NIST Technicalendar January 19 to January 23, 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)

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No Scheduled Events

No Scheduled Events

10:00 AM - Influence of surface chemistry on the behavior of engineered nanomaterials in the environment
11:00 AM - Computer Experiments for an Alternative Approach to Mass Measurement

10:30 AM - Novel Transport Properties of Ga1-xMnxAs and Graphene

10:30 AM - Is God a Mathematician?

1/19 -- MONDAY

No Scheduled Events

1/20 -- TUESDAY

No Scheduled Events

1/21 -- WEDNESDAY

10:00 AM - SURFACE AND MICROANALYSIS SCIENCE DIVISION SEMINAR: Influence of surface chemistry on the behavior of engineered nanomaterials in the environment
Carbon nanotubes are one of the most important class of engineered nanomaterials due to their unique combination of desirable materials properties. For many applications that include carbon nanotubes (CNTs), oxygen-containing functional groups are grafted into the surface to enhance their dispersability in aqueous solutions. I will discuss the influence that both the oxygen concentration and oxygen functional-group distribution have on the dispersed (colloidal) state of multi-walled carbon nanotubes. Towards this goal, we have prepared a suite of oxidized MWCNTs (O-MWCNTs) using common oxidizing agents. The influence of surface composition on the stability of O-MWCNT colloids was determined by time-resolved dynamic light scattering. Our results highlight the fact that quantitative relationships exist between the surface chemistry and the behavior of nanomaterials in aquatic environments. Such information represents an important step towards assessing the health and safety risks posed by engineered nanomaterials.
Howard Fairbrother , Department of Chemistry, Johns Hopkins University.
Administration Bldg, Lecture Rm. A. (NIST Contact: Dave Holbrook, 301-975-5202, dave.holbrook@nist.gov)

11:00 AM - STATISTICAL ENGINEERING DIVISION SEMINAR: Computer Experiments for an Alternative Approach to Mass Measurement
In anticipation of the redefinition of the kilogram and to avoid a parallel non-SI dissemination system for mass, an alternative approach to mass measurement is being developed by constructing a magnetically levitated balance for direct comparison of masses in vacuum versus in air. To build such a balance is extremely challenging due to the requirement of a strong and stable magnetic flux providing rigid link between air and vacuum, a proper electromagnetic shielding to eliminate the stray field, and a minimum uncertainty (highest accuracy) in measurement. Clearly, an optimal design solution can be the key between a success and a failure in achieving these requirements. To aid this process of finding an optimal solution, we have resorted to computer-aided modeling and design. Most electromagnetic computer models are solved using finite element based solvers. The commercially available software package that we use to model the forces on the the magnetically levitated body components and the effect of electromagnetic shielding is a typical example of such an application. One of the features of this software package is the ability to automate the model design process through the use of scripts. This functionality, along with the ability to directly parametrize models, forms the basis for computer experiments. A computer experiment is a number of runs of the computer model (or codes) with various model parameter inputs. In this talk we will describe our computer model including its inputs and response; and we will discuss how we design, implement, and analyze computer experiments to predict the response at untried model parameters and to optimize a functional of the response. Issues concerning the verification and validation of our computer model will also be addressed.
Hung-kung Liu , Statistical Engineering Division, NIST.
Building 222, Rm. A326. (NIST Contact: John Lu, 301-975-3208, john.lu@nist.gov)


