.725, 0.639 whereas for body height and body length 0.895. However, for female it was 0.597, 0.810, 0.699 in between cannon bone circumference vs. body weight, body height and body length, and for body weight vs. body height, body length 0.675, 0.619, whereas for body height vs. body length, it was 0.798. In conclusion, the Rakhshani rams have significantly higher cannon bone circumference and has significant influence on body weight, body height and body length of Rakhshani sheep breed of Baluchistan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The principle of the compressed air cannon is that compressed air in the reservoir expands rapidly to propel the projectile. Previous studies assume that the tube pressure in front of the projectile is constant because the tube pressure was too low compared to the compressed air pressure in the reservoir. However, when the projectile actually travels in the tube, a compression wave is generated in front of the projectile. In this study, the theoretical prediction for the velocity of the projectile was performed using the tube pressure in front of the projectile affected by the compression wave as a variable. The results show that the maximum velocity decreases compared to previous studies. This difference from the constant tube pressure assumption cases becomes larger as the maximum velocity of the projectile increases. The theoretical prediction considering the compression wave shows a more realistic deceleration than when the tube pressure is constant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction To address the military gap in the standardized collection of lifetime blast exposures across clinical and research endeavors, researchers at the National Intrepid Center of Excellence (NICoE) completed a quality improvement project that utilized systematic, iterative focus groups that leveraged the input from various stakeholders including subject matter experts, clinical providers, and service members (SMs) to develop a comprehensive, self-report blast exposure inventory that could be completed within 5-10 minutes. This manuscript outlines the process of the development of this inventory. Materials and Methods This project included three phases of focus groups that occurred at the NICoE between August 2020 and March 2021 to collect feedback and input from relevant military stakeholders. The study team utilized related assessments available in the literature, together with clinical experience with the NICoE patient population, to inform the development of an initial draft inventory. Phase 1 consisted of blast injury research subject matter experts who had extensive experience researching and providing clinical care to SMs exposed to blast. Phase 2 consisted of NICoE clinicians across numerous clinical specialties. Phase 3 included current active duty patients in the NICoE intensive outpatient program. Results Following completion of the focus groups, a lifetime blast exposure inventory was developed in the form of a single page table including incoming, outgoing, training, and operational exposures and broken down by levels of weapon systems as well as breaching and explosive ordnance disposal exposures. In addition, select questions related to the first and most recent blast exposures and experience as an instructor for explosive ordnance disposal- and breaching-related training were included. Conclusions Researchers at the NICoE developed a self-report blast exposure inventory through a quality improvement project that included active, ongoing participation and feedback of clinical experts and military SMs. The end result is a brief, single page inventory that can be administered within 5-10 minutes. Although additional research is needed to refine and validate the inventory, the project team believes that the tool begins to address a long-standing gap in the DoD in the standardized collection of lifetime blast exposures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1853, at the sale of the collection of the Count of Milan of Sicily, the Ordnance Office at the Tower of London purchased a South Italic panoply, ostensibly from Cumae, for £200. The set included a winged helmet, a cuirass, a pair of greaves, thigh protectors, a belt, a sword and scabbard, and a spearhead. The Cumae armour, belonging to a high-status warrior, can be broadly dated on stylistic grounds to about 375–25 BC and exhibits a sophisticated interplay of imagery relating to Hermes, Gorgons, and boars. The weapons date to the eighth century BC and are thought to have been added to the panoply in the nineteenth century to make a more attractive and visually 'complete' collection for display or sale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction/purpose: Decades of dealing with unexploded ordnance (UXO) in some areas of the Republic of Serbia have confirmed that it presents a substantial hazard to the security of people, property, and the environment. Even though the terrain has been cleaned, various threats from difficult-tofind UXO components remain serious. Inadequate systemic solutions for UXO management can have significant harmful consequences. Methods: Based on the spatial distribution analysis and different UXO types and quantities, this article studies the effects of dangerous components of unexploded ordnance on human lives and the environment. Two different geospatial