Virtually every city in the nation's older industrial regions, no matter its size, grapples with the challenge of unused or abandoned manufacturing facilities and other industrial sites. Local public officials, economic development practitioners, and site owners who have sought to revitalize fallow industrial properties face daunting challenges: contamination of the buildings, equipment, and surrounding land and water. Public concern about health effects from hazardous chemicals, changing environmental law, and evolving private sector development and financing priorities have made it increasingly difficult for communities to restore and reuse former manufacturing sites. This study, sponsored by the Northeast-Midwest Institute, offers analysis and practical guidance on how these blighted areas--brownfields--have been and can be brought back to life.

This book delves into the legal traditions that relegated women to an inferior social and legal status worldwide. Winnie Hazou probes the nature of law, changes in legislation, and the trend of modern law toward a social engineering that effects gender equality. Hazou analyzes changes in major areas of women's lives, such as family, employment, and the acquisition of social power. She presents a global perspective of women's status and discusses international law aimed at eliminating the exploitation and abuse of women. The book highlights five countries, exploring the cultural basis for and social attitudes toward the position of women in each country. Students and scholars of women's studies will find this book a valuable resource.

The book concludes that both national and international law are slowly evolving into an effective tool for the elimination of discrimination against women. In spite of residual traditions, and beliefs across all cultures concerning gender roles, there is great institutional support in governments as well as the United Nations to elevate the status of women. This book combines the sociology of women and the sociology of law to give a global perspective on not only the current position of women but the changes that are occurring in their lives.

In 1967, Justice John Marshall Harlan introduced the litmus test of 'a reasonable expectation of privacy' in his concurring opinion in the US Supreme Court case of Katz v. United States. Privacy, regulations to protect privacy, and data protection have been legal and social issues in many Western countries for a number of decades. However, recent measures to combat terrorism, to fight crime, and to increase security, together with the growing social acceptance of privacy-invasive technologies can be considered a serious threat to the fundamental right to privacy. What is the purport of 'reasonable expectations of privacy'? Reasonable expectations of privacy and the reality of data protection is the title of a research project being carried out by TILT, the Tilburg Institute for Law, Technology, and Society at Tilburg University, The Netherlands. The project is aimed at developing an international research network of privacy experts (professionals, academics, policymakers) and to carry out research on the practice, meaning, and legal performance of privacy and data protection in an international perspective. Part of the research project was to analyse the concept of privacy and the reality of data protection in case law, with video surveillance and workplace privacy as two focal points. The eleven country reports regarding case law on video surveillance and workplace privacy are the core of the present book. The conclusions drawn by the editors are intended to trigger and stimulate an international debate on the use and possible drawbacks of the 'reasonable expectations of privacy' concept. The editors are all affiliated to TILT - Tilburg Institute for Law, Technology, and Society, Tilburg University, The Netherlands. This is Volume 7 in the Information Technology and Law (IT&Law) Series

This unique book provides a versatile exploration of the philosophical foundations of the insanity defense. It examines the connections between numerous philosophical-anthropological views and analyses different methods for regulating the criminal responsibility of the mentally ill. Placing its philosophical analysis firmly in the context of science, it draws on the fields of cognitive psychology, evolutionary theory and criminology. In this thought-provoking book, Wojciech Zaluski argues that the way in which we resolve the problem of the criminal responsibility of the mentally ill depends on two factors: the assumed conception of responsibility and the account of mental illness. Offering a systematic and in-depth analysis of the influence of anti-psychiatry on thinking about the insanity defense and legislation, the author invokes the personalist view of human nature, being rational and endowed with free will, to justify an original normative proposal concerning the construction of the insanity defense. The Insanity Defense will be of primary interest to scholars of criminal law and justice, legal theory and legal philosophy as well as legal practitioners, policy makers, psychiatrists and psychologists engaged with this topic.

