NIST Update Blue/Yellow Banner NIST logo--go to NIST home page Search NIST web space go to NIST home page go to A-Z subject index Contact NIST [skip navigation]
""

[Credits] [NIST Update Archives] [Media Contacts]
[Subscription Information]
[NIST Update Search]

Yellow Horizontal Divider

Facilities

More Cold Neutrons on Tap at Upgraded NIST Center

Following a six-month shutdown, the NIST Center for Neutron Research (NCNR) is back in business, featuring improvements that will benefit studies by the more than 1,700 scientists who use the national facility annually. The top facility of its kind in the country, the NCNR has successfully developed advanced cooling technology that nearly doubles the number of very-long-wavelength neutrons available for experiments on objects such as fuel cells, cell membranes, superconductors and nanotubes.

In all, 21 sophisticated instruments use the center’s neutron beams for studies that may run non-stop, 24 hours a day. In most, the immediate interest is how the electrically neutral particles—liberated from the nuclei of atoms—interact with samples. By tracking neutrons that scatter after hitting samples, researchers discern positions of individual atoms. They also learn about the dynamics of atoms and molecules and the details of chemical reactions. Such information can elude other types of probes.

The almost-doubled intensity of cold neutron beams is especially good news for researchers who study very large molecules, such as cell membrane proteins and nano materials. The new cold source optimizes the process for chilling neutrons, increasing the supply and probing power of the beams.

Last year, experiments conducted at the NCNR involved researchers representing more than 100 U.S. universities, 50 US industrial laboratories, and over 30 government laboratories. Since 1990, the number of researchers who use the NIST center has nearly quadrupled.

The President’s fiscal year 2003 budget request includes a $6 million initiative to fund further expansion of the NCNR.

For more information on the NCNR, contact Hank Prask, (301) 975-6226, hprask@nist.gov. To learn about a newly begun project to build the nation’s first neutron research station dedicated to cell biology, go to www.nist.gov/public_affairs/releases/n02-02.htm and www.nist.gov/public_affairs/releases/neutrons.htm.

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

[Back to Top]

 

Yellow Horizontal Divider

Building Research

Shopping Mall Burn Examines Structural Vibrations

Death and injury from collapsing walls or falling roofs are occupational hazards for firefighters and rescue workers. Vibration sensors that give early warning to building collapse could cut such risks significantly. Fire engineers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and NIST-grantee Harvey Mudd College (Claremont, Calif.) tested the ability of highly sensitive motion detectors to detect pre-collapse building vibrations from May 8-10, 2002, at an abandoned shopping mall in Woodbridge, Va. The controlled fire tests examined the vibration characteristics of lightweight steel frame building construction, during fires large enough to cause collapse of steel deck roofs.

Previously, NIST and Harvey Mudd researchers used the sensors to secure data on pre-collapse structural vibrations in two burn tests: a wood-frame house in Kinston, S.C., and a wood-frame warehouse in Phoenix, Ariz. All three NIST structural collapse experiments were part of a two-year series sponsored by the United States Fire Administration.

The researchers hope to develop a methodology for interpreting the vibration data. A warning device that uses such technology could be attached to burning buildings or incorporated into building safety systems like smoke detectors.

For technical information, contact Dave Evans, (301) 975-6897, dave.evans@nist.gov.

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

[Back to Top]

 

Yellow Horizontal Divider

Computer Security

NIST Guides Help Defend Against Cyberattacks

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is publishing a wide variety of computer security guides this year to provide the federal government with the latest information on fending off cyber-attacks.

Computer scientists in NIST’s Information Technology Laboratory are charged with providing technical advice to other federal agencies under the Computer Security Act of 1987. To meet this mission, NIST’s computer security guides address the information needs of systems administrators and other IT professionals. The published guidance covers topics ranging from how to protect a public Web site from computer hackers to steps agencies can take to make electronic mail systems more secure.

While the NIST computer security guides are intended primarily for federal agencies, the information also can be beneficial to private-sector and non-federal businesses and organizations.

The guides are available for downloading from NIST’s Computer Security Resource Center (CSRC) at http://csrc.nist.gov/publications; click on “Special Publications” for published guides and “Drafts” for pending guides. In addition, the CSRC Web site (http://csrc.nist.gov) provides access to a wealth of information, tools, programs and services in the areas of 1) security policies, standards and guidelines; 2) security validated products; 3) training and education; and 4) collaborative work and services.

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

 [Back to Top]

 

Yellow Horizontal Divider

Time and Frequency

From A(mbiguity) to Z(ulu): New T&F Glossary Makes It All Clear

The next time you stumble on a word in the time and frequency category, click on NIST’s new online glossary for this subject (tf.nist.gov/timefreq/general/glossary.htm) for help. The new Web page provides a collection of terms commonly used in the time and frequency literature with their technically correct, easily understood explanations.

