Radar on Great Lakes for U.S. homeland security purposes

ERIE, Pennsylvania.- Erie-area researchers are studying whether low-cost commercial radar might be used to track vessels on the Great Lakes for U.S. homeland security purposes. "In the wake of 9-11, the United States and Canada have taken significant measures to further secure our borders. However, the Great Lakes borders remain a significant weak spot," said Susan Breon, president of the Center for eBusiness & Advanced Information Technology. "Ask the border patrol and Homeland Security how many boats go back and forth between Canada and the U.S. and they don't have any way to know," said Robert Gray, director of the Center for Navigation, Communication, and Information Systems at Penn State-Behrend. About 2,000 kilometres of the U.S.-Canadian border consist of the Great Lakes. Breon's business-development group is partnering with researchers at Behrend and Mercyhurst College and have already received a $50,000 seed grant for the project's first phase - testing whether the radar will work. "This radar was never intended for this kind of a mission and we have to see how it performs...if it will be able to tell the difference between a boat and a flock of gulls," Gray said. "It sounds easy but it's not." The other partner in the venture is Robert Heibel, the FBI's deputy chief of counter-terrorism during the late president Ronald Reagan's administration, who now directs Mercyhurst's Institute for Intelligence Studies. Heibel has the government contacts to determine which national security agencies could use the boat traffic data generated by the project. Breon's group, and Pennsylvania state Senator Jane Earll, who obtained the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development Grant for the initial study, are interested in the project because it could bring jobs to the area, should a security centre or technology cluster result from could take up to a year, Gray said.-AP

Recall of thousands of Dell Ac adapters for shock hazard

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Dell Inc. is recalling about 990,000 AC adapters used with notebook personal computers because they can overheat and cause a fire and electrical shock hazard, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said Friday. There were seven reports of the adapters overheating. No injuries were reported. The adapters are used with the Texas company's Latitude, Precision and Inspiron notebook-style personal computers. The notebook computers have model numbers, either screened onto the surface of the computer or on a printed label on the bottom of the computer, listed on Dell's website: www.delladapterprogram.com. The recalled adapters have the words DELL and P/N 9364U, P/N 7832D or P/N 4983D printed on the back. The adapters, made at Delta Electronics Inc. of Taipei, were sold with computers through Dell's website and customer service centre from September 1998 through February 2002. The adapters were also sold separately for $30 to $70 US. Consumers in the U.S. should stop using the adapters immediately and contact Dell, at 800-418-8590 between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. CT Monday through Friday, to see if their adapter is included in the recall, since not all listed on the website are included. Dell will send a free replacement adapter to consumers whose adapters are being recalled.-AP