US Federal Agencies Research Articles

Federal Priorities to Address Homelessness as a Community Health Problem

Homelessness is a major public health problem across communities in the United States. This commentary reviews required Learning Agendas of all 24 US federal agencies for items related to homelessness and housing instability covering the years 2022-2026. Across 7 federal agencies (Departments of Agriculture; Homeland Security; Labor; Health and Human Services; Housing and Urban Development; Treasury; Veterans Affairs) and 2 cross-government plans (American Rescue Plan Equity; Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Intersex Equity), there is a stated focus on homelessness and housing instability. These federal priorities seek to address homelessness and housing instability in families, Native American communities, unsheltered individuals, veterans, and sexual and gender minority individuals. Several agencies also have a stated focus on evaluating the impact of housing assistance and other supports provided during the COVID-19 pandemic. These findings reflect a national recognition and reframe of homelessness as an interdisciplinary, community health problem with opportunities for inter-agency collaboration and government support for primary and secondary prevention that have not been fully realized.

A scoping review of applied tick control research in North America: funding, implementation, and advancement.

Geographic ranges of ticks and tick-borne pathogens within North America are shifting due to environmental changes and human-driven activities, with species of public health concern presenting a multifaceted risk to human health. Innovative strategies and continued collaboration to control tick populations are needed to combat this growing threat. We conducted a scoping review of the literature to describe the nature of applied tick control research conducted in North America (Canada, Mexico, and the United States) to date, with the goal of describing key concepts and identifying gaps in this research area. A total of 244 articles met our inclusion criteria and were reviewed for patterns in applied tick control authorship and funding, study location, target species, and control methodology. Most studies (83.6%) were conducted exclusively in the United States and 75% focused on ticks of public health concern, principally Amblyomma americanum (Linnaeus, Acari: Ixodidae), Dermacentor variabilis (Say, Acari: Ixodidae), Ixodes scapularis Say (Acari: Ixodidae), and Rhipicephalus sanguineus (Latreille, Acari: Ixodidae). The majority of funding was provided through US federal agencies, predominantly the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the United States Department of Agriculture. Ixodes scapularis was the target of over 50% of identified articles, with the majority of research conducted within 3 states in the Northeast region of the U.S. Only 8.2% of included studies evaluated integrated tick management interventions. We note gaps in tick control research regarding (i) non-Ixodes medically relevant tick species, (ii) endemic range coverage, and (iii) control methodologies evaluated.

Recognition as Resilience

Abstract Resilience has been conceptualized within international development as the ability to “return to a state of equilibrium” after exogenous shocks. For many Indigenous communities, however, there is no equilibrium to which to return. This article explores how the federally unrecognized Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribe (NCRNT) has developed a creative strategy of resilience beyond a return to “equilibrium” in the face of their almost complete erasure by genocide and the illegal termination of their sovereign rights by US state and federal government agencies. The NCRNT’s experience reveals how activities underlying Indigenous resilience include a need for historical redress and reconciliation, thereby creating a “new normal” that is reflective of Native history as well as the ongoing social, political, and economic realities of existing within a settler state. This article bridges history and development studies, revealing how both disciplines must learn from Indigenous groups seeking restorative justice. It further employs oral histories, artwork, and documentation from the newly created NCRN Tribal archive, and so is presented as an interactive digital article.

From affordable to accessible: How the pharmaceutical industry transformed patient consumers into charity recipients

Recent changes in healthcare pricing and financing have resulted in patients paying more out of pocket for their healthcare. As a result, more patients with insurance are being priced out of essential or desired medications. Pharmaceutical companies have responded by offering financial assistance programs for patients. Medical sociologists have productively used the concept of consumerism to describe the effects of markets on the provision of healthcare. But in this current context where financial assistance programs are increasingly important for patients seeking prescription drugs, what are the implications for medical sociological theories of patient consumerism? I use medical and economic sociology theories to analyze pharmaceutical executive testimonies in 34 federal US Congressional hearing transcripts prices from 1959 to 2020. Congressional testimony offers an ideal window into how these executives justify their prices and describe the implications for patients downstream in the healthcare system. I find that executives initially justified prices as fair and drugs as cost-effective because medications were an affordable form of healthcare. However, as drug prices rose, executives abandoned affordability arguments and instead argued drugs were accessible to patients though pharmaceutical company run financial assistance programs. Findings contribute to medical sociology by theorizing a system of corporate charity as the next phase of the capitalist US healthcare system and demonstrates how elite market actors (re)define downstream categories of consumers.

