NIST Technicalendar August 24 to August 28, 2009 The NIST Technicalendar is issued each Friday. All items MUST be submitted electronically from this web page by 12:00 NOON each Wednesday unless otherwise stated in the NIST Technicalendar. The address for online weekly editions of the NIST Technicalendar and NIST Administrative Calendar is: http://www.nist.gov/tcal.

In this Issue: Meetings at NIST Meetings Elsewhere Announcements Talks by NIST Personnel NIST Web Site Announcements NIST Administrative Calendar (current)   NIST Vacancy Announcements (current)

Also available: Previous Issues of the Technicalendar Quick Technicalendar (current) Last week's Quick Technicalendar Last week's Technicalendar Detailed Search NIST Journal of Research (Current TOC) Change User Options

11:30 AM - Integration Testing With Cucumber and Selenium
2:30 PM - Essential Oxidative Defects in the Highly Luminescent Conjugated Polymer Nanoparticles; Quantitative Imaging of Cardiomyocytes using Second Harmonic Generation Microscopy

10:30 AM - Critical Dimension Atomic Force Microscopy for Sub-50 nm Microelectronics Technology Nodes
1:30 PM - Exploring the limits of scanning-probe microscopy - from femtoamp STM to functional AFM
3:00 PM - Small Circuits for Boolean Functions

10:00 AM - Understanding Interdisciplinary Collaboration: Social Network Analysis and Quasi Experimental Methods
10:00 AM - EPA's Climate Choice Program: The Potential Energy, Cost, and CO2 Savings of Micro-CHP
10:30 AM - Remote TPM-based Attestation of Secure Tunnel Endpoints
2:00 PM - Biological Sciences in the 21st Century: Priorities and Opportunities

10:45 AM - Slow Hydrogen Diffusion in Potassium-intercalated Graphite Studied by Quasielastic Neutron Scattering

No Scheduled Events

8/24 -- MONDAY

11:30 AM - SEMICONDUCTOR ELECTRONICS DIVISION SEMINAR: Integration Testing With Cucumber and Selenium
We will describe using the Cucumber and Selenium software packages for software integration testing of applications. We will demonstrate the technique by showing the actual testing of a small web application.
Arthur Griesser , Prometheus Computing, New Market, MD, a.griesser@prometheuscomputing.com.
Bldg 225, Rm. A350. (NIST Contact: Kevin Brady, 301-975-3644, kbrady@nist.gov)
Special Assistance Available

2:30 PM - POLYMERS DIVISION SEMINAR: Essential Oxidative Defects in the Highly Luminescent Conjugated Polymer Nanoparticles; Quantitative Imaging of Cardiomyocytes using Second Harmonic Generation Microscopy
Tak Kee , University of Adelaide.
224 Bldg, Rm. A312. (NIST Contact: Marcus Cicerone, 301-975-8104, mcicerone@nist.gov)


8/25 -- TUESDAY

10:30 AM - MATERIALS AND CONSTRUCTION RESEARCH DIVISION SEMINAR: Critical Dimension Atomic Force Microscopy for Sub-50 nm Microelectronics Technology Nodes
We discuss recent developments within Critical Dimension Atomic Force Microscopy (CD AFM) and its applications to nanostructures having lateral dimensions of 50 nanometers and less. Challenges in this measurement range call for research and development in probe design, tip-sample interaction control, tip shape characterization, and image reconstruction algorithms. These design considerations and performance improvements are reviewed throughout the presentation and metrological measurement results are presented with emphasis on industrial applications. CD AFM uses novel probes and advanced scan control algorithms to acquire metrological measurements that are: (1) NIST-traceable with sub-nanometer precision and nanometer-level uncertainty (2) capable of imaging vertical sidewalls and undercut features (3) direct, non-destructive and fast relative to existing reference metrology systems (RMS) (4) multiple cross-sectional, with resolution comparable to that of Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM). Recently, these attributes have enhanced the role of CD AFM as the RMS for other metrology systems.
Bernard Hao-Chih Liu , Assistant Professor, Center for Micro/Nano Science and Technology, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan.
226 Bldg, Rm. B221. (NIST Contact: Li-Piin Sung, 301-975-6737, lipiin@nist.gov)

