National Institute of Standards and Technology 2016 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

In March 2016, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and ASTM International announced a new international standard that can ``map'' the critically important environmental aspects of manufacturing processes, leading to significant improvements in sustainability while keeping a product's life cycle low cost and efficient. Sustainability for manufacturing is beginning to be addressed through the recently approved ASTM Standard Guide for Characterizing Environmental Aspects of Manufacturing Processes (ASTM E60.13 E3012-16). The standard provides a science-based, systematic approach to capture and describe information about the environmental aspects for any manufacturing production process or group of processes, and then use that data to make informed decisions on improvements. NIST is announcing the Reusable Abstractions of Manufacturing Processes (RAMP) Challenge, with support from ASTM International, the National Science Foundation (NSF), and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Manufacturing Science and Engineering Conference (MSEC) Organizing Committee, to familiarize the community with a recent standard for modeling manufacturing processes that was developed under the ASTM's E60.13 Subcommittee on Sustainable Manufacturing. The RAMP Challenge calls on participants (either as an individual or as a team) to model any manufacturing process and demonstrate application of the ASTM E3012-16 Unit Manufacturing Process (UMP) representation for purposes of information sharing and sustainability assessment. The RAMP Challenge will provide an opportunity for participants to put this standard into practice in modeling a process of their own interest, and to share experiences in applying the standard across a variety of processes. Formal methods for acquiring and exchanging information about manufacturing processes will lead to consistent characterizations and help establish a collection for reuse of these models. Standard methods will ensure effective communication of computational analytics and sharing of sustainability performance data. Results of the competition will assist in demonstrating the use of a reusable standard format leading to models suitable for automated inclusion in a system analysis, such as a system simulation model or an optimization program.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) invites organizations to provide products and technical expertise to support and demonstrate security platforms for the Multifactor Authentication for e-Commerce Project for the retail sector. This notice is the initial step for the National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (NCCoE) in collaborating with technology companies to address cybersecurity challenges identified under the retail sector program. Participation in the Multifactor Authentication for e-Commerce Project is open to all interested organizations.

The Department of Commerce, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the general public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on proposed and/or continuing information collections, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) invites organizations to provide products and technical expertise to support and demonstrate security platforms for Mobile Application Single Sign On (SSO) for the Public Safety & First Responder sector. This notice is the initial step for the National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (NCCoE) in collaborating with technology companies to address cybersecurity challenges identified under the Public Safety & First Responder sector program. Participation in the use case is open to all interested organizations.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), an agency of the United States Department of Commerce, owns two patents related to controlled liposome formation using microfluidic channels: U.S. Patent 9,198,645, titled ``Controlled Vesicle Self-Assembly in Continuous Two Phase Flow Microfluidic Channels'' (NIST Docket 04-003); and U.S. Patent 8,715,591, title ``Microfluidic Apparatus to Control Liposome Formation'' (NIST Docket 09-017). Further details about these patents are provided in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section, below.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), an agency of the United States Department of Commerce, is establishing the Mouse Cell Line Authentication Consortium and invites organizations to participate in this Consortium. The Consortium will collaborate to obtain concordant short tandem repeat (STR) profiles for mouse cell lines, draft consensus standards for mouse cell line authentication, and create a public database of STR profiles for mouse cell lines. The Consortium has been developed in collaboration with American Type Culture Collection (ATCC). Participation in this Consortium is open to all eligible organizations, as described below.

The Judges Panel of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (Judges Panel) will meet in closed session Sunday, October 30, 2016 through Friday, November 4, 2016, from 8:30 a.m. until 5:30 p.m. Eastern time each day. The purpose of this meeting is to review recommendations from site visits, and recommend 2016 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award recipients. The meeting is closed to the public in order to protect the proprietary data to be examined and discussed at the meeting.

The Information Security and Privacy Advisory Board (ISPAB) will meet Wednesday, October 26, 2016, from 9:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m., Eastern Time, Thursday, October 27, 2016, from 9:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m., Eastern Time, and Friday, October 28, 2016 from 9:00 a.m. until 12:00 p.m. Eastern Time. All sessions will be open to the public.