Neuroscientific Evidence in Trials of Young Perpetrators Involved in Armed Conflict and Mass Atrocity

ABSTRACT In many jurisdictions, the criminal responsibility of adults is demarcated from pre-adults (adolescents, pre-adolescents, and children) based on a threshold criterion – one is either an adult or a pre-adult, and different levels of responsibility are accordingly inferred and imputed. But in a world where complexity is growingly acknowledged, and by that token, nuance and variety, there has been a predilection for the spectrum over the binary – or the scalar over the threshold. In the context of juvenile justice, this has manifested in a move away from the binary demarcation between adults and pre-adults through a growing faith in brain developmental science, which in turn, focuses on the developmental stages of the prefrontal cortex (PFC). In pre-adults, especially in adolescents, immature PFCs account for impulsiveness, volatility, and influence by peers, which in turn impact judgment and decision-making. These findings have been introduced in a few state and federal US courts trying juveniles, and recently, in the ICC trial and appeal of Dominic Ongwen, a child soldier. This paper assesses the nature, scope, and treatment of neuroscientific evidence, and lays down guidelines about its anticipated application in international trials involving vulnerable perpetrators such as juveniles.

Capitalizing on sport labor migration: The role of ethnic capitalism in the discriminatory, regulatory, and exploitative environment for international college athletes in the United States

International college athletes (ICAs) are integral to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and lie at a particular social location as they are international students and college sport laborers. However, little research examines the discriminatory regulations toward ICAs by the NCAA, its member institutions, and the US federal government. Recent court rulings that permit college athletes to monetize their name, image, and likeness (NIL) do not benefit ICAs because of outdated and exclusionary restrictions imposed by federal immigration policies, visa laws, and US tax laws, which prohibit ICAs from having equitable rights, building their personal brand and professional careers. To examine the discrimination, regulation, and exploitation of ICAs by the US federal government and the NCAA, we apply the theory of ethnic capitalism, which highlights the marginalization of groups based on their ethnicity and national origin. In this setting, ICAs are treated as bodies of athletic labor, recruited for institutional gain and athletic program reputation to benefit US higher education institutions (HEIs). To conclude, we propose the need for the NCAA and its member institutions to treat ICAs equitably and include, support, and advocate for them, specifically regarding their inclusion in NIL on US lands.

Searching for a smoking gun: access to information and release of the John F. Kennedy assassination records

PurposeThe records surrounding the assassination of President John F. Kennedy (JFK) have been subject to unique treatment in their management and opening. The John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992 (JFK Records Act) mandated that the records would be opened in full by 2017, unless there was intervention from the sitting president. This study aims to examine the extent to which access to the JFK assassination records has been granted. It evaluates how open the archive is, and the consequences of withholding government records. It examines how the continued non-disclosure of this archive has helped to fuel the controversy and conspiracy theories surrounding Kennedy’s death.Design/methodology/approachThis research was approached as traditional historical document analysis, reviewing the JFK assassination records releases from 2017–2018 and the broader landscape of access to information in America. A random sampling of the open and redacted records was used to undertake a statistical analysis on the amount of information that has been withheld. It was supplemented with freedom of information requests intended to reveal further information on the approach taken to redaction. The work was situated within a broader global literature review.FindingsThe research identified the limits to access to the JFK assassination records that exist because of the continued postponement and redaction of information by US federal government agencies. It found that the ambiguous language used for exemptions in the US Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and the JFK Records Act has allowed agencies the freedom to interpret and limit access to information if they desired. Furthermore, agencies have had the power to hold and sanitise their own records. The work identifies how these approaches have caused questions, inconsistences, a lack of transparency and accountability in the US government. The lack of centralised processes and related explanations can be seen to fuel further controversies and conspiracies.Originality/valueUsing a systematic research methodology, this work presents a careful analysis of the varying processes and their implications for understanding of the events that surrounded Kennedy’s assassination. Lessons learnt can be applied to the general management of freedom of information and access to information.