1:30 PM - CNST ELECTRON PHYSICS GROUP SEMINAR: Exploring the limits of scanning-probe microscopy - from femtoamp STM to functional AFM
Recently, we have been attempting to push the current sensitivity of the scanning tunneling microscope. We will present our work on molecular imaging using femtoampere tunneling currents, and explore the possibility of imaging weakly conducting systems that this represents. We will also look at our work in the opposite regime, where the STM tip actively perturbs the system under study - using STM to locally alter the coupling between layers in HOPG. We will then move on to describe our recent activities in functional AFM - using the AFM to explore the magnetic phase diagram of permalloy nanodots. The main topic will then be on functional imaging of ferroeelctrics - we have developed a technique enabling us to simultaneously image and manipulate both ferroelectric and ferroelastic domains in ferroelectric thin films. We will explore the intimate interplay between ferroelectricity and ferroelasticity and how this knowledge can be used to create novel device structures.
Colm Durkan , University Lecturer, Head of Nanoscience group, Fellow of Girton College, University of Cambridge, UK.
Bldg. 217, Rm. H107. (NIST Contact: Jabez McClelland, 301-975-3721, jabez.mcclelland@nist.gov)

3:00 PM - MATHEMATICAL AND COMPUTATIONAL SCIENCES DIVISION SEMINAR: Small Circuits for Boolean Functions
Rene Peralta , ITL, Computer Security Division.
Administration Bldg, Employees Lounge. (NIST Contact: Ronald Boisvert, 301-975-3812, boisvert@nist.gov) http://math.nist.gov/mcsd/Seminars/2009/2009-08-25-Peralta.html


8/26 -- WEDNESDAY

10:00 AM - NIST CHAPTER OF SIGMA XI LECTURE SERIES: Understanding Interdisciplinary Collaboration: Social Network Analysis and Quasi Experimental Methods
Voices from different corners of academia, government, and industry advocate the importance of interdisciplinarity, arguing that many of today's pressing questions require cross-fertilization of disciplinary theories, methods, and ideas. In response, universities have implemented myriad new initiatives designed to train students and engage faculty in interdisciplinary research and training. Despite enthusiastic calls and sizeable investments, however, there has been very little empirical analysis of interdisciplinarity. In this presentation, I will discuss two innovative approaches designed to assess the interdisciplinary experience. The first uses techniques of social network and ethnographic analysis in six interdisciplinary research centers, while the second employs a quasi-experimental test-bed to observe the collaborative processes and integrative products of interdisciplinary versus disciplinary graduate students.
Diana Rhoten, Ph.D. , Social Science Research Council, Brooklyn, NY.
Administration Bldg, Green Auditorium. (NIST Contact: Dave Holbrook, 301-975-5202, dave.holbrook@nist.gov)
Special Assistance Available

10:00 AM - BUILDING ENVIRONMENT DIVISION SEMINAR: EPA's Climate Choice Program: The Potential Energy, Cost, and CO2 Savings of Micro-CHP
Peter Banwell , U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Washington, DC. ,.
Building Research (226), Room B221. (NIST Contact: Mark Davis, 301-975-6433, mark.davis@nist.gov)

10:30 AM - CRYPTO CLUB MEETING SERIES: Remote TPM-based Attestation of Secure Tunnel Endpoints
Client-Server applications have become the backbone of the Internet and are processing increasingly sensitive information. We have come to rely on the correct behavior and trustworthiness of online banking, online shopping, and other remote access services. These services are implemented as cooperating processes on different platforms. To trust distributed services, one must trust each cooperating process and their interconnection. Common practice today is to establish secure tunnels to protect the communication between local and remote processes. Typically, a user controls the local system. The user also controls the security of the tunnel through negotiation and authentication protocols. Ongoing and published work examines how to create and monitor properties of remote systems. What is missing is the link or binding between such properties and the actual remote tunnel endpoint. This talk will present how to link specific properties of a remote system – gained through TPM-based attestation– to secure tunnel endpoints to counter attacks where a compromised authenticated SSL endpoint relays the TPM-based attestation to another system. The will show how the proposed mechanism can be deployed in virtualized environments to create inexpensive SSL endpoint certificates and instant revocation that scales Internet-wide.
Ken Goldman , Advisory Engineer, IBM, Watson Research Center.
101 Bldg, Employee Lounge. (NIST Contact: Michaela Iorga, 301-975-8431, michaela.iorga@nist.gov)

