The book intends to provide a high level overview of cryptocurrencies to a new enthusiast by using layman language and limiting many of the technical aspects, providing a very condensed version of this vast development of digital currencies. Blockchain is the new revolution after the Internet that is going to change how we do business today. Cryptocurrencies are the money of the future. These two statements are a positive affirmation from many corners around the world. The author provides a balance of introduction and depth regarding blockchain, hot cryptocurrencies, and their comparisons. Bitcoin, being the pioneer, is discussed in greater detail. The reader will gain the basic idea of bitcoin mining, trading, and investing. With special interest in the various usages of blockchain and interest on traditional banking systems are also discussed.

Risk Takers: Uses and Abuses of Financial Derivatives goes to the heart of the arcane and largely misunderstood world of derivative finance and makes it accessible to everyone-even novice readers. Marthinsen takes us behind the scenes, into the back alleyways of corporate finance and derivative trading, to provide a bird's-eye view of the most shocking financial disasters of the past quarter century. The book draws on real-life stories to explain how financial derivatives can be used to create or to destroy value. In an approachable, non-technical manner, Marthinsen brings these financial derivatives situations to life, fully exploring the context of each event, evaluating their outcomes, and bridging the gap between theory and practice.

What are the risks of terrorism and what are their consequences and economic impacts? Are we safer from terrorism today than before 9/11? Does the government spend our homeland security funds well? These questions motivated a twelve-year research program of the National Center for Risk and Economic Analysis of Terrorism Events (CREATE) at the University of Southern California, funded by the Department of Homeland Security. This book showcases some of the most important results of this research and offers key insights on how to address the most important security problems of our time. Written for homeland security researchers and practitioners, this book covers a wide range of methodologies and real-world examples of how to reduce terrorism risks, increase the efficient use of homeland security resources, and thereby make better decisions overall.

The concept of domestic violence refers to acts of violence and abuse of one family member over another. Family violence is an issue of major concern for psychologists and families, community and social decision-makers. It is a dramatic phenomenon, which generates pain, trauma, physical and psychological scars. This book provides an overview of the prevalence, risk factors and several perspectives of domestic violence. Chapter One is about attachment as a vulnerability factor of victimisation in the context of intimate partner violence. Chapter Two analyzes animal cruelty and intimate partner violence. Chapter Three focuses on violence against women and child maltreatment. Chapter Four emphasizes the victimization experience (direct and indirect) of children in the family context. Chapter Five presents data of the Childrens Exposure to Domestic Violence Scale (CEDVS) applied in Brazil. Chapter Six discusses the phenomenon of domestic violence between same-sex intimate partners. Chapter Seven studies domestic violence arising from a concept of honor and referred to as honor based violence. Chapter Eight presents current literature on the effectiveness of domestic violence interventions targeting adult perpetrators and adult and child victims. Chapter Nine provides the latest results of the research on facilitating successful treatment processes in perpetrator programs. Chapter Ten examines the Domestic Violence (Prevention and Protection) Act 2010 in Bangladesh. Chapter Eleven aims to determine whether there is an association between domestic violence and suicide risk in female victims of domestic violence attending the Multidisciplinary Center for Comprehensive Care of Violence. The last chapter sets out to show that gender based violence is no longer restricted to women by men."

Assessing Student Threats: Implementing the Salem-Keizer System, 2nd Edition is a manual for the application of a threat assessment system that follows the recommendations of the Safe Schools Initiative and the prescriptive outline provided by the FBI. Written from an educator's perspective with contributing authors from Law Enforcement, Public Mental Health, and the District Attorney's office, it contains an introduction to the basic concepts of threat assessment, a review of the research, and an outlined process for the application of a comprehensive, yet expeditious multi-disciplinary system. The book also includes the forms and protocols needed to assess threats, document concerns and interventions, and track the progress of supervision. As extra features, chapters on site security, community safety, domestic violence and teen dating violence, communicating with potential victims, training school resource officers, adult threat assessment, and an adaptation of the system for higher education are included.

