tech: Scientific Computing Newsline Issue 8, 4 October 1999.

[<eugene.leitl@lrz.uni-muenchen.de>]

From: scnewsline@scientific-computing.com

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The Editors of Scientific Computing World
welcome Mr Eugene Leitl to Scientific Computing Newsline Issue 8,
4 October 1999.

Issue sponsors: LabSystems

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Scientific Computing Newsline -- the Electronic Newsletter of
Scientific Computing. Written for scientists who rely on computers,
SCNewsline provides the latest research, technology and business news
alongside announcements of key hardware and software products.

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Contents of issue 8

*Research News* 
1. Modelling reveals GaAs structure
2. Simulation helps fight disease
3. Plasmasphere takes shape

*Business News* 
4. Ups and downs at SGI
5. Compaq overhauls chip strategy
6. SDRC buys ESP
7. National Instruments buys GfS
8. NAG strikes deal with cluster centre
9. Computer giants $22 billion agreement

*Technology Update*
10. Fail-safe memory comes a step closer

*Product Update*
11. New products for data acquisition, imaging, mathematical problems
and quantum mechanics

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Research News
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Modelling reveals GaAs structure
Computer simulations have helped reveal the atomic structure of gallium
arsenide (GaAs), a material widely used in satellites and cellular
phones. The simulations required a novel approach to a problem that has
baffled materials scientists for the last ten years. Matthias Scheffler
and Peter Kratzer, of the Fritz-Haber-Institut der
Max-Planck-Gesellschaft in Berlin, Germany, made the breakthrough by
considering an effect seen with scanning tunnelling microscope (STM)
imaging. Researchers using STM had found that their images of GaAs
became more blurred when a high voltage was applied to the microscopes
tip.

Scheffler and Kratzer found that including a simulation of the voltage
applied to an STM tip affected the electron cloud around the arsenic
atoms in one particular GaAs model. The model suggested that if the
applied voltage was high, the electron cloud would tend to shield the
tip, making the STM images less defined. Because this explained the
real STM images, the workers have concluded that they must be using the
correct model for the GaAs structure.


Simulation helps fight disease
A multidisciplinary team at the University of Guelph, Canada has
developed computer models that may help the treatment of a range of
diseases. Chris Gray and colleagues have simulated ion channels found
in both humans and animals. Problems with these channels can cause
disease  cystic fibrosis, for example, is the result of a defective
chloride channel, while malfunctions in the channels for sodium and
potassium ions can cause heart disease.

Grays research focuses on two properties of potassium channels: their
conductance and their selectivity (how much they transmit ions other
than potassium). The nature of the proteins within these ion channels
affects both these properties. By comparing the conductance of a
simulated channel with that of a real channel, the models can be
refined to give insight into the nature of the real channels. Gray
believes the team is unique in that it simulates realistic ion channels
based on structures determined using X-ray techniques.


Plasmasphere takes shape
Scientists at NASA have constructed a mathematical model describing the
density of the plasma that surrounds the Earth. Dubbed the
plasmasphere, the region covered by the model extends from the outer
limits of the ionosphere, and is a complex brew of interacting fields
and charged particles. The extent of the plasmasphere is variable, with
high levels of activity in space tending to shrink its coverage.

Dennis Gallagher, who developed the model at the Marshall Space Flight
Centre, says that the new globally complete, continuous model is an
improvement on the patchwork of existing models currently in use. It
should result in more accurate estimates of the build-up of charge on a
spacecraft caused by the plasma. This is important because high charge
build-ups can damage and even destroy electronic components on the
craft.

Gallagher is now hoping to extend the model to include time dependence.
The computer code will have to include many more features, such as a
realistic magnetic field simulation, cross-field transport effects,
oxygen ions and helium ions.

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Business News
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Ups and downs at SGI
USA-based SGI continues to enjoy mixed fortunes. Following the
departure of CEO Rick Belluzzo to its rival Microsoft, SGI has
announced that it will cut up to 3000 jobs, twice the number predicted
in August. Better news followed, however, as both the UKs
Meteorological Office and the USAs Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) have bought Cray supercomputers.