1/22 -- THURSDAY

10:30 AM - OPTOELECTRONICS DIVISION SEMINAR: Novel Transport Properties of Ga1-xMnxAs and Graphene
Spintronics, a spin-based electronics that takes advantage of electron spin rather than electron charge, has shown remarkable impact in technologies to store and process information. With the discovery and successful commercialization of metal-based spintronics like hard disk, the question has turned to whether it is possible to utilize the spin degree of freedom in semiconductor for superior performance. In response, a key material, Ga1-xMnxAs, has emerged recently and attracted extensive interests because it provides combination of both spin and capabilities of semiconductor, which therefore offers opportunities for a new generation of devices combining microelectronics with spin-dependent effects. As an emergent electronic material and model system for fundamental physics, graphene has become a subject of intense focus, owing to its unusual electronic spectrum and potential applications. In the field of spintronics, graphene is also a rapidly rising star due to its ideal environment for spin-transport, and has been experimentally demonstrated as the first semiconductor spintronics device operated at room temperature. In these two candidate materials for semiconductor spintronics, we have observed many novel transport phenomenon through atomic-scale control of sample growth, nanofabrications, optics measurements, electric transport measurements and a new approach for spintronics research: thermoelectric transport measurements. In this talk, I will introduce: 1. spin-dependent transports in Ga1-xMnxAs, including spin-valve like giant planar Hall effect and planar Nernst effect, anisotropic magneto-thermopower, dissipationless anomalous charge current and heat current; 2. anomalous electric and thermoelectric transports of Dirac particles in single layer graphene, including Quantum Hall effect, diverging behavior in thermopower and anomalously large Nernst signal at the Dirac point under high magnetic field.
Yong Pu , Graduate Student, University of California-Riverside.
Metrology Building, Room B165. (NIST Contact: David Newell, 301-975-4228, david.newell@nist.gov)


1/23 -- FRIDAY

10:30 AM - NIST COLLOQUIUM SERIES: Is God a Mathematician?
For centuries, mathematical theories have proven uncannily accurate at describing - and predicting - the physical world. What is it that gives mathematics such powers? In "Is God A Mathematician?" this question will be thoroughly reviewed. The talk will span such fields as mathematics, cosmology, physics, and the cognitive sciences, and will attempt to offer an accessible and lively account of the lives and thoughts of some of the greatest mathematicians and scientists in history, from Archimedes to Galileo and Descartes, and from Newton to Hilbert and Gödel, on up to the present day. Along the way I will discuss another question with which mathematicians, philosophers, and neuroscientists have struggled for centuries: Is mathematics ultimately invented or discovered? Dr. Mario Livio is the acclaimed author of "The Equation That Couldn't Be Solved" and "The Golden Ratio." His new book, "Is God a Mathematician?" will be available for review and purchase before and after the talk. A popular lecturer, he last spoke at NIST in 2004 (Beauty in a Dark Universe).
Mario Livio , Senior Astrophysicist, Space Telescope Science Institute.
Administration Building, Green Auditorium. (NIST Contact: Kum Ham, 301-975-4203, kham@nist.gov)
Special Assistance Available


ADVANCE NOTICE

1/27/09 10:00 AM - LECTURE SERIES OF THE COMPLEX SYSTEMS PROGRAM OF ITL: Measurement Science for Complex Information Systems
ABSTRACT: Modern distributed systems, such as the Internet, consist of millions of independent components whose collective behavior exhibits macroscopic properties, which feedback to the components, altering their behavior and exerting additional influence on observed macroscopic properties. These feedback loops cause difficulty in predicting global behavior, which emerges in a large system. As a result, injecting new technology into such systems risks unexpected, undesirable behaviors. To overcome this problem, NIST researchers are defining methods to measure, understand and predict macroscopic behavior in large, distributed systems; aiming toward a measurement science for complex information systems. This lecture introduces the motivation underlying the research, identifies the major research challenges and outlines project organization. The bulk of the lecture investigates a specific challenge problem: predicting effects on macroscopic network behavior from adopting proposed replacement congestion-control algorithms for the Internet. THE SPEAKER: Kevin Mills has held various research and management positions at NIST since 1982, except for three years as a DARPA program manager. Mills, who received his PhD in information technology from George Mason University (GMU), worked for five years in industry and the USMC, where he developed real-time systems. Concurrent with his NIST career, Dr. Mills served for ten years on the adjunct faculty of the GMU School for Information Technology and Engineering. He is a senior member of the IEEE. For more information about Dr. Mills, please consult: http://www.antd.nist.gov/~mills
Kevin Mills , Senior Research Scientist, NIST, Gaithersburg, MD, kevin.mills@nist.gov.
Administration Bldg, Lecture Rm. B. (NIST Contact: Sandy Ressler, 301-975-3549, sandy.ressler@nist.gov)

