This book is a distillation of the First Annual International Technical Workshop on Climate Risk held in 2016 in Wells, Maine, USA. It is organized into three major themes, namely: environmental, health and societal impacts; the special case of Africa; and advances in education. The volume’s premise is that, long before the 2015 Paris Agreement, many professionals from diverse fields were working to solve the problems of human-caused climate change. The 1987 Montreal Protocol is now in support of a key emission reduction goal of the Agreement. It was time for the seasoned leaders who implement the Protocol, the world’s most successful treaty for atmospheric protection, to share their knowledge and wisdom with the next generation before that expertise was lost. The purpose of bringing these communities of practice together is to leverage the many successes to date to inspire future innovations through ‘lessons learned’; ensure that new or updated regulations are timely communicated and economically executed; and identify opportunities for related sustainable development.

This book is a distillation of the First Annual International Technical Workshop on Climate Risk held in 2016 in Wells, Maine, USA. It is organized into four major themes, namely: the Montreal Protocol; industry and infrastructure concerns; sustainability and strategic planning; and climate science and informing business risk. The volume’s premise is that, long before the 2015 Paris Agreement, many professionals from diverse fields were working to solve the problems of human-caused climate change. The 1987 Montreal Protocol is now in support of a key emission reduction goal of the Agreement. It was time for the seasoned leaders who implement the Protocol, the world’s most successful treaty for atmospheric protection, to share their knowledge and wisdom with the next generation before that expertise was lost. The purpose of bringing these communities of practice together is to leverage the many successes to date to inspire future innovations through ‘lessons learned’; ensure that new or updated regulations are timely communicated and economically executed; and identify opportunities for related sustainable development.

This book provides the average person with something to do about climate change. Based upon the contributing authors’ years of technical expertise, and their participation in a second international workshop on climate risk, it concludes with a list of action items for the old and young alike. With a ‘systems thinking’ approach, the book captures the latest developments in climate change science, atmospheric data, and public policy from leaders in their fields, including a Nobel Peace Prize recipient and a Fulbright Scholar. The book continues the discussion from the first workshop, detailed in Demystifying Climate Risk Volumes I and II (2017), on environmental, health and societal implications; and industry and industrial infrastructure implications, respectively. While the news about the future of climate change is not good, widespread adoption of these principles could literally transform the world!

A growing body of research and scientific as well as local evidence has shown that climate change impacts is on the rise with its attendant risks/hazards for the land system, even as it relates to DLDD, these being exacerbated by anthropogenic factors; thus, pushing the earth system to a tipping point therefore requiring that society braze up its coping capacities to avert the impending danger. This book highlights the urgent need to move from desertification, land degradation and drought (DLDD) risk management to resilience. The aim is to provide new insight on the issues of DLDD and stir policy guide on vulnerability reduction and building adaptive capacities so as to achieve sustainable development and identify pathways to a land degradation neutral world. It is worthy to note that globally, about one fifth of earth’s land area – more than 2 billion hectares – is degraded; and this jeopardizes the livelihoods of more than 3.5 billion people, i.e., about 40% of the world population. The global population is still growing and is projected to reach 8.3 billion people by 2030. Such growth will put unprecedented pressure on the productivity of the land system from day to day.

This book demystifies the models we use to simulate present and future climates, allowing readers to better understand how to use climate model results. In order to predict the future trajectory of the Earth’s climate, climate-system simulation models are necessary. When and how do we trust climate model predictions? The book offers a framework for answering this question. It provides readers with a basic primer on climate and climate change, and offers non-technical explanations for how climate models are constructed, why they are uncertain, and what level of confidence we should place in them. It presents current results and the key uncertainties concerning them. Uncertainty is not a weakness but understanding uncertainty is a strength and a key part of using any model, including climate models. Case studies of how climate model output has been used and how it might be used in the future are provided. The ultimate goal of this book is to promote a better understanding of the structure and uncertainties of climate models among users, including scientists, engineers and policymakers.

Healthcare transformation requires us to continually look at new and better ways to manage insights – both within and outside the organization today. Increasingly, the ability to glean and operationalize new insights efficiently as a byproduct of an organization’s day-to-day operations is becoming vital to hospitals and health systems ability to survive and prosper. One of the long-standing challenges in healthcare informatics has been the ability to deal with the sheer variety and volume of disparate healthcare data and the increasing need to derive veracity and value out of it. Demystifying Big Data and Machine Learning for Healthcare investigates how healthcare organizations can leverage this tapestry of big data to discover new business value, use cases, and knowledge as well as how big data can be woven into pre-existing business intelligence and analytics efforts. This book focuses on teaching you how to: Develop skills needed to identify and demolish big-data myths Become an expert in separating hype from reality Understand the V’s that matter in healthcare and why Harmonize the 4 C’s across little and big data Choose data fi delity over data quality Learn how to apply the NRF Framework Master applied machine learning for healthcare Conduct a guided tour of learning algorithms Recognize and be prepared for the future of artificial intelligence in healthcare via best practices, feedback loops, and contextually intelligent agents (CIAs) The variety of data in healthcare spans multiple business workflows, formats (structured, un-, and semi-structured), integration at point of care/need, and integration with existing knowledge. In order to deal with these realities, the authors propose new approaches to creating a knowledge-driven learning organization-based on new and existing strategies, methods and technologies. This book will address the long-standing challenges in healthcare informatics and provide pragmatic recommendations on how to deal with them.

