R & D articles from May 2003

R & D archives from May 2003

The golden age of instrumentation at risk. (Editorial).
May 1, 2003... A recent report by the US National Science Foundation (Science and Engineerlng Infrastructure for the 21 st Century--The Role of the National Science Foundation) recommends that the share of its budget devoted to science and engineering...

The corporate culture and customer-inspired innovation. (Innovation Insider).
May 1, 2003... For most high-tech companies, innovation is their lifeblood. Without innovation, the company does not survive. And with the rapid pace of technology, yesterday's innovations do not pay today's bills. So, successful high-tech companies not only...

More cost-effective displays. (Materials).
May 1, 2003... Organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) may soon enter a new realm thanks to researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta. Marcus Weck and Amy Meyers were able to chemically attach a solid-state fluorescent material to a universal...

PerkinElmer receives honor. (Analytical Instruments).
May 1, 2003... Industry research firm Frost & Sullivan, San Antonio, Texas, has named PerkinElmer, Wellesley, Mass., the 2003 Analytical Instrumentation Company of the Year. At an awards banquest held in San Diego, Calif., Frost & Sullivan cited...

Future goals set for natural gas. (Bulletin).
May 1, 2003... Several energy-related organizations announced the publication of a planning tool aimed at ensuring a continued strong role for natural gas in fueling America's industrial sector. The Gas Technology Institute (GTI), the American Gas...

Quantum dot production begins. (Laboratory Design).
May 1, 2003... Though the economy is still somewhat sluggish, there have been some promising signs of growth and opportunity. Evident Technologies, Inc., Troy, N.Y., has launched production in its new nanotechnology manufacturing facility in Watervliet, N.Y....

Drug discovery technology 2003. (Upcoming Conferences & Events).
May 1, 2003... Drug Discovery Technology 2003 will be held August 10-15 at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston. DDT 2003 has been specifically designed to provide comprehensive coverage of the four key drivers of successful drug discovery: *...

Smaller spaces for assays. (Laboratory Equipment).
May 1, 2003... Hopkinton, Mass.-based Zymark Corp., has released the Staccato Cell Station-Assay, a workstation for automating cell-based assays that is about half the Size of other available systems. The design of the workstation requires only 1.4...

Flow-Thru biochips system launched. (Life Science).
May 1, 2003... Infineon Technologies, Munich, Germany and MetriGenix, Gaithersburg, Md., have introduced Flow-Thru biochips and a matching complete bio-analysis system. Unlike bio-chips now on the market, the Flow-Thru Chip (FTC) technology in the new...

Smaller, thinner solar cells. (Lasers & Optics).
May 1, 2003... Though gas and electricity still reign as the primary sources of power, solar cells are making strides in becoming a viable and practical solution. Researchers at the Hahn Meitner Institute, Berlin, Germany, have created a new type of ultra...

Light-powered MEMs motor. (Micro/Nano Technology).
May 1, 2003... A team from the Univ. of Chicago has successfully measured the angular momentum of light rings, which may lead scientists to harness that flux to power MEMs motors. "One of the sticking points for these systems is the need for a motor," says...

Substrate may lead to advanced LEDs. (Microscopy).
May 1, 2003... Scientists at the Dept. of Energy's Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, N.M., have developed a novel process of growing gallium nitride on an etched sapphire substrate, called cantilever epitaxy. This new approach may allow for brighter,...

Fearful citizens lured to SARS sites. (Pharmaceutical).
May 1, 2003... The newest acronym to be added to our vocabularies has been SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome). Although the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Atlanta, just recently completed its analysis of the disease, money-hungry...

NIST and HP reach moletronic milestone. (Test & Measurement).
May 1, 2003... Although the field is relatively young, molecular electronic (moletronic) devices are coming into their own. Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Gaithersburg, Md., and Hewlett-Packard (HP) Labs, Palo Alto,...

Meson lab breathes life, again. (Vacuum & Thin Films).
May 1, 2003... A prominent and burgeoning site of activity, the Meson Lab at the Dept. of Energy's Fermilab, Batavia, Ill., was once the site of 800-Gev beams and massive superconducting magnets. It too, along with countless other research labs, underwent...

IBM, CERN join to create a data-intensive management system. (Data Management & Analysis).
May 1, 2003... IBM, White Plains, N.Y., has agreed to collaborate with the European Organization for Nuclear Research's (CERN), Geneva, Switzerland, openlab for a DataGrid project. The aim is to develop a vast data-management system based on Grid computing to...

