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Materials

What a Deal! Evaluated Ceramics Data on the Web

Designers and manufacturing engineers aiming to exploit the high-temperature strength, superior wear resistance and other potential advantages of ceramic materials now have a valuable free resource to consult: the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Structural Ceramics Database (SCD). Available on the NIST Web site, the vastly expanded SCD contains evaluated data on the physical, mechanical and thermal properties of a wide range of advanced ceramics.

Begun in 1990, the database now holds more than 30,000 numeric values for compounds derived from the ceramic oxide, boride, carbide, nitride and oxynitride chemical families. References for all data sources are supplied, and the measurement methods used to establish numeric values are described. In addition, the SCD lists materials specifications, including chemical composition and processing details.

In 2000, the domestic market for advanced structural ceramics was estimated to be $800 million. More than 100 firms in the United States—ranging in size from job shops to large international companies—produce structural ceramics. Major market segments include cutting tools, engines, energy and high-temperature applications, biomedical devices, aerospace and defense. Although ceramics feature many desirable properties, they also possess limitations (especially brittleness) and can have stringent processing requirements. High-quality property data are essential to efforts being made to overcome these challenges and achieve production efficiencies that would expand the materials’ range of applications.

To access the SCD, go to www.ceramics.nist.gov/webbook/webbook.htm and click on “evaluated data.” To access the database user’s manual, click on “about WebSCD.” For tech-nical information, contact Ronald Munro, (301) 975-6127, ronald.munro@nist.gov.

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

 

Quality

2001 Baldrige Award Winners’ Applications Available

Interested in learning more about the winning ways of the five organizations that received the 2001 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award? Their applications now are available on the Web at www.quality.nist.gov/
2001_Application_Summaries.htm or on a CD-ROM from the American Society for Quality, (800) 248-1946.

The 2001 winners are: Clarke American Checks Inc., Pal’s Sudden Service and the first education winners—Chugach School District, Pearl River School District and the University of Wisconsin-Stout. The applications include each organization’s responses to questions in the seven business categories of the Baldrige performance excellence criteria (proprietary or confidential information has been removed from the applications). Tailored for business, education and health care, the seven categories are: leadership, strategic planning, customer and market focus, information and analysis, human resource focus, process management, and results.

In addition to being the basis for a Baldrige Award application, the criteria can help any organization align resources; improve communication, productivity and effectiveness; and achieve strategic goals.

Single copies of the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence for 2002 also are available free of charge by calling (301) 975-2036; faxing a request to (301) 948-3716; sending an e-mail message to nqp@nist.gov; or by downloading from www.quality.nist.gov.

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

 

Measurement

Weight Problems? Handbook Hopes to ‘Reduce’ Error with Carts

Even the fittest truckers suffer anxiety about their weight—that is, whenever they pull into a state truck weigh station. Inaccurate truck weights can result in fines costing thousands of dollars. Erroneous weights from truck scales at commercial enterprises can result in shortages of products to wholesale buyers or lead to excessive wear and damage to roads due to overloading.

To keep the scales accurate and the weights true, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), in cooperation with state weights and measures officials and members of the scale industry, has devised draft recommendations for better use of weight carts and is now seeking comments on the proposed standard. Weight carts are mobile units of predetermined weight used in conjunction with thousands of pounds of additional weights, commonly employed in the calibration of truck scales. Whenever the scale registers a weight different from that of the combined weight of the cart and weights, scale operators adjust the scales. Consequently, weight carts must be maintained within a very narrow weight range.

At least 375 weight carts of various design and weight are currently in use across the nation and that is part of the problem. NIST’s draft specification, called NIST Handbook 105-8, Field Standard Weight Carts, seeks both to standardize the design of future weight carts and resolve problems found with existing carts.

Among the situations addressed by the handbook are less-than-full fuel tanks, different battery weights and the use of treaded tires where embedded gravel or soil can mask a truck’s true weight.

NIST Handbook 105-8 will establish specific error tolerances for the weight carts and suggests remedies such as fuel tank requirements; the use of low maintenance, sealed lead acid batteries; and the substitution of treadless tires on trucks.

The latest draft of NIST Handbook 105-8 is now posted for comment at www.nist.gov/labmetrology. Click on the “Weight Carts-News” link for the draft standard and other background information. Comments on the draft document are being collected throughout 2002; final publication is expected in early 2003.

