Familial mediterranean fever
Familial Mediterranean Fever (FMF), a genetic disorder causing recurrent inflammatory attacks. It delves into various aspects of FMF, including: Definition and historical background of FMF Underlying causes, signs, and symptoms of the disease Modes of transmission through autosomal recessive inheritance Diagnostic methods encompassing genetic, urine, blood, and imaging tests, emphasizing the significance of early diagnosis The link between FMF and amyloidosis, a serious complication...
Fallibility at Work : Rethinking Excellence and Error in Organizations
This book addresses how organizations can deal with human fallibility in order to create space for excellence at work. Some mistakes in work settings put lives at risk, while others create openings for innovative breakthroughs. In order to deal constructively with fallibility, an organization needs a communication climate where it is normal to voice opinions, admit mistakes, and ask for help in critical situations. The book builds on interviews with practitioners in healthcare, aviation, IT, public governance, and industry. It connects narratives from these fields with theories from organizational psychology and philosophy, as well as from positive organizational scholarship. In the final chapter, an overall ethics of fallibility at work is outlined. Fallibility at Work contributes to research in multiple academic disciplines, but also reaches out to practitioners who are interested in the connections between error and excellence in organizations.
Failure rate modelling for reliability and risk
Failure Rate Modelling for Reliability and Risk focuses on reliability theory and, specifically, on the failure rate (the hazard rate, the force of mortality) modelling and its generalizations, on systems operating in a random environment and on repairable systems. The failure rate is one of the crucial probabilistic characteristics for a number of disciplines; including reliability, survival analysis, risk analysis and demography.
Extremes in Nature : An Approach Using Copulas
The study of the statistics of extreme events is an essential first step in the mitigation of natural catastrophies, that often cause severe economic losses worldwide. This book is about the theoretical and practical aspects of the statistics of Extreme Events in Nature. Most importantly, this is the first text in which Copulas are introduced and used in Geophysics. Several topics are fully original, and show how standard models and calculations can be improved by exploiting the opportunities offered by Copulas. In addition, new quantities useful for design and risk assessment are introduced. Practicioners in all research areas of Geosciences and extreme events (including Finance and Insurance, closely related to natural disasters) will definitely benefit from the new Copula-approach outlined in the book.
Extreme Hydrological Events : New Concepts for Security
This proceedings contains the papers which were presented at the NATO Advanced Research Workshop (ARW) on Extreme Hydrological Events: New Concepts for Security, which was held in Novosibirsk, Russia, from July 11-15, 2005. The workshop fell within the NATO priority research topic on Environmental Security, Disaster Forecast and Prevention. At the present time, the necessity of considerable deepening of our understanding about the nature of extreme and catastrophic natural and man-induced events, in particular hydrologic ones, becomes very topical, as well as the development of advanced methods for their prediction, including estimating probability of their occurrence and a risk related to them.
Extreme Financial Risks : From Dependence to Risk Management
Portfolio analysis and optimization, together with the associated risk assessment and management, require knowledge of the likely distributions of returns at different time scales and insights into the nature and properties of dependences between the different assets. This book offers an original and thorough treatment of these two domains, focusing mainly on the concepts and tools that remain valid for large and extreme price moves. Strong emphasis is placed on the theory of copulas and their empirical testing and calibration, because they offer intrinsic and complete measures of dependences.
Extra-coronal restorations : Concepts and clinical application
A clinical guide to contemporary materials and techniques for the restoration of individual teeth and implants. It fully reflects the important developments in the field over the past 15 years, including in particular the shift away from wholesale use of crowns towards adhesive dentistry and less invasive extra-coronal restorations. The book opens by considering the principles and evidence base relating to the longevity of restorations of teeth and implants. Importantly, it explains how to ensure "a healthy start" and manage future risks. Material choice and aesthetic issues are then discussed, before all aspects of the planning and provision of extra-coronal restorations are examined in depth. The coverage also includes the adaptation of crowns to existing partial dentures. In line with modern dental education, each chapter begins with clinically relevant learning objectives, and helpful clinical tips are highlighted.
