February 1, 2010 High-speed rail and intercity passenger rail proposals in 31 states and the District of Columbia got the go-ahead with the announcement of nearly $8 billion in grant awards as part of the federal economic recovery program. California received the largest funding for projects throughout the state, totaling $2.344 billion. According to AASHTO Executive Director, John Horsley, rail projects will create good jobs and reinvigorate domestic manufacturing in U.S.

February 1, 2010 In statement, ELFA Interim President Ralph Petta applauded President Obama for remarks in his State of the Union address focusing on need to invest in new plant and equipment for all businesses. Providing tax incentives for both large and small businesses should provide much needed economic stimulus to economy, and spur investment in plant and equipment, which is a key driver in capital formation, economic growth, and productivity.

February 1, 2010 ASHRAE High Performance K-12 School Facilities conference will be held March 1-2, 2010 in Atlanta, GA and is intended to stress how optimizing facility performance can maximize student potential. Bringing together administrators, design professionals, policy makers, and other stakeholders, this event will present integrated approach to complying with codes and standards while achieving cost-effective and high-performance solution to K-12 facility design, construction, and operation.

February 1, 2010 As manufacturing shakes off effects of recession, EASTEC, the largest annual precision manufacturing event on the East Coast, promises to be the place manufactures go to upgrade their equipment and capabilities. New England Council and Deloitte Consulting LLP released report which identified subsectors within New England manufacturing industry that are poised for growth. They include aerospace, medical device, electronic assembly, signal processing, and advanced materials manufacturing.

February 1, 2010 Derived from survey responses from senior executives of NEMA member companies, Electroindustry Business Confidence Index (EBCI) for current North American conditions rose in January to 57.1. Any value over 50 indicates more respondents reported that business environment improved from previous month than those who reported it worsened. Reflecting widespread sentiment that business conditions will improve over the next 6 months, EBCI for future North American conditions rose to 78.6.

February 1, 2010 Material Handling Industry of America and Automation Technologies Council announce that ProMat and The International Robots, Vision and Motion Control Show will co-locate March 21-24, 2011. Co-locating will provide attendees with education and networking opportunities as well as exposure to largest equipment and technology display in North America. Over 825 exhibitors will showcase their solutions to thousands of manufacturing, warehousing, and distribution professionals from over 100 countries.

February 1, 2010 ZigBee® Alliance announced certification of 11 devices from 5 companies using ZigBee Home Automation. Overall, there are now 28 products certified to help consumers and professional installers create smart homes that control home appliances, lighting, heating and cooling, energy use, and security. Standards-based wireless technologies, such as ZigBee, are spurred on by decreasing price and growing availability of peripheral components.

February 1, 2010 ANSI announced World Standards Week (WSW) 2010 - one week of forums, meetings, and ceremonies - will take place in Arlington, VA from September 21-24. During this event, members of standards and conformity assessment community can "meet, collaborate, celebrate our successes, and plan for the future," according to ANSI president and CEO. Other events taking place during WSW include 2010 ANSI Awards Banquet and Ceremony on September 22 and World Standards Day on September 23.

February 1, 2010 ELFA's Monthly Leasing and Finance Index (MLFI-25), reporting economic activity for equipment finance sector, showed overall new business volume for December declined by 22% compared to 2008. Month-to-month new business volume increased from November, but was down compared to last year. Showing improved portfolio quality, receivables decreased from November but increased on year-over-year basis. Similaraly, charge-offs decreased from prior month, but rose compared to December 2008.

January 29, 2010 IPC Wage and Salary Report for North American EMS Industry 2008-2009 is based on results from 129 U.S. and Canadian EMS facilities that participated in IPC's biennial wage and salary survey. Reflecting current economic conditions, findings in 60-pg report indicate hourly and management employee salaries climbed 1.9% and salaried employees 1.7% in 2009. It shows 2008-2009 benefit costs were up to 22.7% of total wages, while 75% of companies paid 100% of employee's life insurance premiums.

