The Guts of the Matter is a study of our oldest ecological problem: the transmission of infectious intestinal disease from human waste. Spanning the early hominin era to the present, this book explores the evolution of human waste disposal practices, the use of faeces and urine as fertilizer, and the changing patterns of transmission of intestinal pathogens and parasites. Chapters trace the spread of viral, bacterial, and helminthic infections through the early processes of globalization and track the uneven successes of the sanitation revolution in recent centuries. The book also provides an overview of the cultural practices that influence the transmission of infectious intestinal disease and the impacts of biomedical advances such as oral rehydration therapy and vaccination. Webb's impressive breadth and meticulous research is invaluable for students of public health, environmental history, global history, and medicine.

This open access book examines global plastic pollution, an issue that has become a critical societal challenge with implications for environmental and public health. This volume provides a comprehensive, holistic analysis on the plastic cycle and its subsequent effects on biota, food security, and human exposure. Importantly, global environmental change and its associated, systems-level processes, including atmospheric deposition, ecosystem complexity, UV exposure, wind patterns, water stratification, ocean circulation, etc., are all important direct and indirect factors governing the fate, transport and biotic and abiotic processing of plastic particles across ecosystem types. Furthermore, the distribution of plastic in the ocean is not independent of terrestrial ecosystem dynamics, since much of the plastic in marine ecosystems originates from land and should therefore be evaluated in the context of the larger plastic cycle. Changes in species size, distribution, habitat, and food web complexity, due to global environmental change, will likely alter trophic transfer dynamics and the ecological effects of nano- and microplastics. The fate and transport dynamics of plastic particles are influenced by their size, form, shape, polymer type, additives, and overall ecosystem conditions. In addition to the risks that plastics pose to the total environment, the potential impacts on human health and exposure routes, including seafood consumption, and air and drinking water need to be assessed in a comprehensive and quantitative manner. Here I present a holistic and interdisciplinary book volume designed to advance the understanding of plastic cycling in the environment with an emphasis on sources, fate and transport, ecotoxicology, climate change effects, food security, microbiology, sustainability, human exposure and public policy.

This book offers a selection of the best articles presented at the CUPUM (Computers in Urban Planning and Urban Management) Conference, held in the second week of July 2017 at the University of South Australia in Adelaide. It provides a state-of-the-art overview of the availability and application of planning support systems (PSS) in the context of smart cities, big data, and urban futures. Rapid advances in computing, information, communication and web-based technologies are reaching into all facets of urban life, creating new and exciting urban futures. With the universal adoption of networked computing technologies, data generation is now so massive and all pervasive in society that it offers unprecedented technological solutions for planning and managing urban futures. These technologies are essential to effective urban planning and urban management in an increasingly challenging world, with socially disruptive changes, more complex and sophisticated urban lives and the need for resilience to deal with the possibility of adverse future environmental events and climate change. The book discusses examples of these technologies which encompass, inter alia: 'smart urban futures', where cities with myriad sensors are networked with communication technologies that enable the city planners to monitor well-being and be responsive to citizens' needs to allow dynamic management in real-time; PSS that encompass new hardware, develop new indicators, applications and innovative ways of facilitating public and community involvement in the management and planning of urban areas; and urban modelling that draws on theory and the richness of data from the growing range of urban sensing and communication technologies to build a better understanding of urban dynamics, trends and 'what-if' scenario investigations, and to provide better tools for planning and policymaking.

Work-related disability is an increasingly important issue to organizations, in terms of cost, competitiveness, and social and ethical issues. Changes in the nature of disability arising from the evolution of work calls for a new approach to this understudied topic. Significant developments have taken place in linking injury events with subsequent primary prevention efforts, in engaging key stakeholders in effective pre-injury prevention and post-injury disability management efforts, and in exploring company-level interventions, regulatory interventions, and economic incentives. These issues are examined and brought together to form a unique, evidence-based, state-of-the-art research work revealing what works best in preventing workplace disability. Preventing and Managing Disabling Injury at Work examines the changing nature of the workplace and work force, and includes the newest information on effective early and staged multi-modal interventions in the workplace. The text also explores psychological risk perception, and the essential linking of the workplace, clinician, insurer, and worker in the recovery process and in the prevention of subsequent disability events. This volume assembles a group of active researchers in the field of work-related disability from North America and Australia, many of whom manage interactive programs of work through HealNet, a health research network funded by Industry Canada. Well-illustrated with case studies and practical examples, much of the book focuses on the common musculoskeletal disabilities and 'regional disorders' along with other broader applications.

