for Children/
min
and the
Hairi Man
A Fable:
Adapted by
and the JackStokes
Research at UO advances bomb detection
■ STUDY: Two physicists are
using neutrons to get a better
picture of the contents of
passenger luggage
By April Carmichael
Freelance Reporter
Down in the basement of the
Volcanology Building on Campus,
amongst auditory chaos, a group
of researchers work on techniques
that may eventually save thou
sands of lives.
In the wake of the TWA Flight
800 crash, concerns have been
raised about terrorism and aircraft
safety. Answers to such questions
maybe discovered by Jack Overley
and Harlan Lefevre, two physi
cists who, for the past four and a
half years, have been diligently
pursuing a workable bomb detec
tion system.
Funded by the Federal Aviation
Administration, the researchers
have been experimenting with
neutrons to locate bombs in air
plane luggage. They shine a
stream of neutrons through a suit
case, and the detectors in place be
hind the suitcase then register if
the neutrons reach the detectors
and how quickly that happens.
“The detectors, by using the
neutrons, get a chemical analysis
of the inside of the suitcase. It is
not, however, sensitive to com
pounds, just elements,” said Over
ley.
The detectors’ data is then fed
into a computer, which presents a
visual image of the contents of the
suitcase, utilizing shading to indi
cate the likelihood of explosive
materials. The researchers then
have to make sense of the informa
tion.
ANDREW BRACKENSICK/Emerald
Research associate Robert Schofield (left) and Alex Brown prepare the bomb detection device for a test.
“It is like candling an egg, only
we use neutrons instead of light,”
Lefevre says. “Explosives show up
different from other items in a suit
case.”
The basic principle of the appli
cation of nuclear physics to re
search such as this began 10 to 12
years ago, according to Overley.
Approximately six years ago,
Lefevre and Overley wrote to the
FAA to apply for funding to em
ploy the technique in the identifi
cation of explosives. They re
ceived financing two years later.
Overley has been working in the
field of nuclear physics for over 40
years and has been with this pro
gram since day one. “Theoretical
ly, this technique shows as much
promise as any other technique
out there.”
The procedure is still far from
perfect, though. "At present, it is
slow,” admitted Overley. “It takes
twenty to thirty minutes to exam
ine each suitcase. If it is ever going
to be practical, we need to get it
several hundred times faster.”
The delay is due to the fact that
only one strip of suitcase can be
examined at a time. Each strip is 1
1/4 inches wide and needs to be
scanned for one and a half minutes.
However, despite the time prob
lems, the system has had very pos
itive results so far. “Last summer
we ran a series of tests using ap
proximately 10 different explo
sives and 50 suitcases,” Overley
said.
“90% of the explosive situa
tions were detected. The false
alarm rate was only 2%. And
we’ve improved on the technique
since last summer,” he explained.
“How well we identify explosives
really depends on how big the
bomb is, and what shape it is. The
less there is, the harder it is to find. ”
The recent surge of interest in
the bomb detection system is due
mainly to the crash of the July 17
TWA flight that killed 230 people,
according to Overley, but he main
tains that the program could sur
vive without such publicity.
“The FAA has been directed to
pursue anything that would in
crease airport security.”
At the same time, however, the
TWA crash did provide motiva
tion for their work. On the same
day of the TWA explosion, Over
ley’s wife flew to Paris.
“That was just too close to
home,” he said. “I came to work
the next day with a remarkable
sense of purpose. ”
Drivers’ personal data now on information superhighway
■ INTERNET: A computer
consultant has posted
information on all drivers
whose vehicles have been
licensed in Oregon
The Associated Press
If you own a vehicle licensed in
Oregon, your name and address
have been listed on the Internet; a
move one state official called a na
tionwide first.
But the state didn’t do it.
It’s the work of Aaron Nabil
Eastlund, a 30-year-old computer
consultant from Aloha who goes
by the professional name Nabil.
Nabil said he spent $222 for the
vehicle license information and
put it on the Internet on Friday.
Since then, there have been at
least 21,000 queries to that World
Wide Web page, he said:
“The reason I did it is that I
wanted to remove some of the
cloak of anonymity that drivers
have,” Nabil said. “People drive
under the cloak of anonymity, and
that makes them drive like mani
acs.”
He said he hopes bad drivers
will improve their ways because
they know that anyone can find
out who they are and where they
live.
“I understand that people don’t
want this information available.
But by being a driver, they partici
pate in a community,” he said.
Actually, the information al
ready is public record. But until
Nabil’s move, it required individ
ual requests through the division
or through contracts routinely
made by, among others, law firms,
insurance companies and mar
keters.
The cost is $4 for each request
by citizens, who must personally
visit an office of the Driver and
Motor Vehicles Service Division.
The division also has accounts
with about 4,000 businesses and
agencies that can obtain informa
tion by phone for $2.50 a request.
State officials said they started
getting complaints almost the in
stant Nabil made the records avail
able on the Internet. However,
they say Oregon’s public records
laws permit Nabil to post the in
formation.
“We’re having a hard time stay
ing in the middle,” said Bill Seely,
DMV’s information services man
ager. “It doesn’t feel good trying to
explain to our customers why it is
the way it is without sounding like
we’re in support of it.”
Seely said Oregonians who
want to restrict vehicle informa
tion should contact legislators
about changing the laws.
Nabil’s information is organized
so a person can type in a vehicle
license number and find the home
address of the owners and the
name of the financial institution
that provided a loan for the vehicle.
Nabil said he could have pro
vided more information. Hypo
thetically, he could have listed the
names of all young women who
own a BMW and live in northwest
Portland. But he said such infor
mation could be a threat to some
one’s safety.
Seely said he knows of no other
state in which motor vehicle infor
mation has been placed on the In
ternet. Some states, including
Washington and California, have
more restrictive laws than Oregon
about the release of such informa
tion.
California tightened its laws in
reponse to the highly publicized
1989 murder of actress Rebecca
Schaeffer, formerly of Portland.
She was killed by a deranged fan
who got the address for her Los
Angeles apartment from motor ve
hicle records.
Schaeffer’s father, Benson Scha
effer of Portland, said Tuesday
night that the appearance of such
records on the Internet is “horren
dous.”
“The use of this information by
people who are dangerous could
lead to unfortunate outcomes,” he
said. “Unfortunately, I know that
from personal experience.”
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