National Research Council Study Research Articles

A Bibliometric Analysis of Publications During The Last Decade on Growth Performance In Animal Science

Objective: The studies conducted in growth performance are significantly related to productivity; consequently, this field a critical part of animal science. Zootechnical research in this field is growing, and bibliometric analysis of publications may guide the researchers and raise awareness on specific research trends and key topics. Material and Methods: This paper reviewed the growth performance literature via multiple analyses to examine the growth and global longitudinal trends through bibliometric analysis and network analysis. The research data consisted of 10240 studies published between 2010-2020 by the selected criteria. A visualization tool called CiteSpace, which reveals a deep level analysis, especially for future research trends prediction, was used. Results: It was concluded that 2010 was a turning point in this field, as it was observed that academic studies were mostly carried out in 2010, and these studies were more cited. The most cited reference is the National Research Council studies; the most active country in the academic publication is China (2236 counted.) Accepted as a turning point or central point, the country with the highest centrality value was the USA (0.20). It has been seen that the main researches focused on nutrient digestion, broiler chicken, and meat quality. Conclusion: In this study, our combination of bibliometric methods and a systematic review makes for a better understanding of growth performance methods for both researchers and practitioners. Thus, this paper concentrates on filling the gap in Zootechnical researches by carrying out a visualized bibliometric analysis to discover the existing themes, hot topics, and potential future research directions.

Assessing the Impact of Non-Conventional Radar and Surface Observations on High-Resolution Analyses and Forecasts of a Severe Hailstorm

A 2009 National Research Council study recommended that new mesoscale observing networks be integrated with existing networks to form a nationwide “network of networks”. The report also recommended that research testbeds be established, such as the Center for Collaborative Adaptive Sensing of the Atmosphere (CASA) DFW Testbed, to ascertain the potential benefit of proposed observing systems. In this work, we use various conventional and non-conventional observing systems from the DFW Testbed in a series of observing system experiments (OSEs). Of special interest are radar data from Terminal Doppler Weather Radars and CASA X-band radars, as well as novel surface observations. The Advanced Regional Prediction System (ARPS) model is used to perform OSEs that are designed to assess the impact of these observing systems. A three-dimensional variational analysis system and companion complex cloud analysis are used to produce analysis increments, which are assimilated in ARPS using Incremental Analysis Updating. Experiments are performed on a supercell thunderstorm case from 11 April 2016 that produced large, damaging hail. The analysis includes quantitative comparisons of model-derived hail with radar-observed hail, along with verification of surface fields. The CASA radial velocity data benefited the forecasted storm structure, as it positively affected subsequent storm morphology and model-derived hail forecasts. Of note in surface observation impacts, the dewpoint measurements from the non-conventional Earth Networks and CWOP networks slightly degrade the forecasted dewpoint field compared to independent standard observations, but did not prevent the successful prediction of hail.

Impact of Gastrointestinal Side Effects on Patients' Reported Quality of Life Trajectories after Radiotherapy for Prostate Cancer: Data from the Prospective, Observational Pros-IT CNR Study.

Simple SummaryThe analyses presented, based on data from the PROState cancer monitoring in ITaly from the National Research Council (Pros-IT CNR) study, evaluated patients’ reported quality of life outcomes related to bowel function and bother over a 2-year period from the diagnosis. Growth mixture models were considered for patients who underwent radiotherapy, including treatments that were associated or not associated with androgen deprivation therapy. Our data revealed that the proportion of patients that were radiotherapy-treated with persisting significant bowel worsening at the 24 months interval is very limited. The absence of comorbidities and the use of intensity or volumetric radiotherapy techniques with image guidance were found to be related with a better tolerance to radiotherapy in terms of bowel side effects. These findings could be relevant for treatment selection and accurate patient information.Radiotherapy (RT) represents an important therapeutic option for the treatment of localized prostate cancer. The aim of the current study is to examine trajectories in patients’ reported quality of life (QoL) aspects related to bowel function and bother, considering data from the PROState cancer monitoring in ITaly from the National Research Council (Pros-IT CNR) study, analyzed with growth mixture models. Data for patients who underwent RT, either associated or not associated with androgen deprivation therapy, were considered. QoL outcomes were assessed over a 2-year period from the diagnosis, using the Italian version of the University of California Los Angeles-Prostate Cancer Index (Italian-UCLA-PCI). Three trajectories were identified for the bowel function; having three or more comorbidities and the use of 3D-CRT technique for RT were associated with the worst trajectory (OR = 3.80, 95% CI 2.04–7.08; OR = 2.17, 95% CI 1.22–3.87, respectively). Two trajectories were identified for the bowel bother scores; diabetes and the non-Image guided RT method were associated with being in the worst bowel bother trajectory group (OR = 1.69, 95% CI 1.06–2.67; OR = 2.57, 95% CI 1.70–3.86, respectively). The findings from this study suggest that the absence of comorbidities and the use of intensity modulated RT techniques with image guidance are related with a better tolerance to RT in terms of bowel side effects.

