Books by National Research Council

Reports on the state of the new biology, taking a look at the disciplines of biology. This volume examines the advances made in medicine, agriculture, and other fields. It serves as a useful resource for students, teachers, and researchers in subdisciplines of biology as well as for research administrators and those in funding agencies.

Studies both sides of the engineering equation, education and utilization. This volume presents a discussion of the development of engineering in the United States followed by an examination of the status of engineering. It looks at the strengths and weaknesses of engineering and evaluates trends in the composition of the engineering work force.

Explaining dietary habits, this volume examines the impact of fast-food proliferation and the changing role of women as it affects dietary behavior, and analyzes the nutritional consequences of national dietary trends. It focuses on the factors that shape eating patterns, eating trends such as snacking and food variety, nutrition policy, and more.

Describes and evaluates models of human performance and their use in the design and evaluation of human-technology systems. This book focuses on the modeling of system operators who perform supervisory and manual control tasks. It describes information processing, control theory, task network, and knowledge-based models.

Assesses the problems relating to petroleum-derived hydrocarbons in the marine environment. This book examines the inputs, analytical methods, fates, and effects of petroleum in the marine environment. It reflects the scientific effort put forth in determining the effects of petroleum on marine organisms.

Presents an overview of geography's renewed importance. This book illustrates geography's impact on international trade, environmental change, population growth, information infrastructure, the condition of cities, the spread of AIDS, and more. It also provides a blueprint for the future of the discipline.

To help assess priorities for health policy, the Committee on Population organized two workshops. This volume consists of selected papers presented at the workshops. They assess the reliability of data on mortality, morbidity, and disability, and analyze regional patterns and trends in mortality rates and causes of death.

Identifies criteria for the USNRC's (US Nuclear Regulatory Commission) review and acceptance of digital applications in nuclear power plants. This book focuses on different areas: software quality assurance, common-mode software failure potential, systems aspects of digital instrumentation and control technology, and more.

Addressing the design and delivery of reproductive health services, this volume presents lessons learned from past programs and offers principles for deciding how to spend limited available funds. It is of special interest to policymakers, health care professionals, and researchers working on reproductive issues in the developing world.

Brings together in one volume what researchers have learned about workers, employers, and retirees that is important for formulating retirement income policies. This volume covers such behaviors as workers' decisions to retire, people's choices of saving over consumption, and employers' decisions about hiring older workers and more.

Examines the introduction of nonindigenous species through ballast water discharge. This book addresses the constraints inherent in ballast water management, notably shipboard ballast treatment and monitoring. Also, it outlines efforts to set an acceptable level of risk for species introduction using the techniques of risk analysis.

What impact does teaching style have? How do I plan a course curriculum? This handbook provides productive approaches to these and several other questions. It provides undergraduate science educators with a path to understanding students, accommodating their individual differences, and helping them grasp the methods - and the wonder - of science.

Explores the complexity of violent behavior in our society and puts forth a framework for analyzing risk factors for violent events. This book explores such diverse but related topics as crime statistics; biological influences on violent behavior; the prison population explosion; and developmental and public health perspectives on violence.

Explores limnology's place in the university structure and the need for curriculum reform, with suggestions for curricula and field research at the undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral levels. This volume examines career opportunities for limnologists and recommends strategies for integrating limnology into water resource decision management.

Assesses the effects of electric and magnetic fields on human health. This book examines what is known about three kinds of health effects associated with EMF: cancer, primarily childhood leukemia; reproduction and development; and neurobiological effects. It provides a discussion on hazard identification, and dose-response assessment.

Assesses whether the technology development, test and analysis programs in propulsion and materials-related technologies are properly constituted to provide the information required to support a December 1996 decision to build the X-33, a technology demonstrator vehicle.

In 1956 and 1957, the US Air Force's former Arctic Aeromedical Laboratory conducted a study of the role of the thyroid in human acclimatization to cold. This book evaluates the research, looking at both the possible health effects of Iodine-131 administration in humans and the ethics of human subjects research.

Reviews approaches to organizational change - total quality management, reengineering, and downsizing - in terms of how they affect organizations and people, how performance improvements can be measured, and what questions remain to be answered by researchers.

Documents the key research challenges in the mathematical sciences and physics that enables the economical development of novel biomedical imaging devices. This book introduces the frontiers of biomedical imaging, especially the imaging of dynamic physiological functions, to the educated nonspecialist.