Bøger udgivet af National Academies Press

U.S. Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, located in eastern North Carolina, is a large installation that covers 156,000 acres and is home at any given time to a population of about 170,000 active-duty personnel, family members, retirees, and civilian employees living on base or in the surrounding community. Between 1957 and 1987, the ground water at Camp Lejeune was inadvertently contaminated with chemicals, primarily industrial solvents that are now known to cause cancer and other health problems. In 1980, drinking water contaminants, primarily trichloroethylene (TCE) and perchloroethylene (PCE), as well as other solvents, were first detected at Camp Lejeune in treated drinking water. The contaminated wells were closed in 1987. In 1989, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency placed Camp Lejeune on the National Priorities List, also known as Superfund. It is estimated that between 500,000 and 1,000,000 people may have used the contaminated water and many of them continue to have concerns about the long-term effects that might result from that exposure.In 2012 Congress passed the Honoring America's Veterans and Caring for Camp Lejeune Families Act. The law provides health benefits to veterans and family members who have any of 15 health outcomes associated with exposure to TCE, PCE, or solvent mixtures. At the request of the Veteran's Administration, Review of the VA Guidance for the Health Conditions Identified by the Camp Lejeune Legislation reviews the latest scientific literature to ensure that the clinical guidance provided for the 15 covered medical conditions is scientifically sound. This report also describes the medical conditions that result from renal toxicity due to solvent exposures and characterizes neurobehavioral effects as mandated for coverage in the law.

One of the last two sites with chemical munitions and chemical materiel is the Pueblo Chemical Depot in Pueblo, Colorado. The stockpile at this location consists of about 800,000 projectiles and mortars, all of which are filled with the chemical agent mustard. Under the direction of the Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternative Program (ACWA), the Army has constructed the Pueblo Chemical Agent Destruction Pilot Plant (PCAPP) to destroy these munitions. The primary technology to be used to destroy the mustard agent at PCAPP is hydrolysis, resulting in a secondary waste stream referred to as hydrolysate.PCAPP features a process that will be used to treat the hydrolysate and the thiodiglycol - a breakdown product of mustard - contained within. The process is a biotreatment technology that uses what are known as immobilized cell bioreactors. After biodegradation, the effluent flows to a brine reduction system, producing a solidified filter cake that is intended to be sent offsite to a permitted hazardous waste disposal facility. Water recovered from the brine reduction system is intended to be recycled back through the plant, thereby reducing the amount of water that is withdrawn from groundwater. Although biotreatment of toxic chemicals, brine reduction, and water recovery are established technologies, never before have these technologies been combined to treat mustard hydrolysate.At the request of the U.S. Army, Review Criteria for Successful Treatment of Hydrolysate at the Pueblo Chemical Agent Destruction Pilot Plant reviews the criteria for successfully treating the hydrolysate. This report provides information on the composition of the hydrolysate and describes the PCAPP processes for treating it; discusses stakeholder concerns; reviews regulatory considerations at the federal, state, and local levels; discusses Department of Transportation regulations and identifies risks associated with the offsite shipment of hydrolysate; establishes criteria for successfully treating the hydrolysate and identifies systemization data that should factor into the criteria and decision process for offsite transport and disposal of the hydrolysate; and discusses failure risks and contingency options as well as the downstream impacts of a decision to ship hydrolysate offsite.

"Simulators currently provide an alternative to aircraft when it comes to training requirements, both for the military and for commercial airlines. For the U.S. Air Force, in particular, simulation for training offers a cost-effective way, and in many instances a safer way in comparison with live flying, to replicate real-world missions. Current technical issues related to simulation for training include simulation fidelity and multi-level security, among others, which will need to be addressed in order for the Air Force to take full advantage of this technology. The workshop held in November, 2014 examined the current status of simulation training, alternative uses, current and future technologies, and how the combination of simulation and live training can improve aircrew training. The scope of the workshop focused on technologies and practices that could be applicable to high-end aircraft simulations."-- Publisher's description

"Workshop, August 18, 2014 ... Washington, DC"--Page 73.

