Intelligent Technologies for Bridging the Grey Digital Divide offers high-quality research with both industry- and practice-related articles in the broad area of intelligent technologies for seniors. The main focus of the book is to provide insights into current innovation, issues to be resolved, and approaches for widespread adoption so that seniors, their families, and their caregivers are able to enjoy their promised benefits.

Volume 4 extends the examination of "Organizing for Sustainable Healthcare" (Volume 2 of the same series, 2012). It presents case studies and theoretical analyses that illustrate practical approaches to, and further the theoretical understanding of, the creation of a more sustainable healthcare. Given economic, ecological, and population trends, the sustainability of healthcare delivery as it is organized today cannot be taken for granted. Politicians, healthcare regulators and professionals worldwide are debating how to redesign today's delivery paradigms to deliver greater value to our societies while consuming fewer resources. Even in countries with national health systems, healthcare organization has been fragmented, diminishing outcome effectiveness and wasting society's resources. With complex value chains and dynamic interactions among various players, the reconfiguration of the healthcare system will require the reconciliation of different - often conflicting - goals, values, conceptions of social justice, work processes, knowledge bases, and business models. The chapters in this volume build on multiple disciplines and varied approaches to address this complexity.

vi of a large number of people due to the enormous quantities of radioactive material that would be required to reach high levels of contamination in mass-produced or distributed supplies. Although, based on data presented at the Workshop concerning the more than 30,000 missing radioactive sources all over the word, the radioactive contamination of food or water is also a scenario that must be taken seriously into consideration. During the last two decades there have been several emerging hazards linked to animal diseases or originating in animal products for example: Avian Influenza (AI), Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), West Nile Fever, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), and Ebola virus. All these diseases or events directly or indirectly affect food security and/or food safety. Approximately 75% of all emerging diseases are zoonotic by either an association with animal populations or an evolution of the disease in a- mals making it possible to move from animal species to humans. Participants were presented the primary results of the ongoing NATO- SPS Pilot Study on "Food Chain Security." These results focused mainly on (i) an overview of the food system; (ii) prevention, surveillance and detection systems and (iii) response system. The importance of issues such as: vuln- ability assessments, risk communication in risk analysis, risk perception, traceability, preparedness - awareness, communication, have to be cons- ered when working on food chain security.

This is the first comprehensive text on the design and analysis of group-randomized trials. It It collects information previously scattered among journals and texts in a variety of disciplines, and, in addition, presents much new material not available elsewhere. The book has been written to help those involved in these trials improve their ability to plan, fund, conduct, analyse, and interpret them, and to give students a detailed understanding of the field. Group-randomized trials are comparative studies in which the units of assignment are identifiable groups and the units of observation are members of those groups. The positive intraclass correlation expected among the members of each group poses unique and challenging issues for the design and analysis of these trials and separates them from the traditional clinical trial. After reviewing the underlying issues, Murray presents the research designs that are most widely used in group-randomized trials, together with their strengths, weaknesses, and appropriate applications. He describes the many approaches to analysis that are now available, presents mixed-model regression analyses appropriate to each design, and illustrates them using data from the Minnesota Heart Health Program. He also covers methods for estimating sample size, detectable difference, and power. This volume is not limited only to a conceptual treatment of the issues and solutions. It offers a review of the practical applications in a series of case studies, examples, and problems.

Section one, a special research forum on management issues in nursing, examines the causes of the nursing shortage and its impact on performance, as well as how wage increases, staffing increases, empowerment, and organizational design might address and alleviate some of the root causes for this problem. Section two focuses on how health care costs can be lowered and the quality of care can be improved through better clinical and technological management, exploring population health management, patient-centered care management, and the impact of regulations on medical innovations. Section three addresses how health service organizations can improve their performance, and includes a field study of managers' capabilities and hospital success, a critical review of academic health centers, a theoretical model of post-bankruptcy organization performance, and a secondary data analysis that supports a new organizational typology for managing stakeholders.