1/29/09 10:30 AM - CNST NANOTECHNOLOGY SEMINAR SERIES: Understanding nanostructure nucleation, growth and growth termination through real time TEM observations
In order for nanostructure materials to find application in real technologies, we must have a thorough understanding of how to create reproducible materials. I will detail our work using environmental and ultra-high vacuum transmission electron microscopy methods to image nanostructure nucleation and growth as it happens, thereby allowing unique insights into both growth mechanisms and kinetics. In particular, I will describe in detail the kinetics of the vapor-liquid-solid growth of silicon nanowires, with a focus on the kinetics of both Au dissolution in the AuSi eutectic liquid, and on the nucleation of Si from this same liquid at higher saturations. Careful quantification of the images and correlation with a simple model of the process indicates that the nucleation process is highly repeatable down to very small scales (of order 10 nm), and that we can extract information regarding the critical supersaturations required for nucleation. I will also discuss our latest results concerning growth termination during the creation of carbon nanotube 'carpets', wherein we correlate the end of growth with an Ostwald ripening of the catalysts require to mediate the conversion of hydrocarbon source gases to carbon nanotubes. Throughout, I will try to demonstrate the power of the in-situ TEM technique to visualize how things happen during nanostructure creation.
Eric Stach , Director, Purdue Electron Microscopy Consortium,.
Bldg. 215, Rm. C103-C106. (NIST Contact: Nikolai Zhitenev, 301-975-6039, nikolai.zhitenev@nist.gov)

1/29/09 11:00 AM - MSEL SUSTAINABILITY SEMINAR SERIES: MSEL Sustainability Seminar Series--Carbon Capture Options for Coal Power Generation Plants :Challenges and Opportunities
In the United States, 50% of the nation's total electricity (2000 Billion Kilowatthours) comes from coal generation. Coal makes up nearly 85% of U.S. fuel resources and, at present rates of consumption, should last for more than 250 years. By the year 2030, electricity consumption is expected to grow by 30% in the U.S. and by 85% worldwide [1,2]. Finally, coal provides nearly $80 billion dollars a year to the economy of the United States and stimulates over one million jobs [3]. While coal is expected to be an important part of the energy mix for a long time to come, the environmental impacts of coal during mining and use must be addressed through technological innovations. For example, coal-based power plants in the U.S. release nearly 2 billion metric tonnes per year of carbon dioxide (CO2) [4], one of the major greenhouse gases that is believed to contribute to the global climate change. Currently there is no U.S. policy on carbon emissions. The existing processes for capturing CO2 from flue gases on coal-fired power plants are expensive and account for more than 80% of the total cost of an integrated carbon sequestration process. The high capture cost results from both high energy consumption and high capital cost. For example, the cost for CO2 removal from pulverized coal (PC) power plants with a state-of-the-art mono-ethanol-amine (MEA)-based absorption process typically ranges 40–60 $/ton CO2 avoided. A key technical and economic challenge is to develop advanced technologies that can reduce the avoidance cost to below $30/ton CO2. In this presentation, a review and suitability of various commercially available and emerging technologies for CO2 capture from coal power generation plants will be presented. These will include post-combustion, pre-combustion, and oxy-combustion options. The advantages and disadvantages of each class of technology will be discussed. [1] Energy Information Administration, Annual Energy Outlook, 2008; [2] Energy Information Administration, System for the Analysis of Global Energy Markets, 2007; [3] http://nationalcoalcouncil.org; [4] Annual Energy Outlook, 2007.
Massoud Rostam-Abadi , Institute of Natural Resource Sustainability, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, IL, massoud@isgs.illinois.edu.
MSEL (Building 223), Rm. B307. (NIST Contact: Winnie Wong-Ng, 301-975-5791, winnie.wong-ng@nist.gov)