analyses were performed including the guidelines for risk management through risk elimination based on multiple criteria, the GIS, and the Remote Sensing analysis. Results: Two different geospatial analyses resulted in the areas at high risk of remaining UXO. Conclusion: The article significantly contributes to creating an environmental risk management strategy for UXO-contaminated regions. It presents an effective technique for addressing risk assessment challenges in such sites. The analysis considers both risk analysis and environmental protection options. Using the multi-criteria analysis and the GIS, it estimates the exposure of built structures, people, soil types, and plant species to UXO dangers in key locations. This paper serves as a guideline for environmental risk assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

William Roy was the son of a Lanarkshire estate factor, born into a locally influential and solidly Presbyterian family. Through contacts with the powerful Dundas family, his career path took him away from Clydesdale to make a significant contribution to the improvement and accuracy of the mapping of Great Britain. Following the defeat of the Jacobite army at Culloden, he came to the attention of David Watson, appointed Deputy-Quartermaster-General in Scotland and tasked with producing a survey of North Britain based on his own scheme. This was part of a wider military programme to improve the road network and the defences of several key Scots castles. Although to the wider public Roy is most closely associated with this Military Survey, it was Watson's concept and was carried out for a military purpose. It was subsequently described by Roy himself as 'rather ... a magnificent military sketch, than a very accurate map of a country' and this may have influenced his later career. Roy worked throughout as a civilian and only received his army commission after the Survey was completed. Although this was only part of his contribution to the advancement of knowledge, it is possible that, in Scotland, it is the one part of his career which won him most renown. While surveying southern Scotland, he developed an interest in military, particularly Roman, antiquities which led to the posthumous publication of his major study in 1793. Unlike other Scots figures alive during the Scottish Enlightenment, his real contribution to cartography was particularly British and was instrumental in the foundation of the Ordnance Survey. For the first time, readers have the opportunity to consider his life in the round. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land use/land cover sits alongside other basic types of information about a country, such as its population and economy. However, in contrast with population data, which have been supplied by the decennial British Population Census since 1801 (apart from 1941), the routine and periodic collection of land‐use/land‐cover data has proved more challenging. Notable exceptions include the First and Second Land Utilisation surveys of the 1930s and 1960s, and the Countryside Surveys using a stratified sample of 1‐km grid squares undertaken periodically since 1984. The focus here is on the land‐use/land‐cover data collected by the Ordnance Survey from the 1850s to 1880s as part of the cadastral mapping of the country at 1:2500 scale. This information was published in Parish Books of Reference. These documents for parishes covering the South Downs, a National Character Area and National Park, in East and West Sussex provide the attribute data for the land parcels that have been joined to digitised polygons in order map land use/land cover across this area for the mid‐1870s. Classification of these data into 20 land‐use/land‐cover types enabled visual assessment and quantitative analysis using statistical techniques and spatial indices to explore the complexity of the landscape. Having shown the feasibility of mapping land‐use/land‐cover data for the South Downs, the paper concludes by considering issues involved in extending this work to other counties for which the Books of Reference were published. The Ordnance Survey's Parish Books of Reference and other data sources have been used to create a land‐use/land‐cover map for the mid‐1870s covering the South Downs, a National Character Area and National Park in East and West Sussex. The spatial pattern of land use/land cover has been examined using descriptive measures and landscape metrics. The potential to extend such mapping to other parts of the country has also been considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes, from a historical and anthropological perspective, the influence Chile's inaugural practice of heritage protection, promoted between 1925 and 1970, has had on the management of National Monuments during the Chilean social outbreak, which began in October 2019. The study reveals that this inaugural practice -characterized by the heritagization of assets representative of an indigenous (archeological and paleontological), colonial and republican legacy- has resulted in a vindication of the contemporary presence of indigenous cultures and the emergence of counter-narratives that decolonize and denationalize the cannon of Hispanic and Republican narratives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The US president's unfettered authority to order the use of nuclear weapons and an unstable US nuclear posture create a compound existential risk. Reducing the risk requires eliminating the dangerously unstable warfighting contingencies of first use of nuclear weapons and launch on warning of nuclear attack from the repertoire of presidential options; re-configuring the nuclear chain of command; and building a robust and enduring nuclear command system to stabilize the contingency of second-strike retaliation on which true deterrence depends. