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At least 343 records · Page 19
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2019

Trial by Fire? Rulewriters, Training, the BLM, and EPA

Individual bureaucrats are ultimately tasked with solving complex problems and are expected to do so cost-effectively. The purpose of this paper is to examine an infrequent perspective of administrative rulemaking - training. Simply put, our goal is to examine original interview data with federal rulewriters in two agencies - the Environmental Protection Agency and the Bureau of Land Management to understand how bureaucrats are trained to carry out rules. This exploratory study suggests the importance of training for the next generation of rulewriters. In particular, we demonstrate existing informal training can be effective, but more mechanisms (e.g. formal training and mentoring) is necessary.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2025

Archival records housed at USTUR support radium dial worker dosimetry

The American radium dial worker (RDW) cohort of over 3200 persons is being revisited as part of the Million Person Study (MPS) to include a modern approach to RDW dosimetry. An exceptional source of data and contextualization in this project is an extensive collection of electronic records (digitized from existing microfilm and microfiche) housed at the United States Transuranium and Uranium Registries (USTUR). Although the type, extent, and quality (e.g. legibility) of record(s) varies between individuals, the remarkable occupational, medical and demographic data include in vivo radiation measurements (e.g. radon breath, whole body counts), autopsy results, medical records (including copies of radiographs), interviews over the years, and correspondence. Of particular dosimetric interest are the details of radiation measurements. For example, there are some instances where hand-written and transcribed values are both available, along with notes providing context for why a particular measurement in a series of measurements was chosen to assign an intake, or if there were concerns about a particular measurement. Born prior to 1935, RDW have nearly all passed away. Thus, the updated dosimetry, especially for the skeletal tissues, will allow the correlation of lifetime cumulative dose with radiation risk. Here we review typical information available in this collection of historical records and highlight some interesting finds. Additionally, we discuss the relevance to current and ongoing work related to updating the dosimetry of the RDW in the MPS, including providing an example of the usefulness of information contained in these records. The RDW cohort provides a unique historical perspective on occupational exposure to radium, making it a valuable dataset for understanding long-term health effects and improving current radiation protection standards.

Million Person Study↗
DOE OSTI2011

Developing a Regional Recovery Framework

Abstract A biological attack would present an unprecedented challenge for local, state, and federal agencies; the military; the private sector; and individuals on many fronts ranging from vaccination and treatment to prioritization of cleanup actions to waste disposal. To prepare the Seattle region to recover from a biological attack, the Seattle Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) partners collaborated with military and federal agencies to develop a Regional Recovery Framework for a Biological Attack in the Seattle Urban Area. The goal was to reduce the time and resources required to recover and restore wide urban areas, military installations, and other critical infrastructure following a biological incident by providing a coordinated systems approach. Based on discussions in small workshops, tabletop exercises, and interviews with emergency response agency staff, the partners identified concepts of operation for various areas to address critical issues the region will face as recovery progresses. Key to this recovery is the recovery of the economy. Although the Framework is specific to a catastrophic, wide-area biological attack using anthrax, it was designed to be flexible and scalable so it could also serve as the recovery framework for an all-hazards approach. The Framework also served to coalesce policy questions that must be addressed for long-term recovery. These questions cover such areas as safety and health, security, financial management, waste management, legal issues, and economic development.

45 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, WEAPONRY, AND NATIONAL DEF↗
DOE OSTI2011

Challenges in Disposing of Anthrax Waste

Disasters often create large amounts of waste that must be managed as part of both immediate response and long-term recovery. While many federal, state, and local agencies have debris management plans, these plans often do not address chemical, biological, and radiological contamination. The Interagency Biological Restoration Demonstration’s (IBRD) purpose was to holistically assess all aspects of an anthrax incident and assist the development of a plan for long-term recovery. In the case of wide-area anthrax contamination and the follow-on response and recovery activities, a significant amount of material will require decontamination and disposal. Accordingly, IBRD facilitated the development of debris management plans to address contaminated waste through a series of interviews and workshops with local, state, and federal representatives. The outcome of these discussion was the identification of three primary topical areas that must be addressed: 1) Planning; 2) Unresolved research questions, and resolving regulatory issues.