Religious, political, social, and health reform earmarked the Progressive Era. The era's health reform movement--like today's clean living movement--saw campaigns against alcohol, tobacco, drugs, and sexuality. It included crusades for exercise, vegetarian diets, and alternative health care and concerns about eugenics and new diseases. Covering the years leading up to the Progressive Era through the 1920s, this book provides entries on the central figures, events, crusades, legislation, publications and terms of the health reform movements, while a detailed timeline ties health reform to political, social, and religious movements. A valuable resource for scholars, students, and laymen interested in earlier health reform movements.

Dry Eyes of Innocence is an extraordinary story of courage and strength in the fight against Leukemia! A chronicle from the author's viewpoint, as he witnesses a personal transformation unfold in the last five or six years of his brothers awe-inspiring battle. Jeffrey was imprisoned from the age of 15 to 37, and then released into a world foreign to him. As an adult, in free society, Jeffrey learned the ropes of true manhood and responsibility and then fell victim to a terminal illness. Growing spiritually and emotionally while withering physically. Jeff and his family ponder -- will a matching donor be found in time? Will the transplant be successfull, or rejected? Will the effects of this physical assault on his body cause him to succumb? Or, will victory reign? The author finds himself in transformation from fear to victory, learning of Jeffrey's Leukemia at the most inopportune time, then helping his big brother overcome some of the most surreal moments of life imaginable. One finger in the air from Jeffrey is the constant reminder of his source of strength. this thug turned darling, with no internal organs and no self-sustaining breath, musters the strength to raise one finger and miraculously sing, "There's not a friend like the lowly Jesus. No, not one.No, not one!" All of the ward nurses and doctors come running to witness this miracle! Dry Eyes of Innocence is a must read for anyone seeking strength in the midst of a storm, anyone searching for power to transform lives and for an inspiring message from an unlikely champion! 6 x 9 trade hard cover - 128 pages

Drawing on insights from international organization and securitization theory, the author investigates the World Health Organization and how its approach to global health security has changed and adapted since its creation in 1948. He also examines the organization's prospects for managing global health security now and into the future.

Part of a series which focuses on health economics and health services research, this volume discusses a variety of topics in the field.

"Healing by Heart" is a book of stories--stories of people's search for culturally responsive health care from U.S. providers. It offers resources to providers and institutions committed to delivering culturally responsive health care, paying special attention to building successful relationships with traditional Hmong patients and families. It makes available extensive information about the health-related beliefs, practices, and values of the Hmong people, including photographs of traditional healing methods.

Ranging in age from young infants to older adults, the patients in the stories present a wide range of health problems. The clinicians are from family practice, internal medicine, pediatrics, emergency medicine, surgery, obstetrics-gynecology, psychiatry/psychology, and hospice.

Each of the fourteen case stories is accompanied by discussion questions as well as two or three commentaries. The commentaries--written by patients, family members, shaman, Western clinicians (including Hmong physicians, nurses, and social workers), medical anthropologists, health care ethicists, social workers, psychologists, and clergy--are rich in personal reflections on cross-cultural health care experiences. Readers are rewarded with a combination of perspectives, including those of Hmong authors who have not previously published in English and scholars with years of professional experience working with the Hmong in Laos, Thailand, and the United States.

The editors offer a model for delivering culturally responsive health care with special attention to matters of cross-cultural health care ethics. The model identifies questions health care providers can focus on as they seek to understand the health-related moral commitments and practices prevalent in the cultural groups they serve, ethical questions that arise frequently and with great poignancy in cross-cultural health care relationships, and points to consider when a patient's treatment wish challenges the provider's professional integrity.

By sharing stories of suffering, confusion, and success, "Healing by Heart" couples an accessible method of learning about others with concrete recommendations about how to enhance cross-cultural health care relationships.

