The age of your skin may not equal your chronological age. Hopefully it's a lower number, but if higher you may not like the fact that you are well ahead in accumulating wrinkles.
Can we really quantify signs of ageing? Yes, and cosmetic companies are offering to do so as part of beauty counselling that encourages you to buy time-stopping skincare to make you look young.
SK-II has come up with various measurement tools to gauge multiple signs of ageing and calculate the age of the skin.
Two years ago, the Japanese brand introduced a skin phone that pinches the skin and records how it responds to stress. The purpose of this compression imaging device is to measure the skin power quotient (SPQ), which is the ability to withstand stress and maintain its texture, radiance and firmness.
At its counters, a bigger diagnostic device is now being used to measure texture, radiance and firmness as well as spots and wrinkles. Called the Magic Ring, it provides a full-face analysis that produces scores in five criteria that contribute to a youthful-looking complexion.
SK-II has also developed a new measure, the Ageless Vector, to quantify radical firmness, which is determined by skin thickness, elasticity and the integrity of the shape of the basal layer (the bottom layer of the epidermis).
The measurement is based on the angle of fine lines and wrinkles _ the larger the angle, the greater the decline in radical firmness.
The Ageless Vector is applied in evaluating the effectiveness of SK-II new anti-ageing products: Essential Power and Essential Power Rich Cream. Applied on the skin as a double moisturiser, both of the two formulas feature Acanax Complex, containing an extract taken from the root of Siberian ginseng, harvested from an organic farm in South Korea's Jeju Island.
Wednesday 12 September 2012
Monday 10 September 2012
Springhill Group - Turkey l Knowhow - The-looser-it-s-me
“No one should be deceived by our cool-headed stance. Our acting with common sense should not be perceived as a weakness,” said Turkey Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Turkey’s brief response to last week’s incident seems to show that a violent retaliation from their side is not happening, although Prime Minister Erdogan has warned that Syria must not test his resolve.
Prime Minister Erdogan announced that Turkey had altered its military policies of engagement toward Syria.
In his speech to the legislative body also attended by Arab diplomats, Erdogan said, “Every military element that approaches the Turkish border from Syria in a manner that constitutes a security risk or danger would be considered as a threat and would be treated as a military target.”
Border violations is not something new as the Turks have claimed that Syrian helicopters themselves had repeatedly violated Turkey’s airspace, without the latter dealing a hostile response in return. The two nations are sharing a 910-kilometer frontier.
According to Syria, Turkey’s plane was flying at low altitude and high speed, thus violating their airspace so one of their officers shot it down using an anti-aircraft fire. On the other hand, Turkey claims that their plane was fired at over international waters following a brief and unintentional stay in the Syrian space. The two pilots of the Turkish aircraft are still missing.
Turkey’s brief response to last week’s incident seems to show that a violent retaliation from their side is not happening, although Prime Minister Erdogan has warned that Syria must not test his resolve.
Prime Minister Erdogan announced that Turkey had altered its military policies of engagement toward Syria.
In his speech to the legislative body also attended by Arab diplomats, Erdogan said, “Every military element that approaches the Turkish border from Syria in a manner that constitutes a security risk or danger would be considered as a threat and would be treated as a military target.”
Border violations is not something new as the Turks have claimed that Syrian helicopters themselves had repeatedly violated Turkey’s airspace, without the latter dealing a hostile response in return. The two nations are sharing a 910-kilometer frontier.
According to Syria, Turkey’s plane was flying at low altitude and high speed, thus violating their airspace so one of their officers shot it down using an anti-aircraft fire. On the other hand, Turkey claims that their plane was fired at over international waters following a brief and unintentional stay in the Syrian space. The two pilots of the Turkish aircraft are still missing.
Thursday 30 August 2012
Springhil Group Counselling: Online scammers using 'FBI message' to demand mone...
