Administration's Request Research Articles

NIH Up, for Now; Fusion Down

The same day—12 September—that fusion research took a 5% cut, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) budget got a 4.1% boost. Neither community reacted too loudly to the news, however. “We are grateful—it could have been much worse,” says Anne Davies, who heads the Department of Energy effort, about the vote in the House on what is expected to be DOE's 1997 budget. As for NIH, the increase by a Senate panel falls between the Administration's request and an earlier House vote. But prospects for a final spending bill are clouded by a $6 billion gap between what the president wants to spend on education and health and what Congress has supported.

Status of a Tapered Element, Oscillating Microbalance-Based Continuous Respirable Coal Mine Dust Monitor

Abstract The Mine Safety and Health Administration, Department of Labor, requires coal mine operators to measure compliance with federal respirable dust exposure standards periodically using approved gravimetric samplers. However, the gravimetric approach, with its inherent delays, cannot provide dust concentration data quickly enough to allow on-site correction of inadequate dust control strategies or removal of personnel from harmful environments. Furthermore, alleged tampering with dust samples collected to determine compliance with standards prompted the Secretary of Labor to appoint a special Respirable Dust Task Group to study options to improve monitoring and control of respirable coal mine dust. The Mine Safety and Health Administration's Task Group recommended that the U.S. Bureau of Mines develop a fixed-site monitor that would provide continuous information to the mine worker and mine operator regarding dust levels and the status of compliance with the applicable respirable dust standard. In response to the Mine Safety and Health Administration's request, the U.S. Bureau of Mines is investigating several sensor technologies for continuously monitoring respirable coal mine dust. One of these technologies is the Rupprecht and Patashnick Co. tapered element, oscillating microbalance. The bureau is in the process of investigating the suitability of using this sensor in the high humidity and vibration environment of underground coal mines. Laboratory tests have indicated that, with modification, the sensor can meet the humidity and vibration requirements for underground coal mine use. Currently, the bureau is developing prototypes of a continuous dust monitor based on this technology. When available, these will be evaluated in underground coal mines.

Mission to planet Earth launches policy debate

For the second year in a row, leaders of the U.S. House of Representatives have proposed sizable cuts in NASA's Mission to Planet Earth (MtPE), a program designed to gather comprehensive data sets about Earth's climate and atmosphere. The NASA authorization for 1997 proposed by the House shaves $261 million from the current budget for MtPE, and $373.7 million from Clinton Administration's request of $1,402 billion (House Republicans are offering $1.028 billion, while their Senate counterparts have so far agreed to Clinton's request.)

House cuts applied research programs

The House has approved legislation setting fiscal 1997 budgetary ceilings for a number of federal research programs that are, in many cases, lower than the Administration's requests. The Omnibus Civilian Science Authorization Act of 1996 (H.R. 3322) also continues GOP attempts to end funding of a number of programs dear to the Administration's heart, including the Department of Commerce's Advanced Technology Program and the Environmental Protection Agency's environmental technology initiative. And the bill substantially cuts funding for Mission to Planet Earth, the National Aeronautics & Space Administration's program to collect and analyze satellite and ground-based data on the total physical system that is Earth. Nevertheless, said Science Committee Chairman Robert S. Walker (R-Pa.) in introducing the bill, this is a very good bill that we bring before the floor. It is in strong support of science, and it is in a fiscally responsible climate. ... This bill does good science work in the context of ...

Measuring the Tie between Funding and News Control at Student Newspapers

Although a perception exists that student newspapers are commonly intimidated by administrators over news content, this study indicates that the actual affect is relatively small. Advertisers have had even less success. Just 4.3% of advisers nationally have complied with administrative requests not to publish news articles, and only 12.2% believe there is a link between administrative funding and news selection. This national survey (n=233) also indicates that advisers at two-year colleges and private institutions are significantly more willing to comply with administrative news requests than are those at other institutions.

