The Eighth Day

The Eighth Day
Author: Richard Newbold Adams
Publisher: University of Texas Press
Total Pages: 311
Release: 1988-03-01
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0292720610

Can human social evolution be described in terms common to other sciences, most specifically, as an energy process? The Eighth Day reflects a conviction that the human trajectory, for all its uniqueness and indeterminism, will never be satisfactorily understood until it is framed in dynamics that are common to all of nature. The problem in doing this, however, lies in ourselves. The major social theories have failed to treat human social evolution as a component of broader natural processes. The Eighth Day argues that the energy process provides a basis for explaining, comparing, and measuring complex social evolution. Using traditional ecological energy flow studies as background, society is conceived as a self-organization of energy. This perspective enables Adams to analyze society in term of the natural selection of self-organizing energy forms and the trigger processes basic to it. Domestication, civilization, socioeconomic development, and the regulation of contemporary industrial nation-states serve to illustrate the approach. A principal aim is to explore the limitation that energy process imposes on human social evolution as well as to clarify the alternatives that it allows. Richly informed by contemporary anthropological historicism, sociobiology, and Marxism, The Eighth Day avoids simple reductionism and denies facile ideological categorization. Adams builds on work in nonequilibrium thermodynamics and theoretical biology and brings three decades of his own work to an analysis of human society that demands an extreme materialism in which human thought and action find a central place.

National cyber security : framework manual

National cyber security : framework manual
Author: Alexander Klimburg
Publisher:
Total Pages: 235
Release: 2012
Genre: Computer crimes
ISBN: 9789949921133

"What, exactly, is 'National Cyber Security'? The rise of cyberspace as a field of human endeavour is probably nothing less than one of the most significant developments in world history. Cyberspace already directly impacts every facet of human existence including economic, social, cultural and political developments, and the rate of change is not likely to stop anytime soon. However, the socio-political answers to the questions posed by the rise of cyberspace often significantly lag behind the rate of technological change. One of the fields most challenged by this development is that of 'national security'. The National Cyber Security Framework Manual provides detailed background information and in-depth theoretical frameworks to help the reader understand the various facets of National Cyber Security, according to different levels of public policy formulation. The four levels of government--political, strategic, operational and tactical/technical--each have their own perspectives on National Cyber Security, and each is addressed in individual sections within the Manual. Additionally, the Manual gives examples of relevant institutions in National Cyber Security, from top-level policy coordination bodies down to cyber crisis management structures and similar institutions."--Page 4 of cover.

Social Protection and Inclusion

Social Protection and Inclusion
Author:
Publisher: International Labour Organization
Total Pages: 252
Release: 2006
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9221191958

This publication examines the role of social assistance programmes in the fight against poverty and combating exclusion, drawing on a number of case studies detailing innovative programmes from Europe, China, India, Brazil and Portugese-speaking African countries. Three key policy issues are identified: gearing social assistance towards social inclusion and employment; achieving universal coverage through a plurality of approaches to reach the excluded; and asserting social security as a human right under changing circumstances in the world of work.

Joint Report on Social Inclusion

Joint Report on Social Inclusion
Author:
Publisher:
Total Pages: 256
Release: 2004
Genre: European Union countries
ISBN:

This report contains the second generation of National Action Plans against poverty and social exclusion which have been prepared by the Member States and constitute a strong political acknowledgement, three years after the Lisbon Summit, of the continuing challenge to ensure social inclusion across the European Union.

Healthcare Systems

Healthcare Systems
Author: Jeffrey Braithwaite
Publisher: CRC Press
Total Pages: 456
Release: 2018-05-11
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 1351683713