Research on social inequalities has a very long tradition in sociological research, and discussion of the impact of social inequalities on health and health care delivery has long been one of the more important topics covered by medical sociologists. The research presented in this volume varies in its coverage and its approach to issues of social inequality in health and health care delivery. This volume includes both theoretical and quantitative papers, and deals with complex understandings of macro system issues, the impact of the patient and individual factors on health and health care and the impact of the provider and interaction between providers and patients. The first section focuses on macro system issues and includes both theoretical approaches to the topic and quantitative approaches. The second section includes articles with a greater focus on patient characteristics. These articles vary greatly in their coverage, with some focusing on the US as a whole, and others on specific sections of the US or subgroups within the population such as African American women or the elderly. The third section focuses on providers and issues of social inequality and health care delivery. These papers examine issues of gender, race and poverty as examples of sources of inequality in modern societies. In contrast to the second section these papers pay more attention to individual factors and the focus of the chapters is on aspects of health care providers. Research on providers of care is another long, important research tradition within medical sociology. Social Inequalities, Health and Health Care Delivery should be useful reading for medical sociologists and people working in other social science disciplines studying health-related issues. The volume also provides information for health services researchers, policy analysts and public health researchers.

The textbook provides insights and understanding on how companies and organizations are using advances in Information Technology to adapt to global pandemics such as COVID-19. The textbook explores how everything from data mining to cloud computing is used for strategic purposes including competitive advantages and decision making relating to global pandemics. Many organizations including governments' institutions and agencies continue to increase their financial investment in technology. Despite these huge investments, during the global pandemics, employees and managers are either struggling or not well equipped on how to effectively and efficiently use these tools for sustainability, competitive advantages, and decision makings. In addition, the textbook exposes managers, practitioners, students, and government officials to strategies to implement to gain knowledge and insights from data during global pandemics for competitive advantages and better decision making.

Given the fundamental and growing importance of health to the economy and society, this book addresses some of the key questions being asked in relation to health in the future. What will the health system look like, how much will it cost, what ethical framework will underlie future health policy and can we really have a system that is designed to improve health as well as provide health care? Based on the "Policy Futures for UK Health" project, this collection explores the shape of the health system and its key components, taking a multidisciplinary approach to health policy questions that is designed to appeal to the specialist and those who want to know more about our health system and what it might look like in the future.

The possibility of treating patients with organ replacement therapy has created a new frontier in medical care. Hospitals have to deal with such vital issues as selecting potential recipients of transplants, ensuring equity in allocating organs, pre- and peri-transplantation care of patients, and post-transplantation follow-up of organ recipients. The decisions pertaining to these issues often fall to social workers, who, with their bifocal concern for individuals and society, have significant contributions to make. Here, Dhooper reviews the contributions of the few social workers in this field and suggests ways of improving their work, consolidating their professional gains, and maximizing their impact. Dhooper discusses all aspects of organ transplantation, and explores and proposes new social work roles and appropriate skills for involvement at the individual, organizational, and community levels. He deals with the larger moral, societal, economic, and technical issues, as well as the here-and-now concerns of the social worker. Recommended for social workers trained for practice in the 1990s and beyond, and particularly those specializing in health and mental health social work.

Including the voices of key protagonists in the development of the public health workforce, this book is an important addition to the history of public health in England. It charts events leading to the unique achievement, from 2003, of specialist status, equivalent to public health medical consultants, for those from non-medical backgrounds. Setting these changes in context it discusses implications for practitioners and the wider UK public health workforce. A lively and comprehensive review of policy change, Multidisciplinary public health: Understanding the development of the modern workforce concludes with a reflection on the new public health system under way in England, making useful comparisons with the rest of the UK. This is an invaluable resource for anyone with an interest in public health, including public health academics and relevant postgraduate students.

Who determines whether persons are disabled and eligible to receive the billions of dollars that are awarded in benefits under federal disability programs today in the United States? What kinds of standards are applied in making awards to millions of applicants? And how are disability determinations made and claims adjudicated? Frank S. Bloch provides a careful study of disability determinations in five major federal programs. His findings, models, and calls for reform, including the greater use of medical personnel, should interest those who want to know more about the medical-legal issues relevant to disability determination, the many factors that impact on disability decisionmaking, and the administrative process for making disability decisions. This survey covers the disability determination process in U.S. social security, railroad retirement, civil service, veteran, and black lung disability programs at the federal level. Dr. Bloch defines various standards, key issues, the current use of medical personnel and models for their fuller use and for reforming the disability determination process.