Senators pose tough queries to NIH head

Some tough questions on Administration policy were posed to National Institutes of Health director Harold E. Varmus when he presented NIH's proposed budget for fiscal 1995 to a Senate Appropriations subcommittee. Members of the Subcommittee on Labor, Health & Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies assured Varmus of their support for a healthy budget increase, but pressed him for his views on such difficult issues as ear-marking, indirect cost policies, and personnel cuts. Congress traditionally is generous with NIH, granting it greater funding than the Administration requests. Subcommittee chairman Sen. Tom Harkin (D.-Iowa) stressed at the hearing that he was pleased with President Bill Clinton's proposal to increase NIH's budget 4.7% to $11.5 billion (C&EN, Feb. 21, page 20). However, he added, there are some serious fault lines lying beneath the surface ... that warrant closer inspection and concern. Harkin pointed out that $221 million of the proposed $517 million increase for fiscal 1995 ...

NSF to receive 10% funding increase

Work is almost complete on the fiscal year 1994 funding bill for the National Science Foundation. On October 1, Conference Committee Chairs Louis Stokes (D‐Ohio) and Barbara Mikulski (D‐Md.) and their colleagues completed work on the final version of HR2491, the VA, HUD, Independent Agencies Appropriations Bill. The House and Senate will soon give their final approval to the conference report for HR2491, after which it will lack only the president's signature. NSF's overall budget increase of 10%, raising total funding to %3,005.3 million, is the highest increase among all departments and agencies. Last year's increase in NSF funding was 6.3%.Funding for research and related activities will increase 7% to $1,986 million, a compromise between the 10% House increase and the 4% Senate figure. Last year's bill cut research funding. Education and human resources funding will increase 17% to $569.6 million. This is $13.5 million above the Clinton administration's request. Last year's increase for education and human resources was 4.7%.

Senate panel funds station, cuts NASA, NSF requests

The Senate Appropriations committee accepted the recommendations of its subcommittee on Veterans Affairs, Housing, and Urban Development, headed by Barbara Mikulski (D‐Md.), and approved full funding for Space Station Freedom for FY 1992, while cutting some space science programs. It also approved a 14% increase for the National Science Foundation, which is 3% below the increase already approved by the House. The resolution was sent to the Senate floor for a full vote on July 17, where an amendment by Dale Bumpers (D‐Ark.) to eliminate Freedom's funding was defeated by a vote of 64 to 35.The committee recommended that NASA receive $14.3 billion for FY 1992, which was $436.9 million above the amount recommended by the House, but $1.4 billion below the Administration's request.

Prenatal Radiation Exposure Policy

A policy on prenatal radiation exposure at two nuclear power plants was revised to give better assurance of compliance with NCRP recommendations on fetal radiation exposure. This action was taken after publication of NCRP 91 in June 1987 to provide better assurance that a total dose equivalent limit to an embryo-fetus be no greater than 0.5 mSv (0.05 rem) in any month and no more than 5 mSv (500 mrem) for a gestation period. For any female worker to receive radiation exposure greater than 1.5 mSv (0.15 rem) in a month at these nuclear power plants, she was asked to initiate an administrative request for radiation exposure in excess of this limit. In this request, she was asked to acknowledge that she was aware of the guidance in U.S. NRC Regulatory Guide 8.13. A worker who had the potential for radiation exposure in excess of 1.5 mSv (0.15 rem) refused to process this request and was consequently denied overtime work. She filed a grievance for denial of overtime, and this grievance was submitted for labor arbitration in June 1988. The arbitration decision and its basis and related NRC actions are discussed.

Science funding bills reach critical stage

Several House and Senate subcommittees are working on science‐related appropriations bills providing funding for federal departments and agencies for the 1991 fiscal year, which starts October 1. Although final work on these bills will probably not be completed until September, the appropriations made to various science agencies in the next few weeks are likely to be close to the final numbers. These weeks will be critical for science.Funding for the National Science Foundation, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and Environmental Protection Agency is included in the Fiscal 1991 VA, HUD, and Independent Agencies Appropriations Bill. Although the Administration's request for these agencies is up significantly, both House and Senate Committee members have repeatedly commented on the difficulty they will have in providing funding for science programs as well as veterans and housing needs. The Senate has started “marking‐up” (drafting) this legislation, although the House must vote on its own bill first.

