Natural and man-made disasters, like floods and eruptions of volcanoes, have tormented mankind since antiquity. Despite all the warning signs, it is certain that when the eruption of Vesuvius started on the morning of 24 August, CE 79, it caught the local population of Pompeii utterly unprepared for the major disaster that ultimately ruined the entire city. What makes our world today different from the population of ancient Pompeii 2,000 years ago, is better abilities to share scientific data about the warning signs of disasters. Modern technologies are giving us an unprecedented opportunity to share disaster preparedness and mitigation information very rapidly and effectively. Technologies such as the Internet, telecommunications, etc., have a great potential to help us prepare for disasters, however, oftentimes scientists are not taking advantage of them. This publication focuses on the importance of the networking of scientists researching the area of natural and man-made disasters, to try to prepare the world better for them in the future.

A collection of papers presented at the NATO ASI conference Transdisciplinary Information Sharing for Decision-Making against Biological Threats. It highlights strategic enablers such as cross-disciplinary information sharing, international outreach and partner activities, public diplomacy and strategic communication.

"Published in cooperation with NATO Public Diplomacy Division."

This book provides both practitioners and academics with a scientific approach to portfolio selection using Goal Programming, an approach which is capable as far as is possible of achieving a required set of preferences deemed appropriate by a decision maker. Goal Programming is perhaps the most widely-used approach in the field of multiple criteria decision-making that enables the decision maker to incorporate numerous variations of constraints and goals. The original portfolio selection problem, with risk and return optimisation, can be viewed as a case of Goal Programming with two objectives. Additional objectives representing other factors, such as liquidity, can be introduced for a more realistic approach to portfolio selection problems. This book comes in a time where scientific frameworks for investment decision-making are absolutely necessary, that is after the recent financial and economic crisis; where irrational decisions and a misuse of mathematical models had equally fed into the spiral of the financial crisis. The real-world decision problems are usually changeable, complex and resist treatment with conventional approaches. Therefore, the optimisation of a single objective subject to a set of rigid constraints is in most cases unrealistic, and that is why Goal Programming was introduced, in an attempt to eliminate or at least mitigate this shortcoming. Most mathematical models are based on very strong theoretical assumptions which are not entirely respected by markets in practice. In contrast, Goal Programming models are based on real-world cases where the most feasible solution is sought as opposed to an ideal simplified solution. Therefore, this book provides practitioners with a new and superior scientific framework for investment decision-making, while aiming to stimulate further research and development. Moreover, the book provides scientific approaches for portfolio selection with Goal Programming, which will provide added value for practitioners in complementing their financial expertise with a sound scientific decision-making framework.

Technologies such as the Internet, telecommunications, and others, have a potential to help us prepare for disasters, however, oftentimes scientists are not taking advantage of them. This work focuses on the importance of the networking of scientists researching the area of natural and man-made disasters, to try to prepare the world better.

This new fifth edition of Information Resources in Toxicology offers a consolidated entry portal for the study, research, and practice of toxicology. Both volumes represents a unique, wide-ranging, curated, international, annotated bibliography, and directory of major resources in toxicology and allied fields such as environmental and occupational health, chemical safety, and risk assessment. The editors and authors are among the leaders of the profession sharing their cumulative wisdom in toxicology's subdisciplines. This edition keeps pace with the digital world in directing and linking readers to relevant websites and other online tools.Due to the increasing size of the hardcopy publication, the current edition has been divided into two volumes to make it easier to handle and consult. Volume 1: Background, Resources, and Tools, arranged in 5 parts, begins with chapters on the science of toxicology, its history, and informatics framework in Part 1. Part 2 continues with chapters organized by more specific subject such as cancer, clinical toxicology, genetic toxicology, etc. The categorization of chapters by resource format, for example, journals and newsletters, technical reports, organizations constitutes Part 3. Part 4 further considers toxicology's presence via the Internet, databases, and software tools. Among the miscellaneous topics in the concluding Part 5 are laws and regulations, professional education, grants and funding, and patents. Volume 2: The Global Arena offers contributed chapters focusing on the toxicology contributions of over 40 countries, followed by a glossary of toxicological terms and an appendix of popular quotations related to the field.The book, offered in both print and electronic formats, is carefully structured, indexed, and cross-referenced to enable users to easily find answers to their questions or serendipitously locate useful knowledge they were not originally aware they needed. Among the many timely topics receiving increased emphasis are disaster preparedness, nanotechnology, -omics, risk assessment, societal implications such as ethics and the precautionary principle, climate change, and children's environmental health. - Introductory chapters provide a backdrop to the science of toxicology, its history, the origin and status of toxicoinformatics, and starting points for identifying resources - Offers an extensive array of chapters organized by subject, each highlighting resources such as journals, databases,organizations, and review articles - Includes chapters with an emphasis on format such as government reports, general interest publications, blogs, and audiovisuals - Explores recent internet trends, web-based databases, and software tools in a section on the online environment - Concludes with a miscellany of special topics such as laws and regulations, chemical hazard communication resources, careers and professional education, K-12 resources, funding, poison control centers, and patents - Paired with Volume Two, which focuses on global resources, this set offers the most comprehensive compendium of print, digital, and organizational resources in the toxicological sciences with over 120 chapters contributions by experts and leaders in the field

For various economic and political reasons, many African countries lag behind the rest of the industrialised world in scientific and medical research and development. However, the presence of intellectual islands scattered across the continent gives hope that this is only a transient situation on the cusp of undergoing a profound and beneficial change. For this reason, the Society for the Advancement of Science in Africa was established to catalyse and contribute to this needed evolution. Its mission is to contribute to Africa’s economic advancement and sustainability through science research, education and innovation. This book provides a selection of papers from the Advancement of Science in Africa’s third annual conference. The conference was held under the overarching theme of ‘science research and education in Africa’, with several important sub-themes, including but not limited to: improving health research and disease surveillance education; epidemic diseases with high mortality; promoting women’s interest in science careers; fostering youth development with science education. The collection illustrates how although the chapter contributors come from various countries and universities, representing their own academic research, they all share a common interest in advancing science research and education in Africa.

This latest version of Information Resources in Toxicology (IRT) continues a tradition established in 1982 with the publication of the first edition in presenting an extensive itemization, review, and commentary on the information infrastructure of the field. This book is a unique wide-ranging, international, annotated bibliography and compendium of major resources in toxicology and allied fields such as environmental and occupational health, chemical safety, and risk assessment. Thoroughly updated, the current edition analyzes technological changes and is rife with online tools and links to Web sites. IRT-IV is highly structured, providing easy access to its information. Among the "hot topics covered are Disaster Preparedness and Management, Nanotechnology, Omics, the Precautionary Principle, Risk Assessment, and Biological, Chemical and Radioactive Terrorism and Warfare are among the designated. - International in scope, with contributions from over 30 countries - Numerous key references and relevant Web links - Concise narratives about toxicologic sub-disciplines - Valuable appendices such as the IUPAC Glossary of Terms in Toxicology - Authored by experts in their respective sub-disciplines within toxicology