This book focuses on probiotics and gut microbiota, as well as their roles in alleviating the toxicity of various environmental pollutants, presenting the latest research findings and explaining advanced research methods and tools. At the same time, it offers suggestions for future research directions. Further, the book introduces readers to the concept of gut remediation, a potential approach to reducing environmental-pollutant toxicity in vivo, based on modulation of gut microbiota using probiotic supplements. Lastly it provides suggestions for further reading.

This textbook focuses on underground ventilation, addressing both theoretical and practical aspects. Readers will develop a deeper understanding of mine ventilation and adjacent areas of research. The content is clearly structured, moving through chapters in a pedagogical way. It begins by presenting an introduction to fluid mechanics, before discussing the environmental conditions in mines, underground fire management, and international legislation concerning mines. Particular attention is paid to development ends ventilation, an area that is underrepresented in scientific research. Each chapter includes a concise theoretical summary, followed by several worked-out examples, problems and questions to develop students' skills. This textbook will be useful for undergraduate and master's degree students around the world. In addition, the large number of practical cases included make it particularly well suited to preparing for professional engineer examinations and as a guide for practising engineers.

This book provides occupational health (OH) professionals with a theoretical basis for addressing the ethical issues that they confront in their practice. There is often a lack of in-depth moral analysis of the issues that OH practitioners face on a daily basis. The ICOH Code of Ethics sets out the important principles that guide OH practice. This book builds on these core principles, starting from an application of moral theories in the OH context and illustrating how ethical conflicts could be resolved, by carrying out ethical analyses of several case studies. In this way, it aims to link ethical theory to OH practice.

This book provides readers with a timely snapshot of research and developments relating to human reliability, performance and safety analysis, and human error, risk and safety management in various industrial contexts, such as manufacturing, transportation and health. It combines a diverse range of disciplines, including work physiology, health informatics, safety engineering, workplace design, injury prevention, and occupational psychology, and presents new strategies for safety management, accident prevention at the workplace, performance testing and participatory ergonomics. It discusses issues related to automation, and strategies for a safer Human-Automation Interaction. Based on the proceedings of the AHFE 2021 International Conferences on Safety Management and Human Factors, and Human Error, Reliability, Resilience, and Performance, which were held virtually on July 25-29, 2021, from USA, the book offers an extensive and inspiring guide for both researchers and practitioners dealing with the topics of safety management, human error prevention, and integration of automation in the workplace.

This book is concerned with human factors and ergonomics research and developments in the design and use of systems and devices for effective and safe healthcare delivery. It reports on approaches for improving healthcare devices so that they better fit to people's, including special population's needs. It also covers assistive devices aimed at reducing occupational risks of health professionals as well as innovative strategies for error reduction, and more effective training and education methods for healthcare workers and professionals. Equal emphasis is given to digital technologies and to physical, cognitive and organizational aspects, which are considered in an integrated manner, so as to facilitate a systemic approach for improving the quality and safety of healthcare service. The book also includes a special section dedicated to innovative strategies for assisting caregivers', patients', and people's needs during pandemic. Based on papers presented at the AHFE 2021 Conference on Human Factors and Ergonomics in Healthcare and Medical Devices, held virtually on 25-29 July, 2021, from USA, the book offers a timely reference guide to both researchers and healthcare professionals involved in the design of medical systems and managing healthcare settings, as well as to healthcare counselors and global health organizations.

Migrant and seasonal farmworkers are largely Latinx men, women, and children. They work in crop, dairy, and livestock production, and are essential to the U.S. agricultural economy-one of the most hazardous and least regulated industries in the United States. Latinx migrant and seasonal farmworkers in the eastern United States experience high rates of illness, injury, and death, indicating widespread occupational injustice. This second edition takes a social justice stance and integrates the past ten years of research and intervention to address health, safety, and justice issues for farmworkers. Contributors cover all major areas of health and safety research for migrant and seasonal farmworkers and their families, explore the factors that affect the health and safety of farmworkers and their families, and suggest approaches for further research and educational and policy intervention needed to improve the health and safety of Latinx farmworkers and their families. Among the chapter topics are: Occupational injury and illness in Latinx farmworkers in the eastern United States Mental health among Latinx farmworkers in the eastern United States The health of women farmworkers and women in farmworker families in the eastern United States The health of children in the Latinx farmworker community in the eastern United States Community-based participatory research with Latinx farmworker communities in the eastern United States Farm labor and the struggle for justice in the eastern United States Accessibly written and comprehensive in its scope, this second edition of Latinx Farmworkers in the Eastern United States: Health, Safety, and Justice will find an engaged audience among researchers, students, and practitioners in public health, occupational health, public policy, and social and behavioral sciences, as well as labor advocates and healthcare providers.

