SCW industry news

Columbus, OH, Mar. 30: Governor Bob Taft today announced that more than $7.4 million in Third Frontier Project grants for the Wright Project Funds have been awarded to four universities and one non-profit research agency for capital equipment used in the research, development and commercialization of new projects.

Santa Barbara, CA, Mar. 30: Superconductor Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOND) ("STI"), a leading provider of high performance infrastructure products for wireless voice and data applications, today announced it received notice from The Nasdaq Stock Market on March 27, 2006, indicating that the company has regained compliance with the $1.00 per share minimum closing bid price requirement for continued listing on the Nasdaq Capital Market, pursuant to Nasdaq Marketplace Rule 4310(a)(5). Nasdaq advised the company that the matter of the company's compliance with that requirement is now closed.
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American Superconductor's D-VAR System to Enable U.K. Wind Farm to Meet Grid Interconnection Requirements

Westborough, MA, Mar. 28: American Superconductor Corporation (Nasdaq: AMSC), a leading energy technologies company, received an order for a D-VAR(R) voltage regulation system from Econnect Construction, a U.K. company specializing in grid connection for renewable energy sources. The D-VAR system will be installed in Scotland where it will provide voltage support and power factor regulation in a mixed hybrid solution designed by Econnect Construction for a 35 megawatt (MW) wind farm. AMSC expects to commission the D-VAR system in October 2006.

Columbus, OH, Mar 27: Superconductive Components, Inc. (OTCBB: SCCI), which manufactures ceramics and metals for advanced applications including optical systems, thin film batteries, and superconductors, today announced results for the three months and twelve months ended December 31, 2005. Fourth quarter 2005 highlights included: Total revenues more than doubled to $1,147,377 from $551,087 for the fourth quarter 2004.

The European Space Agency Announces Gravity Modification Breakthrough
Kirkland, WA: Mar. 29: The European Space Agency announced on March 21st the results of an experimental test in which a superconductor rotating at 6,500 rpm is shown to gain acceleration as the result of what is believed to be a gravity-modification effect. As reported by the ESA, "The experiment demonstrated that a superconductive gyroscope is capable of generating a powerful gravitomagnetic field, and is therefore the gravitational counterpart of the magnetic coil. Although just 100 millionths of the acceleration due to the Earth’s gravitational field, the measured field is a surprising one hundred million trillion times larger than Einstein’s General Relativity predicts."

VSM MedTech Discloses Fourth Quarter and Full Year Financial Results
Vancouver, BC, Mar. 21: VSM MedTech Ltd. (TSX: VSM), world leader in the emerging clinical market for magnetoencephalography (MEG)functional brain imaging, reported financial results for the year ended December 31, 2005 and the outlook for 2006. "Momentum is building for expansion of the MEG market, supported by our record backlog and a growing number of favourable peer-reviewed studies and articles acknowledging the clinical value of this technology," said Jack Price, President and CEO. "In 2005 we laid a solid foundation for VSM to participate in this market expansion, including product improvements and aggressive sales and marketing efforts. Of the 17 MEG systems awarded or announced in 2005, VSM had ten for a 59% market share.

American Superconductor Accelerates Manufacturing Plan for Commercial Second Generation (2G) High Temperature Superconductor Wire

Westborough, MA, Mar. 23: American Superconductor Corporation (Nasdaq: AMSC), a leading energy technologies company, today announced that it is accelerating its commercial manufacturing plan for second generation (2G) high temperature superconductor (HTS) wire based on meeting certain manufacturing benchmarks in its 2G pilot manufacturing operation. The Company said that it expects to more than double its planned annual wire manufacturing capacity for 2G HTS wires known as "344 superconductors" to 720,000 meters in December 2007. The increase in capacity will not require an increase in capital expenditures.

Nanjing Brain Hospital accepts delivery of VSM's functional brain imager
Vancouver, BC, Mar. 21: VSM MedTech Ltd. (TSX: VSM) has become the clear leader in the Chinese market for magnetoencephalography (MEG) systems after winning another sale for a Chinese hospital. VSM's most recent agreement is for the installation of a 275-channel CTF MEG™ functional brain imaging system at Nanjing Brain Hospital, Nanjing, China.