Impacts of fuel economy improvements on the distribution of income in the U.S

We estimate the impacts of passenger car and light truck fuel economy improvements in the U.S. since 1975 on the real monetary incomes of U.S. households by income quintile over the period 1980–2014. We limit our analysis to the direct monetary impacts (fuel savings minus increased vehicle costs) and do not attempt a full welfare analysis. We include all vehicle purchases, new and used. Household fuel expenditures come from the U.S. Consumer Expenditures Surveys (CES). Costs of increased new passenger car and light truck fuel economy were obtained from four National Research Council (NRC) studies plus a literature review of earlier estimates. The NRC cost functions provide a unique time series of technology supply functions constructed by balanced expert panels and comprised of specific technologies proven to increase fuel economy. Effects of fuel economy improvements on used vehicle prices are based on an analysis of the CES data. Retrospective analysis indicates that all income quintiles received net savings and that the effect on the distribution of income was progressive. A prospective analysis of future fuel economy improvements produced similar results. Sensitivity analysis indicates that these findings are relatively robust.

Synthesis and Crosscutting Topics of the GoMRI Special Issue

In recent years, there have been significant advances in fluid dynamics/physical oceanography, microbiology, weathering, remote sensing, and analytical chemistry as they pertain to the fate and effects of oil spills. Effects of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on water column organisms and ecosystems have been difficult to ascertain. Laboratory experiments have expanded understanding of oil effects on phytoplankton and zooplankton. Marine oil snow has been identified as a significant factor in the fate of oil chemicals and their deposition with sediments. Oil chemicals and their effects on 24 km² of mud-benthic communities surrounding the well site, and in a few other areas, have lasted several years. Some deep-sea corals have also been affected for several years, and oil chemicals and their effects in heavily oiled marsh areas are projected to last a decade or longer. Lightly oiled marsh areas have recovered or are recovering. Research about use of dispersants highlights the need to update the 2005 National Research Council study of dispersant use on oil spills. Ongoing research should provide some closure for the issues of long-term effects on fisheries and marine mammals, and impacts on human health. Practical uses of this new knowledge are discussed briefly.

The treatment of missing data in a large cardiovascular clinical outcomes study.

The potential impact of missing data on the results of clinical trials has received heightened attention recently. A National Research Council study provides recommendations for limiting missing data in clinical trial design and conduct, and principles for analysis, including the need for sensitivity analyses to assess robustness of findings to alternative assumptions about the missing data. A Food and Drug Administration advisory committee raised missing data as a serious concern in their review of results from the ATLAS ACS 2 TIMI 51 study, a large clinical trial that assessed rivaroxaban for its ability to reduce the risk of cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction or stroke in patients with acute coronary syndrome. This case study describes a variety of measures that were taken to address concerns about the missing data. A range of analyses are described to assess the potential impact of missing data on conclusions. In particular, measures of the amount of missing data are discussed, and the fraction of missing information from multiple imputation is proposed as an alternative measure. The sensitivity analysis in the National Research Council study is modified in the context of survival analysis where some individuals are lost to follow-up. The impact of deviations from ignorable censoring is assessed by differentially increasing the hazard of the primary outcome in the treatment groups and multiply imputing events between dropout and the end of the study. Tipping-point analyses are described, where the deviation from ignorable censoring that results in a reversal of significance of the treatment effect is determined. A study to determine the vital status of participants lost to follow-up was also conducted, and the results of including this additional information are assessed. Sensitivity analyses suggest that findings of the ATLAS ACS 2 TIMI 51 study are robust to missing data; this robustness is reinforced by the follow-up study, since inclusion of data from this study had little impact on the study conclusions. Missing data are a serious problem in clinical trials. The methods presented here, namely, the sensitivity analyses, the follow-up study to determine survival of missing cases, and the proposed measurement of missing data via the fraction of missing information, have potential application in other studies involving survival analysis where missing data are a concern.

