text:
Recent Projects: Product Design
Eye Tracking Device
Team: Nathan Lehrer, Grant Neubauer, Tyler Ray, John Zahka
Sponsor: Analog Devices Inc.
Technical Liaison: Jim Doscher
Faculty Advisor: Brian Pogue
The way we interact with technology has changed as often as technology itself. The evolution of this interaction has included the keyboard and mouse, touchscreen, and even voice control. Eye tracking, a technology that originated as a research tool, has started to enter consumer markets as an alternative method of human-computer interface. One great potential use for eye tracking is in the emerging field of glasses-based computing, such as Google Glass.
Analog Devices' new low power optical sensor, which measures the average position of an object in front of it, may offer a way around using cameras and power-hungry image recognition algorithms in eye-tracking devices. If the data from this sensor can be correlated to a user's point-of-gaze, this technology has the potential to successfully integrate portable eye-tracking and glasses-based computing.
We evaluated the capabilities of this sensor as a reliable eye tracker. The deliverables of this project were: (1) Create a viable design for an eye-tracking system; (2) Construct an experiment, test apparatus, and prototype to test viability of the design; (3) Document test results; and (4) Develop a demo to showcase the abilities of the device and compare with existing eye tracking systems.
The design incorporates an unprecedented method called "scleral averaging," which relies on the fact that the output of the sensor is related the amount of visible sclera, which changes when the eye moves. Experiments determined the ideal parameters for use of the sensor as an eye-tracker. An experimental procedure was designed and executed in which subjects were stabilized in a head fixture and instructed to look at a series of known points while sensor data was collected on their point-of-gaze. The sensor's performance was evaluated using a nonlinear regression algorithm that determined the error between the true position and the sensor's output. The testing showed that in ideal conditions, the sensor has the accuracy, precision, and range necessary to determine in which cardinal direction the user is looking, but not enough accuracy for higher resolution applications. Thus it could be useful for tracking "gestures" (i.e., a left-to-right or up-to-down eye swipe) or which box in a 3-by-3 grid the user is looking at.
First Responder Heat Exposure Monitoring Device
Team: Quinn Harper, Alexander Murphy, Elias Stein
Sponsor: Boston Engineering
Technical Liaison: Mark Smithers
Faculty Advisor: Stephen Taylor
Recent and significant improvements to turnout suits now allow firefighters to remain in several hundred-degree heat for longer periods of time. The improved insulation results in the gear being equally good at retaining the firefighter's body heat inside the suit as keeping out the external heat, resulting in a significant increase in injuries due to heat stress among firefighters. However, modern turnout gear does not give firefighters a way to monitor their risk of overexertion and heat illness. Our sponsor has endeavored to produce a prototype device that measures the temperature within a firefighter's turnout gear, and relays this information to a command post outside the fire zone. Our project was to research, develop, and produce a works-like prototype. The embedded software and finite state machine have been developed and are running on the prototype electronics. The enclosure has been redesigned to include a secure clip mechanism and simplified battery system. The prototype wirelessly transmits temperature data with ±0.5 degrees Celsius, while demonstrating an estimated battery life of up to 160 days.
Mobile Tackling Target
Team: Quinn Connell, Noah Glennon, Elliot Kastner, Andrew Smist
Sponsor: Friends Of Dartmouth Football
Technical Liaison: Lucas Hussey
Faculty Advisor: Minh Phan
Football teams need a dynamic and mobile device that simulates player motion as realistically as possible in order to practice safe tackling form without the injury risks associated with player-to-player contact. The solution must reflect the unpredictable motion of a live player, be safe to tackle, simulate realistic tackling, and work on a turf field in all playable weather conditions. Deliverables for this project are a full-scale working prototype, an extensive patent search and report on state-of-the-art, and a realistic business plan. We researched various solution strategies and verified that a mobile dummy would be the most effective solution for the problem. We designed a remote control dummy driven with a ball drive and built and tested a full-scale prototype.
Our sponsor and our group have filed a provisional patent application that covers all aspects of the device.
Personal Nicotine Exposure Monitoring Device
Team: Yves-Marie Duperval, Kwame Ohene-Adu, Tewende Sawadogo
Sponsor: Tuck-Fresh Air Sensor Corp.
Technical Liaison: Joseph BelBruno
Faculty Advisor: Kofi Odame
Smoke that is exhaled and/or released from the end of a burning cigarette is defined as second-hand smoke, while the hazardous residue from smoking that clings to hair and fabric is called third-hand smoke. Second-hand and third-hand smoke exposure have been identified as carcinogens and contribute to increased risks of cardiovascular diseases and childhood ailments, according to a 2006 report published by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Third-hand smoke can be especially harmful to infants.
Research conducted at Dartmouth over the last few years resulted in the development of a nicotine sensor, which uses a conductive polymer film that changes its resistance in response to the ambient concentration of nicotine. Our sponsor acquired the sensor and developed a device that interfaces the sensor with a processing unit and allows the real-time collection of the sensor's resistance. However, this solution is costly, bulky, and unable to properly implement a stable sensor connection.
Our group proposed an innovative solution that accurately reads the sensor's resistance and the ambient temperature in order to provide users with a quantitative assessment of nicotine in their surroundings. We produced a preliminary printed circuit board (PCB) that provided a platform to conduct tests. A second iteration of the PCB incorporated the sponsor's requirements. Extensive testing was then carried out to verify the device's compliance with the specifications. In addition to submitting a functioning prototype to the sponsor, we provided documentation for reproducing our design and a technical manual for operating the device.
USB-Plugged Data Logger
Team: Alex Hanson, Yihan Li, Curtis Lim
Sponsor: Linear Technology Corp.
Technical Liaison: Sam Nork
Faculty Advisor: Jason Stauth
Linear Technology Corporation is an analog circuits company that developed a high-performance 20-bit analog-to-digital converter (ADC). It can be used in data acquisition devices such as oscilloscopes and certain medical devices. Although they had a generic demonstration board to help market the ADC, Linear Technology was interested in seeing the device integrated into an impressive, easy-to-use USB-plugged data logger. The goal of the data logger was to demonstrate the capabilities of the ADC in a compressed, plug-and-play package. The project had hardware, firmware, and software components that required a breadth of expertise from the students and engineering contacts at Linear Technology. The hardware involved integrating the ADC with circuitry that acquired voltage inputs, interfaced with a computer through USB, and provided power to the device solely from USB power. The firmware was responsible for receiving, timing, and sending the digital bits from the ADC to the USB circuitry. The software, sourced in Visual Basic and C#, allowed the user to control the data logger; it had a voltage-over-time plot and table, a digital code count histogram, and data export functionality. The end goal was for the software to automatically recognize and operate the data logger.


text:
Video credit: Tony Salido (thanks!)
Aquarius Plateau, Powell Point and Hell's Backbone
From the high alpine terrain of the Aquarius Plateau to the deep canyons of the Escalante River, discover a fantastic array of backcountry cycling! This mountainous region contains biking trails so remote that each year we are commissioned by the US Forest Service to maintain and clear them ourselves! These primitive trails reveal hidden lakes, secret canyons, and spectacular mountain vistas. We often encounter large herds of elk and other rarely seen wildlife. Trip highlights include cycling atop the highest plateau in North America, visiting John Wesley Powell's favorite lookout point, climbing Hell's Backbone, and moutnain biking the exciting Gap Mountain Trail!
Escalante is a great mountain bike trip for skilled riders with endurance and singletrack experience. This bike tour can also accommodate riders traveling with less experienced friends, as it offers optional dirt roads paralleling some singletrack sections.
Call or email us for booking, or to speak to a guide about this trip. 800.596.2953
Location: Utah
Season: Summer & Fall
Duration / Mileage:
6 Days, 150 Miles
Accommodations: All Cabins
Fitness / Tech Ratings: 7 / 7
Departure: Fly to Las Vegas or Drive to St. George, UT

subset: commoncrawl


text: I get a newsletter/blog where the lady prepares recipes for a slow cooker all but the liquid and freezes it, then when using it puts it in the slower cooker and adds the liquid and when dinner time comes around it is ready. If he has a slow cooker he could start it before he goes to work in the morning and have dinner when he gets home. I get the blog under another screen name so can find it and post it later. I like this idea and plan to try it myself.


text:
Isidore Okpewho named SUNY Distinguished Professor
Isidore Okpewho, professor of Africana Studies, has been named a distinguished professor by the SUNY Board of Trustees. Okpewho has been recognized for playing a seminal role in the development of the scholarly understanding of oral traditions in African literature.
The distinguished professor title, granted only by SUNY trustees, is the highest academic rank possible and is conferred on individuals who have achieved national or international prominence.
Okpewho joined the University's faculty in 1991. His extensive research into oral traditions and African tales involves ethnographic investigations and the collection of narratives.
Named a Guggenheim Fellow last year, he will spend the next academic year researching African mythology in the New World. His research will help construct an identity for those who were brought to America from Africa.
"When you examine a tale from Africa, you must look at the society from which it comes and study the background of a tale's transformation," he said. "Away from Africa, these people have a way of fashioning their own identity and it's reflected in the tales they tell."
In nominating Okpewho, President Lois B. DeFleur said, "His prolific writing demonstrates great diversity ranging from African oral literature, to literary criticism and finally, to creative writing. One is struck by the overwhelmingly positive assessment of his contributions by distinguished national and international scholars."
"It certainly makes a difference when you are recognized by your peers," Okpewho said. "When your colleagues listen to you, you know you're doing something worthwhile."
Okpewho earned a bachelor's degree from the University of London, his PhD in comparative literature from the University of Denver and a doctor of literature degree from the University of London. Prior to coming to Binghamton, he taught at SUNY Buffalo, Ibadan University in Nigeria and Harvard University.
He served as associate dean of graduate studies at Ibadan University and as chair of the Department of English there. He has also chaired the Department of Africana Studies at Binghamton.
A prolific writer, Okpewho is the author, co-author or editor of 14 books and dozens of articles. He has served on the boards of the African Studies Association and the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, Minn. He is a member of the Research Advisory Council for Harvard's Center for the Study of World Religions and is a member of the American Literature Association and the American Folklore Society. Okpewho also serves on the editorial board of Oral Tradition and Research in African Literatures and he has served on numerous campus committees.


