R & D articles from November 2005

R & D archives from November 2005

Government cuts pose risks.(industrial research investments)(Editorial)
November 1, 2005... For the past 15 years, growth in U.S. R&D has been supported by either industrial or government investments--when one sector was down, generally the other one was up. The net overall result has been a continuing strong growth in R&D investment....

Taking 'nano' to the roads.(MICRO/NANO TECHNOLOGY)(nanocars)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... Measuring only 4-nm wide, researchers at Rice Univ,. Houston, Texas, have recently developed the world's smallest "nanocar". The single molecule nanocar contains a chassis, axles and four wheels fabricated out of [C.sub.60] or buckyballs....

Scoreboard highlights R&D heavyweights.(BULLETIN)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... Who are today's leaders in industrial R&D? A newly released report from the United Kingdom's Dept. of Trade and Industry finds that U.S./Germany-based DaimlerChrysler car group, Auburn Hills, Mich., leads all other industrial R&D organizations...

HPLC growing.(LABORATORY EQUIPMENT)(high-performance liquid chromatography)
November 1, 2005... A recent report prepared by market research firm, Frost & Sullivan, N.Y., N.Y., shows that the worldwide laboratory analytical instrumentation market increased 4.4% from 2003 to $7.8 billion in 2004. The study, which analyzed three...

Fusing IR spectroscopy with SIMS.(ANALYTICAL INSTRUMENTS)(secondary ion mass spectrometers)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... Researchers at the Univ. of Manchester, UK, have recently acquired roughly $2 million in funding to build a new instrument which will, for the first time, combine time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometers (ToF-SlMS) and infrared...

Mapping human genetic variation.(LIFE SCIENCE)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... The International Human Haplotype map (HapMap) Consortium has released a comprehensive catalog of human genetic variation, the results of which, could accelerate the search for genes in common diseases. In a paper in the Oct. 27 issue of...

Purdue opens nanotech center.(LABORATORY DESIGN)
November 1, 2005... Officials from Purdue Univ., West Lafayette, Ind., joined in early October to formally dedicate its newest science hub--the Birck Nanotechnology Center. Set within Purdue's Discovery Park, the $58 million facility spans roughly 17,400 [m.sup.2]...

D.C. hosts IEDM 2005.(Upcoming: Conferences and Events)(International Electron Devices Meeting)(Brief Article)(Calendar)
November 1, 2005... The Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) will hold the 2005 International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM) at the Hilton Washington, D.C., from Dec. 5-7. For 51 years, the IEEE/IEDM has been the world's primary forum for...

Bayer to offload anti-infective research.(PHARMACEUTICAL)(Bayer AG )(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... A report by the Financial Times Deutschland has reported that Bayer AG plans to sell its anti-infective research unit Quoting Bayer pharma's head, Wolfgang Pilschke, the company will look to sell the unit by the end of this year. Sources close...

NI buys IOtech.(TEST and MEASUREMENT)(National Instruments)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... National Instruments (NI), Austin, Texas, has announced that it has acquired the operating assets of IOtech, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio, a provider of PC-based data acquisition and instrumentation products. "By combining IOtech's strengths in...

Dow expands Asia support.(MATERIALS)(Dow Corning Corp.)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... Dow Coming Corp., Midland, Mich., has expanded its China Application Center in Shanghai, China, doubling the company's ability to provide solutions for customers in Asia. Located in the Songjiang Industrial Zone, the expanded center adds...

Plastic solar cells gain ground.(VACUUM/THIN FILMS)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... Researchers at the Univ. of California--Los Angeles, (UCLA) have reported significant efficiency gains for plastic solar cells. Led by engineering professor Yang Yang, the UCLA team has created a new polymer solar cell with an efficiency of...

2005 Nobel recognizes optics.(LASERS and OPTICS)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... Optics research took center stage for this year's Nobel Prize in Physics. One-half of the $1.3 million prize went to Roy Glauber, Harvard Univ., Cambridge, Mass., for his contribution to the quantum theory of optical coherence, or the...

A 'clear view' for pilots.(Data Management & Analysis)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... Working to make flying safer, more than a dozen NASA, airline, industry and government pilots are testing technology to "synthetically" give pilots a clearer view of their surroundings. The cockpit display system, Synthetic Vision, is a kind of...

Safer, more efficient oil drilling.(Data Management & Analysis)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... Oil companies could soon harness the power of distant supercomputers to tackle problems such as where to place equipment and how to clean up oil spills. Typically, companies take seismic measurements of an oil reservoir and simulate...

Access control.(Data Management & Analysis)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... U.S. electronic access control demand will grow 10.4% annually through 2009 to $7.2 billion, driven by technological innovation, falling prices, and relatively high crime rates. Biometrics (e.g., fingerprint and hand geometry, face and voice...

WMN market accelerates.(Data Management & Analysis)(wireless mesh network)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... The Wireless Mesh Network (WMN) infrastructure equipment market has begun to accelerate. From 2004 through 2009, the market for access points is expected to grow from $33.5 million to $974.3 million. WMNs were developed as a quick way to set-up...

