Books by National Research Council

Provides guidance on effective approaches for building laboratory facilities in the chemical and biochemical sciences. This book contains both basic and laboratory-specific information addressed to the user community - the scientists and administrators who contract with design and construction experts.

Explores America's experience of gambling. This book examines the issues surrounding the definition of pathological gambling, its co-occurrence with disorders such as alcoholism, drug abuse, and depression; its social characteristics and economic consequences, both good and bad, for communities; and, the role of video gaming.

What can sharks teach us about our immune system? What can horseshoe crabs show us about eyesight? This book looks into the oceans, often nurturing yet sometimes harming humankind. It explores the links among physical oceanography, public health, epidemiology, marine biology, and medicine in understanding what the ocean has to offer.

The destructive force of earthquakes has stimulated human inquiry since ancient times. This book describes the growth and origins of earthquake science and identifies research and data collection efforts that strengthen the scientific and social contributions of this discipline.

In the milestone process used by US Department of Defense to answer the basic acquisition question, one component near the end of the process is operational testing. This book examines the milestone process, as well as the DOD's entire approach to testing and evaluating defense systems.

Developed to help state- and district-level education leaders create coherent, multi-year curriculum programs that provide students with opportunities to learn mathematics and science in a connected and cumulative way throughout their schooling. This book emphasizes the need for designing curricula in the elementary and secondary school.

Examining the evidence for change in the world of work, this volume provides an illustrated framework for understanding the changes and the implications for analyzing the structure of occupations in the civilian and military sectors. It explores the demographic diversity of the workforce, and the fluidity of boundaries between lines of work.

Presents the multiple facets of digitized intellectual property, defining terms, identifying key issues, and exploring alternatives. This book follows the threads of law, business, incentives to creators, the American tradition of access to information, the international context, and the nature of human behavior.

A guide to teaching inquiry and teaching through inquiry, as recommended by the National Science Education Standards. This book explores the dimensions of teaching and learning science as inquiry for K-12 students across a range of science topics. It helps clarify when teachers should use the inquiry-based approach.

Focuses on data and information system issues at the federal, state, and local levels. This book includes recommendations that address: policy framework for selecting performance measures and using performance measurement; operational principles related to data and data systems that support performance measurement; and more.

Discusses opportunities for enhancement of water supplies and avoidance of over exploitation of water resources in the Middle East. Based on the concept that ecosystem goods and services are essential to maintaining water quality and quantity, this book emphasizes conservation, improved use of technologies, and water management approaches.

Describes the development of ocean sciences, highlighting the contributions of the National Science Foundation (NSF) to the field's progress. This book also examines the institutional structures and technology that made the advances possible. It documents the history of NSF's Division of Ocean Sciences.

Presents a preliminary assessment of what is known about the relationship between musculoskeletal disorders and what may cause them. This book includes papers and a workshop summary of findings from orthopedic surgery, public health, occupational medicine, epidemiology, risk analysis, ergonomics, and human factors.

Examines what immigrants gain by coming to the United States and what they contribute to the country, the skills of immigrants and those of native-born Americans, and the experiences of immigrant women. This book includes information on topics such as immigration policies and practices, and data on where immigrants come from and what they do.

Traditionally, vocational mathematics and precollege mathematics have been separate in schools. This book addresses how to make mathematical education of students meaningful - how to meet the practical needs of students entering the work force after high school as well as the needs of students going on to postsecondary education.

Provides suggestions for breeding, keeping, and identifying pathogen-free laboratory rodents. This book summarizes methods for eliminating infectious agents, describes the diagnosis and control of each infectious agent, and tables covering the diseases listed in the volume helps in the diagnosis of infected animals.

Evaluates the extent to which state efforts have been effective in reducing the perinatal transmission of HIV. This book is of interest to federal, state, and local health policymakers, prenatal care providers, maternal and child health specialists, public health practitioners, and advocates for HIV/AIDS patients.

States that everyone is in favor of 'high education standards' and 'fair testing' of student achievement, but there is little agreement as to what these terms actually mean. This book looks at how testing affects critical decisions for American students.

Presents a picture of the diversity of state testing programs. This book also looks at the characteristics of the National Assessment of Educational Progress. It provides an answer to the question posed by Congress in Public Law 105-78, suggests criteria for evaluating the quality of linkages, and more.

Examines the history of computing since World War II to elucidate the federal government's role in funding computing research, supporting the education of computer scientists and engineers, and equipping university research labs. This work contains a series of case studies in relational databases, the Internet, and theoretical computer science.

Assesses the evidence, and possible mechanisms, for the associations between women's education, fertility preferences, and fertility in developing countries, and how these associations vary across regions. This book discusses the implications of these associations for policies in the population, health, and education sectors.

The federal government has invested in facilities worldwide to support the provision of government services. This book identifies factors contributing to this deterioration and recommends a framework of strategies to foster acccountability for the stewardship of federal facilities and to allocate resources for their maintenance and repair.

Describes an approach for identifying technology development needs that is both systematic and transparent to enhance the cleanup and remediation of the tank contents and their sites.

Provides an evaluation of the soundness of the methodology used by the NCI study to estimate: past radiation doses; possible health consequences of exposure to iodine-131; implications for clinical practice; and possible public health strategies - such as systematic screening for thyroid cancer - to respond to the exposures.