R & D articles from March 2004

R & D archives from March 2004

Actions speak louder than plans.(Editorial)(Climate Change Science Program)(Editorial)
March 1, 2004... Last July, the Bush Administration released a 10-year strategic plan for the U.S. Climate Change Science Program (CCSP). A recent report, "Implementing Climate and Global Change Research," documents a National Research Council (NRC) committee...

Blu-ray consortium increases in number.(Lasers & Optics)(Blu-ray Disc Founders )(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Faster computers, sophisticated display technologies, and the need for greater electronic storage capacity, have for all intents and purposes, made BETA and VHS formats virtually obsolete. Their replacements, optical discs, zip discs, and more...

Room temperature super-conductivity?(Bulletin)
March 1, 2004... Although a daunting idea, researchers at the National Institute of Standards & Technology (NIST), Boulder, Colo., and the Univ. of Colorado report that they have made great progress toward reaching room-temperature superconductivity. The team,...

Competition addresses high-risk R&D.(Bulletin)
March 1, 2004... Is this technology worth the risk? Without the financial backing of government programs, industrial R&D continues to be mired by the potential backlash of high-risk research projects. The result--viable but high-risk endeavors being downgraded,...

Building the Molecular Foundry.(Laboratory Design)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Part of the DOE's ambitious Nanoscale Research Program, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Calif., has now begun construction on its new Molecular Foundry facility. The building is one of five DOE research centers around the country that...

Lab start-up support.(Laboratory Equipment)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Fisher Scientific, Hampton, N.H., has unveiled a new version of its Lab Start-Up program. The service aims to provide new labs with a consolidated source for purchasing lab equipment and consumables, with a cost-savings. The program now bundles...

Meeting on mass spec.(Conferences & Events)(Brief Article)(Calendar)
March 1, 2004... Nashville, Tenn., will be host to the American Society for Mass Spectrometry's (ASMS) 52nd annual meeting. The conference, which will run from May 23-27, 2004, will present discussions on a variety of topics including, MS contributions to...

New chamber serves industry.(Vacuum & Thin Films)(Danish Electronics Light and Acoustics organization)(PAP200)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... In late February, SUSS Micro Tech AG, Munich, Germany, delivered the PAP200 to the Danish Electronics Light and Acoustics organization. The device is being touted as the industry's first semiautomatic pressure chamber prober. According to SUSS,...

Pharma R&D stats released.(Pharmaceutical)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... 2003 proved to be a lofty year for new pharmaceuticals. The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America or PhRMA, Washington D.C., estimates that nearly $33.2 billion was invested in pharmaceutical R&D in 2003, up nearly $1 billion...

Philips rolls out flexible e-paper.(Materials)
March 1, 2004... A notebook PC is turned on, and with that thousands of pixels are activated. Behind each pixel, lies a thin-film transistor, regulating the amount of current, making your screen images turn on and off faster. Now, ongoing work by Philips,...

Multiphoton microscopy progresses.(Microscopy)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Veering deep within the body of an unsuspecting sea slug, a research group at Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY, have been able to successfully record the signal activity between a set of neurons. This achievement marks a significant milestone for the...

Scanning organs for genetic failures.(Life Science)
March 1, 2004... Almost a year since the completion of the human genome project, a team of researchers from the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, Cambridge, Mass., have developed a method to effectively scan human tissue for disease markers. The...

Enter the Nanoruler.(Micro/Nano Technology)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Our ever increasing efforts toward smaller electronic devices raises the question on how scientists can pattern this circuitry with such precision, on such scales, and still achieve mass production. The Nanoruler, a device being developed by...

Waters invests heavily into data management.(Analytical Instruments)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... HPLC and MS giant Waters Corp., Milford, Mass., has publicly announced its intent to buy NuGenesis Technologies, Westborough, Mass., in a bid estimated at $43 million. The full merger is expected to be completed within the next few months....

Measuring structural integrity.(Test & Measurement)(Scientists from the University of Rhode Island)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Detection of cracks and strains on a variety of materials from concrete to metals has typically been handled by the use of electronic gauges or load sensors. Scientists from the Univ. of Rhode Island, Kingston, have now created an optical...

Faster computer simulations.(Data Management & Analysis)
March 1, 2004... Complex fluids, which consist of particles of varying sizes, have an array of applications. The feasibility of these applications depends on the understanding of the complex fluids' behavior, which can be gained through computer simulation...

Software identifies associations in massive data.(Data Management & Analysis)(iridcescent)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... A significant part of biomedical research is spent pouring over scientific literature to discover pertinent information that will reveal relevant biomedical associations. Such work typically involves using the National Library of Medicine's...