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper shows a hypercomplex function theory emerging in the representation of paravector‐valued monogenic functions over the (m+1)$$ \left(m+1\right) $$‐dimensional Euclidean space through a basic set (or basis) of hypercomplex monogenic polynomials. We derive the properties of the arising hypercomplex Cannon function and present an extension of the well‐known Whittaker‐Cannon theorem to special monogenic functions defined in an open hyperball in ℝm+1$$ {\mathbb{R}}^{m+1} $$. More precisely, we determine what conditions should be applied to a basic set of special monogenic polynomials to attain the effectiveness property in an open hyperball employing Hadamard's three‐hyperballs theorem. We also provide a necessary and sufficient condition for a special monogenic Cannon series to represent every function near the origin that is special monogenic there. Additionally, we investigate the effectiveness of a non‐Cannon basis and show that the underlying hypercomplex Cannon function maintains similar properties in both cases, the Cannon basis and the non‐Cannon basis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a promising kind of functional material, highly reactive thermite energetic materials (tEMs) with outstanding reactive activation can release heat quickly at a high reaction rate after low-energy stimulation, which is widely used in sensors, triggers, mining, propellants, demolition, ordnance or weapons, and space technology. Thus, this review aims to provide a holistic view of the recent progress in the development of multifunctional highly reactive tEMs with controllable micro/nano-structures for various engineering applications via different fabricated techniques, including the mechanical mixing method, vapor deposition method, assembly method, sol-gel method, electrospinning method, and so on. The systematic classification of novel structured tEMs in terms of nano-structural superiority and exothermic performance are clarified, based on which, suggestions regarding possible future research directions are proposed. Their potential applications within these rapidly expanding areas are further highlighted. Notably, the prospects or challenges of current works, as well as possible innovative research ideas, are discussed in detail, providing further valuable guidelines for future study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Colombia has hundreds of historical shipwrecks, but systematic research on this topic is scarce, which makes locating wreck sites problematic. Colombia is home to the Caribbean archipelago of San Andres, Old Providence, and Santa Catalina. Its complex environmental conditions make it a "ship trap". On 2 February 1894, the USS Kearsarge ran aground on Roncador Cay, one of the Archipelago's islets, and the location of the wreck site remains uncertain. Due to its role in the American Civil War, the Kearsarge is important naval heritage. Based on historical and cartographic records, orthophotographs, Landsat images, and light-detection-and-ranging (LiDAR) data, this study aimed to estimate the location of the wreck site in a Geographic Information System (GIS). Court-martial records, particularly nautical data and astronomical coordinates, were reviewed, including a study from 1894 indicating the wreck's location on a map without coordinates. Nautical charts were also analyzed to find the Kearsarge wreck symbol. To identify the wreck site's ordnance, logbooks and information on previous salvage efforts were examined. The analysis of nautical charts revealed a few shipwrecks, but not the Kearsarge. Historical and remote-sensing data were processed in a GIS, along with the most recent nautical chart of Roncador Cay from 2017, to obtain a possible geographical location. This resulted in coordinates, which were used to detect features associated with the USS Kearsarge in the processed data. Although the wreck was not detected, the data helped to estimate the approximate coordinates for where the wreck could be located, quantifying our degree of uncertainty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A few promising solutions for thermal imaging Unexploded Ordnance (UXO) detection were proposed after the start of the military conflict in Ukraine in 2014. At the same time, most of the landmine clearance protocols and practices are based on old, 20th-century technologies. More than 60 countries worldwide are still affected by explosive remnants of war, and new areas are contaminated almost every day. To date, no automated solutions exist for surface UXO detection by using thermal imaging. One of the reasons is also that there are no publicly available data. This research bridges both gaps by introducing an automated UXO detection method, and by publishing thermal imaging data. During a project in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2019, an organisation, Norwegian