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Item Open Access Defence and Security Doctoral Symposium Flyer 2019(Cranfield University, 2019-07-16 17:37) Cranfield UniversityFlyer promoting the Defence and Security Doctoral Symposium 2019.Item Open Access Group Interaction Modelling of PETN(Cranfield University, 2019-11-19 15:34) Maisey, MatthewGroup Interaction Modelling (GIM) is a relatively simple model developed to predict the properties of polymers based upon the interaction of a potential function between two adjacent molecules, and a thermodynamic energy balance equation relating the various energy contributions to an ensemble of molecular units. GIM has seen limited application to predicting the properties of explosives, but has not previously been applied to PETN; as result the required GIM parameters to model PETN have not been measured or derived. Here we use single point measurements of a number of PETN properties to fit the GIM parameters, and then validate this fitting process by predicting the temperature dependent response of PETN and comparing these results to experimental data from the literature.Crown copyright.Item Open Access Optimisation of Self-Immolative Systems: Understanding the Role of the Reporter Group(Cranfield University, 2019-11-19 15:35) Gavriel, AlexanderStimuli-responsive materials have become significant targets in advance materials as systems of this type offer great potential to perform a variety of functions in a diverse range of applications that span drug delivery (1), biological and chemical sensors (2), diagnostics (3) and degradable polymers (4).Self-immolative (5) systems are comprised of a stable bond between trigger and reporter group, the stability of which is sensitive to particular agents and environments. Recently, we have described (6) the first examples of selective self-immolative systems triggered by a non-acidic electrophilic species to afford a facile colorimetric visual disclosure of toxic electrophilic alkylating agents. Through molecular design, we have carried out a systematic study on the reporter group to explore the balance between stability, reactivity and degradation of the self-immolative system. A structure-property relationship was established from the library of stimuli-responsive molecules synthesised, and an improved detector capable of disclosing electrophiles under ambient conditions realised.References: 1. M. Roth, O. Green, S. Gnaim and D. Shabat, Chemical Reviews, 2015, 116, 1309-1352.2. N. H. Ho, R. Weissleder and C. H. Tung, ChemBioChem, 2007, 8, 560.3. E. Sella and D. Shabat, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2009, 131, 9934.4. A. Sagi, R. Weinstain, N. Karton and D. Shabat, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2008, 130, 5434.5. C. A. Blencowe, A. T. Russell, F. Greco, W. Hayes and D. W. Thornthwaite, Polym. Chem., 2011, 2, 773.6. A. L. Acton, F. Leroux, A. Feula, K. Melia, M. R. Sambrook, W. Hayes and A. T. Russell, Chem. Commun., 2019, 55, 5219.Item Open Access Safe Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning Towards the Engineering of Safe Robotic Teams(Cranfield University, 2019-11-19 15:36) Riley, JoshuaMulti-agent systems are a collection of agents working in shared environments, often with shared goals while being required to adhere to limited resources. These systems have universal applications and are often deemed as the future of automation in industry; however, an open issue within these systems is ensuring a degree of trustworthiness, allowing human counterparts to be confident that these systems and their individual agents will adhere to expected behaviours even when issues occur. The need for “Safety”, which is often defined in the literature in a post hoc fashion, in these systems can be seen at its most crucial within sensitive operations such as within military application and search and rescue operations. The current state of safety in agents, learning or otherwise, shows much promise with the use of quantitative analysis methods, to deliver a statistical foundation of how likely safety standards will be adhered to. In Multi-agent systems, a large area of literature is dedicated to Petri-net modelling, and using these models to constrict agent behaviour, however, Petri-nets require expertise to design, and analysis of these tools for safety remains an open question. This project aims to look further into the use of the Petri-net tool in modelling multi-agent systems to constrict “unsafe” behaviour while they learn to relatively optimise their behaviours and after this learning has concluded. The project aims to do this by increasing the accessibility of Petri-nets when modelling robot teams, and also further investigate ways to analysis these Petri-net models to deliver a high quality of trustworthiness.Item Open Access Advanced Technologies for the Bonding and De-Bonding of Armour Structures (ArmourBond)(Cranfield University, 2019-11-19 15:37) Chatzikypraios, KonstantinosA common multilayer vehicular armour design consists of a combination of adhesively-bonded metallic, ceramic and composite layers. The different properties of each layer contribute in fulfilling the lightweight and the high ballistic property requirements of these structures. Due to their complexity, though, there still are limitations in their performance that are not fully understood. These limitations are