Perspectives on the Department of Defense Global Emerging Infections Surveillance and Response System: A Program Review describes the capacity, quality, and effectiveness of the international and domestic facilities and programs that are a part of a DoD system to monitor and address emerging infectious diseases globally. The committee concludes that the goals of the system are in U.S. military, U.S. civilian, and global public health interests and that substantial progress has been made toward achieving system goals.
The protection of groundwater and surface water from contamination by the escape of contaminant from waste disposal is now an important consideration in many countries of the world.This book deals with the design of 'barrier systems' which separate waste from the surrounding environment and which are intended to prevent contamination of both ground
This book presents four contributions to planning research within an integrated framework. James Allen offers a survey of his research in the field of temporal reasoning, and then describes a planning system formalized and implemented directly as an inference process in the temporal logic. Starting from the same logic, Henry Kautz develops the first formal specification of the plan recognition process and develops a powerful family of algorithms for plan recognition in complex situations. Richard Pelavin then extends the temporal logic with model operators that allow the representation to support reasoning about complex planning situations involving simultaneous interacting actions, and interaction with external events. Finally, Josh Tenenberg introduces two different formalisms of abstraction in planning systems and explores the properties of these abstraction techniques in depth.
The notion of artificial intelligence (AI) often sparks thoughts of characters from science fiction, such as the Terminator and HAL 9000. While these two artificial entities do not exist, the algorithms of AI have been able to address many real issues, from performing medical diagnoses to navigating difficult terrain to monitoring possible failures of spacecrafts. Exploring these algorithms and applications, Contemporary Artificial Intelligence presents strong AI methods and algorithms for solving challenging problems involving systems that behave intelligently in specialized domains such as medical and software diagnostics, financial decision making, speech and text recognition, genetic analysis, and more. One of the first AI texts accessible to students, the book focuses on the most useful problem-solving strategies that have emerged from AI. In a student-friendly way, the authors cover logic-based methods; probability-based methods; emergent intelligence, including evolutionary computation and swarm intelligence; data-derived logical and probabilistic learning models; and natural language understanding. Through reading this book, students discover the importance of AI techniques in computer science.
The environmental legacy of past industrial and agricultural development can simultaneously pose serious threats to human health and impede reuse of contaminated land. The urban landscape around the world is littered with sites contaminated with a variety of toxins produced by past use. Both public and private sector actors are often reluctant to make significant investments in properties that simultaneously pose significant potential human health issues, and may demand complex and very expensive cleanups. The chapters in this volume recognize that land and water contamination are now almost universally acknowledged to be key social, economic, and political issues. How multiple societies have attempted to craft and implement public policy to deal with these issues provides the central focus of the book. The volume is unique in that it provides a global comparative perspective on brownfield policy and examples of its use in a variety of countries.
When people try to explain what they mean about being happy, it is a task almost overwhelmed with difficulties. Defining happiness is not only a complex task, it often defies description and is perhaps one of the most thought-provoking it is possible to address. The sheer intangibility of its meaning makes it almost impossible to capture. The pursuit of happiness is one fraught with problems, yet we recognise it when it comes into our lives. It is then we start to experience the sheer joy it brings and the remarkable change it makes. Once we experience happiness we find it offers comfort to the soul, overwhelms the heart with joy, unleashes the poet within and gives flights of wings to the lover. Nothing in the life experience is perfect, but hidden deep inside the chambers of our heart we know some part of our happiness lies in trying to make it so.
Bacillus anthracis--anthrax--had largely faded from public consciousness until it resurfaced as a terrorist weapon in 2001. It was always with us, lurking in the soil and hosted by our livestock. Long before it was identified as a specific bacterium in the late 1800s, "anthrax" was a catchphrase for a variety of diseases and symptoms, from ancient biblical plagues to a painful carbuncle on George Washington's leg. Only when industrialization turned anthrax into a widespread disease that threatened economies did a true understanding of Bacillus anthracis begin to emerge. This history of anthrax follows the development of our understanding of the disease, beginning in the 18th century, when science began breaking ground on the subject, until the present, when anthrax is feared more as an agent of biowarfare than as a health hazard harbored by the environment. There are three appendices: the first outlines the reaction of Manchester, New Hampshire, to the 2001 anthrax attacks; the second documents workplace warnings to anthrax-prone workers; and the third lists novels that involve anthrax. Bibliographical references are also provided.