Microbial or biological degradation has long been the subject of active concern, and the rapid expansion and growing sophistication of various industries in the last century has significantly increased the volume and complexity of toxic residues of wastes. These can be remediated by plants and microbes, either natural origin or adapted for a specific purpose, in a process known as bioremediation. The interest in microbial biodegradation of pollutants has intensified in recent years in an attempt to find sustainable ways to clean contaminated environments. These bioremediation and biotransformation methods take advantage of the tremendous microbial catabolic diversity to degrade, transform or accumulate a variety of compounds, such as hydrocarbons, polychlorinated biphenyls, polaromatic hydrocarbons pharmaceutical substances, radionuclides and metals. Unlike conventional methods, bioremediation does not physically disturb the site. This book describes the basic principles of biodegradation and shows how these principles are related to bioremediation. Authored by leading, international environmental microbiologists, it discusses topics such as aerobic biodegradation, microbial degradation of pollutants, and microbial community dynamics. It provides valuable insights into how biodegration processes work and can be utilised for pollution abatement, and as such appeals to researchers and postgraduate students as well as experts in the field of bioremediation.

Air pollution is an alarming problem, not only in terms of air quality, but also in relation to health issues. Toxic air pollutant concentrations produce harmful impacts on plant health and human health. Further, though there are various sources of air pollution, anthropogenic and biogenic sources are becoming increasingly problematic. A number of control methods have been applied to reduce the air pollutant concentrations so that their global environmental burden on plants as well as humans can be mitigated. However, as confirmed in numerous reports and studies, their concentrations continue to be very high and everyday cases related to air pollution have become exponentially high not only in developing countries but also in developed countries. In plants, toxic air quality has various adverse effects, including biochemical and physiological disorders, chronic diseases and/or lower yields. In humans, air pollutants affect the body's metabolism and immune system, lungs and central nervous system. This book provides an essential overview of air pollution, its impacts on plant and human health, and potential control strategies. The respective chapters cover general monitoring and characterization techniques for air pollutants, air quality modelling applications, plant and human health effects, risk assessment, and air pollution control policy. Given its scope, the book offers a valuable and unique resource for students of Environmental Science, Biological Science, Medical Science and Agriculture; and for environmental consultants, researchers and other professionals whose work involves air quality, plant and human related research.

Considered an essential resource by many in the field, Diving and Subaquatic Medicine remains the leading text on diving medicine, written to fulfil the requirements of any general physician wishing to advise their patients appropriately when a diving trip is planned, for those accompanying diving expeditions or when a doctor is required to assess and treat anyone who has been involved in a diving accident.

For this fifth edition the original author, Carl Edmonds, is joined by a new team of collaborators and the content has been entirely refreshed and updated throughout. Clinical cases, a feature popular with readers, are expanded, as is the illustrative content. Established and emerging diseases of diving medicine are all covered in full, as is the latest in types of diving, including free and indigenous diving, and associated equipment. Each medical disorder is discussed from a historical, etiological, clinical, pathological, preventative and therapeutic perspective in the informative and accessible style that has made previous editions so popular.

Table of Contents

Diving. Dysbaric Diseases: Barotraumas. Decompression Sickness. Abnormal Gas Pressures. Aquatic Disorders: The Drowning Syndromes. Other Aquatic Disorders. Specific Diving Diseases. The Diving Accident. Medical Standards for Diving. Specialized Divnig and Its Problems. Related Subject. Appendices: Decompression Tables. US Navy Recompression Therapy Tables. Recompression Therapy Options. Diving Medical Library. Diving Medical Training. Diving Medical Organizations and Contacts.

This book reviews recent research advances in sustainable agriculture, with focus on crop production, biodiversity and biofuels in Africa and Asia.

This book discusses essential strategies and approaches to creating mentally restorative environments for highly stressed and depressed workers at sweatshop factories. Drawing on the Foxconn factory in Longhua, China and an adjacent urban village as a sample site for research and design practice, the book employs a bottom-up and participatory process. The content is divided into two main parts, the first of which investigates economic, cultural, human rights, and environmental issues related to the electronic industry and urban village, providing in-depth research on various aspects, especially the working and living conditions for Foxconn workers. Based on these findings, the second part highlights potential landscape designs to address a range of issues, locations, and scales. The book's goals are to provide a set of original methods for research and design practice in a complex social and economic context, and to raise awareness regarding the health, dignity and freedom of millions of workers.