associated with a lack in understanding and controlling the propagation of the stress waves, which are induced by the projectile upon the impact event, through the different layers. The stress wave propagation, via reflection and transmission phenomena, is controlled by the acoustic impedance mismatch between the layers. The current epoxide-based armour systems, are incapable of attenuating the stress waves, promoting stress transmission, and exposing the occupants of the vehicles to greatly damaging shocks. Additionally, an increased reflection of the stress waves (in the form of tensile stress) causes the ceramic failure. As a result, the multi-hit performance of the armour is degraded. This PhD study will try to overcome these limitations by focusing on the investigation of novel adhesively-bonded systems, of high energy absorbance capability and improved shock wave attenuation, enhancing the multi-hit capability of the armour. The effect of the material selection and surface treatment on the adhesion and on the mechanical and ballistic performance of the novel structures (using the Split Hopkinson Pressure Bar and the Gas Gun apparatus) will be thoroughly investigated. Further to the above, the controlled debonding of these structures (dismantlable adhesion) will be also investigated, with respect to tailoring the armour against specific threats, fulfilling the “fly light and fight heavy” concept. Finally, the upscaling of the developed materials and structures will take place so that novel armour packs can be tested and validated, according to the STANAG standards.Item Open Access An End to End Hyperspectral Scene Simulator with Alternate Adjacency Models and Its Comparison with CameoSim(Cranfield University, 2019-11-19 15:37) Zahidi, UsmanIn this research we developed a rendering based End to End Hyperspectral scene simulator CHIMES (Cranfield Hyperspectral Image Modelling and Evaluation System), which generates NADIR images of passively illuminated 3-D outdoor scenes in visible and reflective infrared region i.e.360 nm to 2520 nm. CHIMES is capable of generating 3D geometry based on Digital Elevation Model (DEM) data. The atmospheric data is generated by radiative transfer code, MODTRAN, which is used to generate sky-dome environment map that also includes polarisation effect of sky due to Rayleigh scattering. CHIMES generates materials’ optical radiance by employing Metropolis Light Transport (MLT) method to simulate light. It includes render-time scattering phase function, adjacency-effect, sky-dome emitter and sensor modelling. CHIMES also includes adjacency-effect model similar to commercial Hyperspectral Image (HSI) simulator CameoSim, developed by Lockheed Martin, UK. This similarity is premised by the results of rigorous comparison of both simulators under several atmospheric conditions which shows that both simulators are in agreement when executed under same atmospheric and similar rendering configurations. An improved adjacency-effect model is also incorporated which is again compared with CameoSim. Results manifest that CHIMES together with this adjacency model perform better than CameoSim with respect to ground truth data.Keywords: Hyperspectral Imaging, Synthetic Image Generation, Adjacency-Effect, CameoSim.Item Open Access High Resolution Mapping of DCIS Breast Microcalcifications(Cranfield University, 2019-11-19 15:38) Gosling, SarahBreast cancer accounts for 31% of all cancers in women in the UK, making it the most common female cancer. Ductal carcinoma in-situ (DCIS), a malignancy confined to the ducts of the breast, is an increasingly diagnosed cancer which is highly associated with calcium deposits (microcalcifications). Microcalcifications are associated with both benign and malignant conditions and are predominantly composed of hydroxyapatite (calcium phosphate), which has a highly substitutable structure. Therefore, microcalcifications may be important diagnostic indicators of breast malignancy.X-ray diffraction was used, for the first time, to investigate the crystallographic properties of hydroxyapatite in microcalcifications. High-resolution mapping of individual calcifications from a single sample of ductal carcinoma in-situ was carried out to investigate variability of crystallographic parameters within single calcifications, and between calcifications of the same sample. Crystallite size and non-uniform strain are two key crystallographic properties investigated in this study. Numerous parameters showed significant variability both within individual calcifications and between calcifications from the same sample. For most calcifications, values of crystallite size were significantly greater towards the centre of calcifications, however this was not true of all calcifications. This high-resolution approach has revealed potential differential formation mechanisms of calcifications in breast tissue extracted from the same patient. Calcifications may provide an exciting insight into the mechanisms of breast malignancy formation and progression; therefore, crystallographic parameters may have a role as prognostic markers in breast cancer.Item Open Access Increasing the accessibility of NLP techniques for Defence and Security using a web-based tool(Cranfield University, 2019-11-19 15:39) Paxton-Fear, KatieAs machine learning becomes more common in defence and security, there is a real risk that