Springhil Group Counselling: Online scammers using 'FBI message' to demand mone...: http://www.deccanherald.com/content/270592/online-scammers-using-fbi-message.html Washington, Aug 9, 2012 (AFP) The FBI warned computer ...
Online scammers using 'FBI message' to demand money
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/270592/online-scammers-using-fbi-message.html
Washington, Aug 9, 2012 (AFP)
The FBI warned computer users today to ignore a fake message, purportedly from its officers, that freezes people's screens and demands that they pay a fine for visiting inappropriate websites.
"We're getting inundated with complaints," said Donna Gregory from the US Internet Crime Complaint Center, referring to the virus known as Reveton ransomware, which has hit users in the United States and globally.
"Some people have actually paid the so-called fine," she said, describing the virus as "drive-by malware" that installs itself when a user clicks on a compromised website and issues a message saying a federal law has been broken.
"The bogus message goes on to say that the user's Internet address was identified by the FBI or the Department of Justice's Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section as having been associated with child pornography sites or other illegal online activity," the FBI said in a statement.
"To unlock their machines, users are required to pay a fine using a prepaid money card service," it said, accompanied by reports from victims who had paid fines of USD 200.The Internet Crime Complaint Center is a partnership between the FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center and it was launched in 2000 to allow people to report cyber crimes to US law enforcement.
Gregory, however, said there is no easy fix for users whose computers have been infected."Unlike other viruses, Reveton freezes your computer and stops it in its tracks. And the average user will not be able to easily remove the malware," she said.
Washington, Aug 9, 2012 (AFP)
The FBI warned computer users today to ignore a fake message, purportedly from its officers, that freezes people's screens and demands that they pay a fine for visiting inappropriate websites.
"We're getting inundated with complaints," said Donna Gregory from the US Internet Crime Complaint Center, referring to the virus known as Reveton ransomware, which has hit users in the United States and globally.
"Some people have actually paid the so-called fine," she said, describing the virus as "drive-by malware" that installs itself when a user clicks on a compromised website and issues a message saying a federal law has been broken.
"The bogus message goes on to say that the user's Internet address was identified by the FBI or the Department of Justice's Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section as having been associated with child pornography sites or other illegal online activity," the FBI said in a statement.
"To unlock their machines, users are required to pay a fine using a prepaid money card service," it said, accompanied by reports from victims who had paid fines of USD 200.The Internet Crime Complaint Center is a partnership between the FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center and it was launched in 2000 to allow people to report cyber crimes to US law enforcement.
Gregory, however, said there is no easy fix for users whose computers have been infected."Unlike other viruses, Reveton freezes your computer and stops it in its tracks. And the average user will not be able to easily remove the malware," she said.
Springhil Group Counselling: Rehab agency owner sentenced to 84 months for Medi...
Springhil Group Counselling: Rehab agency owner sentenced to 84 months for Medi...: http://www.examiner.com/article/rehab-agency-owner-sentenced-to-84-months-for-medicare-fraud U.S. District Judge Avern Cohn of the Easte...
Rehab agency owner sentenced to 84 months for Medicare fraud
http://www.examiner.com/article/rehab-agency-owner-sentenced-to-84-months-for-medicare-fraud
U.S. District Judge Avern Cohn of the Eastern District of Maryland has sentenced Detroit-area resident Tariq Mahmud, 54, to 84 months in prison for his leading role in a $3 million Medicare fraud scheme according to a Department of Justice press release. In addition to his prison term, Mahmud was sentenced to three years of supervised release and was ordered to pay $1.8 million in restitution, joint and several with his co-defendants.
Mahmud was convicted by a federal jury on Feb. 2, 2012, after a four-day trial, of one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and six counts of health care fraud. Mahmud was charged along with four other defendants in an indictment unsealed on Feb. 17, 2011, as part of a nationwide Medicare fraud takedown, and subsequently in a superseding indictment on Dec. 28, 2011. The four other defendants have pleaded guilty and have been sentenced.