A thoroughly revised and updated fourth edition of a text that has become an international standard for curriculum development in health professional education. Intended for faculty and other content experts who have an interest or responsibility as educators in their discipline, Curriculum Development for Medical Education has extended its vision to better serve a diverse professional and international audience. Building on the time-honored, practical, and user-friendly approach of the six-step model of curriculum development, this edition is richly detailed, with numerous examples of innovations that challenge traditional teaching models. In addition, the fourth edition presents * updates in our understanding of how humans learn; * a new chapter on curricula that address community needs and health equity; and * an increased emphasis throughout on health systems science, population health, equity, educational technology in health professions education, and interprofessional education. This new edition remains a cutting-edge tool and practical guidebook for faculty members and administrators responsible for the educational experiences of health professional students, residents, fellows, and practitioners. It includes chapters on each of the steps of curriculum development, with updated examples and questions to guide the application of the timeless principles. Subsequent chapters cover curriculum maintenance and enhancement, dissemination, and curriculum development for larger programs. Appendixes present examples of full curricula designed using the six-step approach, which is widely recognized as the current standard for publication and dissemination of new curricula and provides a basis for meaningful educational interventions, scholarship, and career advancement for the health professional educator. The book also provides curricular, faculty development, and funding resources. Contributors: Chadia N. Abras, Belinda Y. Chen, Heidi L. Gullett, Mark T. Hughes, David E. Kern, Brenessa M. Lindeman, Pamela A. Lipsett, Mary L. O'Connor Leppert, Amit K. Pahwa, Deanna Saylor, Mamta K. Singh, Sean A. Tackett, Patricia A. Thomas

This timely book addresses the need for further measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the European Union, arguing that the EU Emissions Trading Scheme does not offer sufficient incentives for the carbon-intensive materials sector. It highlights the challenge that emissions from industries such as iron and steel, cement and aluminium, amongst others, pose to the EU's commitment to significantly cut emissions by 2030. Offering an in-depth review from an economic and legal perspective, Manuel Haussner explores these carbon-intensive sectors and their contribution to current emissions, and provides insightful suggestions on how a consumption-based carbon charge would create incentives for deep decarbonisation. He demonstrates how the design of such a charge would comply with the EU's obligations and WTO's legal requirements, and illustrates how such a charge would be drafted, providing guidance on administering carbon taxation and analysing carbon charges alongside the EU recommended portfolio of policy instruments. This thought-provoking book will be an essential read for all policymakers, consultants and practitioners working in environmental law and policy in the EU. It will also be valuable to scholars working at the intersections of economics and environmental and energy law.

This is the first book to outline a basic philosophy of ecology using the standard categories of academic philosophy: metaphysics, axiology, epistemology, aesthetics, ethics, and political philosophy. The problems of global justice invariably involve ecological factors. Yet the science of ecology is itself imbued with philosophical questions. Therefore, studies in ecological justice, the sub-discipline of global justice that relates to the interaction of human and natural systems, should be preceded by the study of the philosophy of ecology. This book enables the reader to access a philosophy of ecology and shows how this philosophy is inherently normative and provides tools for securing ecological justice. The moral philosophy of ecology directly addresses the root cause of ecological and environmental injustice: the violation of fundamental human rights caused by the inequitable distribution of the benefits (economies) and costs (diseconomies) of industrialism. Philosophy of ecology thus has implications for human rights, pollution, poverty, unequal access to resources, sustainability, consumerism, land use, biodiversity, industrialization, energy policy, and other issues of social and global justice. This book offers an historical and interdisciplinary exegesis. The analysis is situated in the context of the Western intellectual tradition, and includes great thinkers in the history of ecological thinking in the West from the natural sciences, social sciences and humanities. Keller asks the big questions and surveys answers with remarkable detail. Here is an insightful analysis of contemporary, classical, and ancient thought, alike in the ecological sciences, the humanities, and economics, the roots and fruits of our concepts of nature and of being in the world. Keller is unexcelled in bridging the is/ought gap, bridging nature and culture, and in celebrating the richness of life, its pattern, process, and creativity on our wonderland Earth. Holmes Rolston, III University Distinguished Professor, Colorado State University Author of A New Environmental Ethics: The Next Millennium for Life on Earth (2012) Mentored by renowned ecologist Frank Golley and renowned philosopher Frederick Ferre, David Keller is well prepared to provide a deep history and a sweeping synthesis of the "idea of ecology"-including the metaphysical, epistemological, and ethical aspects of that idea, as well as the scientific. J. Baird Callicott University Distinguished Research Professor, University of North Texas Author of Thinking Like a Planet: The Land Ethic and the Earth Ethic (2013)

This book offers comprehensive coverage of the various aspects of personalized medicine as an original approach to classifying, understanding, treating and preventing disease based on individual biological differences. In the introductory section, it defines personalized medicine as a way toward new medical practices and addresses the question: What can personalized medicine offer citizens, medical professionals, reimbursement bodies and stakeholders? Subsequent chapters discuss the technological aspects of personalized medicine: data collection, comprehensive integration and handling of data, together with key enabling factors in developing the requisite technological support for personalized medicine. Lastly, the book explores the main issues shaping the implementation and development of personalized medicine - education, stakeholder participation, infrastructure, a new approach to the classification of disease and medical tests, regulatory frameworks, and new reimbursement models - together with ethical, legal and social issues. Ultimately, the book calls for interdisciplinarity and a radical change in the way we approach the health and wellbeing of individuals. Target groups are medical doctors and researchers in the field of biomedicine, as well as experts from the social sciences dealing with legal, economic and social aspects of health system issues in general. Though the book will primarily benefit these groups of professional experts, its content will also appeal to a far wider readership, as it deals with a paradigm shift in one of society's main pillars - the health system.