Exploring Resilience : A Scientific Journey from Practice to Theory
Resilience has become an important topic on the safety research agenda and in organizational practice. Most empirical work on resilience has been descriptive, identifying characteristics of work and organizing activity which allow organizations to cope with unexpected situations. Fewer studies have developed testable models and theories that can be used to support interventions aiming to increase resilience and improve safety. In addition, the absent integration of different system levels from individuals, teams, organizations, regulatory bodies, and policy level in theory and practice imply that mechanisms through which resilience is linked across complex systems are not yet well understood. Scientific efforts have been made to develop constructs and models that present relationships; however, these cannot be characterized as sufficient for theory building. There is a need for taking a broader look at resilience practices as a foundation for developing a theoretical framework that can help improve safety in complex systems.
Evidence-Based Caries Prevention
Aims to define the etiological factors in dental caries and to guide the clinician towards methods of caries prevention that are evidence based. The coverage includes discussion of the active role of the biofilm and the oral environment and emphasizes the multifactorial etiology of dental caries.
Evidence Based Global Health Manual for Preterm Birth Risk Assessment
This book is based on global literature, published international, national and regional guidance and it is structured into six chapters providing: an overview of the domains for risk assessment and the summary recommendations in greater depth maternal demographics and past pregnancy histories, accurate pregnancy dating, and the contribution of infection, nutritional status and substance misuse to preterm birth risk. Each chapter has structured sections which include a) background information, b) an evidence statement highlighting the risk factors covered, and c) practical recommendations for evaluating those risks as well as the evidenced recommended and effective interventions for women deemed to be at risk.
European water law and hydropolitics : An inquiry into the resilience of transboundary water governance in the European Union
provides the first comprehensive assessment of the various issues faced by countries in the European Union, where progressing climate change and urbanization pose significant cooperative challenges in a large number of river basins. Conducting a thorough analysis of the intricate web of EU water governance, it reveals that the hydropolitical stability of the European Union is already at risk. Further, given the structural nature of the shortcomings in EU water policy—e.g. the rigidity of the EU’s founding treaties or the institutional complacency of the European Commission— argues that these risks are likely to turn into sources of prolonged conflict, unless EU decision-making bodies take steps to address the new hydrological realities early on.
European Financial Markets : The Effects of European Union Membership on Central and Eastern European Equity Markets
This study empirically explores and quantifies the effects of EU accession on the risk and return of equity markets in eight Central and Eastern European markets joining the EU in 2004.
Estrogen Effects in Psychiatric Disorders
A number of studies, mostly focusing on estrogen replacement therapy in women, have reported beneficial actions of these hormones on various neurobiological and neuropathological parameters in health and disease. Recent research has focused on gender differences and there is increasing evidence that estrogens exert protective effects in schizophrenia. Hormonal fluctuations or lack of estrogen may increase the risk of depression among vulnerable women. Treatment of depression with estrogen may stabilize and restore disrupted homeostasis – as during post-partum, premenstrual, or perimenopausal conditions – and act as a psychomodulator to offset vulnerability to dysphoric mood when estrogen levels are significantly decreased, as in the case of postmenopausal women. Studies on the effect of estrogens on Alzheimer’s Disease are still rather controversial, they do, however, facilitate the hypothesis that estrogens may have a modifying effect on the onset and course of AD, at least in subgroups of patients.
Essentials of investment and risk analysis : Theory and applications
Provides an overview of the evolution of investment and risk, together with a synthesis of research on these developments. It explores how exposures can be modified by measuring and managing them and introduces readers to the latest strategies and trends in investment. Broad in scope, the book covers the most important aspects of investment risk management, including the time value of money, financial markets, equity markets, bond markets, and portfolio theory.
Equity Ownership and Performance : An Empirical Study of German Traded Companies
The empirical studies presented in this book model the endogeneity by applying the simultaneous equations methodology on the relation of ownership and financial performance as well as on different ownership dimensions themselves.
