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National Standards Strategy Focus of September Summit
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Standards
National Standards Strategy Focus of September Summit
In conjunction with the U.S. celebration of World Standards Day on Sept. 23, 1998, NIST and the American National Standards Institute will co-host a summit, "Toward a National Standards Strategy to Meet Global Needs," at the Ronald Reagan International Trade Center in Washington, D.C.
The summit will launch a concerted effort to create a more effective national standards strategy that will meet the needs of both the private sector and government. Discussions will cover issues surrounding the development, support and use of national and international standards that significantly affect U.S. manufacturers and exporters. Three scheduled roundtables at the summit will address:
- identifying U.S. needs for domestic, regional and international standardization;
- ensuring that standards reflect the state of technology and that global standards contain U.S. contributions; and
- funding the standards development and dissemination process.
All interested parties, including representatives from standards developing organizations, industry, government, consumers and other stakeholders, are invited to attend and participate. Cost is $185.
For registration information, contact Lori Phillips, B116 Administration Bldg., NIST, Gaithersburg, Md. 20899-0001 (301) 975-3881, or check out http://www.nist.gov/public_affairs/confpage/ on the World Wide Web. For technical information, contact Krista Leuteritz, Rm. 282 Bldg. 820, NIST, Gaithersburg, Md. 20899-0001, (301) 975-5104.
Media Contact:
Michael E. Newman (301) 975-3025
Genetic Research
Microcalorimeter Focuses on Gene Sequencing
In 1996, NIST scientists developed a revolutionary new X-ray microcalorimeter for precise materials analysis in the semiconductor industry. The advanced-design spectrometer fit easily onto a commercially available scanning electron microscope and achieved X-ray resolution at least 10 times better than many conventional products. Two years later, the researchers are applying the same cryogenic microcalorimeter technology to the problem of measuring large molecular masses. The goal: speeding up human gene sequencing.
The NIST team plans to use the microcalorimeter as the detector on a high-resolution mass spectrometer. In a mass spectrometer, biological molecules like DNA are ionized, accelerated by an applied voltage and separated by mass through a large magnetic field. The new application of NIST's X-ray calorimeter should allow much more efficient detection of these molecules than current devices, resulting in faster and more precise gene mass determination. Since DNA is composed of a chain of specific nitrogen base pairs (cytosine paired with guanine and adenine with thymine) and the mass of these base pairs is known, determining the mass of individual pieces of a DNA sample is one method for gene sequencing.
At present, mass spectrometry techniques can only determine the mass of DNA segments with up to 100 base pairs. "We would like to get to 1,000 base pairs," says Gene Hilton of NIST's Electromagnetic Technology Division, Boulder, Colo. If this is attainable, it could greatly speed up gene sequencing.
For technical information, contact Hilton at MC 814.03, NIST, Boulder, Colo. 80303-3328, (303) 497-5679.
Media Contact:
Fred McGehan (Boulder) (303) 497-3246
MEP
Space Age Technology Helps Boozer Lumber Streamline Operations
Boozer Lumber, a small manufacturer in Columbia, S.C., needed a better, more efficient way of making roof trusses, one of the company's main products.
With guidance from the South Carolina Manufacturing Extension Partnership, an affiliate of the nationwide NIST Manufacturing Extension Partnership, Boozer partnered with Virtek Vision International and MiTek Industries Inc. to take a laser projection system developed for aerospace manufacturing and apply it to manufacturing wood trusses. As a result, Boozer has improved its production efficiency by 295 percent, added four production lines and doubled capacity. Boozer Lumber's new facility is one of the largest in the United States and one of the most efficient in the world. SCMEP also provided workforce training, product development engineering and plant layout recommendations. "As a direct result of SCMEP's assistance, we have reinvented our company into a world-class operation," said Bob Jones, chief executive officer of Boozer.
Smaller manufacturers can reach the NIST MEP center serving their region by calling (800) MEP-4-MFG (637-4634). For further information on Boozer Lumber or the SCMEP, contact Shelley Phipps, (803) 252-6976.
Media Contact:
Jan Kosko (301) 975-2767
Electromagnetics
D-Dot Sensor Calibrations Deliver for Aircraft Industry
In order for avionics manufacturers to test their aircraft electronics for susceptibility to outside interference from electromagnetic fields--such as those generated by powerful radars or broadcast transmitters--NIST provides calibrations of the sensors used to measure EMFs. NASA conducts these electromagnetic interference and compatibility (known as EMI/EMC) tests by flying the aircraft close to a high-powered electromagnetic radiator and measuring the resulting EMF inside and outside the craft.
