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Neutron ResearchNCNR research and engineering team stand by the FANS instrument

OSTP Report Praises NIST Neutron Center for World-Class Capabilities

A new report issued by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) finds that neutron probes are becoming increasingly indispensable research tools in fields ranging from biology to materials science, but concludes that only one U.S. facility—the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)’s NIST Center for Neutron Research (NCNR)—provides a broad range of world-class capabilities.

Even with the addition of the Spallation Neutron Source, now being built at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the shortfall in resources for neutron-scattering experiments will not be eliminated. “The number of neutron scattering instruments available in the United States, now and in the future, will be less than half that available in Europe and less than available in Japan,” writes the federal agency working group that prepared the report.

Patrick Gallagher, head of Research Facilities Operations at the NCNR, chaired the working group.

The OSTP report makes four recommendations for improving the number and quality of instruments at US neutron facilities and for broadening access to scientists. It calls for partnership approaches and coordinating mechanisms aimed at “maximizing the overall effectiveness of the nation’s neutron resources.”

Funding and developing a “robust suite of instruments” at the SNS was the working group’s top priority for implementing its recommendations. The report also called for increased support and improvements in the neutron source and instrumentation at the NIST facility, the working group’s second priority.

“The NCNR is the highest performing and most used neutron facility in the United States,” the report says. The number of scientists who use the NCNR has quadrupled over the last decade, an increase accommodated by improvements and upgrades. The report points out that additional support would enable the NCNR to “fully exploit” its capability and increase access to the general user community.

The 71-page Report on the Status and Needs of Major Neutron Scattering Facilities and Instruments in the United States can be downloaded (as a Adobe Acrobat file) from the OSTP Web site at www.ostp.gov/html/neutron.pdf.

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

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Administration

Dow R&D Executive Named to Visiting Committee

National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Director Arden Bement Jr. has named R.M. (Rick) Gross, corporate vice president of research and development for The Dow Chemical Co., to serve on the Visiting Committee on Advanced Technology, the agency’s primary private-sector policy adviser. The new VCAT member—who will serve a three-year term until Jan. 31, 2005—brings the body’s number to 12. The committee can have as many as 15 members.

The VCAT was established by Congress in 1988 to review and make recommendations on NIST’s policies, organization, budget and programs.

Gross first joined Dow in 1974 and held a number of R&D leadership positions in the company until being named R&D director for North American Chemicals and Metals/Hydrocarbons R&D in 1992. He was later global vice president in this area. From 1995 until 1997, he served as vice president of Global Care Technologies R&D and vice president and general manager of Continental Operations. Gross assumed his current responsibilities in 1998, following a year as vice president and director of Michigan Operations and vice president of Core Technologies R&D.

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

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Statistics

New e-Handbook of Statistical Methods Available Online

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and International SEMATECH (ISMT) announce the new NIST/Sematech e-Handbook of Statistical Methods. NIST teamed up with International SEMATECH, a consortium of worldwide major semiconductor companies, to provide this Web-based guide for engineers, scientists, businesses, researchers and teachers who use statistical techniques in their work.

The e-Handbook expands and updates Handbook 91, Experimental Statistics, originally published by NIST in 1963. Engineers and scientists worldwide have relied on the printed version for nearly four decades. The e-Handbook is now available at www.nist.gov/stat.handbook. The e-Handbook will be available on CD later this summer.

The e-Handbook provides a comprehensive overview of statistical methods, including experiment design, data analysis and quality control. It is tailored to the needs of engineers and scientists for rapid understanding and quick solution of statistical problems so that they can get back to their primary work. The approach is problem-oriented and includes detailed case studies from the semiconductor industry and from NIST laboratories to illustrate statistical approaches to solving engineering and scientific problems. The Web site also includes links to integrated software packages.

The e-Handbook will not be published in hardcover. For users who prefer a printed format, many of the files are printer-friendly. The e-Handbook is interactive, with computer graphics and easy search capability for rapid information exploration.

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

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Information Technology

New Interoperability Standard Is Smart for Smart Cards

National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) computer scientists have completed work on a project that establishes the foundation for an interoperable government smart card infrastructure. This project provides a framework for ensuring smooth communication among smart card systems.

Smart cards are credit-card-sized plastic cards with a small embedded computer chip that can process and store information.

