TY - BOOK AU - Transportation Research Board AU - National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine TI - Evaluation of the Federal Railroad Administration Research and Development Program DO - 10.17226/21735 PY - 2015 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/21735/evaluation-of-the-federal-railroad-administration-research-and-development-program PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Transportation and Infrastructure AB - TRB Special Report 316: Evaluation of the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) Research and Development Program assesses the effectiveness of the FRA's process for identifying research priorities and the usefulness of FRA’s Research and Development (R&D) products for improving railroad safety. The study was conducted at the request of the FRA.The committee evaluated the performance of four Office of R&D divisions: Track and Structures, Rolling Stock, Train Control and Communications, and Human Factors. The committee also evaluated the R&D support functions of planning, evaluation, and management. Evaluation criteria included the extent to which FRA R&D activities are based on an understanding of industry and FRA needs and priorities; benefit from communication with relevant parties within and beyond FRA; and yield products that are high quality, applicable, and have demonstrable benefits.The committee concluded that the overall productivity of the R&D program appears good and that the program appears well focused on safety. It offered recommendations for ways to strengthen the program in the areas of communications with industry and the Office of Railroad Safety, priority-setting, strategic planning, and project evaluation. ER - TY - BOOK AU - National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine TI - SBIR/STTR at the National Institutes of Health SN - DO - 10.17226/21811 PY - 2015 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/21811/sbirsttr-at-the-national-institutes-of-health PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Industry and Labor AB - The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs provide federal research and development funding to small businesses. In 2008, the National Research Council completed a comprehensive assessment of the SBIR and STTR programs. The first-round study found that the programs were "sound in concept and effective in practice." Building on the outcomes from the Phase I study, this second phase examines both topics of general policy interest that emerged during the first phase and topics of specific interest to individual agencies, and provides a second snapshot to measure the program's progress against its legislative goals. ER - TY - BOOK AU - Transportation Research Board AU - National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine A2 - Daniel K. Boyle TI - Critical Incident Management and Clearance Practices for Rail Transit DO - 10.17226/22171 PY - 2015 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/22171/critical-incident-management-and-clearance-practices-for-rail-transit PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Transportation and Infrastructure AB - TRB’s Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) Synthesis 114: Critical Incident Management and Clearance Practices for Rail Transit summarizes the current state of the practice regarding incident response and identifies strategies for post-incident evaluations. ER - TY - BOOK AU - National Research Council TI - Reliability Growth: Enhancing Defense System Reliability SN - DO - 10.17226/18987 PY - 2015 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/18987/reliability-growth-enhancing-defense-system-reliability PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Conflict and Security Issues KW - Behavioral and Social Sciences KW - Surveys and Statistics AB - A high percentage of defense systems fail to meet their reliability requirements. This is a serious problem for the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD), as well as the nation. Those systems are not only less likely to successfully carry out their intended missions, but they also could endanger the lives of the operators. Furthermore, reliability failures discovered after deployment can result in costly and strategic delays and the need for expensive redesign, which often limits the tactical situations in which the system can be used. Finally, systems that fail to meet their reliability requirements are much more likely to need additional scheduled and unscheduled maintenance and to need more spare parts and possibly replacement systems, all of which can substantially increase the life-cycle costs of a system. Beginning in 2008, DOD undertook a concerted effort to raise the priority of reliability through greater use of design for reliability techniques, reliability growth testing, and formal reliability growth modeling, by both the contractors and DOD units. To this end, handbooks, guidances, and formal memoranda were revised or newly issued to reduce the frequency of reliability deficiencies for defense systems in operational testing and the effects of those deficiencies. Reliability Growth evaluates these recent changes and, more generally, assesses how current DOD principles and practices could be modified to increase the likelihood that defense systems will satisfy their reliability requirements. This report examines changes to the reliability requirements for proposed systems; defines modern design and testing for reliability; discusses the contractor's role in reliability testing; and summarizes the current state of formal reliability growth modeling. The recommendations of Reliability Growth will improve the reliability of defense systems and protect the health of the valuable personnel who operate them. ER - TY - BOOK AU - Institute of Medicine AU - National Research Council TI - BioWatch PCR Assays: Building Confidence, Ensuring Reliability: Abbreviated Version SN - DO - 10.17226/21658 PY - 2015 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/21658/biowatch-pcr-assays-building-confidence-ensuring-reliability-abbreviated-version PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Environment and Environmental Studies AB - BioWatch is an air monitoring system deployed in jurisdictions around the country with the goal of detecting the presence of certain high risk pathogenic microorganisms. It relies on a network of federal and nonfederal collaborative relationships to be successful, and is one part of a larger array of disease surveillance, intelligence-gathering, and biomonitoring activities in support of public safety and health. The assays used in the BioWatch system to detect the presence of pathogens in collected samples rely on the technique of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to sensitively and specifically amplify target nucleic acid sequences. BioWatch PCR