Character Concepts - Gaijin: Tools of the Trade - Prototype Combat Rifles and Thermobaric Ammunition

When a Gun Is More Than a Gun

By Noah Shachtman
02:00 AM Mar. 20, 2003 PT

PICATINNY ARSENAL, New Jersey -- It is among the most horrific weapons in any army's collection: the thermobaric bomb, a fearsome explosive that sets fire to the air above its target, then sucks the oxygen out of anyone unfortunate enough to have lived through the initial blast.

Last year, the U.S. military used such weapons for the first time in combat, to incinerate suspected underground al-Qaeda hideouts in Afghanistan. In the next few months, the U.S. Army will start putting this sweeping power in the hands of individual soldiers.

"This significantly increases the firepower that can be put in a single person's hands," said Reuben Brigety, an arms researcher at Human Rights Watch. "I'm not aware of any other conventional munitions used by a single person that can have the same destructive power."

Thermobaric grenades and mini-rockets were among dozens of current and future munitions the military demonstrated this week at Picatinny Arsenal, the Army's lone research-and-development center for armaments and ammunition.

According to Picatinny officials, thermobaric ammunition will be tested this spring with the Bunker Defeat rocket launcher -- a shoulder-mounted, disposable system that was first deployed in Afghanistan. It'll also be tried out with the M203, the grenade launcher American grunts have used for decades.

But the Army's ultimate goal is to put these mini-bombs into the XM29, its next-generation rifle. The 33-inch-long weapon is designed to fire two types of rounds: standard bullets and programmable, grenade-like ammunition that explode in the air.

Each of these high-explosive air-bursting rounds comes imbedded with a computer chip, explained Lt. Col. Rob Carpenter, who oversees the XM29 program at Picatinny. These chips allow the soldier to program exactly when and where the ammunition should go off. If there are enemy forces behind a wall 150 feet away, the round can explode at 151 feet, over their heads.

"With the M16 (rifle, the American infantry's longtime standard), it took a considerable amount of ammunition to take out a squad of people," said Patrick Garrett, an analyst with Globalsecurity.org. "With this air-bursting ammunition, the XM29 will be able to put those people on the ground in one shot."

The XM29 -- which won't make it into soldiers' hands until 2006 -- gets even deadlier when thermobaric ammunition is added.

Thermobarics inject a fine, flammable mist into the air, Brigety said. Once ignited, the mist creates a mammoth fireball and pressure wave that's nearly impossible to avoid. The mist can travel around corners and into hidden crannies. And it burns relatively slowly, so jumping out of the way on the bomb's initial impact isn't much of a survival tactic.

Once the fire dies down, the mist sucks all of the oxygen out of the confined space. Those who manage to escape the thermobaric flames and pressure waves quickly expire from asphyxiation.

The fuel that's shot out of a thermobaric weapon is underoxidized, according to Judah Goldwasser, a program officer at the Office of Naval Research. When it mixes with the ambient oxygen in a room, it begins to ignite. It's not hard to imagine why the military used 2,000-pound thermobaric bombs in Afghanistan: They are almost tailor-made for destroying cave-based encampments.

Nor is it difficult to see why soldiers faced with rooting out loyalists to Saddam Hussein in Baghdad would covet a small version of such a weapon. City combat is dangerously unpredictable because any corner could hide an enemy. Soldiers often clear every room of every building they sweep. Thermobaric ammunition can eliminate enemies in several rooms at once.

"For urban warfare (thermobarics) could be very effective," said Andrew Koch, Washington bureau chief of Jane's Defence Weekly. "If you lob a grenade in the entrance of a building, it hits just the people in the entrance. A thermobaric weapon would (go) though the rest of the building."

Koch added, "You might not need to have Marines fighting room to room to room if you have one of these."

WIRED

Thermobaric Explosives - Description
Source: Global Security.Org

Volumetric weapons include thermobaric and fuel-air explosives (FAE). Both thermobaric and FAE operate on similar technical principles. In the case of FAE, when a shell or projectile containing a fuel in the form of gas, liquid or dustexplodes, the fuel or dust like material is introduced into the air to form acloud. This cloud is then detonated to create a shock wave of extended duration that produces overpressure and expands in all directions. In a thermobaric weapon, the fuel consists of a monopropellant and energetic particles. The monopropellant detonates in a manner simular to TNT while the particles burn rapidly in the surrounding air later in time, resulting an intense fireball and high blast overpressure. The term "thermobaric" is derived from the effects of temperature (the Greek word "therme" means "heat") and pressure (the Greek word "baros" means "pressure") on the target.

Thermobaric munitions have been used by many nations of the world and their proliferation is an indication of how effectively these weapons can be used in urban and complex terrain. The ability of thermobaric weapons to provide massed heat and pressure effects at a single point in time cannot be reproduced by conventional weapons without massive collateral destruction. Thermobaric weapon technologies provide the commander a new choice in protecting the force, and a new offensive weapon that can be used in a mounted or dismounted mode against complex environments.

The USAF and USN are actively pursuing conventional weapons technology to destroy Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical (NBC) and support/storage facilities while retaining or destroying the agents within the structure and minimizing collateral damage including fatalities. Thermobaric weapons use high-temperature incendiaries against chemical and biological facilities. The USN is working on an Inter-Halogen Oxidizer weapon while the USAF is pursuing a solid fuel-air explosive using aluminum particles. Both of these weapons use an incineration technique to defeat and destroy the CB agents within the blast area.

The Thermobaric Weapon Demonstration is a proposed Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration (ACTD). Under this program, prototype weapons are to be tested under operational conditions for their performance, and leave-behinds are to be delivered to the customer. The program aims to develop a validated means of delivery to/into a tunnel adit [entrance]. Technical risks include the extent to which candidate thermobaric payloads do not perform substantially better than existing high explosives in tunnels.

The Thermobaric [TB] Weapon Demonstration will develop a weapon concept that is based on a new class of solid fuel-air explosive thermobarics.The weapon could be used against a certain type of tunnel targets for a maximum functional kill of the tunnels.

Most of the Hard and/or Deeply Buried Targets (HDBTs), namely tunnels in rock, are so deep that the developmental and current inventory weapons cannot penetrate to sufficient depths to directly destroy critical assets. One of the warfighter's options is to attack the tunnel portals with weapons that penetrate the thinner layer of rock above the portal, or though the exterior doors, resulting in a detonation within the tunnel system. Penetrations through the door systems have the potential to place the warheads deep within the facility. Detonations within a tunnel, even only in a few diameters, have a significant increase in airblast propagation into the facility compared to external detonations. Tunnel layouts range from long, straight tunnels to various types of intersections, expansions, constrictions, chambers, rooms, alcoves, and multiple levels. All of these configurations affect the propagation of airblast.

Air blast propagation within a tunnel system has the potential to cause significant damage to critical equipment and systems. If the critical equipment within a facility can be damaged or destroyed, then the function of the facility can be degraded or destroyed, resulting in a functional kill. Depending on the purpose of the facility and the level of damage, a functional kill can be as permanent as a "structural kill," in which the facility is destroyed in a more traditional manner.

Functional kill from air blast loads is predicated on the ability to accurately determine the blast environment from an internal detonation. The response of critical equipment cannot be calculated without accurate blast loads. Unlike free-field blast loads, a detonation within a tunnel system can have a significant dynamic pressure component. This dynamic pressure component, in conjunction with the overpressure component, makes up the entire pressure-loading history necessary to predict component response.

Thermobaric compositions are fuel rich high explosives that are enhanced through aerobic combustion in the third detonation event. Performance enhancement is primarily achieved by addition of excess metals to the explosive composition. Aluminum and Magnesium are the primary metals of choice. The detonation of Composite Explosives can be viewed as three discrete events merged together. All three explosive events can be tailored to meet system performance needs: The initial anaerobic detonation reaction, microseconds in duration, is primarily a redox reaction of molecular species. The initial detonation reaction defines the system’s high pressure performance characteristics: armor penetrating ability.

The post detonation anaerobic combustion reaction, hundreds of microseconds in duration, is primarily a combustion of fuel particles too large for combustion in the initial detonation wave. The post detonation anaerobic reaction define the system’s intermediate pressure performance characteristics: Wall/Bunker Breaching Capability.

The post detonation aerobic combustion reaction, milliseconds in duration, is the combustion of fuel rich species as the shock wave mixes with surrounding air. The post detonation aerobic reaction characteristics define the system’s personnel / material defeat capability: Impulse and Thermal Delivery. Aerobic combustion requires mixing with sufficient air to combust excess fuels. The shock wave pressures are less than 10 atmospheres. The majority of aerobic combustion energy is available as heat. Some low pressure shock wave enhancement can also be expected for personnel defeat. Personnel / material defeat with minimum collateral structure damage requires maximum aerobic enhancement and the highest energy practical fuel additives: Boron, Aluminum, Silicon, Titanium, Magnesium, Zirconium, Carbon, or Hydrocarbons.

Thermobaric materials can provide significantly higher total energy output than conventional high explosives. The majority of the additional energy is available as low pressure impulse and heat.

XM29 Objctive Individual Combat Weapon (OICW)
Source: Defense Update.com

Alliant Techsystems (ATK)

The XM29 Objective Individual Combat Weapon (OICW) is under development as future replacement to the current M16/M4/M203 individual weapon system. The new weapon will have twice the effectiveness, standoff range (beyond 1,000 m') and probability of incapacitation of targets compared to current M4/M203 weapons. It aims to combine the lethality of 20-mm programmable air-bursting munitions and 5.56-mm NATO ammunition combined with rugged, full-solution fire control system which will provide Future Force Warriors (FFW) with the firepower, precision and control they are required to use. The weapon is designed as a lightweight system, integrated with built-in a laser range finder and laser pointer, and illuminator for target acquisition. Aiming cues will be projected on the optical sight, based on ballistic computations processed by an integral fire control computer. The weapon will programmable switches for operation of various systems, such as radio, image recording and targeting. The systems will also have environmental sensors, electronic compass, target tracker, laser steering and thermal modules. Under development since 2002, the new weapon is expected to mature by 2006 and enter full production by 2008.

The U.S. Army is exploring a new 5.56-mm carbine design designated XM8 Lightweight Assault Rifle. Now being developed under a contract modification awarded by the U.S. Army Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center at Picatinny Arsenal, N.J., to Alliant Techsystems, the XM8 is based on the 5.56-mm kinetic-energy weapon component of the XM29 OICW. Offering levels of integration, modularity and scalability, the XM8 will be approximately one pound lighter than the M4 carbine.