text:
Tesla Motors: Here Comes the Competition
No one expected the legacy automakers to remain on the sidelines and let Tesla Motors (TSLA) dominate electric autos. And today, there's word on the competition as Honda Motor (HMC) and Toyota Motor (TM) both updated plans for their fuel-cell-powered vehicles.
Reuters has the details on Toyota's and Honda's plans:
Honda Motor Co Ltd and Toyota Motor Corp plan to launch fuel-cell vehicles in the consumer market in 2015, with each producing about 1,000 eco-friendly cars a year, the Nikkei newspaper reported.
The automakers now offer fuel-cell cars on lease, with users centering on municipalities and businesses, the daily said.
Initial prices of these zero-emission vehicles, which cover longer distances than electric cars, will set below 10 million yen ($97,700), the Nikkei said.
Deutsche Bank's Rod Lache and team think Tesla Motors has the competitive advantages necessary to withstand the competition:
And while we acknowledge the risk of new competition, we believe that this risk is mitigated by the company's growing list of competitive advantages. Interesting, we've noted that Toyota still maintains 60% of the U.S. Hybrid Electric Vehicle market 17-years after the introduction of the Prius, and in some ways Toyota's competitive advantages appear to be dwarfed by those being put into place by Tesla in the Battery Electric Vehicle market. Moreover, we don't believe that that Tesla's market share objectives (including a 500,000 unit target by 2020) are not particularly lofty. We'd note, for example, that the BMW 3-Series sells 538k units per year, including 120k in the U.S., and it achieves 30% of the global small luxury sedan market; Tesla's Model S has already achieved 13% of the market for vehicles in the $70k-$110k price range in the U.S. market. And BMW faces significantly more developed competition in the premium sedan market than Tesla faces in the EV market.
Still, Lache gives Tesla Motors a Neutral rating and a $220 price target. The reason: Tesla's valuation and the fact that he finds the potential risks and rewards evenly balanced. UBS started Tesla at Neutral today for similar reasons.
Shares of Tesla have dropped 2.2% to $215.67 at 12:08 p.m. today, while Toyota Motors has gained 3% to $111.70 and Honda Motor is little changed at $34.66.


text:
April 18, 2012
Student Government Association
Action Meeting
April 18, 2012
I. Roll Call
II. Approval of Minutes
III. Approval of Agenda
IV. Guest Speaker
V. Action Items
a. HeatherLucas: I need more paper, since I cannot read on the computer
i. I motion to a total of 1200 pages
b. SGAField Day Committee: We had $300 as the bill allocation
i. Motion to allocate $300 to field day committee(10/10) passes
c. Amigo'sPechanga: We decided to fully fund the Pechanga bill.
i. Motion to allocate full funding for thebill (8/9) passes
d. OrientationT-Shirt's: We decided $500 for the orientation t-shirt bill
i. Motion to approve $500 (8/11) Passes
e. BaseballNationals Bill: If you fail to make nationals, the money we allocate you all willhave to be returned to SGA for the orientation t-shirt bill.
i. Motion to allocate $816, if they failto make it to nationals, the bill money will have to go to orientation fort-shirts (11/11)
VI. Discussion Item
a. Cramer Hill Proposal: We are recreationstudents, and we a formulating a lease for cranor hill to be purchased byWestern. We feel like we can develop the hill for summer and wintertime uses. Itwill help with retention. This would be another good positive change on campus.We have several meetings set up this week to introduce faculty to this idea. Weare not asking for any money but we are asking for support, to see if anyonewants to get involved. Our budget will be $43,025 for start up costs and afterrevenue we think it will be about $29,000. If we can break even, by gainingstudents it would be great. We have a mountain bike park planned. We spoke withthe flow park and the estimate is $30,000.
i. How much will you be selling ticketsfor?
1. $9/dayfor the community and students will be free and $55 for a season-pass.
ii. This is the startup cost foreverything?
1. Notfor maintenance or transportation
iii. So the mountain has been losing becausethey cannot open
iv. If you cannot put snow on crannog hillthat what will we do?
1. Thereare a couple options, we want to see the hill as a year round thing.
v. Someone other than the city owns theland. Have you spoke with the Cranor family?
1. Wewant to see if the family is interested, and the city will be willing to get inwith you all, but this is a talk you want to have with the city first. There isa city internship out there right now.
vi. Where would the energy be from?
1. Theexisting supply.
vii. We have gotten quotes for the carpet onthe hill, you get an estimate, and it is expensive, but it will be a coupleyears down the line. The mountain bike track will be the first implementationand get the interest involving.
VII. Advisor Report
The fitness summer is hiring for 8hr/wk and Sodexho ishiring. Community clean up is this Saturday at the IFFO park. Monday April 30ththere are cram-jam 10-11pm free foods at rare air. It is a stressful time and keepspeople in good communication.
Erika: BSA soul foodnight and soul food battle diner at 6pm at freestyle battle at 730
Kayla: Therelationship conference 9-3 on Saturday and come with non-perishable food, itis free and there will be food
Brad: Quisby was verysuccessful for their fundraising and raised over $1,200 for Partners and willbecome and annual event
Adam: Tyler Pennellwill be in Sports Illustrated and Wells Fargo is hiring
Walker: Southwest conservationcorp. is hiring 20 field workers and 2-crew leaders trail maintenance andwatershed reconstruction for ecological restoration, and you can getscholarships and college credit.
IX. Committee Reports
Field Day hung the banner today and spread the word; we hopeto get everything together next week, 480 free beverages through Pepsi.
X. Advisory Reports
Sarah: I testified in front of the education committee, andwe passed with all yes'. I will keep you posted on what happens in the senate,and celebration of Scholarship tomorrow. Board of Trustees meeting and one opento the public, last one during the school year.
Grace: Friday is a preview day. There are two baseball gamesat 2pm, $2000 in internal and after tonight we are out of bill money, and themost money we have ever allocated, $19,252. Hopefully we can keep the traditionalive.
Blake: Track and Field in California, split squad. Fridaythe HS is having to track and field event at 2pm in mountaineer bowl.
Mark: Club fair Friday 245-315pm
Travis: Disc gold tournament a week from Friday. Bring yourown disc
Elijah: We had a great turnout, but very cold! We feel thatit was one of the best spring fest's so far. Our last event will be battle ofthe bands at the field day, and we have 8 bands signed up.
Noah: Water water trip to Escalante river canyon
Karen: Springiest we had a successful recycled art contestand we have been working with Sodexho to see how much local food we egretthrough Sodexho. The 1-6th we have move out while you groove out, sothey can put stuff on a palette and we will take it down to free-cycle.
XI. Special Topics
XII. Remarks for the Good of the Order
I emailed the subcommittees the spreadsheet; get next yearsbudgets back next Wednesday.
This Friday and Saturday at Taylor at 730 the annualspelling bee, also we need homecoming packets back by Friday.
XIII. Late Roll Call
XIV. Adjournment