The Nobel Prize-winning Father of Modern Portfolio Theory returns with new insights on his classic work to help you build a lasting portfolio today Contemporary investing as we know it would not exist without these two words: "Portfolio selection." Though it may not seem revolutionary today, the concept of examining and purchasing many diverse stocks-creating a portfolio-changed the face of finance when Harry M. Markowitz devised the idea in 1952. In the past six decades, Markowitz has risen to international acclaim as the father of Modern Portfolio Theory (MPT), with his evaluation of the impact of asset risk, diversification, and correlation in the risk-return tradeoff. In defending the idea that portfolio risk was essential to strategic asset growth, he showed the world how to invest for the long-run in the face of any economy. In Risk Return Analysis, this groundbreaking four-book series, the legendary economist and Nobel Laureate returns to revisit his masterpiece theory, discuss its developments, and prove its vitality in the ever-changing global economy. Volume 2 picks up where the first volume left off, with Markowitz's personal reflections and current strategies. In this volume, Markowitz focuses on the relationship between single-period choices-now-and longer run goals. He discusses dynamic systems and models, the asset allocation "glide-path," inter-generational investment needs, and financial decision support systems. Written with both the academic and the practitioner in mind, this richly illustrated volume provides investors, economists, and financial advisors with a refined look at MPT, highlighting the rational decision-making and probability beliefs that are essential to creating and maintaining a successful portfolio today.

Presents systems-based theory, methodology, and applications in risk modeling, assessment, and management This book examines risk analysis, focusing on quantifying risk and constructing probabilities for real-world decision-making, including engineering, design, technology, institutions, organizations, and policy. The author presents fundamental concepts (hierarchical holographic modeling; state space; decision analysis; multi-objective trade-off analysis) as well as advanced material (extreme events and the partitioned multi-objective risk method; multi-objective decision trees; multi-objective risk impact analysis method; guiding principles in risk analysis); avoids higher mathematics whenever possible; and reinforces the material with examples and case studies. The book will be used in systems engineering, enterprise risk management, engineering management, industrial engineering, civil engineering, and operations research. The fourth edition of Risk Modeling, Assessment, and Management features: * Expanded chapters on systems-based guiding principles for risk modeling, planning, assessment, management, and communication; modeling interdependent and interconnected complex systems of systems with phantom system models; and hierarchical holographic modeling * An expanded appendix including a Bayesian analysis for the prediction of chemical carcinogenicity, and the Farmer s Dilemma formulated and solved using a deterministic linear model * Updated case studies including a new case study on sequential Pareto-optimal decisions for emergent complex systems of systems * A new companion website with over 200 solved exercises that feature risk analysis theories, methodologies, and application Risk Modeling, Assessment, and Management, Fourth Edition, is written for both undergraduate and graduate students in systems engineering and systems management courses. The text also serves as a resource for academic, industry, and government professionals in the fields of homeland and cyber security, healthcare, physical infrastructure systems, engineering, business, and more.

Effective risk management is critical to the successful operation of law firms. Market acceptance and professional reputation established over many years can be destroyed overnight by a major incident. Often such events could have been prevented if appropriate risk management systems had been in place. This new book has been prepared by a number of well-known and authoritative authors, the majority of whom are from Anglo-Saxon jurisdictions, but with experience in civil law jurisdictions as well. The working method applied throughout the book is based on risk categories, rather than geographic. This approach allows authors to focus their contributions on workable solutions, rather than country-specific legal analyses. Chapters address financial risks (which have been an important factor in recent collapses of law firms), risks brought by clients as well as risks associated with quality, conflict, hiring and practice integration procedures. This book aims to help law firm leaders and managers to understand the scope and utility of risk management generally, and to guide them in implementing and maintaining adequate risk management policies, procedures and systems. The book also gives in-house counsel and risk officers a better understanding of the needs of their outside attorneys, thereby improving the partnering between lawyers and their clients.

Over a period of several centuries, the academic study of risk has evolved as a distinct body of thought, which continues to influence conceptual developments in fields such as economics, management, politics and sociology. However, few scholarly works have given a chronological account of cultural and intellectual trends relating to the understanding and analysis of risks. Risk: A Study of its Origins, History and Politics aims to fill this gap by providing a detailed study of key turning points in the evolution of society's understanding of risk. Using a wide range of primary and secondary materials, Matthias Beck and Beth Kewell map the political origins and moral reach of some of the most influential ideas associated with risk and uncertainty at specific periods of time. The historical focus of the book makes it an excellent introduction for readers who wish to go beyond specific risk management techniques and their theoretical underpinnings, to gain an understanding of the history and politics of risk.