the low accessibility of techniques to non-specialists will hinder the process of operationalising the technologies. This poster will present a tool to support a variety of Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques including the management of corpora – data sets of documents used for NLP tasks, creating and training models, in addition to visualising the output of the models. The aim of this tool is to allow non-specialists to exploit complex NLP techniques to understand the content of large volumes of reports.NLP techniques are the mechanisms by which a machine can process and analyse text written by humans. These methods can used for a range of tasks including categorising documents, translation and summarising text. For many of these tasks the ability to process and analyse large corpora of text is key. With current methods, the ability to manage corpora is rarely considered, instead relying on researchers and practitioners to do this manually in their file system. To train models, researchers use ad-hoc code directly, writing scripts or code and compiling or running them through an interpreter. These approaches can be a challenge when working in multidisciplinary fields, such as defence and security and cyber security. This is even more salient when delivering research where outputs may be operationalised and the accessibility can be a limiting factor in their deployment and use.We present a web interface that uses an asynchronous service-based architecture to enable non-specialists to easily manage multiple large corpora and create and operationalise a variety of different models – at this early stage we have focussed on one NLP technique, that of topic models.This tool-support has been created as part of a project considering the use of NLP to better understand reports of insider threat attacks. These are security incidents where the attacker is a member of staff or another trusted individual. Insider threat attacks are particularly difficult to defend against due to the level of access these individuals gain during the regular course of their employment. The wider use of these techniques would generate greater impact both tactically in defending against these attacks and strategically in developing policy and procedures. There are tools available, however they are often complex and perform a single-task, limiting their use. To generate maximum impact from our research we have developed this web-based software to make the tools more accessible, especially to non-specialist researchers, customers and potential users.Item Open Access Microarchitectural profiling of aging bone with depth(Cranfield University, 2019-11-19 15:40) Davies, SammieBone is a highly adaptive material and is known to change its structure and composition in times of disuse or overuse [1]. These periods can determine the microarchitecture of bone. This is evident when comparing the skeletal system of those considered “normal” and those coined “tactical athletes” such as military, firefighters and law enforcement [2]. However, occupation is not the only factor that can determine the structure and composition of bone. There are age-related changes that also occur. One example of this is the variability of bone mineral density (BMD) with age. It is known that BMD peaks at 20 years old, plateaus and then declines at 40 years old [3–5]. This reduction is believed to be a result of supressed bone remodelling rates [6]. Alongside BMD, the trabecular structure of bone also changes with age. Trabeculae become thinner or are lost and porosity increases [7–9]. This can lead to a decrease in bone strength [10].This may explain why many skeletal diseases are age correlated, such as osteoporosis (OP) and osteoarthritis (OA). A low BMD alongside the increased porosity seen in OP can lead to increased fragility and risk of fracture [11]. Bone mineralisation is also affected in OA, believed to occur due to overloading and resultant hypomineralisation [12–15]. This overloading is thought to explain why the risk of developing OA is significantly higher in these “tactical athletes” described above [16]. Many studies that have observed the age-related changes to bone considered their samples globally. However, it should be taken into consideration the depth at which these changes occur. Depth related changes propose that there is a factor, extrinsic to the bone, such as loading or abnormal joint tissue, that is determining its structure. By looking at the depth of these changes, this may suggest the extent of this factor’s influence. In the current study, we aimed to offer a microarchitectural depth profile of bone of various ages at a resolution of 2mm. Here, we could investigate the relationship between bone matrix mineralisation, trabecular bone microstructure and aging at differing depths. For this purpose, we determined bone matrix mineralisation (TMD), bone morphometry and bone volume fraction (BV/TV) using micro-CT at different depths in human femoral head cores of varying ages. These cores were harvested from donors from the Melbourne Femur Collection. We aimed to evaluate whether differences in trabecular microstructure could be explained by bone adaptation in age in response to changes in the bone matrix mineralisation and determine the depth to which these changes occur. References:1. Robling AG., Turner CH. Mechanical signaling for bone modeling and remodeling. Critical reviews in eukaryotic gene expression. 