Advancing safety in short-term utility work zones: Assessing the role of work zone intrusion alert technologies (WZIATs)

Work zone safety is significantly impacted by vehicle intrusions, which are challenging incidents to control. Although the Federal Highway Administration and US state transportation agencies have implemented safety procedures to enhance worker and motorist safety, the rate of intrusions in work zones remains high, necessitating the development of additional solutions. Work zone intrusion alert technologies (WZIATs) have shown promise in highway work zones; however, their application in short-term utility settings remains insufficiently studied. This research aims to characterize the features of intrusion alert systems that can enhance the safety of workers in utility work zones. To achieve this aim, the study adopted a mixed-method design approach, relying on literature review, archival data analysis, experimental assessments, and a case study. The study reveals that motorist/driver behavior is a primary safety risk factor in utility work zone intrusions. Insights from deploying two technologies, AWARE and Alpha SafeNet, in experimental and live utility work zones indicate that an effective WZIAT must be able to alert both drivers and workers, be deployable in less than three minutes, integrate audio, visual, and haptic alarms, have an adjustable warning light, incorporate a pneumatic tube triggering mechanism, and be waterproof. This study contributes to both knowledge and practice by characterizing the safety risks associated with utility work zones and identifying key performance and operational features for deploying WZIATs in short-term work zones.

Digital soil mapping of soil burn severity

AbstractFire alters soil hydrologic properties leading to increased risk of catastrophic debris flows and post‐fire flooding. As a result, US federal agencies map soil burn severity (SBS) via direct soil observation and adjustment of rasters of burned area reflectance. We developed a unique application of digital soil mapping (DSM) to map SBS in the Creek Fire which burned 154,000 ha in the Sierra Nevada. We utilized 169 ground‐based observations of SBS in combination with raster proxies of soil forming factors, pre‐fire fuel conditions, and fire effects to vegetation to build a digital soil mapping model of soil burn severity (DSMSBS) using a random forest algorithm and compared the DSMSBS map to the established SBS map. The DSMSBS model had a cross‐validation accuracy of 48%. The established technique had 46% agreement between field observations and pixels. However, since the established technique is manual, it could not be compared to the DSMSBS model via cross‐validation. We produced SBS class uncertainty maps, which showed high prediction probabilities around field observations, and low probabilities away from field observations. SBS prediction probabilities could aid post‐fire assessment teams with sample prioritization. We report 107 km2 more area classified as high and moderate SBS compared to the established technique. We conclude that blending soil forming factors based mapping and vegetation burn severity mapping can improve SBS mapping. This represents a shift in SBS mapping away from validating remotely sensed reflectance imagery and toward a quantitative soil landscape model, which incorporates both fire and soils information to directly predict SBS.

Perspectives on using Protected Species Observer (PSO) data to fill knowledge gaps about marine species distributions and habitat use

Abstract Responsible offshore wind energy development requires addressing knowledge gaps of marine mammal distribution and response to wind energy development. Data collected by Protected Species Observers (PSOs) could help fill these gaps if they were used to fit species distribution models. However, because PSO data are not systematically collected, a critical exploration of their potential utility is needed. We reviewed PSO data collected during offshore wind geophysical surveys. Our intention was to compare predictions from two species distribution models—one model fit with systematically collected data and the second model fit with PSO data. However, developing a model using the PSO data was impossible due to data collection and reporting procedures. Therefore, we reframed our question to “What changes would be necessary for PSO data to be used to understand species distributions?” We compared PSO data with data collection fields recommended by US federal agencies and data collection requirements in Marine Mammal Protection Act Incidental Harassment Authorizations. We found PSO data collection fields and monitoring reports need standardization requirements. Our evaluation of PSO data revealed that publicly available PSO data are limited. We recommend making PSO data publicly available. If these recommendations are adopted, PSO data could help to fill knowledge gaps about marine mammal distribution.

