[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 56 (Monday, March 24, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 14196-14197]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-6933]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration


Applications for Duty-Free Entry of Scientific Instruments

    Pursuant to section 6(c) of the Educational, Scientific and 
Cultural Materials Importation Act of 1966 (Pub. L. 89-651; 80 Stat. 
897; 15 CFR part 301), we invite comments on the question of whether 
instruments of equivalent scientific value, for the purposes for which 
the instruments shown below are intended to be used, are being 
manufactured in the United States.

[[Page 14197]]

    Comments must comply with 15 CFR 301.5(a)(3) and (4) of the 
regulations and be filed within 20 days with the Statutory Import 
Programs Staff, U.S. Department of Commerce, Washington, DC 20230. 
Applications may be examined between 8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. in Suite 
4100W, U.S. Department of Commerce, Franklin Court Building, 1099 14th 
Street, NW., Washington, DC.

    Docket Number: 03-009.
    Applicant: Baylor College of Medicine, One Baylor Plaza, Houston, 
TX 77030.
    Instrument: Electron Microscope, Model JEM-1230.
    Manufacturer: JEOL Ltd., Japan.
    Intended Use: The instrument is intended to be used in research to 
understand the molecular biology and replication strategies of 
rotaviruses and caliciviruses, visualize viruses from clinical isolates 
or grown in tissue culture, and visualizing virus-like particles, 
produced using a baculovirus expression system to determine particle 
integrity. The virus-like particles are used in research to develop 
vaccines against rotavirus and calciviruses.
    Application accepted by Commissioner of Customs: February 20, 2003.

    Docket Number: 03-010.
    Applicant: Vanderbilt University, 110 21st Avenue South, Suite 
1110, Nashville, TN 37203.
    Instrument: Scanning Near-field Optical Microscope, Model 
AlphaSNOM.
    Manufacturer: Wissenschaftliche Instrumente und Technologie GmbH, 
Germany.
    Intended Use: The instrument is intended to be used to map, at 
scales as small as 1 nm, the morphological, optical, magnetic and 
electronic properties of many novel thin films and nanostructures. 
Research includes thin-film structures on MEMS components; silicon 
carbide power MOSFETS; pulsed laser deposition of organic films and 
organic/inorganic interfaces; and diamond nanotip applications.
    Application accepted by Commissioner of Customs: February 27, 2003.

    Docket Number: 03-011.
    Applicant: Rice University, CBEN MS-63, P.O. Box 1892, Houston, TX 
77251-1892.
    Instrument: Electron Microscope, Model JEM-2010.
    Manufacturer: JEOL Ltd., Japan.
    Intended Use: The instrument is intended to be used to investigate 
the microstructures and properties of biomaterials, nanomaterials, 
cells, tissues and related materials. Objectives pursued in these 
investigations include:
    (1) Nano-articles: widely preparing nano-articles via chemical 
synthesis and elucidation of their structure/surface chemistry/
catalysis relationships for advanced applications.
    (2) DNA-coated gold nanoparticles: a method of Gold-nanoparticle 
attached phase transition will be introduced.
    (3) Nanotubes: investigating controllable growth, reaction with 
cells, and their applications in AFM.
    Application accepted by Commissioner of Customs: February 28, 2003.

    Docket Number: 03-012.
    Applicant: Beckman Research Institute of the City of Hope National 
Medical Center, 1450 E. Duarte Road, Duarte, CA 91010.
    Instrument: Electron Microscope, Model Tecnai G 2 12 
TWIN.
    Manufacturer: FEI Company, The Netherlands.
    Intended Use: The instrument is intended to be used in biomedical 
research projects including:
    (1) Dystrophia myotonica protein kinase (DMPK) RNA in myoblasts 
from individuals affected with muscular dystrophy.
    (2) Physiology of Synapse.
    (3) Hydrogen peroxides in intestinal inflammation in cancer.
    Objectives of the investigations are:
    (1) To understand how the pathogenic DMPK RNA molecules disrupt 
normal muscle tissue differentiation,
    (2) To study membrane retrieval mechanisms after exocytosis, the 
role of dynamin in vesicle release and the role of choline 
acetyltransferase in the formation of synaptic vesicles, and
    (3) To understand the role of glutathione peroxidase in the 
maintenance of healthy intestinal epithelia.
    Application accepted by Commissioner of Customs: February 28, 2003.

    Docket Number: 03-013.
    Applicant: The University of Louisiana at Lafayette, 104 University 
Circle, Lafayette, LA 70504.
    Instrument: Nuclear Microprobe System Components.
    Manufacturer: Oxford Microbeams Limited, United Kingdom.
    Intended Use: The instruments are intended to be used to develop a 
new system to provide analysis and imaging of microscopic areas on 
surfaces and near-surfaces of inorganic and organic materials. The 
objective of the experiments are to construct a prototypic system which 
can focus an ion beam into a spot size less than one micrometer square 
with sufficient beam current to allow elemental mapping of small areas 
on surfaces of materials and to use that system to develop techniques 
for microscopic materials analysis.
    Application accepted by Commissioner of Customs: March 3, 2003.

Gerald A. Zerdy,
Program Manager, Statutory Import Programs Staff.
[FR Doc. 03-6933 Filed 3-21-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P