Armed with Science | Tag Archive

U.S. Military Academy Seeks To Enhance Science, Technology Ties

Filed under Videos by jtozer on October 7, 2012 at 7:27 am {no comments}

The U.S. Military Academy met with officials from the U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command to discuss future joint ventures. Army Technology Live’s David McNally has this report…

Video provided by RDECOM Army Technology Live

———-

Disclaimer: The appearance of hyperlinks does not constitute endorsement by the Department of Defense of this website or the information, products or services contained therein. For other than authorized activities such as military exchanges and Morale, Welfare and Recreation sites, the Department of Defense does not exercise any editorial control over the information you may find at these locations. Such links are provided consistent with the stated purpose of this DoD website.

Smart Phones, Service Members & PTSD Treatments

Filed under Featured, Life Sciences by jtozer on July 31, 2012 at 4:19 pm {no comments}

The computer age has dramatically impacted the practice of medicine. No matter what specialty of health care you look to, technology has enabled new tools to support the work of providers and facilitate the healing of patients.

Behavioral health is no exception.

Mobile computing platforms, such as smart phones and tablet computers, provide capabilities that can provide constant, hip pocket access to a range of potentially helpful tools.

The Department of Defense (DoD), National Center for Telehealth and Technology (T2), the Center for Deployment Psychology (CDP), and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) National Center for PTSD collaborated to develop the PE Coach smartphone app. This new smartphone application, or app, was recently released to support the face-to-face psychotherapy of service members or veterans engaged in treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

When a patient is diagnosed with PTSD, behavioral health providers have several effective treatments from which to choose. One of those treatments, prolonged exposure (PE), asks patients to revisit the memory of the traumatic event in their imagination.

These sessions are audio recorded and the patient listens to the recording each day. Between PE treatment sessions, patients also confront safe but distressing situations, places, and circumstances that either remind them of the trauma or feel unsafe.

(more…)

A Dirigible A Day Keeps The Threats Surveyed

Filed under STEM, Technology by jtozer on July 14, 2012 at 12:17 pm {no comments}

The Army accepted the last ordered Persistent Threat Detection System. Many of the systems are currently providing a situational awareness for soldiers serving in Afghanistan. (Courtesy photo)

The Persistent Threat Detection System entered its next chapter as Lt. Col. Michael Parodi, product manager Meteorological and Target Identification, was on hand at the Lockheed Martin facility in Dayton, Ohio; to accept the delivery of the last PTDS ordered.

Since its original introduction as a quick reaction capability, the Army has procured 66 systems that have been used in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

Persistent Threat Detection System, or PTDS, is a large aerostat tethered to a mooring platform, which is accompanied by a Ground Control Station, or GCS. The system is equipped with both visual and audio surveillance technology.

Since the Civil War, when Union Soldiers utilized hot air balloons to serve as a surveillance platform, lighter than air technology has been a part of the Army’s inventory. As U.S. forces began a troop surge in Afghanistan while maintaining security in Iraq the need to provide soldiers with a persistent view of the battlefield was paramount.

In 2008, (then) Secretary of Defense Robert Gates directed an Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance, or ISR, surge dedicated to providing soldiers with the ability to understand their environment.

One of the systems that was fielded to support the ISR surge was PTDS.
(more…)

Earth Day 2012 – Make A Difference

Filed under Earth Sciences, Videos by jtozer on April 22, 2012 at 7:26 am {no comments}

Every action has a reaction. Every choice has a result. Every time you take steps toward making the world a greener place, you are making a difference. Today is Earth Day (April 22nd, 2012). The Environment Protection Agency is proving a tool for talking about environmental issues. It’s also a place to share environmental tips and ideas that you use every day.

So go ahead, make a difference. Recycle, reduce, reuse, on this and every day.

———-

Stop that ‘Dam’ Noise: ONR, Engineers Tackle Noise at Hydroelectric Plants

Filed under Featured, Life Sciences by jtozer on April 10, 2012 at 7:14 am {no comments}

By Tammy J. White, Office of Naval Research

(Photo courtesy Bill Johnson, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers)

Using research designed to protect warfighters from noise-induced hearing loss in the naval environment, the Office of Naval Research has joined the Bureau of Reclamation and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to turn down the volume at the nation’s power plants.

ONR will lend its extensive expertise in noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) to help identify noise sources and propose engineering controls at dams and hydroelectric plants nationwide as part of the interagency agreement.

“The Navy in general, and ONR in particular, is leading the curve when it comes to understanding the dangers of noise,” says Kurt Yankaskas, a program manager in ONR’s Warfighter Performance Department. “It’s a serious problem not only in the Navy and Marine Corps, but across modern society.”

The added project scope results in $14,000 in additional federal funding, bringing the total to $109,000, to evaluate and seek new controls for protecting plant workers from hearing damage sustained on the job.

Noise is a research area ONR knows all too well.

(more…)

Epidemic Intelligence: Using the Internet & Text Messages to Fight Disease

Filed under Education & Culture, STEM, Technology by jtozer on April 9, 2012 at 7:01 am {no comments}

Local doctors in Iquitos conduct a follow-up visit with a young Peruvian child as part of NAMRU-6 project on febrile surveillance. (Courtesy of National Naval medical Research Unit 6)

In the field of ‘epidemic intelligence,’ public health experts often turn to formal and informal data sources to learn about disease events occurring around the world. Advances in technology have been largely responsible for spurring the ability to augment the type and nature of potential data sources.

For example, unstructured data gleaned from the Internet in near real-time can be of significant value in identifying cues or signals that may indicate a disease outbreak is occurring in somewhere in the world. This information can then be used to help guide response activities among public health officials when appropriate. The massive amount of data contained on the Internet, along with easy to use search tools and computerized language translation software, help make this work possible.

Websites hosted all over the world allow data to be uploaded from virtually anywhere – for instance, in the middle of the Congo with a cellular or satellite phone – making the Internet a very useful tool for discovering novel outbreaks. Where CNN and the BBC are less likely to provide news coverage, the multitude of non–English websites can provide access to information in remote towns in faraway places.

Surveillance of media and other Internet-based sites has become such a rapid method to learn about incipient outbreaks among humans, animals, and even plants, that agencies such as the World Health Organization, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control have specialized programs to do this work.

(more…)