Tag Archives: military

Resources for Veterans, Active-Duty Military, and Their Families

The all-volunteer U. S. military has experienced multiple redeployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, increased use of the reserve components of the military and National Guard, increased numbers of deployed women and parents of young children, and an increase in the number of military personnel surviving severe injuries that in previous wars would have resulted in death. The National Research Council and the Institute of Medicine have produced a number of reports that discuss issues of importance to both active duty and retired military, and their families. All are free to download.

	Cognitive Rehabilitation Therapy for Traumatic Brain Injury: Evaluating the EvidenceTraumatic brain injury (TBI) may affect 10 million people worldwide. It is considered the “signature wound” of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. These injuries result from a bump or blow to the head, or from external forces that cause the brain to move…
	Long-Term Health Consequences of Exposure to Burn Pits in Iraq and AfghanistanMany veterans returning from the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan have health problems they believe are related to their exposure to the smoke from the burning of waste in open-air “burn pits” on military bases. Particular controversy surrounds the burn pit…
	Veterans and Agent Orange: Update 2010Because of continuing uncertainty about the long-term health effects of the sprayed herbicides on Vietnam veterans, Congress passed the Agent Orange Act of 1991. The legislation directed the Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) to request the IOM to perform a…
	Nutrition and Traumatic Brain Injury: Improving Acute and Subacute Health Outcomes in Military PersonnelTraumatic brain injury (TBI) accounts for up to one-third of combat-related injuries in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to some estimates. TBI is also a major problem among civilians, especially those who engage in certain sports. At the request of the…
	Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans and Agent Orange ExposureOver 3 million U.S. military personnel were sent to Southeast Asia to fight in the Vietnam War. Since the end of the Vietnam War, veterans have reported numerous health effects. Herbicides used in Vietnam, in particular Agent Orange have been associated with…
	Returning Home from Iraq and Afghanistan: Preliminary Assessment of Readjustment Needs of Veterans, Service Members, and Their FamiliesNearly 1.9 million U.S. troops have been deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq since October 2001. Many service members and veterans face serious challenges in readjusting to normal life after returning home. This initial book presents findings on the most…
	Provision of Mental Health Counseling Services Under TRICAREIn this book, the IOM makes recommendations for permitting independent practice for mental health counselors treating patients within TRICARE–the DOD’s health care benefits program. This would change current policy, which requires all counselors to practice…
	Contaminated Water Supplies at Camp Lejeune: Assessing Potential Health EffectsIn the early 1980s, two water-supply systems on the Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in North Carolina were found to be contaminated with the industrial solvents trichloroethylene (TCE) and perchloroethylene (PCE). The water systems were supplied by the Tarawa…
	Gulf War and Health: Volume 8: Update of Health Effects of Serving in the Gulf WarFor the United States, the 1991 Persian Gulf War was a brief and successful military operation with few injuries and deaths. However, soon after returning from duty, a large number of veterans began reporting health problems they believed were associated with…
	Student Mobility: Exploring the Impact of Frequent Moves on Achievement: Summary of a WorkshopMany low-income families struggle with stable housing and frequently have to move due to foreclosures, rent increases, or other financial setbacks. Children in these families can experience lasting negative effects, especially those who are young and still…
	Systems Engineering to Improve Traumatic Brain Injury Care in the Military Health System: Workshop SummaryThis book makes a strong case for taking advantage of the best of two disciplines–health care and operational systems engineering (a combination of science and mathematics to describe, analyze, plan, design, and integrate systems with complex interactions…
	Depression in Parents, Parenting, and Children: Opportunities to Improve Identification, Treatment, and PreventionDepression is a widespread condition affecting approximately 7.5 million parents in the U.S. each year and may be putting at least 15 million children at risk for adverse health outcomes. Based on evidentiary studies, major depression in either parent can…
	Gulf War and Health: Volume 7: Long-Term Consequences of Traumatic Brain InjuryThe seventh in a series of congressionally mandated reports on Gulf War veterans health, this volume evaluates traumatic brain injury (TBI) and its association with long-term health affects. That many returning veterans have TBI will likely mean…
	The Future of Disability in AmericaThe future of disability in America will depend on how well the U.S. prepares for and manages the demographic, fiscal, and technological developments that will unfold during the next two to three decades. Building upon two prior studies from the Institute…
	PTSD Compensation and Military ServiceThe scars of war take many forms: the limb lost, the illness brought on by a battlefield exposure, and, for some, the psychological toll of encountering an extremely traumatic event. PTSD Compensation and Military Service presents a thorough assessment of…
	Improving the Quality of Health Care for Mental and Substance-Use Conditions: Quality Chasm SeriesEach year, more than 33 million Americans receive health care for mental or substance-use conditions, or both. Together, mental and substance-use illnesses are the leading cause of death and disability for women, the highest for men ages 15-44, and the second…