A revolutionary new approach for detecting and managing inherent risk

The unprecedented turmoil in the financial markets turned the field of quantitative finance on its head and generated severe criticism of the statistical models used to manage risk and predict "black swan" events. Something very important had been lost when statistical representations replaced expert knowledge and statistics substituted for causation.

"Extreme Risk Management" brings causation into the equation. The use of causal models in risk management, securities valuation, and portfolio management provides a real and much-needed alternative to the stochastic models used so far. Providing an alternative tool for risk modeling and scenario-building in stress-testing, this game-changing book uses causal models that help you: Evaluate risk with extraordinary accuracy Predict devastating worst-case scenarios Enhance transparency Facilitate better decision making

TABLE OF CONTENTS Plausibility vs. Probability: Alternative World Views The Evolution of Modern Analytics Risk Management Metrics and Models The Future as Forecast: Assumptions Implicit in Stochastic Risk Measurement Models An Alternative Path to Actionable Intelligence Solutions: Moving Toward a Connectivist Approach An Introduction to Causality: Theory, Models, and Inference Risk Inference Networks: Estimating Vulnerability, Consequences, and Likelihood Securities Valuation, Risk Measurement, and Portfolio Management Using Causal Models Risk Fusion and Super Models: A Framework for Enterprise Risk Management Inferring Causality from Historical Market Behavior Sensemaking for Warnings: Reverse-Engineering Market Intelligence The United States as Enterprise: Implications for National Policy and Security

Natural disasters, terrorist attacks, financial collapses, and other crisis situations have occupied public attention to an unprecedented degree in recent years. In the face of these events, the study of risk and crisis management is becoming more important than ever before. This book is a clear and comprehensive guide to the most common emergency situations of our day, giving succinct, practical advice on how best to avoid them if possible, how to minimize loss and damage once they have occurred, and how best to recover sustainably. The 101 cases presented here cover both natural and man-made disasters, drawing on recent and current case histories to propose workable solutions for governments, corporations and ordinary people facing extraordinary times.This revised and expanded edition of the authors' 1999 book, Survival - Simulation of Risk and Crisis Management 69, is written in an accessible style and contains the latest research in the field. It will benefit laypeople, professionals, and academics alike. In particular, safety professionals, public management professionals, CEOs, CIOs, tertiary students and researchers will appreciate its pragmatic, vigilant approach to dealing with and recovering from natural and man-made disasters in the interest of long-term survival and sustainability.

The field of credit risk and corporate bankruptcy prediction has gained considerable momentum following the collapse of many large corporations around the world, and more recently through the sub-prime scandal in the United States. This book provides a thorough compendium of the different modelling approaches available in the field, including several new techniques that extend the horizons of future research and practice. Topics covered include probit models (in particular bivariate probit modelling), advanced logistic regression models (in particular mixed logit, nested logit and latent class models), survival analysis models, non-parametric techniques (particularly neural networks and recursive partitioning models), structural models and reduced form (intensity) modelling. Models and techniques are illustrated with empirical examples and are accompanied by a careful explanation of model derivation issues. This practical and empirically-based approach makes the book an ideal resource for all those concerned with credit risk and corporate bankruptcy, including academics, practitioners and regulators.

Environmental Enforcement Authorities (EEAs), sometimes called Environmental Protection Agencies (EPAs), are the regulatory, monitoring and enforcement agencies of national, state/provincial and local governments worldwide responsible for implementing, monitoring and enforcing environmental legislation. This one-of-a-kind, authoritative handbook offers a comprehensive assessment of the principles and best practice of EEAs throughout the world with a focus on Europe, the USA, Canada, Australia, east and south-east Asia and various other OECD, transition and developing countries.The book assesses structures, expertise and capacity, financing, permitting, monitoring, inspection, enforcement and EEA performance and future directions. It also identifies best practice for creating or improving EEAs. It offers substantial information for industry on the nature of compliance with environmental regulations as well as vital information for professionals, consultants, NGOs and researchers working at the interface between government EEAs and industry.