In 2011, President Obama issued a Presidential Memorandum Accelerating Technology Transfer and Commercialization of Federal Research in Support of High-Growth Businesseswhich called on Federal agencies to establish performance goals, metrics, evaluation methods, and implementation plans to improve the effectiveness of Federal technology transfer activities. The President's charge has stimulated agency interest in studies that assess the impact of technologies transferred from Federal laboratories. In an effort to encourage research in this area, the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the Journal of Technology Transfer present a Federal Impact Assessment (FIA) Challenge for researchers to develop impact studies of Federal technology transfer activities. The FIA Challenge calls on researchers to perform original retrospective studies that assess the impact of federally developed technologies that (1) have been developed completely or in part by Federal researchers working at any Federal agency at any time over the past 30 years, and (2) have been transferred to an entity other than the agency which developed the technology.

This notice lists the membership of the National Institute of Standards and Technology Performance Review Board (NIST PRB) and supersedes the list published on September 3, 2014.

The Visiting Committee on Advanced Technology (VCAT or Committee), National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), will meet in an open session on Tuesday, October 18, 2016 from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Mountain Time and Wednesday, October 19, 2016 from 8:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Mountain Time. The VCAT is composed of fifteen members appointed by the NIST Director who are eminent in such fields as business, research, new product development, engineering, labor, education, management consulting, environment, and international relations.

The Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity requests information about current and future states of cybersecurity in the digital economy. As directed by Executive Order 13718, ``Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity'' (the ``Executive Order''), the Commission will make detailed recommendations to strengthen cybersecurity in both the public and private sectors while protecting privacy, ensuring public safety and economic and national security, fostering discovery and development of new technical solutions, and bolstering partnerships between Federal, State and local government and the private sector in the development, promotion, and use of cybersecurity technologies, policies, and best practices. The Secretary of Commerce was tasked by the Exective Order to direct the Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to provide the Commission with such expertise, services, funds, facilities, staff, equipment, and other support services as may be necessary to carry out its mission. Responses to this RFIwhich will be posted at https://www.nist.gov/ cybercommissionwill inform the Commission as it develops its detailed recommendations.

This is a notice in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 209(e) and 37 CFR 404.7(a)(1)(i) that the National Institute of Standards and Technology (``NIST''), U.S. Department of Commerce, is contemplating the grant of an exclusive license in the United States of America, its territories, possessions and commonwealths, to NIST's interest in the invention embodied in U.S. Patent Application No. 15/188,211, titled ``Acousto-Microwave System for Determining Mass or Leak of Gas in a Vessel and Process for Same,'' (NIST Docket No. 15-010US1) to Western Energy Support & Technology, Inc. The grant of the license would be for leak rate testing and gas flow standards fields of uses.

The Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity will meet Tuesday, August 23, 2016, from 9:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. Central Time at the University of Minnesota's TCF Bank Stadium-DQ Club Room. The primary purpose of the meeting is to discuss the challenges and opportunities for organizations and consumers in securing the digital economy. In particular, the meeting will address: (1) Challenges confronting consumers in the digital economy; (2) innovation (Internet of Things, healthcare, and other areas); and (3) assured products and services. The meeting will support detailed recommendations to strengthen cybersecurity in both the public and private sectors while protecting privacy, ensuring public safety and economic and national security, fostering discovery and development of new technical solutions, and bolstering partnerships between Federal, State, local, tribal and territorial governments and the private sector in the development, promotion, and use of cybersecurity technologies, policies, and best practices. All sessions will be open to the public.

The 101st Annual Meeting of the National Conference on Weights and Measures (NCWM) will be held in Denver, Colorado, from Sunday, July 24, 2016, through Thursday, July 28, 2016. This notice contains information about significant items on the NCWM Committee agendas but does not include all agenda items. As a result, the items are not consecutively numbered.