"Environmental monitoring in the Gulf of Mexico poses extensive challenges and significant opportunities. Multiple jurisdictions manage this biogeographically and culturally diverse region, whose monitoring programs tend to be project-specific by design and funding. As a result, these programs form more of a monitoring patchwork then a network. At the same time, the Gulf monitoring community faces a unique opportunity to organize and think differently about monitoring - including how best to allocate and manage the resources for this large marine ecosystem and its communities - as a result of the infusion of resources for environmental restoration and related activities after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.Opportunities for the Gulf Research Program: Monitoring Ecosystem Restoration and Deep Water Environments summarizes a Gulf Research Program workshop held on September 3-4, 2014 in New Orleans, Louisiana. The workshop gathered about 40 participants from the energy industry, state and federal government, academia, and nongovernmental organizations to examine two broad issues that were seen as time-sensitive opportunities in light of significant investments in the Gulf for restoration and accelerating development of energy resources in the deep Gulf: monitoring ecosystem restoration and deep water environments. As participants explored potential opportunities for the Program to consider, they noted the essential role that communication and outreach play in successful monitoring, and the importance of applying an ecosystem service approach to monitoring, forging partnerships among stakeholders, and supporting efforts to organize and manage monitoring data." --

The National Research Council's Army Research Laboratory Technical Assessment Board (ARLTAB) provides biennial assessments of the scientific and technical quality of the research, development, and analysis programs at the Army Research Laboratory, focusing on ballistics sciences, human sciences, information sciences, materials sciences, and mechanical sciences.This report discusses the biennial assessment process used by ARLTAB and its five panels; provides detailed assessments of each of the ARL core technical competency areas reviewed during the 2013-2014 period; and presents findings and recommendations common across multiple competency areas.

"On July 9-10, 2014, the Institute of Medicine's Food Forum hosted a public workshop to explore emerging and rapidly developing research on relationships among the brain, the digestive system, and eating behavior. Drawing on expertise from the fields of nutrition and food science, animal and human physiology and behavior, and psychology and psychiatry as well as related fields, the purpose of the workshop was to (1) review current knowledge on the relationship between the brain and eating behavior, explore the interaction between the brain and the digestive system, and consider what is known about the brain's role in eating patterns and consumer choice; (2) evaluate current methods used to determine the impact of food on brain activity and eating behavior; and (3) identify gaps in knowledge and articulate a theoretical framework for future research. Relationships among the Brain, the Digestive System, and Eating Behavior summarizes the presentations and discussion of the workshop."--

"In January 2014, the Board on Children, Youth, and Families of the Institute of Medicine and the National Research Council, in collaboration with the IOM Board on Global Health, launched the Forum on Investing in Young Children Globally. At this meeting, the participants agreed to focus on creating and sustaining, over 3 years, an evidence-driven community of stakeholders that aims to explore existing, new, and innovative science and research from around the world and translate this evidence into sound and strategic investments in policies and practices that will make a difference in the lives of children and their caregivers. Financing Investments in Young Children Globally is the summary of a workshop hosted by the Forum on Investing in Young Children Globally in August 2014. This workshop, on financing investments for young children, brought together stakeholders from such disciplines as social protection, nutrition, education, health, finance, economics, and law and included practitioners, advocates, researchers, and policy makers. Presentations and discussions identified some of the current issues in financing investments across health, education, nutrition, and social protection that aim to improve children's developmental potential. This report explores issues across three broad domains of financing: (1) costs of programs for young children; (2) sources of funding, including public and private investments; and (3) allocation of these investments, including cash transfers, microcredit programs, block grants, and government restructuring."

"Informed consent - the process of communication between a patient or research subject and a physician or researcher that results in the explicit agreement to undergo a specific medical intervention - is an ethical concept based on the principle that all patients and research subjects should understand and agree to the potential consequences of the clinical care they receive. Regulations that govern the attainment of informed consent for treatment and research are crucial to ensuring that medical care and research are conducted in an ethical manner and with the utmost respect for individual preferences and dignity. These regulations, however, often require - or are perceived to require - that informed consent documents and related materials contain language that is beyond the comprehension level of most patients and study participants. To explore what actions can be taken to help close the gap between what is required in the informed consent process and communicating it in a health-literate and meaningful manner to individuals, the Institute of Medicine's Roundtable on Health Literacy convened a one-day public workshop featuring presentations and discussions that examine the implications of health literacy for informed consent for both research involving human subjects and treatment of patients. Topics covered in this workshop included an overview of the ethical imperative to gain informed consent from patients and research participants, a review of the current state and best practices for informed consent in research and treatment, the connection between poor informed consent processes and minority underrepresentation in research, new approaches to informed consent that reflect principles of health literacy, and the future of informed consent in the treatment and research settings. Informed Consent and Health Literacy is the summary of the presentations and discussion of the workshop."--Publisher's description.