text:
How risky is inhalation of organic solvents?
Philip J. Bushnell
Darel woke from his dream of swordplay with iridescent lizards to a cold sense of hardness and thirst. The familiar headache and tingling in his ears blended with the hazy brown blankness of sunlight on the paper bag covering his face. He inhaled deeply the remaining petrol and tried to return to the dream, but it was over. An urgent, annoying hunger roused him; he pushed away the bag, sat up slowly and waited for the spinning walls to shudder to a halt around him. He tried to steady his shaking hands and swore as he reached for and missed his shoe that had somehow become lodged under his hip. Where was his hat? He pulled his feet under him and reached for a chair. The shaking increased. He tried to hold the chair and pull himself up, but could not keep his hands still. Falling back to the floor, he waited for his body to quiet. His brother appeared above him. "Again?" he said. "I'm taking you to the doc."
Lars approached the traffic circle between home and the paint shop where he had worked all his adult life. The holidays were approaching, and the brilliantly lit Christmas tree and crèche in the circle made him smile. So beautiful! He watched the lights fly by as he circled around, admiring the workmanship of the display. Looking up, he moved toward the exit. Wait. Is it this one? Or that one? Where am I going? To work, or home? The confusion made him continue in the roundabout. He looked at his lunch box on the seat beside him. Opening it, he saw the sandwich and apple that his wife had packed. Ah! Morning! To work.
Marcie pulled up to the Kwik-Stop in her new hybrid. She had just emptied her first tank of gas, and was excited to see how many gallons it had taken to go those 435 miles on the odometer. Adele fingered her pacifier and watched from her car seat as Marcie switched off the ignition and hunted for the gas cap release. There! She pulled it, got out and swiped her credit card in the gas pump. Adele began to fidget, so Marcie quickly pulled the nozzle from the pump and fumbled with the gas cap. In the process, she accidentally squeezed the pump handle and a little gasoline splashed on the car and her shoe. She loosened her grip on the handle, stopping the gas, pushed the spigot into the fuel tank and filled it. Adele was now whimpering, so Marcie got in the back seat beside her and soothed her. She noted the cloying smell of gas as she quieted Adele, who then napped as Marcie drove them home.
These three vignettes provide glimpses of known and potential hazards of volatile organic compounds, commonly known as organic solvents. Darel's story is one of the teenage petrol-sniffer who inhales very high concentrations of gasoline. Repeated high-concentration exposure to these compounds can lead to motor and cognitive debilitation associated with loss of white matter in the central nervous system (CNS). Lars's tale is an apocryphal recounting of the consequences of long-term occupational exposure to solvent vapors, which are found in oil-based paints and adhesives. Exposure to these vapors has been associated (particularly in Scandinavia) with cognitive deficits including loss of short-term memory. These two stories indicate that high-level exposure to hydrocarbon vapors can have serious debilitating consequences, a conclusion widely held in the field. But what about Marcie's acute encounter with spilled gasoline? Should she worry about this isolated episode of exposure? Will it hurt her or her little girl?
A research program in the National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has led to some surprising considerations regarding the potential hazard of exposure to low concentrations of solvent vapors. This program involved conducting experiments to characterize the acute behavioral and neurophysiological effects of inhaling these vapors, developing computational models to understand the relation between the concentration of the vapor in the inhaled air and in critical tissues of the body, and carrying out meta-analyses of the relations between internal doses and various effects in rats and in humans. This experimental work demonstrated that inhaling solvent vapors causes robust changes in cognitive, sensory and motor function in rats; the concentration of the solvent in the brain at the time of functional measurement accurately predicts the magnitude of the effect; and computational models can accurately estimate the concentration of the solvent in the brain and blood under a variety of exposure scenarios. Meta-analyses of dose-effect relations in rats and in humans showed that the potency of the solvent depends greatly on the consequences associated with responding in the test, but, given similar incentives, rats and humans do not differ in their sensitivity to the four solvents tested.
Ethanol, the alcohol that is commonly consumed in a variety of drinks, is chemically an organic solvent and affects the CNS in ways that are very similar to the effects of other inhaled solvents. Because the effects of ethanol and some solvents have been measured using the same test methods, it is possible to relate the potency of solvents and ethanol quantitatively. We applied this relation, called a dose-equivalence equation, to the extensive database relating ingestion of ethanol to fatal automobile crashes. Surprisingly, this analysis revealed that acute exposure to solvent vapors at concentrations below those associated with long-term effects appears to increase the risk of a fatal automobile accident. Furthermore, this increase in risk is comparable to the risk of death from leukemia after long-term exposure to benzene, another solvent, which has the well-known property of causing this type of cancer.
However, other experiments have revealed also that rats can become tolerant to these "acute" effects of solvents—in some situations completely overcoming impairment that is initially caused by inhaling high concentrations of the chemical. After exploring several aspects of this tolerance, it became apparent that assessment of the risk of acute exposure to solvents is not simply a balance between toxicity and tolerance. As will be discussed below, it depends on value judgments and the perception of the risks and benefits associated with normal behavior. The best we can do under these circumstances is to pose the difficult questions about the degree to which the risk of acute exposure can be ameliorated by tolerance.
Our work with rats involved assessing their behavior or visual function while they inhaled a solvent. In these studies, a vapor is generated by evaporating the liquid solvent, diluting the vapor in clean air, and passing it through a chamber in which a rat is either working for food (see Figure 2, top) or viewing a video screen on which visual stimuli are presented (see Figure 2, bottom). For the behavioral studies, the rats are trained to press levers for food before they are exposed to any solvents. In these hour-long tests, a series of trials is presented in which a light flashes briefly during half of the trials (a "signal"). The lever that produces food depends on whether or not a signal occurred, and because the occurrence of the signal is unpredictable, we posit that the rat must attend to that light to respond accurately. Performance is quantified by counting the numbers of correct and incorrect responses (accuracy), and the time between insertion of the levers in each trial and the lever press (response time). An analogous procedure for human subjects has shown remarkable consistency between the two species across several important task parameters.
For electrophysiological studies of visual function, rats are first prepared surgically with electrodes on the surface of the skull. These electrodes detect the electrical activity over the visual cortex, which is driven by alternating patterns of visual stimuli on the video screen. Cortical neurons generate electrical signals that can be used to quantify visual function. Similar functions can be obtained from humans wearing scalp electrodes.
The effects of solvents on behavior and visual function are reliable, robust and directly related to the amount of the solvent inhaled. Behaviorally, accuracy decreases and response time increases with increasing exposure; visually, the amplitude of the recorded signal decreases with increasing exposure. At very high concentrations, animals become anesthetized; indeed, some solvents have historically been used as surgical anesthetics. These effects reflect steps along a general pathway often characterized as "narcosis."
Of course, the amount of the solvent entering the brain depends on its concentration in the air and the duration of the exposure. In addition, this "internal dose" of the chemical is a complex function of the individual's physiology (for example, breathing rate and cardiac output) and the solvent's physicochemical properties. Computational methods have been developed to estimate internal doses of chemicals under a wide range of exposure conditions. Such physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) models incorporate these parameters into a set of differential equations representing the flux of the compound in blood and tissues. PBPK models for several solvents, including trichloroethylene and toluene, have been essential for understanding the effects of solvents on the CNS and the implications of inhaled solvents on public health.
Using the toluene PBPK model for rats, we examined the relation between exposure concentration (C), duration of exposure (t), and effects on signal detection behavior and visual function to determine the measure of dose ("dose metric") that best explains the observed pattern of effects of several solvents, including toluene. This analysis revealed clearly that the concentration of the solvent in the brain at the time of measurement provided an accurate estimate of the magnitude of its effects on performance of the task, in comparison to the concentration and duration of exposure and two metrics of cumulative dose. The results for response time in the behavioral test are shown in Figure 3.
The left most panel of Figure 3 shows that response time remains almost constant when rats perform the test in clean air, but it rises with increasing C and t of exposure to toluene. Because both C and t affect performance, both variables must be known to determine the magnitude of the increase. Because the cumulative dose determines the effect of some chemicals, we plotted the same response-time data against the total amount of toluene inhaled at each time point (C x t) and the total amount in the brain (estimated from the PBPK model) to see whether these metrics improved prediction of the effect. These single metrics did improve the predictions (middle panels of Figure 3), but neither metric predicted the effect as accurately as did the concentration of toluene in the brain at the time the behavior was measured (right most panel of Figure 3). Here it is clear that this single metric provides an accurate and unambiguous estimate of the magnitude of the slowing of the rats' responses. Similarly, the momentary concentration of the solvent in the brain also best determines its effects on visual function.
What are the implications of this relation between the concentration of a solvent in the brain of a rat and its effects on these esoteric measures of CNS function? Certainly the effects are large and reproducible, and may be relevant to Darel's neuropathy and Lars's confusion, but can they address Marcie's worry about her exposure to gasoline in the car driving home? The rats were exposed to very high concentrations of solvents, whereas Marcie's exposure was orders of magnitude lower. To explore these questions, my colleagues and I examined published data from other experiments with laboratory animals and human subjects. We wanted to find out how general these effects are, and whether similar dose-effect relations could reveal important information about short-term exposure to solvents at concentrations of concern to Marcie.
To be useful in the context of risk assessment, relations among data sets must be quantitative, so that the likelihood of adverse effects can be estimated, along with its uncertainties. We therefore applied meta-analytical techniques, which enable quantitative comparisons across studies about relations among variables of interest. The first step in such analyses is to survey the existing peer-reviewed literature to determine the scope of existing data that have sufficient information about the exposure to enable application of a PBPK model, and sufficient detail about the measured effects to permit transforming them to a common scale.
Sufficient information was found for four solvents (toluene, trichloroethylene, perchloroethylene and 1,1,1-trichloroethane). The effects of these solvents were studied on tests including choice reaction time (CRT) in humans and rats, visual evoked potentials (VEP) in rats, behavior motivated by food reward in rats, and behavior motivated by avoidance or escape from electric shock in rats. All exposure information was converted via PBPK models to the common metric of solvent concentration in the brain at the time that the behavior or physiology was measured, and each effect was converted to a "behavioral effect" scale that ranged from 0 (no effect) to 1.0 (maximum possible effect). Each measure was then plotted against the estimated molar concentration of the solvent in the brain, and each resulting dose-effect curve was fit to a logistic function that quantified the dose-effect relation (see Figure 4, left).
Three important results emerged from this analysis. First, statistically significant differences were apparent across test methods, which aligned with the strength of the incentive involved in performing the task. Specifically, no incentives were associated with the VEPs generated in rats (red curves), because the response was driven directly by the visual inputs from the eye to the brain; humans performing CRT tests (blue curves) were instructed to respond as quickly as possible, but no consequences for slow responding were imposed during the test, and no feedback was given regarding the accuracy of the choice or speed of the response; rats working for food (green curves) received food only for correct responses, so food rewards elicited accurate responding; and rats pressing levers to avoid or escape electric shock (gray curves) were highly motivated by the punishment associated with errors. This pattern indicates that the incentives involved in a test greatly affect the sensitivity of the measure: When the cost of an error is high, the effect of the solvent is greatly attenuated compared to tests involving weak or absent incentives.
The second important result is that the four solvents did not differ significantly in either the maximum effect they produced or the amount of the solvent (in molar units) required to cause a given effect size (potency). For this reason, the data for the four solvents were combined within each type of measurement, yielding pooled dose-effect functions in the right panel of Figure 4 and their associated uncertainty bands (colored shading indicates 95 percent confidence limits around the curve).
The third important result was the lack of difference between rats and humans in their sensitivity to the effects of the solvents. The data from the human reaction time studies fell among the data for the rat studies, not on either side of them. This result gave us confidence that the animal and human experiments were directly comparable, and the rats were appropriate models for assessing effects in humans.
Despite the consistency of these results across solvents and species, and the comforting plausibility of the role of different incentives to modulate the effects of exposure, all of these effects were obtained at high concentrations that would far exceed Marcie's exposure. How are these high-dose studies relevant to real-world exposures?
To address this question, we examined these effects in relation to the well-known effects of ethanol, which is frequently consumed for its pleasant, anxiety-reducing effects. A great deal is known about the acute effects of ethanol, which closely mirror the acute effects of solvents. One of the effects that these compounds have in common is to slow reaction time. A meta-analysis of the effects of ethanol on reaction time in humans yielded the function shown in the top panel of Figure 5, which plots the size of the effect as a function of blood ethanol concentration (BEC) and its associated confidence limits. The analogous relation for the four combined solvents in Figure 4 is plotted as a function of brain solvent concentration in the bottom, left panel of Figure 5.
Because both solvents and ethanol increase reaction time, and because these dose-effect functions are mathematically quantifiable, it is possible to define a function that describes equivalent effects of solvents and ethanol. This dose-equivalence equation is derived algebraically by setting the two dose-effect functions equal to each other and solving for ethanol dose as a function of solvent dose. The resulting function (see Figure 5, right) describes the locus of doses of both ethanol and solvents that produce effects of the same magnitude. For example, equal increases in reaction time will occur at 0.036 gram per deciliter BEC and 10 micromoles of solvent, and at 0.08 grams per deciliter BEC (a typical legal limit of intoxication) and 117 micromoles of solvent.
This relation is more than just a curiosity: It allows us to estimate quantitatively effects of solvents in terms of effects of a chemical for which a great deal of public health information is available. For example, a well-documented effect of ethanol ingestion is the propensity of automobile drivers to lose control of their vehicles. Some of these instances cause fatal crashes. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) counts these crashes, and most states in the United States measure the BEC of drivers killed in them. The incidence of single-car fatal crashes in relation to the driver's BEC were compiled for incidents in 1986 and in 1996. These BECs were then compared to the BECs of drivers who had not crashed, but were stopped randomly at checkpoints during the NHTSA's National Roadside Surveys of 1986 and 1996. This analysis revealed a soberingly steep relation between BEC and the risk of a fatal crash (see Figure 6). This curve shows that the relative risk of a fatal car crash increases by about 25 times at the legal limit of ethanol intoxication and by about 600 times at very high BECs.
We then fit a logistic function to this dose-effect relation (see Figure 7, left), averaging values only for drivers 21 years of age and older, and rescaling the effect as the increase in the annual number of fatalities per thousand exposed drivers. Because we know the internal doses of solvents that are equivalent to these internal doses of ethanol (from the dose-equivalence relation in Figure 5), we can now express the increase in the number of fatal car crashes as a function of the internal solvent concentration (see Figure 7, middle). This plot shows the same car crash data in relation to the concentration of a solvent in the brain, with confidence limits around the predicted values that incorporate the uncertainties in both the dose-effect function for solvents and the dose-equivalence relation between ethanol and solvents.
This relation permits us to explore the consequences of exposure to solvents at low concentrations, by focusing on the low end of the curve. The right panel in Figure 7 replots the relation between brain-solvent concentration and fatalities on a linear concentration scale to show that the function starts from zero, indicating that estimates of effects of these low concentrations do not rely on extrapolation beyond the range of the data, but are in fact constrained by measurements at both ends of the range.
What concentrations of an inhaled solvent will increase fatal car crashes by an amount of concern to public health? Of course, the level of concern is a judgment call, but it can be placed in the context of other exposures that clearly do elevate concern for public health. For example, benzene is known to cause leukemia in humans and in animals. The incidence of death from leukemia has been analyzed extensively in a cohort of about 1,700 workers who were exposed to benzene during manufacture of a synthetic packaging material between 1939 and 1960. This "Pliofilm" material was made by dissolving latex in benzene, which then was removed during production of the film, causing exposures of up to 125 parts per million (ppm) at several steps in the process. The incidence of mortality from leukemia was examined across a 45-year period after exposures stopped, to account for the typical 30-year latency period between exposure and death from the disease. These analyses yielded a cumulative incidence of 11 to 12 deaths per thousand exposed workers.
Given that death, either from leukemia or from a fatal collision, is an unacceptable consequence of chemical exposure, and that the 30-year cumulative incidence of mortality from benzene-induced leukemia is about 12 per thousand, how much acute exposure to a solvent would be necessary to increase the 30-year cumulative incidence of mortality from fatal car crashes to that level? To answer this question, we used a human PBPK model to simulate exposures to toluene that would increase its concentrations in the brain to values associated with increased death from fatal car crashes of about 0.5 per year, or 15 per 30 years.
These simulations demonstrated that it takes surprisingly little toluene to elevate the incidence of fatal car crashes to a level commensurate with the incidence of benzene-induced leukemia. Figure 8 shows the results of simulating a reasonable exposure scenario at three different concentrations of toluene. A healthy person exercising at the rate of a moderate walk (100 watts) and breathing toluene for 2 hours at 0.42 ppm would elevate his or her brain toluene concentration to about 0.45 micromoles. From the function plotted in Figure 8, this concentration corresponds to just over 0.5 annual fatalities per thousand exposed drivers, as shown on the right-hand vertical axis of Figure 8.
This concentration of toluene exceeds estimates of ambient concentrations in the U.S. (about 0.001 ppm), and of estimated personal exposure in the general public, but is lower than the EPA's Reference Concentration (RfC) for toluene (1.06 ppm), and far lower than typical occupational standards (50 ppm averaged over an 8-hour work day). Note that the RfC (for any chemical) is defined as "an estimate (with uncertainty spanning perhaps an order of magnitude) of a daily inhalation exposure of the human population (including sensitive subgroups) that is likely to be without an appreciable risk of deleterious effects during a lifetime"( http://www.epa.gov/iris/help_ques.htm#whatiris). That is, RfCs are derived from information on the hazard of chronic exposure to a chemical and do not account for potential effects of acute exposure, which our analysis identified as another potential risk.
Are acute exposures to low concentrations of solvents really so dangerous? If so, why does it take such an elaborate analysis to identify the problem? One possibility is that the small increase in deaths (half an additional fatality per year) from exposures at these levels is simply not noticed among all the other factors that influence the statistics. Improvements in the safety of automobiles have reduced the incidence of fatalities, whereas new forms of distraction (for example, use of cell phones while driving) have increased it. Thus this small annual effect may simply be lost in the noise.
On the other hand, the well-known ability of people and animals to compensate for the effects of an intoxicating chemical will reduce the impact of exposure. A decrease in sensitivity to a drug or chemical acquired from experience with the agent is generally known as "tolerance." Tolerance arises through a number of physiological and psychological processes, and has been shown to develop to ethanol and solvents in very similar ways. Tolerance to these chemicals involves changes both in metabolism (metabolic tolerance) and in the response of the brain to the presence of the chemical (dynamic tolerance). Metabolic tolerance speeds clearance from the body and lowers concentrations of the chemical in the blood and brain. Dynamic tolerance reduces the impact of the chemical that enters the brain, and occurs both acutely (that is, during a single exposure) and more gradually after repeated exposure to the chemical.
Could tolerance mitigate or even eliminate the increased risk of fatal car crashes? One promising statistic in the NHTSA data indicates that adult female "heavy drinkers" actually show a reduced risk of fatal crashes at very low BECs. Perhaps this group has developed sufficient tolerance to the effects of ethanol to eliminate the risk. What is the experimental evidence for this possibility?
In rats, toluene metabolism can be increased four-fold during continuous exposure. However, simulations with our PBPK model showed that this increase would raise the concentration of inhaled toluene needed to elevate brain toluene concentrations to levels that increase the risk of fatal car crashes only to about 0.5 ppm.
In contrast, evidence from many studies of ethanol and several with solvents suggest that the nervous system has a surprising capacity to compensate for impairment of the cognitive and motor functions involved in driving a vehicle that are caused by these chemicals. Dynamic tolerance can develop acutely—during a single episode of intoxication—and after a series of exposures, which involves learning processes. Both of these types of tolerance to the effects of ethanol have been documented in experimental animals and in human volunteers.
In addition to metabolic tolerance, rats that were exposed to toluene for 24 hours developed acute dynamic tolerance. That is, 80 percent more toluene was needed to double their response times at the end of the 24-hour exposure than after 1 hour of exposure. However, simulations revealed that increasing the brain toluene concentration by 80 percent to account for this shift in sensitivity requires air toluene concentrations of just 0.789 ppm.
This value remains below the EPA's RfC for toluene (1.06 ppm) and lies far below occupational exposure limits. Thus metabolic and acute dynamic tolerance, even from prolonged exposure at very high concentrations, does not increase the detrimental airborne concentration of toluene above concentrations considered "safe." It is therefore unlikely that occasional exposure to toluene at lower concentrations would yield tolerance sufficient to protect an individual from its effects on risky behaviors like driving.
However, in addition to the rapid changes in sensitivity to chemicals described above, tolerance is well known to develop with repeated exposure to a drug or chemical. This slower, adaptive process, known as "chronic" tolerance, depends heavily on learning processes. Both humans and rats can learn to overcome many of the behavioral impairments caused by ethanol and solvents; indeed, tolerant rats can perform tasks accurately under conditions of exposure that seriously impair naive ones, and this tolerance can last for weeks. However, for both ethanol and toluene, tolerance develops for the accuracy-reducing effects of intoxication but not the slowing of responses, indicating that the performance of "tolerant" animals is not completely normal. Nevertheless, it may be sufficient to reduce the impact of intoxication on complex behaviors like driving a car.
These simulations necessarily simplify complex real-life situations, which involve many variables that are not considered here. For example, single-car crash fatalities are not the only effect of ethanol, just one that has been linked quantitatively to intoxication. Many other costs are associated with driving errors, including injury, hospitalization, property damage and insurance claims; abuse of ethanol exerts other societal costs as well. In addition, 16–20 year-old drivers—those most likely to be involved in fatal car crashes—were excluded from this analysis. Thus we have probably underestimated both the risk of a car crash from acute solvent intoxication and its costs.
Our simulations were all based on exposure to a single volatile chemical, and it is unlikely that there would be only one solvent in the air. Other solvents have the same effects on behavior, and their effects are probably additive, as would be the combined effect of inhaling a solvent and drinking alcohol.
This analysis does not consider the size of the risk pool, that is, the number of people who are exposed to airborne solvents at concentrations around 0.5 ppm. The EPA's National Air Toxics Assessment from 2002 (http://www.epa.gov/ttn/atw/nata2002/tables.html) showed that statewide average ambient concentrations of toluene are no greater than 0.0015 ppm, but individual "hot spots" near industrial locations can be much greater. The public health risk of these exposures must include information about the number of people exposed.
From a regulatory perspective, this analysis suggests that setting standards on the basis of chronic exposure protects public health from the long-term hazards of continuous exposure to chemicals but does not consider the potential consequences of acute, episodic exposure to chemicals. Efforts at the EPA are underway to address this concern, and time and support are needed to develop and implement appropriate procedures to do so. The approach of linking effects of toxicants to familiar, well-documented chemicals like ethanol may prove valuable in addressing this problem more generally.
Finally, these considerations illustrate that, in the end, management of risk is not a scientific problem. Decisions about acceptable exposure will ultimately be made balancing tradeoffs among benefits and costs of the chemical to society, including lifestyle, economics, environmental justice, and public and environmental health, as guided by the legislation governing that chemical. Few people are apparently willing to stop driving due to the risk of car crashes, and it is unlikely that awareness of possible effects of airborne solvents will alter this choice. In the end, we all manage our risks for ourselves, assiduously avoiding carcinogens like benzene while ignoring the acute risks inherent in driving. Put simply, nobody wants leukemia, but everyone wants to drive.
The research described in this article has been reviewed by the National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and approved for publication. Approval does not signify that the contents reflect the views and policies of the agency, nor does mention of trade names or commercial products constitute endorsement or recommendation for use.
You can find this online at http://www.americanscientist.org/issues/num2/solvents-ethanol-car-crashes-amp-tolerance/1
© 2016 Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society


