January 13, 2003

In This Issue:
	Tiny Cell-Based Chemical Detectors Have Protection Potential
	Report Highlights Best Ways to Talk Science to the Public
	Baldrige Criteria Challenge CEOs to Be ‘Chief Ethical Officers’
	Fiberoptic Link Transfers Clock Signals with Great Stability
	Problems in Test Method ID’d by NIST Research
	March Conference to Focus on Cybersecurity Education, Training

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Homeland Security

Tiny Cell-Based Chemical Detectors Have Protection Potential

Laurie Locascio places a water sample on a tiny sensing chip that detects toxic chemicals.

A highly sensitive, inexpensive “lab-on-a-chip” that provides warning within seconds of even trace amounts of toxic chemicals in water was designed and demonstrated recently by National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) scientists and collaborators.

The prototype sensor system monitors the natural response of bacterial cells bound within the microscopic channels of a plastic microfluidics device—a miniaturized chemical and biochemical analysis system. In the presence of certain chemicals, the cells eject large amounts of potassium, which is detected with an optical sensor that changes color. The prototype was demonstrated as part of an early warning system for industrial pollutants that interfere with sewage treatment, but it also has potential homeland security applications.

Cell-based sensors are of great interest today because they can respond to a wide range of chemical toxins rapidly. NIST’s primary contributions to this project involve expertise in microfluidics technology, particularly aspects such as plastics processing. The new device has a novel configuration in which, through the use of lasers, tiny posts are constructed within the channels to act as a sieve and promote adhesion of the cells.

Although this type of chemical test could be performed in other formats, a microfluidics device is more sensitive because of the high surface to volume ratio, and also faster because of the close juxtaposition of chemicals and cells. In addition, it consumes less reagent and sample material and could be used in a distributed sensor network for real-time field testing. The device was designed in collaboration with scientists at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Blacksburg, Va.) and Veridian Pacific-Sierra Research (Charlottesville, Va.); [Note: Veridian Pacific-Sierra Research has changed its name to Veridian.]

For more information, contact Laurie Locascio, (301) 975-3130, laurie.locascio@nist.gov.

Media Contact:
Laura Ost, (301) 975-4034

 

Communications

Report Highlights Best Ways to Talk Science to the Public

What’s the difference between a muon and a gluon? How are atomic clocks related to safe airline travel? If DNA is nature’s perfect identification system, does it matter that everyone has two different sets, nuclear and mitrochondrial? Explaining such things to non-technical audiences can be a tricky business. That’s why institutions like universities, government agencies, museums and trade associations increasingly have hired professional communicators to translate the results of research advances for public audiences.

A new report, Communicating the Future: Best Practices for Communication of Science and Technology to the Public, summarizes the results of a public meeting held at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in March 2002 with major funding from the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science. The report includes descriptions of 48 model science and technology communications programs selected by peer review. It also includes the text of presentations by noted communicators and a summary by a blue-ribbon steering committee that describes 10 “hallmarks of good science communications programs.”

The full proceedings of the “Best Practices” conference is available online at www.nist.gov/bestpractices. To receive a free copy of the printed version, provide your name and full mailing address to NIST by calling (301) 975-NIST (6478), sending an e-mail to inquiries@nist.gov or faxing a request to (301) 926-1630.

Media Contact:
Gail Porter, (301) 975-3392

 

Quality

Baldrige Criteria Challenge CEOs to Be ‘Chief Ethical Officers’

Responsibility for corporate stewardship and ethical business practices starts at the top with an organization’s chief executive and governing body, says the 2003 Baldrige Award performance excellence criteria recently issued by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The Baldrige performance excellence criteria can help any organization form the foundation for sound management and ethical business practices.

“For America to have a strong economy, we need sound businesses with ethical, responsible leaders,” said Commerce Secretary Don Evans. “Great authority is vested in the men and women who run our public corporations, and with such power comes responsibility. Corporate leaders aren’t simply stewards of their individual companies. They are stewards of American capitalism itself.”