A Review: The 1985 USIA Central American Surveys

In the spring of 1986, press reports on a series of 1985 surveys sponsored by the U.S. Information Agency in four American nations (Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Savador) attracted widespread attention and evoked reactions ranging from glee among supporters of the Reagan administration's American policy to shock and disbelief among opponents of that policy. According to media reports, these surveys depicted most citizens of those four countries as staunch advocates of the assumptions underlying current U.S. policy toward America. For example, La Nacion, the major Costa Rican daily, cited the finding that 73% of those polled viewed Nicaragua as a military threat, in sharp contrast to the less than 5% who so viewed the United States. Other results prominently featured in newspaper stories in the United States and elsewhere sounded the same theme, pointing consistently toward an interpretation of American events strikingly in concert with administration policy. Are these findings scientifically credible? In an attempt to find out, we requested information and documentation from USIA. The agency responded by forwarding an odd array of materials, including: an excerpt from the Congressional Record in which Rep. Livingston (R, Louisiana) reported some results from the surveys and concluded that Central Americans understand the threat that Nicaragua, Cuba, and the Soviet Union pose to their future. They also understand that the United States is helping them to surmount their problem; a Jeane Kirkpatrick newspaper column, which mentioned selected survey results in the context of defending the administration's request for contra aid; and a collection of stories from La Nacion, La Estrella de Panama, and the Washington Times. These materials succeeded in heightening our awareness of the political uses of survey research, but

House Passes Fiscal 1987 R&D Appropriation Bills

The House has cleared fiscal 1987 RD still others are above 1986 levels but below the request. And the House has set funding for some R&D programs that is up from both 1986 funding and the Administration request. A good example of programs in the latter category are those of the National Institutes of Health, for ...

Health policy report. The NIH appropriation.

The Reagan administration's commitment to increase federal research and development spending substantially for national defense and the physical and engineering sciences has been parlayed by Congress — in a broadly bipartisan fashion — into a rationale for granting medical research an increase far larger than that sought by the President. In the process of crafting a fiscal 1985 budget for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) that exceeds the administration's request by more than $500 million, Congress reaffirmed its long-standing commitment to medical research and sharply increased funding for investigator-initiated research grants — long the lifeblood of the agency. The . . .

The defense budget in an election year

The Reagan Administration's military requests might have survived the 1983 congressional budget debate, but further ambitious requests and the upcoming elections may enliven the 1984 debate.

National Center for Health Care Technology assessment of therapeutic apheresis for rheumatoid arthritis, 1981.

The National Center for Health Care Technology coordinated the Public Health Service's assessment of therapeutic apheresis for rheumatoid arthritis in response to the Health Care Financing Administration's request for advice regarding Medicare coverage of this rapidly emerging technology. The information considered included reports available in the medical literature (as of early 1981), advice from the National Institutes of Health and Food and Drug Administration, advice from the appropriate medical societies, as well as information submitted by interested parties in response to a notice published in the Federal Register announcing the assessment. Synthesis of this information provided the basis for concluding that therapeutic apheresis for rheumatoid arthritis was considered experimental with the possible exception of treatment for life-threatening complications such as vasculitis, cryoglobulinemia, or hyperviscosity syndrome.