text:
Download as PDF
Peter West, NSF
(703) 292-5111
Justin Broglio, Desert Research Institute
(775) 673-7610
David Sims, University of New Hampshire
(603) 862-5369
John Cramer, Dartmouth College
(603) 646-9130
Dr. Julie Palais, NSF
(703) 292-8033
WAIS Divide Ice Core: http://waisdivide.unh.edu
Replicate Ice Coring Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYYwOkwl3vQ
U.S. Ice Drilling Program: http://icedrill.org
Antarctic Ice Core Contains an Unrivaled Detail of Past Climate
WAIS Divide Core will allow for examination of annual snowfall for each of the past 30,000 years
A team of U.S. ice-coring scientists and engineers in Antarctica, funded by the National Science Foundation, have recovered from the ice sheet a record of past climate and greenhouse gases in the atmosphere that extends back 68,000 years.
Retrieved from the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS), the ice containing the record is known as the WAIS Divide ice core. The cylinders of ice that make up the core contain uniquely detailed information on past environmental conditions such as the atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases, surface air temperature, wind patterns, the extent of sea ice around Antarctica, and the average temperature of the ocean.
Successfully retrieving the core is the culmination of an eight-year project to obtain a paleoclimate record from one of the remotest parts of the continent.
The ice containing the record was recovered at a field camp in the center of West Antarctica, 1,040 kilometers (650 miles) from the geographic South Pole, where the ice is more than 3,460 meters (two miles) thick. In the new WAIS Divide core each of the past 30,000 years of snowfall can be identified in individual layers of ice. By allowing an examination of past climate at an annual resolution, the record will help scientists understand why climate can change abruptly--in less than 10 years--and how climate could unfold in the coming century.
Other ice-coring projects have produced cores of lower temporal resolution, showing that the current level of atmospheric greenhouse gases, which is due to the burning of fossil fuels, is the highest in at least 800,000 years. The ice that is between 30,000 and 68,000 years old--while not containing records with annual resolution--contains a higher time resolution record than previous projects.
When snow falls at WAIS Divide, it rarely melts, but builds up in thick annual layers, which are compressed into ice by subsequent snowfall. Chemicals and gases in the atmosphere that are characteristic of environmental conditions when the snow fell are trapped in the ice. The age of the ice is determined by identifying the chemical difference between winter snow and summer snow, and counting the years is much like counting tree rings to determine how old a tree is.
Donald Voigt, chief scientist at the WAIS Divide Camp, examines an ice core. Credit: Gifford Wong, Dartmouth College.
Download Larger Version of Photo
Samples of the ice core will be distributed to more than 20 U.S. university and national laboratories that make the measurements. Most of the measurements are known to be indicative of global atmospheric conditions, not just of the conditions at the remote location where the ice was collected.
The information from the project will be used to test and improve the predictions of how the current human-caused increases in greenhouses gases (e.g., carbon dioxide, methane) are altering the earth's climate.
"The combination of being able to identify individual years and new analytical methods that were not available on previous projects will greatly improve our understanding of how past changes in greenhouse gases influenced the global climate," said Kendrick Taylor, of the Desert Research Institute, in Reno Nevada, and chief scientist for the WAIS Divide project.
He added that it will take another two years to complete the analysis of the ice and publish the results.
The WAIS Divide research project has taken eight field seasons to prepare the remote field camp and collect the core. The weather and the remoteness of the field site limit field operations to 60 days a year. The unique ice-coring drill was designed and operated by the Ice Drilling Design and Operations group at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, through a collaborative arrangement with the Ice Drilling Program Office.
The first replicate core ever taken from the high side of an ice core borehole. The curvature on the top is the original borehole. Subsequent cores were full core cross sections. The replicate core has a 4.25-inch diameter. Credit: Jay Johnson, IDDO, University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Download Larger Version of Photo
In addition to collecting 3,405 meters (11,160 feet) of a 12.2-centimeter (4.8-inch) diameter ice core, a new directional-drilling procedure was developed that allowed the team to drill through the wall of the main hole and collect a total of 285 meters (936 feet) of additional core from five of the most scientifically interesting time periods. This enables replication of the results and expands the suite of measurements that can be made on the most interesting ice.
"This is the first time anyone has ever taken additional ice core out of the side of the borehole without blocking access to the lower part of the main borehole. It's an engineering breakthrough that will allow us to look in great detail at the causes of abrupt climate change," said Jeff Severinghaus of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, chief scientist for replicate coring.
The team stopped drilling 165 feet above where the ice contacts the rock below in order to avoid contaminating the water at the bottom of the ice, which has been isolated from the rest of the biosphere for at least 100,000 years.
NSF is responsible for the U.S. Antarctic Program, through which it manages all U.S. research, as well as all of the required logistical support, in Antarctica and in the Southern Ocean.
The Whillans Ice Stream Subglacial Research Drilling project (WISSARD), working at a different site in West Antarctica and also funded by NSF, is using a different drilling method and a different engineering team to cleanly sample a sub-glacial lake to investigate the biology of the lake. The WISSARD team recently announced that it had obtained samples of the lake bottom.
Media Contacts:
Peter West, NSF (703) 292-5111 firstname.lastname@example.com
Justin Broglio, Desert Research Institute (775) 673-7610 firstname.lastname@example.com
David Sims, University of New Hampshire (603) 862-5369 firstname.lastname@example.com
John Cramer, Dartmouth College (603) 646-9130 firstname.lastname@example.com
Program Contact:
Dr. Julie Palais, NSF (703) 292-8033 email@example.com
Related Websites:
WAIS Divide Ice Core: http://waisdivide.unh.edu
Replicate Ice Coring System Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYYwOkwl3vQ
U.S. Ice Drilling Program: http://icedrill.org