Data Mining: A Tutorial-Based Primer, Second Edition provides a comprehensive introduction to data mining with a focus on model building and testing, as well as on interpreting and validating results. The text guides students to understand how data mining can be employed to solve real problems and recognize whether a data mining solution is a feasible alternative for a specific problem. Fundamental data mining strategies, techniques, and evaluation methods are presented and implemented with the help of two well-known software tools. Several new topics have been added to the second edition including an introduction to Big Data and data analytics, ROC curves, Pareto lift charts, methods for handling large-sized, streaming and imbalanced data, support vector machines, and extended coverage of textual data mining. The second edition contains tutorials for attribute selection, dealing with imbalanced data, outlier analysis, time series analysis, mining textual data, and more. The text provides in-depth coverage of RapidMiner Studio and Weka’s Explorer interface. Both software tools are used for stepping students through the tutorials depicting the knowledge discovery process. This allows the reader maximum flexibility for their hands-on data mining experience.
Recognized as the definitive book in laboratory medicine since 1908, Henry’s Clinical Diagnosis and Management by Laboratory Methods, edited by Richard A. McPherson, MD and Matthew R. Pincus, MD, PhD, is a comprehensive, multidisciplinary pathology reference that gives you state-of-the-art guidance on lab test selection and interpretation of results. Revisions throughout keep you current on the latest topics in the field, such as biochemical markers of bone metabolism, clinical enzymology, pharmacogenomics, and more! A user-friendly full-color layout puts all the latest, most essential knowledge at your fingertips. Update your understanding of the scientific foundation and clinical application of today's complete range of laboratory tests. Get optimal test results with guidance on error detection, correction, and prevention as well as cost-effective test selection. Reference the information you need quickly and easily thanks to a full-color layout, many new color illustrations and visual aids, and an organization by organ system. Master all the latest approaches in clinical laboratory medicine with new and updated coverage of: the chemical basis for analyte assays and common interferences; lipids and dyslipoproteinemia; markers in the blood for cardiac injury evaluation and related stroke disorders; coagulation testing for antiplatelet drugs such as aspirin and clopidogrel; biochemical markers of bone metabolism; clinical enzymology; hematology and transfusion medicine; medical microbiology; body fluid analysis; and many other rapidly evolving frontiers in the field. Effectively monitor the pace of drug clearing in patients undergoing pharmacogenomic treatments with a new chapter on this groundbreaking new area. Apply the latest best practices in clinical laboratory management with special chapters on organization, work flow, quality control, interpretation of results, informatics, financial management, and establishing a molecular diagnostics laboratory. Confidently prepare for the upcoming recertification exams for clinical pathologists set to begin in 2016.
This book explores a widely lived yet little remembered facet of America's cultural and political history: the Cold War as experienced at the grassroots level. Here, Fried traces the cresting of modern patriotic observance during World War II and then shows how patriotic and civic activists afterwards labored to recreate a remembered unity and commitment in the tension-filled Cold War era. A variety of national and local entities mounted campaigns "to sell America to the Americans" through "rededication" celebrations like Know Your America Week and Freedom Week. The American Heritage Foundation wheeled out the Freedom Train, which carried seminal documents of the nation's past to railroad depots across the US. Fried revisits the 1950 "Communist invasion" of Mosinee, Wisconsin, when ersatz Stalinists harassed and bullied citizens and the town's eateries served only potato soup and black bread. He also depicts the creation and inauguration of new patriotic events like Loyalty Day and Armed Forces Day. Meticulously researched, this book recreates a colorful, sometimes comical, and always revealing dimension of our history.
For a great number of people there are periods when life becomes a battlefield of emotional conflicts, caused by emotional obstacles or even situations beyond normal everyday control. When this happens, there are no easy answers, no words that can take away pain and sorrow, but there are ways to deal with the pain that help you to find some comfort and support. Regardless of the cause, there are many ways to deal with these setbacks, of looking at life in a different way and finding new methods of dealing with it. 101 Ways To Address Life's Sorrows is a special book, one that is certain to answer many of your questions and the perfect companion to keep by your bedside table.