E-mail technique reveals company's structure and leaders. (Data Management & Analysis).
May 1, 2003... A methodology that examines email logs to identify collaborations and leaders not part of any formal organizational structure has been developed by researchers at Hewlett-Packard's (HP) Information Dynamics Lab, Palo Alto, Calif. Using a...

Robotic industry recovery.
May 1, 2003... Composed of both whole robots and robot parts, the global robotics market is predicted to reach $16 billion by 2007 as it expands at an average annual growth rate of 14.7%. In addition, PC-based software and safety devices that render automated...

Rising sensors revenues.
May 1, 2003... Growing at a compound annual growth rate of 11.5%, revenues for next-generation biological and chemical sensors will grow from $2.3 billion in 2002 to almost $4 billion in 2007. The increase in both revenues and unit shipments will be driven by...

Supercomputer-simulated dyslexia. (Data Management & Analysis).
May 1, 2003... The Numerical Algorithms Group, Downers Grove, Ill., is placing renewed energies on libraries and other components for the fast-growing high performance computing market. The rapid growth of this industry is illustrated by the High Performance...

Fingerprint sensor ICs move on accelerated development path. (Data Management & Analysis).
May 1, 2003... A rise in Internet transactions, identity theft, and international terrorism has accelerated development of biometric sensor ICs, moving them quickly from research arenas to production cycles. Based on the uniqueness of individual fingerprints,...

Visualization programs bolster simulations. (Data Management & Analysis).
May 1, 2003... A vast number of research applications require scientists to model or visualize complex concepts and relationships (see March 2003 cover story "Modeling and Simulation") in order to better understand and appreciate the fundamental intricacies...

Smaller, but continued cost increases for new labs: in their annual construction cost index, HLW architects expect to see continued increases in overall construction costs in 2003 from their late-2002 levels. (The Lab Environment).
May 1, 2003... Despite the declining fates of the industrial and high-tech sectors over the past two years, construction costs of new and renovated R&D laboratories in 2003 is still expected to increase moderately from their 2002 levels, according to a recent...

Building a winner: having a mock-up helps: lab of the year winners, both past and present, have instituted a mock-up phase into their construction plans. (The Lab Environment).
May 1, 2003... Ask the judges what makes a lab a winner and they will tell you it is how well it is planned out. Oftentimes, these brilliant conceptions come out during the design phase. However, not all good plans are realized until something is actually...

A vertical solution in an urban setting: Millennium Pharmaceuticals 35 Landsdowne Street campus center is a new response to high-rise biotech buildings in a city landscape. (Winner).
May 1, 2003... Nestled within University Park at MIT, Cambridge, Mass., stands a seven story, 20,438 [m.sup.2] beacon serving as the heart of Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Built to house a staff of 450 researchers and administrators, this building embodies...

Intelligent focus yields winning design: Chernoff Hall Chemistry Facility promotes multi-disciplinary adaptability and interaction between various research groups through an imaginative use of space. (High Honors).
May 1, 2003... The "Wow Factor" is the phrase coined by the staff at Chernoff Hall Chemistry Facility, Kingston, Ontario, to describe newcomers' experience. Situated on the historic campus of Queen's Univ., this chemistry building provides a sense of...

An inspiration to the community--times three: a new public health and infectious disease research facility successfully incorporates three separate agencies--all into one building--while addressing urban renewal issues. (Special Mention).
May 1, 2003... The ICPH facility is unique from many other facilities of its kind," says Kenneth Drake, principal of CUH2A, Princeton, N.J., architects for the project. "It is the first in a growing new arena of facility types that are incorporating more than...

A bold new beginning: a novel biomedical research and teaching building at the Univ. of Calif.--San Francisco's new Mission Bay campus cultivates interaction among interdisciplinary research programs. (Special Mention).
May 1, 2003... Genentech Hail sits alone on the Mission Bay campus. Yet its size, clever layout, and distinctive finishes have set a standard for the rest of the campus. "In addition to providing highly efficient and adaptable laboratories, the building is...

New lab operating models: at Pittcon 2003, Thermo Electron Corp. announced the formation of a new initiative aimed at taking care of all of your laboratory instrumentation needs. (The Lab Environment).
May 1, 2003... Full solution providers" is a marketing term that's being used increasingly in a number of industries. In the semiconductor device processing arena, gas suppliers have taken over full control of the gas supplies, storage, and distribution of...

Laboratory trends respond to the changing face of research: The separation between different scientific disciplines is slowly being diminished, giving rise to facilities that promote collegiality and communication. (The Lab Environment).
May 1, 2003... Research today has a new face. It is more common than ever to observe different types of studies being conducted in one facility, with professionals often crossing old and defined disciplinary boundaries to engage in work outside of their...

