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Report of the IUCr SAS Commission for the Triennium 1996-1999

  • Subject: Report of the IUCr SAS Commission for the Triennium 1996-1999
  • From: "John D. Barnes" <john.barnes@nist.gov>
  • Date: Sat, 5 Jun 1999 05:28:13 -0400
Report of the IUCr SAS Commission for the Triennium 1996-1999

The SAS Commission was chartered at the XVII World Congress of the IUCr. 
During the three years since its inception this Commission has focused on 
three things: (1) community building, (2) education,  and (3) 
standardization.

A web site (www.nist.gov/sas) has been built to serve as a sort of 
"community center". The associated listserver (sa_scat@nist.gov) has 
attracted a fairly steady subscribership of 300+ individuals. The message 
traffic has been sparse, but many readers have found it to be a valuable 
resource for getting questions answered and activities publicized.

The series of triennial world congresses established in 1965 has long 
been a core component of the SAS community. 1999 is the occasion for 
edition XI of these congresses (see http://sas99.bnl.gov/sas99). This 
will serve as a formal occasion for getting feedback and enhanced 
participation from the members of the community.

On the education front there has been a more or less steady series of 
workshops and organized sessions at national meetings. The Commission has 
worked with the American Crystallographic Assn, the Society of Plastics 
Engineers, and the American Chemical Society in these efforts. These 
activities are aimed at increasing awareness of SAS methodologies in the 
broader world of materials science. Dates and titles are available in the 
Commission's Annual Reports for the relevant years.

Getting standardized SAS methodologies accepted into the community will 
be an uphill struggle for the Commission. The tradition of quantitative 
characterization of the performance of test methods is weak. Indeed, many 
users do not understand the concept of a "SAS test method." There is no 
widespread set of software tools for reducing and visualizing SAS data. 
There has been very little work devoted to putting data derived from 
different realizations of SAS experiments onto a common basis.

An interlaboratory test program for SAXS measurements in the moderate q 
range (.1 nm**-1 < q < 3 nm**-1) is in the design stages. We are 
soliciting suggestions for suitable samples for use in a comparable 
effort for SANS. We hope that the results from such objective assessments 
of test method performance will stimulate a desire for more rigorous 
approaches to these matters.

The Commission has taken some tentative steps in the direction of 
improved standardization by issuing a draft CIF for one-dimensional SAS 
data. We have been supporting other efforts to develop suitable standards 
for 2 and 3-dimensional SAS data. The hosts of software tool collections 
are being encouraged to expand their activities.

By increasing the awareness of SAS users, by promulgating appropriate 
standards, and by facilitating the development of appropriate analytical 
methods, the IUCr SAS Commission hopes to help our little corner of 
crystallographic science realize its full potential.

The Commission would like to thank Michael Hart and Helmut Fuess for 
their efforts on our behalf in their roles as liaison to the IUCr 
Executive Committee. The support of people like Phil Coppens and Bill 
Duax as we worked to establish the Commission and develop its agenda are 
also appreciated.

Respectfully submitted


Dr. John D. Barnes               email: john.barnes@nist.gov
Natl Inst of Stds and Tech       Voice: 301-975-6786
100 Bureau Drive, Stop 8544        FAX: 301-975-4977
Gaithersburg, MD 20899             URL: http://www.nist.gov/sas
  or http://polymers.msel.nist.gov/staff/detail.cfm?SID=110