2:00 PM - BIOCHEMICAL SCIENCE DIVISION SEMINAR: Biological Sciences in the 21st Century: Priorities and Opportunities
As we continue to learn about the biosphere we are never far from the elusive quest of discovering the origin of life on Earth and defining the indispensable properties of life. New technologies and emergent interdisciplinary fields - such as Systems and Synthetic Biology – have the potential to provide unique insights into life's essential properties while inspiring the use of natural designs and systems for practical purposes. Exploring the non-solar energy sources sustaining life will enable the development of new biology-based technologies with far-reaching applications for sustainable and renewable energy resources. Earth's climate and life support systems are changing in ways and rates not experienced in recorded human history and today's biology must seek to understand, predict, and adapt to these changes. The future depends upon an interdisciplinary approach to research and education that reaches beyond the science of traditional disciplines to prepare a generation of scientists and educators to communicate science as a way of understanding life and adapting to a changing world.
James Collins , Assistant Director for Biological Sciences/NSF. Peter Arzberger , Division Director for Biological Infrastructure/NSF. Gregory Warr, Program Director in the Division of Molecular & Cellular Biology in the Cellular Systems Cluster
Bldg 227, Rm. A202. (NIST Contact: Anne Plant, 301-975-3124, Anne.plant@nist.gov)


8/27 -- THURSDAY

10:45 AM - NIST CENTER FOR NEUTRON RESEARCH SEMINAR: Slow Hydrogen Diffusion in Potassium-intercalated Graphite Studied by Quasielastic Neutron Scattering
Hydrogen is adsorbed by stage-two, potassium-intercalated graphite (KC24) at low temperatures. The potassium and adsorbed hydrogen form a quasi-two-dimensional solid solution between the galleries of the host graphitic layers. Due to the presence of both the graphite corrugation and the metal sites, the hydrogen molecules experience a strong anisotropic potential. This is manifested in the large splitting of the hydrogen ortho-para rotational transition. Quasielastic neutron scattering measurements were performed on the KC24(H2)1 system at temperatures between 40 K and 80 K. The speaker will present findings that hydrogen diffusion in KC24 is almost an order of magnitude slower than diffusion in metal-organic-frameworks and nanostructured carbons. The slow diffusion is caused by both strong binding interactions and steric diffusion barriers. The latter are associated with the quasi-two-dimensional confinement of the hydrogen and with the volume blocked by potassiums. Molecular dynamics simulations yield self-diffusion coefficients in reasonable agreement with experimental ones. Additional measurements on the high flux backscattering spectrometer reveal an even slower, secondary hydrogen diffusion process in KC24 over the same temperature range. Together, these results provide direct information on the interaction of hydrogen with a carbon slit-pore and an alkali-metal dopant, both topics of interest to the hydrogen storage community.
Justin Purewal , Cal Tech. ,.
235 Bldg, Rm. E100. (NIST Contact: Craig Brown, 301-975-5134, craig.brown@nist.gov)


8/28 -- FRIDAY

No Scheduled Events

ADVANCE NOTICE

9/11/09 10:30 AM - NIST COLLOQUIUM SERIES (JOINTLY SPONSORED BY MSEL): Pores Without Walls for Clean Energy
The ability to stitch molecules into extended porous structures (reticular chemistry) is a new area of research that has enabled the design of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) having surface areas of several football fields per gram (10,000 m2/gm). This internal surface is critically important in applications leading to cleaner fuels and capture of carbon dioxide from power plants. I will present how my love for molecules has led to beautiful creations and applications of a new class of crystalline materials with a diversity and number that far exceed any other.
Omar Yaghi , Director, Center for Reticular Chemistry, University of California, Los Angeles.
Administration Building, Green Auditorium. (NIST Contact: Kum Ham, 301-975-4203, kham@nist.gov)
Special Assistance Available

9/17/09 10:00 AM - ,PTC SEMINAR: NOTE***DATE CHANGE***CoCreate CAD Software Demo *** DATE CHANGE
Parametric Technology Corporation (PTC) would like introduce their CoCreate CAD software and related products to the NIST community. The Instrument Development Engineering Group at the NIST Center for Neutron Research (NCNR) has been using CoCreate CAD software and related products for over 15 years. During that time the software has become one of the top explicit modelers. All are welcome. Please RSVP to Daniel Adler by phone x5792 or email at daniel.adler@nist.gov if interested. For more information on this presentation or the CoCreate products contact Daniel or visit www.ptc.com/products/cocreate.
Cristina Chin , PTC.
Administration Bldg, Lecture Rm. C. (NIST Contact: Daniel Adler, 301-975-5792, daniel.adler@nist.gov)

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MEETINGS ELSEWHERE


8/24 -- MONDAY

No Scheduled Events

8/25 -- TUESDAY

No Scheduled Events

8/26 -- WEDNESDAY

No Scheduled Events

8/27 -- THURSDAY

No Scheduled Events

8/28 -- FRIDAY

No Scheduled Events

ADVANCE NOTICE

No Scheduled Events

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TALKS BY NIST PERSONNEL

MARBUKH, V. : MOBILE SENSOR NETWORK SELF-ORGANIZATION FOR SYSTEM UTILITY MAXIMIZATION.
The Fifth International Conference on Wireless and Mobile Commications (ICWMC 2009), Cannes/La Bocca, France, 8/24.