Environmental Security in Harbors and Coastal Areas : Management Using Comparative Risk Assessment and Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis
This book explores the challenges facing coastal areas during the next few decades and the difficult decisions needed to prevent a repeat of the past. Establishing, maintaining or enhancing a sense of environmental security in different coastal regions and improving the management of critical infrastructure will require (i) matching human demands with available environmental resources; (ii) recognition of environmental security threats and infrastructure vulnerabilities; and, (iii) identification of the range of available options for preventing and/or minimizing natural disasters, technological failures, and/or terror actions. This book emphasizes beliefs that the convergence of seemingly disparate viewpoints and often uncertain and limited information is possible only by using one or more available risk assessment methodologies and decision-making tools such as multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA).
Environmental Security and Public Safety ; Problems and Needs in Conversion Policy and Research after 15 Years of Conversion in Central and Eastern Europe
Although the end of the Cold War has paved the way to a substantial demilitarisation and conversion, the leftovers of this process – such as former military installations, military training areas, and huge quantities of unserviceable ammunition and equipment – still pose a severe threat to the environment of both NATO and Partner countries.The rehabilitation of these areas for civilian uses is extremely costly and is generally in the short and medium term not possible. For this reason, the development of new methods for the estimation avoidance of risks should receive special priority. In the context of this ARW, the reconnaissance and appraisal of conversion areas with respect to costs, returns, and legal considerations were discussed. The decades-long use of some areas led to the heavy loading of contaminates. Every task of conversion has as its goal the elimination of dangers to humans and nature, and the return of areas to civil use, such that these areas can be used realise economic interests of the society.
Environmental security and environmental management : The role of risk assessment ; Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Research Workhop on The Role of Risk Assessment in Environmental Security and Emergency Preparedness in the Mediterranean Region, held in Eilat, Israel, April 15-18, 2004
The concept of “environmental security” has emerged as one basis for understanding international conflicts. This phrase can mean a variety of things. It can signify security issues stemming from environmental concerns or conflicting needs, or it can mean that the environment is treated as a resource for the long term, and the question is what should be done today to preserve the quality of the environment in the future. In the same way that energy security is about ensuring access to energy for the long run, it can also mean that pressing environmental concerns create a situation where different countries and communities are forced to collaboratively design a unified response, even if cooperation is not generally in the logic of their relations. Over the last several years, the authors of this book and their colleagues have tried to demonstrate the power of risk assessment and decision analysis as valuable tools that decision makers should use for a broad range of environmental problems, including environmental security. Risk analysis is almost more a state of mind or a way of looking at problems than it is a kind of algorithm or a set of recipes. It projects a kind of rationality on problems and forces a certain degree of quantitative rigor, as opposed to the all too common tendency of making environmental recommendations based on anecdotal evidence.
Environmental Risk Assessment : Quantitative Measures, Anthropogenic Influences, Human Impact
The world is a dirty place and getting dirtier all the time. The reasons for this ever-increasing lack of cleanliness are not hard to find, being basically caused by the actions of the six billion people who inhabit the planet. The needs of the people for air, water, food, housing, clothing, heating, materials, oil, gas, minerals, metals, chemicals, and so forth have, over the centuries, given rise to a variety of environmental problems that have been exacerbated or been newly created by the industrialization of the world, the increase in population, and the increase in longevity of the population. The costs of cleaning even fractions of the known environmental problems are truly enormous, as detailed in the volume Environmental Risk Analysis (I. Lerche and E. Paleologos, 2001, McGraw-Hill). The chances of causing new environmental problems, and their associated costs of clean up, are equally challenging in terms of anthropogenic influences and also of the natural environmental problems that can be triggered by humanity.
Environmental Impact Assessment of Recycled Wastes on Surface and Ground Waters ; Vol.2 : Risk analysis
The state of the art of the impact assessment of recycled hazardous waste materials on surface and ground waters is presented. The topics include chemodynamics, toxicology, modeling and information systems. The book serves as a practical conceptual guide for those who have professional responsibility for the monitoring, design, management, or conduct of environmental impact assessment. It is believed that the book will prove useful to the reader who, regardless of disciplinary background, wants to examine in greater detail the kinds of interdisciplinary contributions to contemporary decision-making processes that characterize modern impact assessment project development.



