Globalization affects human health in wide-ranging and multifaceted ways, ranging from the behaviors of individuals to broad social, political, and economic contexts within which health and disease occur. This book provides an introduction to these complex linkages through an exploration of the spatial, temporal and cognitive dimensions of global change. Challenging the neglect of health issues within the globalization literature, the book draws on diverse empirical evidence to argue that urgent attention to these impacts is needed.

"Healing by Heart" is a book of stories--stories of people's search for culturally responsive health care from U.S. providers. It offers resources to providers and institutions committed to delivering culturally responsive health care, paying special attention to building successful relationships with traditional Hmong patients and families. It makes available extensive information about the health-related beliefs, practices, and values of the Hmong people, including photographs of traditional healing methods.

Ranging in age from young infants to older adults, the patients in the stories present a wide range of health problems. The clinicians are from family practice, internal medicine, pediatrics, emergency medicine, surgery, obstetrics-gynecology, psychiatry/psychology, and hospice.

Each of the fourteen case stories is accompanied by discussion questions as well as two or three commentaries. The commentaries--written by patients, family members, shaman, Western clinicians (including Hmong physicians, nurses, and social workers), medical anthropologists, health care ethicists, social workers, psychologists, and clergy--are rich in personal reflections on cross-cultural health care experiences. Readers are rewarded with a combination of perspectives, including those of Hmong authors who have not previously published in English and scholars with years of professional experience working with the Hmong in Laos, Thailand, and the United States.

The editors offer a model for delivering culturally responsive health care with special attention to matters of cross-cultural health care ethics. The model identifies questions health care providers can focus on as they seek to understand the health-related moral commitments and practices prevalent in the cultural groups they serve, ethical questions that arise frequently and with great poignancy in cross-cultural health care relationships, and points to consider when a patient's treatment wish challenges the provider's professional integrity.

By sharing stories of suffering, confusion, and success, "Healing by Heart" couples an accessible method of learning about others with concrete recommendations about how to enhance cross-cultural health care relationships.

This book investigates the powerful role of online intermediaries, which connect companies with their end customers, to facilitate joint product innovation. Especially in the healthcare context, such intermediaries deploy interactive online platforms to foster co-creation between engaged healthcare consumers and innovation-seeking healthcare companies. In three empirical studies, this book outlines the key characteristics of online intermediaries in healthcare, their distinct strategies, and the remaining challenges in the field. Readers will also be introduced to the stages companies go through in adopting such co-created solutions. As such, the work appeals for both its academic scope and practical reach.

Volume 19 in the "Research in Political Sociology" series is devoted to health problems, challenges and accomplishments in democratic societies. It includes papers addressing health systems, health policies, obstacles to societal healthy behaviors, and/or health conditions that are experienced in democratic societies in the world. The democratic society is understood in a broadly defined term. It includes developed Western democracies, as well as less developed or underdeveloped countries that have democratic system. According to such definition, the category "democracies" includes democratic countries that have well established democratic system and respect broad network of people rights, as well as democracies that are formally consider democratic states but de facto respect only a few rights or their governments are guided by limited democratic principles. Therefore, the collection of the 19th volume of "Research in Political Sociology" includes papers addressing these issues in a broad spectrum of countries from India, Sri Lanka and Tanzania, to Sweden, Canada and the United States.

Based on original research and analysis by a group of health policy experts and economists from across the world, this book analyzes the causes and consequences of the expanding global and local commercialization of health care. It argues for the necessity and possibility of effective policy responses to develop good quality, universally inclusive health systems worldwide. The book aims to contribute to a shift in the international 'common sense' in health policy towards a more humane, inclusive, egalitarian, and ethical framework for policy formulation.