Evaluating the Effectiveness of the Global Nuclear Detection Architecture Using Multiobjective Decision Analysis

ABSTRACTThe Domestic Nuclear Detection Office (DNDO) of the Department of Homeland Security was created to increase the United States’ ability to detect radiological and nuclear (RN) material that could be obtained and then used by terrorists. The office coordinates the Global Nuclear Detection Architecture (GNDA), an international and interagency strategy for detecting, analyzing, and reporting of RN materials outside of regulatory control. In 2012, the Government Accountability Office expressed concern about the prioritization of GNDA resources as well as the documentation of GNDA improvements over time. As a result, the DNDO asked the National Research Council (NRC) for advice on how to develop performance measures and metrics to quantitatively assess the GNDA's effectiveness. The result of the NRC study was a report titled “Performance Metrics for the Global Nuclear Detection Architecture.” In the report, the committee created a notional strategic planning framework for evaluating the performance of the GNDA. Using the data from the public report, multiobjective decision analysis techniques, and notional data from our research, this paper expands the NRC framework to a complete value model and demonstrates that it is possible to evaluate the potential performance of the GNDA over time and use the model to evaluate the cost effectiveness of potential improvements.

Race unmasked: biology and race in the twentieth century

Race Unmasked: Biology and Race in Twentieth Century By Michael Yudell (New York, NY: Columbia University Press, 2014) (274 pages; $40.00 cloth)In Race Unmasked: Biology and Race in Twentieth Century, historian Mike Yudell analyzes race concept and role that scientists have played in c ontributing to idea of race over twentieth century. He explores assumptions of racial science, defined as the use of science, both by scientists and laypersons alike ... as part of a greater arsenal of oppression (p. 115). Using primary sources of books, research studies, and other writings by prominent eugenicists, geneticists, and evolutionary biologists, he argues that racial rooted in biological notions of difference did not die out after World War II and, in fact, has persisted into twenty-first century. As well, has played a critical role in formulations of ideas about race and America's changing views of African Americans. Although people have tried to use to justify racial difference, science they used was no more real than saying that race is real. Science was only real to extent that scientists said it was so.Yudell traces idea of race back to eighteenth century when Swedish botanist Carolus Linnaeus established racial classification systems based on biological traits such as skin color or hair texture. His categories of Asiaticus, Africanus, Europeaeus, and Americanus were infused with distinct physical and behavioral characteristics. Yudell's primary interest is twentieth century, however, and his first chapters explore thinking of eugenicists such as Francis Galton and Charles Davenport. Galton examined hereditary traits both within and between humans, and he had a significant impact on formation of race as a biological concept. Supported by his Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Davenport applied Galton's eugenic doctrines to immigration policies and Black/White differences. By rooting human differences and perceived inferiorities in blood relationships, these eugenicists used scientific method to preserve White supremacy.Significantly, Yudell contextualizes this early twentieth-century work within push to formulate new immigration policies and activities of anti-Black groups such as Ku Klux Klan (KKK) in 1920s. Eugenicist Lothrop Stoddard, for example, actually advised KKK, while other eugenicists disseminated their ideas that were used to enforce segregation for some and exclusion for others based on inferior traits. Ideas about racial difference also were put on public display through American Museum of Natural History meeting in 1921. Models, diagrams, and research presentations in 131 exhibits asserted subtle but distinct differences between Blacks and Whites that reinforced immutability of bodily characteristics. Yet some biologists, geneticists, and anthropologists challenged assumptions of racial science. Columbia University anthropologist Franz Boas, for example, rebuked White supremacists and eugenicists at museum gathering. The National Association for Advancement of Colored People, formed in 1909, became more vocal in 1920s, with W.E.B. duBois attacking racial even as genetics began to replace eugenics as authority on race concept.Yudell continues thesis that biological assumptions in racial drove researchers in twentieth century by focusing on National Research Council studies that investigated impact of interbreeding between Blacks and Whites (p. 60). Contextualized in lieu of demographic shift of Blacks from South to northern cities after World War 1, studies included human intelligence testing and mechanical aptitude tests to develop an approach to organic differences regarding pathology. For example, in hopes of using intelligence testing to help people adjust better and thereby serve a positive social function, Joseph Peterson's study on Blacks was a 'gentleman's' way of articulating racism (p. …