XM29 OICW
Source: Wikipedia

The XM29 OICW (Objective Individual Combat Weapon) was a series of prototypes of a new type of battle rifle that fired 20 mm HE airbursting projectiles. The prototypes were developed as part of the Objective Individual Combat Weapon program in the 1990s. The term SABR (Selectable Assault Battle Rifle) was also used at certain points, but is less common.

Overview

Developed by Alliant Techsystems, with Heckler & Koch as a major subcontractor, the most commonly seen version of the XM29 consisted of a semi-automatic 20 mm smart grenade launcher, an underslung assault carbine (derived from the HK G36 then in its late developmental stage) firing a standard 5.56x45mm NATO round, and a top-mounted computer-assisted sighting system with integrated laser rangefinder, thermal vision night vision capabilities, and up to 6x optical telescopic sight. Earlier designs used different configurations and setups.

The launcher part has been described variously as a light semi-automatic 20 mm cannon, a grenade launcher, or an airburst weapon. It poses a classification problem, in that it does not fit neatly into any one category. On one hand, it uses much smaller shells and has a much flatter trajectory than grenade launchers. On the other, while its calibre and velocity is more similar to light cannon, it does share traits with other infantry grenade launchers.

Various problems have effectively ended the program as it was originally envisioned, including weight, bulk, and lack of effectiveness of the 20 mm airburst round. Upon cancellation in 2004, it was split into three related programs. OICW Increment One is a program to develop a family of light kinetic energy weapons, OICW Increment Two is a program to develop the airburst grenade launcher as a standalone component, and OICW Increment Three will be a program to re-integrate the two components. The XM8 was developed in an attempt to meet Increment One requirements. Instead a new program known as Lightweight Small Arms Technologies (LSAT) was begun. Meanwhile, the XM25 25x40mm airburst launcher began development to meet the Increment Two requirements. Increment Three will not be initiated until after One and Two are completed.

The OICW Increment I Request for Proposals was cancelled in October 2005, while development of the 25x40mm XM25 and the 25 x 59 mm OCSW programs continue. It is not clear if LSAT is intended to meet the goals of OICW Increment I or if it is a stand-alone weapon system. However, for all intents and purposes, the OICW program is dead.

XM8 Lightweight Assault Rifle
Source: Defense-Update.Com

Alliant Techsystems (ATK) / Heckler & Koch

The XM8 lightweight Modular Weapon System is based on the Heckler & Koch G36. In its current version, it is derived from the XM29 OICW program. The weapon fires 5.56mm ammunition and its planned weight will be only 5.7 pounds, considerably less than current carbines. The weapon is under development since October 2002 and is expected to be ready for fielding by 2005. The new weapon will provide lethality performance comparable to the currently fielded M4 carbine rifle, at considerably lower weight. The XM8 is designed as a modular weapon, which can be fitted with different barrels and other modules which can be swapped quickly to meet changing mission requirements. The basic version uses an integrated sight with infrared laser and illuminator, red dot reflex sight and integrated mount. Variants include the baseline carbine, a sub-machine gun-like personal defense weapon, a sharpshooter's configuration and a variant for use as a heavy-duty machine gun for sustained rapid-fire applications. An optional add-on 40mm grenade launcher is also available. A comparable M4 configuration weighs 8.85 pounds. The sight is powered by battery and is controlled by a wireless switch which can be mounted anywhere on the weapon. The weapon also has an integral accessories attachment rail which can also mount standard 1913 adapters to carry accessories which are not integrated on the weapon.

The XM8 Light Weight Modular Weapon System has been proposed as a replacement for the current M16 rifle and M4 carbine, the standard infantry weapons in today's U.S. military. In anticipation of such future contracts, General Dynamics European Land Combat Systems, (a business unit of General Dynamics) and Heckler & Koch GmbH of Oberndorf, Germany, have announced on January 3rd 2005 the creation of a U.S.-based joint venture company to manufacture and deliver the 5.56mm XM8 Light Weight Modular Carbine System to U.S. government customers.

However, after temporarily suspending the RFP for a new family of weapons for which XM8 was considered a strong candidate, on October 31, 2005, the program has formally suspended, "pending further US Army reevaluations of its priorities for small caliber weapons, and to incorporate emerging requirements identified during Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom. The Government will also incorporate studies looking into current capability gaps during said reevaluation."

XM-8
Source: Wikipedia

The XM8 is a developmental U.S. military designation and project name for a lightweight assault rifle system that was under development by the United States Army from the late 1990s to early 2000s. The Army worked with the small arms manufacturer Heckler & Koch (H&K) to develop the system to its requirements in the aftermath of the OICW contract, for which H&K had been a subcontractor to ATK. Although there were high hopes that the XM8 would become the Army's new standard infantry rifle, the project was put on hold in April 2005, and was formally cancelled on October 31, 2005.

General Dynamics was involved in latter stages and H&K had plans to produce the rifle at a plant in Georgia. H&K was British-owned at the start of the project, but was later bought back by a group of German investors. Engineering work was done at facilities in the United States and Germany.

Overview

The U.S. Army's purpose in contracting for this prototype weapon was to provide replacement options for the venerable M16 rifle after the XM29 program ran into problems. The Army's goal was a weapon that was cheaper, lighter, and more effective than the M16 and M4 Carbine series of weapons. The XM8 was not just one weapon, but a system which could be reconfigured with appropriate parts to be any one of several variants from a short-barreled personal defense weapon to a bipod-equipped support weapon. It also included an integrated optical sight and IR laser aiming module/illuminator.

The XM8 was based on the kinetic energy module of Alliant Techsystems's XM29 OICW project, of which the weapon mechanisms were the responsibility of H&K. Following the indefinite delay of the Objective Individual Combat Weapon program, the U.S. Army requested that the contractors design stand-alone weapons from the XM29's kinetic energy and high explosive modules.

The first 30 XM8 prototypes were delivered by November 2003 for preliminary testing. Later, at least 200 developmental prototypes were procured. Among the complaints during testing was that the battery life was too low for the weapon's powered sight system and some ergonomics issues. Two other key issues were reducing the weapon's weight and increasing the heat resistance of the hand guard, which would start to melt after firing too many rounds. The main testing was largely completed, and the Army pushed for funding for a large field test. However, in 2004 Congress denied $26 million funding for 7,000 rifles to do a wide scale test fielding of the XM8 in 2005. At the time the rifle still had developmental goals that were incomplete, primarily associated with the weapon's weight; the battery life had been extended, and a more heat-resistant plastic hand-guard added. The earliest product brochure lists the target weight for the carbine variant at 5.7 lb (2.6 kg) with the then current prototype at 6.2 lb (2.8 kg). The weight of the carbine prototype had since grown to 7.5 lb (3.4 kg) according to a brochure released by HK and General Dynamics in January 2005.

During the same period, the Army came under pressure from other arms makers to open up the XM8 to competition. The main argument was that the weapon that was being adopted was a substantially different system than for the original competition that ATK and H&K had actually won (see XM29). Other issues were that the Army has a legislated obligation to prefer U.S.-based manufacturers, and that a previous agreement with Colt Defense required the Army to involve Colt in certain small-arms programs. The XM8 program was put on hold by the Army in 2004. The exact reason why this happened is a matter of debate; some combination of the aforementioned technical issues, funding restrictions, and outside pressure being involved.

In 2005, the Army issued a formal Request for Proposals (RFP) for the OICW Increment One family of weapons. This RFP gave manufacturers six months to develop and deliver prototype weapons with requirements very similar to the XM8 capabilities, but with the addition of a squad automatic weapon (SAW) configuration. Currently, no XM8 prototypes have been shown that actually match the capabilities of the M249 (e.g. fast barrel replacement, high sustained rate of fire, belt feed). The OICW Increment One requirement for the SAW includes fast barrel replacement and high sustained rate of fire, but leaves the ammunition feed choice up to the manufacturer.

Funding for the M320 grenade launcher, which is a single-shot under-barrel grenade launcher similar to the M203 that was originally intended for the XM8, was approved. The launcher is actually heavier than the M203, but does offer some advantages. The XM320 was designed for use with the existing inventory of M16s and M4s and is also compatible with the XM8. It can also be used as a stand-alone weapon.

As of July 19, 2005, the OICW Increment One RFP was put on an eight-week hold, with an indication given that the program was being restructured as a joint procurement program including the Army and unnamed other branches. On October 31, 2005, the OICW Increment One RFP was canceled until further notice.

In an article in Jane's Defence Weekly, April 26 2006 (Vol 43, page 30) we learn that "The US Army has again delayed the procurement of its future infantry weapons, this time for more than five years, and is working to field two interim guns in the meantime."

Technical Characteristics and Variants

For much of its life, four different models were proposed: a compact PDW (personal defense weapon) with a 9.5 inch (241 mm) barrel, a carbine with a 12.5 inch (318 mm) barrel, and sniper and automatic rifle variants with 20 inch (508 mm) barrels. In addition, accessories such as optical sights, a grenade launcher, and a bipod were integrated using a new system which allows for precision attachment (so that, for example, scopes do not have to be readjusted each time they are attached). Like the M4 and M16, the XM8 was chambered for the standard 5.56 mm NATO round and was normally equipped with a 30-round plastic box magazine. However, this magazine was not compatible with M4 and M16's metal STANAG magazine. A 100-round dual drum Beta C-Mag style magazine would have been used, as well.

One of the XM8's unique features was its modularity. In addition to attachments mentioned above, this modularity allowed for quick repairs, barrel length changes, and even caliber changes in the field. Along with its basic components, the XM8 would have complemented the XM29, with such features as identical accessory mounts.
The number and type of variants in the family varied over its lifetime, this overview with three main versions is based from a press release in the early 2000s.

- XM8 Carbine with XM320 grenade launcher
- XM8 Compact Carbine: 9 in (229 mm) barrel, PDW configuration, folding stock or buttcap.
- Automatic Rifle / Designated Marksmen: heavy 20 in (508 mm) barrel, integrated folding bipod, 4X sight, 30/100 round magazine

Characteristics and Features: Materials and Weight

The materials used to build the XM8 are almost entirely composites — with the notable exception of the cold hammer forged steel barrel. Preliminary tests in desert and Arctic conditions have shown XM8 to be a rugged weapon, though some complaints arose. It is reported to be capable of firing 15,000 rounds without cleaning or lubrication and up to 20,000 rounds before barrel replacement. The M16A2 needs to be cleaned often, and has a barrel life of approximately 7,000–8,000 rounds.