text:
If you would rather stick close to home on St. Patrick's Day but still want to get out, then O'Sullivan's Public House might be just the place for you. Located at 12525 W. North Ave., O'Sullivan's (formerly Ritters) is practically straddling the border between Wauwatosa and Brookfield. In fact, that is what one of the owners, Jeff Syvock, says attracts customers.
"Nearly 70 percent of our customers live within 10 to 15 miles of Tosa, Brookfield and Elm Grove," he says. "They can come out and have a drink and feel safe driving home."
Syvock - who opened O'Sullivan's in 2008 with his wife, Sue, and their friends, Larry and Becky Sullivan - has a simple description for his restaurant: "It's a local sports bar with an Irish theme that serves really good food."
Their loyal clientele agrees and has developed a fondness for several items on the O'Sullivan's menu: the corned beef and cabbage ($7), the Reuben sandwich ($8), Irish stew (cup $3.50/bowl $4.50) and the ribs (half-rack $7.50/full rack $14.)
Parents of young kids can rest easy knowing that O'Sullivan's has a kids menu sure to please even the pickiest eaters, making the restaurant popular with young families.
"We pride ourselves on having a very kid-friendly atmosphere but also a definite sports atmosphere," explains Syvock. "That's why you'll see so many high-definition TVs in the bar. I'm a sports nut!"
No doubt there are many others in the western suburbs with the same sports addiction.
On St. Patrick's Day, O'Sullivan's will have its Irish pride on full display. There will beT-shirts for the first 50 customers, green beer (featuring Guinness and Murphy's Stout), bagpipers and favorite Irish food including corned beef and cabbage.
So if you're looking for a place to celebrate on March 17 where you can bring the kids, O'Sullivan's would love for you to spend St. Patrick's Day with them.
NAME: O'Sullivan's Public House
ADDRESS: 12525 W. North Ave., Brookfield
WEBSITE: OSullivansPublicHouse.com
FARE: pub food
HOURS: Monday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Sunday 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.; bar open until bar time
PRICE RANGE: $5 to $16 (approximate)
RESERVATIONS: yes
HANDICAP ACCESS: yes
GLUTEN-FREE OPTIONS: no
"Grab a Bite" is an informal look at the food scene in the Wauwatosa, Brookfield and Elm Grove area by freelance writer Karen Waldkirch. Whether you're looking for a place for a date night or a casual spot for lunch, Waldkirch will be out and about scouting eateries for you. If you have a suggestion for a column, e-mail her at firstname.lastname@example.com.
- Red Dot aims to duplicate East Side success in Wauwatosa
- There's No Place Like Hom Woodfired Grill
- Mo's Irish Pub: A lively Irish American neighborhood eatery
- Sluggo's Sports Pub & Grill: Back in business on Burleigh
- Tall Guy and a Grill: Taking backyard BBQ to new heights
- Cocina DeLeon: Old-world gourmet Mexican you make at home
- Burke's Irish Castle carries on a local legacy
- Albanese's Roadhouse serves up generations of Italian blessings
- BelAir Cantina: A breezy, Cali-Mex casual eatery
- Sherbrooke offers a bit of Canada in Tosa, eh
- Colonel Hart's: A true neighborhood hangout
- Ted's: It's Cheers without the beers
- Penelope's: A labor of love in heart of Elm Grove
- Drink in a bit of island life at Jimmy's Island Grill
- North Avenue Grill Same name, new owner
- Highlands Café: Tosa natives expand restaurant
- Café Hollander: Upscale and Belgian-themed
- Jose's Blue Sombrero: Tableside fun with a Mexican flair
- Balistreri's secret is in the staff and the recipes
- Slim McGinn's West a touch of Irish hospitality in Brookfield


text:
Performed after successful retaliation has occured, or as a final follow-up to completed pretaliation. It places emphasis on the act itself an carries with it the the unspoken threat, "Remember this, so I don't have to repeat myself again."
Mary pretaliated the divorce proceedings by stabbing her husband twelve times, but her postaliation, by setting fire to the family home he was awarded in the settlement, is what landed her ten years in prison.
by dangerboy2012 October 10, 2009


text:
[quote user="MattMeyerBud"][quote user="Morehead State"]
[quote user="DavenIII"][quote user="Morehead State"]Are you drunk? This is personally insulting. [/quote]
Yes it is Morehead, and that's why I'm trying to not look at this discussion anymore, because you and Lando seem to be perfectly fine with the Assistant and Janitor who left a kid there to be raped and never went to the cops....
I'm literally disgusted with the two of you.
Why would any reasonable person believe that we would think their behavior was OK?

We have just argued that Joe Pa could have and should have done everything he could to prevent a child molester from abusing more children. I have no support in any way for witnesses to a horrific crime like this not doing everything to stop it. But we are talking about what Joe Paterno did or didn't do.

