Normal Accidents or Writing the NIH Grant Proposal

Normal Accidents: Living With High-Risk Technologies

Author: Charles Perrow

Normal Accidents analyzes the social side of technological risk. Charles Perrow argues that the conventional engineering approach to ensuring safety--building in more warnings and safeguards--fails because systems complexity makes failures inevitable. He asserts that typical precautions, by adding to complexity, may help create new categories of accidents. (At Chernobyl, tests of a new safety system helped produce the meltdown and subsequent fire.) By recognizing two dimensions of risk--complex versus linear interactions, and tight versus loose coupling--this book provides a powerful framework for analyzing risks and the organizations that insist we run them.

The first edition fulfilled one reviewer's prediction that it "may mark the beginning of accident research." In the new afterword to this edition Perrow reviews the extensive work on the major accidents of the last fifteen years, including Bhopal, Chernobyl, and the Challenger disaster. The new postscri pt probes what the author considers to be the "quintessential 'Normal Accident'" of our time: the Y2K computer problem.

New York Times - Lawrence Zuckerman

Mr. Perrow found that the organizations designed to run and safeguard modern technology were so complex and so tightly integrated that accidents are inevitable, or ''normal,'' even when all the proper safety procedures are followed. Thus, disasters like the near-meltdown of the nuclear reactor at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania and the explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger cannot be traced to discrete errors or blamed solely on ''operator error,'' as has been the typical approach in the past. They are the natural result of the systems themselves. They are accidents that are inconceivable -- until they happen.

Technology Review - Wade Roush

On the other hand, we may have simply postponed the kind of debacle that would force us into a reexamination of complex, hazardous technologies such as nuclear power. In particular, the increasing ubiquity of the Internet, to which every thermostat and sprinkler system in the world may soon be linked, is creating the potential for an epidemic of computer viruses or other disruptions on an unprecedented scale. There will never be another year 2000, but I suspect this won't be the last edition of Normal Accidents.

Table of Contents:

	Abnormal Blessings
	Introduction	3
1	Normal Accident at Three Mile Island	15
2	Nuclear Power as a High-Risk System: Why We Have Not Had More TMIs - But Will Soon	32
3	Complexity, Coupling, and Catastrophe	62
4	Petrochemical Plants	101
5	Aircraft and Airways	123
6	Marine Accidents	170
7	Earthbound Systems: Dams, Quakes, Mines, and Lakes	232
8	Exotics: Space, Weapons, and DNA	256
9	Living with High-Risk Systems	304
	Afterword	353
	Postscript: The Y2K Problem	388
	List of Acronyms	413
	Notes	415
	Bibliography	426
	Index	441

Books about economics: Advanced Project Management or Storyselling for Financial Advisors

Writing the NIH Grant Proposal: A Step-by-Step Guide

Author: William Gerin

This primer on the writing of the NIH proposal and the mechanics of applying for NIH grants offers hands-on advice that simplifies, demystifies, and takes the fear out of writing a federal grant application. The graduate student, post-doctoral fellow, or junior research faculty member applying for a prestigious NIH grant - anything from a training grant to a full-blown research award - faces many complex issues. Although several grant writing guides already exist, they are overly general and do not focus on the NIH process. Also, although several NIH institutes provide information regarding grant submissions, this information tends to be voluminous and insufficient to guide one through the process. This book provides specific and detailed step-by-step guidance in completing an NIH application through a number of unique features.  

Written by an author with proven success in obtaining NIH grants and in dev eloping grant application workshops for university and convention settings, this book features actual forms from NIH grant applications - including the brand new SF 424 forms - which have been annotated so as to guide readers step-by-step, highlighting unexpected nuances that can make all the difference between winning and losing a grant. This unique book extensively covers SBIR and STTR grants as well.

Writing the NIH Grant Proposal offers several key benefits to the reader:  

• Provides detailed help for both the PHS 398 and the brand new SF 424 grant application forms
• Utilizes specific supporting cases and examples to clearly illustrate the grant proposal writing process
• Includes flow charts illustrating the grant application review process at NIH
• Features a section in which actual reviewers give advice about common pitfalls of proposals and what they, as reviewers, look for in a "fundable" proposal 
• References additional helpful resources in several appendices, including a glossary of terms used in NIH grant applications, a directory of helpful web sites, and a set of checklists to guide the reader through every aspect of the writing process

This book is an ideal and must-have resource for graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, and faculty members who are planning to apply for a NIH grant.