More mobile tools.(Data Management & Analysis)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... The electronics industry is promoting today's mobile lifestyle by producing an array of portable devices, like notebook PCs and cell phones. Enabling this portability are shrinking transistors that require less space and power. This trend is...

Nanotech sales soar.(Data Management & Analysis)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... The worldwide demand for nanoscale devices, materials, and tools is anticipated to rise at a 30.6% average annual growth rate (AAGR) from $7.6 billion in 2003 to $28.7 billion in 2008. Currently representing more than 97.5% of global...

CFD & wind tunnels reverse roles.(Data Management & Analysis)
March 1, 2004... Wind tunnel testing has been used since the days of the Wright brothers 100 years ago to model airflows around everything from airfoils to stationary buildings and automobiles. The success of these tests led quickly to the development of...

NSF study examines FDI in China.(R&D Asia)(National Science Foundation )(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... A recent study by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), "U.S.-China R&D Linkages (NSF 04-306)" reveals that foreign direct investment (FDI) and R&D-related activity by U.S.-owned companies in China expanded substantially in the 1990s,...

Surge in Japan's academic start-ups.(R&D Asia)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Japan is beginning to see rewards from its aggressive attempts to stimulate the development of start-up ventures from universities. In 2002, the number of academic start-ups doubled for the second straight year. There are now 257 companies...

Lithography shifting.(R&D Asia)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... The $30 billion market for microlithography equipment was led by North America in 2003 with a 28% market share according to Business Communications Co., Inc., Norwalk, Conn. However, this situation was temporarily influenced by the market...

Asian spammers.(R&D Asia)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... China (and Hong Kong) and South Korea together account for more than 12% of all the spam created in the world, according to a recent study by Sophos, Lynnfield, Mass., a world leader in protecting businesses against spam and viruses. While the...

Singapore bio booming.(R&D Asia)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... The biomedical science industry in Singapore grew to $11.3 billion in 2003, a 15.9% increase over 2002 output. Employment in this industry also grew by 3.4% to 7,596 employees. Pharmaceuticals dominated this output with 84% of the total. The...

Careers and goals stay on track, salaries rise: researchers are mostly satisfied with their jobs, careers, and salaries, but the issues that concern them have shifted slightly over the past five years.(Cover Story)
March 1, 2004... Scientists and engineers (S&E) working in R&D facilities are getting paid more than they were a year ago and what they like and dislike about their jobs has stayed pretty much on track with their opinions of four years ago, according to two new...

Gas chromatography strives for better separation: well established in numerous industries, gas chromatography continues to aim for higher separation yields through different instrumental improvements.
March 1, 2004... One of the continuing trends in gas chromatography (GC) is the pursuit of increased separation. Widely used in various areas, ranging from forensics, food analysis and control, to manufactured products, this technique can be easily coupled to a...

Spin factor: a progress report on NMR's role in today's medicine and biotech.
March 1, 2004... The first of its kind officially came onto the scene in 1952. That year, Varian, Palo Alto, Calif., introduced the first commercial nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectrometer, the HR-30. Of course, that was just a few years after physicists...

VisGaAs camera sees RED ... and more: seeing both infrared and visible light creates new opportunities for infrared cameras.
March 1, 2004... Images from nightly news broadcasts are striking; stilted video of gray-green vehicles and soldiers moving stealthily through the desert night, or the sudden bloom of an explosion that whites out the screen as a laser-guided missile finds its...

Homeland security creates radiation specs.(Regulatory Update)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... "It's an Orange Alert Day." "The terror threat level..." "Increased security...." The frequency with which these phrases appear has, for many, become all too commonplace. These thoughts coincide with the latest actions of the U.S. Dept. of...

Medicine 411.(Regulatory Update)(online services for drugs)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... A comprehensive new web site recently launched by the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) aims at alleviating multiple searches for drug information. The site, Drugs@FDA, allows healthcare professionals and consumers to find about more about FDA...

E-mail postage.(Regulatory Update)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... To solve the dilemma brought on by the ever-increasing amount of SPAM in our mailboxes, Microsoft Co-Chairman, Bill Gates, suggests that email should not be free. Under his plan, senders will have to "buy" postage by freeing up 10 seconds of...

Bar code initiative passes.(Regulatory Update)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a final ruling requiring bar codes on the labels of thousands of human drugs and biological products. The measure is aimed to protect the patient from medication errors. Initial estimates show that...

NIH ethics probe underway.(Regulatory Update)(National Institutes of Health)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... The first official meeting of the National Institutes of Health's conflict of interest committee took place earlier this month. The panel, co-chaired by Bruce Alberts, President of the National Academy of Sciences, and Norman Augustine,...