Catching the little (big) items: compromises are essential during the design process of a R&D facility. However, the structures' primary goals should be forefront. (The Lab Environmentr).
May 1, 2003... Designing and constructing a new research facility is a complex process, often with conflicting views between architects, engineers, owners, and researchers. The goals of the participants, while admirable for each, are often at odds with each...

R&D's lab design checklist: determining the steps in building a complex new or renovated R&D lab facility can be eased by taking a logical approach to the process and assigning appropriate duties to team members. (The Lab Environment).
May 1, 2003... R&D facilities are some of the most complex structures that are designed and built. While some recent fast-track facilities have been shown to be designed and built in less than a year, the overall timeframe for most facilities easily exceeds...

Automatic fire suppression for fume hoods promotes laboratory safety: researchers handling volatile compounds in fume hoods risk being exposed to a fire. A system that senses the type of fire to occur enhances workers' safety. (The Lab Environment).
May 1, 2003... Working with volatile chemicals creates numerous challenges and hazards for scientists. The fumes that emanate from many of the substances used in laboratories may be highly flammable, as well as quite dangerous to inhale. To prevent these...

Innovative software fully automates laboratory monitoring: the labor-intensive collection of environmental data is facilitated by an automated system capable of on- and off-site alarm notification and data recording. (The Lab environment).
May 1, 2003... Laboratory or environmental monitoring has gradually evolved from its early roots. First, there was manual data collection: With the use of a thermometer, daily readings were reviewed and recorded with a simple piece of paper and ballpoint pen....

Cleanup technologies enhance HF waste control: fluorides present in semiconductor manufacturing waste are an environmental concern. Different treatments are available to manage this waste and meet compliance levels. (Keywords: environmental chemistry: pollution: semiconductors).
May 1, 2003... The semiconductor industry is a significant water user and waste discharge generator. The yielded waste is typically considered clean compared to other industrial operations. Yet, there is increasing concern over higher concentrations of...

Pretreatment techniques improve final water quality: the water quality produced by purification systems is affected by pretreatment methods. To generate ultrapure water, different pretreatment processes are proposed. (Keywords: water quality: analytical chemistry: bioscience).
May 1, 2003... Research involving laboratory work requires the use of high purity reagents, such as ultrapure water. The production of such a high-grade reagent demands a combination of purification technologies, each designed to remove specific types of...

New portal for health/pharmaceutical compliancy. (Regulatory Update).
May 1, 2003... Companies are struggling now more than ever to keep up to date with the increasing number of regulations. To add to the frustration, there are a limited number of resources that these companies/organizations can employ to track industry-wide...

NRC's visit to Honeywell. (Regulatory Update).
May 1, 2003... The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) met with Honeywell, Morristown, N.J., Specialty Chemicals officials last month to determine its compliance with federal laws and discuss the results of the agency's assessment of performance at the...

Steel industry receives funding.
May 1, 2003... Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory has joined a $1.29 million project to make U.S. steel companies more competitive and maximize furnace life. The U.S. steel industry produces more than 100 million tons of steel annually....

Conference call.
May 1, 2003... The Open Conference on Analytical Methods and General USP Topics will now be held from June 1-4, 2003 in Philadelphia. The goal of this meeting is to increase attendees' awareness and understanding of significant analytical challenges in the...

Optoelectronic transistor. (Emerging Technologies).
May 1, 2003... A team of scientists led by Robert Dickson at the Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, has constructed a new nm-scale optoelectronic apparatus capable of addition and other complex logic operations. Based on arrays of individual...

An eye on you.
May 1, 2003... Human Media Lab researchers at Queen's Univ., Kingston, Ontario, Canada, have created devices that use eye contact to help computers consider what the user is doing before producing distracting interruptions. Employing a new paradigm called...

Forecasting flash floods.
May 1, 2003... A new technique has been developed by Penn State researchers, University Park, Pa., and the National Weather Service enabling meteorologists to predict deadly flash floods three days in advance. The team combined the time, date, and location of...

Optical plastic.
May 1, 2003... The optical properties of silicon crystal sensors have been successfully transferred to plastic by scientists at the Univ. of California, San Diego. A silicon wafer is treated with an electrochemical etch to generate a porous silicon chip with...

3D microfluidic pipes. (Emerging Technologies).
May 1, 2003... Jennifer Lewis and Scott White at the Univ. of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, have developed a technique for creating 3D microvascular "plumbing." Constructed of 3D microchannel networks (10 to 300 [micro]m dia), this novel design will maximize...