SNS accumulator ring successfully commissioned
Oak Ridge, TN, Mar. 21: DOE's Spallation Neutron Source, located at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, has passed another milestone on the way to completion this year—the commissioning of the proton accumulator ring, which was designed and built at Brookhaven National Laboratory. Five Office of Science laboratories—Argonne, Berkeley, Brookhaven, Jefferson and Los Alamos—participated with Oak Ridge in the design of the SNS project, which will produce the world's most intense neutron beams to probe the molecular structures of materials. As a user facility, the SNS is expected to attract researchers from all over the globe.

American Superconductor Appoints Thomas Rosa to Posts of Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer

Westborough, MA, Mar. 21: American Superconductor Corporation (Nasdaq: AMSC), a leading energy technologies company, today announced that Thomas Rosa, currently Vice President of Finance and Accounting and Corporate Secretary, has been appointed by the Board of Directors effective immediately to the position of Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer. Mr. Rosa will have primary responsibility for all aspects of financial management, control, reporting and planning for the company.

Elmsford, NY, March 20: HYPRES, Inc., leading developer of superconductor microelectronics (SME) technology, has named Oleg Mukhanov, Ph.D., to the role of general manager. Mukhanov, who is one of the world’s preeminent experts in digital superconductor technologies, previously served as vice president of technology at HYPRES. He now will oversee the company’s operations as well as technology development functions, which include circuit design, IC fabrication, quality assurance, research and development, RT electronics & products, and cryopackaging. He will report directly to Richard Hitt, president and CEO of HYPRES.

Stanford, CA, Mar. 20: The Stanford Linear Accelerator Center and Stanford University dedicated the Fred Kavli Building on March 17, 2006. Made possible through contributions from Physicist Fred Kavli and the Kavli Foundation, this state-of-the-art building is the centerpiece of the Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology (KIPAC), a joint collaboration between SLAC and Stanford University.

Baltimore, MD, Mar. 17: The American Physical Society (APS) March Meeting, usually the biggest physics meeting of the year anywhere, will occur this year March 13-17 at the Baltimore Convention Center by the harbor in Baltimore, Maryland. The March APS Meeting has traditionally been the showcase for the kind of cutting-edge research results that appear, sometimes not so long afterwards, in the new electronic, communications, computer, and medical diagnosis products that have done so much to shape modern culture.

Houston, TX, Mar. 14: Rice University physicist Randall Hulet will discuss breakthrough efforts to create a long-sought quantum superfluid at a press conference at 2:30 p.m. today at the American Physical Society's 2006 March Meeting. In January, Hulet's laboratory reported in the journal Science the observation of an elusive quantum state - a superfluid of fermions with mismatched numbers of dance partners. Despite more than 40 years of theoretical musings about what would occur in such a case, the result -- a cluster of matched pairs surrounded by a cloud of would-be dance partners -- was largely unexpected, and it has opened the door to several intriguing new avenues of investigation.

New wrinkle in the mystery of high-Tc superconductors

Upton, NY, Mar. 13: In the twenty years since the discovery of high-temperature (Tc) superconductors, scientists have been trying to understand the mechanism by which electrons pair up and move coherently to carry electrical current with no resistance. "We are still at the beginning," says Tonica Valla, a physicist at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory, who will give a talk on his group's latest results at the American Physical Society meeting in Baltimore, Maryland on Thursday, March 16, 2006. "If anything," he adds, "it looks like the story is getting more complicated."

Ultra Compact Design and Small Stray Field of Novel 800 MHz UltraShield Plus NMR Magnet Allows Siting in Single-Story Lab
Orlando, FL, Mar. 13: Bruker BioSpin Corporation announces the 800 MHz US Plus actively-shielded NMR magnet, with a significant reduction in size and magnetic stray field compared to other 800 MHz magnets. This ultra-compact 800 MHz magnet significantly increases customers' siting flexibility and can dramatically reduce site preparation costs. The 800 US Plus standard-bore (54mm) NMR magnet incorporates Bruker BioSpin's proprietary UltraShield-Plus active shielding technology, which reduces magnetic stray fields yet another four-fold over previous shielded 800 MHz magnets.