As part of the scheme, Medicare beneficiaries were paid cash kickbacks and given prescription drugs to sign forms and visit sheets that were later falsified to indicate that they received therapy services that were never provided. Physical and occupational therapists created false evaluations, progress notes and discharge papers indicating that the therapy services were given, when in fact they never were. Evidence at trial showed that the therapists never met the beneficiaries and Mahmud never provided or supervised the therapy billed to Medicare.
In addition to submitting more than $3 million in false therapy claims, Mahmud made additional false statements to Medicare regarding services that were never rendered. For instance, when Medicare inquired regarding a beneficiary who complained that he had not received the services for which CRS billed Medicare, Mahmud returned the payment and told Medicare that he consulted with his professional staff and the beneficiary had not been satisfied with services. In fact, CRS had no professional staff; the therapists who signed the beneficiary’s file never rendered any services; and the beneficiary never received services. Evidence at trial established that the beneficiary’s identity was stolen and used by CRS and a fraudulent file-making company to bill Medicare (DOJ press release)
The Medicare Fraud Strike Force, now operating in nine cities across the country, was created in March, 2007 and has discovered and charged more than 1,330 defendants. These, altogether, have accounted for over $4 billion dollars in fraudulent Medicare claims. The Health and Human Services and Office of the Inspector General are working with the HHS’s Medicare and Medicaid Centers to increase accountability and decrease the presence of fraudulent providers.
With the precarious condition of our Social Security funds, all citizens need to report any suspicion of fraudulent activities, from any sources which submit claims to Medicare and/or Medicaid. Whether it be physicians, hospitals, druggists, or suppliers of other physical therapy or equipment.
Suggested by the author:
Utah man scheduled to die by firing squad, wins stay
On Ohio’s Death Row: Abdul - Hamead Awkal II…a heart rending story
A look at women on death row
Child pornography is big business and seemingly a fetish in many
One of four females on Florida’s Death Row
U.S. District Judge Avern Cohn of the Eastern District of Maryland has sentenced Detroit-area resident Tariq Mahmud, 54, to 84 months in prison for his leading role in a $3 million Medicare fraud scheme according to a Department of Justice press release. In addition to his prison term, Mahmud was sentenced to three years of supervised release and was ordered to pay $1.8 million in restitution, joint and several with his co-defendants.
Mahmud was convicted by a federal jury on Feb. 2, 2012, after a four-day trial, of one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and six counts of health care fraud. Mahmud was charged along with four other defendants in an indictment unsealed on Feb. 17, 2011, as part of a nationwide Medicare fraud takedown, and subsequently in a superseding indictment on Dec. 28, 2011. The four other defendants have pleaded guilty and have been sentenced.
As part of the scheme, Medicare beneficiaries were paid cash kickbacks and given prescription drugs to sign forms and visit sheets that were later falsified to indicate that they received therapy services that were never provided. Physical and occupational therapists created false evaluations, progress notes and discharge papers indicating that the therapy services were given, when in fact they never were. Evidence at trial showed that the therapists never met the beneficiaries and Mahmud never provided or supervised the therapy billed to Medicare.
In addition to submitting more than $3 million in false therapy claims, Mahmud made additional false statements to Medicare regarding services that were never rendered. For instance, when Medicare inquired regarding a beneficiary who complained that he had not received the services for which CRS billed Medicare, Mahmud returned the payment and told Medicare that he consulted with his professional staff and the beneficiary had not been satisfied with services. In fact, CRS had no professional staff; the therapists who signed the beneficiary’s file never rendered any services; and the beneficiary never received services. Evidence at trial established that the beneficiary’s identity was stolen and used by CRS and a fraudulent file-making company to bill Medicare (DOJ press release)
The Medicare Fraud Strike Force, now operating in nine cities across the country, was created in March, 2007 and has discovered and charged more than 1,330 defendants. These, altogether, have accounted for over $4 billion dollars in fraudulent Medicare claims. The Health and Human Services and Office of the Inspector General are working with the HHS’s Medicare and Medicaid Centers to increase accountability and decrease the presence of fraudulent providers.
