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Micro/Nano Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS/NEMS) provide the engineer with a powerful set of solutions to a wide variety of technical challenges. However, because they are mechanical systems, response times can be a limitation. In some situations, advanced engineered drive techniques can improve response times by as much as a thousand, significantly opening up the application space for MEMS/NEMS solutions., Comment: 37 pages, 20 figures

We present a micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) based method for the resist free patterning of nano-structures. Using a focused ion beam (FIB) to customize larger MEMS machines, we fabricate apertures as small as 50 nm on plates that can be moved with nanometer precision over an area greater than 20x20 {\mu}m^2. Depositing thermally evaporated gold atoms though the apertures while moving the plate results in the deposition of nanoscale metal patterns. Adding a shutter only microns above the aperture, enables high speed control of not only where but also when atoms are deposited. Using a shutter, different sized apertures can be selectively opened and closed for nano-structure fabrication with features ranging from nano- to micrometers in scale. The ability to evaporate materials with high precision, and thereby fabricate circuits and structures in situ, enables new kinds of experiments based on the interactions of a small number of atoms and eventually even single atoms., Comment: 29 pages, 16 figure

The objectives were twofold: (1) to study the IRAS emission levels in the vicinity of Baade's Window and in other optically transparent regions near the Galactic Center; and (2) to study the IRAS emission levels along sightlines in the Milky Way that exhibit very little CO emission. Tests were attempted to see whether the optically transparent 'windows' near the Galactic center can be identified (as FIR-weak regions) in the IRAS data base; and if so, whether the CO weak regions found elsewhere in the Milky Way represent similarly FIR weak and thus optically transparent sightlines through the Galaxy. The CO weak regions were also targeted in an effort to study the diffuse intercloud dust and its warming by the interstellar radiation field.