Public policy and the transition to electric drive vehicles in the U.S.: The role of the zero emission vehicles mandates

Together with policies already in place, a transition to zero emission vehicles (ZEVs) could almost eliminate petroleum use by light-duty vehicles and meet U.S. CO2 emission reduction goals by 2050. However, such a transition poses new challenges for public policy because of the time required, deep uncertainty, strong positive feedback effects, and regional and international interdependencies. An appropriate framework for evaluating public policy is cost/benefit analysis of alternative futures incorporating these elements. Using the same computer model used in a recent National Research Council study, the types, timing and intensity of public policy interventions likely to be necessary to accomplish a transition to electric drive vehicles in the U.S. are investigated, with special attention to the role of California's ZEV mandates. Strong, temporary policies addressing the coevolution of the vehicle and fuels markets appear necessary. Because uncertainty about the transition is profound, policies must adapt as learning reduces uncertainty.

Intention-to-treat analysis with treatment discontinuation and missing data in clinical trials.

Motivated by a recent National Research Council study, we discuss three aspects of the analysis of clinical trials when participants prematurely discontinue treatments. First, we distinguish treatment discontinuation from missing outcome data. Data collection is often stopped after treatment discontinuation, but outcome data could be recorded on individuals after they discontinue treatment, as the National Research Council study recommends. Conversely, outcome data may be missing for individuals who do not discontinue treatment, as when there is loss to follow up or missed clinic visits. Missing outcome data is a standard missing data problem, but treatment discontinuation is better viewed as a form of noncompliance and treated using ideas from the causal literature on noncompliance. Second, the standard intention to treat estimand, the average effect of randomization to treatment, is compared with three alternative estimands for the intention to treat population: the average effect when individuals continue on the assigned treatment after discontinuation, the average effect when individuals take a control treatment after treatment discontinuation, and a summary measure of the effect of treatment prior to discontinuation. We argue that the latter choice of estimand has advantages and should receive more consideration. Third, we consider when follow-up measures after discontinuation are needed for valid measures of treatment effects. The answer depends on the choice of primary estimand and the plausibility of assumptions needed to address the missing data. Ideas are motivated and illustrated by a reanalysis of a past study of inhaled insulin treatments for diabetes, sponsored by Eli Lilly.

How Does One Design or Evaluate a Course in Quantitative Reasoning?

In the absence of generally accepted content standards and with little evidence on the learning for long-term retrieval and transfer, how does one design or evaluate a course in quantitative reasoning (QR)? This is a report on one way to do so. The subject QR course, which has college algebra as a prerequisite and has been taught for 8 years, is being modified slightly to be offered as an alternative to college algebra. One modification is adding a significant formal writing component. As the modification occurs, the current course and the modified one are judged according to six sets of criteria: the six core competencies of the Association of American Colleges and Universities rubric on quantitative literacy; the five mathematical competencies from the National Research Council (NRC) study report, Adding It Up; the eight practice standards from the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics; the five elements of effective thinking as articulated by Edward Burger and Michael Starbird, the summary research findings on human cognition from the NRC study report, How People Learn; and the ten principles gleaned from applying the science of learning to university teaching. The QR course, as described by ten design principles, is determined to be generally well aligned with most of the overlapping criteria of the six sets, providing cogent evidence of high educational value.

Analyzing the transition to electric drive vehicles in the U.S.

Scenarios of the transition to electric drive passenger cars and light trucks are created using the same model, technology and market behavior assumptions used in the recent National Research Council study, Transitions to Alternative Vehicles and Fuels. The transition is assumed to begin in California and the other U.S. states that have adopted California's Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) requirements. Five years after the ZEV standards take effect in 2015, the rest of the U.S. adopts polices strongly supporting the transition. After roughly a decade of net costs, market adoption of electric drive vehicles becomes self-sustaining. In the long run, the model implies that social benefits exceed excess costs by approximately an order of magnitude. Analysis of major energy transitions is characterized by deep uncertainty due to the long time constants for energy system change, the unpredictability of technological change and government policies, inadequate understanding of market processes, and the many important positive feedback mechanisms that create tipping points.