Intelligence Analysis in the 21st Century: Contributions from the Behavioral and Social Sciences

In countries half a world away, major changes are happening that will challenge our nation to define or redefine our policies. Keeping pace with a fast-changing world where events can require a rapid, knowledgeable response requires excellent intelligence analysis for decision-making. The U.S. intelligence community (IC) is a complex human enterprise whose success depends on how well the people in it perform their work. Although often aided by sophisticated technologies, these people ultimately rely on their own intellect to identify, synthesize, and communicate the information on which the nation’s security depends. Their role is the pivotal middle point between gathering information and policy making. The IC’s success depends on having trained, motivated, and thoughtful people working within organizations able to understand, value, and coordinate their capabilities. Intelligence analysts serve our nation well in a challenging field. The behavioral and social sciences can make significant contributions to support these people, thus improving their already good work in a demanding area.

For a century or more, the behavioral and social sciences have studied how individuals and groups perform fundamental intellectual processes. That research has found that people perform some of these tasks much better than others. In some cases, the research has demonstrated ways to overcome weaknesses (e.g., through training or structuring analytical processes); in other cases, the research has identified problems that reflect limits to analysis that are important for decision makers to understand as aspects of the uncertainties that they face. Intelligence Analysis for Tomorrow: Advances from the Behavioral and Social Sciences recommends that the U.S. intelligence community adopt methods, theories, and findings from the behavioral and social sciences as a way to improve its analyses.

A companion book, Intelligence Analysis: Behavioral and Social Scientific Foundations, is a collection of individually authored papers, which presents the more detailed evidentiary base for the authoring committee’s conclusions and recommendations. The papers in this collection represent the individual work of committee members summarizing research on topics central to the IC’s mission.

Tom Fingar, a member of the committee and former Deputy Director of the Office of Director of National Intelligence, gave his perspective on this topic and these reports.

“More money, more collection, and more analysts will not enable the IC to satisfy 21st century requirements for intelligence support. Throwing money at the problem, even if that were affordable, and telling analysts to “work harder” cannot provide the insights and accuracy needed to reduce uncertainty about developments affecting US interests. We must “work smarter” by applying insights and scientific findings from the behavioral and social sciences. The lessons and recommendations summarized in these studies are timely, address both universal and unique aspects of intelligence analysis, and will be invaluable to IC analysts and managers alike.”

These titles and others from the Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education show the contributions that the social and behavioral sciences can make to evaluations and improvement of our national security processes.