Upton, NY, Mar. 13: A "spin liquid" is a very unique, dynamic material in which each spin – the tiny magnetic field carried by an electron – is not frozen into place, producing clearly defined magnetic regions. Instead, the spins are free to change orientation. Because of this, external magnetic fields applied to spin liquids may produce changes that even extreme temperatures and pressures cannot. Jason Gardner, a scientist at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory and the National Institute of Standards and Technology, has been able to freeze a spin liquid by applying a magnetic field. This liquid-to-solid transition (like water to ice) allowed Gardner and his colleagues to reveal an unusual property of a spin liquid system -- a property that may hold the key to understanding this unusual magnetic state and how it could be used to better understand superconductivity.

Orlando, FL, Mar. 13: Varian, Inc. (Nasdaq: VARI) today announced the availability of the world's first commercial 15Tesla (T) Fourier Transform Mass Spectrometry (FTMS) system, for delivering unprecedented mass resolution and accuracy to scientists studying proteins in high-end research laboratories. This distinctive product offering is the immediate result of the company's acquisition of IonSpec Corporation in February 2006, and establishes Varian, Inc. as a performance and innovation leader in FTMS.

Orlando, FL, Mar. 13: Varian, Inc. (Nasdaq: VARI) today announced that it has received an order for the world's first commercially available gas chromatograph/Fourier Transform mass spectrometer (GC/FTMS). This unparalleled product offering is the immediate result of the company's acquisition of IonSpec Corporation in February 2006.

GBMI Appoints Martin McDermut to Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

Santa Barbara, CA, Mar. 13: Global Brand Marketing, Inc. (GBMI), the world's fastest growing multi-branded fashion company, is pleased to announce the appointment of Martin McDermut to Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. In this position, Mr. McDermut will be responsible for all aspects of corporate accounting and financial management, budgeting and forecasting.

Superconductor Technologies Inc. Completes 1-for-10 Reverse Stock Split
Santa Barbara, CA, Mar. 13: Superconductor Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOND) ("STI"), a leading provider of high performance infrastructure products for wireless voice and data applications, today announced that it has effected a one-for-ten (1:10) reverse split of its common stock. The reverse stock split, which was authorized by its Board of Directors and announced March 2, 2006, was approved by STI's stockholders last May at the 2005 Annual Meeting. Upon today's market open, STI's common stock will begin trading on a split-adjusted basis under the trading symbol "SCOND" for a period of 20 trading days. Commencing April 10, 2006, STI expects the "D" designation will be removed, and its common stock will resume trading under the symbol "SCON."

Researchers create conveyer belt for magnetic flux vortices in superconductors
If blown up in size, it would not have a chance in the car factory, but the microscopic conveyer belt built by Simon Bending's team in the Department of Physics at the University of Bath and collaborators in Japan and the USA, could just be the next big thing for improving devices relying on the elusive properties of superconductors (Nature Materials, Advanced Online Publication March 12 2006). It's not your standard rubber band on cylinders though – it moves in an erratic way, a quick jolt to the left, a smooth slide to the right. Who would want to be on such a thing.
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Acton, MA, Mar 9: SeaChange International (Nasdaq: SEAC) today announced that Kevin Bisson will join the on-demand technology leader as its Senior Vice President of Finance & Administration, effective March 13, 2006, and immediately subsequent to SeaChange filing its annual report on Form 10-K in April 2006, as its Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Bisson will also serve as Treasurer and Secretary. Formerly Senior Vice President and CFO at American Superconductor, Mr. Bisson succeeds Bill Fiedler who, after seven years with SeaChange, announced his pending retirement in May 2005.