2009; 19(4): 319–338. 2. Cameron KL., Driban JB., Svoboda SJ. Osteoarthritis and the Tactical Athlete: A Systematic Review. Journal of Athletic Training. 2016/04/26. National Athletic Trainers Association; November 2016; 51(11): 952–961. Available at: DOI:10.4085/1062-6050-51.5.033. Sheth RD., Wesolowski CA., Jacob JC., Penney S., Hobbs GR., Riggs JE., et al. Effect of carbamazepine and valproate on bone mineral density. The Journal of pediatrics. Elsevier; 1 August 1995; 127(2): 256–262. Available at: DOI:10.1016/s0022-3476(95)70304-74. Hansson T., Roos B. Age changes in the bone mineral of the lumbar spine in normal women. Calcified Tissue International. September 1986; 38(5): 249–251. Available at: DOI:10.1007/BF025566025. Krølner B., Nielsen SP. Bone Mineral Content of the Lumbar Spine in Normal and Osteoporotic Women: Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Studies. Clinical Science. 1 March 1982; 62(3): 329–336. Available at: DOI:10.1042/cs06203296. Compston JE., McClung MR., Leslie WD. Osteoporosis. The Lancet. 2019; 393(10169): 364–376. Available at: DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(18)32112-37. Stauber M., Müller R. Age-related changes in trabecular bone microstructures: global and local morphometry. Osteoporosis International. 2006; 17(4): 616–626. Available at: DOI:10.1007/s00198-005-0025-68. Nagaraja S., Lin ASP., Guldberg RE. Age-related changes in trabecular bone microdamage initiation. Bone. 2007; 40(4): 973–980. Available at: DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bone.2006.10.0289. Ding M., Hvid I. Quantification of age-related changes in the structure model type and trabecular thickness of human tibial cancellous bone. Bone. 2000; 26(3): 291–295. Available at: DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/S8756-3282(99)00281-110. Hildebrand T., Laib A., Müller R., Dequeker J., Rüegsegger P. Direct Three-Dimensional Morphometric Analysis of Human Cancellous Bone: Microstructural Data from Spine, Femur, Iliac Crest, and Calcaneus. Journal of Bone and Mineral Research. 1 July 1999; 14(7): 1167–1174. Available at: DOI:10.1359/jbmr.1999.14.7.116711. Consensus development conference: Diagnosis, prophylaxis, and treatment of osteoporosis. The American Journal of Medicine. Elsevier; 1 June 1993; 94(6): 646–650. Available at: DOI:10.1016/0002-9343(93)90218-E12. Donell S. Subchondral bone remodelling in osteoarthritis. EFORT Open Reviews. June 2019; 4(6): 221–229. Available at: DOI:10.1302/2058-5241.4.18010213. Li B., Aspden RM. Mechanical and material properties of the subchondral bone plate from the femoral head of patients with osteoarthritis or osteoporosis. Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases. 1 April 1997; 56(4): 247–254. Available at: DOI:10.1136/ard.56.4.24714. Day JS., Ding M., van der Linden JC., Hvid I., Sumner DR., Weinans H. A decreased subchondral trabecular bone tissue elastic modulus is associated with pre-arthritic cartilage damage. Journal of Orthopaedic Research. September 2001; 19(5): 914–918. Available at: DOI:10.1016/S0736-0266(01)00012-215. van der Linden JC., Day JS., Verhaar JAN., Weinans H. Altered tissue properties induce changes in cancellous bone architecture in aging and diseases. Journal of Biomechanics. March 2004; 37(3): 367–374. Available at: DOI:10.1016/S0021-9290(03)00266-516. Cameron KL., Hsiao MS., Owens BD., Burks R., Svoboda SJ. Incidence of physician-diagnosed osteoarthritis among active duty United States military service members. Arthritis & Rheumatism. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd; 1 October 2011; 63(10): 2974–2982. Available at: DOI:10.1002/art.30498Item Open Access Automated Question Generation for Delphi Studies(Cranfield University, 2019-11-19 15:41) Sidorenko, TatjanaSurveys are a relatively easy and low-cost method for gathering a group opinion on a given subject. Despite there being several survey platforms the adaptation of these platforms for complex Delphi studies still leaves much to be desired. ‘Qualtrics Delphi Toolkit’ (QDT) is a tool that is designed to make the Qualtrics survey platform better adapted for Delphi studies.The Delphi method has been devised to aid forecasting and decision-making. It is a method that gauges the wisdom of crowds to estimate a solution or to come up with an accepted definition. A Delphi study consists of a number of rounds. In the first round, a panel of experts is gathered, each expert shares their opinion on the selected topic. In the second round, the opinions are compiled into a single unified summary that is then presented back to the experts. Each expert is then given an option to alter their original answer for the changes to then be propagated into the summary answer. This procedure is repeated until a consensus is reached. As the use of the Internet has become widespread it has allowed an increase in the magnitude of such studies, through facilitating access to a greater range of experts, as well as enabling the rapid gathering of more information. The tool support, however is often not able to efficiently manage this scale of data collection. Certain functionality, such as the ability to randomly sample a set of questions is not efficiently achievable at the scale required for large Delphi studies. The need for better tool support has become evident