Hard to Swallow: Do Foods Containing “Genetically Modified Organisms” (GMOs) Need Warning Labels?

American trade card for Rice's seeds, featuring The Mikado or Turner Hybrid Tomato, 1887; chromolithographed advertisement. Photo credit: Amoret Tanner Collection/The Art Archive at Art Resource, New York, NY. Modern wheat was domesticated ~14,000 years ago. The free-threshing phenotype, which made domestication possible, is a result of a mutation in a transcription factor called Q2 (1). This mutation was introduced into hexaploid Triticum aestivum, the basis of all contemporary bread, by conventional breeding. Why not, then, label all bread as GMOs? All potatoes? All tomatoes— such as the “Turner Hybrid Tomato”? All foods that have been genetically modified by conventional breeding? The target of the labeling frenzy is foodstuff that was created by the precise insertion of one or more genes using recombinant DNA technology, a methodology that in contrast to conventional breeding, results in a plant or animal containing a known number of new genes with known products. Why focus on the method by which the organism was created rather than the properties of the organism itself? A National Research Council study addressed this question more than 20 years ago in the context of concern about field-testing plants containing recombinant DNA.3 That study recommended strongly that the properties of the plant, rather than the method used to create it, were the key to constructing a useful policy (2). California seems to become a focus of attention by groups whose political interests exceed their scientific understanding. Some years ago, these enthusiasts destroyed quite good experiments in which strawberry plants containing a gene expressing an antifreeze protein were being tested to determine if that protein might provide some protection against frost damage. They tore up the experimental plots, bringing that work to an end. That level of “concern” for the environment became manifest in the discussions about a California initiative to require labeling of foods that contain genetically engineered ingredients. The political component of this initiative becomes evident as soon as one realizes that any and all food contains genetically engineered ingredients. The derogatory “GMO” term stems from ignorance—a failure to recognize that transgenic plants, for example, have been created by procedures that are more precise and controlled than conventional breeding. The political nature of this concern can be illustrated by the history of animal feed use in Europe, particularly in France. Thanks to extremely noisy advocates, it became impossible for French producers of beef and pork to import soybean meal from the United States. (Soybeans in the United States are largely engineered to be resistant to herbicides that kill weeds.) Instead, the French animals were fed animal parts from England. Then came the scare of Scrapie-related disease that could be communicated, in principle, by infected animal parts from England. Lo, one door swung shut, and another opened. Overnight, U.S. meal from genetically engineered soybeans was permitted to be imported and used to feed animals. Guess what? No French animals have suffered to date, and that is a grand experiment going on for years. And the imported soybean meal is not labeled GMO. The current labeling dustup, metastasizing from California, has reached into the peaceful confines of the respected Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, whose major business is the certification of dieticians as well as providing useful advice on diet and nutrition to hospitals and other clients. Before weighing in on the label controversy by supporting or objecting to the California-labeling initiative, the academy wisely appointed a committee to review the scientific facts and engaged a distinguished professor from the University of California at Davis to write a report, which is expected to be widely quoted and influential. However, one member of the review committee, objected because of the presence on the committee of two persons who had a “conflict of interest.” One had received an award from Monsanto, and the other is a vice president of the International Food Information Council, which is financed, in part, by agri-businesses (3). There is no need to label foods thought to contain GMOs, whatever the labelers mean by GMO. Better to tell the prospective purchaser how much salt that food contains. Salt presents a clear and present danger; GMOs do not.

Energy Development Linked with Earthquakes

Energy Development Linked with Earthquakes

The design and conduct of clinical trials to limit missing data.

This article summarizes recommendations on the design and conduct of clinical trials of a National Research Council study on missing data in clinical trials. Key findings of the study are that (a) substantial missing data is a serious problem that undermines the scientific credibility of causal conclusions from clinical trials; (b) the assumption that analysis methods can compensate for substantial missing data is not justified; hence (c) clinical trial design, including the choice of key causal estimands, the target population, and the length of the study, should include limiting missing data as one of its goals; (d) missing-data procedures should be discussed explicitly in the clinical trial protocol; (e) clinical trial conduct should take steps to limit the extent of missing data; (f) there is no universal method for handling missing data in the analysis of clinical trials - methods should be justified on the plausibility of the underlying scientific assumptions; and (g) when alternative assumptions are plausible, sensitivity analysis should be conducted to assess robustness of findings to these alternatives. This article focuses on the panel's recommendations on the design and conduct of clinical trials to limit missing data. A companion paper addresses the panel's findings on analysis methods.