D-Dot sensors (one of the types used in EMI/EMC tests) provide an output voltage proportional to the time derivative of the impinging electric field. These broadband sensors are teardrop-shaped metal objects about 15 centimeters (6 inches) long, mounted point down over a metal plate using a cylindrical plastic collar. They also may be useful for other forms of EMI/EMC testing. NIST effectively calibrated the D-Dot sensors by mounting them on a metal ground plane near an inverted-cone radiator and inside transverse electromagnetic cells (both are methods of generating known EMFs).
The tests and results are described in Time-Domain Calibrations of D-Dot Sensors (NIST Technical Note 1392), available from Robert Johnk, MC 813.07, NIST, Boulder, Colo. 80303-3328, (303) 497-3737.
Media Contact:
Collier Smith (Boulder) (303) 497-3246
Physics
What's My Line? International Team Knows for Hydrazine Spectrum
NIST scientists, working with scientists from the Brazilian State University of Campinas, have discovered more than 144 new laser lines in the far infrared (known as FIR) spectrum of hydrazine. The newly defined lines are located in a part of the spectrum where very few lines for laser magnetic resonance--an extremely sensitive spectroscopic technique for studying the absorption and emission of electromagnetic radiation in atoms and molecules in a magnetic field were known previously. The new lines should improve the use of LMR for studying molecules in the upper atmosphere and outer space. Understanding the behavior of such molecules is important for studying and assessing the Earth's climate and energy budget.
The 144 new hydrazine lines are particularly noteworthy because only six lines had been known in the LMR range between 50 and 200 micrometers wavelength prior to the NIST research. In addition to the sub-200 micrometer lines, the research team has discovered and measured the frequency and strength of hundreds of other FIR lines in hydrazine, methanol and difluoromethane during the past few years.
For technical information, contact Kenneth Evenson, MC 847.00, NIST, Boulder, Colo. 80303-3328, (303) 497-5129.
Media Contact:
Collier Smith (Boulder) (303) 497-3246
Building Materials
NIST Seeks Partners for Concrete Improvement Program
Concrete has been used as a building material for over 2,000 years but today's mixture bears no resemblance to its ancestors. Modern concrete represents a sophisticated technology developed through years of research and testing. Since the early 1980s, NIST's Building and Fire Research Laboratory has continuously sought to improve the predictability and performance of concrete, and then develop the tools needed by the construction industry to make use of these advances.
As part of this continuing improvement effort, BFRL recently established the Partnership for High-Performance Concrete Technology. The partnership's purpose is to bring together private firms, government agencies and academia to address critical high-performance concrete issues such as processing, performance prediction, characterization of HPC and its constituents, structural performance in fires, overall structural performance and economics (including life-cycle costing models).
The PHPCT complements the Strategic Development Council of the American Concrete Institute, another recently established mechanism for fostering partnerships to improve HPC technology. BFRL is a member of the SDC. Organizations interested in joining the PHPCT should contact Geoffrey Frohnsdorff, B368 Building Research Bldg., NIST, Gaithersburg, Md. 20899-0001, (301) 975-6706.
Media Contact:
Michael E. Newman (301) 975-3025
Reference Data
International Agreement to Improve Crystal Structure Database
A new agreement between NIST and two German science organizations, Fachinformationszentrum Karlsruhe, or FIZ, and the Max-Planck Gesellschaft, or MPG, will ensure the long-term viability and widespread dissemination of NIST's Inorganic Crystal Structure Database.
Chemists and materials scientists have long used the database and its collection of more than 40,000 inorganic compounds to support research advances. Because of new developments in computer-aided design of inorganic materials, as well as the advent of combinatorial methods being applied to these materials, scientists now need a more robust database.
The new agreement between NIST, FIZ and MPG will focus on two areas: evaluation of current and new structural data, and PC- and Web-based data products that take advantage of recent improvements in information technology. Scientists have begun work outlined in the agreement and expect to release data products in 2000.
The work is being done through a partnership of the NIST Center for Neutron Research and the NIST Standard Reference Data Program and builds on NIST's expertise in diffraction data and crystallographic analysis. FIZ and MPG have supported the Inorganic Crystal Structure Database since 1989 and remain dedicated to its excellence.
For more information on the NIST Standard Reference Data Program, visit http://www.nist.gov/srd/ on the World Wide Web, send e-mail to srdata@nist.gov or phone (301) 975-2208.
Media Contact:
Linda Joy (301) 975-4403
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Editor: Michael Newman
HTML conversion: Crissy Wines
Last updated: June 10, 1998
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