45 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, WEAPONRY, AND NATIONAL DEF↗
DOE OSTI2023

Supporting Faculty in Mentoring Students for Careers Beyond Academia

Career opportunities for mathematicians in business, gov- ernment, and industry have never been better. At the 2023 Joint Mathematics Meetings in Boston, MA, the AMS Com- mittee on the Profession sponsored a panel entitled “Sup- porting Faculty in Mentoring Students for Careers Beyond Academia.” The goal of the panel was to provide action- able advice for faculty who seek to increase their ability to mentor students in finding nonacademic employment. To enable this information to reach a wider audience, we offer this interview-style report between our moderator and panelists.

DeVille, Lee↗
DOE OSTI2025

Cognitive behavioural therapy targeting cardiac anxiety post-myocardial infarction: results from two sequential pilot studies

Abstract Aims Cardiac anxiety, which is cardiac-related fear and avoidance behaviours, is common following myocardial infarction (MI) and has been associated with increased risk for cardiovascular events. However, there are currently no treatments specifically designed to target cardiac anxiety. The aim of the two pilot studies was to evaluate an exposure-based cognitive behavioural therapy protocol (MI-CBT) targeting cardiac anxiety following MI, assessing feasibility, acceptability, and the intervention's potential for reducing cardiac anxiety and improving health-related quality of life (QoL). Methods and results A series of two sequential, uncontrolled pilot studies were conducted. In Pilot Study 1 (n = 15), MI-CBT was delivered via face-to-face videoconference, while Pilot Study 2 (n = 23) was delivered online. Patients with a history of MI (≥6 months before assessment, type 1 ST- or non-ST-segment elevation MI, and elevated cardiac anxiety as per clinical interview) were included. The interventions lasted 8 weeks and were therapist-led, with key components including exposure to cardiac-related symptoms and reduction of avoidance behaviours. Participants completed self-rated assessments, including the Cardiac Anxiety Questionnaire (CAQ) and the 12-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-12), at baseline, post-treatment, and 6-month follow-up. Treatment adherence and satisfaction were high. Cognitive behavioural therapy led to a large reduction in cardiac anxiety, as measured by the CAQ (P < 0.001), and significant improvements in health-related QoL, as measured by the SF-12 (P < 0.001), in both pilot studies. Conclusion These studies suggest that exposure-based CBT is a feasible, acceptable, and promising approach to reduce cardiac anxiety and improve QoL following MI. A randomized controlled trial should be conducted to evaluate the efficacy of the intervention.

Johnsson, Amanda (ORCID:0009000862983934)↗
DOE OSTI2018

Helping IT and OT Defenders Collaborate

Cyber-physical systems, especially in critical infrastructures, have become primary hacking targets in international conflicts and diplomacy. However, cyber-physical systems present unique challenges to defenders, starting with an inability to communicate. This paper outlines the results of our interviews with information technology (IT) defenders and operational technology (OT) operators and seeks to address lessons learned from them in the structure of our notional solutions. We pre-sent two problems in this paper: (1) the difficulty of coordinat-ing detection and response between defenders who work on the cyber/IT and physical/OT sides of cyber-physical infrastruc-tures, and (2) the difficulty of estimating the safety state of a cyber-physical system while an intrusion is underway but be-fore damage can be effected by the attacker. To meet these chal-lenges, we propose two solutions: (1) a visualization that will enable communication between IT defenders and OT operators, and (2) a machine-learning approach that will estimate the distance from normal the physical system is operating and send information to the visualization.

Cyber Physical Systems, internet of things, visual↗
DOE OSTI2022

Electric Power Industry Challenges Due to Increasing Shares of Inverter-Based Resources in Power Systems

The large-scale integration of variable renewable energy technologies around the world is forcing electric power systems into an unprecedented transition. This paper reports on power grid modernization and reliability issues related to the planning and operation of power systems with high levels of variable renewable energy. The contents of this paper stem from recent qualitative research in the form of a summary of an industry survey. The technical feedback from the interviewed 37 industry experts helped us identify 12 key areas of potential concern, which are discussed throughout this paper.

power system operation↗
DOE OSTI2018

Preserving Command Line Workflow for a Package Management System using ASCII DAG Visualization

