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In response to HUD's request, the NRC assembled a panel of experts, the Committee for Oversight and Assessment of the Partnership for Advancing Technology in Housing, under the auspices of the Board on Infrastructure and the Constructed Environment. Over an initial term of three years, the committee was asked to review and comment on the following aspects of the PATH program: overall goals; proposed approach to meeting the goals and the likelihood of achieving them; and measurements of progress toward achieving the goals.

The National Research Council's Committee on the Impact of Low-Level Radioactive Waste Management Policy on Biomedical Research in the United States was called on to assess the effects of the low-level radioactive waste management policy on the current and future activities of biomedical research. This report provides an assessment of the effects of the current management policy for low-level radioactive waste (LLRW), and resulting consequences, such as higher LLRW disposal costs and onsite storage of LLRW, on the current and future activities of biomedical research. That assessment will include evaluating the effects that the lack of facilities and disposal capacity, and rules of disposal facilities, have on institutions conducting medical and biological research and on hospitals where radioisotopes are used for the diagnosis and treatment of disease.

The Institute of Medicine's (IOM's) Food Forum was established in 1993 to allow science and technology leaders in the food industry, top administrators in several federal government agencies from the United States and Canada, representatives from consumer interest groups, and academicians to openly communicate in a neutral setting. The Food Forum provides a mechanism for these diverse groups to discuss food, food safety, and food technology issues and to identify possible approaches for addressing these issues by taking into consideration the often complex interactions among industry, regulatory agencies, consumers, and academia. The objective, however, is to illuminate issues, not to resolve them. Unlike study committees of the IOM, forums cannot provide advice or recommendations to any government agency or other organization. Similarly, workshop summaries or other products resulting from forum activities are precluded from reaching conclusions or recommendations but, instead, are intended to reflect the variety of opinions expressed by the participants. On July 13-14, 1999, the forum convened a workshop on Food Safety Policy, Science, and Risk Assessment: Strengthening the Connection. The purpose of the workshop was to address many of the issues that complicate the development of microbiological food safety policy, focusing on the use of science and risk assessment in establishing policy and in determining the utilization of food safety resources. The purpose was not to find fault with past food safety regulatory activities or food safety policy decisions. Rather, the goal was to determine what actions have been taken in the past to address food safety issues, to consider what influences led to the policies that were put in place, and to explore how improvements can be made in the future. This report is a summary of the workshop presentations. It is limited to the views and opinions of those invited to present at the workshop and reflects their concerns and areas of expertise. As such, the report does not provide a comprehensive review of the research and current status of food safety policy, science, and risk assessment. The organization of the report approximates the order of the presentations at the workshop. The identification of a speaker as an "industry representative" or a "Food and Drug Administration representative" is not intended to suggest that the individual spoke for that organization or others who work there.

In the Bhopal disaster of 1984, approximately 2,000 residents living near a chemical plant were killed and 20,000 more suffered irreversible damage to their eyes and lungs following the accidental release of methyl isocyanate. This tragedy served to focus international attention on the need for governments to identify hazardous substances and assist local communities in planning how to deal with emergency exposures. Since 1986, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has been tasked with identifying extremely hazardous substances and, in cooperation with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Department of Transportation, assist local emergency response planners. The National Advisory Committee on Acute Exposure Guideline Levels for Hazardous Substances was established in 1995 to develop acute exposure guideline levels (AEGLs) for high priority toxic chemicals that could be released into the air from accidents at chemical plants, storage sites, or during transportation. This book reviews toxicity documents on five chemicals--chlorine, hydrogen chloride, hydrogen fluoride, toluene, and uranium hexafluoride--for their scientific validity, comprehensives, internal consistency, and conformance to the 1993 guidelines report.

The National Research Council was asked by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to review the draft report of the National Cancer Institute (NCI)-CDC's working group charged with revising the 1985 radioepidemiological tables. To this end, a subcommittee was formed consisting of members of the Council's Committee on an Assessment of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Radiation Programs and other experts. The original tables were mandated under Public Law 97-414 (the "Orphan Drug Act") and were intended to provide a means of estimating the probability that a person who developed any of a series of radiation-related cancers, developed the cancer as a result of a specific radiation dose received before the onset of the cancer. The mandate included a provision for periodic updating of the tables. The motivation for the current revision reflects the availability of new data, especially on cancer incidence, and new methods of analysis, and the need for a more thorough treatment of uncertainty in the estimates than was attempted in the original tables.

