Tech

Two publications from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) describe new capabilities for authentication systems using smart cards or other personal security devices within and outside federal government applications. A report describes a NIST-led international standard, ISO/IEC 24727, which defines a general-purpose identity application programming interface (API). The other is a draft publication on refinements to the Personal Identity Verification (PIV) specification.

WASHINGTON – A policy paper that identifies and analyzes the key drivers of health care costs was released today by the American College of Physicians (ACP). Controlling Health Care Costs While Promoting the Best Possible Health Outcomes provides nearly four dozen recommendations to achieve better quality care to more people.

ACP is particularly concerned that the high cost of health care in the United States is not correlated with high quality and efficiency in the delivery of services or improved health outcomes.

Advances by the Rice University lab of James Tour have brought graphite's potential as a mass data storage medium a step closer to reality and created the potential for reprogrammable gate arrays that could bring about a revolution in integrated circuit logic design.

A chemist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has demonstrated a relatively simple, inexpensive method for detecting and measuring elusive hazards such as concealed explosives and toxins, invisible spoilage in food or pesticides distributed in soil by wind and rain. The prototype method is more sensitive than conventional techniques for detecting traces of these materials, which are polar—like water molecules, having distinct electrically positive and negative ends—and do not readily evaporate.

Over a 23-year study, Javier Lobón-Cerviá a researcher at the National Museum of Natural Sciences (CSIC), has found the mechanism that controls the number of Salmon found each year in Cantabrian rivers. His method has been to monitor population numbers in relation to river flow in March, when the juvenile fish emerge. He concludes that environmental conditions change each year and modify river flow, positively or negatively affecting survival rates. This information throws light on a long debate within ecological theory about the mechanisms that regulate the size of animal populations.

Just as health-food manufacturers work on developing the best possible sodium substitutes for low-salt diets, physicists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have acquired new knowledge on a promising sodium alternative of their own. Sodium-like tungsten ions could pepper——and conveniently monitor——the hot plasma soup inside fusion energy devices, potential sources of abundant, clean power.

As part of the development process for ESA's Sentinel-3 Earth observation mission, remote-sensing experts carried out an extensive experiment campaign across southern Europe this summer. The results provide valuable insight into the imagery the mission will deliver after it is launched in 2013.

WASHINGTON, D.C., September 9, 2009 –- The two most recent Surgeons General of the United States, David Satcher, M.D., Ph.D., FAAFP, FACPM, FACP and Richard H. Carmona, M.D., M.P.H., FACS, today led the Strategies to Overcome and Prevent (STOP) Obesity Alliance in urging policymakers to take direct action in health reform to address obesity and the chronic diseases associated with it.

Amsterdam, September 8, 2009 – Researchers at the Institute of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology I of the Heinrich-Heine University, Düsseldorf, Germany, investigated the relationship between fruit and vegetable intake, plasma antioxidant micronutrient status and cognitive performance in healthy subjects aged 45 to 102 years. Their results, published in the August issue of the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, indicated higher cognitive performance in individuals with high daily intake of fruits and vegetables.

There's enough power in trees for University of Washington researchers to run an electronic circuit, according to results to be published in the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers' Transactions on Nanotechnology.

"As far as we know, this is the first peer-reviewed paper of someone powering something entirely by sticking electrodes into a tree," said co-author Babak Parviz, a UW associate professor of electrical engineering.

Leafy green vegetables such as lettuce, Asian greens, and spinach can accumulate high concentrations of nitrate–nitrogen (NO3-N), which are potentially harmful if consumed by humans. To measure NO3-N concentration in plant tissue, many laboratories use ion selective electrodes (ISEs). Relatively inexpensive and portable ISE nutrient monitoring devices, including the Cardy NO3-N meter, are widely used to measure fresh plant sap NO3-N levels.

Researchers at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev have developed thin films that exhibit carrier multiplication (CM). This development is of great interest for future solar cells.

The films were synthesized at BGU by Prof. Yuval Golan and PhD student Anna Osherov of the Department of Materials Engineering and the Ilse Katz Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology. The letter was published in Nature Physics.

A research group from the Rovira i Virgili University (URV) in Tarragona has developed a biosensor that can immediately detect very low levels of Salmonella typhi, the bacteria that causes typhoid fever. The technique uses carbon nanotubes and synthetic DNA fragments that activate an electric signal when they link up with the pathogen.

UNIVERSITY PARK, PA—Ozone, the main component of air pollution, or smog, is a highly reactive, colorless gas formed when oxygen reacts with other chemicals. Although ozone pollution is most often associated with outdoor air, the gas also infiltrates indoor environments like homes and offices. Ozone can be released by ordinary copy machines, laser printers, ultraviolet lights, and some electrostatic air purification systems, all of which contribute to increased indoor ozone levels.

A cool, freshly drawn beer – for many a person this is the greatest of pleasures. But, in fact, a bad conscience should haunt us when we drink beer as it is among the most energy-intensive foodstuffs during production. Brewing engineers from the Technische Universitaet Muenchen (TUM) are working hard to improve the energy balance of the amber beverage. They are looking into a new process combination that would allow energy savings of up to 20% during brewing.