Package managers provide ease of access to applications by removing the time-consuming and sometimes completely prohibitive barrier of successfully building, installing, and maintaining the software for a system. A package dependency contains dependencies between all packages required to build and run the target software. Package management system developers, package maintainers, and users may consult the dependency graph when a simple listing is insufficient for their analyses. However, users working in a remote command line environment must disrupt their workflow to visualize dependency graphs in graphical programs, possibly needing to move files between devices or incur forwarding lag. Such is the case for users of Spack, an open source package management system originally developed to ease the complex builds required by supercomputing environments. To preserve the command line workflow of Spack, we develop an interactive ASCII visualization for its dependency graphs. Through interviews with Spack maintainers, we identify user goals and corresponding visual tasks for dependency graphs. We evaluate the use of our visualization through a command line-centered study, comparing it to the system's two existing approaches. We observe that despite the limitations of the ASCII representation, our visualization is preferred by participants when approached from a command line interface workflow.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2025

A Typology of Decision-Making Tasks for Visualization

Despite decision-making being a vital goal of data visualization, little work has been done to differentiate decision-making tasks within the field. While visualization task taxonomies and typologies exist, they often focus on more granular analytical tasks that are too low-level to describe large complex decisions, which can make it difficult to reason about and design decision-support tools. In this paper, we contribute a typology of decision-making tasks that were iteratively refined from a list of design goals distilled from a literature review. Our typology is concise and consists of only three tasks: CHOOSE, ACTIVATE, and CREATE. Although decision types originating in other disciplines exist, we provide definitions for these tasks that are suitable for the visualization community. Our proposed typology offers two benefits. First, the ability to compose and hierarchically organize the tasks enables flexible and clear descriptions of decisions with varying levels of complexities. Second, the typology encourages productive discourse between visualization designers and domain experts by abstracting the intricacies of data, thereby promoting clarity and rigorous analysis of decision-making processes. We demonstrate the benefits of our typology through four case studies, and present an evaluation of the typology from semi-structured interviews with experienced members of the visualization community who have contributed to developing or publishing decision support systems for domain experts. Our interviewees used our typology to delineate the decision-making processes supported by their systems, demonstrating its descriptive capacity and effectiveness. Finally, we present preliminary findings on the usefulness of our typology for visualization design.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2025

LatticeAnalytics: Strut-Level Visualization and Inspection of Additively Manufactured Lattice Structures

Additive manufacturing (AM) is revolutionizing the production of custom components with complex internal geometries, essential for high-performance applications in diverse fields such as medicine and defense. These AM parts optimize strength while minimizing weight by utilizing internal lattice structures consisting of large quantities of small interconnected struts. However, the complexity of these structures, combined with the challenges of using X-ray Computed Tomography (XCT) data, makes validation of part reliability difficult. This ultimately inhibits the development of novel parts for our collaborating material scientists. Here, we introduce LatticeAnalytics, a novel framework specifically designed for visual inspection of defects in these lattice structures. Our framework offers an end-to-end solution that includes the data management of XCT scans, enables remote access for geographically dispersed teams through a web-based dashboard, and incorporates novel visualizations. Our analysis is facilitated by a coarse alignment between the lattice’s nominal model, a spatial graph, and the XCT data. We employ a simple VR-based approach for fast and rough alignment, followed by an offline registration and identification of the struts. With the nodes and struts aligned and identified in the volume, our framework allows querying of subvolumes containing a single strut at multiple resolutions. This avoids computation over the entire lattice and also allow for easy parallelization of down-stream computations, such as strut-specific metrics. To depict a fast overview of the strut quality, we introduce two innovative visual encodings, crucial for our collaborators’ research in creating novel AM parts: the Contour View and the Roughness Map, which depict critical geometrical and surface features of individual struts in standardized two 2D views. We evaluated the integrated system through expert interviews. The feedback confirms the framework’s practicality and its effectiveness in enhancing current inspection workflows. It solves major bottlenecks for our collaborators, ultimately helping them create novel parts with advanced properties.