Much of the cost and weight savings, not all of which have actually been achieved in the current prototypes, are from the weapon's electronic sight. The sight is much more than a 1.5x red dot scope, including IR lasers and pointers as well. The baseline XM8 carbine (with its integrated sight), for example, can be compared to an M4 carbine with a host of previous-generation electronic add-ons like the AN/PEQ-2, M68 CCO, ACOG, and/or BUIS. Without the advantage of the next-generation combined electronics sight, the XM8 would be both heavier and more expensive than the firearms it is intended to replace. The XM320 grenade launcher, intended to be used with the current M4/M16 firearms as well as the XM8 family, includes feature enhancements.

Cancellation

The U.S Military's XM8 program was cancelled in the Fall of 2005 after being suspended earlier that year. Had this program not been cancelled, the XM8 system may have faced competition from weapons such as from the FN SCAR and H&K 416. Independent work by H&K on the XM8 has continued. It was altered and entered as a candidate for the SCAR competition but was unsuccessful.

In the Fall of 2007 the XM8 was compared to other firearms in a 'dust test.' [1] The competition was based on two previous tests that were conducted in Summer 2006 and Summer 2007 before the latest test in the Fall of 2007. In the Summer 2007 test, M16 rifles and M4 carbines recorded a total of 307 stoppages. In the Fall 2007 test, the XM8 recorded only 127 stoppages in 60,000 total rounds while the M4 carbine had 882. The FN SCAR had 226 stoppages and the HK416 had 233. The difference between the XM8, HK416, and FN SCAR was not statistically significant when correcting for the less reliable STANAG magazine. [2] However, the discrepancy of 575 stoppages between the Summer and Fall 2007 tests of the M4 had Army officials looking into possible causes for the change such as different officials, seasons, and inadequate sample pool size but have stated that the conditions of the test were ostensibly the same. The Army countered the controversy surrounding the M4 by stating, in essence, that troops are generally satisfied with the M4.

Referencdes and Research
Thermobaric Weaponry

AGM-114N Metal Augmented Charge (MAC) Thermobaric Hellfire
XM1060 40mm Thermobaric Grenade


XM29 OICW Prototype (Objective Individualized Combat Weapon)
Damage: +04 Ballistic, Autofire, Critical: 20, Range: 60+ feet, Size: L, Cost: 30
- with Thermobaric rounds: Damage: 10 [Effect: Blast], Critical: 19-20, Range: 150 feet +, Size: L, Cost: 30

XM8 Light Weight Assault Rifle (Prototype)
Damage: +06 Ballistic, Autofire, Critical: 20, Range: 50+ feet, Size: L, Cost: 30
- with Thermobaric rounds: Damage: 10 [Effect: Blast], Critical: 19-20, Range: 150 feet +, Size: L, Cost: 30

With a M203-A1
Damage: +05 Explosion, Critical: --, Range: 70+ feet, Size: L, Cost: 20
- Alternate Munitions: Thermobaric Grenades/Mini-Rockets: Damage: 10 [Effect: Blast – Extra: Area effect, Feat: Alternate Power x01: Suffocate 10], Critical: 19-20, Range: 150 feet +, Size: L, Cost: 30

With a M320
Damage: +05 Explosion, Critical: --, Range: 70+ feet, Size: L, Cost: 20
- Alternate Munitions: Thermobaric Grenades/Mini-Rockets: Damage: 10 [Effect: Blast – Extra: Area Effect, Feat: Alternate Power x01: Suffocate 10], Critical: 19-20, Range: 150 feet +, Size: L, Cost: 30

Source Material - Role Playing Publications

System Reference Document, Copyright 2000, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.
Modern System Reference Document, Copyright 2002-2004, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.
Mutants and Masterminds, Second Edition, Copyright 2002, Green Ronin Publishing LLC
Mastermind's Manual: Mutants and Masterminds, Second Edition, Copyright 2006, Green Ronin Publishing LLC
Ultimate Power: Mutants and Masterminds Second Edition, Copyright 2006, Green Ronin Publishing LLC

Pictures, photographs, and art are the sole respective property of there owners. No challenge to ownership, trademark, or copyright is intended.

Character Concepts - Gaijin: Tools of the Trade - Tomahawk

TransportationThe Dodge Tomahawk Concept Motorcycle
Source: Dodge Tomahawk Motorcycle

Almost 400 MPH! That's the estimated top speed of the Dodge Tomahawk motorcycle concept. The alien machine appeared early this year at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit and caused quite a stir.

Dodge built the machine after two employees began to toy with the idea of building a Dodge motorcycle to show up the Chevy powered Boss Hoss. Amazingly enough, management liked the idea and plans were laid for construction!

There's serious discussion at Dodge about putting the Tomahawk into production but at $250,000 each you can bet it will be limited. Even if you can handle the price, can you handle 1,500 pounds cranking out 500 horsepower, between your legs? If you can, the 505 cu. in. (8300 cc) aluminum Viper V-10 engine will take you to 60 MPH in 2.5 seconds and nothing on the street will ever catch you.

Few concept vehicles make it into production. The evolution of those that do usually results in the release of a production machine with a lot less flash than the original idea. In many cases it's a matter of having to wait for the available technology to catch up with the design. Today, micro technology and composite materials development is advancing at a staggering pace so ideas like the Tomahawk are more possible than ever. That's exciting and when you consider how innovative Dodge has become with their vehicle designs!

Your 500-HP V-10 Motorcycle Is Here
Source: Motorcycle Cruiser

Now that everyone on the block has a Valkyrie Rune on order, this $250,000 V-10 is just what the breakaway rider needs.

Though it has four wheels, Dodge's Tomahawk apparently does lean into corners.It's the new 8.3-liter, 500-horsepower V-10 from that "other" American motorcycle maker, Dodge. Well, maybe calling a Daimler-Chrysler's Dodge division a "motorcycle maker" is pushing it, since there aren't any plans yet to put the Dodge Tomahawk into production. However, the idea hasn't been ruled out, assuming there are enough people interested in coughing up $250,000 or so for one of a limited number of the 8277cc (505 cubic-inch), 1500-pound crotch rockets.

Unveiled at the Detroit Auto Show on January 6, the machine is a concept vehicle, built both to grab the spotlight and to inspire both the public and Dodge's design team. "This is a bold-faced slap against mediocrity," enthused Trevor Creed, Chrysler's Senior VP of Design. "Tomahawk is a scintillating example of what creative minds can do when given the opportunity to run free. It is a pure mechanical sculpture and a joyous celebration of the artistry and emotion of design. Tomahawk moves design concept introductions and the concept car game to a whole new level. It's just that extreme and passionate; a glimpse into the soul and commitment of true enthusiasts."

Each wheel in the pairs is suspended independently of its partner."A motorcycle is the most beautiful way to showcase an engine," said Wolfgang Bernhard, Chrysler's COO. And certainly this project is all about the engine. The aluminum Viper V-10 engine cranks out a claimed 500 ponies at 5600 rpm and 525 pounds feet of torque at 4200 rpm. It drives the dual spun-alloy rear wheels through a two-speed transmission and dual chains. Yes, there are two each 20-inch wheels front and rear, placed closely together, so it stretches the motorcycle concept a bit. Bernhard said the additional wheels were needed to handle all the power. Nonetheless, it still leans into corners.

The engine is the centerpiece and a stressed member of the monocoque-framed chassis, which features center-hub steering, a single-shock swingarm rear suspension and a 76-inch wheelbase. In its best automobile speak, Dodge describes the front suspension thus: "Outboard, single-sided parallel upper and lower control arms made from polished billet aluminum and mounted via ball joint to aluminum steering uprights and hubs with five degrees caster. Single, fully adjustable centrally located coil-over damper (2.25-inch coil with adjustable spring perch); pullrod and rocker-actuated mono linkage." There is a lockable parking stand.

Twist the throttle on 500 horsepower and you will probably want to rename Dodge's concept vehicle the Traumahawk.The seat height is listed at 29 inches, and fuel capacity is 3.25 gallons, which probably won't last 10 minutes at the machine's estimated 400-mph top speed. (We will believe that when we see it.) The estimated 0 to 60-mph time is 2.5 seconds, assuming you can find the necessary traction from the dual P150/50R-20 rear tires. "The Dodge brand philosophy always challenges us to grab life by the horns," said Creed. "In the case of Tomahawk, grabbing and holding onto anything for dear life is a necessity."

Any decision about actually producing this monster (in limited numbers) will be made in a few months, after the company has seen reaction on the show circuit. We think they should, not just because everyone needs a quarter-million-dollar motorcycle (or is it a motorcycle-like machine?), but it will give you something invigorating to get around with on the days when your Viper just doesn't seem like enough fun. Plus, if you didn't get a Valkyrie Rune or a CVO Road King because every biker on the block could afford one, this will give you exclusivity, something you won't see on every street corner.

SPECIFICATIONS

We think its great that Dodge's design people have something fun to drive.DIMENSIONS: Overall Length: 102 in. Overall Width: 27.7 in. Overall Height: 36.9 in. Wheelbase: 76 in. Seat Height: 29 in. Curb Weight: 1,500 lbs Track, Front: 8.75 in. Track, Rear: 10 in. Weight Dist.: 51% rear Ground Clearance: 3 in. Fuel Tank Capacity: 3.25 gal.

ENGINE: Type: liquid-cooled 90-degree V-10 Displacement: 8277 cc (505 c.i.) Bore x stroke: 102.4 x 100.6mm Valve arrangement: 2 pushrod-actuated overhead valves per cylinder, roller-type hydraulic lifters Fuel Injection: Sequential, multi-port electronic with individual runners Compression: 9.6:1 Power: 500 bhp@5600 rpm Torque: 525 lb.-ft. (712 Nom) @ 4200 rpm Max rpm: 6000

Dodge Tomahawk - Base Statistics

Strength: 25, Speed: 10, Defense: 25, Toughness: 20, Size: Medium, Powers: Enhanced Trait:Defemse 15, Super Speed 10 [Drawback: Duration - Limited to fuel consumption, Must refill after extended burst of speed, Flaw: Check Required - Ride Skill, Flaw: No Alternate Powers unless paid for as a Devise Power. Costs must be calcualted]

Features: Electronic Counter Measures/E-M Pulse generator - Small prtable generator positioned on the Tomahawk. Capable of generating a low grade e-m pulse that scrambles electrical equipment like wireless network towers and cellphones. DC 18, Range: 100 ft with a contnuous effect for 5 rounds before a 4 round recharge cycle.