People's Aid, collected data about unexploded ordnances and made them available for this research. Thermal images with a size of 720 × 480 pixels were collected by using an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle at a height of 3 m, thus achieving a very small Ground Sampling Distance (GSD). One of the goals of our research was also to verify if the explosive war remnants' detection accuracy could be improved further by using Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN). We have experimented with various existing modern CNN architectures for object identification, whereat the YOLOv5 model was selected as the most promising for retraining. An eleven-class object detection problem was solved primarily in this study. Our data were annotated semi-manually. Five versions of the YOLOv5 model, fine-tuned with a grid-search, were trained end-to-end on randomly selected 640 training and 80 validation images from our dataset. The trained models were verified on the remaining 88 images from our dataset. Objects from each of the eleven classes were identified with more than 90% probability, whereat the Mean Average Precision (mAP) at a 0.5 threshold was 99.5%, and the mAP at thresholds from 0.5 to 0.95 was 87.0% up to 90.5%, depending on the model's complexity. Our results are comparable to the state-of-the-art, whereat these object detection methods have been tested on other similar small datasets with thermal images. Our study is one of the few in the field of Automated UXO detection by using thermal images, and the first that solves the problem of identifying more than one class of objects. On the other hand, publicly available thermal images with a relatively small GSD will enable and stimulate the development of new detection algorithms, where our method and results can serve as a baseline. Only really accurate automatic UXO detection solutions will help to solve one of the least explored worldwide life-threatening problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The magnetic cannon (Gauss cannon or Gauss rifle) experiment is notable for its cross-disciplinary nature within relevant physics concepts. It is simple, quick, and easy to execute, with a rich supply of mechanics and magnetism to be observed. It has an easy-to-use structure made of a few steel spheres positioned linearly on a rail. Taking these advantages into account, this paper presents a theoretical and experimental study of the Gauss cannon for classroom application using magnetism, kinematics, and energy and momentum conservation principles. The development was based on educational models of energy conservation in the Gauss cannon and was expanded to present a model that uses the principles of linear energy conservation and the potential energy of the magnets. The end result was the acquisition of an ejection velocity equation that could be tested experimentally. It was capable of accommodating more sphere configurations than the two works observed in the literature, and furthermore, it presents a more accurate values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Health Social Work emerged at the beginning of the 20th century with Richard Cabot and Ida Cannon at the Massachusetts General Hospital. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to explain succinctly, firstly, the contributions of Richard Cabot and Ida Cannon, secondly, those of Nicasio Landa and Concepción Arenal, and finally, to show the similarities and differences found between the USA and Spain in the process of the emergence of proto-Health Social Work. A historical-systematic methodology has been used. The novelty of this contribution lies in the fact that it is the first time that Concepción Arenal has been considered as the first proto-health social worker in the history of Social Work in Spain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to reconstruct and compare the technical developments of Italian ordnance production during the second half of the fifteenth century. The analysis will particularly focus on novelties and changes induced by the appearance and the assimilation of French royal cannons into Italian warfare, before and after the famed French Neapolitan campaign of 1494. Data have been collected from numerous contemporary chronicles and several critical editions of documents. Moreover, archival sources have been used for the examination of the significant Florentine case study. The results of the research demonstrate that the Italian states had for some time been engaged in the traditional manufacture of heavy guns, and so were skilled at adopting original practices, searching out innovations, and encouraging effective ideas, in the lively context of a Renaissance technological efflorescence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The FAS Nuclear Notebook is researched and written by Hans M. Kristensen, director of the Nuclear Information Project with the Federation of American Scientists, and Matt Korda, a research associate with the project. This Nuclear Notebook reviews the status of France's nuclear arsenal and finds that the stockpile of approximately 300 warheads has remained stable in recent years, but that significant modernizations are underway with regard to ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, submarines, aircraft, and the nuclear industrial complex. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What does the United States need to do - and what could it reasonably not do - in terms of ensuring the reliability of its nuclear arsenal and reducing the huge cost currently foreseen for maintaining that reliability? Clearly, in our view, the United States could invest less in what is broadly called "nuclear modernization" and still maintain a reliable nuclear arsenal. Reducing such investments, however, would require hard decisions about the overall shape of the US arsenal and the need to continue to support some legs of the current triad of nuclear-capable airplanes and land- and sea-based missiles. The United States could for example reduce costs without compromising security by phasing out the most vulnerable leg of the triad, ground-based nuclear missiles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes the philosophical concepts behind Walter B. Cannon’s physiology. This physiologist had a teleological conception of the organism. To understand better the nature of the organic functions, he found very useful to question the purpose of the physiological processes. His Emergency Theory and the homeostasis concept are the results of this approach. Cannon explained many examples to illustrate teleological processes in the human body, but he found some mechanisms that seem to lack a purpose or work against the body’s health and survival. Throughout this article, Cannon’s holistic and teleological conception and his theoretical contributions to the world of physiology will be explained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Laterally directed explosive eruptions are responsible for multiple fatalities over the past decade and are an increasingly important volcanology problem. To understand the energy dynamics for these events, we collected field-scale explosion data from nine acoustic sensors surrounding a tiltable cannon as part of an exploratory experimental design. For each cannon discharge, the blast direction was varied systematically at 0°, 12°, and 24° from vertical, capturing acoustic wavefield directivity related to the tilt angle. While each event was similar in energy discharge potential, the resulting acoustic signal features were variable event-to-event, producing non-repetitious waveforms and spectra. Systematic features were observed in a subset of individual events for vertical and lateral discharges. For vertical discharges, the acoustic energy had a uniform radiation pattern. The lateral discharges showed an asymmetric radiation pattern with higher frequencies in the direction of the blast and depletion of those frequencies behind the cannon. Results suggest that, in natural volcanic systems, near-field blast directionality may be elucidated from acoustic sensors in absence of visual data, with implications for volcano monitoring and hazard assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the career trajectory of Ding Gongchen (1800–1875), a Muslim maritime merchant and amateur military technologist from Fujian, to shed light on the changing social landscape of military technological learning in China from the first decades of the nineteenth century to the beginning of the Self-Strengthening Movement in the 1860s. The gradual loosening of state control on military knowledge in the early nineteenth century facilitated the rise of a transprovincial literati network centered on cannon technology during the Opium War (1839–42). An active member of this network, Ding Gongchen participated in local militia training, engaged in textual research and hands-on experimentation with cannons, and established connections with Manchu and Han officials and nonofficeholding literati and gentry. Tracing the production and circulation of Ding's cannon manuals shows how Ding leveraged his maritime experiential knowledge and native-place ties to establish his authority as a cannon expert, which led to his remarkable rise in midcentury officialdom and statecraft circles. However, Ding's involvement in the Self-Strengthening military industrialization of the 1860s was limited and short-lived. The latter stages of Ding's career illustrate how the Opium-War network of cannon technology, which drew on an earlier tradition of military statecraft traceable to the Ming, became rapidly marginalized by an industrializing scheme that privileged the direct importation of foreign machines and expertise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fabricated wrought-iron cannons made in 1844 demonstrated the superiority of welding with a hydraulic press instead of forge hammers. Daniel Treadwell in an early example of additive manufacturing welded multiple discs together to make cannon that then required only finishing on a lathe and attaching trunnions. His cannon sustained proof testing what would have quickly destroyed equivalent cast-iron guns. When that same year a large wrought-iron cannon built up from staves and rings by hammer welding exploded during a public demonstration the subsequent investigation by ordnance officers and a committee of the Franklin Institute chose to overlook incomplete welds and blame the failure on deficient iron used to make the gun. Their conclusion shifted blame from those involved to a distant ironmaker. Development of fabricated cannon and continuous pressure welding then passed to England. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Detailed microstructural insights into 155 mm cannon barrel failure. • Identification and analysis of the heat-affected layer. • Comparative analysis of crack formation and propagation. • Advanced analytical techniques in damage assessment. To elucidate the surface damage characteristics of artillery barrel bores, a dissected 155 mm failed barrel was analyzed. Utilizing macroscopic imaging, SEM and EBSD for characterization, distinct damage patterns were identified. The rifling and forcing cone regions predominantly exhibited fatigue crack patterns, while the mid-bore region also showed signs of fatigue cracks. Notably, the groove region demonstrated frictional wear features. Both the grooves and the lands region at the muzzle end were characterized by frictional wear. A significant finding was the presence of a heat-affected layer along the bore surface, extending from the breech end to the muzzle, with its thickness gradually decreasing. The radial hardness of the bore surface demonstrated a decreasing trend, with the hardness of the heat-affected layer being about double that of the matrix material. The formation of this layer was attributed to the high-energy impact loads the bore surface endures, involving a cycle of high temperature and rapid cooling. This process induces recrystallization, sub-grain structure formation, and continuous grain refinement alongside dislocation annihilation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Safavids benefiting from Akkoyunlu development of artillery, advanced it due to their conflicts with the Ottomans. The Safavids made the decision to establish an artillery class following their victory in Chaldiran. They sought solutions to issues artillery exhibited during conflicts in an effort to increase the cannons' utility over time. In the area of artillery, the Safavids were heavily inspired by the Ottomans. The primary driving force has always been to balance the Ottoman artillery's firepower during battle. One of the clearest indications of the Ottomans' influence on Safavid artillery is the fact that nearly all of the Safavid related words were adopted from the Ottomans. The Safavids made an effort to build the guns they need while using a variety of cannon types. However, a significant barrier to further development was the scarcity of raw materials. They bought guns and hired artillery masters from European nations that were Ottoman rivals using diplomacy as a solution. In order to meet their need for cannons, a significant resource was provided by the war booty. From the time of Shah Tahmasb until the time of Shah II. Abbas, the Safavid artillery class followed a path of development, but the prolonged period of peace and the economic crises during the last years of the state forced the class to enter a condition of immobility. The Safavids' reform initiatives to resuscitate the artillery class were therefore ineffective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People who live or work in areas where there have been armed conflicts may face the threat of landmines and explosive hazards, such as unexploded or abandoned ordnance, abandoned military vehicles, and equipment. Therefore, this is a tremendous obstacle to development and construction in such areas, which requires awareness of the threat and appropriate preventive action. This paper aims to facilitate the detection and elimination of planted landmines in Yemen. Two stages are proposed to be implemented in this study for the demining techniques: detection and clearance phases. The first phase uses a Quadcopter with detecting sensors to locate and map the mines' spot, while the second stage uses a Quadcopter to unload a mass on that determined location from a certain height. By employing these two stages, it is expected to quickly and accurately detect the locations of landmines. That will reduce risk, protect human lives, and provide a more efficient and safe way to sweep minefield workers using sample, small, and easy control equipment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This book review discusses "Humphrey Welfare, General William Roy, 1726–1790: Father of the Ordnance Survey" by Humphrey Welfare. The author praises Welfare's meticulous research and use of various sources to piece together a comprehensive biography of William Roy. Roy, the son of a Lanarkshire estate factor, was chosen to conduct a rapid survey of Scotland after the Jacobite campaigns, which set him on a military career focused on improving mapping systems. His work in surveying Roman camps in Scotland contributed to the field of field surveying and the understanding of Roman Britain. The book also delves into the political and technological background of Britain in the late eighteenth century, highlighting the importance of Roy's mapping in the military defense of Great Britain. While the reviewer notes that the maps in the book are reproduced at a small scale, overall, the biography is considered helpful and informative. [Extracted from the article]