Miao, Haichao [Lawrence Livermore National Laborat↗
DOE OSTI2015

Perceptions of risk among households in two Australian coastal communities

There is limited knowledge of risk perceptions in coastal communities despite their vulnerability to a range of risks including the impacts of climate change. A survey of 400 households in two Australian coastal communities, combined with semi-structured interviews, provides insight into household perceptions of the relative importance of climatic and non-climatic risks and the subsequent risk priorities that may inform household adaptive action. In contrast to previous research, the results demonstrated that geographic location and household characteristics might not affect perceptions of vulnerability to environmental hazards. However, past experience was a significant influence, raising the priority of environmental concerns. Overall, the results highlight the priority concerns of coastal households (from finance, to health and environment) and suggest to increase the profile of climate issues in coastal communities climate change strategies need to better demonstrate links between climate vulnerability and other household concerns. Moreover, promoting generic capacities in isolation from understanding the context in which households construe climate risks is unlikely to yield the changes required to decrease the vulnerability of coastal communities.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2024

The Connected We St@nd programme: A feasibility pilot study of an online self‐management intervention for adults on in‐centre haemodialysis and family caregivers

Abstract Objective The ‘Connected We St@nd’ is an online self‐management intervention programme for people receiving in‐centre haemodialysis and family caregivers that combines an educational and psychosocial support component. This study aimed to evaluate its feasibility and acceptability before proceeding to a large‐scale trial. Design This was a pre‐post single‐arm feasibility pilot study conducted with adults undergoing in‐centre haemodialysis and family caregivers. Methods Feasibility was based on eligibility, consent, retention, completion and intervention adherence rates, while acceptability was assessed in post‐intervention focus group interviews. Results Twenty‐six people (16 adults on haemodialysis and 10 family caregivers) recruited through social networks completed the intervention. Consent, retention and completion rates were excellent (>90%) and eligibility (77.5%) and intervention adherence were satisfactory (69% for the psychosocial support sessions). Qualitative findings revealed that participants shared positive feelings regarding their participation in the programme. The valuable interactions with group peers and health psychologists during the support sessions, the perception of the adequacy and coherence of the programme's contents and materials and the participants' confidence in using the platform developed to deliver the intervention were some of the aspects highlighted as facilitators of intervention acceptability. Additionally, people on haemodialysis and caregivers reported that participation in the programme brought several educational and emotional benefits (e.g., additional disease‐related knowledge, improved communication and coping skills, greater confidence in managing dialysis complications or caregiving demands) that helped increase their self‐management skills and psychosocial adjustment to the demands of kidney failure and renal therapies. Conclusions The results suggested that the ‘Connected We St@nd’ programme is likely to be feasible and acceptable for adults on haemodialysis and family caregivers, thus representing a promising resource for the future of interdisciplinary renal rehabilitation. Suggestions were made to fine‐tune the intervention design to proceed with a large‐scale trial.

Sousa, Helena↗
DOE OSTI2022

Imaginaries of the Pandemic in Chile: A Conceptual‐Empirical Discussion

This article aims to reconstruct the social imaginaries of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) in Chile. We seek to understand how families interpret their experience confronting the pandemic by identifying four main aspects: (a) the COVID‐19 pandemic, (b) working and learning, (c) health and (d) family life. Following Habermas' distinction between lifeworld and social systems, we consider these issues as constituting the social imaginary of lifeworld, different but related to the imaginaries of social systems. The qualitative empirical data was gathered through a sample of 38 families interviewed online between September 2020 and January 2021 in four Chilean cities: Iquique, Valparaíso, Santiago and Concepción. Other complementary sources of information are multimodal ethnography (digital diaries), press articles and state reports.

Vergara, Jorge Iván↗
DOE OSTI2018

Intersectoral strategies between health and education for preventing adolescent pregnancy in Chile: Findings from a qualitative study