Cost: [-78-]

Source Material - Role Playing Publications

System Reference Document, Copyright 2000, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.
Modern System Reference Document, Copyright 2002-2004, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.
Mutants and Masterminds, Second Edition, Copyright 2002, Green Ronin Publishing LLC
Mastermind's Manual: Mutants and Masterminds, Second Edition, Copyright 2006, Green Ronin Publishing LLC
Ultimate Power: Mutants and Masterminds Second Edition, Copyright 2006, Green Ronin Publishing LLC

Pictures, photographs, and art are the sole respective property of there owners. No challenge to ownership, trademark, or copyright is intended.

Character Concepts - Gaijin: Tools of the Trade - S.W.O.R.D. 01

Army Prepares 'Robo-Soldier' for Iraq
Source: Yahoo News

By MICHAEL P. REGAN, AP Business Writer

ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, N.J. - The rain is turning to snow on a blustery January morning, and all the men gathered in a parking lot here surely would prefer to be inside. But the weather couldn't matter less to the robotic sharpshooter they are here to watch as it splashes through puddles, the barrel of its machine gun pointing the way like Pinocchio's nose. The Army is preparing to send 18 of these remote-controlled robotic warriors to fight in Iraq (news - web sites) beginning in March or April. Made by a small Massachusetts company, the SWORDS, short for Special Weapons Observation Reconnaissance Detection Systems, will be the first armed robotic vehicles to see combat, years ahead of the larger Future Combat System vehicles currently under development by big defense contractors such as Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics Corp.

It's easy to humanize the SWORDS (a tendency robotics researchers say is only human) as it moves out of the flashy lobby of an office building and into the cold with nary a shiver.

Military officials like to compare the roughly three-foot-high robots favorably to human soldiers: They don't need to be trained, fed or clothed. They can be boxed up and warehoused between wars. They never complain. And there are no letters to write home if they meet their demise in battle. But officials are quick to point out that these are not the autonomous killer robots of science fiction. A SWORDS robot shoots only when its human operator presses a button after identifying a target on video shot by the robot's cameras. "The only difference is that his weapon is not at his shoulder, it's up to half a mile a way," said Bob Quinn, general manager of Talon robots for Foster-Miller Inc., the Waltham, Mass., company that makes the SWORDS. As one Marine fresh out of boot camp told Quinn upon seeing the robot: "This is my invisibility cloak." Quinn said it was a "bootstrap development process" to convert a Talon robot, which has been in military service since 2000, from its main mission — defusing roadside bombs in Iraq_ into the gunslinging SWORDS.

It was a joint development process between the Army and Foster-Miller, a robotics firm bought in November by QinetiQ Group PLC, which is a partnership between the British Ministry of Defence and the Washington holding company The Carlyle Group. Army officials and employees of the robotics firm heard from soldiers "who said 'My brothers are being killed out here. We love the EOD (explosive ordnance disposal), but let's put some weapons on it,'" said Quinn. Working with soldiers and engineers at Picatinny Arsenal in New Jersey, it took just six months and only about $2 million in development money to outfit a Talon with weapons, according to Quinn and Anthony Sebasto, a technology manager at Picatinny. The Talon had already proven itself to be pretty rugged. One was blown off the roof of a Humvee and into a nearby river by a roadside bomb in Iraq. Soldiers simply opened its shrapnel-pocked control unit and drove the robot out of the river, according to Quinn.

The $200,000, armed version will carry standard-issue Squad Automatic Weapons, either the M249, which fires 5.56-millimeter rounds at a rate of 750 per minute, or the M240, which can fire about 700 to 1,000 7.62-millimeter rounds per minute. The SWORDS can fire about 300 rounds using the M240 and about 350 rounds using the M249 before needing to reload. All its optics equipment — the four cameras, night vision and zoom lenses — were already in the Army's inventory. "It's important to stress that not everything has to be super high tech," said Sebasto. "You can integrate existing componentry and create a revolutionary capability." The SWORDS in the parking lot at the headquarters of the cable news station CNBC had just finished showing off for the cameras, climbing stairs, scooting between cubicles, even broadcasting some of its video on the air. Its developers say its tracks, like those on a tank, can overcome rock piles and barbed wire, though it needs a ride to travel faster than 4 mph. Running on lithium ion batteries, it can operate for 1 to 4 hours at a time, depending on the mission. Operators work the robot using a 30-pound control unit which has two joysticks, a handful of buttons and a video screen. Quinn says that may eventually be replaced by a "Gameboy" type of controller hooked up to virtual reality goggles. The Army has been testing it over the past year at Picatinny and the Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland to ensure it won't malfunction and can stand up to radio jammers and other countermeasures. (Sebasto wouldn't comment on what happens if the robot and its controller fall into enemy hands.)

Its developers say the SWORDS not only allows its operators to fire at enemies without exposing themselves to return fire, but also can make them more accurate. A typical soldier who could hit a target the size of a basketball from 300 meters away could hit a target the size of a nickel with the SWORDS, according Quinn. The better accuracy stems largely from the fact that its gun is mounted on a stable platform and fired electronically, rather than by a soldier's hands, according to Staff Sgt. Santiago Tordillos of the EOD Technology Directorate at Picatinny. Gone are such issues as trigger recoil, anticipation problems, and pausing the breathing cycle while aiming a weapon.

"It eliminates the majority of shooting errors you would have," said Tordillos.

Chances are good the SWORDS will get even more deadly in the future. It has been tested with the larger .50 caliber machine guns as well as rocket and grenade launchers — even an experimental weapon made by the Australian company Metal Storm LLC that packs multiple rocket rounds into a single barrel, allowing for much more rapid firing. "We've fired 70 shots at Picatinny and we were 70 for 70 hitting the bull's-eye," said Sebasto, boasting of the arsenal's success with a Vietnam-era rocket launcher mounted on a SWORDS. There are bound to be many eyes watching SWORDS as it heads to battle. Its tracks will one day be followed by the larger vehicles of the Future Combat System, such as six-wheel-drive MULE under development by Lockheed Martin, a 2.5-ton vehicle with motors in each wheel hub to make it more likely to survive.

The Pentagon (news - web sites)'s research arm, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, also recently awarded contracts to aid research of robots that one day could be dropped into combat from airplanes and others meant to scale walls using electrostatic energy — also known as "static cling."

Many of the vehicles being developed for the FCS will have some autonomy, meaning they'll navigate rough terrain, avoid obstacles and make decisions about certain tasks on their own.

They may be able to offer cues to their operators when potential foes are near, but it's doubtful any of them will ever be allowed to make the decision to pull the trigger, according to Jim Lowrie, president of Perceptek Inc., a Littleton, Colo., firm that is developing robotics systems for the military.

"For the foreseeable future, there always will be a person in the loop who makes the decision on friend or foe. That's a hard problem to determine autonomously," said Lowrie.

TALON Small Mobile Robot
Source:Global Security.Org

TALON is a powerful, lightweight, versatile robot designed for missions ranging from reconnaissance to weapons delivery. Its large, quick-release cargo bay accommodates a variety of sensor payloads, making TALON a onerobot solution to a variety of mission requirements. Built with all-weather, day/night and amphibious capabilities standard, TALON can operate under the most adverse conditions to overcome almost any terrain. The suitcase-portable robot is controlled through a two-way RF or F/O line from a portable or wearable Operator Control Unit (OCU) that provides continuous data and video feedback for precise vehicle positioning.

Built with all-weather, day/night and amphibious capabilities standard, TALON can operate under the most adverse conditions to overcome almost any terrain. The portable robot is controlled through either a two-way RF or F/O line from a portable or wearable Operator Control Unit (OCU) that provides continuous data and video feedback for precise vehicle positioning.

TALON’s payload and sensor options include: multiple cameras (color, black and white, infrared, thermal, zero light), a two-stage arm, gripper manipulators, pan/tilt, two-way communications, NBC (nuclear/biological/chemical) sensors, radiation sensors, UXO/countermine detection sensors, grenade and smoke placing modules, breaching tools, communications equipment, distracters and disrupters.

The TALON robot is used for bomb disposal. It is operated by radio frequency and equipped with four video cameras that enable troops to determine which areas enemy soldiers occupy. In addition, the TALON is waterproof up to 100 feet, allowing it to search for explosives off-land. The TALON also was used to locate victims and debris at the World Trade Center. It was developed for the EOD Technology Directorate of the Army’s Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center at Picatinny Arsenal, NJ by the engineering and technology development firm Foster-Miller.

The Talon began helping with military operations in Bosnia in 2000, deployed to Afghanistan in early 2002 and has been in Iraq since the war started, assisting with improvised explosive device detection and removal. Talon robots had been used in about 20,000 missions in Iraq and Afghanistan by the end of 2004.

The Pathfinder Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration [ACTD], sponsored by the U.S. Army Special Operations Command with the ACTD and Urban Technology Office at the U.S. Army Soldier Systems Center serving as technical manager, is an effort to integrate unmanned ground vehicles, unmanned aerial vehicles and unattended smart sensors into a mobile, self-forming and self-healing network. The network enhances situational awareness, command, control and communications to commanders and assault forces operating in urban areas. Pathfinder leveraged the Talon robot, which is commonly used for jobs best avoided by warfighters, such as entering a booby-trapped cave. The ACTD is integrating the Special Operations Forces Laser Aiming Module used to send a coded laser to guide smart munitions to a target. It's on the robot, so you don't expose soldiers. You can clearly identify targets without having Soldiers get into harm's way. By using a radio relay attached to it, troops can drive it out to longer and more useful distances.

Soldiers have armed robots as battle buddies by early 2005. The Special Weapons Observation Reconnaissance Detection System, or SWORDS, joins Stryker Brigade Soldiers in Iraq when it finished final testing. The system consists of a weapons platform mounted on a Talon robot. It’s not a new invention, its just bringing together existing systems.
The Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center and Army Special Operations Command jointly hosted a demonstration of modular payload systems on robotic platforms from 14-17 July 2004 at Avon Park Bombing Range, FL. The demonstration started with a Talon robot driving over anti-personnel land mines to place an explosive charge on an anti-tank mine, followed by a live fire of all three armament systems engaging targets out to 450 meters in single fire and automatic fire modes. Visitors to the demo watched the live fire events and then received detailed briefings on the operation of the systems.