after facing the challenge of presenting a list of over 300 hacking techniques to a group of experts. This required stochastically presenting a subset of these techniques maximising expert engagement whilst minimising fatigue and performance decline.QDT is a tool that is written to extend the functionality of a well-known survey platform, Qualtrics, to automatically generate questions relating to a Delphi study. Currently, Qualtrics offers a feature called ‘Piped text’ that passes information from one question to the next. However this feature alone is not enough when there is a requirement to generate large volumes of questions based on previous questions. QDT is designed to automatically create questions from a list of strings. Together with Qualtrics's conditional formatting it allows efficient creation of large volumes of questions where the question text depends on user's previous choice. This will enable the efficient creation of large-scale survey-assisted Delphi studies where the list of topics is very large.Item Open Access The realisation of Business Relations Theory; How Did I Get There? A Research Story(Cranfield University, 2019-11-28 16:16) Alkebaisi, HussainThis poster aims to visualise the story behind a PhD research, a project through which a management theory was realised. The goal of the researcher is to share his experience in conducting the research, hoping that it will help other colleagues benefit from it.In the poster, the researcher will present a detailed flow chart that shows step by step, how did the researcher initiate his research idea, what barriers were faced during the research, how those barriers were the trigger behind the evolution of the research idea, how was grounded theory research method was applied and led to the research gap and question.The main concern in the poster is that the researcher will explain how a straightforward, simple idea can make a difference if we pay attention to it, and the most important issue is how a researcher can use his own way in conducting research and then to describe ‘How did he Get There’.Keywords – Business Relations Theory, Supply Chain Management, Grounded Theory, Objective-Orientation Approach, PhD Research StoryItem Open Access Buying Butter and Guns(Cranfield University, 2020-01-07 14:35) Oishee, Kundu,Is defence procurement different from other procurement activities of the government? This poster will present four cases of recent public procurement in the UK and compare the projects from their inception (tendering, selection of supplier) to final delivery in order to find the similarities and differences in military and civilian public procurement projects.It is easy to assume that defence is different or somehow ‘peculiar’ by claiming that the market is uncompetitive or that it is excessively political. However, there are rich literatures in management of major projects, innovation in large technical systems, and the economics of procurement in imperfect markets which suggest the potential for shared learning from seemingly unique projects in order to improve public procurement performance (i.e. to ensure projects are completed on-time and within budget).Methods and dataThe research project uses comparative case study to answer the research question and examines the procurement of the Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carriers, Ajax armoured fighting vehicle and the procurement of high-speed trains for the Thameslink and the Intercity Express Programme. Data is being obtained from government documents and reports (National Audit Office, Parliamentary Select Committees, government departments), Parliamentary debates, newspapers, trade press/industrial magazines, and interviews. The poster will present the data collected in a format that can easily inform the audience about the similarities and differences that can be observed between these four projects along three dimensions:(1) Competition: points related to the market structure, the level of competition between suppliers, and the selection of supplier(2) Challenges: technological, contractual, and political risks encountered in project delivery(3) Management and governance: scope and structure of project teams, training and capacity, turnover, performance review and accountabilityFindings and conclusionThe research uses multi-disciplinary perspectives (economics, management, public policy) for understanding procurement. The findings will be of interest to those interested in military procurement as well as those interested in the potential for cross-learning between the military and non-military sector on the topic of procuring large technical systems.Although data collection is underway and will be completed only by October, comparing the procurement of the Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carriers and rolling stock for the Thameslink programme already reveals important similarities in competition and challenges faced in the procurement of large technical systems by both the Ministry of Defence and the Department for Transport. Case study research is often criticized for not being generalizable but finding similarities in procurement experience for extremely complex projects (as the ones chosen) casts doubt on the assumption that defence procurement is different from civilian public procurement.Item Open Access What, Who, Where, How: The Impact of Recent