Research Council established the Ecosystems Panel in response to a request from the United States Global Change Research Program (USGCRP). The panel's charge included periodic reviews of the ecosystems aspects of the USGCRP, and this is the first of those reviews. It is based on information provided by the USGCRP, including Our Changing Planet (NSTC 1997 and earlier editions 1); ideas and conversations provided by participants in a workshop held in St. Michaels, Maryland, in July 1998; and the deliberations of the panel. In addition, the panel reviewed the ecosystems chapter of the NRC report Global Environmental Change: Research Pathways for the Next Decade (NRC 1999a, known as the Pathways report).The USGCRP is an interagency program established in 1989 and codified by the Global Change Research Act of 1990 (PL 101-606). The USGCRP comprises representatives of the departments of Agriculture, Commerce (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and National Institute of Standards and Technology), Defense, Energy, Health and Human Services (theNational Institute of Environmental Health Sciences), Interior, and State, as well as the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the National Science Foundation, the Smithsonian Institution, the Office of Science and Technology Policy, the Office of Management and Budget, and the intelligence community (NSTC 1997). The USGCRP's research program is described in detail in Our Changing Planet (NSTC 1997, 1999). In brief, the program focuses on four major areas of earth-system science: 1) Seasonal to interannual climate variability; 2) Climate change over decades to centuries; 3) Changes in ozone, ultraviolet (UV) radiation, and atmospheric chemistry, and 4) Changes in land cover and in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. The fourth topic is the area in which advice was requested from the ecosystems panel.The Ecosystems Panel's charge has three parts: to provide a forum for the discussion of questions of ecosystem science of interest to scientists in and out of the federal agencies, to periodically review the ecosystem aspects of the USGCRP's research program, and to help identify general areas of ecosystem science that need additional attention, especially areas that cut across ecosystems and levels of ecological organization. In addressing the second item of its charge for this report, the panel first identified the most significant and challenging areas in ecosystem science, then used that identification as a basis to make recommendations to the USGCRP. Thus, this report is not a detailed review of the USGCRP's program, but rather an attempt to identify those areas that the panel concludes are most in need of attention by a general research program on global change. As noted in this report, some of those areas are already receiving attention by the USGCRP.

Manufactured vitreous fibers (MVF), also known as synthetic vitreous fibers, are considered to be less hazardous than asbestos to human health. They are used in many thermal- and acoustical-insulation applications as an asbestos substitute or as a filtration medium. The Navy uses MVF in shipboard and onshore applications. To protect Navy personnel from harmful exposures to MVF, the U.S. Navy Environmental Health Center (NEHC) developed occupational exposure standards. The documentation assists industrial hygienists, occupational medicine physicians, and other Navy health professionals in assessing and controlling the health hazards linked with exposure to MVF.In 1997, the National Research Council (NRC) was asked to conduct an independent review of the Navy's toxicological assessment of MVF and to evaluate the scientific validity of its exposure standard of 2 fibers per cubic centimeter of air (f/cm3). The NRC assigned the task to the Committee on Toxicology, which established the Subcommittee on Manufactured Vitreous Fibers, a multidisciplinary group of experts, to determine whether all relevant toxicological and epidemiological data were correctly considered in developing the exposure standard; and to examine the uncertainty, variability, and quality of data and the appropriateness of assumptions used in the derivation of the exposure standard. The subcommittee was also asked to identify deficiencies in the MVF database and, where appropriate, to make recommendations for future research and data development.Review of the U.S. Navy's exposure Standard for Manufactured Vitreous Fibers represents the subcommittee's final report. The committee had expanded its review when in January 1999, the Navy revised its Occupational Safety and Health Program Manual (CNO 1999), changing the occupational exposure limit for MVF to the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) threshold limit value (TLV) of 1 f/cm3. The report features recommendations by the subcommittee as well as information gaps found throughout investigation. Overall, the subcommittee found that the Navy made a good start in assessing the health effects of MVF, but needed further research.

