Little did John Davis think when he and his friend Dudley Curtis set off for a pub on a rainy, fall evening that before they reached the pub door, Dudley would be murdered by a tiny speck of the deadly nerve agent VX. This murder involves John and his Noir colleagues, Richard Moore and Chloe Manning, in a mystery entailing chemical weapons. VX: A Deadly Mist is a suspense thriller tracing the possible theft by terrorists of chemical weapons and chemical agents from U S Army bases. Homeland Security seeks help from the FBI, the CIA and a shadowy French undercover organization, the Noir. While suspicion spreads distrust of upper level government officials, three of the Noirs agents visit army bases to track down an M23 land mine, two 4.2-inch M2 mortars and four M55 rockets all missing from their stockpile sites. Were these deadly weapons simply diversions for a more lethal action? The Noir agents work against the clock to find and return the stolen chemical weapons and prevent powerful, well-organized insurgents from using the insidious VX to kill millions. Chloe Manning calls on her contacts with high officials. Richard Moore, while struggling with past romantic entanglements and a French girls crush, recognizes his wedding must play second fiddle to national security. John Davis strives to overcome jealousy and concentrate on preventing a national catastrophe. Actions based on hints and surmises rather than facts begin to pay off, with help from U S Army personnel at three military bases, local and state police, but time is running out.

No reliable acute-exposure1 standards have been established for the particular purpose of protecting soldiers from toxic exposures to chemical warfare (CW) agents. Some human-toxicity estimates are available for the most common CW agentsâ€"organophosphorus nerve agents and vesicants; however, most of those estimates were developed for offensive purposes (that is, to kill or incapacitate the enemy) and were intended to be interim values only. Because of the possibility of a chemical attack by a foreign power, the Army's Office of the Surgeon General asked the Army's Chemical Defense Equipment Process Action Team (CDEPAT) to review the toxicity data for the nerve agents GA (tabun), GB(sarin), GD (soman), GF, and VX, and the vesicant agent sulfur mustard (HD) and to establish a set of exposure limits that would be useful in protecting soldiers from toxic exposures to those agents. This report is an independent review of the CDEPAT report to determine the scientific validity of the proposed estimates.

The U.S. Army has asked the National Research Council (NRC) to evaluate whether supercritical water oxidation (SCWO) is an effective and appropriate means of eliminating hazardous or toxic organic constituents in VX hydrolysate for ultimate disposition. The NRC was not asked to conduct an in-depth analysis of the entire integrated VX bulk agent destruction and disposal process for the Newport Chemical Agent Disposal Facility. As the facility design is being finalized (March 1999-April 2000), the NRC will probably be asked to assess all aspects of the facility design, including monitoring, containment, process control, and redundancy, as well as the quantitative risk assessment (QRA). This report outlines the elements of the proposed neutralization/SCWO technology, evaluates the results of ongoing SCWO tests, and makes recommendations concerning aspects of the technology that require further development. The scope of this evaluation did not include evaluations of other potential technologies or management options for the treatment of VX hydrolysate.

Beginning RPG Maker VX Ace takes you through the process of using the RPG Maker VX Ace game development engine to create your very own role playing game. The book has been designed with the complete beginner in mind who has little to no experience with the engine. Tutorials and exercises will take you from installing the software to putting the final touches upon your first project. Game design can be quite a daunting challenge, as it generally involves a large amount of programming know-how on top of having to plan everything out that makes a good game what it is. RPG Maker VX Ace is an intuitive system that allows you to make your own game with a fraction of the effort otherwise required. Beginning RPG Maker VX Ace equips you with the knowledge you need to use Enterbrain’s newest role playing game development engine. Takes you from the start of a project to the completion of a small game. Provides a step-by-step process that will walk you through each stage of the creation process. Gives many helpful tips and tricks you can apply to your future endeavors with the engine.

Presents photographs of hip-hop stars and other celebrities drawn from throughout the ten year history of Quincy Jones' "Vibe" magazine, including previously unpublished shots and outtakes.