I just spelled out what I think he should have done immediately. Do you disagree with any of that?

Either way....go **** yourself.
[/quote]
its coming off that u find McQueary no more or less guilty than JP and thats really burning us. JP didn't visually see anything and as disgusting as all his acts were he wasn't the one that didn't stop the rape. JP deserves his, we all agree on that. Whether we think he should of called the cops when McQueary came into his office is moot.
BUT, the level of hate you should have for McQueary should far surpass JP.
Once McQueary told Joe Pa he had just as much responsibility to make sure it stopped and the authorities to be alerted. Joe knew the guy and saw how distraught he was. It was not like he had any question whether it happened or not. He admitted that. Joe did the exact same thing McQueary did, he just didn't see it. Not only that...
but Joe already knew it happened once before when the Janitor reported it and did nothing. You guys never mention that. This was the 2nd time he heard about it and did nothing the first time either. Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me.


text:
For your information: This message has appeared because we've noticed your browser doesn't fully support all functions of this site. For further information please click here.
Sparkling Rosé and Love Balloons
Show just how much you care with this fun gift of balloons and bubbly. Imagine their surprise and delight when they see three bright red heart balloons displaying those magic words 'I love you' for all to see. This gift also includes a bottle of sparkling rosé to add to that extra special feeling. This gift is sure to make them smile with pleasure.
Featuring 3 heart-shaped 'I love you' balloons and a bottle of sparkling rosé wine presented in an Interflora gift bag.
Code: C02511ZS


text:
Treat everyone with respect
Of the seven principles of the Unitarian Universalist Covenant, the first is the most difficult and demanding in understanding and practice. It says, "… we covenant to affirm and promote the inherent worth and dignity of every person."
In light of the recent senseless bombings and loss of life in our country, it is hard to find within ourselves belief in the worth and dignity of perpetrators of such horrendous acts. How can we defend the notion that a bomber or torturer is such a person? How easy it is to dehumanize those responsible for acts of terror, how easy to say they have forfeited their worth and dignity by their inhuman acts.
Yet, even in the face of their incredible wrongs, our principles stand. We must grapple with them, wrestle with them and let them guide us.
Every person has value, every life is precious. This radical idea is the foundation of America; the heart of democracy means every person is important. If even in our terror and anger we continue to uphold life's value, terror has not defeated us.
Inherent worth is an ethical idea. Our principles are not statements of how the world is; rather they are statements of the world we are trying to create.
So how do you find inherent worth in people who commit evil acts? We believe there is a spark of divine in each of us, and our religious purpose is to grow in love. We recognize people do evil things. But if you cast away your ethical commitment to the worth of a human being, you let them take away the basis of your ethics. All our principles urge us to value life; all life. Denying inherent worth is the first step in evil masquerading as good.
We tend to think of people as deliberately evil. Yet diverse factors – prenatal alcohol exposure, mental illness of chemical addiction (for which there are genetic predispositions), and brain injuries – have been linked to people who commit mass shootings and other violent crimes.
Dr. Marsha Linehan, in her text "Dialectical Behavior Therapy Treatment for Borderline Personality Disorder," suggests that dysfunctional behavior arises from the confluence of a baby's congenital emotional hardwiring and environmental invalidation. Could it be that "bad" behavior is much more complex than we thought?
We like to think that we are fundamentally different from them, that we would never do evil. Yet how many people participated in the Holocaust? How many stood by and allowed it to happen? Or a thousand thousand other injustices that have occurred, that occur every day? Just as all of us have committed wrongs, all have inherent worth and dignity, even those who have committed heinous acts.
What resources do Unitarian Universalists have to deal with human monsters? Belief in man's depravity allows us to feel all too good about snuffing out evil-doers or removing those who are problematical. Belief in worth and dignity of every person forces us to own our violence as evidence of our own failure in the quest for the divine.
The First Principle is really hard. As Rev. David Sargent has written, "It is not a get-out-of-jail free card. It is not an affirmation that all people are good. But it is a call to make the world better by treating everyone with respect and trying to get others to do likewise, for the sake of all of us."
(Written by the members of the lay-led Northwoods Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, Mary DeYoung, former president)


text:
FORT WAYNE, Ind.—Breast cancer survivors are invited to attend the 6th Annual Pink Out, Saturday, February 16, at Indiana University–Purdue University Fort Wayne (IPFW.)
At a news conference this morning (Jan. 30, 2013) IPFW Chancellor Vicky Carwein noted how important it is for everyone to know that information about the early detection and treatment of breast cancer can make a major difference in the patient's survival.
Athletic Director Tommy Bell said the Vera Bradley Foundation for Breast Cancer will receive the proceeds from the event, which includes a women's basketball game between IPFW and South Dakota.
Catherine Hill, executive director of the Vera Bradley Foundation, also spoke at the news conference and sponsors were recognized, including Lutheran Health Network, McMahon Tire and Car Care, WANE-TV, The Grove, and Walgreens.
For more information about Pink Out, contact Peggy Mossing at 260-481-6643 or email@example.com, or go to the Pink Out website.


text:
So hitting your head on the ground, would basically be impactless lol
So hitting your head on the ground, would basically be impactless lol
Ends and means notwithstanding, this is a good thing, at least for those who play this game we enjoy.
Retweeted by Rueben Randle
@Katdaddyjay 17h
@RuebenRandle @OBJ_3 @Giants
The NFL has HUGE pockets and as these lawsuits start to come to settlement they may have to re-examine how the game is played.
Last edited by RoanokeFan; 11-15-2012 at 06:26 PM.
Never argue with an idiot. They will only bring you down to their level and beat you with experience. MB Rule # 1
are these equipment made in china?
Yeah the only thing the helmet is really doing is preventing external damage and lessening the internal damage a smidge..
I noticed that the nfl equipment in the old days were HUGE, can someone explain why it got smaller? is it because of better materials?


text:
Everyone have a Happy Thanksgiving.
Everyone have a Happy Thanksgiving.
Thanks Corinne!
I for one have more than plenty to be grateful for this season. There are many of our people in this country not so fortunate this year. I can only hope that they are able to have good friends and family or at least find one of our many programs here in the states to help them out. It's hard to think of so many spending this time in their cars or worse, homeless and hungry. If you are one that believes in prayer, don't forget these folks this year...........
My sons mom came by a few days ago and picked him up to go see his uncle in Florida. So I'm batching it over the holiday. I've taken the day off and the next couple are on the company. So I have 5 days of freedom!! Whoohoo!! I found a killer deal on 1x8 lumber not to far away, so I'm headed out with my trusty trailer to get all I can today. After that who knows?? Thanksgiving dinner is going to be with good friends this year. Lots a food and lots a tales!! I can't wait!!
God Bless You All!! Happy Thanksgiving!!
Last edited by Bizzybee; 11-26-2008 at 05:19 AM.
"Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts." Winston Churchill
Happy Thanksgiving to you too, Corinne, and everyone here on Beesource...
It is great that we can have a national holiday which is religious in origins, and it has not been nullified by those who wish to control religious freedom!
This year my whole immediate family is getting together. I'm off soon to pick up my son at college, it'll be good to see him home for the holidays. We have a lot to be thankful for - we have an abundance of food on the table, a roof over our heads, good health, and something new this year - our first grandchild. I hope that others here have an enjoyable time with their families and friends. Thank you, Lord, for all that you have given us this year, and I pray for others who are not as fortunate to have a warm place to stay, and a hearty meal.
"But when you have eaten and are satisfied, you must praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you. Be careful not to forget the Lord your God." Deuteronomy 8
I echo the others......... Happy Thanksgiving.
Times are tough, and likely to get much tougher for
some many more. But even in the worst of times
the gathering of family and friends to share a meal
warms the soul.
Closing in on retirement.......


text:
Mission Journal: Somaliland's press harassed, disappointed
"I'm free but I don't feel free," said Mohamed Abdi Urad, chief editor of Yool, a critical weekly published in the semi-autonomous republic of Somaliland. Mohamed had just been released on May 22 after a week in detention at Hargeisa Central Police Station. His crime? "I have no idea," he said. Mohamed had attempted to cover a deadly skirmish between civilians and a military unit over a land dispute in the eastern part of the capital, Hargeisa. "The Interior Minister just saw me walking towards the scene and ordered his men to arrest me," he said. A few days later, police released Mohamed unconditionally and without charge.


text:
I've been designing a game for some time now. A lot of developers regard magic as a multi-elemental force with many variables, and box melee in one dull category. This game is here to change that.
- Medieval Fantasy Setting (how original : P)
- Gameplay is top-down (Think Pokemon games, including graphics) world in where you do various activities for survival and skill-up (logging, mining, fishing and such), Perhaps something similar to minecraft in that regard.
- The game is singleplayer (since i cant possibly consider multiplayer at all because of the difficulty of it) and focuses on the adventures of your character as he visits the legendary blacksmith of the town whose missions are about using your skills in combat or resource gathering to get the ingredients he needs to make you better equipment and weapons.
- A quest system similar to Grand Theft Auto's (Something I've seen used seldom) in where you take missions but meet other people who will then have their own mission storyline so you can decide whose missions you want to finish first.
- The game ends once you completed all the storylines which will open up the final quest that ends up in you slaying a dragon (The gameplay is the primary focus, so i consider the story to be good if well executed, even if its not original)
- Real time combat similar to TLOZ for NES, except with different skills.
Attacking and Blocking
Basic Attacks can be performed by left clicking while holding a weapon in one of your weapon slots. Each weapon has a specific attack cooldown. Basic Attack cooldowns do not interfere with Ability cooldowns. Blocking can only be performed while holding a shield in one of your weapon slots. All shields have a toggle mode for shielding, being active as long as the button is pressed, overwriting any offensive ability.
Abilities are combat movements learned by your character that apply besides your basic attack. Some abilities are learned by completing quests, others can be looted from scrolls and found in the Gameworld, and others can be learnt by getting to certain skill in the specific weapon.
Each kind of weapon has its unique secondary condition and stats which affect its effectivenes, such as swords being brittle making them sharper but with less duration.
- Sword weapons: Bleeding
- Axe Weapons: Higher Crit chance
- Club Weapons: Armor penetration
- Polearm Weapons: "Agression" condition in where the enemy lowers its defense and attack speed or such.
- Shields: Chance to block 100% of the attack's damage. (Normaly you cannot mitigate damage completely with shields)
Would you play it?
There are a lot more assets that could be discussed up to what i have designed. If you want the full read you can check it out here:
Ill put some more images with the concept. Thanks for your time.
Edited by Lexadrik, 02 November 2012 - 02:22 PM.