Determining protein structure.(Academic)
March 1, 2004... The determination of a protein's 3-D structure by x-ray crystallography is hindered by the need to crystallize the protein. This stems from many proteins' inability to naturally form a compact state in solution, making them highly resistant to...

Predicting spread of disease.(Academic)(Oregon State University)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... The spread of a disease can now be better controlled due to an alliance between researchers at Oregon State Univ., Corvallis, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The partnership has resulted in a system that mathematically...

Alternative hydrogen storage.(Academic)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... The use of hydrogen fuel may become more widespread thanks to a storage technique created by scientists at the Univ. of Chicago, III. Of the three compounds created in a diamond-anvil cell, the hydrogen and water experiments yielded the best...

Real-time virus detection.(Academic)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... A tiny tool that could change homeland security and environmental health monitoring has been invented by researchers at Purdue Univ., West Lafayette, Ind. Sensitive enough to detect a single virus particle in realtime, the device is a 1...

Quantum dots localize biopsies.(Industrial)
March 1, 2004... Sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsy is a critical first step performed by doctors to determine if a cancer has metastasized. Used primarily for cancers near the skin surface, like breast cancer, SLN mapping identifies the presence of cancer in a...

Prolonging battery's life.(Industrial)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... The power consumed by mobile devices can be reduced with novel ambient light photo sensors. Developed by Agilent Technologies, Palo Alto, Calif., the sensors get rid of unnecessary backlighting, which occurs about 60% of the time, decreasing...

Pocket-fitting PCs.(Industrial)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Imagine a computer so small, it fits into your shirt pocket! Measuring 12.4 cm x 8.6 cm x 2.3 cm and weighing only 397 g, the ultra personal computer (uPC) by OQO, Inc., San Francisco, Calif., functions as a complete XP wireless portable...

Managing software IP risk.(Industrial)(Black Duck Software Inc)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Difficulties encountered by software development organizations in identifying and verifying open source within their proprietary code stand to be eliminated. The Black Duck Enterprise Edition for automated software intellectual property (IP)...

Physiology boosts performance.(Eureka)
March 1, 2004... The use of existing monitoring devices and interfacing them through a PC could soon translate into entire systems that can alert people. In a meeting, it can warn individuals to be attentive when someone in the group has something meaningful to...

Biometrics facilitates living.(Eureka)(Japanese condominium facility )(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... A finger blood vessel pattern authentication system that joins access control with payment authentication will make its debut in a Japanese condominium facility in March 2005. Launched by JCB Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan, the new system eliminates...

Mobile satellite reception.(Eureka)(motia)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... As more cars and trucks hit the roads, people are increasingly relying on multimedia systems in their vehicles. Responding to that trend is Motia, Stamford, Conn., with its Cross Country reference design, which uses smart antenna technology, to...

Robots replace scientists.(Eureka)(university of wales)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Experimental science may soon feel the effect of artificial intelligence thanks to a "robot scientist" created at the Univ. of Wales, Aberystwyth. Capable of producing and testing biochemistry hypotheses, the robot designs then performs...

Hellma Immersion Probes.(Manufacturers' Showcase)(Fiber Optic Immersion Probes )(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... HELLMA USA offers a variety of Fiber Optic Immersion Probes for dissolution analysis, process control, and low temperatures. Removable tip designs or fixed paths are available with different diameter measuring heads. Hellma probes are unique in...

New manual pellet presses.(Manufacturers' Showcase)(40- and 50-ton versions)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... CARVER, Inc. has expanded its offering of manual pellet presses with the introduction of 40- and 50-ton versions. These presses are used to produce pellet samples from compactable homogenous powder. The manual line of presses offers the...

Award-winning spectroscopy software.(Manufacturers' Showcase)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Bio-Rad offers you the best in spectral data, database building, management, search, analysis, prediction, and reporting. This software has received the Scientific Computing & Instrumentation Reader's Choice Award for Spectroscopy Software...

ASTM standards at your desktop.(Manufacturers' Showcase)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... ASTM Standards Source provides users instant desktop access to ASTM International's 12,000+ standards for metals, petroleum, plastics, construction, the environment, and more. Choose CD-ROM or online access and have all the ASTM standards at...

Miniature low mass lab accelerometers.(Manufacturers' Showcase)(Model ACC104A laboratory accel-erometer )(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Model ACC104A laboratory accel-erometer from OMEGA ENGINEERING, INC., is ideal for use where accurate structural testing is required. It is small and recommended for applications where low accelerometer weight is critical. It has a 10mV/g...