With the precarious condition of our Social Security funds, all citizens need to report any suspicion of fraudulent activities, from any sources which submit claims to Medicare and/or Medicaid. Whether it be physicians, hospitals, druggists, or suppliers of other physical therapy or equipment.
Suggested by the author:
Utah man scheduled to die by firing squad, wins stay
On Ohio’s Death Row: Abdul - Hamead Awkal II…a heart rending story
A look at women on death row
Child pornography is big business and seemingly a fetish in many
One of four females on Florida’s Death Row
Wednesday 18 January 2012
How did the Titanic sink?
http://www.memagazine.org/backissues/membersonly/aug98/features/titanic/titanic.html
| Recent engineering evidence suggests that the unsinkable ship experienced a hull failure at the surface and broke into pieces before it went down. | |
| By Dan Deitz, Executive Editor | When our boat had rowed about half a mile from the vessel, the Titanic—which was illuminated from stem to stern—was perfectly stationary, like some fantastic piece of stage scenery,"recalled Pierre Marechal, a French aviator and a surviving first-class passenger of the ill-fated liner. "Presently, the gigantic ship began to sink by the bows ... suddenly the lights went out, and an immense clamor filled the air. Little by little, the Titanic settled down ... and sank without noise ... In the final spasm the stern of the leviathan stood in the air and then the vessel finally disappeared." British and U.S. investigations of the Titanic tragedy have resulted in greater lifeboat capacity, improved subdivision of ships, and the creation of an ice patrol.Elmer Z. Taylor, who watched from Lifeboat No. 5, close enough to the Titanic to observe its final demise, would later write, "The cracking sound, quite audible a quarter of a mile away, was due, in my opinion, to tearing of the ship's plates apart, or that part of the hull below the expansion joints, thus breaking the back at a point almost midway the length of the ship." "At that time the band was playing a ragtime tune, "remembered Harold Sydney Bride, the surviving wireless operator of the Titanic. "I saw a collapsible boat on deck ... I went to help when a big wave swept it off, carrying me with it. The boat was overturned and I was beneath it, but I managed to get clear. I swam with all my might and I suppose I was 150 feet away when the Titanic, with her aft quarter sticking straight up, began to settle." "The orchestra belonging to the first cabin assembled on deck as the liner was going down and played 'Nearer My God to Thee.' By that time,"as Miss C. Bounnell, first-class survivor, relived the night, "most of the lifeboats were some distance away and only a faint sound of the strains of the hymn could be heard. As we pulled away from the ship, we noticed that she was hog-backed, showing she was already breaking in two." Four survivors with firsthand knowledge, remembering probably the most important—certainly the most traumatic—event in their lives, disagreed on one major point, and it has remained a mystery for more than 80 years: Did the Titanicbreak apart at the surface or sink intact? Although all the officers testified that the ship sank intact, some survivors and crew testified to a hull failure at the surface. Even during the American and British inquiries into the disaster, few questions focused on the structural aspects of the ship. Despite survivors' testimonies, it was concluded that the ship sank intact. To help solve this mystery, the Discovery Channel, in developing its award-winning "Titanic: Anatomy of a Disaster"television documentary, approached Gibbs & Cox, Inc., one of the oldest naval architecture and marine engineering firms in the world. Gibbs & Cox agreed to perform a stress analysis to help determine the possibility of hull fracture at the surface. With funding provided jointly by the Discovery Channel and the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers, Gibbs & Cox conducted a basic study of the breakup of RMSTitanic using linear finite-element-analysis (FEA) software. This study was done in conjunction with materials testing of the Titanic steel by the University of Missouri-Rolla, with advice from Prof. H.P. Leighly Jr., Dr. Timothy Foecke, and Dr. Harold Reemsnyder of the Bethlehem Steel Corp.'s Homer Research Laboratory in Bethlehem, Pa. Important to the analysis effort was accurate weight and buoyancy data for the ship at the time it struck the iceberg, and then later while it was sinking. These data were provided via a recent study of the ship's breakup undertaken for another technical paper, "The Titanic and Lusitania, A Final Forensic Analysis,"published in a 1996 issue of Marine Technology. The