Whales and Sonar: Environmental Exemptions for the Navy’s Mid-Frequency Active Sonar Training

Mid-frequency active (MFA) sonar emits pulses of sound from an underwater transmitter to help determine the size, distance, and speed of objects. The sound waves bounce off objects and reflect back to underwater acoustic receivers as an echo. MFA sonar has been used since World War II, and the Navy indicates it is the only reliable way to track submarines, especially more recently designed submarines that operate more quietly, making them more difficult to detect. Scientists have asserted that sonar may harm certain marine mammals under certain conditions, especially beaked whales. Depending on the exposure, they believe that sonar may damage the ears of the mammals, causing hemorrhaging and/or disorientation. The Navy agrees that the sonar may harm some marine mammals, but says it has taken protective measures so that animals are not harmed. MFA training must comply with a variety of environmental laws, unless an exemption is granted by the appropriate authority. Marine mammals are protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) and some under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The training program must also comply with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), and in some cases the Coastal Zone Management Act (CZMA). Each of these laws provides some exemption for certain federal actions. The Navy has invoked all of the exemptions to continue its sonar training exercises. Litigation challenging the MFA training off the coast of Southern California ended with a November 2008 U.S. Supreme Court decision. The Supreme Court said that the lower court had improperly favored the possibility of injuring marine animals over the importance of military readiness. The Supreme Court’s ruling allowed the training to continue without the limitations imposed on it by other courts. (pdf contains 20pp.)

Analytical Methods of Residual Strength in Injecting Water Pipeline

In this paper, common criterions about residual strength evaluation at home and abroad are generalized and seven methods are acquired, namely ASME-B31G, DM, Wes-2805-97, CVDA-84, Burdekin, Irwin and J integral methods. BP neural network are Combined with Genetic Algorithm (GA) named by modified BP-GA methods to successfully predict residual strength and critical pressure of injecting water, corrosion pipelines. Examples are shown that calculation results of every kind of method have great difference and calculating values of Wes-2805-97 criterion, ASME-B31G criterion, CVDA-84 criterion and Irwin fracture mechanics model are conservative and higher than, those of J integral methods while calculating values of Burdiken model and DM fracture mechanics model are dangerous and less than those of J integral methods and calculating values of modified BP-GA methods are close and moderate to those of J integral methods. Therefore modified BP-GA methods and J integral methods are considered better methods to calculate residual strength and critical pressure of injecting water corrosion pipelines

Variation of flexural strength of cement mortar attacked by sulfate ions

Under the environment of seawater, durability of concrete materials is one of the chief factors considered in the design of structures. The decrease of durability of structures is induced by the evolution of micro-damage due to the erosion of chlorine and sulfate ions, which is characterized by the reduction of modulus, strength, and toughness of the material. In this paper, the variation of the flexural strength of cement mortar under sulfate erosion is investigated. The results obtained in present work indicate that the erosion time, concentration of sulfate solution, and water-to-cement ratio will significantly affect the flexural strength. Crown Copyright (c) 2008 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Post-cyclic Strength Degradation of Undisturbed and Remolded Marine Silty Clay

A series of static and cyclic-static tri-axial compression tests under consolidated-undrained conditions are carried out to study the characteristics of post-cyclic strength of the undisturbed and the remolded samples of marine silty clay. It is found that the post-cyclic monotonic strength decreases if the cyclic strain or pore pressure is over a certain value. The maximum degradation is 10% for undisturbed samples while 70% for remolded ones. The relationship between normalized undrained shear strength and apparent overconsolidation ratio, which is determined by the excess pore pressure induced by cyclic loading, is also established. Static consolidated-undrained tests on overconsolidated remolded samples are also performed. It is proposed that the static consolidated-undrained tests may be substituted for the cyclic-static consolidated-undrained tests if the post-cyclic strength degradation of remolded silty clay is needed to be evaluated simply.

Warrington Collegiate: LRC pop-up training area to enhance staff training and development

Warrington Collegiate wanted to locate an area of the Learning Resource Centre (LRC) and equip it with a smart board and ten laptops primarily for staff development. Since the pop-up seminar area has been created it has been used for Vado, Moodle, Quizdom and e-book training plus much more. From an empty corner in the LRC the addition of this technology has created a welcoming comfortable learning space. It has encouraged staff across all the curriculum areas to come into the LRC and extended their role in a place for high quality staff development.

ITS Training: 'VLE - no distance too far - enhancing the learner journey and business processes'

ITS Training has undergone a revolutionary transformation in the past two years. The company has saved money, generated more business, improved recruitment, retention and achievement and expanded throughout the world because of its virtual learning environment (VLE): the ‘Student Campus'. Under its previous paper-based distance learning programme it was a hard enough task to deliver lectures to students in Liverpool. Now, the company has a classroom of learners in Tokyo, Japan.

KEITS Training Services: Moving to Mobile - assessment with Blackberry devices

Work-based learning provider, KEITS has improved efficiencies and institutional effectiveness with the introduction of Blackberry mobile devices to all their assessors. They have saved time and money on paper and travel, diversified evidence capture and improved their overall engagement with learners.

Broadland Council Training Services – Winning your e-Learning Spurs with Xerte/Maxos

Broadland Council Training Services have reined in their reliance on traditional learning methods by introducing Xerte/Maxos to their equine-based students. Learners who were once deluged by stacks of paper and unable to utilise an internet connection in a horse yard are now able to access interactive learning exercises using Maxos: Xerte on a memory stick. Students are now more engaged and focused on their studies, teaching methods are much more diverse, and success rates have improved.