"Review of WIC Food Packages: An Evaluation of White Potatoes in the Cash Value Voucher assesses the impact of 2009 regulation to allow the purchase of vegetables and fruits, excluding white potatoes, with a cash value voucher on food and nutrient intakes of the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) population and to consider whether white potatoes should be permitted for purchase with the voucher. This report considers the effects on diet quality, the health and cultural needs of the WIC population, and allows for effective and efficient administration nationwide in a cost-effective manner. Review of WIC Food Packages: An Evaluation of White Potatoes in the Cash Value Voucher recommends that the U.S. Department of Agriculture should allow white potatoes as a WIC-eligible vegetable, in forms currently permitted for other vegetables, in the cash value voucher pending changes to starchy vegetable intake recommendations in the 2015 Dietary Guidelines for Americans."--

"Roundtable on Translating Genomic-Based Research for Health"--Cover.

"In 1995, the National Academy of Engineering initiated the Frontiers of Engineering Program, which brings together about 100 young engineering leaders at annual symposia to learn about cutting-edge research and technical work in a variety of engineering fields. The 2009 U.S. Frontiers of Engineering Symposium was held at The National Academies' Arnold O. and Mabel Beckman Center on September 10-12. Speakers were asked to prepare extended summaries of their presentations, which are reprinted in this volume. The intent of this book is to convey the excitement of this unique meeting and to highlight cutting-edge developments in engineering research and technical work."--Publisher's description.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST's) Material Measurement Laboratory (MML) is our nation's reference laboratory for measurements in the chemical, biological, and materials sciences and engineering. Staff of the MML develop state-of-the-art measurement techniques and conduct fundamental research related to measuring the composition, structure, and properties of substances. Tools that include reference materials, data, and measurement services are developed to support industries that range from transportation to biotechnology and to address problems such as climate change, environmental sciences, renewable energy, health care, infrastructure, food safety and nutrition, and forensics. This report assesses the scientific and technical work performed by NIST's Material Measurement Laboratory. In particular, the report assesses the organization's technical programs, the portfolio of scientific expertise within the organization, the adequacy of the organization\'s facilities, equipment, and human resources, and the effectiveness by which the organization disseminates its program outputs.

The mission of the Engineering Laboratory of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is to promote U.S. innovation and industrial competitiveness through measurement science and standards for technology-intensive manufacturing, construction, and cyberphysical systems in ways that enhance economic prosperity and improve the quality of life. To support this mission, the Engineering Laboratory has developed thrusts in smart manufacturing, construction, and cyberphysical systems; in sustainable and energy-efficient manufacturing materials and infrastructure; and in disaster-resilient buildings, infrastructure, and communities. The technical work of the Engineering Laboratory is performed in five divisions: Intelligent Systems; Materials and Structural Systems; Energy and Environment; Systems Integration; and Fire Research; and two offices: Applied Economics Office and Smart Grid Program Office. An Assessment of the National Institute of Standards and Technology Engineering Laboratory Fiscal Year 2014 assesses the scientific and technical work performed by the NIST Engineering Laboratory. This report evaluates the organization's technical programs, portfolio of scientific expertise within the organization, adequacy of the organization's facilities, equipment, and human resources, and the effectiveness by which the organization disseminates its program outputs.