	Intelligence Analysis for Tomorrow: Advances from the Behavioral and Social Sciences The intelligence community (IC) plays an essential role in the national security of the United States. Decision makers rely on IC analyses and predictions to reduce uncertainty and to provide warnings about everything from international diplomatic relations…
	Intelligence Analysis: Behavioral and Social Scientific Foundations The U.S. intelligence community (IC) is a complex human enterprise whose success depends on how well the people in it perform their work. Although often aided by sophisticated technologies, these people ultimately rely on their own intellect to identify,..
	Field Evaluation in the Intelligence and Counterintelligence Context: Workshop Summary On September 22-23, 2009, the National Research Council held a workshop on the field evaluation of behavioral and cognitive sciences–based methods and tools for use in the areas of intelligence and counterintelligence. Broadly speaking, the purpose of the…
	Behavioral Modeling and Simulation: From Individuals to Societies Today’s military missions have shifted away from fighting nation states using conventional weapons toward combating insurgents and terrorist networks in a battlespace in which the attitudes and behaviors of civilian noncombatants may be the primary effects…
	Human Behavior in Military Contexts Human behavior forms the nucleus of military effectiveness. Humans operating in the complex military system must possess the knowledge, skills, abilities, aptitudes, and temperament to perform their roles effectively in a reliable and predictable manner, and…

Free PDF Downloads, Audio, Video and More for January 2011

As we begin a new year, the National Academies Press offers you the following selection of books, videos, and podcasts free of charge. Start collecting free resources for your personal STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) library today.

	Implementing the New Biology: Decadal Challenges Linking Food, Energy, and the Environment: Summary of a Workshop, June 3-4, 2010 As the second decade of the 21st century begins, the challenge of how to feed a growing world population and provide sustainable, affordable energy to fulfill daily needs, while also improving human health and protecting the environment, is clear and urgent…
	The Science of Adolescent Risk-Taking: Workshop Report (Prepublication Available) Adolescence is a time when youth make decisions, both good and bad, that have consequences for the rest of their lives. Some of these decisions put them at risk of lifelong health problems, injury, or death. The Institute of Medicine held three public workshops between 2008…
	Challenges and Opportunities for Education About Dual Use Issues in the Life Sciences The Challenges and Opportunities for Education About Dual Use Issues in the Life Sciences workshop was held to engage the life sciences community on the particular security issues related to research with dual use potential. More than 60 participants from…
	Report of the Panel on Implementing Recommendations from the New Worlds, New Horizons Decadal Survey (Prepublication Available) The 2010 Astronomy and Astrophysics Decadal Survey report, New Worlds, New Horizons in Astronomy and Astrophysics (NWNH), outlines a scientifically exciting and programmatically integrated plan for both ground- and space-based astronomy and astrophysics in…
	Direct-to-Consumer Genetic Testing: Summary of a Workshop Today, scores of companies, primarily in the United States and Europe, are offering whole genome scanning services directly to the public. The proliferation of these companies and the services they offer demonstrate a public appetite for this information and…
	Avoiding Technology Surprise for Tomorrow’s Warfighter–Symposium 2010 The Symposium on Avoiding Technology Surprise for Tomorrow’s Warfighter is a forum for consumers and producers of scientific and technical intelligence to exchange perspectives on the potential sources of emerging or disruptive technologies and behaviors…
	Evaluation of U.S. Air Force Preacquisition Technology Development (Prepublication Available) From the days of biplanes and open cockpits, the air forces of the United States have relied on the mastery of technology. From design to operation, a project can stretch to 20 years and more, with continuous increases in cost. Much of the delay and cost…
	The Prevention and Treatment of Missing Data in Clinical Trials Randomized clinical trials are the primary tool for evaluating new medical interventions. Randomization provides for a fair comparison between treatment and control groups, balancing out, on average, distributions of known and unknown factors among the…
	Sex Differences and Implications for Translational Neuroscience Research: Workshop Summary (Prepublication Available) Biological differences between the sexes influence not only individual health but also public health, biomedical research, and health care. The Institute of Medicine held a workshop March 8-9, 2010, to discuss sex differences and their implications for…
	State Assessment Systems: Exploring Best Practices and Innovations: Summary of Two Workshops Educators and policy makers in the United States have relied on tests to measure educational progress for more than 150 years, and have used the results for many purposes. They have tried minimum competency testing; portfolios; multiple-choice items, brief…
	Preparing for the Future of HIV/AIDS in Africa: A Shared Responsibility (Prepublication Available) HIV/AIDS is a catastrophe globally but nowhere more so than in sub-Saharan Africa, which in 2008 accounted for 67 percent of cases worldwide and 91 percent of new infections. The Institute of Medicine recommends that the United States and African nations move toward a strategy…
	Measuring the Group Quarters Population in the American Community Survey: Interim Report Following several years of testing and evaluation, the American Community Survey (ACS) was launched in 2005 as a replacement for the census “long form,” used to collect detailed social, economic, and housing data from a sample of the U.S. population as part…

