[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 40 (Tuesday, March 1, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 11200-11202]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-4517]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration


Application(s) 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, as amended 
by Pub. L. 106-36; 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.
    Comments must comply with 15 CFR 301.5(a)(3) and (4) of the 
regulations and be postmarked on or before March 21, 2011. Address 
written comments to Statutory Import Programs Staff, Room 3720, U.S. 
Department of Commerce, Washington, DC 20230. Applications may be 
examined between 8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. at the U.S. Department of 
Commerce in Room 3720.
    Docket Number: 10-034. Applicant: University of Colorado, 12801 E. 
17th Ave., RC1 South, Rm 10101, Box 6511, Mailstop 8101, Aurora, CO 
80045. Instrument: Singer MSM System 300TSA. Manufacturer: Singer 
Instrument Co. Ltd., United Kingdom. Intended Use: The instrument will 
be used to manipulate yeast cells and spores for genetic analysis and 
construction of strains with particular mutations, pedigree analysis, 
cell and zygote isolation and cell cycle and cell aging studies. The 
instrument consists of a micromanipulator device attached to a 
microscope with a computerized stage that allows the user to keep track 
of the position. It also has a CCD camera video monitor that reduces 
the eye strain caused by prolonged peering through microscope 
objectives. The components of this instrument are specifically designed 
for work with yeast cells. This instrument is unique because it has a 
motorized stage, which can be programmed to automatically move to 
predetermined positions, and the joystick electronic. Justification for 
Duty-Free Entry: There are no instruments of the same general category 
being manufactured in the United States. Application accepted by 
Commissioner of Customs: January 12, 2011.
    Docket Number: 10-077. Applicant: University of Chicago LLC, 
Operators of Argonne National Laboratory, 9700 South Cass Ave., Lemont, 
IL 60439. Instrument: Batch Furnace. Manufacturer: NGK Insulators Ltd., 
Japan. Intended Use: The instrument will be used in the synthesis of 
cathode materials for lithium ion batteries. In particular, the 
instrument will be applied during the last step of the synthesis--the 
calcination of the cathode material. The techniques used in 
calcinations are very dependent on the calcination furnace. This 
instrument's furnace allows for heating in oxygen flow. The uniformity 
of heating and oxygen flow is critical to obtain the cathode material 
because the temperature, together with the oxygen flow, ensures the 
removal of aqueous residues on the material. The material must be free 
of water because lithium and water can react and have fatal 
consequences. This batch furnace includes high distribution of the 
sample (multiple trays), which allows for faster drying and greater 
uniformity than a

[[Page 11201]]