Development and Validation of Instruments to Measure Learning of Expert‐Like Thinking

This paper describes the process for creating and validating an assessment test that measures the effectiveness of instruction by probing how well that instruction causes students in a class to think like experts about specific areas of science. The design principles and process are laid out and it is shown how these align with professional standards that have been established for educational and psychological testing and the elements of assessment called for in a recent National Research Council study on assessment. The importance of student interviews for creating and validating the test is emphasized, and the appropriate interview procedures are presented. The relevance and use of standard psychometric statistical tests are discussed. Additionally, techniques for effective test administration are presented.

Uncertainty, loss aversion, and markets for energy efficiency

Increasing energy efficiency is critical to mitigating greenhouse gas emissions from fossil-fuel combustion, reducing oil dependence, and achieving a sustainable global energy system. The tendency of markets to neglect apparently cost-effective energy efficiency options has been called the “efficiency gap” or “energy paradox.” The market for energy efficiency in new, energy-using durable goods, however, appears to have a bias that leads to undervaluation of future energy savings relative to their expected value. This paper argues that the bias is chiefly produced by the combination of substantial uncertainty about the net value of future fuel savings and the loss aversion of typical consumers. This framework relies on the theory of context-dependent preferences. The uncertainty-loss aversion bias against energy efficiency is quantifiable, making it potentially correctible by policy measures. The welfare economics of such policies remains unresolved. Data on the costs of increased fuel economy of new passenger cars, taken from a National Research Council study, illustrate how an apparently cost-effective increase in energy efficiency would be uninteresting to loss-averse consumers.

Meeting Brings Together Industry and Government Space Weather Interests

With the Sun finally becoming more active after a long period of quiet and with concerns growing about the integrity of U.S. and international electric power grids and infrastructure, the Fourth NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC)/Commercial Space Weather Interest Group (CSWIG) Summit was convened on 29 April 2010 in Boulder, Colo., in conjunction with the 2010 Space Weather Workshop (SWW). The summit brought together industry and government space weather experts. Devrie Intriligator (Carmel Research Center, Inc.) and W. Kent Tobiska (Space Environment Technologies) cochaired the meeting. During the summit, Thomas Bogdan, director of NOAA’s SWPC, summarized the current status of his organization and its fiscal outlook. SWPC continues to develop under the National Weather Service with increasing budgets, hiring, and training of forecasters. In addition, President Obama’s fiscal year 2011 proposed budget includes $9.5 million for NOAA’s Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) spacecraft. This mission, jointly funded by NOAA, the Department of Defense, and NASA, will be launched to an orbit at Lagrange point L1 to provide real-time solar wind and magnetic field parameters upstream of the Earth’s bow shock. The current budget plans for a December 2013 launch for DSCOVR. Participants discussed the importance of an earlier (e.g., early 2012 or sooner) DSCOVR launch because the very successful scientific and space weather monitor Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) spacecraft currently at L1 is at times unable to return real-time solar wind parameters during large solar storms such as the October–November 2003 and December 2006 events. ACE, launched in 1997, has provided extremely valuable data for both real-time operations and in-depth studies of solar wind, interplanetary coronal mass ejections, solar energetic particles, and cosmic rays. However, ACE is beyond its design lifetime and is a single-point failure, since there is no backup source of substitute real-time L1 data. Bogdan further reported on SWPC’s interactions with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and FEMA administrator Craig Fugate, including a February 2010 workshop with their European Union counterparts entitled “Managing Critical Disasters in the Transatlantic Domain— The Case of a Geomagnetic Storm.” Bogdan noted Fugate’s recognition that space weather is among the potential threats known as high-impact, low-frequency (HILF) events, which occur rarely or with uncertain frequency but have the potential to cause severe damage. Tobiska and Intriligator reported on their meeting with Michael Bonadonna (Office of the Federal Coordinator for Meteorology). Bonadonna anticipated that the new National Space Weather Program Strategic Plan would soon be available online for comment at http://www.ofcm.gov/homepage/ text/pubs.htm. Participants also discussed the need for continuity of long-term data sets of importance to space environment climatology. One problem mentioned was that the SWPC Web pages will no longer include data from the Thule neutron monitor, which measures the number of high-energy particles bombarding Earth from space at Thule, Greenland, because the National Science Foundation has discontinued its funding. Louis Lanzerotti (New Jersey Institute of Technology) suggested a National Research Council study on longterm data sets, including their types and optimal locations. Last year, Admiral Conrad Lautenbacher (former NOAA administrator and now vice president for science programs at CSC) during his SWW presentation suggested the formation of a space weather association. Intriligator reported that Jerome Lafeuille (chief, Space-based Observing Division, World Meteorological Organization (WMO)) and Bruce Sumner (executive secretary, Association of HydroMeteorological Equipment Industry (HMEI)) suggested that HMEI could be a model for such an association. HMEI is composed of meteorological instrument builders, service providers, and forecasters; has official consultative status with WMO; and is housed in the WMO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.