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ANNOUNCEMENTS

RESEARCH INVOLVING HUMAN SUBJECTS
Individuals at NIST who wish to conduct, or wish to sponsor, any research involving human subjects, including human cells or tissue, are required by Federal regulations to obtain approval before embarking on the research. This includes: (1) Research conducted here at NIST by NIST employees or guest workers; (2) Collaborative research with others outside of NIST, including CRADAs and other agreements; and/or (3) Research funded by NIST through grants, contracts, or cooperative agreements. The current procedures for approving projects involving human subjects can be found in the NIST Administrative Manual Subchapter 14.01, Protection of Human Subjects (http://www-i.nist.gov/admin/mo/adman/1401.htm). These procedures ensure that the proposed research is in compliance with the applicable DOC Regulations, 15 C.F.R. Part 27 (http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_99/15cfr27_99.html). NIST's Institutional Review Board (IRB) reviews and approves those research proposals involving human subjects that require IRB review for research to be conducted by NIST employees, with or without the participation of others. The NIST IRB is described in Administrative Manual Subchapter 3.01, Appendix A (http://www-i.nist.gov/admin/mo/adman/301irb.htm). These regulations are broader than many people realize, and involve more than, for example, just invasive medical procedures. They can also cover volunteers participating in questionnaires and surveys and people testing computer software. All research involving human subjects being conducted at an institution outside of NIST that has not been determined to be exempt from the Federal policy by the appropriate NIST OU Director must be approved by a cognizant IRB that is currently registered with the Office for Human Research Protections (OHRP), DHHS. In addition, the institution conducting the research involving human subjects must have a current Federalwide Assurance (FWA) on file with OHRP. The outside IRB's approval will be subject to review and approval by NIST. The NIST IRB Chair reviews the documentation provided by the outside researchers and the outside IRB and recommends approval or disapproval to the NIST Deputy Director, with the concurrence of the Chief Counsel for NIST. Research being conducted at NIST by NIST employees that has not been determined to be exempt by the appropriate NIST OU Director must be reviewed by the NIST IRB. The use of human subjects in the project may not begin until the Chief Counsel for NIST has concurred with the IRB's recommendation to approve the project and the Deputy Director of NIST has approved it. Signatures required before the proposal is sent to the NIST IRB include that of the Group Leader and Division Chief (who approve the scientific merit of the research), and the Laboratory Director (who determines whether it is exempt or requests IRB review). An OU Director's exemption determination must receive concurrence from the Chief Counsel for NIST and then be forwarded to the NIST IRB Chair, Dr. Richard R. Cavanagh, for noting and filing. For more information, contact the NIST IRB Secretary, Janet Brumby, (301) 975-3189 or email: brumby@nist.gov or visit our website at: http://www-i.nist.gov/director/IRB/ (For best viewing of all pages associated with this website, your monitor should have a display setting of 800 by 600 and in Microsoft Internet Explorer). All correspondence should be mailed to Mail Stop 1710.
NIST Contact: Janet Brumby, 301-975-3189, janet.brumby@nist.gov

THINK SAFETY! THINK STANDARDS!
Safety standards are now available on the NIST Intranet. Standards are an important part of the safety literature and are vital elements in framing and defining safety policies and procedures. Consult this page for a variety of core safety standards relevant to NIST's operations and interests. NIST's NCSCI (National Center for Standards and Certification Information, TS, Standards Services Division) can send you any other safety standards you need and guide you to other relevant standards. Call NCSCI on ext. 4040 or email ncsci@nist.gov with your safety standards needs.
NIST Contact: Anne Meininger, 301-975-2921, anne.meininger@nist.gov

VISITOR REGISTRATION FOR NIST EVENTS
Because of heightened security at the NIST Gaithersburg site, members of the public who wish to attend meetings, seminars, lectures, etc. must first register in advance. For more information please call or e-mail the "NIST Contact" for the particular event you would like to attend.
NIST Contact: . ., ., .

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NIST WEB SITE ANNOUNCEMENTS

No Web Site announcements this week.

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For more information, contact Ms. Sharon Hallman, Editor, Stop 2500, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg MD 20899-2500; Telephone: 301-975-TCAL (3570); Fax: 301-926-4431; or Email: tcal@nist.gov.

All lectures and meetings are open unless otherwise stated.

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