conventional furnace. This batch furnace also has an oxygen control 
system that has a 10kg batch size. Justification for Duty-Free Entry: 
There are no instruments of the same general category being 
manufactured in the United States. Application accepted by Commissioner 
of Customs: October 14, 2010.
    Docket Number: 11-001. Applicant: Michigan State University, 2555 
Engineering Building, Department of Mechanical Engineering, East 
Lansing, MI 48824-1226. Instrument: Diode Pumped High Speed Nd: YAG 
laser system. Manufacturer: Edgewave GmbH, Germany. Intended Use: The 
instrument will be used as a diagnostics equipment to study high 
temperature combustion occurring in a rotary type engine called a 
``wave disk engine.'' The laser will be used to pump a dye laser to 
generate ultra-violet light which can be used to track chemical species 
during combustion. The main diagnostics technique will be planar laser 
fluorescence (PLIF) imaging where the laser light is used to excite 
target gas species, which can then be imaged using an intensified CCD 
camera. The main feature of the laser, which is particularly suited for 
the necessary application, is the beam profile (M\2\<2) and energy 
stability over lengthy operation times, which is critical when 
quantifying combustion species using PLIF over different operation 
modes. This is the only laser that can do sub 10 ns pulses with all the 
different specifications. Justification for Duty-Free Entry: There are 
no instruments of the same general category being manufactured in the 
United States. Application accepted by Commissioner of Customs: 
December 2, 2010.
    Docket Number: 11-009. Applicant: UChicago Argonne LLC, 9700 South 
Cass Ave., Lemont, IL 60439-4873. Instrument: Electrode Coater. 
Manufacturer: A-Pro Co., Ltd, South Korea. Intended Use: The instrument 
will be used to aid the development of novel lithium-ion battery 
materials. The experiments to be conducted with this instrument involve 
making electrodes for lithium-ion cells with varying amounts and types 
of active materials in the electrodes and electrolytes. The cells are 
then subjected to electrochemical performance testing to determine the 
influence of the active materials under test. The objective is to make 
lithium-ion cells in a rigid cylindrical (18650) format and compare the 
results against lithium-ion cells made in a flexible (pouch) format. 
Key to this research is the ability to make high quality electrodes 
that can be used in either the 18650 cell or pouch cells. These 
electrodes are made with an electrode coating machine that needs to be 
semi-automated and suitable for a laboratory environment, and specially 
tailored for lithium-ion electrodes. Justification for Duty-Free Entry: 
There are no instruments of the same general category being 
manufactured in the United States. Application accepted by Commissioner 
of Customs: January 24, 2011.
    Docket Number: 11-010. Applicant: University of Wisconsin--Madison 
Materials Science Center, 1509 University Avenue Madison, WI 53706. 
Instrument: Vitrobot Mark IV. Manufacturer: FEI Company, the 
Netherlands. Intended Use: The instrument will be used to directly 
obtain real-space images of native surfactant nanostrutctures in 
aqueous solutions. Typical materials include samples of a poly(vinyl-
alcohol)-derived block copolymer surfactant in aqueous solution, beta-
peptide nanorods, and highly ordered lyotropic liquid crystalline 
aggregates. The experiments to be conducted are to make various 
combinations of the basic molecules in aqueous solution, and vitrify 
the samples so they can be placed in an electron microscope to study 
how the mixtures choose to self-assemble. The specific features that 
make this instrument unique include the folllowing: instrumental 
parameters must be computer controlled and enable storing of parameter 
protocols, including humidity, blotting time and pressure, and 
equilibration time; mitigation of errors must be derived from the 
handling of TEM grids including loading, application of sample, 
plunging, and transfer to storage by automating some of these tasks; 
and sample blotting must be done automatically with user controlled 
programmable blot times and pressures. Justification for Duty-Free 
Entry: There are no instruments of the same general category being 
manufactured in the United States. Application accepted by Commissioner 
of Customs: January 21, 2011.
    Docket Number: 11-011. Applicant: National Superconducting 
Cyclotron Laboratory (NSCL) at Michigan State University, 1 Cyclotron 
Laboratory South Shaw Lane East Lansing, MI 48824-1321. Instrument: 
Differential Plunger Device. Manufacturer: Institut fur Kernphysik--
Universitat zu koln (Cologne Univ.), Germany. Intended Use: The 
instrument will be used to measure lifetimes of bound and unbound 
states in rare isotopes with rare isotope beams. Collective motions of 
nuclei and nuclear reactions will be studied using rare isotope beams. 
Rare isotopes will be produced using nuclear reactions of stable 
isotopes accelerated by the existing coupled cyclotron facility. The 
instrument is specific to the research in level lifetime measurements 
of rare isotopes. Justification for Duty-Free Entry: There are no 
instruments of the same general category being manufactured in the 
United States. Application accepted by Commissioner of Customs: January 
25, 2011.
    Docket Number: 11-014. Applicant: Purdue University, Herrick 
Laboratories, 140 S. Martin Jischke Drive, West Lafayette, IN 47907. 
Instrument: Vibration Test System--Shaker in Trunion with Matching 
Amplifier and Cooling Blower. Manufacturer: TIRA, Germany. Intended 
Use: The instrument will be used to look at the dynamic response of 
flexible structures. It is a general purpose electrodynamic vibration 
exciter that will facilitate projects involving phenomenon such as 
near-resonant linear and nonlinear behaviors, structural health 
monitoring, vibration amplification and attenuation, and energy 
harvesting. Features of the instrument include its arbitrary excitation 
angle, large frequency, force, displacement range and spectral output 
purity. This instrument was unique in that it included the ability to 
rotate to varying degrees. Justification for Duty-Free Entry: There are 
no instruments of the same general category being manufactured in the 
United States. Application accepted by Commissioner of Customs: January 
7, 2011.
    Docket Number: 11-017. Applicant: UChicago Argonne, LLC, 9700 S. 
Cass Ave., Lemont, IL 60439. Instrument: Electron Guns for Caribu EBIS 
Charge Breeder. Manufacturer: Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics, 
Russia. Intended Use: The instrument will be used to study and optimize 
parameters of the Electron Beam Ion Source (EBIS) charge breeder for 
effective further acceleration of rare isotope ion beams by the Argonne 
Tandem Linear Accelerator System (ATLAS). The experiments conducted 
will include off-line optimization of EBIS charge breeder efficiency by 
optimization of ion beam injection and extraction optics. The main 
requirement to the EBIS charge breeder is its high efficiency and long 
maintenance free operational period. Justification for Duty-Free Entry: 
There are no instruments of the same general category being 
manufactured in the United States. Application accepted by Commissioner 
of Customs: February 2, 2011.


[[Page 11202]]


     February 23, 2011.
Gregory Campbell,
Acting Director, IA Subsidies Enforcement Office.
[FR Doc. 2011-4517 Filed 2-28-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P