GPS clock reliability improved.(Regulatory Update)(global positioning system)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... When telling time, a difference of a nanosecond does not make a difference to the average person. But, to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Gaithersburg, Md., it does. With the aid of collaborators, NIST has...

Unifying healthcare IT standards.(Regulatory Update)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has recently awarded a contract for a joint effort unifying healthcare information technology (IT) standards. Under the sponsorship of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), the...

IBM aids in best practices.(International Business Machines Corp.)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... IBM, White Plains, N.Y., plans to contribute resources to help companies adopt and share best practices for software development. The company will release a portion of its Rational Unified Process (RUP), a software platform that guides...

New US&R standards.(ASTM International)(urban search and rescue operations)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... An ASTM International initiative has been launched to explore the use of robots in urban search and rescue operations (US&R) and develop standards for them. The standards cover sensing, mobility, navigation, planning, integration and...

Assessing hurricane damage.(Regulatory Update)(National Institute of Standards and Technology deploys experts to assess storm damage)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... The National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, Md., has recently deployed three teams of experts under a multi-organizational partnership to assess structures damaged by hurricanes along the Gulf Coast, The partnership will...

National labs look to bolster innovation status: executives from the nation's government labs offer insight into the challenges they currently face in securing the U.S.'s innovation edge.(CEO Roundtable)
November 1, 2005... In late-October, the editors of R&D Magazine joined with representatives from U.S. government labs at the 7th Annual R&D Government CEO Roundtable at Chicago's Navy Pier. This informal discussion sought to bring to light the issues that these...

Maintaining innovation at Los Alamos National Laboratory: from knowledge to products: U.S. leads innovation.(Corporate Profile)
November 1, 2005... For the past 50 years the United States has been the world leader in technology innovation through a unique combination of R&D excellence, an entrepreneurial culture, efficient access to capital, and strong demand for new products and services....

NARQ[TM]--network automated response and quarantine.(Case Studies)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... Since 1990, computer viruses and worms have cost companies worldwide nearly $2 billion in lost productivity, data, and repairs. Computer worms--programs that spread from computer to computer over a network, copying them--can bring an entire...

Software to scrub your files clean.(security software)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... With hundreds of sensitive electronic documents passing through laboratory systems daily, Los Alamos National Laboratory, N.M., staff are highly sensitive to the risks of allowing proprietary or classified information to escape into the open...

General areas of expertise.(Government Labs)(Illustration)
November 1, 2005... General Areas of Expertise Advanced computers and Advanced Organization instrumentation engineering Air Force Research ...

Sandia National Laboratories: Sandia National Laboratories is a national security lab with the core purpose of 'securing a peaceful and free world through technology.'.(Corporate Profile)
November 1, 2005... We provide technology solutions to challenging problems that threaten peace and freedom. Sandia has two primary facilities: a large laboratory and headquarters in Albuquerque, N.M., and a smaller laboratory in Livermore, Calif. We have about...

Test systems shed light into nanoscale properties: electrical measurements on nanoscopic materials and devices are essential for the development of practical products. Using the right instruments and techniques can shorten test times and help assure collection of useful data.
November 1, 2005... Electrical measurements on nanoscale materials and devices reveal not only electronic characteristics, but also general properties like a nanoscopic particle's density of states. These fundamental properties can be used to predict and...

Stem cell bank opens.(ASIA)
November 1, 2005... South Korea's state-financed World Stem Cell Hub (WSCH) opened in mid-October and within 24 hours was overwhelmed with 9,500 applications from individuals seeking treatment from incurable diseases. WSCH is the world's first facility to store...

FDI increasing in Asia.(Foreign direct investment)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... Foreign direct investment (FDI) in Asia broke all records in 2004, according to a recent report, "World Investment Report 2005"' by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, (UNCTAD), Geneva, Switzerland. The report says that Asia...

Honda R&D in Thailand.(ASIA)
November 1, 2005... Honda Motor Co., Tokyo, Japan, announced that it would establish an automobile R&D center in Bangkok, Thailand. The new company also plans to build a new test course at the Thailand facility in the future. Total investment for the new R&D...

Taiwan collaboration.(Nanya Technology Corp research agreements with Infineon)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... Nanya Technology Corp., Taoyuan, Taiwan, has entered into an agreement with Infineon, Munich, Germany, to expand their development cooperation on DRAMs. The agreement provides for the joint development of 60-nm production technologies for...

Aussies win Nobel Prize.(ASIA)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... Australian researchers Barry Marshall and Robin Warren were awarded the 2005 Nobel Prize in medicine for showing that bacterial infection, not stress, was to blame for ulcers in the stomach and intestine. Marshall is a researcher at the...