In this book, we invited 146 authors with expertise in health policy, systems design, management, research, or practice, from each of the countries included, to consider health reforms or systems improvements in their country or region. The resulting case studies, of 52 individual countries and five regional groupings, cover 152 countries or territories, or three-quarters of the world’s nations. Each chapter author was asked to think 5–15 years into the future and make a prediction on how their health system could be strengthened as a result of the successful unfolding of their case study. The types of projects our authors have chosen to explicate into the future are wide-ranging. They vary from e-consultation services in Estonia, achieving universal health coverage in Argentina and Mexico, reforming long-term care in the Netherlands, reassessing care for the aging population and the frail elderly in Australia, streamlining the health system through Lean Thinking in Nigeria, using regulation to improve care in South Africa, developing a new accreditation model in Turkey, through to a critique of physician specialization in Russia and applying IT initiatives to improve care in China, Lebanon, Taiwan, Papua New Guinea, the United Arab Emirates, Venezuela and Wales. Chapter writers recognized that the improvement work they were doing was part of a moving target. There was general agreement that the effective use of limited resources and overcoming hurdles and constraints were crucial to enhancing health systems in order to deliver better care over the medium term. While some initiatives required considerable funding, many were relatively inexpensive. These case studies demonstrate ways in which fruitful application of partnerships and creativity can make considerable gains in strengthening healthcare delivery systems. Features The third book in a series on international health reform Involves 146 contributing authors, five regional editors, a series editor and a highly skilled support team to explore sustainable improvement in health systems in the future Encompasses a time horizon of the next 5–15 years Covers 152 countries or territories, with 52 individual countries and an analysis of five regional groupings comprising 100 countries

Health Systems Improvement Across the Globe

Health Systems Improvement Across the Globe
Author: Jeffrey Braithwaite
Publisher: CRC Press
Total Pages: 621
Release: 2017-08-07
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 1317123271

Following on from 2015’s Healthcare Reform, Quality and Safety: Perspectives, Participants, Partnerships and Prospects in 30 Countries, this book encompasses a global perspective on healthcare while shifting the focus from reform to showcasing success stories of healthcare systems worldwide. It provides explanations of why various facets of healthcare systems work well in different contexts and offers the reader alternative models for consideration. The book features contributions from 60 countries, going much further than the common practice of focusing on affluent Western nations, to provide a comprehensive exploration of the success of healthcare systems globally. The majority of literature on health-sector improvement attempts to address the problems within systems, relating the errors that can and do occur, for example, and offering solutions and preventative strategies. This book of country case studies will approach the enhancement of health systems, patient safety and the quality of care in a new and innovative way, comprehensively surveying and synthesizing the success stories of healthcare systems around the world, utilizing Hollnagel’s Safety-II approach to acknowledge the importance of exploring what goes right, what works well, and why it works. These success stories may include reference to macro, meso or micro levels of healthcare systems, various sectors (e.g., aged care, acute care or primary care), or specific programs or projects. Health System Improvement Across the Globe: Success Stories from 60 Countries is unprecedented in terms of both reach and positive emphasis, and as such will be instrumental in changing ways of thinking about and guiding health-sector improvement.

Drugs for Relapse Prevention of Alcoholism

Drugs for Relapse Prevention of Alcoholism
Author: Rainer Spanagel
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 264
Release: 2005-06-07
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9783764302146

The field of biomedical research on alcoholism has developed at an astonishing speed in recent years. Today, new medications and treatment strategies are available and new leads are currently tested in multi-center trials. This book gives a comprehensive overview about different neurotransmitter/peptide systems involved in craving and relapse behavior and critically describes the clinical application of new anti-craving and anti-relapse compounds. The editors - a preclinical researcher and a clinical researcher, together with some of the most distinguished experts in the field - compiled the most recent available preclinical and clinical data, offering a thorough picture on modern relapse prevention. Undoubtedly, this book sets out to provide an all-encompassing overview about the topic, which will be of interest to the preclinical researcher, the clinician as well as to the patient who wants to learn more.

Measuring the Quality of Health Care

Measuring the Quality of Health Care
Author: The National Roundtable on Health Care Quality
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 42
Release: 1999-02-23
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 0309570689

The National Roundtable on Health Care Quality was established in 1995 by the Institute of Medicine. The Roundtable consists of experts formally appointed through procedures of the National Research Council (NRC) who represent both public and private-sector perspectives and appropriate areas of substantive expertise (not organizations). From the public sector, heads of appropriate Federal agencies serve. It offers a unique, nonadversarial environment to explore ongoing rapid changes in the medical marketplace and the implications of these changes for the quality of health and health care in this nation. The Roundtable has a liaison panel focused on quality of care in managed care organizations. The Roundtable convenes nationally prominent representatives of the private and public sector (regional, state and federal), academia, patients, and the health media to analyze unfolding issues concerning quality, to hold workshops and commission papers on significant topics, and when appropriate, to produce periodic statements for the nation on quality of care matters. By providing a structured opportunity for regular communication and interaction, the Roundtable fosters candid discussion among individuals who represent various sides of a given issue.