Recommendations for Centering Equity to Advance Federal and Local US Policies Regulating the Availability and Sale of Flavored Tobacco Products.

Recommendations for Centering Equity to Advance Federal and Local US Policies Regulating the Availability and Sale of Flavored Tobacco Products.

Framing contestation and public influence on policymakers: evidence from US artificial intelligence policy discourse

Abstract As artificial intelligence (AI) policy has begun to take shape in recent years, policy actors have worked to influence policymakers by strategically promoting issue frames that define the problems and solutions policymakers should attend to. Three such issue frames are especially prominent, surrounding AI’s economic, geopolitical, and ethical dimensions. Relatedly, while technology policy is traditionally expert-dominated, new governance paradigms are encouraging increased public participation along with heightened attention to social and ethical dimensions of technology. This study aims to provide insight into whether members of the public and the issue frames they employ shape—or fail to shape—policymaker agendas, particularly for highly contested and technical policy domains. To assess this question, the study draws on a dataset of approximately five million Twitter messages from members of the public related to AI, as well as corresponding AI messages from the 115th and 116th US Congresses. After using text analysis techniques to identify the prevalence of issue frames, the study applies autoregressive integrated moving average and vector autoregression modeling to determine whether issue frames used by the public appear to influence the subsequent messaging used by federal US policymakers. Results indicate that the public does lead policymaker attention to AI generally. However, the public does not have a special role in shaping attention to ethical implications of AI, as public influence occurs only when the public discusses AI’s economic dimensions. Overall, the results suggest that calls for public engagement in AI policy may be underrealized and potentially circumscribed by strategic considerations.

Health Risks of Unaccompanied Immigrant Children in Federal Custody and in US Communities.

Unaccompanied immigrant children continue to arrive at the US-Mexico border and are at high risk for ongoing abuse, neglect, and poor mental and physical health. We are medical and legal experts in the fields of immigrant and refugee health, child abuse, and the legal rights of international refugee and migrant children. We provide an overview of US federal agencies with custody of unaccompanied immigrant children, a summary of medical care provided while in custody, and recent findings from the independent Juvenile Care Monitor Report mandating new custodial conditions for immigrant children while in federal custody. We provide recommendations to improve the health and well-being of unaccompanied immigrant children while in custody and once released to US sponsors. (Am J Public Health. 2024;114(3):340-346. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2023.307570).

US federal government contracting for disaster management

AbstractDisasters affect hundreds of millions of people every year and the response of governments is crucial in alleviating the suffering of those affected. Despite the importance of contracting in response to disasters, research on this topic is conspicuous by its absence. This paper begins to address this gap by investigating the choice of procurement contract type by US federal agencies during disaster management operations. The research relies on 47,560 contracts issued by the US federal government in response to 14 major disasters between 2005 and 2016. We build on agency theory to investigate the choice of the contract type made by federal agencies at the different stages of a relief operation. This research provides empirical evidence of the key factors underpinning the choice of contract in the context of disaster management, namely the amount of spend per contract and the type of acquisition (product or service), and reveals the moderating role of the stage of the relief operation.

Decision support for detecting sensitive text in government records

AbstractFreedom of information laws promote transparency by permitting individuals and organizations to obtain government documents. However, exemptions from disclosure are necessary to protect privacy and to permit government officials to deliberate freely. Deliberative language is often the most challenging and burdensome exemption to detect, leading to high processing costs and delays in responding to open-records requests. This paper describes a novel deliberative-language detection model trained on a new annotated training set. The deliberative-language detection model is a component of a decision-support system for open-records requests under the US Freedom of Information Act, the FOIA Assistant, that ingests documents responsive to an open-records requests, suggests passages likely to be subject to deliberative language, privacy, or other exemptions, and assists analysts in rapidly redacting suggested passages. The tool’s interface is based on extensive human-factors and usability studies with analysts and is currently in operational testing by multiple US federal agencies.

Supporting Solidarity

Supporting Solidarity

Adapted Kaizen: Multi-Organizational Complex Process Redesign for Adapting Clinical Guidelines for the Digital Age.