"The 2012 National Research Council report Disaster Resilience: A National Imperative highlighted the challenges of increasing national resilience in the United States. One finding of the report was that "without numerical means of assessing resilience, it would be impossible to identify the priority needs for improvement, to monitor changes, to show that resilience had improved, or to compare the benefits of increasing resilience with the associated costs." Although measuring resilience is a challenge, metrics and indicators to evaluate progress, and the data necessary to establish the metric, are critical for helping communities to clarify and formalize what the concept of resilience means for them, and to support efforts to develop and prioritize resilience investments. One of the recommendations from the 2012 report stated that government entities at federal, state, and local levels and professional organizations should partner to help develop a framework for communities to adapt to their circumstances and begin to track their progress toward increasing resilience. To build upon this recommendation and begin to help communities formulate such a framework, the Resilient America Roundtable of the National Academies convened the workshop Measures of Community Resilience: From Lessons Learned to Lessons Applied on September 5, 2014 in Washington, D.C. The workshop's overarching objective was to begin to develop a framework of measures and indicators that could support community efforts to increase their resilience. The framework will be further developed through feedback and testing in pilot and other partner communities that are working with the Resilient America Roundtable. This report is a summary of the one-day workshop, which consisted of a keynote address and two panel sessions in the morning and afternoon breakout sessions that began the discussion on how to develop a framework of resilience measures."-- Publisher's description

Every year, the U.S. Army must select from an applicant pool in the hundreds of thousands to meet annual enlistment targets, currently numbering in the tens of thousands of new soldiers. A critical component of the selection process for enlisted service members is the formal assessments administered to applicants to determine their performance potential. Attrition for the U.S. military is hugely expensive. Every recruit that does not make it through basic training or beyond a first enlistment costs hundreds of thousands of dollars. Academic and other professional settings suffer similar losses when the wrong individuals are accepted into the wrong schools and programs or jobs and companies. Picking the right people from the start is becoming increasingly important in today's economy and in response to the growing numbers of applicants. Beyond cognitive tests of ability, what other attributes should selectors be considering to know whether an individual has the talent and the capability to perform as well as the mental and psychological drive to succeed? Measuring Human Capabilities: An Agenda for Basic Research on the Assessment of Individual and Group Performance Potential for Military Accession examines promising emerging theoretical, technological, and statistical advances that could provide scientifically valid new approaches and measurement capabilities to assess human capability. This report considers the basic research necessary to maximize the efficiency, accuracy, and effective use of human capability measures in the military's selection and initial occupational assignment process. The research recommendations of Measuring Human Capabilities will identify ways to supplement the Army's enlisted soldier accession system with additional predictors of individual and collective performance. Although the primary audience for this report is the U.S. military, this book will be of interest to researchers of psychometrics, personnel selection and testing, team dynamics, cognitive ability, and measurement methods and technologies. Professionals interested in of the foundational science behind academic testing, job selection, and human resources management will also find this report of interest.

Hurricane- and coastal-storm-related losses have increased substantially during the past century, largely due to increases in population and development in the most susceptible coastal areas. Climate change poses additional threats to coastal communities from sea level rise and possible increases in strength of the largest hurricanes. Several large cities in the United States have extensive assets at risk to coastal storms, along with countless smaller cities and developed areas. The devastation from Superstorm Sandy has heightened the nation's awareness of these vulnerabilities. What can we do to better prepare for and respond to the increasing risks of loss?Reducing Coastal Risk on the East and Gulf Coasts reviews the coastal risk-reduction strategies and levels of protection that have been used along the United States East and Gulf Coasts to reduce the impacts of coastal flooding associated with storm surges. This report evaluates their effectiveness in terms of economic return, protection of life safety, and minimization of environmental effects. According to this report, the vast majority of the funding for coastal risk-related issues is provided only after a disaster occurs. This report calls for the development of a national vision for coastal risk management that includes a long-term view, regional solutions, and recognition of the full array of economic, social, environmental, and life-safety benefits that come from risk reduction efforts. To support this vision, Reducing Coastal Risk states that a national coastal risk assessment is needed to identify those areas with the greatest risks that are high priorities for risk reduction efforts. The report discusses the implications of expanding the extent and levels of coastal storm surge protection in terms of operation and maintenance costs and the availability of resources.Reducing Coastal Risk recommends that benefit-cost analysis, constrained by acceptable risk criteria and other important environmental and social factors, be used as a framework for evaluating national investments in coastal risk reduction. The recommendations of this report will assist engineers, planners and policy makers at national, regional, state, and local levels to move from a nation that is primarily reactive to coastal disasters to one that invests wisely in coastal risk reduction and builds resilience among coastal communities.