SGI is also set to receive financial support from a variety of
government agencies in the USA for its Cray SV2 project. The new
system, which will incorporate vector processing and ccNUMA
(cache-coherent non-uniform memory access) architecture, is hoped to be
capable of peak performances of tens of teraflops.


Compaq overhauls chip strategy
USA-based computer giant Compaq has shelved plans to develop its Unix
platform for the new Intel IA-64 processor. This follows Compaqs open
letter to its customers saying that it is to halt implementation of
Windows NT on its Alpha systems. Compaq is now set to focus Unix
development on its Alpha chips for the high-performance computing,
e-commerce and telecommunications markets. The company will devote all
its Windows NT efforts to the Intel-based ProLiant platform, although
Compaq says it will continue to support customers who already have
Windows NT installed on Alpha systems.

These moves contrast with the plans of IBM and Sun Microsystems, who
are to develop versions of Unix on both their own chips and the new
IA-64, which is set to arrive next year.


SDRC buys ESP
USA-based software developer Structural Dynamics Research Corporation
(SDRC) has bought Enterprise Software Products (ESP), maker of the
finite-element modelling and visualization package FEMAP, also of the
USA. A spokesperson for SDRC said that the transaction should result in
additional revenues of $5 million and that no jobs would be cut.


National Instruments buys GfS
National Instruments (NI) of the USA has bought Germanys GfS,
manufacturer of software for data acquisition and processing. GfS will
retain its current president and operate as a subsidiary of NI. The
agreement resolves the patent-infringement issue between the two
surrounding the NI automation software LabView.


NAG strikes deal with cluster centre
The UKs Numerical Algorithms Group (NAG) has agreed a deal with
Cornell University in the USA. NAG will provide library and data
visualization software tools to the new Advanced Cluster Computing
Consortium (AC3), the universitys high-performance computing services
centre.


Computer giants $22 billion agreement
Industry giants Dell and IBM are to extend their alliance, with IBM
providing technical support to Dells e-commerce and business
customers. The new $6 billion deal follows the original $16 billion
agreement between the two for Dell to purchase IBM components, which is
the biggest alliance in the history of the computer industry.

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Technology Update
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Fail-safe memory comes a step closer
Physicists in Germany have made a significant advance towards a
fail-safe computer memory. The key lies in the ferroelectric
materials used. Because of their structure, such materials can be
switched between two different electrical polarizations by an electric
pulse.

The stumbling block in the development of high-density ferroelectric
memory has been making such devices small enough for a modern computer.
Researchers at the Max-Planck Institut fur Mikrostrukturphysik have now
made ferroelectric devices smaller than 100 nm that can be switched
using a scanning probe microscope. At this scale, a memory capacity of
one billion bits of data on a standard-size chip is possible.

The switching can only be reversed by applying a further pulse, so a
cut in the power supply to a computer based on these materials should
not result in any memory loss  this is known as non-volatile memory.

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Product Update
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Data acquisition: Continuous acquisition of highresolution data on a
single board is offered by the new KPCI-3107 and KPCI-3108 from
Keithley Instruments. Both models feature 32 digital input and output
channels and support Windows 95/98/NT applications.


Imaging: Analysis of colour images affected by shadows, reflections and
light variation is possible using the new IMAQ PCI-1411 image
acquisition board, claim makers National Instruments of the USA.


Mathematical software: Optimization and partial differential equation
problems should be more easily solved using the latest edition of the
Numerical Algorithms Group (NAG) Fortran Library. Mark 19 of the
library features additions to chapters on optimization, operations
research and sparse linear algebra.


Quantum Mechanics: Semi-empirical quantum mechanical calculations on
proteins, polymers and crystals are the main feature of the latest
software package from Fujitsu Systems Europe. MOPAC 2000 can be used
with both Windows 95/98/NT-based PCs and Unix-based parallel
supercomputers.


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