The need for a method to examine complex, multidisciplinary processes involving many diverse organizations initially led multiple US federal agencies to adopt the traditional Kaizen, a Lean process improvement method typically used within a single organization, to encompass multiple organizations each with its own leadership and priorities. First, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology adapted Kaizen to federal agency processes for the development of electronic clinical quality measures. Later, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) further modified this adapted Kaizen during its Adapting Clinical Guidelines for the Digital Age (ACG) initiative, which aimed to improve the broader scope of guideline development and implementation. This is a methods article to document the adapted Kaizen method for future use in similar complex processes, illustrating how to apply the adapted Kaizen through CDC's ACG initiative and showing the reach achieved by using the adapted Kaizen method. The adapted Kaizen includes pre-Kaizen planning, a Kaizen event, and post-Kaizen implementation that accommodate multidisciplinary and multi-organizational participation. ACG included 5 workgroups that each developed products to support their respective scope: Guideline Creation, Informatics Framework, Translation and Implementation, Communication and Dissemination, and Evaluation. Despite challenges gathering diverse perspectives and balancing the competing priorities of multiple organizations, the ACG participants produced interrelated standards, processes, and tools-further described in separate publications-that programs and partners have leveraged. Use of a siloed approach may not have supported the development and dissemination of these products.

Posting of clinical trial results and other critical information from completed medicines trials on ClinicalTrials.gov.

Clinical trials transparency requires trial registration and the posting of results on a public register. US regulations also require the posting of protocols and statistical analysis plans (SAPs). For US Federal agency funded trials to be started on or after 21January2019, informed consent forms (ICFs) must also be posted. Posting these documents is not mandatory in other countries. We aimed to assess compliance with US regulations of trials conducted in the US or in other countries with respect to ICFs, protocols, SAPs, and results. This cross-sectional analysis (27April2023) comprised completed medicines trials to be started on or after 21January2019 registered on ClinicalTrials.gov. Trial data were registered by funder type (i.e., 'US federal agencies', industry, and 'all others') and development phase. Of 5,584 trials, 40% were conducted solely in the US. 47% and 12% of US and non-US trials had posted results. Some 40% of US trials had posted protocols and SAPs as did 9% of trials conducted in other countries. Only 10% (US) and 2% (other countries) of trials had posted ICFs. When the margin of the last 2 and 12 months after primary completion date were considered in the analysis, ICF posting rate did not change, but posting results increased to 64% for US trials. 'US Federal agencies' funded trials were significantly more likely to post ICFs than industry [OR 23.9 (12.5-45.7; <.001)] or 'all others' [OR 3.16 (1.79-5.56; <.001)]. Future interventions should be considered to encourage timely posting of trial results and information.

Oil price uncertainty, workplace misconduct, and cash holding

Using a novel and comprehensive dataset on penalties imposed by several US federal agencies for workplace law violations, we find that US firms are less likely to violate employee-related laws and receive associated penalties when oil price uncertainty (OPU) increases. This evidence results from two potential channels: precautionary motive and improved board monitoring. First, firms increase discretionary safety expenditure, and second, they increase the board of directors' involvement in the safety and compliance committee. Further, the evidence is not stemmed from other alternatives, such as reduced production or employment. A firm reduces workplace misconduct more when it is financially constrained, incurs a higher cost of goods sold, and belongs to the energy industry. Our results are robust to endogeneity concerns and alternative OPU measurements. Moreover, we document that the positive effect of oil price uncertainty on cash holdings is attenuated if firms reduce workplace violations and associated penalties.

The good, the bad, and the ugly of US antitrust

Abstract This article examines the bad and ugly as the US federal agencies seek to rejuvenate competition. The bad is legislative hiatus to update the antitrust laws for the digital economy. The ugly is when courts push their own economic beliefs, without regard for the congressional intent and aims of the antitrust laws. Regardless of who wins, the rule of law (and those most dependent on the antitrust law) suffer. To correct America's market power problem, the article proposes restoring the constitutional balance, where the courts adjudicate, the legislature legislates, and enforcers enforce.