Different weapons can be interchanged on the system – the M16, the 240, 249 or 50-caliber machine guns, or the M202 –A1 with a 6mm rocket launcher. Soldiers operate the SWORDS by remote control, from up to 1,000 meters away. In testing, it’s hit bulls eyes from as far as 2,000 meters away. The only margin of error has been in sighting. It can engage while on the move, but it’s not as accurate.

The system runs off AC power, lithium batteries or Singars rechargeable batteries. The control box weighs about 30 pounds, with two joysticks that control the robot platform and the weapon and a daylight viewable screen. SWORDS was named one of the most amazing inventions of 2004 by Time Magazine.

As of late 2004 there were four SWORDS in existence; 18 were requested for service in Iraq. Each system has cost about $230,000 to produce. When they go into production, it is estimated the cost per unit will drop to the range of $150,000 to $180,000.

While many people are fearful that armed robots will run amok on the battlefield, this was not an issue for the demonstration. The robots employ a "man in the loop" where the robots are always under the direct control of a soldier. The soldier issues commands to the robot and the small arms weapons through the robot's operator control unit. The soldier also issues commands to the rocket and grenade launchers through a newly developed Remote Firing and Control System. This firing and control system, which was developed by Duke Pro, allows a single soldier to control up to five separate firing systems using a 40 bit encryption security system.

For the Mutants and Masterminds Second Edition Role-Playing Game

S.W.O.R.D. 01
Base Power Level: [-08-] – Unlimited Power Level/Power Points

Str: [-20-][+05]
Wis: [-12-][+01]
Dex: [-14-][+02]
Point Total: [-16-]

Saving Throws
Toughness: [+10]
Reflex: [+04]
Point Total: [-14-]

Combat
Defense: [+12]
Initiative: [+02]
Range Attack: [+06]
Point Total: [-40-]

Skills
Climb [+10], Notice [+05], Search [+05], Stealth [+05]
Points: [-04-][-16 Ranks-]

Feats
First Strike, Improved Critical, Improved Overrun, Move-by Action, Power Attack
Points: [-05-]

Powers
Immunity 30 – its inanimate material composition gives S.W.O.R.D. inherent immunities to air-borne pathogens, bio-contaminants, chemical contaminants, bio-toxins, environmental hazards, etc. Its Immunity power substitutes for any Fortitude save unless otherwise stated.
Protection 10 – It’s dense material composition and fabricate alloys give S.W.O.R.D. an overall degree of protection against electricity, heat, flame, radiation, small arm’s fire, medium arm’s fire, heavy arm’s fire, explosive ordinance, and general or heavy martial arts damage.
Enhance Trait: Climbing 05 – equipped with treads, S.W.O.R.D. moves like a tank across all solid and steep terrains. Do to its engineering design, S.W.O.R.D. can stack its power Attribute with its climbing skill to determine climbing success on any terrain at an incline between 30 and 50 degrees. It loses this enhanced trait over any incline greater than 50 degrees/
Points: [-45-]

Weapons and Equipment
Different weapons can be mounted onto the S.W.O.R.D. They include, but not limited to the following:
M16 – Assault Rifle
Damage: +05 Ballistic Autofire, Critical: 20, Range: 50+ feet, Size: L, Cost: 15
M240 – Medium Machine Gun
Damage: +06 Ballistic, Autofire, Critical: 20, Range: 60+ feet, Size: L, Cost: 18
M249 – Light Machine Gun
Damage: +05 Ballistic, Autofire, Critical: 20, Range: 50+ feet, Size: L, Cost: 15
M202 w/ 6mm Launcher – Rocket Launcher
Damage: +10 Explosion, Critical: --, Range: 150 feet, Size: L, Cost: 30

Point Total: [-124-]
Hero/Villain Points: 00
Notes: S.W.O.R.D. is a modified version of the T.A.L.O.N. bomb disposal drone equipment with automatic weapons, modified grenade launcher, or any weapon designated within its current mission parameters. Used primarily in the second Iraqi Gulf War and against the Al-Qaeda and its Taliban insurgents, S.W.O.R.D. earned an efficient name in eliminating terrorists and other fundamentalists. Several unused models, possibly stolen or acquired through middlemen have ended up in the hands of freelance mercenary companies or shady freelance entrepreneurs.

Source Material - Role Playing Publications

System Reference Document, Copyright 2000, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.
Modern System Reference Document, Copyright 2002-2004, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.
Mutants and Masterminds, Second Edition, Copyright 2002, Green Ronin Publishing LLC
Mastermind's Manual: Mutants and Masterminds, Second Edition, Copyright 2006, Green Ronin Publishing LLC
Ultimate Power: Mutants and Masterminds Second Edition, Copyright 2006, Green Ronin Publishing LLC

Pictures, photgraphs, and art are the sole respective property of there owners. No challenge to ownership, trademark, or copyright is intended. S.W.O.R.D. 01 and other character concepts are the sole property of Jeffrey N. Williams, Copyright 2009.

RPG Series 3.5 Revised - The War Vaults of Sekhmet

Team Finds 17 Statues of Egyptian Goddess
Tuesday, March 14, 2006
Source: Fox News

CAIRO, Egypt — An Egyptian-German archaeological team has discovered 17 statues of Sekhmet, an ancient Egyptian goddess with the head of a lioness and the body of a woman.

The statues, estimated to be about 3,000 years old, were found during restoration work on the temple of Amenhotep III, in the southern city of Luxor, Culture Minister Farouk Hosni said in a statement Sunday.

Last week, the team discovered six similar black granite statues depicting Sekhmet seated on a throne and holding the "key of life" in her left hand.

Two of those statues were broken, with only the lower parts found.

The condition of the 17 statues was not revealed, though the council's chief, Zahi Hawass, said in the statement that each figure will be removed from the site for maintenance. Hosni did not say when the figures were found.

Hawass said Amenhotep III's different names and titles were delicately engraved on both sides of the statues' thrones, reflecting the advanced stage of arts during the 18th Dynasty.

Sekhmet was considered the goddess of war and recovery, which could explain why so many similar statues were found on the same site, according to Mansour Breik, the official supervising the Luxor antiquities.

The Caryatid Column of Sekhmet

Medium-Sized Construct

Hit Dice: 10d10 [50 hit points]
Initiative: +04
Speed:
- 20 ft.
Armor Class
Base: 16 (-1 Dex, 15 Natural, Deflection Bonus +2)
-Flat-Footed: 17
Touch: 17
Base Attack/Grapple: +06/+01
Attack: +10/+05, Great Flail [1d8/1d10/19-20/x2], Long Spear [1d6/1d8/x3], Khopesh Sword [1d8/1d8/ 19-20/x2]. Some weapons may have magical qualities.
Full Attack: +11/+06, Great Flail [1d8+5/1d10+5/19-20/x2], Long Spear [1d6+5/1d8+5/x3], Khopesh Sword [1d8+5/1d8+5/19-20/x2]. Some weapons may have magical qualities.
Space/Reach: 5 ft. by 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks
Attacks as sixth level fighters, Saving throws as a sixth level fighter, Combat feats, as a sixth level fighter
Special Qualities
Construct, damage reduction 10/+1, magic immunity, resistances, shatter weapons
Saves: Fort +05, Ref +02, Will +02
Abilities:
Str 20 [+05], Int 00 [+00], Wis 11 [+00], Dex 10 [+00], Con 00 [+0], Cha 00 [+0]
Skills:
None
Feats: Cleave, Improved Critical, Improved Initiative, Power Attack, Two-Weapon Fighting
Environment: Any
Organization: Troupe
Challenge Rating: 6
Treasure: None
Alignment: Always Neutral
Advancement: 06-10 HD (Medium-size), 11-15 HD (Large)
Level Adjustment: ---

COMBAT
Caryatid Columns are enchanted by the war-priests to serve as sentries to her faithful’s tombs and crypts. They activate when certain conditions or stipulations are broken (such as a living creature entering a chamber guarded by a Caryatid Column). A Caryatid Column attacks an opponent with whatever weapon it is carrying. (In the case of a Caryatid Column enchanted to Sekhmet, Footman’s Flail, Long Spear, or Khopesh Sword). It does move more than 50 ft from an area it is guarding or protecting.

Construct: Immune to mind influential effects, poison, disease, and similar effects. Not subject to critical hits, subdual damage, energy drain, or death from massive damage. Immune to any effect that requires a Fortitude save, unless the effect targets objects. Caryatid Column have darkvision to a range of 60 feet.

Imbue with Spell-Like Ability: Divine Favor, Foundation of Faith, Shield of Faith, Spiritual Weapon: Activates when opponents come within 50 feet of the Caryatid Column and remain activate for the duration of combat. They can activate these abilities at will. They however will not attack any individual wearing the holy symbol of Horus, Sekhmet, Osiris, Ra, or Thoth.

Resistances (Ex): Caryatid Columns receive a +4 bonus on saving throws against any spell that can affect it. (see text below)

Magic Vulnerability (Ex): A caryatid column is immune to all spells, spell-like abilities and super natural effects, except as follows. A transmute rock to mud, stone to flesh, or stone shape instantly slays a caryatid column if it fails a saving throw. A transmute rock to mud heals all of its lost hit points.

Shatter Weapons (Ex): Any weapon that strikes a caryatid column must succeed at a Fortitude save (Dc 12) or shatter into pieces. Magic weapons receive a bonus equal to their weapons bonus.

Description: All caryatid columns bear the likeness of the goddess Sekhmet.

The Caryatid Columns of Sekhmet are created through incantations (Unearthed Arcana, Dungeons and Dragons Third Edition, Pg. 174) in observance with the Goddess of War and Peace.

The Caryatid Columns of Sekhmet
Enchantment
Effective Level: 8th
Skill Check: Knowledge (Arcana) DC 20, 3 Successes, Knowledge (Religion) DC 20, 2 Sucesses
Failure: Attack
Components: V, S, M, SC, XP (Non-worshipper of Sekhmet only)
Casting Time: 60 minutes
Range: Touch
Target: One statue per four caster levels, plus one additional statue per four levels of every secondary caster.
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No

Source Material - Role Playing Publication

Open Gaming Lincense, V 1.0a, Copyright 2000, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.
System Reference Document, Copyright 2000, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.
The Tome of Horrors I, Copyright 2002, Necromancer Games, Inc.

Pictures, photographs, and art are the sole respective property of there owners. No challenge to ownership, trademark, or copyright is intended.