"National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES) of the National Science Foundation is responsible for national reporting of the research and development (R&D) activities that occur in all sectors of the United States economy. For most sectors, including the business and higher education sectors, NCSES collects data on these activities on a regular basis. However, data on R&D within the nonprofit sector have not been collected in 18 years, a time period which has seen dynamic and rapid growth of the sector. NCSES decided to design and implement a new survey of nonprofits, and commissioned this workshop to provide a forum to discuss conceptual and design issues and methods. Measuring Research and Development Expenditures in the U.S. Nonprofit Sector: Conceptual and Design Issues summarizes the presentations and discussion of the workshop. This report identifies concepts and issues for the design of a survey of R&D expenditures made by nonprofit organizations, considering the goals, content, statistical methodology, data quality, and data products associated with this data collection. The report also considers the broader usefulness of the data for understanding the nature of the nonprofit sector and their R&D activities. Measuring Research and Development Expenditures in the U. S. Nonprofit Sector will help readers understand the role of nonprofit sector given its enormous size and scope as well as its contribution to identifying new forms of R&D beyond production processes and new technology."--

"Measuring the Risks and Causes of Premature Death is the summary of two workshops conducted by The Committee on Population of the National Research Council at the National Academies to address the data sources, science and future research needs to understand the causes of premature mortality in the United States. The workshops reviewed previous work in the field in light of new data generated as part of the work of the NRC Panel on Understanding Divergent Trends in Longevity in High-Income Countries (NRC, 2011) and the NRC/IOM Panel on Understanding Cross-National Differences Among High-Income Countries (NRC/IOM, 2013). The workshop presentations considered the state of the science of measuring the determinants of the causes of premature death, assessed the availability and quality of data sources, and charted future courses of action to improve the understanding of the causes of premature death. Presenters shared their approaches to and results of measuring premature mortality and specific risk factors, with a particular focus on those factors most amenable to improvement through public health policy. This report summarizes the presentations and discussion of both workshops." --

The nurse workforce constitutes the largest sector of health professionals in the United States and includes individuals with varying educational backgrounds and expertise. Like other health professions, nursing includes a large number of specialties and subspecialties. Nurses may seek certification, based on various standards and criteria, from a wide range of organizations. Similarly, organizations may participate in nursing credentialing programs, which typically reflect the attainment of various nursing care standards and outcome measures. It is, however, unclear how this additional training and education affects health care quality and patient health. Future Directions of Credentialing Research in Nursing examines short- and long-term strategies to advance research on nurse certification and organizational credentialing. This report summarizes a workshop convened by the Institute of Medicine in September 2014 to examine a new framework and research priorities to guide future research on the impact of nurse credentialing and certification on outcomes for nurses, organizations, and patients. Over 100 people attended the workshop, which focused on topics such as emergent priorities for research in nursing credentialing; critical knowledge gaps and methodological limitations in the field; promising developments in research methodologies, health metrics, and data infrastructures to better evaluate the impact of nursing credentialing; and short- and long-term strategies to encourage continued activity in nursing credentialing research. Future Directions of Credentialing Research in Nursing is a record of the presentations, discussion, and break-out sessions of this event.

"The American Community Survey (ACS) was conceptualized as a replacement to the census long form, which collected detailed population and housing data from a sample of the U.S. population, once a decade, as part of the decennial census operations. The long form was traditionally the main source of socio-economic information for areas below the national level. The data provided for small areas, such as counties, municipalities, and neighborhoods is what made the long form unique, and what makes the ACS unique today. Since the successful transition from the decennial long form in 2005, the ACS has become an invaluable resource for many stakeholders, particularly for meeting national and state level data needs. However, due to inadequate sample sizes, a major challenge for the survey is producing reliable estimates for smaller geographic areas, which is a concern because of the unique role fulfilled by the long form, and now the ACS, of providing data with a geographic granularity that no other federal survey could provide. In addition to the primary challenge associated with the reliability of the estimates, this is also a good time to assess other aspects of the survey in order to identify opportunities for refinement based on the experience of the first few years. Realizing the Potential of the American Community Survey provides input on ways of improving the ACS, focusing on two priority areas: identifying methods that could improve the quality of the data available for small areas, and suggesting changes that would increase the survey's efficiency in responding to new data needs. This report considers changes that the ACS office should consider over the course of the next few years in order to further improve the ACS data. The recommendations of Realizing the Potential of the American Community Survey will help the Census Bureau improve performance in several areas, which may ultimately lead to improved data products as the survey enters its next decade."--Publisher's description.

