Technology & Engineering

According to OMB, the federal executive branch plans to spend at least $75 billion on information technology (IT) investments in fiscal year 2012. In response to a statute which mandates that GAO identify duplicative activities within federal agencies,...

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and state and local transportation agencies are working hard to deliver projects more quickly and efficiently, and for less cost. Many state departments of transportation (DOT) and local transportation planning...

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) is pleased to present General Safe Practices for Working with Engineered Nanomaterials in Research Laboratories. Engineered nanomaterial applications are rapidly expanding throughout the...

Work-related slip, trip, and fall incidents can frequently result in serious disabling injuries that impact a healthcare employee's ability to do his or her job, often resulting in lost workdays, reduced productivity, expensive worker compensation...

The United States currently depends on approximately 1.1 million fire fighters to protect its citizens and property from losses caused by fire. Each year in the United States, approximately 100 fire fighters die in the line of duty. Sudden cardiac death...

Enclosed cabs are a primary means of reducing equipment operators' silica dust exposure at surface mines. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health experimentally investigated various factor effects on cab air filtration system...

This publication provides an historical overview of research undertaken by the U.S. federal government over the last 100 years to improve the health and safety of our nation's miners. Federal research efforts began with the establishment of the U.S...

The workings of a bituminous coal mine produce explosive coal dust for which adding rock dust can reduce the potential for explosions. Accordingly, guidelines have been established by the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) about the relative...

NHTSA's National Center for Statistics and Analysis (NCSA) conducted the Tire Pressure Special Study (TPSS). The TPSS was designed to assess to what extent passenger vehicle operators are aware of the recommended tire pressures for their vehicles, the...

The National Institute of Standards and Technology's Manufacturing Engineering Laboratory (MEL)strengthens the U.S. economy and improves the quality of life by working with the U.S. manufacturing industry to develop and apply infrastructural technology,...

Economic tools are needed to help the owners, managers, and designers of constructed facilities to select cost-effective combinations of mitigation strategies that respond to natural and man-made hazards. Economic tools include evaluation methods,...

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), with the cooperation of eight technology providers, performed a test of accuracy for searching latent fingerprints when using automatically extracted features and matching (AFEM). This test is...

This report recommends best practices for development and deployment of modeling, simulation and analysis (MS&A) tools for homeland security applications. The set of recommended practices applicable to any MS&A application includes: modeling practice,...

Cell phones and other handheld devices incorporating cell phone capabilities (e.g., Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) phones) are ubiquitous. Rather than just placing calls, certain phones allow users to perform additional tasks such as SMS (Short Message...

Cell phones and other handheld devices incorporating cell phone capabilities (e.g., Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) phones) are ubiquitous. Rather than just placing calls, certain phones allow users to perform additional tasks such as SMS (Short...

The use of halon 1301 for fire fighting is being phased out due to its deleterious effects on stratospheric ozone. This report summarizes the findings of a three year study designed to characterize and identify super-effective thermal fire-fighting...

The Electromagnetics Division is a critical national resource for a wide range of customers. U.S. industry is the primary customer both for the division's measurement services and for technical support on the test and measurement methodology necessary...

As part of a Cybernetic Building Systems project at the NIST Building and Fire Research Laboratory, a whole building emulator called the Virtual Cybernetic Building Testbed (VCBT) has been developed. The VCBT combines simulation tools with commercial...

A review of the literature on evaluating reasoning systems reveals that it is a very broad area with wide variation in depth and breadth of research on metrics and tests. Consolidation is hampered by nonstandard terminology, differing methodologies,...

This report presents the significant dust dispersion models that are pertinent to the mining industry in an effort to highlight past and current dust modeling exercises.Author: Centers for Disease Control and PreventiPublisher: Createspace Independent...

Developing a cost-effective risk mitigation plan involves assessing the risks associated with natural and man-made hazards, formulating combinations of mitigation strategies for constructed facilities exposed to those hazards, and using economic tools to...

Rheological measurements are often performed using a rotational rheometer. In this type of rheometer, the tested fluid is sheared between two surfaces, one of which is rotating [1]. Usually, the angular velocity is imposed and the response of the...

CFAST is a two-zone fire model capable of predicting the environment in a multi-compartment structure subjected to a fire. It calculates the time evolving distribution of smoke and fire gases and the temperature throughout a building during a...

Abstract This supplement to the CFAST Technical Reference Guide provides details of the software development process for CFAST and accompanying validation for the model. It is based in part on the Standard Guide for Evaluating the Predictive Capability...

CFAST is a two-zone fire model capable of predicting the environment in a multi-compartment structure subjected to a fire. It calculates the time evolving distribution of smoke and gaseous combustion products as well as the temperature throughout a...

This supplement to the CFAST Technical Reference Guide provides details of the software development process for CFAST and accompanying validation for the model. It is based in part on the Standard Guide for Evaluating the Predictive Capability of...

CFAST is a two-zone fire model capable of predicting the environment in a multi-compartment structure subjected to a fire. It calculates the time evolving distribution of smoke and gaseous combustion products as well as the temperature throughout a...

Although there is a great deal of high-quality information available on resilience-related topics hazard assessment, vulnerability assessment, risk assessment, risk management, and loss estimation as well as disaster resilience itself, there is no...

This recommendation provides technical guidelines for Federal agencies implementing electronic authentication and is not intended to constrain the development or use of standards outside of this purpose. The recommendation covers remote authentication of...

The certification of the rheological properties of standard reference material SRM 2490, a non-Newtonian fluid consisting of polyisobutylene dissolved in 2,6,10,14-tetramethylpentadecane, is described. The viscosity and the first normal stress difference...