New nuclear fuel cleaning technology.
May 1, 2003... EPRI of Palo Alto, Calif., has developed a novel ultrasonic nuclear fuel cleaning method that eliminates deposits from reload fuel, minimizing personnel exposure rates and increasing fuel use. Long fuel performance can raise the accumulation of...

Reviving collapsed veins.
May 1, 2003... A handheld, battery-powered device could soon save countless lives on the battlefield, and EMS calls. When an individual's veins fall making an IV difficult to start, the likelihood of death is greater. The VidaPort, developed by VidaCare...

The translating trio.
May 1, 2003... The Office of Naval Research is assessing a language translation technology called Compadre that is being developed by SpeechGear, Inc., Northfield, Minn. The technology consists of a trio of portable products that promises to handle voice,...

Alcohol-powered biofuel cell. (Emerging Technologies).
May 1, 2003... A novel, long-lasting biofuel cell that consumes alcohol for fuel and uses enzymes as the catalysts could replace rechargeable batteries in devices ranging from laptops to cell phones. Developed by Shelley Minteer along with Nick Akers and...

First transparent transistor.
May 1, 2003... The world's first transparent transistor has been developed by researchers at Oregon State Univ., Corvallis. It is an "n-type" semiconductor composed of zinc oxide, which is a transparent, electricity-conducting substance that is safe,...

Drugs via contact lenses.
May 1, 2003... Millions of eye disease sufferers may soon be able to exchange their eye drops with medication-filled contact lenses that accurately dispense a drug where and when it is required. Created by scientists at the Univ. of Florida, Gainesville,...

Light slowing ruby.
May 1, 2003... Researchers at the Univ. of Rochester, N.Y., have invented a new apparatus that allows light to travel at 127 mph as it passes through a ruby that is a few cm long. The device employs a laser to "punch a hole" in the absorption spectrum of a...

Mouse House. (New Products).
May 1, 2003... The Mouse House from NALGENE is an enrichment device used to create an environment that encourages jumping, climbing, squeezing through holes and sleeping during daylight hours. Abnormal stereotyped behaviors are reduced suggesting enhancement...

Don't panic if a Mercury spill should occur! (New Products).
May 1, 2003... The Mercury Collector from Bel-Art Products is a convenient and effective way to clean up mercury spills. To collect spilled mercury, unscrew the with attached foam pad and press the foam pad firmly onto the spill. This pressure forces the...

Scanning Probe Microscope. (New Products).
May 1, 2003... The XE-Series Scanning Probe Microscopes (SPM) from Ambios Technology, Inc. deliver improved scan accuracy, scan speed, and advanced probe tip characterization and de-convolution. By employing a novel scanner design that separates the z scanner...

Ethernet-enabled operator interface. (New Products).
May 1, 2003... Galil Motion Control delivers the QTERM-G124, an Ethernet-enabled graphics operator interface terminal designed by QSI Corporation, for use with their Ethernet motion controllers. QTERM-G124 features a 320 x 240 pixel, color graphic LCD touch...

BioMaster testing system. (New Products).
May 1, 2003... Instron announces the BioMaster testing system, which provides low-force testing solutions for medical devices, packaging, sub-assemblies and biomaterials. It is ideal for testing sutures, implants, soft tissue, bone, surgical devices,...

Equilution, Your Equipment Solution. (New Products).
May 1, 2003... Equilution, Your Equipment Solution, is the one source for all of your test equipment needs. Equipment dealers pay Equilution a small monthly fee to display their entire inventory. It is stored in Equilution's database and is searchable by...

High-Performance Camera. (New Products).
May 1, 2003... Redlake's MotionXtra HG-100K camera features a 1.7 megapixel CMOS sensor capable of recording 1000 frames/sec at full resolution, and up to 100,000 fps at reduced resolutions. The camera is built around a 1504 x 1128 sensor for razor sharp,...

New Positive pressure 96-well SPE processor. (New Products).
May 1, 2003... The Cerex System-96 from Hologent Technologies is a processor for 96-well SPE plates that employs positive pressure rather than vacuum. Positive pressure offers precise flow control, processing pressures up to 30 p.s.i., and the ability to...

Analog output and digital I/O card. (New Products).
May 1, 2003... The RPC616 from Robotrol Corporation contains 16 digital-to-analog outputs with 12-bit resolution and may be set to seven voltage ranges. When a card has current loops installed, analog outputs can be configured as all current loops, voltages...