study provided the loading information needed to take "snapshots"of the ship's state of stress during the sinking process. Tests conducted on the steel recovered from the wreck site were performed at the University of Missouri and the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Gaithersburg, Md. The results from these metallurgical tests of Titanic steel and rivets were also input as data for the finite element analysis. Gibbs & Cox engineers selected MSC/NASTRAN, from the MacNeal-Schwendler Corp. in Los Angeles, to perform the analysis. FEMAP engineering-analysis modeling and visualization software from Enterprise Software Products in Exton, Pa., was used to perform the pre- and postprocessing of the analyses. Gibbs & Cox had been using MSC/NASTRAN for approximately five years. According to David Wood, the firm's structures department manager, MSC worked closely with his team during the development of MSC/NASTRAN Version 70 to provide the special program solutions needed for use in their industry. Engineers analyzed the stresses in the Titanic as the flooding progressed within the bow region, using modern FEA techniques that simply were not available until the 1960s, and certainly were not known to the structural designers of the ship in the first decades of the century. In the 1960s, engineers started to analyze the stresses in ship hulls using finite-element modeling (FEM). As a pioneer of FEA technology, MSC has been in the forefront of dramatically improving this technique to take advantage of advances in computer technology. A full-ship model was graphically constructed, employing a modern approach similar to that used for U.S. Navy destroyers and cruisers today. Loadings for the model were developed based on one flooding scenario from the paper, "The Sinking of the Titanic,"by Chris Hackett and John C. Bedford. The corresponding weight and buoyancy curves, developed by Arthur Sandiford and William H. Garzke, Jr., were used to model the critical flooding conditions believed to represent the hull loading just prior to hull fracture. Since the flooding process took place over several hours, a quasi-static analysis was considered appropriate. The initial modeling effort focused on the determination of the location and magnitude of high-stress regions that developed in the hull while she remained on the surface. Engineers determined that stress levels in the midsection of the ship were at least up to the yield strength of the steel just prior to sinking. When considered alone, stresses at these levels do not indisputably imply catastrophic failure. Additional analyses, focusing on probable locations of initial hull fracture, are required to indicate that the ship sustained possible catastrophic failure at the surface and began to break apart. Significant stresses were developed in the vicinity of the two expansion joints, and in the inner bottom of the ship between the forward end of Boiler Room No. 1 and the aft end of the Reciprocating Engine Room. Structural discontinuities, such as expansion joints, result in stress-concentration development. Typically, stress concentration levels are three to four times that of free-field stresses. While these structural discontinuities have not yet been thoroughly investigated, it is believed that stresses developed at these locations were significantly higher than the material yield stress.  Believing that the Titanic was invincible, many passengers were willing to board lifeboats only after the bow began to sink below the water's surface.The stern section remained motionless and high out of the water for 30 seconds or more. The hull fracture was described as the sound of breaking chinaware, but as it continued, it was like a loud roar. A minute later, her lights flickered and then went out. Then, at 2:20 a.m., the stern settled back into the water. Following a series of explosions, the submerged forward section began to pull away from the stern. As the forward section began its long descent, it drew the stern almost vertical again. Once this began, Titanic picked up speed as she sank below the surface of the pond-still waters of the North Atlantic. Some of the survivors on the stern stated that it was almost perpendicular as it slid silently and with hardly a ripple beneath the surface. William Garzke, staff naval architect at Gibbs & Cox, points out that, had the liner been elevated at 90 degrees, the huge boilers would have been ripped from their moorings, which was not the case. He suggests that the stern section likely rose from the surface to at least 20 degrees but not more than 35 degrees, as it filled with water or was dragged down by the bow section. Chief Baker Charlie Joughin, who was at the ensign staff at