Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
as.well.as.commercial.facilities.use.these.standard.reference.materials.to.verify.the.
accuracy. of. their. data.. NIST. currently. provides. certiied. polystyrene. spheres. for.
nanoparticle.size.analyses..NIST.[57].also.reports.a.recent.development.of.a.proto-
type.atomic.“ruler”.for.calibrating.dimensional.measurements.of.100.nm.and.below..
This. ruler. will. be. able. to. document. the. accuracy. of. scanning. electron. or. atomic.
force. microscopy. data.. NIST. now. is. transferring. the. technology. to. a. commercial.
standards.supplier.
5.4.2 e
urOpean
u
niOn
The.European.Union.(EU).launched.its.largest.ever.funding.program.for.research.
and. technological. development. on. January. 1,. 2007.. The. EU. Member. States. have.
earmarked.a.total.of.€3.5.billion.(approx..U.S..$4.5.billion).for.funding.nanotechnol-
ogy.related.research.over.the.period.2007.to.2013..The.program.calls.for.proposals.
for. a. wide. range. of. activities. related. to. the. risk. assessment. of. nanomaterials. [58]..
First. among. ive. areas. where. proposals. are. invited. is. NMP-2007-1.3-1,. “Speciic,.
easy.to.use.portable.devices.for.measurement.and.analysis.”.Based.on.the.belief.that.
workplace.exposure.is.the.area.of.greatest.concern,.the.objective.of.this.work.will.be.
“to.develop.and.validate.affordable,.portable,.adequate.sampling.and.measurement.
equipment.for.monitoring.working.environments.(i.e.,.quantiication.and.character-
ization.of.airborne.nanoparticles.in.particular).”
German.governmental.agencies,.including.the.Federal.Institute.for.Occupational.
Safety. and. Health. (BAuA),. the. Federal. Institute. for. Risk. Assessment. (BfR),. and.
the.Federal.Environment.Agency.(UBA),.have.jointly.developed.a.nanotechnology.
research.strategy.and.are.currently.conducting.a.limited.number.of.projects.[59]..Two.
of.these.are.designed.to.test.instrumentation.or.modify.and.validate.existing.mea-
surement.methods.to.be.applicable.for.workplace.measurements.of.nanoparticles.
5.4.3 a
sia
-p
aCiFiC
The. Industrial. Technology. Research. Institute. (ITRI). of. Chinese. Taipei. is. under-
taking.an.international.project.awarded.by.the.Asia-Paciic.Economic.Cooperation.
(APEC).Industrial.Science.and.Technology.Working.Group.(IST.WG).to.assist.in.the.
establishment.of.the.Technological.Cooperative.Framework.on.Nanoscale.Analyti-
cal.and.Measurement.Methods.among.APEC.economies..This.cooperative.project.
was.formed.to.create.an.avenue.for.sharing.advances.in.nanometer.analytical.mea-
surement.methods.and.to.promote.the.best.available.technology.to.meet.the.needs.
for.nanoscale.standards.[60]..The.United.States.is.one.of.six.nations.participating.in.
this.project.
As.part.of.the.project,.the.NanoTechnology.Research.Center.(also.using.the.acro-
nym.NTRC).of.ITRI.is.organizing.an.interlaboratory.comparison.study.on.nanopar-
ticle. characterization.. The. aim. of. the. comparison. is. to. establish. the. effectiveness.
and. comparability. of. different. measurement. methods. across. different. laboratories.
on.nanometer-scale.particles..This.multi-year.program.will.include.a.series.of.mea-
surement.challenges.using.standardized.material,.as.shown.in.Table.5.5.
The. results. for. 2005. interlaboratory. comparison. measurements. of. size. and.
diameter. have. been. published. [60].. The
NTRC. provided. samples. of. polystyrene.