Archaeologists Find New Ancient Egyptian Tomb
Friday, February 10, 2006
Source: Fox News

CAIRO, Egypt — American archaeologists have uncovered a pharaonic-era tomb in Egypt's Valley of the Kings, the first uncovered there since King Tutankhamun's in 1922, Egypt's antiquities chief announced.

The 18th Dynasty tomb included five mummies in intact sarcophagi with colored funerary masks along with more than 20 large storage jars still with their with pharaonic seals intact, Zahi Hawass, head of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, said in a statement Wednesday.

Still unknown is who was the owner of the tomb. U.S. archaeologist Kent Weeks, who was not involved in the discovery but has seen photographs of the tomb's interior, said its appearance suggested it did not belong to a king.
"It could be the tomb of a king's wife or son, or of a priest or court official," he told The Associated Press on Thursday.

No matter, its discovery shatters the nearly century-old perception that there was nothing left to discover in the Valley of the Kings, where it had long been believed that the 62 previously known tombs were all there was, he said.

Weeks made the last major discovery in the valley. In 1995, he opened a previously known tomb and found it was far larger than expected: more than 120 chambers, which he determined were tombs for sons of the pharoah Ramses II.

The newly discovered tomb is a single chamber, meaning it was likely intended for one mummy, he said. Other sarcophagi — or even all of them — may have been put in later, Weeks said.

In later dynasties, high priests fearing grave robbers took mummies from their original sites and stashed them elsewhere. Even after the pharoanic era, mummies were moved either to protect them or to hide them, he said.

Hawass did not specify who was believed buried in the tomb. The antiquities chief was scheduled to visit the site Friday to announce more details.

A University of Memphis team of archaeologists led by Otto Schaden found the tomb 12 feet below the ground, buried under rubble and stones 15 feet from Tut's tomb, Hawass said. The statement didn't say when the tomb was found.

Inside the rectangular tomb, the five wooden sarcophagi were surrounded by the jars, which appeared placed haphazardly, suggesting the burial was completed quickly, Hawass said.

The 18th Dynasty, from around 1500 B.C. to 1300 B.C., was the first dynasty of the New Kingdom, the pharaonic empire than lasted until around 1000 B.C. and made its capital in Thebes — the present day city of Luxor, 300 miles south of Cairo. The Valley of the Kings was used as a burial ground throughout the New Kingdom, though contrary to its name not all the tombs are of kings.

The new tomb will be called KV63, adding to the previously known sites labeled from KV1 to KV62, which is the tomb of Tutankhamun, uncovered by Howard Carter in 1922. KV5 is the tomb of Ramses II's sons.

"It clearly proves that the Valley of the Kings is still not exhausted," Weeks said. "There are probably more tombs.

Imenand of the Silt Shackles
Alignment: Lawful Neutral
Race/Sex: Dwarven Male
Templates: Mummy Lord
Class: Cleric of Sekhmet/Tomb Warden
Levels: 13th Ceric/3rd Level
Spells/Number: 0/4, 1st/6, 2nd/5, 3rd/5, 4th/5, 5th/4, 6th/2, 7th/1
Str: [-18-][+04], Int: [-16-][+03], Wis: [-20-][+05], Dex: [-15-][+02], Con: [-00-][+00], Cha: [-20-][+05]
Feats (09): Combat Reflexes, Divine Metamagic, Improved Critical, Power Attack, Reach Spell, Scribe Scroll (Alternate Feat Advancement List), Still Spell, Toughness, Weapon Finesse
Special Abilities – Cleric of Sekhmet
Aura (Ex): Imenand possesses an aura that corresponds towards law and neutrality.
Channel Energy (Su): Imenand can channel the divine energies of his faith to damage or repel undead. Imenand can use this ability 6/Day.
Domain Powers (Su): Imenand has chosen two domains favored by Sekhmet and gains those abilities listed within the Pathfinder campaign book.
Domain Spells - Healing
Rebuke Death (Su): Imenand can touch a creature as a standard action, healing it of 1d4 points of damage plus 1 point for every two levels he possesses [Total: 1d4+4]. He can only use this ability on a creature that is below 0 hit points. If he touches an undead creature with this effect, it is shaken for the number rounds equal to his caster level. [Total: 08]
Cure Light Wounds (Su): Imenand can cast cure light wounds 4/day.
Lesser Restoration (Su): Imenand can cast lesser restoration 1/day.
Healer’s Blessing (Su): Imenand can emit a 30-ft. aura of healing for 8 rounds. You and your allies within aura gain fast healing 2 as long as they remain within range. This fast healing only allies to damage caused after the damage began. These rounds do not need to be consecutive.
Domain Powers – War
Battle Smite (Su): Imenand can touch his deity’s favorite weapon and give it the ability to deal a battle smite. For the next three rounds, anyone wielding the weapon may add an enchantment bonus on one damage roll equal ½ your caster level for one attack roll [Damage: +08]. The target must decide to use this ability before rolling the attack. This effect fades after three rounds or when the battle smite is used. Once a wielder has used a battle smite, he can gain no further benefit from it for one day.
Magic Weapon (Sp): Imenand can cast magic weapon 1/day [Total: 08] per 2 caster levels he has.
Spiritual Weapon (Sp): Imenand can cast spiritual weapon 1/day.
Weapon Master (Su): Imenand gains the use of one combat feat for a number or rounds per day equal to his caster level [Total: 08]. These rounds do not need to consecutive and he can change the feat he chooses each time he uses this ability. You must meet the prerequisites to use this feat.
Flame Strike (Sp): Imenand can use flame strike 1/day.
Orisons (Su): Imenand can cast 4/day. He can cast these orisons at will as a spell-like ability. Orisons cannot be channeled through spontaneous spell casting.
Spontaneous Casting: Imenand can channel stored spell energy into healing spells that he did not prepare ahead of time. The cleric can “lose” any prepared spell that is not an orison in order to cast any cure spell of the same spell level or a lower.
Special Abilities - Dustform Creature
Type: Construct/Undead
Hit Dice: d12
Blindsight (Ex): Although not physically blind, Imenand can sense all creatures within 60 feet as a sighted creature would by detecting subtle vibrations in the air around them. Beyond that range, they treat all targets as having total concealment.
Breath Weapon (Su): As a standard action every 2d4 rounds, a dustform creature can spew a 10-foot cone of dust and sand. The cone deals 8d6 points of damage, and creatures within the area can make a Reflex saves for half damage. The save DC is charisma based.
Construct/Undead Traits: Immunity to paralysis, poison, sleep, stunning and mind-effecting spells and abilities. They are not subject to extra damage from critical hits or flanking. In addition, a dustform creature cannot be polymorphed into a nondustform creature. As a dustform creature, Imenand has one Achilles’ heel. A critical hit with a bludgeoning weapon forces the dustform creature to make a Will save to remain cohesive; otherwise it dissolves into lifeless dust. The DC for the will save is equal to 10 + damage dealt. Imenand, however can make a second Will save immediately by stacking his clerical levels [+13] and his charisma modifier [+05] + 1d20 vs. DC 27 and remain cohesive after the critical hit. He however still retains full damage if struck by a magical weapon.
Damage Reduction (Su): 5/magic. Imenand’s slam attack is treated as a magical weapons for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.
Special Abilities - Mummy
Darkvision: 60 feet
Despair (Su): At the mere sight of a mummy, the viewer must succeed on a DC 16 Will save or be paralyzed with fear for 1d4 rounds. Whether or not the save is successful, that creature cannot be affected again by the same mummy’s despair ability for 24 hours. The save DC is Charisma-based. Imenand can use this ability at will and he can “deactivate” this ability towards individuals and group if their intentions are non-hostile.
Mummy Rot (Su): Supernatural disease and slam, Fortitude DC 16, incubation period 1 minute; damage 1d6 Con and 1d6 Cha. The save DC is Charisma-based. Unlike normal diseases, mummy rot continues until the victim reaches Constitution 0 (and dies) or is cured as described below. Mummy rot is a powerful curse, not a natural disease. A character attempting to cast any conjuration (healing) spell on a creature afflicted with mummy rot must succeed on a DC 20 caster level check, or the spell has no effect on the afflicted character. To eliminate mummy rot, the curse must first be broken with break enchantment or remove curse (requiring a DC 20 caster level check for either spell), after which a caster level check is no longer necessary to cast healing spells on the victim, and the mummy rot can be magically cured as any normal disease. An afflicted creature who dies of mummy rot shrivels away into sand and dust that blow away into nothing at the first wind.
Apprentices: No
Weapons and Equipment
Plate Mail +03, Ice Burst Battle Axe +03, Helm of Teleportation, Ring of Fire Resistance, Parchment of Three Blessings, Decanter of Endless Water, Staff of the Pharaoh, Bottle of Endless Sand, Figurine of Wondrous Power: Gold Beetle, Jug of Whirlwinds, Lamp of Stars [Many of these items can be found in the Magic Item Compendium or the Sandstorm Accessory, Dungeons and Dragons Third Edition Revised], and several miscellaneous Potions and Scrolls
Notes: Imenand of the Silt Shackles is a rarity for a mummy lord. His unwavering devotion to Sekhmet after death has maintained his alignment status in the domains of law and neutrality. A second ritual in his devotion to the lion-headed goddess of war and peace grants him the abilities (ala template) of a dustform creature.

Source Material - Role Playing Publications

Open Gaming Lincense, V 1.0a, Copyright 2000, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.
System Reference Document, Copyright 2000, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.
Pathfinder, Beta Playtest Edition, Copyright 2008, Paizo Publishing
Player's Handook, Third Edition Revised, Copyright 2003, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.
Libris Mortis: The Book of the Dead, Copyright 2004, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.

Pictures, photographs, and art are the sole respective property of there owners. No challenge to ownership, trademark, or copyright is intended. Imenand of the Silt Shackles, The War-Vaults of Sekhmet, other character concepts, and fictious creative concepts are the sole property of Jeffrey N. Williams, Copyright 2009.

On the Planetouched Races of Hamunaptra and Mulhorand
by Joel Ehrig, Email: xaeyruudh@GMAIL.COM

The Aasimar, Chaond, Tieflings, and Zenythri work for most areas of the Realms, but in keeping with my aberrant approach to the Old Empires, I'm playing with an idea for planetouched races unique to the Old Empires.

Instead of 4 races representing the alignment axes, I’m thinking about a separate race for planetouched descended from each of the God-Kings. By God-Kings, I mean the God-Kings rather than their mortal descendants. This is not an exhaustive list of details, just the beginnings of descriptions. I haven't come up with names for them yet.