the stern end, later testified that it was like riding an elevator down to the water. With the absence of suction forces, he was able to swim away without even wetting his hair, so swift was the stern's demise. The failure of the main hull girder of the Titanic was the final phase of her sinking process. This began between 2:00 and 2:15 a.m., starting somewhere between stacks Nos. 2 and 4. The FEA results indicate that the plate failures might have started around the second expansion joint, or just behind it. Stresses in the hull were increasing as the bow flooding continued and the stern rose from the water. Detailed examination of survivor testimony and underwater surveys has confirmed that the forward expansion joint was opened up while the ship was still on the surface, suggesting the significant stresses induced by the flooding of the forward part of the hull. An FEA review of the stresses in this area confirms that the nominal hull stresses were well above the material yield stress. Most probably, significant stress developed in the way of the second expansion joint, between its root and the deck structure below it. As the flooding progressed aftward, the hull girder was strained beyond its design limitations, and the local stresses around this expansion joint soon reached the ultimate strength of the material. It is thought that, in the end, a critical structural failure in the hull or deck plates occurred in the area around the second expansion joint. Free field stresses, already at the yield point of the material, may have been increased by a factor of two to four in areas of structural discontinuities, such as large openings or those with small radii, or doubler plate edges. Fractures typically spread in random chaotic paths, following weaknesses in the plate and microcracks already present around rivet holes. Assuming that the hull girder failed at the surface, then as Boiler Room No. 4 filled with water, the stern rose farther out of the water, resulting in some 76 meters of unsupported hull, which sharply increased the hull girder stresses, in turn accelerating the fracturing of the steel plates. The angle of trim grew to a maximum of 15 to 20 degrees, further increasing the stresses in the hull and deck plating near the aft expansion joint. The stresses continued to build in this area of the ship, where there were large openings for a main access, the machinery casing for the Reciprocating Engine Room, the uptakes and intakes for the boilers, the ash pit door on the port side of Boiler Room No. 1, and the turbine engine casing. As the hull girder continued to fail, the bow was first to begin its plunge toward the seabed. As the bow and stern sections continued to separate, there were some local buckling failures in the inner bottom and bottom structure. This is what caused the stern section to settle back toward the water's surface as the decks began to fail and the side shell fractured into many small plate sections. The MSC/NASTRAN finite element analysis indicates that the stresses in the region of Boiler Room No. 1 and the Reciprocating Engine Room were elevated. An additional stress analysis, based on classical beam theory, indicates that the hull girder stresses exceeded the yield point of the steel. When the bow and stern began to separate, the two main transverse bulkheads bounding Boiler Room No. 1 collapsed as they were compressed by the downward movement of the deck structures. The decks, in turn, failed because of the lack of bulkhead support. When this happened, the unsupported length of the inner bottom suddenly grew to 165 feet, encompassing Boiler Rooms Nos. 1 and 2, as well as the Reciprocating Engine Room. This condition allowed deformation of the inner bottom structure to extend up further into the ship's machinery spaces, while the deck structure failures continued. It is believed that this compression of the hull girder brought about the failure of the side shell plates, and also freed equipment inside the ship, such as the boilers in Boiler Room No. 1, from its foundations. It cannot be established with any certainty what happened to the ship during its descent to the seabed. However, what is now known is that once the Titanic disappeared below the ocean's surface, it broke into three pieces. The depth where these events occurred cannot be estimated with any precision. The buoyancy of the stern piece also appears to have resisted the downward pull of the bow. The extent of damage evident in the stern wreck implies that the bow section may have pulled the stern section quickly below the water's surface, resulting in structural implosions that caused significant damage. Structural failures ultimately led to the separation of the bow