2006 Agilent Technologies Europhysics Prize Awarded for Theory That Explains Properties of Materials

Palo Alto, CA, Mar. 8: Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE:A) today announced that the European Physical Society (EPS) has awarded the 2006 Agilent Europhysics Prize for Outstanding Achievement in Condensed Matter Physics to four scientists for their development and application of the Dynamical Mean Field Theory, which explains properties of materials that previously had been poorly understood.
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American Superconductor and China's Institute of Electrical Engineering Demonstrate Power Transformer in China
Westborough, MA, Mar. 8: American Superconductor Corporation (Nasdaq: AMSC), a leading energy technologies company, and China's Institute of Electrical Engineering (IEE) today announced that IEE has successfully demonstrated a prototype superconductor-based power transformer for the first time in a power grid in China. The transformer was fabricated by IEE in collaboration with TBEA Industrial Transformer Group, the largest transformer manufacturer in China, utilizing high temperature superconductor (HTS) wire manufactured by AMSC. The HTS transformer has operated since November 21, 2005 in a power grid in the city of Changji, Xinjiang Province serving a TBEA manufacturing plant.
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Three cosmic enigmas, one answer
Livermore, CA, Mar. 8: Dark energy and dark matter, two of the greatest mysteries confronting physicists, may be two sides of the same coin. A new and as yet undiscovered kind of star could explain both phenomena and, in turn, remove black holes from the lexicon of cosmology. The audacious idea comes from George Chapline, a physicist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, and Nobel laureate Robert Laughlin of Stanford University and their colleagues. Last week at the 22nd Pacific Coast Gravity Meeting in Santa Barbara, California, Chapline suggested that the objects that till now have been thought of as black holes could in fact be dead stars that form as a result of an obscure quantum phenomenon. These stars could explain both dark energy and dark matter.
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Research reveals hidden magnetism in superconductivity
Urbana-Champaign, IL, Mar. 7: While studying a compound made of the elements cerium- rhodium-indium, researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have discovered that a magnetic state can coexist with superconductivity in a specific temperature and pressure range. The discovery is a step toward a deeper understanding of how Nature is organized in regimes ranging from the fabric of the cosmos to the most fundamental components of elementary particles.

HYPRES Wideband All-Digital Receiver Earns Acceptance/Verification Approval from Department of Defense
Elmsford, NY, Mar. 6: HYPRES, Inc., a leading developer of superconductor microelectronics (SME) technology, received acceptance/verification approval for its wideband, All-Digital Receiver by the U.S. Department of Defense. The successful completion of this series of performance-based tests by the DoD clears the way for HYPRES to deliver to the U.S. Navy the industry’s first, JTRS All-Digital Receiver.

Superconductor Technologies Inc. Announces Fourth Quarter and Year-End 2005 Results
Santa Barbara, CA, Mar. 2: Superconductor Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: SCON), a leading provider of high performance infrastructure products for wireless voice and data applications, today announced results for the quarter and twelve months ended December 31, 2005.

Record-breaking luminosity boosts discovery potential at Fermilab's Tevatron collider
Batavia, IL, Mar. 2: The record-breaking performance of the Tevatron collider at the Department of Energy’s Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory is pushing the search for dark matter, supersymmetric particles and extra dimensions to new limits. Repeatedly smashing peak luminosity records, the Tevatron has created record numbers of proton-antiproton collisions that provide the means to unveil the secrets of the universe. Accelerator experts at the lab announced today (March 2) that in only 14 months the Tevatron collider has produced almost five times the data sample collected during four years of Collider Run I (1992-1996), which led to the discovery of the top quark at Fermilab.
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Washington University in St. Louis Advance hastens practicality of superconductors
Nobody completely understands superconductors. So fathom how James S.Schilling, Ph.D., led a team that makes the phenomenon work better. Schilling, a professor of physics in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, collaborated with recent doctoral graduate Takahiro Tomita and scientists at Argonne (Ill.) National Laboratory to determine whether one region in superconductors, called grain boundaries (GB), are oxygen deficient. Such oxygen deficiency impairs superconductor performance.

Superconductive Components, Inc. Announces Two Vice Presidents
Columbus, OH, Mar. 2: Superconductive Components, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: SCCI) today announced the Board of Directors has elected Gerald S. Blaskie to Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, and Mike Barna to Vice President, Sales-Photonics, effective immediately.