Military AI Innovation in Security Terms(Cranfield University, 2020-01-07 14:46) Ertan, AmyThis poster visualises the results of a narrative evidence review on the topic of military AI innovation, drawing literature from a variety of disciplines to highlight potential unforeseen and/or unintended consequences of ‘Weaponised AI’. There are three main sections outlined to the visual display. The first section illustrates the ‘what’: What does ‘Weaponised AI’ mean and in which applications is the implementation occurring. The second section covers ‘Who and Where’, focusing on state strategy, the role of private industry, and the role additional actors. An empirical example comparing US, Russia and China will be visualised. The third section outlines the ‘How’ of military AI deployment, and leads directly into a discussion section on the implications of current innovation and military processes on categories of security, including strategic and operational aspects.Item Open Access Acoustic Interface States via Material Variation(Cranfield University, 2020-01-07 15:05) Pearce, BenjaminInterface states at the boundary between two phononic crystals can arise when the two crystals possess overlapping bandgaps and differing signs in the imaginary components of their impedance [1]. The suitability of a given pair of crystals when designing an interface system can be inferred from the parity of the supported standing edge states marking the beginning and end of their band gap [2]. A crystal that supports a standing wave with an even parity pressure distribution at the beginning of its band gap will possess a differing imaginary impedance sign to a crystal supporting an odd parity state at the start of its band gap [2]. Previous works [1,2,3] have designed such systems by varying the geometry of a crystal, such variations result in the band gap of the crystal closing and re-opening, leading to two crystals with geometries that place them either side of a band gap closure. This will meet the previously given criteria for exhibiting an interface state [3]. The present study uses a variation of materials within a phononic crystal to demonstrate an interface system, whilst maintaining a consistent geometry between the two crystals. FEM Modelling was performed, using the commercial COMSOL software, to show that variations in the material properties of one of the materials within a phononic crystal results in an analogous process of band gap opening and closing. Two, two component 1D phononic crystals consisting of alternating layers of materials ‘A’ and ‘B’ were then designed and modelled to confirm the parity of their band gap edge states. Material ‘A’ was set as 3 mm thick ABS plastic, whilst material ‘B’ was either water or aluminium with thickness of 0.3 mm. The crystals were numerically modelled to provide the transmission spectra both individually and as a combined interface system revealing the predicted presence of an interface state. Initial experimental confirmation is underway, with a preliminary sample of an ABS/water crystal having been constructed, and its transmission spectrum obtained. Results thus far show the presence of the expected modes and a band gap. Further investigations are now underway using an improved sample so that data may be better compared with modelling.References:1. Xiao, M., Zhang, Z. Q., & Chan, C. T. (2014). Surface impedance and bulk band geometric phases in one-dimensional systems. Physical Review X, 4(2), 1–12. 2. Meng, Y., Wu, X., Zhang, R. Y., Li, X., Hu, P., Ge, L., Wen, W. (2018). Designing topological interface states in phononic crystals based on the full phase diagrams. New Journal of Physics, 20(7). 3. Xiao, M., Ma, G., Yang, Z., Sheng, P., Zhang, Z. Q., & Chan, C. T. (2015). Geometric phase and band inversion in periodic acoustic systems. Nature Physics, 11(3), 240–244.Item Open Access Push out Measurements of Ammunition under Dynamic Conditions(Cranfield University, 2020-01-07 15:18) Muster, MichaelA small calibre weapon system consists of the weapon and the ammunition. In the case of bolt action rifles during the process of firing, the breech is a rigid bearing which prevents the casing from being pushed out. However, not the whole pushout force is taken by the bolt. Due to friction forces at the casing boundary, the chamber of the weapon can absorb a significant part of the pushout force. The duration of the pushout force is in the order of milliseconds. Piezoelectric strain gauges are capable of recording such short time events qualitatively. To increase the measurability of force obtained from raw signal, is filtered using a bandpass filter and applying a signal envelope. The results from the strain gauges are verified by a piezoelectric force washer. The analysis presented in this poster indicated that different lubricated or wet casing surfaces lead to bolt forces which are more than three times higher when compared unlubricated casings. This poster shows also how to measure highly dynamic events. The acquired results can be directly applied to bolt action rifles. These measurements may also have a significant influence on self-loading rifles, since the process of reloading is also dependent on the pushout forceItem Open Access The Influence of Military Specific Physical Activity on Physical and Cognitive Performance Relevant to Military Operations: Future Directions(Cranfield University, 2020-01-07 15:50) Vine, ChristopherBackground: The challenging and stochastic nature of military operations require combatants to operate at a high level whilst coping with numerous physical (e.g. load carriage) and cognitive challenges (e.g. decision making). Purpose: To investigate the effect of military specific physical activity (MSPA) on relevant parameters of physical and cognitive performance.Research Design: 1) Developing a representative MSPA protocol and physical and cognitive performance measures. 