January 29, 2010 Following President Obama's State of the Union address, NAM President, John Engler, made statement commending President for focusing on jobs. However, policies are needed that encourage job creation and help U.S. to be more competitive in global economy. NAM submitted economic analysis conducted by Milken Institute that shows more than 11 million jobs can be created in this decade by reducing corporate tax rate, establishing permanent R&D tax credit, and modernizing U.S. export controls.

January 29, 2010 In collaboration with CDC, researchers at NIST have completed first of a series of tests to determine best practices for properly storing and monitoring temperature of refrigerated vaccines. Since vaccines must be kept 2-8°C, vaccines should never be kept on door shelves because relative lack of insulation in door allowed unacceptable temperature drifts. Vaccines should also be kept away from walls of refrigerator, because defrost cycle can cause temperature of walls to shift.

January 29, 2010 NIST and partners from industry and academia have designed and tested experimental antennas that may be useful in wireless systems with decreasing form factors such as emergency communications devices, micro-sensors, and portable ground-penetrating radar. Such antennas incorporate metamaterials - materials engineered with often microscopic structures - and radiate as much as 95% of input radio signal. Form factors can be as small as 1/50 of wavelength and could shrink further.

January 29, 2010 NIST is seeking university teams to participate in Virtual Manufacturing Automation Competition on May 2-3, 2010, to simulate industrial robot performing stacking of odd-lot boxes on shipping pallet. Deadline for entering competition, which is cosponsored by NIST, IEEE, and Georgia Tech, is February 15. Winning team will run part of their simulated task on robot at International Conference on Robotics and Automation 2010 in Anchorage, Alaska in May.

January 29, 2010 Jobs for America: Investments and Policies for Economic Growth and Competitiveness says that more than 182,000 jobs could result from $10.4 billion government investment in NextGen. According to AIA President and CEO Marion C. Blakey, report calls out value of aerospace manufacturing and says investment in NextGen will add more jobs to already established and productive manufacturing facilities. Data shows that making NextGen priority in government jobs bill will benefit everyone.

January 29, 2010 Sponsored by ASTM Committee E08 on Fatigue and Fracture and the European Structural Integrity Society, Eleventh International ASTM/ESIS Symposium on Fatigue and Fracture Mechanics will focus on fatigue crack growth. Emphasis will be placed on papers addressing the following topics: crack closure effects, adjusted compliance ratio method as alternate closure assessment methodology, residual stress effects, and crack growth in near-threshold regime.

January 29, 2010 Up until February 19, IPC is seeking industry votes to determine top 10 poster abstracts from 14 that have been submitted for consideration in IPC academic poster competition. These 10 academic posters will be displayed during exhibition at IPC APEX EXPO(TM) on April 6-8 in Las Vegas, where attendees and exhibitors will be invited to vote for their favorite. Monetary prizes will be given to authors of top 3 posters, which will be announced at close of show floor reception on April 7.

January 29, 2010 At its 13th Annual Energy and Environment Conference (EUEC), presentations will be made on technologies developed by Southern Research Institute scientists. Featured innovations will include on-site bromine-gas production and injection system used to mitigate mercury emissions in energy production for coal-fired utilities, as well as technology that obtains data on droplet size and concentration distributions in wet scrubber mist eliminator performance testing programs.

January 29, 2010 USNC of International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) is seeking nominations for participants in Young Professionals 2010 Workshop, to be held October 13-15, 2010, in conjunction with IEC 2010 General Meeting in Seattle. U.S. stakeholders are encouraged to nominate young professionals in first 10-15 yr of professional career, post university. Nominations must be submitted electronically to Charlie Zegers of USNC by April 30, 2010, and 3 winners will be notified in July 2010.

January 29, 2010 Members of NESCC, joint initiative between ANSI and NIST, are invited to participate in 3 task groups, 1st which will be NRC Standards Database Task Group to develop searchable database of NRC regulatory documents. Concrete Task Group will coordinate safety and non-safety related concrete requirements in nuclear power plants, identify concrete design needs, and plan how to incorporate them into codes/standards. Members are also being sought for Ad Hoc Group on NESCC Meeting Planning.