This book presents recent developments involving the role of nanoparticles on plant physiology and growth. Nanotechnology applications include improvement of agricultural production using bio-conjugated NPs (encapsulation), transfer of DNA in plants for development of insect pest-resistant varieties, nanoformulations of agrochemicals such as pesticides and fertilizers for crop improvement, and nanosensors/nanobiosensors in crop protection for identification of diseases and residues of agrochemicals. Recent findings on the increased use of nanotechnology in agriculture by densely populated countries such as China and India indicate that this technology may impart a substantial impact on reducing hunger, malnutrition, and child mortality.

This book is a compilation of the policy briefs produced by the International Science Council's program on Urban Health and Wellbeing: A Systems Approach over the past five years. Intended for urban decision-makers at all levels, it highlights policy-relevant findings and research insights to encourage the co-creation of knowledge for healthy urban environments and people. The book shows how variations on the systems approach developed and promoted by the program have been implemented in regions around the world and contributed to improving urban health. These policy briefs summarize research findings and scientific events concerning urban health-related topics that are relevant for public health professionals, urban planners, urban stakeholder groups and the public at large.

This book adopts a human ecology approach to present an overview of the biological responses to social, political, economic, cultural and environmental changes that affected human populations in the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico, since the Classic Maya Period. Human bodies express social relations, and we can read these relations by analyzing biological tissues or systems, and by measuring certain phenotypical traits at the population level. Departing from this theoretical premise, the contributors to this volume analyze the interactions between ecosystems, sociocultural systems and human biology in a specific geographic region to show how changes in sociocultural and natural environment affect the health of a population over time. This edited volume brings together contributions from a range of different scientific disciplines - such as biological anthropology, bioarchaeology, human biology, nutrition, epidemiology, ecotoxicology, political economy, sociology and ecology - that analyze the interactions between culture, environment and health in different domains of human life, such as: The political ecology of food, nutrition and health Impacts of social and economic changes in children's diet and women's fertility Biological consequences of social vulnerability in urban areas Impacts of toxic contamination of natural resources on human health Ecological and sociocultural determinants of infectious diseases Culture, Environment and Health in the Yucatan Peninsula - A Human Ecology Perspective will be of interest to researchers from the social, health and life sciences dedicated to the study of the interactions between natural environments, human biology, health and social issues, especially in fields such as biological and sociocultural anthropology, health promotion and environmental health. It will also be a useful tool to health professionals and public agents responsible for designing and applying public health policies in contexts of social vulnerability.

This casebook profiles exceptional traumatic injury prevention programs from all over the globe. Its detailed description and analysis employ a multi-stage process of identifying, evaluating, and casing effective prevention practices. The case studies reflect how legislative and regulatory information impact prevention efforts and provide insight into how national centers for injury prevention and control inform prevention practices on countrywide levels. The authors work with outcome-based research criteria to select and develop their comprehensive and contextually aware profiles of the programs. All included case studies follow the BRIO approach (Background, Resources, Implementation, and Outcome) - a model designed to provide a consistent way of describing programs that have been evaluated and found to be exceptional practices. The scope of the Casebook ranges across: The challenge of traumatic injury prevention Sports and recreation-related traumatic injury prevention Fall-related traumatic injury prevention Road traffic-related traumatic injury prevention Traumatic injury prevention within complex systems In its recognition of traumatic injury prevention across the lifespan as a critical and complex public health challenge, the Casebook of Traumatic Injury Prevention promises to be an influential and authoritative resource for professionals and students in public health, safety, injury prevention, medicine, psychology, sociology, nursing, and engineering. Government agencies and institutions such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), public health departments, and safety associations also would find the Casebook relevant to their work.

This book covers the latest advances in non-muscle invasive bladder cancer care. It provides a review of the available evidence base for the efficacy of a range of therapeutic techniques, diagnostic procedures and risk factors. Management of Non-Muscle Invasive Bladder Cancer features detailed guidance in uniformly formatted chapters on how to properly apply a range of available therapeutic treatments relevant for patient care. It is a valuable resource for all trainee and practising medical professionals who treat these patients.

