Emergency workers who are first on the scene of a disaster, be it a building collapse or a blazing fire, face unknown risks. Rescue workers recently tested technology from VivoMetrics and Siemens Environmental Systems that aims to help measure those risks.

An emergency worker at the Shadow Bowl donned a hazmat suit outfitted with technology from VivoMetrics and Siemens, which monitored environmental hazards and physiologic stresses.

During the civil preparedness drill known as the Shadow Bowl, a first responder donned VivoMetrics' Life Shirt and Siemens' TeleTrak beneath a fully enclosed hazardous materials protective suit. The two wireless monitoring systems delivered a continuous stream of real-time physiologic and environmental data, of intensive-care unit quality, to a remote field command post, where it could be used to make critical decisions, according to a VivoMetrics representative.

The LifeShirt System is a continuous ambulatory monitoring system that collects data on cardiac and respiratory function and other physiological parameters, and correlates them over time. The TeleTrak is a radiation dose and rate-monitoring sensor that provides real-time data on the received dose and ambient dose radiation in the wearer's immediate environment.

The Shadow Bowl was staged in San Diego during Super Bowl weekend at the end of January. It was intended to test biomedical technologies and communication systems that could be used in a mass casualty event.

An international relay team sponsored by an academic consortium recently set a data-transfer speed record of 6.7 gigabytes of data across 10,978 kilometers of network in less than one minute. The distance is more than 6,800 miles.

The ongoing land-speed data record competition is backed by Internet2, a consortium made up of 200 universities partnered with industry and government sponsors. Some of the findings that come through the competition may help develop what the consortium calls the next-generation Internet. In other words, an Internet that runs faster and can carry more information than its current manifestation.

To earn the fastest data-transfer speed yet, the relay team transferred uncompressed data equivalent to nearly two feature-length DVD-quality movies at 923 megabits per second for 58 seconds from Sunnyvale, Calif., to Amsterdam—about one-quarter of the way around the world. This transfer speed is more than 3,500 times faster than a typical home Internet broadband connection, according to Internet2 of Ann Arbor, Mich.

The record-setting team consisted of members from the National Institute for Nuclear Physics and High Energy Physics in Amsterdam; the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, a research laboratory at Stanford University in California; the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena; and the faculty of science at the University of Amsterdam.

The speed record shows that the protocols that form the foundation of the commercial Internet can support gigabit-per-second speeds over transcontinental network links, said Antony Antony, a researcher at the National Institute for Nuclear Physics and High Energy Physics. He cautioned that advances in Internet speed are still fairly far in the future.

This kind of performance under real-world conditions still requires much research, Antony said.

Pushing the edge of the Internet's performance envelope can improve experts' understanding of how to transmit data across the Internet, said Les Cottrell, assistant director of the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center's computer services. It also helps them learn how to implement new networking technologies that can bring high-speed data transfer to everyday applications.

For instance, using advances in Internet speed, doctors at multiple sites could share and discuss cardio-angiographs in order to diagnose the patient and plan treatment. Disaster recovery experts might use a very high-speed Internet connection to share information between countries in near real time to develop recovery and relief plans, according to Cottrell.

Down hole and subsea environments encountered in oil exploration expose equipment to harsh conditions, such as high temperature, shock and vibration, and exposure to acids, hydrocarbons, and steam. One key element to keeping critical equipment operating trouble-free is reliable communication of data and power.

Greene, Tweed & Co., a Houston supplier of specialty seals and engineered plastic components, injection molds an eight-pin connector out of Arlon 2000, a proprietary thermoplastic compound based on Victrex PEEK-HT, a high-temperature grade of polyetheretherketone supplied by Victrex USA of Greenville, S.C.

Eight-pin SealConnect oilfield connectors, made by Greene, Tweed, are molded of a composite based on a high-temperature grade of PEEK.

Greene, Tweed's oilfield marketing manager, Nick Hartle, said that the material outperforms glass, ceramic, or metal composite materials that have historically been used for high-pressure, high-temperature connectors for oilfield use.

The eight-pin connector, called SealConnect, is made of material designed to withstand prolonged exposure of 20,000 pounds per square inch at 400°F and short-term exposures of 25,000 psi at 500°F. The connector is injection molded.

Victrex USA claims that its PEEK-HT grade is also suitable for applications such as engine compartment components, headlamp reflectors, heat exchanger parts, and industrial valve linings. The high-temperature grade has a melt temperature of 705°F, and retains its mechanical and physical properties at temperatures that are as much as 54°F higher than standard PEEK. It also delivers three times the wear resistance and higher tensile strength, according to the supplier.

Robert McNeel and Associates of Bellingham, Wash., has released Rhino 3.0, an upgrade to its 3-D modeling software. The upgrade includes a new geometry core and an improved third-party interface, according to the developer.

VX Corp., a Palm Bay, Fla., developer of CAD-CAM software for engineers and industrial designers, has released version seven of its VX software.

TI Automotive, a Warren, Mich., fuel systems supplier, acquired the electric fuel pump division of Kolbenschmidt Pierburg AG of Neuss, Germany. Pierburg supplies electric fuel pumps to a number of European automotive manufacturers, including DaimlerChrysler, BMW, and Volkswagen.

Steel, concrete, engineering, and technology companies have joined together to form the United States Maglev Coalition. The partnership's goal is to spur construction of high-speed intercity magnetic levitation projects. Member companies include United States Steel Corp., General Atomic, Bethlehem Steel, Transrapid International-USA, and Maglev Inc.

President Bush's recently proposed fiscal year 2004 budget includes $7.63 billion for the Environmental Protection Agency. This represents a $10 million increase from last year's request. Core water program spending will increase by $55 million; $7.7 million will be channeled into the Clean Air Program for cutting power plant air emissions; and an additional $150 million will be allotted for Superfund cleanups, according to EPA Administrator Christie Whitman.

Solar Turbines Inc., a San Diego-based subsidiary of Caterpillar Inc., reached a five-year agreement to supply turbomachinery and related products and services to ChevronTexaco Corp. Solar will supply industrial gas turbine engines, gas compressors, and aftermarket products and services, amounting to more than $50 million annually.

Steel Dynamics Inc. of Fort Wayne, Ind., has reached an agreement to purchase a Jeffersonville, Ind., steel coating facility, formerly operated by GalvPro, that is capable of producing between 300,000 and 350,000 tons per year of light-gauge, hot-dipped, cold-rolled galvanized steel.

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