Assays evaluates and provides guidance on appropriate standards for the validation and verification of PCR tests and assays in order to ensure that adequate performance data are available to public health and other key decision makers with a sufficient confidence level to facilitate the public health response to a BioWatch Actionable Response. This report discusses principles of performance standards, reviews information from several existing guidance documents and standards that might be applicable to BioWatch, and discusses assay testing efforts that have occurred or are ongoing. BioWatch PCR Assays provides recommendations on general principles and approaches for a performance standard and validation framework to meet BioWatch's mission. The report also considers how developments in technology, particularly in multiplex PCR and next-generation sequencing, can contribute to the ability of the BioWatch program to meet current and future challenges. This report has been determined to contain information exempt from disclosure under 5 U.S.C. 552(b). Section 15 of the Federal Advisory Committee Act provides that the National Academies shall make its final report available to the public unless the National Academies determines that the report would disclose matters described in one or more of the exemption provisions under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). In such case, the National Academies "shall make public an abbreviated version of the report that does not disclose those matters." This unrestricted, abbreviated version of the report represents, in so far as possible, the committee's findings, recommendations, and other substantive material without disclosing materials described in 5 U.S.C. 552(b). ER - TY - BOOK AU - Transportation Research Board AU - National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine A2 - Sebesta Inc TI - Optimizing Airport Building Operations and Maintenance Through Retrocommissioning: A Whole-Systems Approach DO - 10.17226/22129 PY - 2015 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/22129/optimizing-airport-building-operations-and-maintenance-through-retrocommissioning-a-whole-systems-approach PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Transportation and Infrastructure AB - TRB's Airport Cooperative Research Program (ACRP) Report 139: Optimizing Airport Building Operations and Maintenance Through Retrocommissioning: A Whole-Systems Approach explores ways to optimize operations and maintenance costs and improve overall building system performance through retrocommissioning. The report is accompanied by a CD that contains additional appendices and a spreadsheet tool to help practitioners evaluate and select appropriate facility optimization measures based on cost, savings, complexity, visibility, and greenhouse gas savings.The CD is also available for download from TRB’s website as an ISO image. Links to the ISO image and instructions for burning a CD-ROM from an ISO image are provided below.Help on Burning an .ISO CD-ROM ImageDownload the .ISO CD-ROM Image(Warning: This is a large file and may take some time to download using a high-speed connection.)CD-ROM Disclaimer - This software is offered as is, without warranty or promise of support of any kind either expressed or implied. Under no circumstance will the National Academy of Sciences or the Transportation Research Board (collectively "TRB") be liable for any loss or damage caused by the installation or operation of this product. TRB makes no representation or warranty of any kind, expressed or implied, in fact or in law, including without limitation, the warranty of merchantability or the warranty of fitness for a particular purpose, and shall not in any case be liable for any consequential or special damages. ER - TY - BOOK AU - Institute of Medicine A2 - Robert Graham A2 - Margaret A. McCoy A2 - Andrea M. Schultz TI - Strategies to Improve Cardiac Arrest Survival: A Time to Act SN - DO - 10.17226/21723 PY - 2015 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/21723/strategies-to-improve-cardiac-arrest-survival-a-time-to-act PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Health and Medicine AB - Cardiac arrest can strike a seemingly healthy individual of any age, race, ethnicity, or gender at any time in any location, often without warning. Cardiac arrest is the third leading cause of death in the United States, following cancer and heart disease. Four out of five cardiac arrests occur in the home, and more than 90 percent of individuals with cardiac arrest die before reaching the hospital. First and foremost, cardiac arrest treatment is a community issue - local resources and personnel must provide appropriate, high-quality care to save the life of a community member. Time between onset of arrest and provision of care is fundamental, and shortening this time is one of the best ways to reduce the risk of death and disability from cardiac arrest. Specific actions can be implemented now to decrease this time, and recent advances in science could lead to new discoveries in the causes of, and treatments for, cardiac arrest. However, specific barriers must first be addressed. Strategies to Improve Cardiac Arrest Survival examines the complete system of response to cardiac arrest in the United States and identifies opportunities within existing and new treatments, strategies, and research that promise to improve the survival and recovery of patients. The recommendations of Strategies to Improve Cardiac Arrest Survival provide high-priority actions to advance the field as a whole. This report will help citizens, government agencies, and private industry to improve health outcomes from sudden cardiac arrest across the United States. ER - TY - BOOK AU - Transportation Research Board AU - National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine A2 - Douglas D. Gransberg A2 - Jorge A. Rueda Benavides A2 - Michael C. Loulakis TI - Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity Contracting Practices DO - 10.17226/22155 PY - 2015 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/22155/indefinite-deliveryindefinite-quantity-contracting-practices PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Transportation and Infrastructure AB - TRB’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Synthesis 473: Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity Contracting Practices examines practices related to the use of Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contracting by transportation agencies for highway design, construction, and maintenance contracts. The synthesis covers multiple aspects of IDIQ practice, including contracting techniques, terminology used by transportation agencies, contract advertising and award practices, successful contracting procedures, pricing methods, risk management issues, and effective contract administration practices. ER -