New Products

Focus on software

The descriptions of the new products listed in this section are based on information supplied to us by the manufacturers. PHYSICS TODAY can assume no responsibility for their accuracy. For more information about a particular product, visit the website at the end of the product description.

Lawrence G. Rubin

Interactive interface creation

Wolfram Research has announced Mathematica 6, with nearly 1000 new computational and interface features that enhance the company's original Mathematica software. Key new capabilities include creation of sophisticated interactive interfaces from single lines of input; language for data integration; symbolic interface construction to create arbitrary interfaces from simple programs; unification of active graphics and controls with flowing text and input; and load-on-demand data for math, physics, chemistry, finance, geography, and linguistics. Version 6 introduces other enhancements such as integrated geometric computing, new-generation numerical integration, exploratory data analysis, extended array operations, and instant high-level debugging. Wolfram Research Inc, 100 Trade Center Drive, Champaign, IL 61820-7237, http://www.wolfram.com

Process improvement software

Minitab has released Quality Companion 2.2, an update to the company's process improvement software designed for planning, organizing, and executing Six Sigma projects. Version2.2 contains more than 60 enhancements across the entire application, with a particular focus on increasing the number and functionality of the available forms and making it easier for Sigma users to develop presentations. Features include Quick Fill, which greatly reduces data entry time; 20 new formula types; and additional global data fields that support financial data sharing. Version 2.2 also incorporates enhancements that allow users to export presentations to Microsoft Word and PowerPoint with a single click, save the presentations as webpages, and add nine standard slide types to them. Minitab Inc, Quality Plaza, 1829 Pine Hall Road, State College, PA 16801-3008, http://www.minitab.com

Drag-and-drop reporting tool

AcquiData has introduced Testream/CS 7.0, which brings new capabilities and features to the company's ReportWriter data reporting tool. ReportWriter uses a drag-and-drop interface so users can easily combine different data elements—spreadsheets, control charts, Microsoft Word documents, text labels, histograms, and pictures—into one report. Testream/CS is a suite of web-based applications that automatically acquire, analyze, and report on quality assurance and control data. Version 7.0 allows users to predefine readings in the interface application (IA) screen so that charts of test property versus test property can be created. The new IA can be used to define a minimum and maximum number of readings for acquisitions per test property and for upper or lower values for each test property to catch errors before they need to be corrected. AcquiData Inc, 400 Garden City Plaza, Suite 445, Garden City, NY 11530, http://www.acquidata.com

Multisheet workbook

OriginLab Corp's Origin 8 can automate data analysis and graphing and can be programmed to capture data from third-party sources. Version 8's flexible workbooks can be used to embed images and graphs in cells and create an analysis series. After data are imported or entered into the workbook, users can turn on a new feature called sparklines, special embedded graphs that allow users to easily get a feel for their worksheet data. The workbooks can be used as an organizational container or to aid image processing. When looking at the original data, parameter values, statistics, and related graphs are just a click away. With Origin 8, users can create attractive reports using worksheet customization such as rich text cell formatting and cell borders. OriginLab Corporation, One Roundhouse Plaza, Suite 303, Northampton, MA 01060, http://www.originlab.com

Statistical discovery software

JMP 7 from the SAS Institute is statistical discovery software that processes up to 2 billion variables and an unlimited number of records to handle real- world problems. The new product will appeal to business users, who can replace static charts with motion-enabled, interactive plots that uncover hidden trends and predict the future. Graphical querying, an enhanced script editor, and project collaboration tools make data discovery more accessible throughout the business organization. Bubble plots, 3D scatter plots, and other features let both novice and experienced JMP users explore data and animate up to seven variables. JMP 7 automatically and immediately updates graphs and reports to display query results. This first release of JMP 7 as a desktop client to the SAS Enterprise Intelligence Platform enables users to access and explore SAS data interactively. SAS Institute Inc, 100 SAS Campus Drive, Cary, NC 27513-2414, http://www.sas.com

Materials and property functions

COMSOL has developed version 3.3a, based on the Material Property Database from JAHM Software. The new product, the convenient add-on Material Library, lets users quickly specify material data in a model. Version 3.3a brings multiphysics modeling capabilities to users and contains information for 2500 materials and 20 000 property functions, each described as a piecewise polynomial of some variable, typically temperature. The 24 key material properties include thermal, elastic, and electrical; they are specified for minerals, rocks, soil, metal alloys, oxides, steels, thermal insulators, semiconductors, and optical materials. Version 3.3a includes new features and enhancements in the multiphysics, CAD import, acoustics, chemical engineering, heat transfer, MEMS, RF, and structural mechanics modules. COMSOL Inc, 1 New England Executive Park, Suite 350, Burlington, MA 01803, http://www.comsol.com

