|
[Credits]
[NIST Update
Archives] [Media
Contacts]
[Subscription Information] [NIST Update Search]
Biomedical
Research
Cool
Collaboration Focuses on Cell Membrane Research
A
long-awaited cold wave is coming to a key area of biomedical
researchstudies 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 Garretts 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 companys walk-through metal
detector operations. After a brief tour of Garretts operations,
TMACs 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
actionsprogress 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 agencys 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 energybut 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? NISTs 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 Energys 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 contractswhere private-sector
energy service companies or utilities finance and implement the conservation
project, and the contracting agency repays the debt from the cost
savings achievedare widely used in federal, state and local
governments.
BLCC5 may be downloaded,
free of charge, from the Department of Energys 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 layerthe free layerresponds 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 NISTs Office of Weights and Measures, NIST
Handbook 133: Checking the Net Contents of Packaged GoodsFourth
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 handbooks 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 theyre 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.
Go back to NIST News Page
Editor: Michael E. Newman
Date
created: 2/26/02
Contact: inquiries@nist.gov
|