Workshop Report

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 and 2009 to provide a venue for researchers, health care providers, and community leaders to discuss strategies to improve adolescent health.

Four Antarctic explorers (Charles Bentley, Richard Cameron, Mario Giovinetto, and Charles Swithinbank) were invited to a workshop at Johnson Space Center (JSC) to provide expert assessments of NASA's current understanding of future human exploration missions beyond low Earth orbit. At JSC, the explorers were given tours of development, training, and scientific facilities, as well as documentation of operational scenarios for future planetary exploration. This report records their observations about these facilities and plans in answers to a series of questions provided to them before the workshop.

This book documents recent dramatic breakthroughs and prospects for even more important future developments in a wide variety of fields and applications of science and technology related to `nanotechnology', all involving the control of matter on the nanometer-length scale, that is, at the level of atoms, molecules, and supramolecular structures. As the twenty-first century unfolds, nanotechnology's impact on the health, wealth, and security of the world's people is expected to be at least as significant as the combined influences in this century of antibiotics, the integrated circuit, and human-made polymers. The book covers fundamental scientific issues for nanotechnology and reviews progress in the development of the necessary tools for nanotechnology research and applications (e.g. theory, modeling and simulation, experimental methods, and instruments such as scanning probe microscopes). It also surveys a wide variety of current and potential application areas of nanotechnology, including: dispersions, coatings, and large surface area structures; nanodevices, nanoelectronics, and nanosensors; materials science and applications of bulk nanostructured materials with novel properties; biology, medicine, and healthcare; and energy, chemicals, and environmental science. The book incorporates the views of leading experts from U.S. government, academia, and the private sector. It reflects the consensus reached at a workshop held in January 1999, and detailed in contributions submitted thereafter by members of the U.S. science and engineering community. It describes challenges that are posed and opportunities that are offered by nanotechnology and outlines the steps that must be taken in order for humanity to benefit from the advances that are envisioned. This emphasizes three crucial areas: developing a balanced research and development infrastructure, advancing critical research areas, and nurturing the scientific and technical workforce of the next century.

This publication contains papers presented at an FAO regional workshop, held in Cairo, Egypt in December 2005, organised to discuss the development of the region's capacity to elaborate national plans of action to prevent, deter and eliminate illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (NPOAs-IUU). Issues discussed include: the 1995 FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries, the 2001 FAO International Plan of Action to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing (IPOA-IUU) and the FAO technical guidelines in support of the implementation of the IPOA-IUU.