Anhur - pale bronze skin, black eyes, thick golden hair; eagle eyes, cool touch, smell like clear mountain air.
Horus-Re - bronze skin, yellow eyes, black hair; no other peculiar features.
Isis - blue skin, blue eyes, fine black hair; cool touch, smell like rain.
Nephthys - silver skin, blue eyes, hairless; no other peculiar features.
Osiris - white skin, black eyes, coarse black hair; cool touch, perfectly symmetrical features
Thoth - pale bronze skin, black eyes, thin white hair; cool touch, smell like parchment
Bast - bronze skin, green eyes, fine black hair; feline eyes
Geb - bronze skin, black eyes, coarse black hair; pebbly skin, warm touch, smell like fresh earth
Hathor - dusky bronze skin, green eyes, golden hair; smell like fresh earth
Anubis - black skin, white eyes, hairless; smooth skin, warm touch, smell like rain
Re - golden skin, red eyes, fine white hair; warm touch, smell like clear mountain air
Sebek - green skin, red eyes, hairless; pebbly skin, warm touch
Set - dusky bronze skin, yellow eyes, coarse black hair; warm touch

Gaming Journal - The Icelandic volcano

Icelandic Volcano Began Rumbling in March
By BRIAN KNOWLTON
Published: April 15, 2010
Source

The Eyjafjallajokull volcano, one of Iceland’s largest, had been dormant for nearly two centuries before returning gently to life in the late evening of March 20, noticeable at first not by any great seismic activity but by the emergence of a red cloud glowing above the vast glacier that covers it.

In the following days, fire fountains jetted from a dozen vents on the volcano, reaching as high as 100 meters, according to the Institute of Earth Sciences at the University of Iceland. That spectacular show, along with lava flows up to 20 meters thick, and “lava falls” to the volcano’s northeast, turned it into a full-fledged tourist attraction.

The volcano seemed to return to somnolence early this month. Then on Wednesday, an explosion sent clouds of ash soaring as high as 11,000 meters, disrupting air traffic in Northern Europe, with ripple effects far beyond.

The latest eruption led to the evacuation of hundreds of rural Icelanders. Although in an area where many people keep packed suitcases near the door for just such an eventuality, the movement to emergency shelters was efficient, reports said.
About 450 people had registered by Thursday morning at a shelter in the Hvolsvollur Elementary School, Iceland Review reported. Hundreds of other people were staying with friends or relatives.

But people throughout the affected area had to wear protective masks, and farmers and rescue workers scurried to herd thousands of sheep and other livestock away from the area of ash fall, amid fears of the deleterious effects of fluorine or other toxic elements in the ash.

Sigurlaug Sigurdardottir, a farmer from Herjolfsstadir, told the mbl.is news site that the ash had turned a bright day so dark that it was impossible to see a nearby house.

Another farmer, Ingunn Magnusdottir, described a desolate scene, saying: “There is gray dust covering everything. The cars are gray.” She said that her animals were all being kept in barns but that livestock at other farms had to be evacuated to safer areas.

A thick layer of gray to black ash — which residents described as fine, like flour or sugar — covered thousands of hectares of land. The authorities were monitoring drinking water in islands that draw their water from Eyjafjallajokull glacier melt, Iceland Review’s Web site reported.

The eruption showed no sign of abating, Pall Einarsson, a geophysicist at the University of Iceland, told Reuters.
“The seismographs are showing that since this morning the intensity of the eruption seems to be growing,” he said.
As much a third of the glacial ice above the crater has melted — it had been up to 250 meters thick in spots — raising the level of a nearby river by nearly a meter and covering some roads. But the worst danger of flash flooding appeared to be over, and some nearby residents had been able to return home.

Bridges over the Markarfljot river were damaged. The police restricted travel on some roads in the east, and the authorities warned that further flooding was possible.

At one point, the authorities decided to use heavy construction equipment to dig a break through the main highway to Reykjavik, Highway 1, rather than risk an overflow thought capable of destroying a key bridge.

The latest eruption is the fourth by Eyjafjallajokull (pronounced EYE-a-fyat-la-jo-kutl) in 1,100 years, vulcanologists say.
The last one, in 1821, which began with days of explosive eruptions, left deep layers of dark-gray ash through vast areas of southern Iceland — some of it nearly reached Reykjavik — and it caused the Markarfljot and the Holtsa rivers to flood.
The fluorine in its ash was blamed for the deaths or debilitation of large numbers of livestock.

As Eyjafjallajokull was settling down, the Katla volcano erupted in the spring of 1823.

Some vulcanologists and geologists said Thursday that the latest eruption might last just a few days. But the possibility remained of a longer event, like Eyjafjallajokull’s eruption of more than a year in the 1820s.

What a difference 48 hours makes: Clear skies above as volcano cools down after its violent outburst

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Source

With clear blue skies and a small cloud rising up to the heavens, Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull volcano looks a picture of calm today compared with 48 hours earlier.

Back then, with fire and 1,250C lava spitting out from its core, it presented a far more violent image to the world.

Dust particles were shot up into the skies above and drifted down over the Atlantic, closing vast swathes of European airspace.

The volcano has now simmered to 80 per cent of its intensity, but scientists are warning that earth tremors could cause an even larger eruption at a neighbouring crater.

An eruption at the Katla volcano would be ten times stronger and shoot higher and larger plumes of ash into the air than its smaller neighbour.

The two volcanoes are side by side in southern Iceland, about 12 miles apart, and thought to be connected by a network of magma channels.

Katla is buried under one of Iceland's largest glaciers, the Myrdalsjokull, which is 500m deep. This means it has more than twice the amount of ice than the current eruption has burned through, threatening a new and possibly longer aviation standstill across Europe.

Katla showed no signs of activity Tuesday, according to scientists who monitor it with seismic sensors, but they were still wary.

Pall Einarsson, professor of geophysics at the Institute of Earth Sciences at the University of Iceland, said one volcanic eruption sometimes caused a nearby volcano to explode, and Katla and Eyjafjallajokull have been active in tandem in the past.

The last three tiimes that Eyjafjallajokull erupted, Katla followed.

Katla also typically awakens every 80 years or so, and is slightly overdue having last erupted in 1918.

That notion is frightening for nearby villagers, who would have to quickly evacuate to avoid the flash floods that would rip down Katla's slopes.

Even last week's eruption generated spectacular cascades of melted water and ice chunks the size of houses when burning gases and molten earth carved through the glacier.

Svenn Palsson, the 48-year-old mayor of the coastal village of Vik, said residents were going over evacuation plans just in case.

With a population of 300, Vik has been covered in three millimeters of ash from the Eyjafjallajokull eruption, but the real concern is Katla.

Residents would have two to three hours to reach the safety of a shelter if the volcano erupted and caused the ice to melt quickly.

'We have practiced and can do it in 30 minutes,' Palsson said.

Other areas around the mountain, however, would have no more than 20 minutes to evacuate, he said.

Katla's substantial ice cap is a major worry because it is the mixture of melting cold water and lava that causes explosions, and for ash to shoot into high altitudes.

Strong winds can then carry it on over Europe.

So far there have been minor tremors at Katla, which scientists believe to be movements in the glacier ice, but the activity from Eyjafjallajokull is making measurements more difficult to read and an eruption more tricky to predict.

'It is more difficult to see inside Katla,' said Kristin Vogfjord, geologist at the Icelandic Met Office.

Vogfjord says Katla's sensitivity to eruptions at Eyjafjallajokull may have to do with pressure shifts in the Earth's crust that are caused by an eruption's magma flow.

'Katla can start tomorrow or in 100 years, you don't know,' said Palsson. 'All we can do is be ready.'

Shifting Gears - Biometric Palm Readers

Giving biometrics a hand
Palm-reading system used to safeguard patient records

By Bryn Nelson
Source: msnbc.com

A perceptive palm reader is helping one of the largest healthcare systems in the U.S. divine the true identities of its patients, ushering in a new era of biometric identity verification.

The device, resembling a small black cube and manufactured by Tokyo-based Fujitsu Corp., uses a vascular pattern recognition system to accurately identify people while they hold their palm just above the cube. The scan, requiring less than a second, captures the unique branching pattern of blood veins and instantly converts key data points into a numerical code that can be compared with other palm scans to identify matches. The miniaturized device can plug into a laptop computer via a USB port, while an alternative version released last year incorporates the palm scanner into a computer mouse to facilitate secure logins.

Carolinas HealthCare System, the nation’s third largest public healthcare provider, began using PalmSecure last year in several major hospitals as part of the nation’s first biometric patient identification system based on vascular recognition technology. Now deployed at eight locations and two urgent care facilities, the identification program has enrolled about 170,000 patients in all. Once patients have registered their unique biometric “vein template,” it can be linked directly to their medical records.

“We have had excellent patient response and the product has performed well with no failures or replacements required to date after more than one year of use,” said Carolinas spokesman Jim Burke in an e-mail interview. The main challenge, Burke said, has been educating patients on the program’s benefits.

By accurately identifying patients when they check in, he said, the palm-based system has virtually eliminated the risk that a person’s Social Security number or health insurance identification card could be used by someone else to fraudulently access their records or access healthcare services.

How it works
At its core, the palm-reading system works by recording subdermal vein patterns.

“Subdermal means the information resides inside a person’s skin, and it cannot be altered by external factors such as cuts, burns, abrasions and any other skin condition,” said Hiroko Naito, business development manager at Fujitsu Computer Products of America. The technology extracts enough information from the vein pattern to create a unique template.

To acquire each vein pattern template, the technology uses “near-infrared reflection photography,” in which a high-performance camera essentially snaps a digital picture of the vein pattern within a person’s palm. The method exploits a distinctive characteristic of deoxygenated hemoglobin carried by blood: its ability to absorb near-infrared light and create a unique distortion of the light reflected back.

A computer algorithm extracts several data points from the resulting image and converts them into a compressed, encrypted and numbered vein template. The number can be correlated with bank, medical or other personal accounts, and a matching algorithm produces a similarity score for every new palm scan, deciding whether a similarity threshold has been exceeded and the pair can be scored as a match.

More accurate than fingerprints
Many banks in Japan have similarly begun using palm-based recognition as an extra level of security in case ATM cards are lost or stolen, Naito said.

“Japanese banks use PalmSecure for verifying the ATM card owner at the point of transaction via an ATM machine,” she said. Japanese ATM cards are typically “smart cards” embedded with a micro memory chip that can hold additional identification information. The card owner’s PalmSecure vein template is stored in each smart card, she said, and the owner must provide the proper biometric information plus the PIN code to complete a card transaction.