Policy makers are caught between two powerful forces in relation to testing in America's schools. One is increased interest on the part of educators, reinforced by federal requirements, in developing tests that accurately reflect local educational standards and goals. The other is a strong push to gather information about the performance of students and schools relative to national and international standards and norms. The difficulty of achieving these two goals simultaneously is exacerbated by both the long-standing American tradition of local control of education and the growing public sentiment that students already take enough tests. Finding a solution to this dilemma has been the focus of numerous debates surrounding the Voluntary National Tests proposed by President Clinton in his 1997 State of the Union address. It was also the topic of a congressionally mandated 1998 National Research Council report (Uncommon Measures: Equivalence and Linkage Among Educational Tests), and was touched upon in a U.S. General Accounting Office report (Student Testing: Issues Related to Voluntary National Mathematics and Reading Tests). More recently, Congress asked the National Research Council to determine the technical feasibility, validity, and reliability of embedding test items from the National Assessment of Educational Progress or other tests in state and district assessments in 4th-grade reading and 8th-grade mathematics for the purpose of developing a valid measure of student achievement within states and districts and in terms of national performance standards or scales. This report is the response to that congressional mandate.

Go beyond the physical exercise of yoga with the founder of the American Viniyoga InstituteWhile there is no denying yoga's popularity as a form of physical exercise, the other life-enhancing aspects of this tradition remain obscure to many Westerners. In Yoga for Transformation, Gary Kraftsow introduces techniques that treat not only the physical body but also the emotions, mind, heart, and soul of the practitioner-the places where real transformation can take place. There are breathing techniques to control energy levels, exercises to train and sharpen the intellect, and meditative practices to help increase self-awareness. With more than 350 black and white photographs throughout, this unique and accessible book is dedicated to strengthening the whole self-body, mind, and spirit.

This volume is a record of the proceedings of the first InterPlanetary Festival, held in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in June of 2018 by the Santa Fe Institute, birthplace of complexity science.An annual free public event, the InterPlanetary Festival combines an exploration of complexity science and technological innovation with a summer festival full of music, film, art, food, drinks, and more.The Festival is just one aspect of the broader InterPlanetary Project, which is equal parts conference, festival, and research program. The first project of its kind to combine celebration with experimentation, and conversation with analysis, the InterPlanetary Project seeks nothing less than a whole-planet project-beyond borders, beyond politics, beyond economics-to activate the collective intelligence of our first planet: Earth.

Abraham H. Maslow was one of the foremost spokespersons of humanistic psychology. In The Farthest Reaches of Human Nature, an extension of his classic Toward a Psychology of Being, Maslow explores the complexities of human nature by using both the empirical methods of science and the aesthetics of philosophical inquiry. With essays on biology, synergy, creativity, cognition, self-actualization, and the hierarchy of needs, this posthumous work is a wide-ranging synthesis of Maslow's inspiring and influential ideas.

Analyzes common complaints such as headaches and lower-back pain and shows how they can be overcome by releasing the muscular tension that creates them. Through bioenergetic exercise, physical pain can be dissolved and emotion released, leading to a new sense of confidence and well-being.

Provides case studies and specific yoga sequences to reveal the physical and spiritual benefits of this ancient meditation practice.

A rich collection that brings the great Sufi poet Hafiz to Western readers, from bestselling poet Daniel Ladinsky Perhaps more than any other Persian poet, it is Hafiz who most fully accesses the mystical, healing dimensions of verse. Acclaimed poet Daniel Ladinsky has made it his life's work to create modern, inspired renderings of the world's most profound spiritual poetry. Through Ladinsky's renderings, Hafiz's voice comes alive across the centuries, singing his timeless message of love. With this stunning collection, Ladinsky has once again succeeded brilliantly in capturing the essence of one of Islam's greatest poetic and spiritual voices. "Ladinsky is a master who will be remembered for finally bringing Hafiz alive in the West." -Alexandra Marks, The Christian Science Monitor

Can you imagine yourself as a light keeper? Could you live full-time on an isolated coast? Your job is to keep a light shining out to sea, guiding ships to land, warning them of jagged shoreline, and maybe even assisting with a rescue in the case of a shipwreck.Even though there are 750 lighthouses across North America, only 51 light keepers actively live and work in one in Canada, and just 1 keeper remains in the United States. In the newest installment of Nimbus's popular Compass series, Christine Welldon takes readers past the postcard-perfect image and depicts a day in the life of 11 modern light keepers. From Cape Beale, British Columbia, to Puffin Island, Newfoundland, learn about the grit, intelligence, and quick thinking that helps keep our coastlines safe. Expertly weaving the historical with the modern, Welldon shows us how light keepers are still bound by an age-old mission: "Keep the light shining. Be ever watchful. Help those in trouble on the sea."Includes over 50 full-colour photos, illustrations, and maps, as well as a glossary, index, and historical timeline.