Growing interest in the field of mental health in the workplace among policy makers, clinicians, and researchers alike has been fueled by equal employment rights legislation and increasing disability statistics in mental heath. The importance of addressing this topic is underscored by the fact that depression now ranks second on the hierarchy of occupational disabilities. The problem is compounded by a host of factors, including major difficulties in job retention and productivity experienced by persons with mental health disabilities; younger age and higher education of persons with mental health problems; and labor shortages and an aging workforce in many industrialized countries. In addition, particularly in the United States, the vocational needs of army veterans returning from duty with mental health disorders require system-based solutions and new rehabilitation approaches. The pressure created by these powerful legislative, societal, and economic forces has not been matched by the state of evidence-based practices in the field of employment retention and job accommodation in mental health. Current research evidence is fragmented, limited in scope, difficult to access, and adversely affected by the traditional divide between the fields of psychiatry and psychology on one hand and interdisciplinary employment research and practices on the other. As a result, policy makers, employers, disability compensation systems, and rehabilitation and disability management professionals have been left without a critical "how to" evidence-informed toolbox for occupational practices to accommodate and retain persons with mental health disabilities in the workplace. Currently, no single source of knowledge and research evidence exists in the field that would guide best practices. Yet the need for workplace accommodations for persons with mental health disabilities has been growing and, based on epidemiological trends, is anticipated to grow even more in the future. These trends leave physicians, psychologists, occupational therapists, vocational rehabilitation professionals, disability managers, human resource professionals, and policy makers poorly prepared to face the challenge of integrating and maintaining persons with mental health disabilities in the workplace. The aim of the Handbook is to close the gap between the needs of the professionals and networks that work with or study persons with mental heath disorders in an employment context and the actual knowledge base in the field. The Handbook will be written in language that can easily be understood by readers representing a multitude of disciplines and research paradigms spanning the mental health, rehabilitation, and employment fields of inquiry. The Handbook will contribute an integration of the best quantitative and qualitative research in the field, together with experts' consensus, regarding effective work retention and accommodation strategies and practices in mental health. The book will consist of five major sections, divided into chapters written by recognized experts in these areas.

Over the last few decades, unprecedented global population growth has led to increased demand for food and shelter. At the same time, extraction of natural resources beyond the Earth's resilience capacity has had a devastating effect on ecosystems and environmental health. Furthermore, climate change is having a significant impact in a number of areas, including the global hydrological cycle, ecosystem functioning, coastal vulnerability, forest ecology, food security, and agricultural sustainability. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), only immediate and sustained action will prevent climate change causing irreversible and potentially catastrophic damage to our environment. This book presents various scientific views and concepts, research, reviews, and case studies on contemporary environmental issues in changing climate scenarios and highlights different adaptation measures. Increasing awareness of modern-day patterns of climate change, it addresses questions often raised by environmental scientists, researchers, policymakers and general readers.

This timely volume provides an up-to-date and comprehensive summary about what is known about aging and work and addresses the challenges and opportunities confronting older workers and organizations. The authors describe current and emerging topics related to work and aging adults such as working in teams, the increasing diversity of the labor force, work and caregiving, the implications of technology for an aging workforce, and health and wellness issues. The authorship is international; the authors are renowned for their respective work in the topical areas and represent a broad range of disciplines within academia, as well as offer perspectives from government and policy. Jobs, organizations, the labor market, and the workforce are experiencing dramatic change. Workers of all ages, including older workers, need to interact with the wide variety of ubiquitous technologies that are reshaping work processes, job content, work settings, communication strategies, and the delivery of training, and this book aims to update readers on the particular issues facing today's aging adults in the workplace. The chapters' broad and inclusive scope encompasses: Workplace aging and jobs in the 21st century The retirement income security outlook for older workers Population aging, age discrimination, and age discrimination protections Older workers and the contemporary labor market The role of aging, age diversity, and age heterogeneity within teams The intersection of family caregiving and work Current and Emerging Trends in Aging and Work is relevant to a broad audience of academic researchers, practitioners, and students in psychology, sociology, management, engineering (industrial and human factors), the health sciences, gerontology/geriatrics, and public health. It is also a useful resource for government and policy leaders, as well as workers and managers in the public and private sectors.

This book presents an innovative method to improve workers' health and prevent occupational accidents: the Change Laboratory, a method of formative intervention that enables the organization's participants to identify, with the help of facilitators, the historical and systemic origins of work processes anomalies (environmental problems, work safety and health, quality and productivity problems, problems related to labor relations, etc). It proposes a cycle of expansive learning that evolves from recognition of the problem to the visualization, testing and consolidation of solutions.The Change Laboratory method was first developed by Finnish researchers in the 90s and has been improved since then by an international network of research centers in ten countries. This volume presents the results of the experiences conducted by the Brazilian research group to apply the methodology to workers' health programs. It adopts a translational approach and seeks to elaborate a method of intervention that goes beyond the mere diagnostics to present solutions to concrete problems based on systematized and participatory research. Collaborative Development for the Prevention of Occupational Accidents and Diseases - Change Laboratory in Worker's Health will be of interest to both researchers and professionals engaged in developing intervention programs to improve safety and health at work, such as occupational health professionals and researchers, organizational psychologists, safety engineers and public agents working with workers' health regulations. The book will also be of interest to occupational health students interested in learning how the Change Laboratory method can be applied to this field of research and activity.