Review of NASA's Evidence Reports on Human Health Risks 2014 Letter Report is the second in a series of five reports from the Institute of Medicine that will independently review more than 30 evidence reports that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration has compiled on human health risks for long-duration and exploration space flights. This report builds on the 2008 IOM report Review of NASA's Human Research Program Evidence Books: A Letter Report, which provided an initial and brief review of the evidence reports. This letter report reviews seven evidence reports and examines the quality of the evidence, analysis, and overall construction of each report; identifies existing gaps in report content; and provides suggestions for additional sources of expert input. The report analyzes each evidence report's overall quality, which included readability; internal consistency; the source and breadth of cited evidence; identification of existing knowledge and research gaps; authorship expertise; and, if applicable, response to recommendations from the 2008 IOM letter report.

From 1972 to 1982, approximately 1,500-2,100 US Air Force Reserve personnel trained and worked on C-123 aircraft that had formerly been used to spray herbicides in Vietnam as part of Operation Ranch Hand. After becoming aware that some of the aircraft on which they had worked had previously served this purpose, some of these AF Reservists applied to the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for compensatory coverage under the Agent Orange Act of 1991. The Act provides health care and disability coverage for health conditions that have been deemed presumptively service-related for herbicide exposure during the Vietnam War. The VA denied the applications on the basis that these veterans were ineligible because as non-Vietnam-era veterans or as Vietnam-era veterans without "e;boots on the ground"e; service in Vietnam, they were not covered. However, with the knowledge that some air and wipe samples taken between 1979 and 2009 from some of the C-123s used in Operation Ranch Hand showed the presence of agent orange residues, representatives of the C-123 Veterans Association began a concerted effort to reverse VA's position and obtain coverage.At the request of the VA, Post-Vietnam Dioxin Exposure in Agent Orange-Contaminated C-123 Aircraft evaluates whether or not service in these C-123s could have plausibly resulted in exposures detrimental to the health of these Air Force Reservists. The Institute of Medicine assembled an expert committee to address this question qualitatively, but in a scientific and evidence-based fashion. This report evaluates the reliability of the available information for establishing exposure and addresses and places in context whether any documented residues represent potentially harmful exposure by characterizing the amounts available and the degree to which absorption might be expected. Post-Vietnam Dioxin Exposure rejects the idea that the dioxin residues detected on interior surfaces of the C-123s were immobile and effectively inaccessible to the Reservists as a source of exposure. Accordingly, this report states with confidence that the Air Force Reservists were exposed when working in the Operation Ranch Hand C-123s and so experienced some increase in their risk of a variety of adverse responses.

"Protecting 18 million United States health care workers from infectious agents - known and unknown - involves a range of occupational safety and health measures that include identifying and using appropriate protective equipment. The 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic and the 2014 Ebola virus outbreak in West Africa have called raised questions about how best to ensure appropriate and effective use of different kinds of personal protective equipment such as respirators, not only to promote occupational safety but also to reduce disease transmission. The Use and Effectiveness of Powered Air Purifying Respirators in Health Care is the summary of a workshop convened by the Institute of Medicine Standing Committee on Personal Protective Equipment for Workplace Safety and Health to explore the current state of practices and research related to powered air purifying respirator (PAPRs) and potential updates to performance requirements. Presentations and discussions highlighted current health care practices using PAPRs and outlined the research to date on the use and effectiveness of PAPRs in health care settings with a focus on the performance requirements. The Use and Effectiveness of Powered Air Purifying Respirators in Health Care focuses on efficacy, current training, maintenance, supplies, and possible enhancements and barriers to use in inpatient, clinic, nursing home, and community (home) settings. This report also explores the strengths and weaknesses of using various approaches to health care PAPR standards."--Publisher's description.

