November 12, 2002

In This Issue:
	NIST Device Helps Industry Reach 'Weathering' Heights
	New NIST Tool Helps Small Businesses Protect IT Systems
	Using Mitochondrial DNA as a Cancer Biomarker
	On the PATH to Improved Durability, Lower Maintenance Costs
	New NIST Guidelines to Help Protect Against Cyberattacks
	NIST Testing Helps Ensure Accurate Lasers for Surgery, Chips

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Building Research

NIST Device Helps Industry Reach ‘Weathering’ Heights

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), along with some of NIST’s industry and government partners, cut the ribbon last week on a revolutionary device to determine accurately and quickly the damage to polymer coatings, materials and structures exposed to the sun’s ultraviolet (UV) rays, temperature and humidity. The new device, called the NIST SPHERE (Simulated Photodegradation by High Energy Radiant Exposure) will help speed the introduction of new products into the market and reduce building repair costs.

To measure weathering, manufacturers currently either set their product in the sun and watch what happens—often over many years—or use an indoor weathering chamber. While laboratory testing is quicker, no one has been able to link field and laboratory exposure results, and neither approach is very repeatable or reproducible.

The NIST SPHERE, which can accommodate more than 500 samples, distributes UV radiation uniformly into as many as 32 specimen chambers with independently and precisely controlled temperature and humidity, ensuring repeatability and reproducibility of test results. The device accelerates weathering by generating controlled temperature, humidity and UV exposure environments up to 50 times faster than outdoor weathering. Materials exposed to the SPHERE’s UV light for one day receive the equivalent of 50 days of sunlight.

The NIST SPHERE is the centerpiece of NIST’s Service Life Prediction program to develop repeatable and reproducible methods for predicting the performance of construction materials. For further information, see http://slp.nist.gov/coatings/cslpmain.html

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

 

Information Technology

New NIST Tool Helps Small Businesses Protect IT Systems

Protecting electronic information and data is vital to the success of any company. But, small businesses are especially vulnerable because they often do not have the staff or resources to constantly monitor their information technology systems.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) e-Scan Security Assessment is an online diagnostic tool that can assist small businesses in determining how well their company’s information technology systems are protected against failure or intrusion. The e-Scan tool also will provide recommendations to correct security problems. The tool is available free-of-charge at http://escan.nist.gov/sat/index.nist.

The easy-to-use tool asks a series of questions in 11 critical security areas, including computer virus protection, computer system physical environment, potential computer system mechanical failures, back-up policies and procedures, and IT contingency planning. Once the assessment is completed, the tool provides a report that specifies how well a business scores in all 11 of the areas and provides suggested improvements.

For more information on the e-Scan tool, contact Rick Korchak, (301) 975-8323, richard.korchak@nist.gov.

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

 

Biotechnology

Using Mitochondrial DNA as a Cancer Biomarker

As part of a national effort to identify biomarkers for early detection of cancer, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is developing safer, faster and more efficient methods for sequencing the DNA from mitochondria, the tiny energy factories of cells.

Mutations within the DNA of mitochondria—a circular strand containing more than 16,000 nucleotide base pairs—have been implicated in a variety of cancers. In one small study by Johns Hopkins University, for example, such mutations were found in lung cancer cells but not the normal cells of the same patients. NIST researchers are working to validate the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequence measurement technology and increase the speed of the sequencing protocol, which, in turn, could yield improved methods for use in clinical applications.

A major advance involves the use of a state-of-the-art robotics workstation to automate what is usually a manual process for sequencing mtDNA—determining the exact order that the DNA’s four component chemicals are linked together within the strand. The team also is using fluorescent tags for the analysis, a safety advantage over the typical radioactive materials.

The researchers’ goal is to obtain entire sequences from as little as about 200 nanograms of DNA, about 10 times less volume than other labs use. Once the overall process is perfected, NIST scientists will use it to sequence mtDNA collected by Johns Hopkins from 200 people, some with lung cancer and some without. Any systematic differences between the two group’s results potentially could serve as a biomarker for lung cancer.
NIST’s primary role in the National Cancer Institute’s Early Detection Research Network is to validate findings, standardize methods and advise other research and clinical institutions on technology. In the mitochondria project, NIST researchers are developing a standard process so that validated biomarkers can be used reliably by other laboratories to detect cancer in asymptomatic patients, make a diagnosis once symptoms appear, or monitor cancer patients for recurrence or individuals known to be at high risk.

For more information, contact Peter Barker, (301) 975-5402, peter.barker@nist.gov; or Catherine O’Connell,
(301) 975-3123, catherine.oconnell@nist.gov.

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

 

 

Housing

On the PATH to Improved Durability, Lower Maintenance Costs

Durable, low-maintenance housing is important not only to homeowners and homebuilders but also to our nation’s economy and competitiveness. The Partnership for Advancing Technology in Housing (PATH) program, a public/private partnership administered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), was created to improve the performance of new and existing homes by developing and disseminating new technology. One of the ways that PATH is making this happen is by measuring the current performance of housing and building elements to gauge improvements from future
technology.

To help achieve this objective, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), a PATH partner, has developed a detailed set of baseline data that can be used to measure progress toward improving housing durability. A new NIST report, Baseline Measures for Improving Housing Durability (NIST Interagency Report 6870), compiles data on the service life of selected building elements, including roofing, windows and plumbing; durability-related costs, including major replacements, maintenance and repair, and alterations; and energy expenditures. This study is part of a broader NIST project to develop service life prediction tools, evaluation methods, decision support software and other tools to help PATH meet its goals.

For a copy of NISTIR 6870, contact J’aime Maynard at (301) 975-6132. An electronic copy is available at www.bfrl.nist.gov/oae/publications/nistirs/6870.pdf. For more information on NIST’s role in PATH, see www.pathnet.org/active/standard.html.

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

 

 

Computer Security

New NIST Guidelines to Help Protect Against Cyberattacks

Federal agencies soon will have a systematic way to evaluate their computer security as a result of draft guidelines produced by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Once final, the guidelines will help federal agencies to protect their computer systems from the threat of cyberattacks.

The new guidelines detail, for the first time, a systematic way to assess the security level of entire computer systems, including extensive computer networks. The federal government already has computer security standards for many individual components of information technology systems.

Public comment on the draft guidelines will be accepted by NIST for three months before revising the guidelines for final issuance.

The guidelines create consistent, comparable evaluations of computer systems by detailing a standard process for agencies to use. They include a hierarchy to organize security controls for confidentiality, data integrity and availability.

While NIST developed the guidelines for federal agencies, the private sector and the military can adapt them easily for use. NIST encourages private-sector organizations involved in critical infrastructure activities to consider using the guidelines.

In the spring of 2003, NIST plans to hold an exploratory workshop to study the needs of federal agencies for and the feasibility of developing a voluntary testing regime to assess the technical competence of third parties in conducting the detailed computer security reviews covered in the report.

Agencies can use the guidelines to comply with computer security requirements designed to ensure an adequate level of protection for each system, including those specified by Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-130.

The NIST report, Guidelines for the Security Certification and Accreditation of Federal Information Technology Systems, is available online through NIST’s Computer Security Resource Center at http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/drafts.html. Addresses for submitting comments on the guideline sections may be found on the same Web page.

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