Public misperception of radiological risk consistently directs limited resources toward managing minimal or even phantom risks at great cost to government and industry with no measurable benefit to overall public health. The public's inability to comprehend small theoretical risks arrived at through inherently uncertain formulae, coupled with an irrational push to eliminate all risk with no contextual understanding of overall benefit, results in a forfeiture of valuable advances in technology in favor of an illusion of safety.

Radiation Risks in Perspective uses general concepts underlying radiological risk as a model to illuminate the fundamental problems in public perception, reaction, and policy when faced with possible health risks. Presenting three distinct themes, the author summarizes the causes for the failure of the current system and proposes methods for correction. Beginning with a discussion of the methods used to measure threat, the author weighs the nebulous assessment ofrisk with the use of a quantifiable assessment of hazardous dose, which uses actual numbers that the public can readily understand and that decision makers can confidently use to enact policy and measure success.

Secondly, the author addresses the contextual balancing of cost versus benefit when prioritizing expenditure, specifically emphasizing that it is inappropriate to analyze and discuss individual risks without regard to the presence of other risks. Finally, the author analyzes the public's tendency to push toward zero risk tolerance, an extremist approach that leads to unreasonable restrictions on technologies, excessive regulatory compliance costs, and the ultimate loss of goods and services.

With detailed explanations and illustrative case studies, Radiation Risks in Perspective offers scientists, lawyers, engineers, policy makers, and public health professionals, the skills they need for a rational evaluation of risk.

.,."this is a very good book - an easy and informative read on a topic of immense complexity and very enjoyable. The layout is excellent, with clear headings, a useful three-part structure and good-quality print. ...This book will undoubtedly find its market niche and become a 'good risk read'." - "British Journal of Social Work 36 (3) 2006

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What does it mean to live in risk society'?

How does the idea of risk change how we live with each other?

Risk currently dominates individual and collective consciousness. Globally, insecurity is related to terrorism, pollution, global epidemics and famine, yet smoking, sunlight and travel have also become major preoccupations.

This book provides a powerful and lucid account of risk in society today. Denney critically examines the social construction of risk, by considering a range of social theories, addressing the literature and providing an authoritative guide to the key issues raised.

An analysis of the nature of risk to aspects of everyday life - of the meanings which have been assigned to notions of risk - is also considered. Finally, global themes such as terrorism, global regulation governance and developments in international relations are examined.

This book will be required reading for students of risk within the fields of Sociology, International Relations and Media, Culture and Communications.

Ulrich Beck's best selling Risk Society established risk on the sociological agenda. It brought together a wide range of issues centering on environmental, health and personal risk, provided a rallying ground for researchers and activists in a variety of social movements and acted as a reference point for state and local policies in risk management. The Risk Society and Beyond charts the progress of Beck's ideas and traces their evolution. It demonstrates why the issues raised by Beck reverberate widely throughout social theory and covers the new risks that Beck did not foresee, associated with the emergence of new technologies, genetic and cybernetic. The book is unique because it offers both an introduction to the main arguments in Risk Society and develops a range of critical discussions of aspects of this and other works of Beck.

Can we better predict or mitigate the consequences of natural disasters, such as earthquakes and hurricanes? Can we reduce the number of oil spills? And what should be done to clean up the mess when something does goes wrong? Why are people concerned about nuclear plants, but so reckless when they go skiing, or when they drive their motor cars? And how can we ensure that experts and ordinary citizens exchange meaningful information about hazards? Over the past fifty years or so, eminent scholars from the decision sciences, geography, sociology, anthropology, and many other fields, have offered useful pointers towards finding an answer to these and other crucial questions. Their prolific and converging efforts have established Risk Analysis as a vivid new discipline, a discipline which this new Routledge collection enables users to discover-or to understand better. The collection conveys essential lessons about how risks can be better assessed. Sophisticated models about the probability and magnitude of harms have been developed and tested in a variety of fields, for example, by engineers trying to build safer plants, or by toxicologists trying to understand the pathways of pollutants. The materials gathered here also help us to understand how powerful perception drivers shape our views of different risks and, as a consequence, how risk communication may be best conducted. Risk also brings together and makes sense of a body of knowledge that has allowed the development of specific methods to join together these two crucial elements into a coherent management 'whole'.