text:
About SPC
Investment Policy Review
The South Plains College Board of Regents reviewed its Investment Policy (South Plains College Policy and Procedures Manual CQ) at its regular meeting February 11, 2016. William Clements made the motion to approve the policy as stated. Motion was seconded by Bobby Neal.
Voting FOR the Resolution
Mike Box, Chairman
Bobby Neal, Vice Chairman
Linda Patton, Secretary
William Clements, Member
Alton "Pete" Pettiet, Member
Ronny Alexander, Member
Voting AGAINST the Resolution
Absent from Voting
Ken Williams, Member
A copy of the resolution affirmed by the Board Chairman and Board Secretary may be downloaded in pdf format at the link below.
Resolution Approving the College Investment Policy


text:
Speed up your debug routine!
Automated exception search integrated into your IDE
Tired of useless tips?
BeanFactory not initialized or already closed - call 'refresh' before accessing beans via the ApplicationContext
This site uses cookies, as explained in our cookie policy. If you agree to our use of cookies, please close this message and continue to use this site.


text:
Where is the router/firewall ??!!!!!
i am in middle of a pentest for my cousins company and iam using ISSAF according to hackingdojo shodan.
i've done these phases:
-Passive info gathering
-network mapping:
- identifying live hosts (ok)
- TCP/UDP Port scanning (OK)
- Banner Grabbing (OK)
- P/A OS Guessing (OK)
but now i am in identifying router or firewall stage. i performed a traceroute to the target but after some hops i see all stars because those hops doesn't respond to ICMP packets. now what? how can i identify routers?? pLEaaAse help!!


text:
Speed up your debug routine!
Automated exception search integrated into your IDE
Tired of useless tips?
Database xwiki needs migration(s), it could not be safely used!
This site uses cookies, as explained in our cookie policy. If you agree to our use of cookies, please close this message and continue to use this site.


text:
This high-performance formula was developed to lubricate in high and low temperature applications. Even in extreme sub-zero temperatures, it has been proven to reduce oil thickening, help clean, and prevent deposits that cause weapons to jam. Its specially formulated bio-based composition makes its fully biodegradable within 28 days. The unique combination of its vegetable and synthetic components allow it to lubricate into close-tolerant areas and prevent corrosion, surpassing the performance of petroleum based or all-synthetic oils.
Though designed specifically to perform in firearms, its applications are nearly unlimited as a light general purpose lubricant or where extreme temperatures make lubrication a problem. This product has exceptional benefits over petroleum oils in these applications, especially because of its biodegradability when there is direct loss of the lubricant into the water, soil, or work environment.


text:
June 10, 2004
AUSTIN, Texas
It was a mixed bag of results for the sixth-ranked University of Tennessee women on Thursday evening at the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships at Mike A. Myers Stadium. On the bright side, the Lady Vols' 4x400m relay and 800m runner Kameisha Bennett advanced to the finals. On the other end of the spectrum, there was disappointing news, as 2004 NCAA Indoor 800m champ Nicole Cook and national indoor long jump fifth-place finisher Tianna Madison failed to make the finals in their respective events.
In the 800 meters, Bennett looked very sharp, charting a 60.27 opening quarter and leading wire to wire in heat one en route to a 2:03.83 output. That time was the fastest of the preliminaries and ranks as the best qualifying round mark in the Dayton, Ohio, product's career. LSU's Neisha Bernard-Thomas posted the number-two time, winning heat three in 2:04.21. Bennett will compete in her first-ever individual NCAA championship race on Saturday at 8:35 p.m. Central Time.
"We had a good effort in the 800 meters by Kameisha Bennett," UT Head Coach J.J. Clark said. "She did her job and advanced to the finals, as we expected her to do."
Cook, the 2004 indoor champ, finished second in the fourth and final heat of the 800m trials to North Carolina's Alice Schmidt (2:06.03), but her time of 2:07.01 was not among the top nine finishers. Therefore, the junior from Petersburg, Va., wound up 14th overall and did not qualify for Saturday's final.
Cook led for most of the first lap before Schmidt moved to the front just shy of the 400-meter mark, recording a 61.14 first lap split. Cook stayed on Schmidt??TMs heels, but
the Big Orange standout was unable to turn the tables down the home stretch and missed advancing by five spots. Freshman Leslie Treherne (Chesapeake, Va.) also came up
short of qualifying, placing sixth in heat three and taking 21st overall in 2:08.88.
UT's 4x400m relay gave the coaching staff an early scare, but the unit came to life just in time to earn a ticket to the finals by finishing second in heat two of the trials and automatically advancing. The quartet of junior Antoinette Gorham (Glenarden, Md.), Bennett, Cook and junior Dee Dee Trotter (Decatur, Ga.) collaborated on a 3:30.05 performance, which ranked as the fourth-best time of the prelims. Running in fifth place after two legs, Cook and Trotter rose to the challenge and brought the Big Orange back into contention for a spot in the championship race. Host Texas at 3:25.58; South Carolina at 3:28.85; and UCLA at 3:27.57 all posted faster times than Tennessee. In the long jump, Madison was unable to duplicate her fifth-place indoor outcome. The freshman plated a best jump of 20-8.50/6.31m in the prelims, but that mark was not long enough to get her into the finals. She wound up placing 10th and gained All-America status by virtue of finishing among the top-eight athletes from the United States. SEC champion Hyleas Fountain of Georgia claimed victory, leaping to a measurement of 21-8.25.
In the prelims of the 1500 meters, sophomore Brooke Novak (Kaukauna, Wis.) saw her season come to a close, as she checked in 10th in heat two and 22nd overall in 4:31.68. Senior Lindsay Hyatt (Auburn, Calif.), meanwhile, ended her brief career at Tennessee without running Thursday night. The transfer from Stanford had been struggling with injuries in both of her feet and was simply unable to compete, according to Clark.
In the 100-meter dash prelims, Madison clocked her best time ever to earn fifth in heat one with a gust of 3.5 meters per second at her back. The Elyria, Ohio, product??TMs wind-aided 11.35 effort, however, was not fast enough to earn a ticket to Friday night's finals. She finished 12th overall in a field of 30, missing the nine-runner cut for the championship race. Junior Toyin Olupona (Orillia, Ontario, Canada) also participated in heat one, crossing the line sixth in that section and placing 21st overall in 11.56.
"Other than Kameisha advancing, it was a horrible day for us," Clark said. "Nicole Cook did not perform up to her capabilities in the 800m, Tianna Madison got edged out of points in the long jump and we didn't advance anyone in the other individual events. We will have to step it up tomorrow in the pole vault and 400 meters and on Saturday in the 800m and 4x4. Antoinette Gorham will have to run a more effective opening leg if we're going to be a factor in the 4x4."
On Friday, the Lady Vols will be in action in a pair of events. At 6:30 p.m. CT, sophomore Jessica Reust (Knoxville, Tenn.) gets her second crack at the pole vault after Wednesday's action was curtailed by severe weather. The competition will be re-started from the beginning. Additionally, junior Dee Dee Trotter (Decatur, Ga.), the 2004 NCAA Mideast Regional 400-meter champ and the 2003 NCAA Outdoor runner-up, will lace up her spikes for the prelims of her signature event at 8:20 p.m. CT.
|* Nearly All Events Were Postponed Due To Inclement Weather
|100m Prelims 5:20 p.m. CT
|12th2nd, ht. 2/4th overall
|Tianna Madison
|11.35pw/5th, ht. 1 (w: 3.5)
|21st2nd, ht. 2/4th overall
|Toyin Olupona
|11.56pw/6th, ht. 1 (w: 3.5
|Long Jump Finals 6:30 p.m. CT
|10th2nd, ht. 2/4th overall
|Tianna Madison
|20-8.50/6.31m (w: 3.2)
|800m Prelims 6:45 p.m. CT
|Adv.2nd, ht. 2/4th overall
|Kameisha Bennett
|2:03.83p/1st, ht. 1
|14th2nd, ht. 2/4th overall
|Nicole Cook
|2:07.01p/2nd, ht. 4
|21st2nd, ht. 2/4th overall
|Leslie Treherne
|2:08.88p/6th, ht. 3
|1500m Prelims 7:55 p.m. CT
|22nd2nd, ht. 2/4th overall
|Brooke Novak
|4:31.68p/10th, ht. 2
|DNS2nd, ht. 2/4th overall
|Lindsay Hyatt
|injured, unable to run
|4x400mR Prelims 8:30 p.m. CT
|Adv.2nd, ht. 2/4th overall
|Antoinette Gorham/Bennett/
|Pole Vault Finals 6:30 p.m. CT
|Jessica Reust
|400m Prelims 8:20 p.m. CT
|Dee Dee Trotter
|400m Finals 6:30 p.m. CT
|Dee Dee Trotter?
|800m Finals 8:35 p.m. CT
|Kameisha Bennett
|4x400mR Finals 9:35 p.m. CT
|Antoinette Gorham/Kameisha Bennett/Nicole Cook/Dee Dee Trotter
# - NCAA Regional Qualifier, * - NCAA Automatic Qualifier, + - NCAA Provisional Qualifier, ! - Personal Record (Outdoors), cr - Collegiate Record, dnf - Did Not Finish, dnq - Did Not Qualify, dnr - Did Not Run, dns - Did Not Start, dq - Disqualified, f - Facility Record, fs - False Start, h - Hand Times, m - Meters, mr - Meet Record, nm - No Mark, p - Prelims, s - School Record (Outdoors), w - Wind-Aided


text:
Statue of Liberty
'Making Your Voices Heard' Roundtable is Nov. 13
By James Benavides
Public Affairs Specialist
(Nov. 9, 2007)--Is voting enough? What makes an educated voter? Does your vote count?
Questions such as these will be discussed by a panel of college students at the "Making Your Voices Heard" Roundtable from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., Tuesday, Nov. 13 in the John Peace Library Building Assembly Room (4.03.08) on the 1604 Campus. The event is free and open to all.
Today's headlines
- La Prensa Foundation is newest member of UTSA Lone Star Society
- UTSA alumna Jordan Kaufmann wins $50K for new stent-graft start-up
- UTSA begins new way-finding sign installation this summer at Main Campus
- USA Today: UTSA long jumper Tyler Williamson rescues three-year-old boy
Article tools
Hosted by the MATT.org Student Voices Project (Mexicans and Americans Thinking Together), UTSA Mexico Center, UTSA Department of Political Science and Geography, and UTSA Hispanic Student Association, the roundtable will gather students from UTSA, Trinity University, St. Mary's University, Our Lady of the Lake University and University of the Incarnate Word to present their views on civic participation and responsibility.
Two students from each university will make up the student panel with moderators Harriett Romo, director of the UTSA Mexico Center; Mansour El-Kikhia, chair of the UTSA Department of Political Science and Geography; and Lionel Sosa, CEO of MATT.org. The moderators will pose questions to engage the students on subjects of personal and social responsibility.
"The UTSA Mexico Center is proud to collaborate with the MATT.org Student Voices Project," said Romo. "This is an important way to engage students in civic concerns, which is a major goal of the UTSA Mexico Center. Students are our future decision makers and will play an important role in national and global politics. Their solutions and bilateral policy recommendations can enhance civic participation to address problems on both sides of the border."
For more information, contact the UTSA Mexico Center at (210) 458-2923.