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

 

 

Performance Excellence

New Video, CD Feature Latest Baldrige ‘Formulas for Success’

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has released a new set of audiovisual materials showcasing the successful strategies that earned five organizations the 2001 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, including the first three recipients in the education category.

A VHS-format videocassette contains two versions of the Baldrige program, “Quest for Excellence XIII” (short at 13 minutes and long at 51 minutes) that features the 2001 honorees: Clarke American Checks Inc., Pal’s Sudden Service, the Chugach School District, the Pearl River School District and the University of Wisconsin-Stout.

Also included on the videocassette are “A Journey Worth Beginning,” encouraging organizations to apply for the Baldrige Award; “A Uniquely Rewarding Experience,” explaining the role of the examiners who evaluate award applications; and “Take the Journey: A Baldrige Invitation to Small Business,” featuring the CEOs of the small business award recipients discussing how Baldrige helps them improve performance.

A CD-ROM package includes all five video programs, as well as the Baldrige Performance Excellence Criteria for 2002, presentations given by the 2001 award recipients at the Quest for Excellence XIII conference held April 7-10, 2002, and other information.

The audiovisual materials are available from the American Society for Quality, P.O. Box 3066, Milwaukee, Wis. 53201-3066, (800) 248-1946. Item T1203 is the CD-ROM for $35. Item TA998 is the videocassette for $20.

For more information on the Baldrige National Quality Program or the Baldrige Award recipients, call (301) 975-2036, send an e-mail message to nqp@nist.gov, or go to the BNQP Web site at www.quality.nist.gov.

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

 

 

Biometrics

NIST to Evaluate Facial Recognition Software Under Patriot Act

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is spearheading an effort to evaluate automated facial recognition systems that eventually could be used in the identification and verification process for people who apply for visas to visit the United States.

Numerous companies have developed software that uses complex algorithms to do pattern recognition tasks, including facial recognition. Computer scientists in NIST’s Information Technology Laboratory are designing tests that will measure the accuracy and reliability of these software programs in matching facial patterns, using both still and video images.

The testing will be done this summer.

Ultimately, the NIST tests will give government agencies a reasonable expectation of the capabilities and limitations of facial recognition systems. The work is being conducted to meet the requirements of the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001 (also known as the USA Patriot Act) passed in October 2001. Under the act, “the Attorney General and the Secretary of State through NIST, and in consultation with the Department of the Treasury and other Federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies, must develop and implement a standard, including biometrics, to confirm the identity of persons seeking a visa or persons using a visa to enter the United States.” This work is to be completed within two years from the law’s enactment.

NIST computer scientists have extensive experience developing and evaluating image recognition systems. For example, NIST has worked closely with the Federal Bureau of Investigation to guarantee interoperability of automated fingerprint matching systems. While facial recognition systems employ different algorithms than fingerprint systems, much of the underlying technology and the ways to test the accuracy of the systems are the same.

Media Contact:
Philip Bulman, (301) 975-5661

 

 

International

Five More Years of Cooperation for NIST, Egyptian Counterpart

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and Egypt’s National Institute of Standards (NIS) have renewed a productive science and technology agreement that aims to strengthen technical capabilities in both countries and to foster closer economic ties.

Under the existing agreement signed in 1996, NIST and NIS staff members are engaged in sev-eral research collaborations, working on topics ranging from software engineering to flame-retardant materials made with the tools of nanotechnology. One team developed the means to broadcast high-accuracy time and frequency signals from Egypt’s Nilesat satellite. This service is vital to the performance of computer and telecommunication networks as well as other important systems that underpin business and economic performance.

Training, workshops and exchanges of personnel also are carried out under the agreement, which has been extended to 2006. In addition, NIST is assisting Egypt in efforts to broaden its chemical measurement capabilities and services.

Cooperation in measurements, standards and conformity assessment is fundamental to bilateral and international efforts to reduce technical barriers to trade.

The agreement extension was signed on April 22, 2002, by NIST Director Arden Bement and NIS President Safy El Dien Shaalan while they were attending meetings at the International Bureau of Weights and Measures near Paris.

For more information on the NIST-NIS memorandum of understanding, contact Susan Heller-Zeisler, (301) 975-3111.

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