2) Quantifying the physical demands of the MSPA protocol. 3) Establishing the reliability and validity of the cognitive performance measures. 4) Quantifying the MSPA protocol’s effect on the physical and cognitive performance. Research Progress: A combined load carriage and fire and manoeuvre task was selected as the representative MSPA based on criticality and frequency of completion during military operations. Three physical performance measures well correlated military performance were selected 1) medicine ball throw, 2) weighted counter-movement jump 3) maximal isometric voluntary contraction. To assess cognitive performance a shoot/don’t shoot task and auditory n-back task were chosen based on the importance of working memory during military operations.Military Relevance: The proposed research design should increase the understanding of physical and cognitive function pre-, during-, and post-MSPA and for the development and assessment of mitigation strategies.Background: The challenging and stochastic nature of military operations require combatants to operate at a high level whilst coping with numerous physical (e.g. load carriage) and cognitive challenges (e.g. decision making). Purpose: To investigate the effect of military specific physical activity (MSPA) on relevant parameters of physical and cognitive performance.Research Design: 1) Developing a representative MSPA protocol and physical and cognitive performance measures. 2) Quantifying the physical demands of the MSPA protocol. 3) Establishing the reliability and validity of the cognitive performance measures. 4) Quantifying the MSPA protocol’s effect on the physical and cognitive performance. Research Progress: A combined load carriage and fire and manoeuvre task was selected as the representative MSPA based on criticality and frequency of completion during military operations. Three physical performance measures well correlated military performance were selected 1) medicine ball throw, 2) weighted counter-movement jump 3) maximal isometric voluntary contraction. To assess cognitive performance a shoot/don’t shoot task and auditory n-back task were chosen based on the importance of working memory during military operations.Military Relevance: The proposed research design should increase the understanding of physical and cognitive function pre-, during-, and post-MSPA and for the development and assessment of mitigation strategies.Item Open Access Predicting the Fate and Transport of Insensitive High Explosives in Soils(Cranfield University, 2020-01-07 16:30) Gutierrez-Carazo, EncinaA great deal of studies on the environmental fate and transport of legacy explosives such as cyclotrimethylenetrinitramine (RDX), 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT) and 1,3,5,7-tetranitro-1,3,5,7-tetrazoctane (HMX) has been conducted. However, less is known about the behaviour of Insensitive High Explosive (IHE) constituents being brought into military service such as 2,4-dinitroanisole (DNAN) and 5-nitro-1,2,4-triazol-3-one (NTO) in soil and water environmental compartments. Typically fate and transport of explosives are often performed under controlled laboratory conditions. However, experimental data are often limited to a particular soil type under specific climatic conditions (i.e. pH, soil saturation, temperature), which are not always representative of genuine environments. For example, several studies have addressed the dissolution mechanisms of energetic compounds on soil surfaces; many, however, have addressed dissolution of individual IHE without considering formulations with multiple constituents. Such results may have limited applicability for dissolution of residues on soils at impact zones or firing ranges because IHE often contain mixtures of energetic materials e.g. DNAN, RDX, and NTO, as well as small quantities of other chemicals such as stabilisers, which may alter physico-chemical properties compared to the pure compound. Therefore, computational modelling software is increasingly being used as an additional tool to simulate real scenarios. However, models are limited by the quality of the empirical data used to predict the temporal and spatial behaviour e.g. rate of transport of IHE to an aquifer. This is a particular problem for the prediction of the behaviour of IHE in the environment where key experimental data has not been obtained for a wide variety of soils and environments, and whose compounds are frequently investigated in isolation even though they are used in combination in IHE formulations. Therefore, the aim of this study is to review and assess two predictive models including GoldSim Simulation Software and Hydrus-1D for a representative range of soil-IHE combinations, and to develop a standardised method for the prediction of the behaviour of IHE in the environment. To date the GoldSim simulations have been compared to