Readers new to the field of time and frequency will find this glossary useful when reading papers found in the NIST Time and Frequency Publications Database.

Out of the more than 1,500 time and frequency publications written by NIST personnel dating back to 1949, approximately 600 publications are already available online. Additional publications, both old and new, will be posted on the Web in the coming months. As the publications site grows, the time and frequency glossary will evolve at the same time to make sure it remains a useful educational and scientific resource.

Media Contact:
Fred McGehan (Boulder), (303) 497-3246

 [Back to Top]

 

Yellow Horizontal Divider

Awards

Five from NIST Honored for Outstanding Government Service

Five NIST employees are among 12 men and women selected to receive the 2001 Arthur S. Flemming Award. The award, first presented in 1948, honors federal employees with three to 15 years of public service who have made extraordinary contributions to the federal government.

Flemming Awards are given in three categories: administrative, applied science and science. There are NIST honorees in each group. In the administrative category, the award goes to Kathleen M. Higgins, chief, Office of Law Enforcement Standards, Electronics and Electrical Engineering Laboratory. In the applied science category, the award goes to Leonard M. Hanssen, physicist, Optical Technology Division, Physics Laboratory; and Stanley R. Snouffer, mathematician, Computer Security Division, Information Technology Laboratory. In the science category, the award goes to two physicists in the Atomic Physics Division, Physics Laboratory: John H. Burnett and Steven L. Rolston.

The Flemming Awards will be presented at a June 11, 2002, ceremony in Washington, D.C.

Media Contact:
Michael E. Newman, (301) 975-3025

 [Back to Top]

 

Yellow Horizontal Divider

Fire Research

NIST CD Captures Lessons of Fatal Iowa Blaze

Firefighters have a new training tool in a recently released CD from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) that makes dramatic use of graphics, video, audio and computer simulation technologies to recreate an Iowa house fire that claimed the lives of three children and three firefighters.

The CD and accompanying report, “Simulation of the Dynamics of a Fire in a Two-story Duplex -Iowa, December 22, 1999” (NISTIR 6854), illustrate how a smoldering kitchen fire suddenly can reach flashover (the condition in which deadly fire simultaneously ignites and consumes all objects in a room); send thermal gases at greater than 660 degrees Celsius (1,100 degrees Fahrenheit) into a dining room and living room; and shoot deadly flames and gases up a stairway to the second floor—all within 60 seconds. The CD uses NIST’s Fire Dynamics Simulator program, which numerically models the movement of smoke and hot gases caused by fire, and Smokeview, which permits visualization of the data, to provide insight into fire development and thermal conditions in the residence.

In addition to providing the timeline, floor plan, post-fire photographs and model results (both still and animated), the CD offers a video and audio presentation on the fire and investigation. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) sponsored the NIST study and the CD. The CD contains printable versions of both the NIST and NIOSH reports on the incident.

Requests for the CD should be sent to Dan Madrzykowski, fax: (301) 975-4647, daniel.madrzykowski@nist.gov.

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

 [Back to Top]

 

Yellow Horizontal Divider

 

 

Magnetic Technology

New Microwave Measurement Method Aids Semiconductor Industry

The semiconductor industry needs accurate measurements of microwave fields near digital integrated circuits. Traditional technology requires that probes be in contact with the circuits, interfering with circuit operations and making the measurements costly to perform. High-resolution, non-invasive measurements of high-frequency signals exceeding 20 gigahertz are critical to the development of microwave circuits and high-frequency, silicon-based technologies.

To solve this problem, NIST scientists in the Magnetic Technology Division have developed a micromachined, bi-material cantilever with a thin-film ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) sensor to probe microwave fields near digital integrated circuits. A magnetic alloy film deposited at the tip of the cantilever serves as the probe. Power absorption at the tip results in a proportional bending of the cantilever due to heating; the deflection of the cantilever is measured with an optical lever. The small dimensions of the probe (20 micrometers by 20 micrometers by 0.05 micrometer) permit measurements of microwave fields near devices with 20-micrometer spatial resolution.

Since the absorbed power is proportional to the local microwave intensity, the sensor can be used as a quantitative, microscopic, scanning microwave power meter. With this new technique, the semiconductor industry can now make integrated circuit tests at tens of gigahertz without the need for contacts.

For more information, contact John Moreland, (303) 497-3641, moreland@boulder.nist.gov.

Media Contact:
Fred McGehan (Boulder), (303) 497-3246

 [Back to Top]

 

Yellow Horizontal Divider

 

 

Go back to NIST News Page

Editor: Michael E. Newman

Date created: 5/13/2002
Contact: inquiries@nist.gov