Kuru: Early Letters and Field-Notes From the Collection of D. Carleton Gajdusek

The Gajdusek letters and field notes cover approximately the initial year of 1957. Apart from an explanatory introduction spanning a longer period, the book contains no narrative as such, the letters appearing almost verbatim and in order of date. They show graphically the wide-ranging achievements of Gajdusek (and Zigas), from bringing kuru to worldwide attention to creating a functioning bush hospital in next to no time (apparently out of thin air), and the appalling difficulties encountered and overcome at every stage. One stands amazed at Gajdusek's unbounded energy and enthusiasm and his ability to stretch every day to 48 hours. Sadly, in the circumstances, some criticism seems unavoidable. The letters, understandably, are often long and repetitive, inevitably cluttered with a host of basically administrative problems and anguished requests for the most basic supplies—sometimes similarly written to two or three different people. Unfortunately, this makes heavy going for the reader and

NSF FY1982 update: Support for basic research

When the Appropriation Committees of the House of Representatives and the Senate meet in conference this month, discussion of the Astronomical, Atmospheric, Earth, and Ocean Sciences (AAEO) sections of the National Science Foundation (NSF) will be limited. Both the House and the Senate committees made some slight increases to the Office of Management and Budget requests, and the program by program agreement between the two was unusual.The House appropriation bill, H.R. 4034, provides $70 million over the administration request of $1033.5 million. Of the increase, $44.9 million was added in the area of research and related activities and $25.1 million for science and engineering education.

NSF and NASA budgets increased

Research budgets of several of the federal government agencies were increased significantly over the Reagan administration's requests in the House of Representative's appropriations bill H.R. 4034. These budgets had been removed from the Reagan administration's omnibus reconciliation bill, and thus there were worries expressed that certain research funding could be in jeopardy. The rationale was that because the requests were voted on individually on the floor of the House, many sections of the budgets would be subjected to extra scrutiny, which would lead to more cuts.The National Science Foundation (NSF) budget request had been cut and reordered by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) by making sharp reductions in programs of the social sciences and in programs of science and engineering education. There were fears that these programs would be reinstated to the original request level, at the expense of the budgets of other research activities. These fears materialized, but only momentarily. Efforts to cut the research activities by the House Appropriations Committee were soundly defeated. The budget was supported, with additional increases to provide for the education programs, by a high margin, which included most Republican and Democratic members of the House of Representatives. The overall NSF budget, as passed, has a total appropriation of $1103.5 million, compared with the Administration's request of $1033.5 million (the Fiscal Year 1981 appropriation for the NSF was $1022.4 million). The House approved budget included increases of $44.9 million in research and $25.1 million in science and engineering education. Included in the research budget increase were recommendations by the House Appropriations Committee for support of the social sciences and for the international affairs programs. Also included in the recommendations was support of interdisciplinary research programs that cut across the directorates of the NSF.

Earthquake program authorization increased

House and Senate actions have substantially increased the funding potentially available for the Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program in 1981. The Senate has passed a version of the legislation that would also extend authorization for 3 years, through 1983. The Earthquake Hazards Reduction Act was due for reauthorization this year (EOS, 61, April 1 and May 6).The Senate version of the legislation adds about $3.5 million to the administration's request for FY 1981; the House version, about $ 7 million. Most of the increase in both bills is slated for use by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema), the coordinating agency for the program. Fema is responsible for such actions as planning for public response to earthquake predict ions; making information available to and educating architects and engineers about incorporating seismic safety design in construction projects; and community planning for earthquake disasters.

Patients' Requests of an Outpatient Clinic

Three-hundred-twenty-five consecutive predominantly lower-class new patients at a psychiatric outpatient clinic rated the importance they attached to each of 14 categories of treatment needs or requests. Psychiatric residents subsequently rated the importance of each request for each patient at the conclusion of their initial assessment interview. Requests reflecting needs for intrapsychic therapy, clarification, and control of feelings were considered very important by approximately two thirds of the patients; needs for institutionalized contact, advice, and community triage by one half; and other requests for medication, reality contact, succorance, ventilation, confession, social intervention, administrative requests by a minority (one fourth to one third). Residents significantly underestimated the importance their patients attached to 10 of 14 requests. Factor analyses confirmed several systematic sources of disparity between patient and therapist perception of lower-class patient needs.