Table of Contents:

Introduction
Acknowledgments
Foreword
The National Institutes of Health
The NIH Mission
Basic NIH Facts
NIH Funding Allocations
Other Funding Agencies
Mentoring and Collaborative Relationships
Finding and Working With a Mentor
Developing New Collaborative Relationships
Maintaining Ongoing Collaborative Relationships
Types of Award Mechanisms
Classes of Grant Mechanisms
Specific Grant Mechanisms
Training Grants
Career Awards
Grant Supplements for Underrepresented Minorities
Funding Levels for Different Grant Mechan
The SBIR and STTR Award Mechanisms
Preparation and Preliminary Steps
Are You Ready?
Try Out Your Ideas on Your Colleagues
The NIH Web Site: A Useful Resource
Healthy People 2010
The NIH Roadmap Initiative
The NIH "Guide for Grants and Contracts"
Requests for Applications
The Computer Retr ieval of Information on Scientific Projects (CRISP) Database
Contacting NIH Program Staff
Strange Bedfellows: Politics and Science
Pilot Data
Choosing Your Research Team and Conducting Initial Negotiations
Summary
Writing the Application, Part I: The Scientific Content
General Notes Concerning Scientific Writing
Writing the Proposal
The NIH Review Criteria
The Abstract
Section A: Specific Aims
Section B: Background and Significance
Section C: Preliminary Studies
Section D. Research Design and Methods
Common Reviewers' Criticisms
Sections G Through K
Additional Information Required for Mentored NRSA Awards
ProposalDevelopment Timeline
Revise, Revise, Revise, Proofread, Proofread
Writing the Application, Part II: Human/Animal Concerns
A Note Concerning Just-in-Time Procedures
A Brief Discussion of Ethics and Accountability
Required Education in the Protection of Human Participants
Section E: Ethical Concerns
Human Subjects Concerns
Informed Consent
Expedited Review
Waiver of the Requirement for a Signed Consent Form
Inclusion of Children in Research
Inclusion of Women and Minorities in Research
NIH Coding Scheme for Acceptability
Regarding Inclusion of Women and Minorities
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act
Certificates of Confidentiality
Data and Safety Monitoring
Humane Care and Use of Laboratory Animals
Conclusion
Writing the Application, Part III: The PHS 398 and SF 424 Forms Packets
Changes in the Application Process
The PHS 398 Form Pages
The Budget Justification (PHS 398 and SF 424)
Consortia and Subcontracts (PHS 398 and SF 424)
The Checklist (PHS 398 Only)
Modular Budgets (PHS 398 and SF 424)
SBIR and STTR Budgets
The Biogr aphical Sketch Page (PHS 398 and SF 424)
The Resources Page (PHS 398 and SF 424)
Other Support Page (PHS 398 and SF 424)
Targeted/Planned Enrollment Table Page (PHS 398 and SF 424)
Letters of Support (PHS 398 and SF 424)
Personal Information on the PI (PHS 398 only)
Variations in the Form Pages (PHS 398 only)
Electronic Submission and the New SF 424 Form
Finding Research Opportunities and Downloading Applications Packages
The Budget Components of the SF 424 (R&R)
SF 424 (R&R) Budget Components
SF 424 (R&R) Modular Budgets
SF 424 (R&R) Biographical
Research Plan Comp
SF 424 (R&R) Checklist
Program Income, Assurances, and Certifications
Submitting the Application
The Electronic Research Administration for Grants Administration Support
The Cover Letter
Know your Integrative Review Group and Study Section
Submission Dates
Where and What to Send
The Gra nt Review and Award Process
The Grant Review Process
The Summary Statement
The Percentile Rank
The Review Criteria
Scoring the Application
If Your Score Is Not in the Fundable Range
Resubmission
Postscript: Be Careful What You Wish For
Appendix A: Glossary
Appendix B: Helpful Web Sites
Appendix C: Checklists
Index
About the Author