The criteria long have stressed that senior leaders should be ethical role models and that organizations have a responsibility to practice good citizenship. This emphasis is woven throughout all of the Baldrige criteria’s seven categories. However, it is most visible in the leadership category, which asks how the organization’s governance system ensures management and fiscal accountability and independence in audits and protects stockholder and stakeholder interests. Also, the results category in the 2003 criteria asks organizations to provide evidence of fiscal accountability, ethical behavior, legal compliance and organizational citizenship.

In addition to being the basis for a Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award application, the Baldrige Award performance excellence criteria are used by thousands of organizations to assess and improve their performance on a wide range of key indicators.

The Baldrige criteria are available in editions for business, education and health care at www.baldrige.nist.gov or by calling (301) 975-2036.

Media Contact:
Jan Kosko, (301) 975-2767

 

 

Physics

Fiberoptic Link Transfers Clock Signals with Great Stability

In May 2000, a high-speed fiberoptic network was set up between research laboratories in Boulder, Colo., including the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). It was predicted that time and frequency signals eventually could be transmitted over the network with a stability significantly better than that obtainable through Global Positioning System (GPS) or two-way time transfer. That goal now has been achieved.

In a recent paper, scientists from JILA (a joint institute operated by NIST and the University of Colorado at Boulder) and NIST report that they have connected both optical and radio frequency standards between the two institutions, which are about 3.5 kilometers (2.2 miles) apart. Ultimately, they hope to relay stable optical frequency standards and, subsequently, derived optical atomic clock signals over much greater distances.

“With the recent demonstration of optical atomic clocks, interest in the development of highly stable and accurate optical fiber transmission networks has become stronger, for obvious reasons: the unprecedented stability promised by optical frequency standards will need direct optical links for distribution and intercomparison,” the researchers state.

The NIST work—representing the first phase-coherent transfer of an optical frequency standard over a commercial fiber link of greater than a kilometer in length—shows that high-stability signals can be transmitted from laboratories to remote sites via optical fiber networks. One example of the need for such a capability is NASA’s Deep Space Network, which requires distribution of ultra-stable reference frequencies from its signal processing center in Pasadena, Calif., to multiple antenna sites for gravity wave searches, occultation science and other radio science experiments.

Also shown for the first time is the advantage of direct optical signal transfer over traditional microwave modulation approaches. The resulting noise (instability) of the transfer process is extremely low, 3 x 10^-15 at one second of averaging.

For a copy of paper no. 35-02, contact Sarabeth Harris, NIST, MC104, Boulder, Colo. 80305-3328; (303) 497-3237; sarabeth@boulder.nist.gov.

Media Contact:
Fred McGehan Boulder, (303) 497-7000

 

 

Chemistry

Problems in Test Method ID’d by NIST Research

Research by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) suggests that improvements are needed in a method commonly used in industry to test the corrosiveness of fuel gases such as liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).

The Copper Strip Corrosion Test (ASTM 1838) consists of exposing LPG to a strip of clean, polished copper for an hour at 38 degrees Celsius (100 degrees Fahrenheit). Any corrosive components in the LPG (primarily acid gases such as hydrogen sulfide) will cause a discoloration or staining of the copper strip, which is “read” by comparison with a standard chart. The NIST Chemical Science and Technology Laboratory team, led by project leader Thomas J. Bruno, examined mixtures of carbonyl sulfide (COS) and hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) in propane using a variant of the standard test procedure.

The researchers found that the test is relatively insensitive to COs, even at very high concentration. In their measurements, even 1,000 parts per million (mass/mass) COs in propane has little effect on the copper strip—an unexpected result since operating engineers in the LPG industry expect failure at much lower levels (closer to 60 parts per million). Additionally, the researchers found that a much higher level of H₂S passed the test than is considered acceptable in the industry. They also found that the colors typically produced in the test often do not match those of the standards.

The NIST team members are continuing attempts to refine and improve the test method. Their findings have been published in a recent issue of Energy and Fuels, an American Chemical Society journal.

For more information, contact Bruno at (303) 497-5158 or bruno@boulder.nist.gov. The paper “The ASTM Copper Strip Corrosion Test: Application to Propane with Carbonyl Sulfide and Hydrogen Sulfide” (released online in Energy and Fuels on Nov. 19, 2002) may be reached via http://pubs.acs.org/journals/enfuem/index.html.

Media Contact:
Fred McGehan Boulder, (303) 497-7000