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Smaller Manufacturers: Swat the 'Millennium Bug' with Self-Help Tool
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Smaller Manufacturers: Swat the 'Millennium Bug' with Self-Help Tool
The NIST Manufacturing Extension Partnership's nationwide network of centers is offering a computer-based tool to help smaller manufacturers find and assess Year 2000 date problems. Year 2000, or Y2K, refers to the failure of a computer program or system because the "00" year designation is mistaken for "1900."
"Time is running out. Like other businesses, small manufacturers must start paying attention to this potential problem today. If they don't, they risk losing business or even their ability to survive," said Commerce Secretary William Daley.
MEP's tool will help smaller manufacturers conduct an inventory of equipment, identify core business systems and rate their importance to the survival of the business, develop contingency plans, and develop and manage remediation projects.
For assistance with Year 2000 conversion, as well as business and technical projects, smaller manufacturers can call (800) MEP-4MFG (637-4634) to reach the MEP center serving their region. Information also is available on the World Wide Web at http://www.mep.nist.gov and at http://www.nist.gov/y2k.
Media Contact:
Jan Kosko, (301) 975-2767
Study Takes First Step Toward Less Costly Fresh Air
Many home builders are moving toward more energy efficient designs, yet concerns about proper ventilation and indoor air quality are fueling an increase in the use of mechanical ventilation systems. Unfortunately, the price of better indoor air quality with these systems may be higher heating and cooling bills.
A recently completed NIST study found that a home where exhaust fans or other mechanical ventilation systems provide additional air flow may have too much ventilation at some times and too little at others. Overventilation during winter and summer months typically produces higher utility bills.
The study employed a NIST-developed computer program called CONTAM to evaluate the interplay of energy-efficient design, mechanical ventilation and power consumption. The two-story fictitious house used in the study is in Spokane, Wash., an area that has cool winters and where builders are typically more progressive about energy efficient designs. One-year simulations evaluated four different ventilation approaches. Future simulations will evaluate other housing designs in various climates.
Ultimately, researchers hope to devise an indoor air quality rating scheme that can be used by manufacturers and designers to evaluate the impacts of different means of controlling indoor air quality. Information about the interplay of energy efficiency and optimum ventilation will help builders to evaluate the tradeoffs involved in building designs.
The Electric Power Research Institute sponsored the study under a cooperative research and development agreement. For more information, contact Andrew Persily, A313 Building Research Bldg., NIST, Gaithersburg, Md. 20899-0001, (301) 975-6418.
Media Contact:
Philip Bulman, (301) 975-5661
New Standard Helps Computer Makers Assess Flat-Panel Quality
Manufacturers long have needed a comprehensive manual to help them carry out the complex tests needed to accurately specify and measure performance characteristics such as sharpness, brightness and color quality of the flat-panel displays they use in laptop computers. Until now, they have had to resort to time-consuming performance evaluations before they could decide which displays to order.
Fortunately, that problem has been solved by an international team of researchers led by Edward F. Kelley, a physicist with NIST's Electronics and Electrical Engineering Laboratory. The group produced the first comprehensive manual for testing flat-panel displays. The resulting Flat Panel Display Measurement Standard has been published by the Video Electronics Standards Association, an international organization representing corporations in the computer industry.
By using the same standard, display producers and laptop manufacturers can speak the same language, ensuring less ambiguity and faster production.
One of the research team's chief triumphs was an improved method for measuring a display's contrast ratio, which dictates the sharpness of an image by virtue of its ratio of whiteness to blackness. The new method works by using a cone-shaped device to screen out the glare of extraneous light that interferes with the measurement.
Copies of the standard can be ordered from VESA in both CD-ROM and hard copy formats. Contact VESA at 2150 N. First St., Suite 440, San Jose, Calif. 95131-2029, (408) 435-0333, or download an order form (using an Adobe Acrobat 3.0 reader) from the organization's World Wide Web site at http://www.vesa.org. For more information, contact James St. Pierre, A53 Technology Bldg., NIST, Gaithersburg, Md. 20899-0001, (301) 975-4124.
Media Contact:
Emil Venere, (301) 975-5745
Federal/State Study Finds 19 Percent of Milk Containers Short
In the first national study on the accuracy of milk net contents, conducted by four federal agencies, 44 states and two territories, 19 percent of 3,355 lots of milk inspected failed due to underfilling. The results of the study are significantly better than results of a similar, but smaller, study conducted in 1997 in which 45 percent of inspected lots failed.
