Shell-Shock

Natural disasters, catastrophic illnesses, incest, rape, and assault are but a few common life experiences that can unleash a wave of intense emotional stress. Acute stress reactions or "traumatic neuroses" were first addressed in the clinical literature during World War I, as thousands of soldiers returned from the front suffering from severe anxiety, insomnia, and nightmares attributed to "shell shock." The understanding of acute stress reactions was furthered by the pioneering work of Eric Lindeman. 

On November 9, 1918, Kaiser Wilhelm II abandoned his throne and went into exile. Friedrich Ebert, the leader of the Social Democratic Party, proclaimed the end of imperial Germany and the start of a new republic. On November 11, all sides signed an armistice, and the guns went quiet. A shell-shocked continent paused to consider its losses. 

Howorth, P. 2000. The treatment of shell shock cognitive therapy before its time. Psychiatr Bull 24 225-7. 

Interpretable medical records and accounts only commence from the middle of the 19th Century, but from then onwards the literature does contain clinical descriptions of ex-servicemen (and it is always men) with conditions that do show considerable similarities to the Gulf narratives (Hyams et al, 1996). These condition have received many different labels - Soldier s Heart , later termed Effort Syndrome , owes its provenance to the Crimean and American Civil Wars. Shell shock and neurasthenia dominate the writings of World War I, while Agent Orange Syndrome and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder emerged after Vietnam. 

Jones E and Wessely S (2005). From Shell Shock to PTSD A History of Military Psychiatry. London, UK Psychology Press. 

Humans who have experienced some severe psychological traumatic event may even develop an altered psychological state to deal with the event. The sudden death of a loved one, involvement in a serious car accident, or combat experience can produce a traumatic reaction that may include a denial state characterized by sleep disturbances, amnesia, fatigue, and headaches (Smith, 1998). Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), also called shell shock or battle fatigue is common to those who have had to face extreme distress in military or civilian Ufe. PTSD is characterized by negative emotional reactions beyond coping. 

The First World War (1914-18) would bring an end to this old world sooner than the poet could have imagined. War on this scale had never before been seen over the course of the four years of conflict, over 70 million military personnel were mobilized and over 15 million people were killed. The War damaged not only populations, but entire landscapes. The trenches turned large swaths of Northern France into zones of destruction, and new technologies such as the airplane, the machine gun, and poisonous gas generated death on an industrial scale. Soldiers returned profoundly traumatized - shell-shocked, in the terminology of the day - to a society they found transformed by the conflict and an economy in ruins. 

Head injuries are common following blast exposure. The effects of primary blast on the brain are not clearly established and remain controversial. During World War I, changes in the brain ascribed to primary blast effects were considered to be a potential cause of some of the signs and symptoms associated with shell shock. 

It is prepared by the direct nitration of toluene with a mixture of nitric and sulphuric acids. TNT is a very stable, violent and powerful high explosive, but less sensitive to shock and friction than picric acid. It is widely used as a filling for shells, bombs, etc. often mixed with ammonium nitrate and other high explosives. The lower grades of TNT may contain isomers which under hot storage conditions may give rise to exudation. 

Impervious graphite heat exchangers machined from solid blocks are also available (15,16). The solid block constmction is less susceptible to damage by mechanical shock, such as steam and water hammer, than are shell and tube exchangers. Block exchangers are limited in size and cost from 50—100% more than shell and tube units on an equivalent area basis. 

On initial start-up and shut-down the heat exchanger can be subjected to damaging thermal shock, overpressure or hydraulic hammer. This can lead to leaky tube-to-tubesheet joints, damaged expansion joints or packing glands because of excessive axial thermal, expansion of the tubes or shell. Excessive shell side flowrates during the "shake down can cause tube vibrations and catastrophic failure. 

Some general considerations to bear in mind are (1) In all start-up and shutdown operations, fluid flows should be regulated so as to avoid thermal shocking the unit, regardless of whether the unit is of either a removable or non-removable type of construction (2) For fixed tubesheet (i.e., non-removable bundle) type units, where the tube side fluid cannot be shut down, it is recommended that both a bypass arrangement be incorporated in the system, and the tube side fluid be bypassed before the shell side fluid is shut down (3) Extreme caution should be taken on insulated units where fluid flows are terminated and then restarted. Since the metal parts eould remain at high temperatures for extended periods of time, severe thermal shock could occur. 

Maizite. Expl with a yellow color, resembling that of maize, proposed in 1886 for shell loading. Examples are a) NH4 picrate 60.59, NH4 nitrate 39.41% b) NH4 picrate 27.76, NH4 ni trate 72.24%. The latter mixt was very insensitive to shock or flame (Ref 2)... 

Requirements 1 and 3 follow immediately from the considerations of the theory of detonation when it is remembered that the purpose of the charge is to obtain maximum effect, both from the shock wave of the explosive and also from the destructive effect of expansion of the explosion products. Requirements 1 and 2 follow from the consideration that any reduction in size and weight of the warhead of a missile, or in a shell, immediately makes it possible to increase the range and therefore the usefulness of the weapon. Requirement 5 relates not only to safety, but also the desirability, particularly for armour-piercing ammunition, for the time of detonation to be determined solely by the functioning of an appropriate fuze. 

In 1991 at Hanau, Frankfurt (Germany), a tank of 100 m3 hydrogen pressurized at 45 bars burst when stored outdoors in an industrial plant. The shock wave and the missiles of the tank shell caused heavy damage on the plant units. Investigations showed that welding in the metallic shell suffered from extensive cracks from the inner side to the outside. Likely, the comers along the welding caused concentration of stresses so that the first cracks... 

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