NIST invites applications from eligible organizations in connection with NIST's funding up to eleven (11) separate MEP cooperative agreements for the operation of MEP Centers in the designated States' service areas and in the funding amounts identified in the Funding Availability section of this notice. NIST anticipates awarding one (1) cooperative agreement for each of the identified States. The objective of this announcement by the MEP Program is to provide manufacturing extension services to primarily small and medium- sized manufacturers within the States designated in the Funding Availability section of this notice. The selected organizations will become part of the MEP national system of extension service providers, currently located throughout the United States and Puerto Rico.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Smart Grid Advisory Committee (SGAC or Committee), will meet in open session on Wednesday, July 13, 2016 from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Eastern time and Thursday, July 14, 2016 from 8:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Eastern time. This meeting was originally scheduled for January 26-27, 2016 and was rescheduled due to inclement weather. The primary purposes of this meeting are to provide updates on NIST Smart Grid and Cyber-Physical Systems Program activities and to discuss resiliency and reliability topics. The agenda may change to accommodate Committee business. The final agenda will be posted on the Smart Grid Web site at https:// www.nist.gov/smartgrid.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) invites organizations to provide products and technical expertise to support and demonstrate security platforms for the Data Integrity Building Block. This notice is the initial step for the National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (NCCoE) in collaborating with technology companies to address cybersecurity challenges identified under the Data Integrity Building Block. Participation in the Data Integrity Building Block is open to all interested organizations.

The Board of Overseers of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (Board of Overseers) and the Judges Panel of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (Judges Panel) will meet together in open session on Thursday, June 9, 2016, from 8:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Eastern time. The Board of Overseers, appointed by the Secretary of Commerce, reports the results of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (Award) activities to the Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) each year, along with its recommendations for the improvement of the Award process. The Judges Panel, also appointed by the Secretary of Commerce, ensures the integrity of the Award selection process and recommends Award recipients to the Secretary of Commerce. The purpose of this meeting is to discuss and review information received from the National Institute of Standards and Technology and from the Chair of the Judges Panel. The agenda will include: Baldrige Program Update, Baldrige Foundation Fundraising Update, Baldrige Judges Panel Update, Ethics Review, Applicants and Eligibility, and New Business/Public Comment.

The Information Security and Privacy Advisory Board (ISPAB) will meet Wednesday, June 15, 2016, from 8:30 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time, Thursday, June 16, 2016, from 8:30 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time, and Friday, June 17, 2016, from 8:30 a.m. until 12:00 p.m. Eastern Time. All sessions will be open to the public.

The Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity (the ``Commission'') will meet Monday, May 16, 2016, from 9:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time in Vanderbilt Hall at the New York University (NYU) School of Law, Center on Law and Security located at 40 Washington Square South, New York, New York. The primary purpose of the meeting is to discuss the challenges and opportunities facing the finance and insurance sectors as the Commission develops detailed recommendations to strengthen cybersecurity in both the public and private sectors while protecting privacy, ensuring public safety and economic and national security, fostering discovery and development of new technical solutions, and bolstering partnerships between Federal, state, local, tribal and territorial governments and the private sector in the development, promotion, and use of cybersecurity technologies, policies, and best practices. All sessions will be open to the public.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) announces that the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) Advisory Board will hold an open meeting on Thursday May 19, 2016, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.

The Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity will meet Thursday, April 14, 2016, from 1 p.m. until 4 p.m. Eastern Time. The primary purpose of the meeting is to discuss the goals and outcomes of the Commission's work with an emphasis on topics for the Commission to review as it develops detailed recommendations to strengthen cybersecurity in both the public and private sectors while protecting privacy, ensuring public safety and economic and national security, fostering discovery and development of new technical solutions, and bolstering partnerships between Federal, State, local, tribal and territorial governments and the private sector in the development, promotion, and use of cybersecurity technologies, policies, and best practices. All sessions will be open to the public.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is establishing the Service Life Prediction Methodologies and Metrologies for Commercial Polymers Consortium (Consortium) and invites organizations to join the Consortium. The Consortium will develop the science necessary to support the modification of standards for the testing and the certification of commercial polymeric materials. This notice is the initial step for the Consortium in collaborating with organizations to develop reliability-based service life prediction methodology for commercial polymers. The prediction methods will be used to update testing standards for polymeric materials in order to better assess the level of protection for the consumer while reducing the time for evaluation and certification of polymeric materials. Participation in the Consortium is open to all eligible organizations as described below.

The Department of Commerce, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the general public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on proposed and/or continuing information collections, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.