Data acquisition software

Signal Recovery has announced Acquire 3.10, dedicated data acquisition software updated to support more of the company's instruments, including its model 4121B/4161A Boxcar Averager systems, and allow them to take data in both waveform recovery and static gate modes. In addition, the trigger delay can be controlled while recording the output. The program offers two main operating modes: virtual front panel and experiment recording. In the first mode, virtually all of the functions of the connected instruments can be controlled from the computer via a series of property pages on a remote front-panel property sheet. In the second mode, an experiment is defined in which the instrument output(s) is recorded as a function of an X-axis variable. Signal Recovery, AMETEK Advanced Measurement Technology Inc, 801 South Illinois Avenue, Oak Ridge, TN 37831-2011, http://www.signalrecovery.com

Spectrophotometer software

Thermo Fisher Scientific has released version 4.1 of its VISION software, which allows the company's Evolution, Helios Alpha, and Helios Gamma UV-visible spectrophotometers to automatically start collecting kinetics data when fast reactions need to be studied. The software also provides remote fiber-optic probe triggering to initiate readings for users whose target vessel is located a short distance away from the spectrophotometer. A new built-in weight and volume correction feature saves time by eliminating postrun data calculations. Advanced baseline functions for 0% baseline and standard reference correction, particularly when combined with new features for online Savitzky-Golay smoothing, enable users to obtain accurate diffuse reflection measurements. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc, 81 Wyman Street, Waltham, MA 02454, http://www.thermo.com

Optical engineering software

FRED 6.30 from Photon Engineering is an advanced 3D CAD optical engineering software program that can simulate the propagation of light through virtually any optical or illumination system. FRED now features a Monte Carlo ray trace mode that offers increased efficiency when ray tracing backlight displays and illumination systems. It also has a bulk scatter and absorption capability with a Henyey-Greenstein phase function that can be used to model volume scatter in optical systems from medical scenarios such as human tissue scatter (see photo) to simulating light through turbid seawater. FRED6.30 also has a deformation surface capability, useful when large surfaces are deformed by gravity, reflectors are deformed by sinusoidal surfaces, and molding tools are used to score or trim a base surface. Photon Engineering LLC, 440 South Williams Boulevard, Suite 106, Tucson, AZ 85711, http://www.photonengr.com

Data acquisition suite

Measurement Computing Corp has introduced TracerDAQ Pro, a data acquisition logger and instrument software suite that enables users to log, analyze, and display data and generate signals without the need to write code. The new product, an enhanced version of the company's TracerDAQ, provides applications to customize appearance, store configurations for future use, save data to a file for export, and change settings while the program is running. TracerDAQ Pro features a strip chart for logging and graphing data, an oscilloscope application that displays values acquired from analog inputs, a rate generator to use with the company's counter devices, and a function generator that can perform linear and logarithmic sweeps and change various parameters of the waveform. Measurement Computing Corporation, 10 Commerce Way, Norton, MA 02766, http://www.measurementcomputing.com

On the Web

Omega Optical has upgraded its Curv-o-matic interactive database containing spectral curves of filters, filter sets, and fluorophores. Additions include light source data for arc lamps, lasers, and LEDs and new fluorophores such as fluorescent proteins and quantum dots. Omega Optical Inc, Delta Campus, Omega Drive, Brattleboro, VT 05301, https://www.omegafilters.com

Bio-Rad Laboratories launched KnowItAll U, a new spectroscopy reference database for academic research and teaching. The product represents a combination of peer-reviewable NMR, IR, NIR, UV, visible, Raman, and mass spectra, data, tools, and technologies. Bio-Rad Laboratories, 1000 Alfred Nobel Drive, Hercules, CA 94547, http://www.bio-rad.com

The Dickson Company's website provides automated data logger and chart recorder selection guides with its wide variety of temperature and humidity monitoring instrumentation. The guides include quick links to the most popular models and one-click connections to live chats with product specialists. Dickson Company, 930 South Westwood Avenue, Addison, IL 60101-4917, http://www.dicksondata.com