FREE VIDEO

	Lights at Night Explore images of Earth at night and compare images from 1993, 1997 and 2003 to infer changes in population, energy consumption, energy efficiency and economic activity.

	Landscapes on the Edge: New Horizons for Research on Earth’s Surface Chemical, physical, biotic, and human processes constantly reshape Earth’s surface from particles to continents, over timescales from nanoseconds to millions of years. In this video, Dr. Dorothy Merritts describes the research agenda laid out in this recent National Research Council book.

	Adolescent Health Services: Missing Opportunities Adolescence is a time when youth establish health habits, both good and bad, that often last a lifetime, yet the U.S. health care system today is not designed to help young people develop healthy routines, behaviors, and relationships to prepare them for adulthood. Learn more in this video.

	The Bone Detective Diane France loves bones. Why? Because they talk to her. Every skeleton she meets whispers secrets about the life and death of its owner. Diane France can hear those secrets because she’s a forensic anthropologist, a bone detective. Watch this video to learn about the work of this world-renowned bone detective.

FREE AUDIO

Listen to Sounds of Science podcasts on topics ranging from energy to metagenomics free-of-charge today.

Featured Podcasts:

Weight Gain During Pregnancy: How Much Is Too Much?

Progress in Preventing Childhood Obesity: How Do We Measure Up?

School Meals: Building Blocks for Healthy Children

The podcasts above are based on books published by the National Academies Press. To receive a 20% discount on the print version of these titles, visit our Special Offers page.

MORE FREE RESOURCES

	Understanding Biosecurity: Protecting Against the Misuse of Science in Today’s World Drawing on the work of the National Academies, this booklet introduces some of the issues at the intersection of science and security. The life sciences offer tremendous promise for meeting many 21st century challenges. Read more

	What You Need To Know About Infectious Disease This publication from the Institute of Medicine examines the relationship between humans and microbes. The booklet discusses how infection works, identifies disease threats, and explores global challenges. Learn more

Engineer Your Life
This web site, designed for high school girls, promotes engineering as a career choice. It features tips on preparing for an engineering career and includes profiles of women engineers, as well as resources for teachers and counselors.

Evolution Resources
The Evolution Resources web site explains the methods of science, documents the overwhelming evidence in support of biological evolution, and evaluates the alternative perspectives offered by advocates of various kinds of creationism, including “intelligent design.” The site includes reports, publications, and resources for teaching evolution.

Resources for Active Duty Military and Veterans from the National Academy of Sciences

Since October 2001, about 1.9 million US troops have been deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq. According to the US Army, the average active duty soldier is 22 years of age, a high school graduate, and married with two children. The all-volunteer military has experienced multiple redeployments to the war zone, increased use of the reserve components of the military and National Guard, increased numbers of deployed women and parents of young children, and increases in the number of military personnel surviving severe injuries that in previous wars would have resulted in death.

Returning Home from Iraq and Afghanistan: Preliminary Assessment of Readjustment Needs of Veterans, Service Members, and their Families, a recent report from the Institute of Medicine, makes recommendations for future research directions in social, economic and health consequences of deployment and redeployment. This book also promotes an emphasis on treatment of mental health and substance use disorders. Returning Home presents findings on the most critical challenges and lays out the blueprint for additional study to determine how best to meet the needs of returning troops and their families.

