Media
Contact:
Michael
E. Newman, (301) 975-3025
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Grants
Funds for Innovative
IT Infrastructure Protection Technologies Available
In
the Apr. 13, 2001, Federal Register, NIST announced the availability
of funds for the new Critical Infrastructure Protection Grants Program.
The objective of the CIPGP is improvement of the robustness, resilience
and security of information in all the critical infrastructures. This
will be accomplished by funding research leading to commercial solutions
to those IT security problems central to critical infrastructure protection
that are not being adequately addressed. A secondary objective of
the CIPGP is to cultivate a security-capable and security-conscious
community. The issuance of all awards under this program is subject
to the availability of funds.
Research proposed
for the CIPGP should result in proof-of-concept hardware and/or software
demonstrating integrated concepts and approaches that apply to large-scale
real or virtual networks. Integrated solution sets embodying significant
technological advances are strongly encouraged over narrowly defined
research endeavors. Proposals should clearly explain what commercial
or government entities are likely to utilize the solution and how
this proposal contributes to that utilization. Applicants must have
a proactive technology transition plan to facilitate the
necessary technology transfer to the appropriate organizations. Proposals
involving cooperation among multiple parties, including academic and
commercial groups, are encouraged.
For more details,
see the Federal Register, Apr. 13, 2001, pages 19139-19142,
which can be reached via www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/aces/aces140.html.
Proposals (one signed original and two copies) must be sent by 4 p.m.
EDT, June 15, 2001, to Kim Morgan, NIST, 100 Bureau Drive, Stop 8901,
Gaithersburg, Md. 20899-8901; electronic submissions are not acceptable.
Questions may be directed to kimberly.morgan@nist.gov.
Media
Contact:
Michael
E. Newman, (301) 975-3025
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Quality
'Baldrige Index'
Once Again Outperforms S&P 500
Since
1995, NIST has compared a group of winners of the Malcolm
Baldrige National Quality Award to the Standard & Poors
500. Known as the Baldrige Index, this group consistently
has outperformed the S&P 500. In the most
recent study, the Baldrige Index beat the S&P 500 by 4.4 to
1.
The Baldrige
Index is a fictitious stock fund made up of publicly-traded U.S. companies
that received the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award between
1990 and 1999. In the 2000 study, NIST invested a hypothetical
$1,000 in each of the whole company winnersADAC Laboratories
(1996 winner), Eastman Chemical Company (1993 winner), Federal Express
Corp. (1990 winner), and Solectron Corp. (a winner in 19391 and 1997).
Another
hypothetical $1,000 was invested in the S&P 500 for the same time
period.
The investments
were tracked from the first business day of the month following the
announcement of award recipients through Dec. 1, 2000. Adjustments
were made for stock splits.
Receiving a Baldrige
Award, or any award, is not a guarantee of success. But, organizations
that receive the Baldrige show continuous and major improvements across
the board. Other studies also have found that organizations receiving
quality awards show long-lasting improvements.
The 2001 Baldrige
Index study is available on the World Wide Web at www.nist.gov/public_affairs/releases/stockstudy.htm
or by faxing a request to (301) 926-1630.
Media
Contact:
Jan
Kosko, (301) 975-2767
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Standards
NIST Takes Over
as MPEG Web Site Host
NIST
is now hosting the World Wide Web site for the Moving Picture Experts
Group (known as MPEG), which develops the most widely used international
standards for multimedia, video, music and audio.
The MPEG site
had been hosted by IBM Corp. for five years. It includes working group
documents, contributions from industry, experimental information and
software. This allows people involved in the standards development
process to upload and share information.
Plans for the
NIST MPEG Web site include a search and retrieve capability for the
online document archive, an automated document upload and registry
process, virus checking on incoming files and the ability to track
membership and ad-hoc groups.
MPEG is the working
group of the International Organization for Standardization (known
as ISO) and International Electrotechnical Commission that develops
standards for coded representation of digital audio and video. Established
in 1988, the group has produced MPEG-1, the basis for MP3; MPEG-2,
the basis for DVD; and MPEG-4, a multimedia standard. The MPEG Committee
received an Emmy Award from the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences
in 1998 for its work on MPEG-1 and MPEG-2.
The current focus
is on MPEG-7, the Multimedia Content Description Interface,
which will be completed this year. This version of MPEG will allow
the full search and retrieval of multimedia objects using its standardized
description language based on XML.
The MPEG site,
which is only open to technical experts and requires a password for
entry, is at http://mpeg.nist.gov.
Information on how to obtain a user name and password is available
by sending an e-mail to mpeg@nist.gov.
A public Web site with background information about MPEG is at www.cselt.it/mpeg.
Media
Contact:
Philp
Bulman, (301) 975-5661
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Materials
June Workshop
Examines Draft Language for Materials Data Exchange
At
a workshop
scheduled for June 26-27, 2001, an international working group of
materials scientists and engineers will present the draft of new softwareMaterials
Markup Language, or MatMLdesigned to facilitate the exchange
of data on materials and their properties over the Internet. Representing
industry, national laboratories, universities and standards and professional
organizations, the working group will seek input from participants
on the technical aspects and strategic direction of MatML.
Addressing the
problems of data interpretation and interoperability among different
computer systems, MatML will provide a standard format for exchanging
materials property data on the World Wide Web, enabling researchers
to understand and use data from various sources. Based on the eXtensible
Markup Language (known as XML), MatML provides a scheme
for describing data with consistent tags, which will lead to the transfer
of materials data directly into other computer applications, such
as modeling, simulation or databases, without the need for human intervention.
The workshop
will be held at NISTs Gaithersburg, Md., headquarters. NIST
has been coordinating the MatML development effort for the past 18
months.
To register for
the workshop, go to www.nist.gov/public_affairs/confpage/010626b.htm.
For more information about the MatML software development effort,
contact Ed Begley,
(301) 975-6118.