soil columns under controlled laboratory conditions to estimate the accuracy of the model developed. GoldSim was initially chosen due to its flexibility, which enabled the use of experimentally determined empirical data for specific soil types and IHE constituents. Initial comparisons were undertaken with DNAN and a simple quartz sand medium to determine which empirical data gave the most accurate predictions e.g. soil adsorption coefficient, degradation rates and solubility. The comparisons will be extended to include mixtures of IHE constituents in a variety of soil types e.g. sandy, loamy, and silty under various climatic conditions.Item Open Access Audio Visual Assessment of CBRN hazards and injuries (AVA)(Cranfield University, 2020-01-08 09:11) Komianos, AthanasiosIn recent years, there has been a significant rise in the uptake by the general public, of audio visual (AV) technology. In part this is driven by the wider adoption of smartphones, social media, broadband internet, computers with in built webcams and wearable devices. Despite the widespread adoption of AV technology, it has seen limited use in CBRN incidents, environmental hazards and emergencies.AVA will systematically measure and evaluate the current communication situation, capture and analyse the information requirements of groups of users, whilst identifying any constraints, consult UK, European and international standards and processes associated with communication during a CBRN incident. It will assess, evaluate and support the development of methods for the secure transmission of real time video over low bandwidth connections, to a web-video player, with the ability to adapt to any screen size, work on any smart device and to provide support to CBRN incident responders and field epidemiologists, where there is a shortage of specialists. The project outputs will help to inform decisions about the use of such new technology for front line needs, enabling remote responders in a disaster/hot zone, where there is limited network connectivity, to live-link with back-office specialists. AVA will develop the standards, procedures and guidelines for the use of this technology for remote risk assessment and decision making.Item Open Access Antibiotic Discovery from the Abyss(Cranfield University, 2020-01-08 09:20) Stennett, HenryIt is essential that we discover and develop new antibiotics to overcome the problems associated with antibiotic resistance and find treatments for bacteria that don’t respond well to currently available treatment options. Recent years have seen revived interest in culture-dependent methods for discovery - screening rare bacteria from unexplored environments for their ability to inhibit the growth of pathogens. The deep sea is vast, rich in biodiversity, and one of the few ‘pristine’ environments on the planet. The extremophilic bacteria from this niche are likely metabolic innovators that evolved differently to terrestrial species, making them attractive sources of novel natural products.Our aims include (i) characterising the microbiome of deep-sea sponges, which have never been investigated before; (ii) culturing deep-sea bacteria and screening them for antibiotic production; (iii) genome sequencing and mining of producers to delineate the biosynthesis of novel antibiotics. This interdisciplinary project involves microbiology, bioinformatics, and analytical chemistry techniques.A recent screen of bacteria isolated from deep sea sponges found six strains that produce antibiotics under specific culture conditions. The genomes of these bacteria have been sequenced with Illumina and Nanopore technologies, and several active molecules have been purified. Our hit rate (8/487, or 1.6%) is higher than estimated for other environments, indicating that deep-sea sponges are a powerful source of biodiversity. Future work will involve linking natural products to biosynthetic gene clusters and transferring these clusters to heterologous hosts for larger scale production of antibiotics for method-of-action and efficacy studies.Item Open Access Tactical Psychology in Operation Veritable(Cranfield University, 2020-01-08 09:35) Rooney, DermotResearch into tactical psychology has found remarkable effects on opponent willingness and ability to fight from applying apparently simple techniques. Combining threats causes indecision and inaction, more than doubling the number of opponents surrendering. Flanking give an obvious sign that the opponents are unlikely to succeed and more than trebles the number withdrawing from combat. Proximity -getting close to the enemy- once the first two effects are achieved, allows interpersonal non-verbal negotiation which ‘seals the deal’. This rapidly ends the engagement in favour of the attacker (Rooney, Bennett and Salt, 2018). However, these findings are merely indicative, being based on small opportunity samples using assessment techniques that do not account for operational and strategic level effects. This PhD study is examining over 100 armed engagements from a single operation to apply robust statistical tests to more reliable and valid measures. The findings will provide a clearer picture of the effects of tactical psychology and the obstacles to applying it, informing UK tactical doctrine and collective training to greatly increase operational effectiveness.
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