Preserving scientific data.(Manufacturers' Showcase)(NuGenesis Scientific Data Management System)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... The NuGenesis Scientific Data Management System (SDMS) is a Web-based platform for preservation and management of scientific data, integrating the collaborative flow of information through existing applications and IT infrastructure. We provide...

MINITAB Release 14 is here.(Manufacturers' Showcase)(Brief Article)(Advertisement)
March 1, 2004... MINITAB Release 14 is a powerful statistical software package designed for quality professionals. Its visually engaging graphs and easy-to-use collection of methods--including Basic and Advanced Statistics, Regression and ANOVA, Reliability,...

2004 Optics catalog.(Manufacturers' Showcase)(Brief Article)(Advertisement)
March 1, 2004... Edmund Optics' new January 2004 catalog contains over 10,000 products, including over 300 new products ranging from UV-and-NIR corrected achromats to proximity sensor equipment to new EO designed and manufactured telecentric lenses. Choose from...

New Karl Fischer titrators.(New Products)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... CSC Scientific Co., Inc., and Kyoto Electronics Manufacturing introduce two new Karl Fischer moisture titrators--the MKC-610, coulometric, and the MKA-610, volumetric titrators, both featuring a touch panel method with a color LCD display. The...

Thermoplastic pressure gauges.(New Products)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... New Swagelok industrial process thermoplastic pressure gauges monitor vacuum and positive system pressures up to 100,000 kPa in the chemical, petro-chemical, oil and gas, power, pulp and paper, and other general industries. Featuring 115 and...

New rotatable filter wheel.(New Products)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Edmund Industrial Optics has introduced a rotatable filter wheel that can hold up to six 25mm filters. Users can quickly and accurately switch between the six. The thin, lightweight assembly has detents in 30[degrees] increments, allowing users...

Space-saving 400FD/A pump.(New Products)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Designed specifically for sample prep, the 400 FD/A pump from Watson-Marlow Bredel is ideal for automated laboratory applications, including dispensing and collecting samples and reagents. The pump can be placed anywhere on an instrument, thus...

Web portal provides calibration records.(New Products)
March 1, 2004... METTLER-TOLEDO, Inc. has introduced DataX, a Web-based service to Direct Laboratory Service customers offering 24/7 access to their calibration records, certificates, service history, and other instrument asset data. The new subscription...

Display measurement system.(New Products)
March 1, 2004... Optronic Laboratories' OL 770-DMS, comprised of the OL 770 high-speed test and measurement system and the new OL 610 CCD imaging telescope, renders accurate color, luminance, and spectral information instantly. On-screen real-time video shows...

Improved microscopy dynamics.(New Products)
March 1, 2004... Melles Griot premieres a series of diode pumped solid-state (DPSS) lasers operating at 561 nm. The 85 YCA series produces single-frequency output with less than 3% peak to peak noise. These lasers are particularly suited for confocal laser...

Latest temperature cycling tester.(New Products)
March 1, 2004... FTS Systems has introduced its newest ThermoJet Precision Temperature Cycling Tester fur products, electronic components, and devices under test. This new generation temperature forcing system can maintain -80[degrees]C at 20 SCFM airflow and...

Evaporation, concentration & parallel synthesis.(New Products)
March 1, 2004... Genevac introduced its latest products for solvent evaporation, concentration, and parallel synthesis at PITTCON 2004--including a range of new facilities for its EZ-2 Personal Evaporator system. A new concentration mode enables the system to...

Electronic FlowHood.(New Products)
March 1, 2004... The Electronic FIowHood from Shortridge Instruments gives direct digital readout of air flow with automatic correction for local air density and back pressure. Reads 20 to 2,500 cfm supply or exhaust, in cfm or 1/sec. Shortridge...

Deep clearance clamps.(New Products)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Steritool's new deep-clearance locking clamps, made entirely of 304 stainless steel, are available in two sizes with an overall length of 101/2" with a 21/2" reach. Model #10026 has 3-3/8" of vertical clearance and model #10027 has 1". For...

UV enhanced quad positioning.(New Products)
March 1, 2004... Phresh Photonics has released a complete quadrant photodiode-based positioning system, p/n SiQu9UV-M, that combines a Silicon Quadrant Photodiode with amplifiers and position sensing circuitry in a practical 2" x 1.25" housing. With excellent...

Ultrasonic liquid processing booklet.(New Products)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Sonics is offering a booklet on ultrasonic liquid processing that contains valuable information on the theory of the technology, instrument selection criteria, and answers to the most-asked questions about ultrasonic processing. These...

Preserving scientific data.(New Products)
March 1, 2004... The NuGenesis Scientific Data Management System is a Web-based platform lot preserving and managing scientific data, and integrating the flow of information through existing applications and IT infrastructure. We provide leading companies with...