The National Academies has produced a number of reports that discuss issues of importance to both active duty and retired military. Links to more information about National Academies reports that may also interest you are listed below.

	Returning Home from Iraq and Afghanistan: Preliminary Assessment of Readjustment Needs of Veterans, Service Members, and Their Families Nearly 1.9 million U.S. troops have been deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq since October 2001. Many service members and veterans face serious challenges in readjusting to normal life after returning home. This initial book presents findings on the most…
	Provision of Mental Health Counseling Services Under TRICARE In this book, the IOM makes recommendations for permitting independent practice for mental health counselors treating patients within TRICARE–the DOD’s health care benefits program. This would change current policy, which requires all counselors to practice…
	Gulf War and Health: Volume 8: Update of Health Effects of Serving in the Gulf War For the United States, the 1991 Persian Gulf War was a brief and successful military operation with few injuries and deaths. However, soon after returning from duty, a large number of veterans began reporting health problems they believed were associated with…
	Student Mobility: Exploring the Impact of Frequent Moves on Achievement: Summary of a Workshop Many low-income families struggle with stable housing and frequently have to move due to foreclosures, rent increases, or other financial setbacks. Children in these families can experience lasting negative effects, especially those who are young and still…
	Combating Tobacco Use in Military and Veteran Populations The health and economic costs of tobacco use in military and veteran populations are high. In 2007, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Department of Defense (DoD) requested that the Institute of Medicine (IOM) make recommendations on how to…
	Systems Engineering to Improve Traumatic Brain Injury Care in the Military Health System: Workshop Summary This book makes a strong case for taking advantage of the best of two disciplines–health care and operational systems engineering (a combination of science and mathematics to describe, analyze, plan, design, and integrate systems with complex interactions…
	Depression in Parents, Parenting, and Children: Opportunities to Improve Identification, Treatment, and Prevention Depression is a widespread condition affecting approximately 7.5 million parents in the U.S. each year and may be putting at least 15 million children at risk for adverse health outcomes. Based on evidentiary studies, major depression in either parent can…
	Gulf War and Health: Volume 7: Long-Term Consequences of Traumatic Brain Injury The seventh in a series of congressionally mandated reports on Gulf War veterans health, this volume evaluates traumatic brain injury (TBI) and its association with long-term health affects. That many returning veterans have TBI will likely mean…
	The Future of Disability in America The future of disability in America will depend on how well the U.S. prepares for and manages the demographic, fiscal, and technological developments that will unfold during the next two to three decades. Building upon two prior studies from the Institute…
	A 21st Century System for Evaluating Veterans for Disability Benefits 21st Century System for Evaluating Veterans’ Disability Benefits recommends improvements in the medical evaluation and rating of veterans for the benefits provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to compensate for illnesses or…
	Improving the Quality of Health Care for Mental and Substance-Use Conditions: Quality Chasm Series Each year, more than 33 million Americans receive health care for mental or substance-use conditions, or both. Together, mental and substance-use illnesses are the leading cause of death and disability for women, the highest for men ages 15-44, and the second…

Five new books: Iraq & Afghanistan Vets, Biofuels, Cyberattacks and more

There were five new books on the NAP site this week, touching the topics of military and veterans; transportation and infrastructure; information security and privacy; industry and labor; and energy and energy conservation. Check out all of our topics for more books on all of these topics and more.

Since it’s such a popular feature of our site, I’ll point out that all of this week’s new publications have free PDFs to download. Happy reading!

Featured Publication

Returning Home from Iraq and Afghanistan: Preliminary Assessment of Readjustment Needs of Veterans, Service Members, and Their Families (final)

Nearly 1.9 million U.S. troops have been deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq since October 2001. Many service members and veterans face serious challenges in readjusting to normal life after returning home. This initial book presents findings on the most critical challenges, and lays out the blueprint for the second phase of the study to determine how best to meet the needs of returning troops and their families.

