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Biomedical Research

‘Cool’ Collaboration Focuses on Cell Membrane Research

A long-awaited “cold wave” is coming to a key area of biomedical research—studies of cell membranes. Based at the NIST Center for Neutron Research (NCNR) in Gaithersburg, Md., a budding collaboration of university and government scientists will use super-chilled neutrons to probe the elusive structure and interactions of cell membranes and their components, gathering information key to improving disease diagnosis and treatment.

“Demand for beam time at the handful of neutron facilities in the United States is so great that the tool was nearly unavailable for this kind of research,” says Stephen White, the University of California Irvine (UCI) biophysicist who leads the Cold Neutrons for Biology and Technology (CNBT) partnership. “Yet, for many challenges in biology and medicine, neutron probes offer the only realistic hope for answers.”

To ease the neutron crunch for biologists, NIST offered to open a new port in a beamline at its NCNR. White then organized the CNBT partnership, which received a $5 million grant from the National Center for Research Resources. The partnership includes researchers from UCI, NIST, the University of Pennsylvania, Rice University, Carnegie Mellon University, the Duke University Medical Center and the Los Alamos National Laboratory.

The CNBT team is now building a unique instrument with dual capabilities: diffractometry and reflectometry. To be completed in 2003, the combination will provide cell membrane scientists with access to powerful technologies well beyond the resources of individual researchers.

For more information on CNBT, go to www.nist.gov/public_affairs/releases/neutrons.htm. The media contact at UCI is Andrew Porterfield, (949) 824-3969.

Media Contact:
Mark Bello, (301) 975-3776

 

Manufacturing Assistance

Lean Operation Helps Texas Firm Keep Up with Demand

Garrett Metal Detectors of Garland, Texas, is a very busy place. In business since 1964, this small manufacturer is a worldwide supplier of security equipment to airports, law enforcement agencies, schools and sporting events including the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City. After Sept. 11, 2001, requests for Garrett’s metal detecting equipment skyrocketed. With help from the Texas Manufacturing Assistance Center (TMAC), an affiliate of the nationwide NIST Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP), Garrett has been able to keep pace with demand.

Last year, Garrett officials worked with the Texas center to implement ISO 9000 quality standards and to help redesign the company’s walk-through metal detector operations. After a brief tour of Garrett’s operations, TMAC’s manufacturing specialists identified some major improvement opportunities by using the principles of lean manufacturing, a concept that eliminates activities that add no value to the product or service. After TMAC provided lean training, Garrett employees developed a new assembly process, reducing production time from days to hours.

“We reduced cycle time by 75 percent and increased production by 300 percent to 400 percent with the same number of people and half the space,” said Robert Podhrasky, vice president of the company.

More information on TMAC and MEP can be found at www.mep.nist.gov. Manufacturers can reach the MEP center serving their area by calling (800) MEP-4MFG (637-4634).

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

 

Standards

Federal Use of Private-Sector Standards Doubles

A new NIST report finds that federal agencies are continuing to increase their use of private-sector standards in regulations and procurement actions—progress intended to raise government efficiency and reduce compliance burdens.

Altogether, 28 agencies and cabinet-level departments used 5,453 so-called voluntary consensus standards in new or revised regulations and specifications issued during fiscal year 2000, the latest reporting period. The FY 2000 total is double the number reported during the previous fiscal year.

As important, the agencies introduced only 16 government-unique standards and eliminated 537 existing ones, according to The Fourth Annual Report on Federal Agency Use of Voluntary Consensus Standards. The annual report to Congress is required by the National Technology Transfer and Advancement Act (NTTAA), which was signed into law in 1996.

Under the NTTAA, federal agencies are directed to adopt private-sector standards whenever possible, especially those developed by established bodies using open, formal procedures that rely on consensus among affected parties. Exceptions are permitted when available voluntary consensus standards do not satisfy an agency’s mission-based requirements.

Since 1997, agency-reported use of voluntary consensus standards has increased 10-fold. Substitution of voluntary consensus standards for government-unique ones has nearly tripled. However, the number of federal employees participating in private-sector standards bodies continues to decline, from 3,276 in 1997 to 2,733 in 2000. The annual rate of decrease has slowed to 4 percent, as compared to 12 percent in 1999.

The Fourth Annual Report on Federal Agency Use of Voluntary Consensus Standards (NISTIR 6493) and the three previous annual reports are available in Adobe Acrobat format at http://ts.nist.gov/ts/htdocs/210/nttaa/toolkit.htm. Click on “NTTAA Annual Reports on Implementation.” To receive a printed copy of the report, contact Kevin McIntyre, (301) 975-4907.

Media Contact:
Mark Bello, (301) 975-3776

 

 

Conservation

Free Software Evaluates Long-Term Costs of Energy Savings

Everyone wants to conserve energy—but not at any cost. Long-term savings from an energy conservation project should be greater than the initial investment. But how can you know at the beginning that this will be the case? NIST’s Office of Applied Economics has the answer: use the latest version of its Building Life-Cycle Cost software program, BLCC5.