Over the past few decades there have been major successes in creating evidence-based interventions to improve the cognitive, affective, and behavioral health of children. Many of these interventions have been put into practice at the local, state, or national level. To reap what has been learned from such implementation, and to explore how new legislation and policies as well as advances in technology and analytical methods can help drive future implementation, the Institute of Medicine-National Research Council Forum on Promoting Children's Cognitive, Affective, and Behavioral Health held the workshop "Harvesting the Scientific Investment in Prevention Science to Promote Children's Cognitive, Affective, and Behavioral Health" in Washington, DC, on June 16 and 17, 2014. The workshop featured panel discussions of system-level levers and blockages to the broad implementation of interventions with fidelity, focusing on policy, finance, and method science; the role of scientific norms, implementation strategies, and practices in care quality and outcomes at the national, state, and local levels; and new methodological directions. The workshop also featured keynote presentations on the role of economics and policy in scaling interventions for children's behavioral health, and making better use of evidence to design informed and more efficient children's mental health systems. Harvesting the Scientific Investment in Prevention Science to Promote Children's Cognitive, Affective, and Behavioral Health summarizes the presentations and discussion of the workshop.

India and the United States are the world's two largest democracies with distinguished scientific traditions and experts in a wide range of scientific-technical fields. Given these strengths and the ability to learn from one another, the U.S. National Academy of Sciences together with the National Institute for Advanced Studies in Bangalore, India, held a joint Indian-U.S. workshop to identify and examine potential areas for substantive scientific and technical cooperation that can support counterterrorism efforts through the Homeland Security Dialogue and through direct cooperation. India-United States Cooperation on Science and Technology for Countering Terrorism is the summary of that workshop. This report examines topics such as biological threats; protection of nuclear facilities; security (physical and cyber) for chemicals, chemical facilities and other critical infrastructure; and monitoring, surveillance, and emergency response. The report also identifies and examines promising areas for further Indian-U.S. cooperation.

"Business Engagement in Building Healthy Communities is the summary of a workshop convened by the Institute of Medicine's Roundtable on Population Health Improvement in July 2014 to consider the role of business in improving population health beyond the usual worksite wellness and health promotion activities. The workshop followed previous roundtable discussions on the importance of applying a health lens to decision making in non-health sectors and the need for cross-sector collaborations to advance population health. Invited speakers included representatives from several businesses that have taken action to improve the health of their communities and representatives of business coalitions on health. The workshop was designed to discuss why engaging in population health improvement is good for business; explore how businesses can be effective key leaders in improving the health of communities; and discuss ways in which businesses can engage in population health improvement. This report is a record of the presentations and discussion of the event" --

SMART Vaccines - Strategic Multi-Attribute Ranking Tool for Vaccines - is a prioritization software tool developed by the Institute of Medicine that utilizes decision science and modeling to help inform choices among candidates for new vaccine development. A blueprint for this computer-based guide was presented in the 2012 report Ranking Vaccines: A Prioritization Framework: Phase I. The 2013 Phase II report refined a beta version of the model developed in the Phase I report. Ranking Vaccines: Applications of a Prioritization Software Tool: Phase III: Use Case Studies and Data Framework extends this project by demonstrating the practical applications of SMART Vaccines through use case scenarios in partnership with the Public Health Agency of Canada, New York State Department of Health, and the Serum Institute of India. This report also explores a novel application of SMART Vaccines in determining new vaccine product profiles, and offers practical strategies for data synthesis and estimation to encourage the broader use of the software.

"Building Infrastructure for International Collaborative Research in the Social and Behavioral Sciences is the summary of a workshop convened by the National Research Council's Committee on International Collaborations in Social and Behavioral Sciences in September 2013 to identify ways to reduce impediments and to increase access to cross-national research collaborations among a broad range of American scholars in the behavioral and social sciences (and education), especially early career scholars. Over the course of two and a half days, individuals from universities and federal agencies, professional organizations, and other parties with interests in international collaboration in the behavior and social sciences and education made presentations and participated in discussions. They came from diverse fields including cognitive psychology, developmental psychology, comparative education, educational anthropology, sociology, organizational psychology, the health sciences, international development studies, higher education administration, and international exchange."--Publisher's description.