The study was conducted by the staff of the Federal Trade Commission, Food and Nutrition Service at the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the NIST Office of Weights and Measures, in coordination with the Office of Food Labeling at the Food and Drug Administration. Inspections were conducted by weights and measures officials in 44 states as well as Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands using an inspection procedure adopted by the National Conference on Weights and Measures. Inspections were conducted in retail stores, dairies, hospitals, universities, public schools and other institutions.
More than 6 billion gallons of milk were sold in the United States last year, according to the USDA. According to the report, 83 percent of lots inspected at schools this year passed inspection. At hospitals, universities and other institutions, 72 percent passed. Of the 1,309 inspections of milk in retail stores, wholesale packaging plants and dairies, 81 percent passed inspection this year.
Copies of the study, "Milk: Does it Measure Up? One Year Later," and a "Facts for Business" brochure are available on the World Wide Web at http://www.ftc.gov. Printed copies can be requested from the FTC's Public Reference Branch, Room 130, 6th Street and Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20580, (202) 382-4357.
Media Contact:
Linda Joy, (301) 975-4403
Portable Josephson Voltage Standard Passes Initial Tests
A compact, transportable 10-volt Josephson calibration system developed at NIST is now circulating among nine NASA laboratories where it is used as a primary standard. A model with an improved microwave oscillator will be tested shortly at several Department of Energy national laboratories.
The portable standard, which weighs only 21 kilograms, is highly automated and is designed to be operated by technicians without higher level support. It can be transported easily by next-day air shipment in two custom containers and set up in less than one hour. It is cooled in a standard 100-liter liquid helium transport Dewar that is sufficient to operate the Josephson array for six to eight weeks.
The standard was intercompared with laboratory standards at NIST and Sandia National Laboratories and by members of the National Conference of Standards Laboratories. It tested well within defined uncertainty levels in these intercomparisons.
The standard also was field tested at two NASA laboratories--the White Sands (N.M.) Test Facility and the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. In addition to the field tests, the standard has been operated at three NASA calibration laboratories resulting in "marked improvement" in the value of the maintained volt for one laboratory and verifying the low uncertainties claimed at the other two laboratories.
For a copy of paper no. 29-98 describing the field tests, contact Sarabeth Harris, MS104, NIST, Boulder, Colo. 80303-3337, (303) 497-3237.
Media Contact:
Fred McGehan (Boulder), (303) 497-3246
New Consortium Examines Flame Retardancy in Plastics
Understanding the fundamental mechanisms of flame retardancy in certain plastics is important because fires started in the synthetic fabrics found in furniture and carpeting frequently cause deaths, serious injuries and property damage. So, several companies have joined a NIST-sponsored research consortium to better examine these characteristics.
The plastics being studied by the consortium are clay-nanocomposites, materials in which clay plate-like particles, one nanometer (40 billionths of an inch) thick by a thousand nanometers in diameter, are dispersed throughout the polymers involved. Previous NIST research showed that a commonly used polymer, nylon-6, became much less flammable--by 63 percent--if it had a clay content of only 5 percent. More recent findings show that the approach of molecularly dispersing clay boosts flame retardancy in many polymers.
The new research consortium will last at least two years and will examine a variety of materials to discover if the flame retardancy depends on physical properties, chemical properties or both. Additional companies can join until Sept. 30, 1998.
For more information on the consortium, contact Jeffrey Gilman, B258 Polymer Bldg., NIST, Gaithersburg, Md. 20899-0001, (301) 975-6573.
Media Contact:
Philip Bulman, (301) 975-5661
Updated 'One-Stop' Industry Guide to NIST Available
The new Guide to NIST, the third update of the popular "one stop" information resource, is now available. The 184-page volume describes hundreds of different research projects, grants, industry outreach programs, services and facilities.
The guide is divided into sections covering each of the agency's four major programs: the Measurement and Standards Laboratories; the Advanced Technology Program, the Manufacturing Extension Partnership and the Baldrige National Quality Program. Individual items include contact names, addresses, phone numbers, e-mail addresses and, where present, World Wide Web URLs. A detailed subject index clearly maps all paths.
The complete Guide to NIST also is available on the World Wide Web at http://www.nist.gov/public_affairs/guide/index.htm.
For a free copy, send a self-addressed mailing label to Public Inquiries, A903 Administration Bldg., NIST, Gaithersburg, Md. 20899-0001 or fax requests to (301) 926-1630.
Media Contact:
Michael E. Newman, (301) 975-3025
U.S. Department of Commerce
Technology Administration
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Editor: Michael
Newman
HTML conversion: Crissy Wines
Last updated: August 18, 1998
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