When the phrases "high temperature" and "liquid nitrogen" appear in the same sentence, it can only mean that the topic is superconductivity—the strange material property of losing all electrical resistance below a certain temperature. Superconducting wire, for instance, can carry enormous amounts of electricity without losses, making it perfect for long-range power transmissions or high-intensity electromagnets.

In spite of more than 15 years of extensive research in the field, making superconducting wire in large quantities is still slow and expensive. Ordinary metals are superconductive only at extraordinarily low temperatures, while high-temperature superconducting materials are exotic ceramics that are often too brittle for use in long wires.

In January, however, SuperPower, a subsidiary of MRI manufacturer Intermagnetics General Corp. of Latham, N.Y., announced that it had secured a $10.7 million contract to underwrite research on a new generation of superconducting wire.

Previous work by the company has pushed wire production toward making 200-meter lengths at a time. The new contract will enable SuperPower to make lengths of more than 1,000 meters; some of these lengths are scheduled to be made into a cable that will be installed on the Northeast power grid at a point near Albany, N.Y. Such cables can offer more than 100 times the power density of copper wire.

Wind farms are often sited on rural hills and mountain crestlines. But a newly inaugurated set of turbines has some high-profile neighbors.

The Jersey-Atlantic Wind Farm, a five-turbine, 7.5 MW complex, is within eyeshot of some of the casinos of Atlantic City (Harrah's can be seen in the photo).

Situated at a water treatment plant, the wind farm is one of the first in the United States to take advantage of the strong, steady winds found at the seashore.

Going after a new market for its software, Algor Inc. of Pittsburgh has upgraded Nastran capabilities of its pre- and post-processing software, Fempro. The company says it expects the product to compete with a similar program, Femap from UGS Corp., as a Nastran interface.

Both programs run in Windows and handle pre- and post-processing tasks for Nastran. That is, they prepare models that are turned over to solvers for analysis and permit the review of results. The models prepared by both systems are compatible with solvers running in Windows, Linux, or Unix.

Nastran is available in a number of commercial versions based on open-source finite element software developed by NASA. According to UGS, of Plano, Texas, Femap will work with 30 different solvers, including Abaqus, Ansys, and LS-Dyna.

Fempro began as the pre- and post-processor for Algor's analysis software. In 2002, Algor added a degree of compatibility with Nastran. The user could set up models and mesh them in the Algor software and then manually transfer then to Nastran for solution. It let Algor's customers stay with a familiar interface when they needed to use Nastran.

According to Bob Williams, Algor's product manager, the new version enables an operator to set up models and automatically have them solved in Nastran. There is no longer a need to transfer models manually between programs, he said.

Purchase for a single user, or an "infinite license," costs $4,950. Annual fees for support and maintenance equal 25 percent of the purchase cost, Williams said.

The purchase price is roughly comparable to Femap's price, according to Al Robertson, the Femap product marketing manager at UGS.

UGS calls Femap "the world's leading Windows-based engineering simulation tool for finite element analysis." Robertson pointed out that Femap is sold as a stand-alone product, and also is bundled with NEiNastran from Noran Engineering Inc. and MSC.Nastran from MSC.Software Corp.

Geneva might not seem like a hotbed for solar energy. Tucked in the Alps, the city receives an average of only 3.25 kWh of sunshine per square meter each day. But the U.S. Mission to the United Nations in Geneva is going to make each watt of that energy count with a cover of solar electric panels.

The power project is a collaboration of Swiss and American engineering firms, including Powerlight of Berkeley, Calif.; RWE Schott-Solar of Billerica, Mass.; Service Cantonale de L'Energie of Geneva, and the local power utility, Services Industriels de Geneve. The new facade of the building, which cost some $1.6 million, is expected to provide a peak power of 118 kW and should pay for itself in less than 10 years.

In addition to providing a template for other government buildings around the world (especially those in sunnier climes), the project represents a major upgrade in the appearance of the mission. Before the renovation, the building's concrete facade was crumbling. The new bright blue panels on the roof and front of the building are expected to cut down on deterioration of the facade from the elements, and to reduce the air-conditioning bills because of the effect of shading from direct sunlight.

Autodesk Inc. of San Rafael, Calif., has completed its acquisition of Alias for $197 million in cash, closing a deal that was struck last October.

Current plans are for Alias to continue at its Toronto headquarters. Its branded products will retain their identity, although they are expected to be increasingly bundled with Autodesk products.