2/4/09 10:30 AM - CHEMICAL AND BIOCHEMICAL REFERENCE DATA DIVISION SEMINAR: Microscopic Behavior of Ions in Unsaturated Aqueous Solutions
S Hassan , Dr./Center for Molecular Modeling, NIH.
Physics (221) Bldg, Rm. A366. (NIST Contact: Raymond Mountain, 301-975-2484, raymond.mountain@nist.gov)

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MEETINGS ELSEWHERE


1/19 -- MONDAY

No Scheduled Events

1/20 -- TUESDAY

No Scheduled Events

1/21 -- WEDNESDAY

No Scheduled Events

1/22 -- THURSDAY

11:00 AM - CARNEGIE INSTITUTION OF WASHINGTON/GEOPHYSICAL LAB. SEMINAR: DEEP MANTLE DIAMONDS FROM JUINA BRAZIL: THE SCENT OF SUBDUCTION
M. Walter , Univ. of Bristol.
Bldg, Rm..
Greenewalt Bldg., GL-DTM Grounds, Carnegie Institution of Washington, DC. (NIST Contact: B. Mysen, 202-478-8900, seminar@lists.ciw.edu)



1/23 -- FRIDAY

No Scheduled Events

ADVANCE NOTICE

No Scheduled Events

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TALKS BY NIST PERSONNEL

HUNT, F. : USING MARKOV CHAIN ANALYSIS TO STUDY DYNAMIC BEHAVIOR IN LARGE-SCALE GRID SYSTEMS.
Australasian Computer Science Week 2009, Wellington, New Zealand, 1/21.

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ANNOUNCEMENTS

CALL FOR NOMINATIONS NIST GALLERY OF DISTINGUISHED SCIENTISTS, ENGINEERS, AND ADMINISTRATORS
The NIST Portrait Gallery of Distinguished Scientists, Engineers and Administrators honors NBS/NIST alumni for outstanding career contributions to the work of NBS/NIST. Portraits and biographies of those selected are displayed in the corridor of the NIST cafeteria at Gaithersburg. Portraits of at most ten additional persons will be added to the Portrait Gallery in 2009. Any current or former NIST staff member may make a nomination. Nominations are welcome for alumni who were administrators of either programmatic or support units. SAA also encourages nominations of distinguished female and minority alumni, as well as of outstanding NBS staff members who retired before 1963. For the latter, it is understood that some requested data may no longer be available. For persons who were nominated last year, but not selected, a new nomination may be submitted. If a nominee is not selected after two successive years of nomination, the nominee will not be considered in the following year. Nomination instructions are available from the Standards Alumni Association (SAA), Room A-42 Admin, Mail Stop 0952, NIST, Gaithersburg, MD 20899-0952; telephone 301-975-2486; by email: alumni@nist.gov; or from the SAA website: www.nist.gov/director/saa. Nominations shall be received by the Standards Alumni Association on or before February 13, 2009, by mail or by email to the above addresses. No exceptions will be made to this deadline.
NIST Contact: Hans Oser, 301-975-2486, hans.oser@nist.gov

SIXTEENTH ANNUAL SIGMA XI POSTDOCTORAL POSTER PRESENTATION
The NIST Chapter of Sigma Xi announces that the Sixteenth Annual Post-Doctoral Poster Presentation will be held February 11, 2009 in Lecture Rooms A and B and in the Hall of Flags in the Administration Building. All Postdoctoral Fellows and Guest Scientists who have received their advanced degree in the last five years have been invited to present a poster on their scientific research to their NIST coworkers and friends. This year there will be two sessions: one from 9 am to 12 and the second from 1 pm to 4 pm and both will be accompanied by refreshments. All the participating Post-docs and Guest Scientists will be invited to a special reception hosted by Sigma Xi when the most outstanding posters will be announced. All the abstracts of the 2009 PPP that have been submitted are now available at the NIST Sigma Xi web site: http://www.nist.gov/sigmaxi Please plan to attend and discover the interesting research being conducted by our Post-docs and Guest Scientists and welcome them to NIST.
NIST Contact: Barbara Levin, 301-975-6682, barbara.levin@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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