This paper presents one approach in designing a Fire Fighting Robot which has been contested annually in a robotic student competition in many countries following the rules initiated at the Trinity College. The approach makes use of computer simulation and animation in a virtual reality environment. In the simulation, the amount of time, starting from home until the flame is destroyed, can be c...

Current events across the globe necessitate rapid technological advances to combat the epidemic of nerve agent chemical weapons. Biocatalysis has emerged as a viable tool in the detoxification of organophosphorus neurotoxins, such as the chemical weapons VX and sarin. Efficient detoxification of contaminated equipment, machinery, and soils are of principal concern. This study describes the inco...

This paper addresses path planning strategies for multiple robots to cooperate to extinguish a many fronted bush fire where the need to deliver adequate water to each fire front and for each vehicle to carry a limited supply of water is taken into account, as is the time to extinguish each fire front, whose ferocity is proportional to the quantity of water required (estimated) to extinguish it....

We propose a method for real-time photorealistic stereo rendering of the natural phenomenon of fire. Applications include the use of virtual reality in fire fighting, military training, and entertainment. Rendering fire in real-time presents a challenge because of the transparency and non-static fluid-like behavior of fire. It is well known that, in general, methods that are effective for monos...

OBJECTIVES The objective of this study was to test the feasibility and acceptability of a new workers' health surveillance (WHS) for fire fighters in a Dutch pilot-implementation project. METHODS In three fire departments, between November 2007 and February 2009, feasibility was tested with respect to i) worker intent to change health and behavior; ii) the quality of instructions for testing ...

BACKGROUND Clinimetric data for the fire fighting simulation test (FFST), a new test proposed for the Workers' Health Surveillance (WHS) of Dutch fire fighters, were evaluated. METHODS Twenty-one fire fighters took the FFST three times with one and three weeks between testing. Clinimetric quality was determined by means of reliability, agreement and validity. For reliability and agreement, th...

Fire fighters often work in dangerous and dynamic environments, which results in frequent change of network topologies and routing requirements. While the existing routing protocols are not able to cope with such a changeable environment, this paper proposes a self adaptive hybrid routing algorithm. This routing algorithm can switch between the proactive routing algorithm and reactive routing a...

In October, 2007, 24 scientists from ten countries met at the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), Lyon, France, to assess the carcinogenicity of shift-work, painting, and fire-fighting. These assessments will be published as volume 98 of the IARC Monographs. About 15–20% of the working population in Europe and the USA is engaged in shift-work that involves nightwork, which is mo...