When looking for a needle in a haystack, it's helpful to know what a needle looks like. A new software tool developed by researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) makes it possible to find chemical 'needles' in data 'haystacks' without having to know anything about the 'needle' in advance.
The NIST software should be especially useful for analyzing ultrapure metals - recently shown to have superior strength, corrosion-resistance and other properties - and for monitoring nanoscale semiconductor fabrication. Commercial X-ray detector manufacturers already have included the method used in the software into their products.
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How Secure Is Your Network? NIST Model Knows
(PhysOrg.com) -- Data breaches are a recurring nightmare for IT managers responsible for securing not only their company’s confidential data, but possibly also sensitive information belonging to their clients, such as social security numbers or health or financial records. To help managers safeguard valuable information most efficiently, computer scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology are applying security metrics to computer network pathways to assign a probable risk of attack to guide IT managers in securing their networks.
Software Helps Developers Get Started with PIV Cards
The National Institute of Standards and Technology has developed two demonstration software packages that show how Personal Identity Verification (PIV) cards can be used with Windows and Linux systems to perform logon, digital signing and verification, and other services. The demonstration software, written in C++, will assist software developers, system integrators and computer security professionals as they develop products and solutions in response to Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12 and the FIPS 201-1 standard.
Wake-up call: Draft security pub looks at cell phones, PDAs
In recent years cell phones and PDAs—"Personal Digital Assistants"—have exploded in power, performance and features. They now often boast expanded memory, cameras, Global Positioning System receivers and the ability to record and store multimedia files and transfer them over wireless networks—in addition to the cell phone system—using WiFi, infrared and Bluetooth communications. Oh, yes, and make phone calls.
Hitachi Delivers New Power-Efficient Terabyte Hard Drive
Hitachi Global Storage has announced today the Deskstar 7K1000.B, the world’s most energy-efficient 7,200 RPM one terabyte (1TB) hard drive.
NIST releases preview of much-anticipated online mathematics reference
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has released a five-chapter preview of the much-anticipated online Digital Library of Mathematical Functions (DLMF). In development for over a decade, the DLMF is designed to be a modern successor to the 1964 "Handbook of Mathematical Functions," a reference work that is the most widely distributed NIST publication (with over a million copies in print) and one of the most cited works in the mathematical literature (still receiving over 1,600 yearly citations in the research literature). The preview of the new DLMF is a fully functional beta-level release of five of the 36 chapters.
Software tackles production line machine 'cyclic jitters'
Electronic commands passed from machine to machine over data networks increasingly drive today’s precisely timed and sequenced manufacturing production lines. However timing irregularities in the signals from even one machine—a difference of only a tenth of a second from the expected—can result in havoc for manufacturing processes on the plant floor. The timing glitches, called “cyclic jitters,” can cause real jitters, making production machines jump or shake, damaging products, even shutting down assembly lines. National Institute of Standards and Technology engineers have created a software program to help avoid that problem.
All done with mirrors: Microscope tracks nanoparticles in 3-D
A clever new microscope design allows nanotechnology researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to track the motions of nanoparticles in solution as they dart around in three dimensions. The researchers hope the technology, which NIST plans to patent, will lead to a better understanding of the dynamics of nanoparticles in fluids and, ultimately, process control techniques to optimize the assembly of nanotech devices.
NIST to Study Hazards of Portable Gasoline-Powered Generators
The same gasoline-powered portable generators that keep the lights burning, the freezer cold, and the house warm when a storm shuts off the electricity, can also kill you in minutes if you fail to follow safe practices.