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All New Publications This Week

Technologies and Approaches to Reducing the Fuel Consumption of Medium- and Heavy-Duty Vehicles (prepublication)

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Letter Report for the Committee on Deterring Cyberattacks: Informing Strategies and Developing Options for U.S. Policy (final)

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The Dragon and the Elephant: Understanding the Development of Innovation Capacity in China and India: Summary of a Conference (final)

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Expanding Biofuel Production: Sustainability and the Transition to Advanced Biofuels: Summary of a Workshop (final)

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New Publications This Week (10/19-10/23)

Some weeks are bigger than others, and this week is one of those big weeks. Two of our publications got a lot of attention—School Meals and Hidden Costs of Energy—so we thought we’d feature both of them.

There are plenty more, though: two publications on childhood obesity, as well as publications covering tobacco use in the military, the Department of Defense’s Fast Track of SBIR, NASA, and state voter registration.

If you’d like faster notification of our new publications, subscribe to the New From NAP RSS feed, or connect with us on Twitter or Facebook for featured books and articles.

Featured Publications

School Meals: Building Blocks for Healthy Children (prepublication)

Ensuring that the foods provided to children in schools are consistent with current dietary recommendations is an important national focus. Various laws and regulations govern the operation of school meal programs. In 1995, Nutrition Standards and Meal Requirements were put in place to ensure that all meals offered would be high in nutritional quality.

School Meals: Building Blocks For Healthy Children reviews and provides recommendations to update the nutrition standard and the meal requirements for the National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program. The recommendations reflect new developments in nutrition science, increase the availability of key food groups in the school meal programs, and allow these programs to better meet the nutritional needs of children, foster healthy eating habits, and safeguard children’s health.

School Meals sets standards for menu planning that focus on food groups, calories, saturated fat, and sodium and that incorporate Dietary Guidelines for Americans and the Dietary Reference Intakes. This book will be used as a guide for school food authorities, food producers, policy leaders, state/local government and parents.

Hidden Costs of Energy: Unpriced Consequences of Energy Production and Use (prepublication)

Despite the many benefits of energy, most of which are reflected in energy market prices, the production, distribution, and use of energy causes negative effects. Many of these negative effects are not reflected in energy market prices. When market failures like this occur, there may be a case for government interventions in the form of regulations, taxes, fees, tradable permits or other instruments that will motivate recognition of these external or hidden costs.

Hidden Costs of Energy defines and evaluates key external costs and benefits that are associated with the production, distribution, and use of energy, but not reflected in market prices. In aggregate, the damage estimates presented here are substantial, and reflect damages from air pollution associated with electricity generation, motor vehicle transportation, and heat generation. The book also considers other effects not quantified in dollar amounts, such as damages from climate change, effects of some air pollutants such as mercury, and risks to national security.

While not a comprehensive guide to policy, this analysis indicates that major initiatives to further reduce other emissions, improve energy efficiency, or shift to a cleaner electricity-generating mix could substantially reduce the damages of external effects. A first step in minimizing the adverse consequences of new energy technologies is to better understand these external effects and damages. Hidden Costs of Energy will therefore be a vital informational tool for government policy makers, scientists, and economists in even the earliest stages of research and development on energy technologies.

All Publications This Week

Protecting and Accessing Data from the Survey of Earned Doctorates: A Workshop Summary (prepublication)

Improving State Voter Registration Databases Final Report (prepublication)

Childhood Obesity Prevention in Texas: Workshop Summary (prepublication)

Community Perspectives on Obesity Prevention in Children: Workshop Summary (prepublication)

Revisiting the Department of Defense SBIR Fast Track Initiative (final)

Combating Tobacco Use in Military and Veteran Populations (final)

Fostering Visions for the Future: A Review of the NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts (final)