An exploration of how the Greeks reacted to and interacted with India from the third to first centuries BCE. When the Greeks and Macedonians in Alexander's army reached India in 326 BCE, they entered a new and strange world. They knew a few legends and travelers' tales, but their categories of thought were inadequate to encompass what they witnessed. The plants were unrecognizable, their properties unknown. The customs of the people were various and puzzling. While Alexander's conquest was brief, ending with his death in 323 BCE, the Greeks would settle in the Indian region for the next two centuries, forging an era of productive interactions between the two cultures. The Greek Experience of India explores the various ways that the Greeks reacted to and constructed life in India during this fruitful period. From observations about botany and mythology to social customs, Richard Stoneman examines the surviving evidence of those who traveled to India. Most particularly, he offers a full and valuable look at Megasthenes, ambassador of the Seleucid king Seleucus to Chandragupta Maurya, and provides a detailed discussion of Megasthenes's now-fragmentary book Indica. Stoneman considers the art, literature, and philosophy of the Indo-Greek kingdom and how cultural influences crossed in both directions, with the Greeks introducing their writing, coinage, and sculptural and architectural forms, while Greek craftsmen learned to work with new materials such as ivory and stucco and to probe the ideas of Buddhists and other ascetics.
Terrorism is one of the most significant security threats that we face in the twenty-first century. Not surprisingly, there is now a plethora of books on the subject, offering definitions of what terrorism is and proffering advice on what causes it and how states should react to it. But one of the most important questions about terrorism has, until now, been left remarkably under-scrutinized: does it work? Richard English now brings thirty years of professional expertise studying terrorism to the task of answering this complex - and controversial - question. Focussing principally on four of the most significant terrorist organizations of the last fifty years (al-Qaida, the Provisional IRA, Hamas, and ETA), and using a wealth of interview material with former terrorists as well as those involved in counter-terrorism, he argues that we need a far more honest understanding of the degree to which terrorism actually works - as well as a more nuanced insight into the precise ways in which it does so. Only then can we begin to grapple more effectively with what has become one of the most challenging and eye-catching issues of our time.
Infections, especially those occurring postoperatively, remain a major problem in hospitals. This handy pocket-sized manual provides guidelines and protocols for preventing infections, and managing them if they occur. It covers various types of infection, and is suitable for members of infection control teams.
The US 'war on terror', which Bush declared and Obama continued, repeatedly violated fundamental rule of law values. Law's Wars: The Fate of the Rule of Law in the US 'War on Terror' is the first comprehensive account of efforts to resist and correct those violations. It focuses on responses to abuses in Abu Ghraib, efforts by Guantánamo Bay detainees to improve conditions of confinement in and win release, exposés of and efforts to end torture and electronic surveillance, and civilian casualties on the battlefield, including targeted killings. Abel deploys a law and society perspective to construct and analyze detailed narratives of the roles of victims, whistle-blowers, the media, NGOs, lawyers, doctors, politicians, military personnel, foreign governments and international organizations in defending the rule of law. Only by understanding past errors can we hope to prevent their repetition in what promises to be an endless 'war on terror'.
Recognizing the urgent need for an up-to-date review of new and innovative research on growth hormone (GH) secretagogues, this exclusive work furnishes the state of the art on the mechanisms of action, design, synthesis, evaluation, and clinical applications of GH secretagogues, including orally active and xenobiotic GH-releasing compounds. Beg
Knowledge Management: Systems and Processes in the AI Era, Third Edition, is aimed at students and managers who seek detailed insights into contemporary knowledge management (KM). It explains the concepts, theories, and technologies that provide the foundation for knowledge management; the systems and structures that constitute KM solutions; and the processes for developing, deploying, and evaluating these KM solutions. This book serves as a complete introduction to the subject of knowledge management, incorporating technical and social aspects, as well as concepts, practical examples, traditional KM approaches, and emerging topics. This third edition has been revised and expanded to include more coverage of emergent trends such as cloud computing, online communities, crowdsourcing, and artificial intelligence. Aimed at advanced undergraduate, postgraduate, and MBA students who are seeking a comprehensive perspective on knowledge management, Knowledge Management is also complemented by online support for lecturers including suggested solutions to the many review questions and application exercises contained within the book.
As we age, our outlook on life alters, teaching us that no matter how hard we struggle to hold back the clock of time. We find the golden years are stress-free, offering a greater sense of freedom. Many find the ageing experience tells you that you really are as young as you feel. They see little reason to turn into caricatures of their parents, or worst still - their grandparents! What was once regarded as 'old age' has become the new 'middle age'. This is the time of the sixties generation, revealing there is a lot to be said for enjoying yourself - just for the hell of it! The creators of rock music, the ageing pop stars that see little reason to sit back and collect their pension, now dance to a more exciting tune. People over a certain age discover there is a mischievous inner self waiting to come out to play. This book offers new insights into what people mean when they say they enjoy growing old disgracefully.
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