In May of 2000, the General Services Administration (GSA) awarded the Smart Common Access ID Card contract for providing smart card products and services. The contract required the development of a means of addressing the lack of smart card interoperability. Products delivered under this contract were to be conformant with the solution. GSA and NIST collaborated with industry and federal agencies, with NIST as the technical lead, on the development efforts for achieving a smart card interoperability architecture.

NIST’s new technical specification, Government Smart Card Interoperability Specification (GSC-IS), v2.0 (NISTIR 6887), makes it possible for current and future manufacturers to test their systems to ensure that they interact properly with other systems. It lays the groundwork for smart cards and card acceptance devices to interoperate in an open environment. The specification also defines an architectural model for interoperable smart card service provider modules, compatible with both file system cards and virtual machine cards. The model allows smart card application developers to obtain various services from the card (such as encryption, authentication and digital signatures).

Current trends indicate that the federal government is increasing smart card use among federal employees because of security features and versatility. For example, a single card could be used as an identification card, to provide access to secure buildings, to securely logon to computer systems, and to make small purchases.

Government Smart Card Interoperability Specification (GSC-IS), v2.0 (NISTIR 6887) may be found at http://smartcard.nist.gov.

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

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Quality

Baldrige, Six Sigma or ISO? Do You Have to Choose One?

The Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence, Six Sigma, and ISO 9001:2000 Registration—all quality performance improvement tools—can be complementary, say many businesses that have received a Baldrige National Quality Award.

“Baldrige gives Ames an overarching set of criteria questions to determine where we are, ISO helps us document what we’re doing, and Six Sigma helps us to implement the processes to correct the problems,” says Tim Marvil, president and CEO of Ames Rubber Corp., a 1993 Baldrige Award recipient.

So, how do these systems differ? While all three are performance improvement tools, each offers a different emphasis in helping organizations improve performance and increase customer
satisfaction:

  • The Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence focus on performance excellence for the entire organization in an overall management framework and identify and track all important organizational results: customer, product/service, financial, human resource and organizational effectiveness.
  • Six Sigma concentrates on measuring product quality and improving process engineering and drives process improvement and cost savings.
  • ISO 9001:2000 Registration concentrates on fixing quality system defects and product/service non-conformities.

A new CEO Issue Sheet, "Baldrige, Six Sigma & ISO: Understanding Your Options," explores all three systems. It is available at www.quality.nist.gov/Issue_Sheet_Options.htm, or by calling the NIST Baldrige National Quality Program at (301) 975-2036.

Other information, including additional CEO issue sheets and the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence, is available at www.quality.nist.gov or by calling the number above.

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

 

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Time and Frequency

New Publication Explains NIST Computer Time Services

Not one, but three computer time services are at your command from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). So, to make certain they are as simple to use as possible, NIST’s Time and Frequency Division recently issued a special publication that provides a complete description of the three services—the Internet Time Service (ITS), the Automated Computer Time Service (ACTS) and the time Web site (www.time.gov).

ITS is the newest and most used of the time services trio with more than 500 million requests per day. It is based on commercial UNIX work-stations whose clocks are synchronized to coordinated universal time (known as UTC) and use periodic dial-up telephone connections to ACTS. ITS is an important part of the nation’s time infrastructure as e-commerce and e-business operations use it to synchronize the clocks that time stamp commercial and financial transactions.

ACTS, built before the advent of the Internet, is used primarily to synchronize clocks in computers and other types of electronic equipment that have access to phone lines but are not connected to the Internet. ACTS provides the time reference for ITS.

The www.time.gov Web site provides the time in any US time zone—accurate within 0.2 seconds—for those who want to manually synchronize devices such as a computer clock, wall clock or wristwatch. This Web site is not capable of automatically synchronizing a computer's clock.

For a copy of NIST Computer Time Services: Internet Time Service (ITS), Automated Computer Time Service (ACTS), and time.gov Web Sites (NIST Special Publication 250-59), contact Judah Levine at (303) 497-3903 or jlevine@boulder.nist.gov.

Media Contact:
Fred McGehan (Boulder), (303) 497-7000

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Editor: Michael E. Newman

Date created: 7/19/2002
Contact: inquiries@nist.gov