Environmental remediation technologies to control or prevent pollution from hazardous waste material is a growing research area in academia and industry, and is a matter of utmost concern to public health, to improve ecology and to facilitate the redevelopment of a contaminated site. Recently, in situ and ex situ remediation technologies have been developed to rectify the contaminated sites, utilizing various tools and devices through physical, chemical, biological, electrical, and thermal processes to restrain, remove, extract, and immobilize mechanisms to minimize the contamination effects. This handbook brings altogether classical and emerging techniques for hazardous wastes, municipal solid wastes and contaminated water sites, combining chemical, biological and engineering control methods to provide a one-stop reference. This handbook presents a comprehensive and thorough description of several remediation techniques for contaminated sites resulting from both natural processes and anthropogenic activities. Providing critical insights into a range of treatments from chemical oxidation, thermal treatment, air sparging, electrokinetic remediation, stabilization/solidification, permeable reactive barriers, thermal desorption and incineration, phytoremediation, biostimulation and bioaugmentation, bioventing and biosparging through ultrasound-assisted remediation methods, electrochemical remediation methods, and nanoremediation, this handbook provides the reader an inclusive and detailed overview and then discusses future research directions. Closing chapters on green sustainable remediation, economics, health and safety issues, and environmental regulations around site remediation will make this a must-have handbook for those working in the field.

Nanomaterials in Diagnostic Tools and Devices provides a complete overview of the significance of nanomaterials in fabricating selective and performance enhanced nanodevices. It is an interdisciplinary reference that includes contributing subjects from nanomaterials, biosensors, materials science, biomedical instrumentation and medicinal chemistry. This book is authored by experts in the field of nanomaterial synthesis, modeling, and biosensor applications, and provides insight to readers working in various science fields on the latest advancements in smart and miniaturized nanodevices. These devices enable convenient real-time diagnosis of diseases at clinics rather than laboratories, and include implantable devices that cause less irritation and have improved functionality. Research in the field of nanomaterials is growing rapidly, creating a significant impact across different science disciplines and nanotechnology industries. This synthesis and modeling of nanomaterials has led to many technology breakthroughs and applications, especially in medical science. - Provides a distinctive platform for the latest trends in the synthesis of smart nanomaterials for nanodevices in disease diagnostics - Presents a broad range of advancements and applications of lateral-flow nanostrip for point-of-care applications - Examines smart-phone based nanodevices for field-based diagnosis with accurate information - Comprises more than 70 figures and illustrations that will help readers visualize and easily understand the role of nanodevices in the field of nanomedicine - Serves as an ideal reference for those studying smart nanomaterials, biosensors, and nanodevices for real-time and in-situ clinical diagnosis and drug delivery

Functionalized nanomaterials have extremely useful properties, which can outperform their conventional counterparts because of their superior chemical, physical, and mechanical properties and exceptional formability. They are being used for the development and innovation in a range of industrial sectors. However, the use of functionalized nanomaterials is still in its infancy in many industrial settings. Functionalized nanomaterials have the potential to create cheaper and more effective consumer products and industrial processes. However, they also could have adverse effects on the environment, human health, and safety, and their sustainability is questionable, if used incorrectly. This book discusses the opportunities and challenges of using functionalized nanomaterials in a variety of major industrial sectors. Handbook of Functionalized Nanomaterials for Industrial Applications provides a concise summary of the major applications of functionalized nanomaterials in industry today. It covers the enhancements in industrial techniques and processes, due to functionalized nanomaterials, showing how they substantially improve the performance of existing procedures, and how they can deliver exciting consumer products more cheaply. Emphasis is given to greener approaches, leading to more sustainable products and devices. The legal, economical, and toxicity aspects of functionalized nanomaterials are also discussed in detail.

Featuring a unique clinical and educational approach, Demystifying the DSM: A Tool for School Counseling Students and Practitioners introduces readers to common diagnoses among children and youth. The text also provides counseling students and practitioners with a baseline knowledge of the cognitive and behavioral effects of common diagnoses on the academic, social, and emotional development of children in K-12 settings. The text recognizes that school counselors do not diagnose, but are charged with working with students within the school environment, so understanding common diagnoses for children and youth is a critical component of job effectiveness. Each diagnosis addressed was selected in consultation with experienced practicing school counselors. The chapters cover autism spectrum disorder, ADHD, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder, social anxiety disorder, PTSD, self-harm, grief and bereavement, among other common diagnoses. Each of the 17 chapters includes case examples with related questions, as well as strategies for working with children and youth with the particular cognitive or behavioral disorder addressed. Demystifying the DSM is well suited for courses and programs in counseling, school counseling, and special education, as well as teacher education and school psychology.