Can the environmental effect of sediment remediation be documented?

This is one of the key questions that will be addressed at an international workshop at Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, July 6–7th, 2010. After decades of dredging, there is no doubt that society needs sediment remediation to keep our waterways open and offer facilities for our ever increasing shipping activities. However, the environmental benefits from sediment remediation project are not always obvious. Many large remediation projects are presented to the public as important contributions for the improvement of the coastal environment. In retrospective, documenting the environmental improvement has been shown to be challenging. This is partly a result of the lack of appropriate monitoring methods, the time frame of monitoring as well as the remediation methods applied. Many remediation methods will initially result in increased contaminant transport, while the benefits often only emerge after several years. During this period, active diffuse sources can reduce the resolution of long-term monitoring efforts. Experiences from several large-scale projects and field studies form the basis for a workshop organized by the International Network for Sediment Research (INSR). The Leader of INRS, Dr. David Werner at the School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences at Newcastle University, has taken this initiative in cooperation with the independent, not-for-profit organization Contaminated Land: Applications in Real Environments (CL:AIRE) in the UK and sponsored by The Leverhulme Trust. Prof. Richard G. Luthy of Stanford University, one of the members of INSR, will speak on “National Research Council (NRC) study report on the effectiveness of dredging at Superfund sites in the USA: Lessons learned and implications and directions for future work.” The workshop further contains 5 sessions which are open for platform and poster presentations:

An Open-Source Vision for HAZUS

Despite the Federal Emergency Management Agency FEMA having spent $63M developing and administering the disaster management software Hazards U.S. HAZUS over the last decade, the system’s 2008 rating by the Office of Management and Budget was only “moderately effective.” Today’s proprietary HAZUS software code precludes usage of two major advancements in the computing industry, namely the burgeoning opensource community and the advent of sophisticated, Internet-based applications. A 2007 National Research Council study entitled “Improving Disaster Management: The Role of IT in Mitigation, Preparedness, Response, and Recovery” proclaimed “federal, state and local agencies should embrace . . . open source software and open standards development” to complement traditional IT acquisition.” In accordance with current FEMA strategic planning and performance-based program management, a new software development paradigm is needed to update HAZUS and propel it to the forefront of the next generation of disaster management software tools. Although HAZUS is distributed at no cost by FEMA, the program’s functionality is restricted by an underlying commercial off-the-shelf COTS and closed-source geographic information system GIS . Originally, two commercial GIS programs were supported: ArcGIS and MapInfo. As features were added, ESRI’s ArcGIS became the platform of choice. A large portion of the development work today is spent keeping HAZUS synchronized with ArcGIS upgrades. Furthermore, from its infancy HAZUS has been developed on a single, closed-source operating system namely, Microsoft Windows . The linkage with ArcGIS and Windows has precluded capitalizing on a decade of explosive Internet growth and today’s innovative Web services infrastructure. Multiple users on a distributed HAZUS system are not part of today’s reality. Proprietary, stand alone, and single-user disaster management systems prevent efficient data gathering and sharing capabilities and result in circumscribed utility and productivity. Thus, the shortsighted HAZUS system architecture hampers the field of disaster mitigation, and as the software quietly and unofficially becomes a tool for response and recovery efforts, a redesign for expanded functionality and improved performance is even more imperative. The real need is to replace the proprietary, standalone desktop version of HAZUS with a three-tier, distributed architecture based on open source design and development principles. The three tiers should include: 1 a data tier on the server , where the database