portion, followed by the third or double bottom piece. It is interesting to note that the bow section did not suffer damage similar to that in the stern section. This was likely due to the gradual flooding of the bow section, and its stability during the descent to the bottom. It rests upright on the bottom with little apparent damage directly attributable to impact with the seabed. The analysis supports some witnesses' testimony that the ship likely began to fracture at the surface, and that the fracture was completed at some unknown depth below the water's surface. The resulting stress levels in the strength deck below the root of the second expansion joint (aft), and in the inner bottom structure directly below, were very high because of the unusual flooding occurring in the forward half of the ship. These patterns of stress support the argument that initial hull failure likely occurred at the surface. Additional work is being performed to investigate this further. These findings mirror the testimony of Seaman Edward John Buley at the U.S. Senate hearings. Stating that as the bow continued to slip below the surface, "She went down as far as the after funnel, and then there was a little roar, as though the engines had rushed forward, and she snapped in two, and the bow part went down and the afterpart came up and stayed up five minutes before it went down ... It was horizontal at first, and then went down." In response to what he meant by "snapped in two,"and how he knew this, Buley testified, "She parted in two ... Because we could see the afterpart afloat, and there was no forepart to it. I think she must have parted where the bunkers were. She parted at the last, because the afterpart of her settled out of the water horizontally after the other part went down. First of all, you could see her propellers and everything. Her rudder was clear out of the water. You could hear the rush of the machinery, and she parted in two, and the afterpart settled down again, and we thought the afterpart would float altogether. She uprighted herself for about five minutes, and then tipped over and disappeared ... You could see she went in two, because we were quite near to her and could see her quite plainly." RMS Titanic, the largest ship of its day, was built in Belfast, Ireland, and was said to be "unsinkable,"a belief so strong that it was to have tragic consequences. Having confidence in the ship's "unsinkability,"many passengers chose to remain on board. The first lifeboats to leave were only half, or one-third full. The fallacy of the claim itself became tragically apparent during the ship's maiden voyage. Just three hours after it collided with an iceberg, the majestic Titanic vanished beneath the cold waters of the North Atlantic. This ill-founded confidence led to the ignoring of at least 14 warnings of hazardous ice fields, six of which were received on the day of the disaster. Equipped with only 20 lifeboats, the Titanic went down with the loss of 1,523 passengers and crew. This incredible disaster led to a number of investigations in Great Britain and the United States that resulted in sweeping changes in maritime safety law and ship construction. The demise of the mighty Titanic was swift, sure, and terrible. Whatever could have gone wrong, did. The engineering marvel that heralded the beginning of the age of technology also displayed, all too clearly, its vulnerability and limits—as well as the need for prudence and safety. "The analyses, and future analyses we hope to make employing both MSC/NASTRAN and MSC/DYTRAN, help us make critical design decisions about future marine structural features, such as deck openings and expansions joints."Wood said. "Today, we're changing the way we design ships. In the past, nominal load conditions were averaged. Today, we design for the ultimate stress levels and strength,"says Robert Sielski, senior staff engineer at Gibbs & Cox. "MSC/NASTRAN helps us evaluate and design for increased survivability." This article is based on a paper, "Titanic, The Anatomy of a Disaster, A Report from the Marine Forensic Panel,"presented at the 1997 annual meeting of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers, that documents the work of William H. Garzke, Jr. and David Wood, Gibbs & Cox, Inc.; David K. Brown, RCNC; Paul K. Matthias, Polaris Imaging; Dr. Roy Cullimore, University of Regina; David Livingstone, Harland & Wolff; Prof. H.P. Leighly, Jr., University of Missouri-Rolla; Dr. Timothy Foecke, National Institute of Standards and Technology; and Arthur Sandiford, Consultant. Eyewitness accounts are from various sources, including the official transcripts of the 1912 U.S. Senate investigation. |
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