The BLCC5 software program is especially useful for evaluating the long-term costs and benefits of energy and water conservation and renewable energy projects. It supports the Department of Energy’s Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP), which promotes such efforts in more than 500,000 federal buildings. A recent study indicated that FEMP saved the federal government about $10 billion for the period between 1985 and 1994.

BLCC5 enables managers to compare the life-cycle cost of two or more alternative designs to determine which is the least expensive and, therefore, more economical one in the long run. BLCC5 looks at comparative economic data for the alternative designs, including net savings, savings-to-investment ratio, adjusted internal rate of return, and years to payback.

BLCC5 can evaluate new and existing federal, state and local government projects, as well as non-profit and for-profit projects in the private sector. While BLCC5 is oriented toward building-related decisions, it can be used to evaluate alternative designs for almost any project in which higher capital investment costs result in lower future operating costs.

BLCC5 runs on any personal computer with approximately 640 K of random access memory. In addition to its traditional life-cycle costing features, the program contains a specially designated module for evaluating “Energy Savings Performance Contracts.” These contracts—where private-sector energy service companies or utilities finance and implement the conservation project, and the contracting agency repays the debt from the cost savings achieved—are widely used in federal, state and local governments.

BLCC5 may be downloaded, free of charge, from the Department of Energy’s FEMP site at www.eren.doe.gov/femp.

Media Contact:
John Blair, (301) 975-4261

 

 

Electromagnetics

Precessional Switching in Magnetic Memory Devices Demonstrated

A particular type of thin-film magnetic device called a spin-valve can be engineered to have two stable states of electrical resistance based on the relative magnetization orientation of its ferromagnetic layers. This property has motivated a strong interest in using spin-valves as recording bits in non-volatile, magnetic random access memory (MRAM). Companies such as IBM Corp., Motorola Inc. and Honeywell International Inc. are actively developing MRAM.

One hurdle in the path of this development is precise control of the switching of individual devices. Researchers at NIST have been studying the dynamics of magnetization reversal in spin-valves using a device with submicrometer dimensions and fabricated within a test structure that includes high-bandwidth transmission lines. One line delivers ultrafast magnetic field pulses to the device. The other is electrically connected to the device and carries the voltage pulse generated as the device changes state. This voltage pulse serves as a probe of the magnetization dynamics of the device.

In a spin-valve, only one ferromagnetic layer—the free layer—responds to external fields. Internal magnetic fields within the device allow only two stable magnetization directions, 180 degrees apart, along an easy axis. Current implementation of MRAM requires field pulses applied for 10 to 20 nanoseconds along either the positive or negative easy axis, depending on the desired state. The NIST researchers discovered a way to switch the devices using field pulses of less than 300 picoseconds duration directed perpendicular to the easy axis. The magnetization is reversed due to large-angle precessional motion. For longer duration pulses, the device does not switch because the magnetization rotates back to its initial direction while the pulse is on.

Precessional switching requires only a single polarity pulse applied perpendicular to the device easy axis, which results in a toggle operation of the magnetic state of the device. This is a simpler and more efficient bit-setting operation than using pulsed fields along the easy axis (which requires longer pulses in both directions).

For more information, contact Stephen Russek, (303) 497-5097.

Media Contact:
Collier Smith, (Boulder), (303) 497-3198

 

 

Weights and Measures

Revised Handbook 133 Benefits Consumers and Businesses

A new publication from NIST’s Office of Weights and Measures, NIST Handbook 133: Checking the Net Contents of Packaged Goods—Fourth Edition, describes how to verify measurements for virtually every packaged product we eat, buy or sell. State regulatory bodies, as well as commercial and industrial establishments involved in packaging, distribution and sale of packaged goods, can use the newly revised Handbook 133 procedures to check the accuracy of net contents measurements (weight, volume, dimensions or count).

The handbook outlines various methods of sampling (rather than checking all of the packages) and suggests sampling techniques to be used at different times throughout the manufacture and marketing of a product (such as during packaging, warehouse storage and retailing). Handbook 133 also is useful as an industry sourcebook on how to package a product, label it and follow standards that apply to packaging.

Tom Coleman, one of the updated handbook’s editors, said, “Businesses benefit from Handbook 133 because the ability to verify the accuracy of net content labeling protects honest companies from unscrupulous competitors who could otherwise shortfill their products to reap greater profit. Consumers benefit because they know that they’re getting all of the product for which they paid.”

Handbook 133 has been adopted by the National Conference of Weights and Measures (NCWM), a voluntary professional organization that works closely with NIST to develop consensus on standards that meet the needs of consumers, businesses, regulators and manufacturers nationwide.

NIST Handbook 133, Checking the Net Contents of Packaged Goods-Fourth Edition is available for $15 from the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. 20402; (866) 512-1800;
http://bookstore.gpo.gov. Order stock no. 003-003-03726-5.

Media Contact:
John Blair, (301) 975-4261