Abstract Background In Chile, despite its steady decrease overall, adolescent pregnancy is concentrated in the most vulnerable population. Efforts in intersectoral collaboration between health and education to address the problem are being developed, but they have not been assessed. Objective To describe intersectoral strategies between health and education to address adolescent sexual and reproductive health, prevent adolescent pregnancy, and to explore adolescents’ and health professionals’ perceptions regarding those strategies. Design A qualitative ethnographic study was carried out in five municipalities in the Metropolitan Region of Chile. A sample of five key informants, 23 health professionals and 50 adolescents participated in a total of 38 semi‐structured interviews and five discussion groups. Results Two intersectoral strategies to respond to adolescents’ sexual and reproductive health needs were identified: (a) the “in‐and‐out” strategy, where health professionals provide health care mostly in health centres and carry out specific actions in schools and (b) the school‐based strategy in which health professionals carry out continuous actions in schools as part of the curriculum. The second is perceived as responding better to adolescents’ needs in sexual and reproductive health issues and in preventing adolescent pregnancy. Discussion The school‐based strategy, with the constant presence of health professionals and lack of bureaucratic procedures, facilitates adolescents to access sexual and reproductive health care. This strategy enables sexual and reproductive health to be understood as an integral dimension of adolescents’ lives, and it reinforces a holistic idea of health in which it is approached as a whole.

Obach, Alexandra↗
DOE OSTI2015

Results of the California Healthy Homes Indoor Air Quality Study of 2011-2013: Impact of natural gas appliances on air pollutant concentrations

This study was conducted to assess the current impact of natural gas appliances on air quality in California homes. Data were collected via telephone interviews and measurements inside and outside of 352 homes. Passive samplers measured time-resolved CO and time-integrated NO X , NO 2 , formaldehyde, and acetaldehyde over ~6d periods in November 2011 - April 2012 and October 2012 - March 2013. The fraction of indoor NO X and NO 2 attributable to indoor sources was estimated. NO X , NO 2 and highest 1-h CO were higher in homes that cooked with gas and increased with amount of gas cooking. NO X and NO 2 were higher in homes with cooktop pilot burners, relative to gas cooking without pilots. Homes with a pilot burner on a floor or wall furnace had higher kitchen and bedroom NO X and NO 2 compared to homes without a furnace pilot. When scaled to account for varying home size and mixing volume, indoor-attributed bedroom and kitchen NO X and kitchen NO 2 were not higher in homes with wall or floor furnace pilot burners, though bedroom NO 2 was higher. In homes that cooked 4 h or more with gas, self-reported use of kitchen exhaust was associated with lower NO X , NO 2 and highest 1-h CO. Gas appliances were not associated with higher concentrations of formaldehyde or acetaldehyde.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2016

Expecting a child: pregnancy in light of an ontological health model

Aim To make visible the existential character of pregnancy by searching for its health dimensions as it is described in the ontological health model. Method Eight women were interviewed two or three times during their pregnancy and one time shortly after birth. The women have taken part in the routine programme that constitutes maternity care in S weden. A hermeneutic approach inspired by G adamer was used to analyse the data. An ontological health model was used to interpret the findings. Findings Nine themes on a rational and a contextual level were clustered to three themes on an existential level: A new life stage, The new life takes shape and Health is jeopardised. Contents of these themes were interpreted together with an ontological health model. Expecting a child means to do, be and become in expectation of the new life. Suffering and health are two different dimensions in a woman's life during pregnancy; they are integrated with one another and ever‐present. It is in the meeting with the inevitable, life‐changing gravidity and vulnerability that the integrative movement creates the new. Longing is the desire that provides motivation to continue.

Larsson, Åsa↗
DOE OSTI2022

Framework for the Evolution of Heuristics in Advanced Manufacturing

Here, in this study, we work toward addressing a knowledge gap in understanding how heuristics are developed, retrieved, employed, and modified by designers. Having a better awareness of one’s own set of heuristics can be beneficial for relaying to other team members, improving a team’s training processes, and aiding others on their path to design expertise. The ability to understand and justify the use of a heuristic should lead to more effective decision-making in systems design. To do this, the heuristics and their characteristics must be extracted using a repeatable scientific research methodology. This study describes a unique extraction and characterization process compared to prior literature. It includes some of the first work towards documenting heuristics for both designers and operators in a hybrid manufacturing setting. Eight participants performed a series of two design journals, two interviews, and one survey. Heuristics were extracted and refined between each method and then verified by participants in the survey. The surveys produced novel statistically significant findings in regard to heuristic characterizations, impacting how participants view how often a heuristic is used, the reliability of the heuristic, and the evolution of the heuristic. Lastly, an alternate perspective of heuristics as an error management bias is highlighted and discussed.

42 ENGINEERING↗