APOGEE and GALAH are two high resolution multi-object spectroscopic surveys that provide fundamental stellar parameters and multiple elemental abundance estimates for about half a million stars in the Milky Way. Both surveys observe in different wavelength regimes and use different data reduction pipelines leading to significant offsets and trends in stellar parameters and abundances for the common stars observed in both surveys. Such systematic differences/offsets in stellar parameters and abundances make it difficult to effectively utilize them to investigate Galactic abundance trends in spite of the unique advantage provided by their complementary sky coverage and different Milky Way components they observe. Hence, we use the Cannon data-driven method selecting a training set of 4418 common stars observed by both surveys. This enables the construction of two catalogues, one with the APOGEE-scaled and the other with the GALAH-scaled stellar parameters. Using repeat observations in APOGEE and GALAH, we find high precision in metallicity (∼0.02–0.4 dex) and alpha abundances (∼0.02–0.03 dex) for spectra with good signal-to-noise ratio (SNR > 80 for APOGEE and SNR > 40 for GALAH). We use open and globular clusters to validate our parameter estimates and find small scatter in metallicity (0.06 dex) and alpha abundances (0.03 dex) in APOGEE-scaled case. The final catalogues have been cross-matched with the Gaia EDR3 catalogue to enable their use to carry out detailed chemo-dynamic studies of the Milky Way from perspectives of APOGEE and GALAH. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To analyze the effects of gas cannons on clouds and precipitation, multisource observational data, including those from National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) reanalysis, Hangzhou and Huzhou new-generation weather radars, laser disdrometer, ground-based automatic weather station, wind profiler radar, and Lin'an C-band dualpolarization radar, were adopted in this study. Based on the variational dual-Doppler wind retrieval method and the polarimetric variables obtained by the dual-polarization radar, we analyzed the microphysical processes and the variations in the macro- and microphysical quantities in clouds from the perspective of the synoptic background before precipitation enhancement, the polarization echo characteristics before, during and after enhancement, and the evolution of the fine three-dimensional kinematic structure and the microphysical structure. The results show that the precipitation enhancement operation promoted the development of radar echoes and prolonged their duration, and both the horizontal and vertical wind speeds increased. The dual-polarization radar echo showed that the diameter of the precipitation particles increased, and the concentration of raindrops increased after precipitation enhancement. The raindrops were lifted to a height corresponding to 0 to -20° due to vertical updrafts. Based on the disdrometer data during precipitation enhancement, the concentration of small raindrops (lgNw) showed a significant increase, and the mass-weighted diameter Dm value decreased, indicating that the precipitation enhancement operation played a certain "lubricating" effect. After the precipitation enhancement, the concentration of raindrops did not change much compared with that during the enhancement process, while the Dm increased, corresponding to an increase in rain intensity. The results suggest the positive effect of gas cannons on precipitation enhancement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Students enrolled in introductory math courses, such as college algebra, deserve to do more than find answers and fix mistakes. We present one interactive digital activity, the Cannon Man "Techtivity," which we developed to provide opportunities for students to develop an understanding of function, beyond just applying a rule, such as the vertical line test. With an accompanying facilitation guide, we describe how we promote instructor moves to privilege student reasoning. We provide student data to support the effectiveness of this approach. We conclude with implications for weaving such opportunities into the fabric of college algebra. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cannons are military or civil weapons supported on carriages or fixed mounts and used in warfare as well as against rebellions. Now, most of the cannons are exhibited in museums, forts, public and private buildings, and open places. Moreover, historical documents provide information on different types of forge-welded or cast cannons, which were manufactured both in India and abroad. Like in other museums, six iron cannons are housed at the Odisha State Maritime Museum, Cuttack, Odisha, India. Among them, two Low Moor (LM) cannons are displayed at the museum's main entrance, one LM and a Walker Company (WC) cannon are exhibited adjacent to the dockyard located in the museum, and two smaller cannons are displayed in the museum gallery. Similarly, two LM and two WC cannons are displayed at Residency, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, which were deployed during the First War of India's independence in 1857. None of the LM and WC cannons has displayed a considerable degree of corrosion despite their exposure to the open environment for a long duration. Electron microscopy studies of the LM and WC cannons of the Odisha State Maritime Museum were carried out to ascertain corrosion and decay. This study deals with the results of chemical analysis of the LM and WC cannons, emphasizing the fact that the corrosion rate of these cannons is significantly less than other cannons of India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]