Alias's products, technology, and services will be integrated with Autodesk's Manufacturing Solutions and Media & Entertainment divisions and its consulting organization. Alias StudioTools—software for design tasks ranging from 2-D sketches to production models—is expected to add design and visualization capabilities to Autodesk's manufacturing offerings.

According to a spokesman, Alias's Maya animation software and Autodesk's 3ds Max, which is used in post-production in filmmaking, TV production, and videogame development, are likely to be packaged with engineering software offered to industrial clients. A primary target is the automotive industry.

The combined company claims more than seven million users. Many of these customers use both Autodesk and Alias products.

Autodesk said that the combined company's research and development priority is to link existing products, increase their compatibility, and improve data management.

Autodesk said it expects fourth-quarter net revenues to be between $409 and $419 million, about $4 million higher than its forecast without Alias. Earnings per share are expected to be in the neighborhood of 33 cents a share.

Several Alias managers have joined Autodesk. Dave Wharry, the Alias vice president of global sales and marketing, is now VP of sales for Autodesk's Media & Entertainment division. Michel Besner, Alias's vice president of business development for emerging markets, is now leading product management for Autodesk's Media & Entertainment 3-D product portfolio.

The Idaho National Laboratory has signed a seven-year, $30 million contract for architectural and engineering work with a team led by ANNA Inc., a company based in Annapolis, Md. The firm created a subsidiary, ANNA Idaho Inc., in Idaho Falls to lead the team of companies in executing the contract. The other firms are Vista Engineering Technologies LLC, Los Alamos Technical Associates, Burns and Roe Enterprises Inc., Longenecker & Associates, and Portage Inc.

David Alley, ANNA Inc.'s president, said he expects one of the first projects to be the design of a hot cell, an isolated environment where hot nuclear materials can be handled remotely for testing and other purposes.

The Advanced Test Reactor at Idaho Falls.

The project engineer and project design manager for the team of companies is Jim Kriskovich, vice president of Vista. Kriskovich, who serves on one of ASME's Codes & Standards committees, the Committee on Nuclear Air and Gas Treatment, said he will be dividing his time between Vista's headquarters in Kennewick, Wash., and Vista's Idaho Falls office, which opened last March.

According to the lab, jobs to be done include design modifications to the Advanced Test Reactor's emergency core cooling system and the reactor's emergency power supply.

The Advanced Test Reactor is used by the federal government and private concerns to test fuels and materials for nuclear power applications, as well as to produce medical and industrial isotopes. It is part of the laboratory's Reactor Technologies Complex.

The contract, signed last month, grew out of an experiment that began in October when the lab's supply chain management hosted a "match-making" conference. At the conference, 10 small companies and 10 large ones were brought together. The goal was to let the companies meet and then form teams to prepare proposals.

According to Jim Simonds, supply chain director for Battelle Energy Alliance, which operates the lab for the Department of Energy, five separate teams were formed and then submitted proposals.

The main requirement was that each team submitting a proposal count at least one small and one large business among its partners, and a small business had to be the lead.

DNP Global in Mumbai has become the representative in India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka for photogrammetric coordinate measurement systems made by Geodetic Systems Inc. According to DNP Global, "Shipbuilding, automotive, and aerospace sectors in India have shown much interest in this technology."

Lockheed Martin opened its Post Production Center of Excellence at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The 70,000-sq.-ft. center employs 185 people and consolidates the company's work performed in Florida for the Navy's
Trident ballistic missile submarine fleet.

American Signal Corp. of Milwaukee, which makes alert and notification products for military, law enforcement, homeland security, and commercial markets, was invited to present and activate Thailand's first tsunami warning system during Thailand's Tsunami Commemorative Ceremony being held on the anniversary of the tsunami, which occurred on Dec. 26, 2004. American Signal received an order from Thailand on Sept. 6, 2005, to install the first phase of the alert and notification system with early warning capabilities for shore land beaches of the six tsunami-affected provinces.

Johnson Controls of Milwaukee and Saft of Bagnolet, France, have launched a joint venture, to supply advanced-technology batteries for electric vehicles. The new joint venture covers the development, production, and sale of nickel-metal-hydride and lithium-ion batteries for electric and hybrid electric vehicles.

The Timken Co. said it will invest about $10 million and add 50 jobs at its plant in Altavista, Va., where it makes replacement wheel-hub bearing assemblies for light-duty pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles.

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