Leading the fight against disease: R&D's 2005 Scientist of the Year has defined how AIDS works, developed strategies to create vaccines that prevent the HIV infection, and is working to thwart a potential flu pandemic.(2005 Scientist of the Year)(Cover Story)
November 1, 2005... The world is faced with tremendous medical challenges that now, all too often, have come to include the word pandemic. Consider the fact that HIV/AIDS, malaria; and tuberculosis alone are directly responsible for more than 4 million deaths per...

Engineering vacuum chambers: design solutions and tips to getting the most from your vacuum chamber.(Expanded Article Online)
November 1, 2005... Vacuum chambers have been built in nearly every shape and size. Designs vary from simple to "What were they thinking?" However, it is possible to design and build superior chambers for less cost, by considering the following: Controlling...

Diamond dynamics: nanotechnology is creating better diamond abrasives.
November 1, 2005... Synthetic monocrystalline diamond (SMD) is currently used to machine and finish a wide variety of surfaces including ceramics, optics, semiconductor materials, and media storage components. In most cases, SMD is more than adequate to meet...

Unique LED technologies seek place in general lighting: unique approaches to solid-state lighting look to ease the transition from inefficient incandescent bulbs to highly efficient LED illumination.(light-emitting diode)
November 1, 2005... Solid-state lighting can reduce overall energy usage in the U.S. by 10%, reduce global carbon emissions by tens of millions of tons per year, and bring inexpensive light to regions that have no infrastructure for healthy alternative lighting....

NMR comes to lab-on-a-chip.(Emerging Technologies: Eureka)(Nuclear magnetic resonance)
November 1, 2005... Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) remains a powerful analytical tool for studying the chemical composition of macroscopic samples. Its application to microfluidic chip devices, however, has been hampered by low sensitivity. Scientists from...

Creating antibodies.(Emerging Technologies: Eureka)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... Researchers from Imperial College London, UK, have recently discovered that a large proportion of antibodies will only bind to bacterial proteins that contain a precise sequence in their C-terminus. These specifically binding antibodies can be...

Enhancing gene therapy.(Emerging Technologies: Eureka)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... Researchers at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, N.Y., have developed a technique for inserting genes into specific sites of the genome in liver cells. The genes are inserted into non-coding regions of the genome so there is no...

Beating bacteria.(Emerging Technologies: Eureka)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... Learning how bacteria handle the body's immune response is the first step in developing more effective antibiotics. To that end, researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, and the John Innes Center, Norwich, UK, have...

Direct deposition of fluid materials.(Dimatix Materials Printer from Dimatix)
November 1, 2005... Corporations and research institutes that require materials deposition to develop and test processes and prototypes, as well as conduct low-volume manufacturing of products, can now get a boost from a bench-top printer. The Dimatix...

Promising marine toxins.(University of Wisconsin)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... Naturally-produced toxins from deep-sea organisms have the potential to act as powerful anti-cancer drugs. Researchers from the Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, have defined the structure of these toxins which work by disrupting the activity of...

Killing resistant bacteria.(microbicidal coating gauze bandages)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... Researchers at the Univ. of Florida, Gainesville, have developed a microbicidal coating that can be chemically bonded to gauze bandages. The coating kills the two most common and harmful types of antibiotic-resistant bacteria that cause...

Building ultra-small sensors.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... A new way to build extremely small sensors using nanorobot fabrication has been developed by researchers working with the Office of Naval Research, Arlington, Va. The new process allows the operator to manipulate nano-sized contact points...

3-D surface profiling system.(MANUFACTURERS' SHOWCASE)
November 1, 2005... High-precision component manufacturers often need a variety of inspection tools. Purchasing a different tool for every task and outsourcing of inspection requirements are both expensive and time consuming. The Talysurf CLI 3-D System from...

Metals, ceramics and polymers in powdered form.(MANUFACTURERS' SHOWCASE)(Advertisement)
November 1, 2005... Goodfellow offers more than 200 metals and materials in powdered form, with particle sizes ranging from 0.08 microns (palladium) to 850 microns (iridium). In addition to pure metals, alloys, ceramics, polymers, and compounds, a number of...

High-performance analog and digital I/0 boards.(MANUFACTURERS' SHOWCASE)
November 1, 2005... Designed for the PCI bus, OMEGA's OME-PCI-1800 boards allow continuous 330 kHz analog data acquisition. All boards in this new series are "plug and play" and feature digital data transfer of up to 5.4 MB, D/A throughput of up to 2 mHz, three...

Order high vacuum components online.(MANUFACTURERS' SHOWCASE)(Advertisement)
November 1, 2005... A&N Corp. (www.ancorp.com) offers convenient online ordering of high and ultra-high vacuum components including flanges and fittings (ISO, CF, and ASA), couplings, view ports, leak detector accessories, feedthroughs, valves, and...

Lightning[R] fast video & data acquisition.(MANUFACTURERS' SHOWCASE)
November 1, 2005... * Compact, lightweight camera head * Mono and color versions * Video to 100,000 fps * Data instrumentation to 1250 kS/sec * Memory to 16 gigabytes Call (760) 918-0526 and ask about the Lightning[R] RDTPlus[TM]. ...