The technology, which debuted in Japan in 2004, has begun catching on in the U.S., and Naito said similar systems could be used for self-service kiosks and terminals, to record work time and attendance, or to control physical access to secure areas. Beyond the system’s high accuracy, she said, palm-based identification boasts the advantage of being more widely applicable than biometrics based on conventional comparisons such as fingerprints.

Although fingerprint recognition is more widely used for identifying people, Naito said fingerprint sensors often don’t provide enough data points for critical verification decisions. (Typically, 12 to 18 data points are needed.)

“The sensor device typically requires direct contact of a finger and is dependent upon the surface condition of the skin,” she said, meaning that dry or abraded skin can interfere with the system’s reliability. Skin diseases such as psoriasis can also impede print recognition. And some people with genetic disorders are born without fingerprints at all, limiting the system’s applicability among the general public.

Researchers generally agree that iris scanning generates the highest level of accuracy in biometrics, but Naito contends the technology is not well accepted because of its highly intrusive nature.

“People are uncomfortable exposing their eyes to some unfamiliar lights,” she said, adding that the system can force people to change their normal behavior, such as wearing contact lenses or long bangs. The technology also can be cost prohibitive and challenging to install and operate, requiring frequent adjustments for the height and angle of different faces to obtain a good eye scan.

Security Features
Carolinas determined that the palm recognition technology’s accuracy and security features offered the best option for its patient network, Burke said.

Because a computer algorithm immediately translates the image of palm veins into a number, the image cannot be stolen and reused, and patient privacy can be better safeguarded. In addition, database retrieval is faster because a number, not an image, is accessed, he said. Improved accuracy reduces that chance that patient records could be accidentally confused. Finally, patients place their hand a few inches above the device instead of actually touching it, eliminating the need for frequent cleanings and decreasing the potential for equipment damage.

“During our analysis and research, we also determined that other types of biometric identification either required touch (fingerprint), or were deemed too invasive by the general public (retinal scanning),” Burke said.

Naito stressed that because the PalmSecure system stores numbers instead of images, the vein pattern information would be incomprehensible to anyone who tapped into the system illegally. But perhaps one the best selling points of all, she said, is the algorithm’s low “false acceptance ratio” of 0.00008 percent, meaning that it incorrectly matches a vein template less than once per million tries — an error rate that even the best human palm-reader would be hard-pressed to match.

© 2009 msnbc.com

Shifting Gears: Metallic Glass

Solving the Mysteries of Metallic Glass

by David Chandler PhysOrg.com

-- Researchers at MIT and the National University of Singapore have made significant progress in understanding a class of materials that has resisted analysis for decades. Their findings could lead to the rapid discovery of a variety of useful new kinds of glass made of metallic alloys with potentially significant mechanical, chemical and magnetic applications.

The first examples of metallic alloys that could be made into glass were discovered back in the late 1950s and led to a flurry of research activity, but, despite intense study, so far nobody had solved the riddle of why some specific alloys could form glasses and others could not, or how to identify the promising candidates, said Carl. V. Thompson, the Stavros Salapatas Professor of Materials Science & Engineering and director of the Materials Processing Center at MIT. A report on the new work, which describes a way to systematically find the promising mixes from among dozens of candidates, was published last week in Science.

Glasses are solids whose structure is essentially that of a liquid, with atoms arranged randomly instead of in the ordered patterns of a crystal. Generally, they are produced by quickly cooling a material from a molten state, a process called quenching.

“It is very difficult to make glasses from metals compared to any other class of materials, such as semiconductors, ceramics and polymers,” Thompson said. Decades of effort by scientists around the world have focused on “understanding and on exploiting the remarkable properties of these materials, and on understanding why some alloy compositions can be made into glasses and others cannot,” he said.

They still haven’t solved that “why,” Thompson said. But this new work does “provide a very specific and quantitative new insight into the characteristics of liquid alloys that can most readily be quenched into the glassy state,” he said, and thus provides a much more rapid way of discovering new alloys that have the right properties.

The research was the result of a collaboration between Thompson and MIT post-doc Johannes A. Kalb with Professor Yi Li and graduate student Qiang Guo at the National University of Singapore, working together across thousands of miles of separation through the Singapore-MIT Alliance. Essentially, the work consisted of producing an array of different alloys with slightly varying proportions of two metals, each deposited on a separate microscopic finger of metal. Then, they analyzed the changes in density of each different mixture when the glass crystallized, and found that there were a few specific proportions that had significantly higher density than the others — and those particular alloys were the ones that could readily form glasses. Of three of these special proportions they found, two were already known glass-forming alloys, but the third was a new discovery.

The new work could even lead to a solution to the longstanding puzzle of why only certain alloys make glasses, he said. “I expect these new results, and the technique we developed to obtain them, will play a key, and hopefully decisive, role in solving the mystery of metallic glass formation.”

Such materials could have a variety of applications because of their unusual physical and magnetic properties, Thompson said. They are “soft” magnetically, meaning that it’s very easy to change the magnetic orientation of the material. This is a highly desirable characteristic for the cores of transformers, for example, which must switch their magnetic orientation dozens of times per second. Transformers made from metallic glasses could potentially greatly reduce the amount of electricity wasted as excess heat in conventional transformers, reducing the need for new generating plants.

In addition, these glasses are unusually hard mechanically and have a high degree of springiness (known technically as a high “elastic modulus”). This springiness could make them a useful material for some sports equipment such as golf clubs or tennis rackets, Thompson said. Although metallic glasses are relatively expensive, he said, for some people interested in the best-performing sports equipment, or in virtually unbreakable housings for cellphones, for example, “no expense is too high.”

The new research is a major accomplishment for the Singapore-MIT Alliance, Thompson said, and would not have been possible without the high-quality communications and collaboration tools it provides. Despite their physical separation, “Prof. Li and I have been working together now for almost ten years,” he said. “We routinely meet via video conferencing and have both been deeply involved in the co-supervision of the remarkable PhD student, Qiang Guo, who carried out this research.”

Thompson said he sees such collaborations as a significant example of a growing trend. “I think this and other accomplishments within the SMA program demonstrate that the future of research lies in technology-mediated collaborations among people with common interests and complementary capabilities, regardless of where the different parts of the team are located,” he said.

Provided by MIT

Gaming Journal: Bbbzzzzzzzzz, Or One the Day the Insects Will Rule the Earth!

Giant Insects Might Reign If Only There Was More Oxygen in the Air

PhysOrg.Com

The delicate lady bug in your garden could be frighteningly large if only there was a greater concentration of oxygen in the air, a new study concludes. The study adds support to the theory that some insects were much larger during the late Paleozoic period because they had a much richer oxygen supply, said the study’s lead author Alexander Kaiser.

The study, “No giants today: tracheal oxygen supply to the legs limits beetle size,’’ was presented at Comparative Physiology 2006: Integrating Diversity.

The Paleozoic period, about 300 million years ago, was a time of huge and abundant plant life and rather large insects -- dragonflies had two-and-a-half-foot wing spans, for example. The air’s oxygen content was 35% during this period, compared to the 21% we breathe now, Kaiser said. Researchers have speculated that the higher oxygen concentration allowed insects to grow much bigger.

Tubes carry oxygen

First, a bit of background: Insects don’t breathe like we do and don’t use blood to transport oxygen. They take in oxygen and expel carbon dioxide through holes in their bodies called spiracles. These holes connect to branching and interconnecting tubes, called tracheae, Kaiser explained.

Whereas humans have one trachea, insects have a whole tracheal system that transports oxygen to all areas of their bodies and removes carbon dioxide. As the insect grows, tracheal tubes get longer to reach central tissue, and get wider or more numerous to meet the additional oxygen demands of a larger body.

Insects can limit oxygen flow by closing their spiracles. In fact, one reason insects are so hardy is that they can close their spiracles and live off the oxygen they already have in their tracheae. Kaiser recalled a caterpillar that fell into a bucket of water in his lab. When the creature was discovered the next day, lab workers thought it had drowned. But when they removed its apparently lifeless little body from the water, they were surprised to see it crawl away.

Tracheae grow disproportionately

This experiment was designed to find out:

• how much room the tracheal system takes up in the bodies of different-sized beetles
• whether tracheal dimensions increase proportionately as the beetles get larger
• whether there is a limit to the size a beetle could grow in the current atmosphere

The researchers used x-ray images to compare the tracheal dimensions of four species of beetles, ranging in size from 3mm (Tribolium castaneum, about one-tenth of an inch) to about 3.5 cm (Eleodes obscura, about 1.5 inches). Beetles were not in existence during the Paleozoic period, but Kaiser’s team used the insect because they are much easier to maintain in the laboratory than dragonflies, which are quite difficult.

The study found that the tracheae of the larger beetles take up a greater proportion of their bodies, about 20% more, than the increase in their body size would predict, Kaiser said. This is because the tracheal system is not only becoming longer to reach longer limbs, but the tubes increase in diameter or number to take in more air to handle the additional oxygen demands.

The disproportionate increase in tracheal size reaches a critical point at the opening where the leg and body meet, the researchers found. This opening can get only so big, and limits the size of the trachea that runs through it. When tracheal size is limited, so is oxygen supply and so is growth, Kaiser explained.

Using the disproportional increases they observed among the beetles, the researchers calculated that beetles could not grow larger than about 15 centimeters. And this is the size of the largest beetle known: the Titanic longhorn beetle, Titanus giganteus, from South America, which grows 15-17 cm, Kaiser said.

And why wouldn’t the opening between the body and the leg limit insect size in the Paleozoic era, too? After all, dragonflies and some other insects back then had the same body architecture, but they were much bigger.

It is because when the oxygen concentration in the atmosphere is high, the insect needs smaller quantities of air to meet its oxygen demands. The tracheal diameter can be narrower and still deliver enough oxygen for a much larger insect, Kaiser concluded.

The research was carried out by Alexander Kaiser and Michael C. Quinlan of Midwestern University, Glendale, Arizona; J. Jake Socha and Wah-Keat Lee, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL; and Jaco Klok and Jon F. Harrison, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ. Harrison is the principal investigator.

Source: American Physiological Society

Amalgam Creatures
Seigebeast
Ankheg/Purple Worm (Amalgam Template)

This horror as the name applies is bred to do what it does. Destroy non-insect fortifications.

Avolakia/Ankheg (Amalgam Template)

Ankheg Steeds – Plated carapace for better protection

Swam Drones – Twisted Lore