text:
this is bs with exception of the legal ramifications- there are enough parts in the afterworld to do a full auto conversion with a minimum of fuss and minor mechanical skills and money- there is even a drop in auto sear option(see youtube-ak47 dias)do not file your disconnector or tye shoe strings on your weaponthey won't reliably work
And the terminal event was that it fired out of battery. It blew the dust cover off over my shoulder and blew the bottom of the polymer magazine out. I wasn't hurt at all, but I was pretty concerned. And I was forced to stop shooting for the day, as the bolt carrier was jammed into gas chamber and had to be hammered out.
Though I can't say that I perfectly follow your description of the "firing-out-of-battery" phenomenon (especially since I no longer have the rifle to look at), it sounds like a perfect explanation of what happened to me on my Century GP 1975 rifle.
(And, for the record, I had not even attempted to modify it in any way. I'd only fired about 300-350 rounds through it. And it was virtually brand new.)
I wrote about this on another forum to see if anyone else had ever had a similar problem with this rifle. Here was my description:
Again, I think your description of "firing-out-of-battery" is what happened.
- I just received my GP 1975 about 2 weeks ago. The 1st time I took it out it jammed about every 10 to 15 shots. The guys at the range were watching and said it looked like a problem with the magazine. (It was the California-mandated 10/30 magazine.) There was some play in the magazine.
- Following the 1st day of shooting I tried to field strip and clean the rifle. Somewhere along the way, the lever retaining clip fell out. And then the both the trigger and hammer pins came lose from their seatings in the receiver, causing the hammer and trigger to come out of place. After several hours, I finally got both of them back in place. But both were pins were poorly seated, and dislodged several times, necessitating a whole lot of effort to get the hammer spring and pin back in place, along with the trigger spring and pin back in place (the latter being considerably easier.)
- The bolt action was not smooth, and stuck several times just manually pulling the bolt back. When I took the bolt and bolt carrier-gas piston assembly out, it seemed like the bolt would stick in the bolt carrier.
- It took a total of about 8 hours for me to get the rifle back together after my initial cleaning/field stripping. Much of this was because I didn't know much about rifle cleaning and breakdown. But it was also due to the lever, trigger, and hammer pins being so poorly seated that they fell out while I tried to clean it.
- The 2nd time I took it to the range it again jammed frequently, and at one point the trigger stopped working because the retaining pin on the assembly fell out on the ground. Having wrestled with this rifle for several hours already, I was now familiar with how to get the pin back in. Thus, I broke it down on the range, put the pin back in, and resumed shooting.
- On my next reloading, I picked the rifle up to fire, and the trigger wasn't there! I mean there was NO trigger in the rifle. It had fallen out on the ground, along with the retaining pin.
- I finally did find the triggher (and the retaining pin), broke the gun down, and reassembled it on the range. I resumed firing, and made sure I laid the gun down on the opposite side of the bolt lever, to keep the pins from falling out again.
- After this 2nd round at the range, I bought a new 10-round polymer magazine, which fit the rifle without any play--unlike the used metal 10/30 magazine I'd used previously.
- Prior to my 3rd trip to the range, I taped over the large end of the retaining pins for the trigger and hammer to keep them from falling out.
- On my 3rd trip to the range, though the bolt action still appeared rough, the 1st round jamming that I'd previously been experiencing was resolve. At least initially.
- Then I had some intermittent trouble with bolt sticking when I tried to pull it back. I continued firing when I could get the bolt back.
- And then on the 3rd or 4th round of a clip, a round exploded in the chamber--blowing the dust cover off and over my shoulder and blowing out the bottom of the new polymer magazine.
- And the bolt carrier-gas piston assembly remained jammed into the gas chamber. I couldn't tell if there was still a live round in the chamber or not. I got the guys at the range to help me hammer the bolt back out of the chamber with the gun pointed downrange just in case a live round was still chambered.
- There was no live round in the chamber, but there was part of a casing jammed inside another casing in the chamber. One of the rivets on the right side holding the front trunion to the receiver was gone. I don't know whether it was blown out on the misfire or if it was already missing. The other right-side rivet was beginning to come loose.
- I don't know for certain what happened, but I can guess. Apparently a spent cartridge did not eject, another live round was partially chambered (posterior to where it should have been), and fired through the non-ejected casing.
- I stopped firing after that and took the gun home. Though I took it apart, cleaned it, and reassemble it--the bolt and bolt carrier could not be made to function. When reassembled and bolted back, the bolt-carrier piston assembly jams into the gas chamber and does not come out.
- I can hammer it out, but that really doesn't fix the problem, as it just rejams again on the next bolt-back.
- After 3 trips to the range, and roughly 350 rounds fired, by brand new Century GP 1975 is non-functional.
I'll be getting another AK-type rifle. When I do get it, I'll look closer at all the parts you described. I don't want to have the same thing happen again.
Thanks again for the explanation.
OK, first off if there was a whole casing stuck in the chamber, the bullet tip of the next round would have impacted the rear of the case and failed to chamber with the bolt carrier almost fully rearward. In this position the hammer cannot even fall, let alone hit the firing pin. Even if the round somehow went off in this position, the case would blow out, the pressure simply venting to atmosphere. The bullet would not have been propelled forward. What likely happened is the next to last fired round separated, that is the forward part of the case broke off from the rear and the rear was ejected, leaving the forward part in the chamber. The last round was then fed into the chamber and into the remains of the previous case, causing the new round to stick out farther than normal. If the round fired on chambering, that is you didn't pull the trigger but it fired anyway, then the firing pin likely stuck forward. If you did pull the trigger, a properly functioning rifle would not have fired in this situation. The "tail" on the back of the carrier prevents firing pin contact with the hammer unless the bolt is mostly locked up. Assuming correct headspace, the bolt would have been unlocked if the case was not fully chambered. Unlocked would mean the tail would block the hammer fall.
By "retaining pins" I assume you mean the axis pins that the hammer and trigger rotate on. These pins are secured in the receiver by a retaining wire, commonly called a "shepherd's hook". Just under the large head of these pins is a groove, the spring wire retainer fits down in this groove and keeps the pins from walking out. A common mod is to replace this wire retainer with a couple individual retaining clips available at a hardware store.
That's really scary hearing this.14. ...... One of the rivets on the right side holding the front trunion to the receiver was gone. I don't know whether it was blown out on the misfire or if it was already missing. The other right-side rivet was beginning to come loose.
Glad to hear you weren't hurt
And welcome to the forum, since this is your first post.
"Government is not the solution to our problem, government is the problem" Ronald Reagan
Thanks for the detailed description.
I'm not a gun expert, nor even very knowledgeable about them (Though I did receive a "self-taught" crash course the 1st time I tried to clean my new rifle, when it spontaneously disassembled itself, necessitating my reassembling it if ever wanted to fire it again.)
But your description sounds like a perfect explanation for what happened.
The forward section of the jammed casings is missing its most posterior part. (i.e., the part the firing pin strikes.) And the 2nd casing fragment only has the most posterior part remaining (i.e. the part the firing pin strikes--including a slightly off-center indentation where the firing pin struck it.)
Since the firing pin is contained in the bolt, could this misfire have been caused by a malfunctioning bolt?
The bolt never looked right to me. Though this was supposedly a "new" rifle, the bolt looked like it had an excessive amount of wear for only the 300-350 rounds that I'd fired.
Initially, I wasn't aware that there was a groove it was supposed to fit into. In fact, I didn't even see the grooves, until about the 3rd or 4th time the trigger axis pins became unseated. Even then, it was pretty hard to get the retaining wire into the grooves. Actually, I'm not sure if I ever did get it back in the grooves on both the hammer and trigger.
Do they actually work?
Last edited by griffudd; 05-02-2010 at 03:13 PM. Reason: word choice
If the bolt or firing pin became damaged the pin could stick in a forward position. Dirt and grease inside the FP channel inside the bolt can also cause this. In any event, with missing rivet(s) the rifle is toast anyway and a replcement is in order. Hopefully the next one will work out better.
The retaining clips I use are the little "snowman" shaped wire clips Lowes sells in their misc hardware drawers. I forget the size, take a pin along and check. There is only on that is even close. For most builds, however, I use the Chinese "L" shaped retainer wire that wraps around the safety selector and then goes over and under the pins. For some reason, the Euro retaining wires are too thin and allow the pins to move back and forth, often popping free. The Chines wires are the same size as the groove and fit perfectly, they never come loose unless you want them to. Less likely to get lost than the individual clips.
However, I was thinking of something different--a retainer plate. Something like this
Would something like this work?
Bolt bounce isn't a factor with semi autos, even bump firing you aren't going to be near the cyclic rate of the firearm, so you won't drop the hammer on it before the bolt has settled down.
Something that would look somewhat similar would be a disconnector inconsistently engaging [maybe too weak of a spring or something], it'll leave the hammer down on a live round.