With a Foreword by Dr Alexander Scheuer, Managing Director of the Institute of European Media Law (EMR), Saarbrucken/Brussels. It is fair to say that our lives in the twenty-first century are, in many respects, dominated by the media and sport; and, when combined, they are a very powerful force and mix indeed. Without the commercial exploitation of broadcasting rights and the resulting spectacular revenues generated, many sports events would never see the light of day. The first part of TV Rights and Sport: Legal Aspects contains several contributions on the very important European Law aspects of sports broadcasting rights in the digital age as well as TV rights relating to major sports events. The second part of the book consists of 27 country studies within and beyond Europe. The authors of the various chapters are all media law and sports law experts and address, from the point of view of the law and practice in their respective countries, amongst others, the following intriguing legal issues: the ownership of broadcasting rights; the commercial exploitation of those rights; and, with sport being such big business nowadays, the impact of competition law, including the vexed questions of the collective sale and purchase of sports broadcasting rights. The book is a veritable mine of useful information and one that can heartily be recommended to all those involved in the creation, promotion, exploitation and protection of sports broadcasting rights around the world. A subject that will continue to challenge sports administrators, event managers, sports marketers, broadcasters and media service providers themselves and regulators, as well as their legal and other professional advisers, for many years to come. The editing team consisted of Prof. Ian Blackshaw, Member of the Court of Arbitration for Sport, Prof. Steve Cornelius, Director of the Centre for Sports Law, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, and Dr. Robert Siekmann, Director of the ASSER International Sports Law Centre. The book appears in the ASSER International Sports Law Series, under the editorship of Dr. Robert Siekmann and Dr. Janwillem Soek.

The 12 essays in this book explore this vital issue from a number of perspectives. The text represents a partial gleaning of the September 2001 conference of the European Institute of Social Security, held in Bergen, Norway - a leading multidisciplinary research group and the vanguard of the debate on social security in Europe. Fifteen researchers and administrators from all over Europe offer in-depth analysis and conclusions in crucial areas. In addition to the individual insights advanced in each paper, two notable trends seem to pervade the entire conference. One is the growing divergence of social security policy within European countries, coexisting uneasily with EU measures against social exclusion; the other is the sudden clarity of principle and design in the European welfare state when seen against the virtual anarchy of the globalisation model.

This is the first textbook to provide a focused, subject specific guide to planning practice and law. It gives students essential background and contextual information to planning's statutory basis, supported by practical and applied discussion, enabling students with little or no planning law knowledge to engage in the subject and develop the necessary level of understanding required for both professionally accredited and non-accredited qualifications.

Based on a major project executed by the European Commission, "Investors' Environmental Guidelines" should be useful to all those associated with the process of investment in central and eastern Europe. The "Guidelines" have been designed for rapid use by the investor who knows very little about the environment, as well as the environmental specialist. The "Guidelines", in particular the sections covering liability and regulatory compliance, should also be of particular interest to lawyers while the coverage of environmental legislation should be of wider interest to policy makers, consultants, NGOs and others, both from within the region and from western countries. In particular, they will allow comparisons of investor-related environmental requirements between countries in the region.

"Culture Clash--with its rare blend of creativity, verbal skill and balanced judgement--helps to clarify the understanding of law and science in American life." -New York Law Journal "A lucid and entertaining mix of constitutional law and history." -American Journal of Human Genetics "One of the most vital interdisciplinary works of this generation. A trenchant, thought-provoking, and immensely readable analysis of the important issues at the intersection of law, science, and morality. Goldberg, perhaps the most prominent and certainly the most prolific legal scholar in the law and science field, explores the most contemporary topics at the frontiers of current scientific, technological, legal, and moral inquiry. An accomplished and important book." -Nancy Levit, Associate Professor of Law, University of Missouri-Kansas City, Co-author of Jurisprudence "Draws on more than a decade's work to bring together in one place a remarkably broad treatment of the relationship between law and science. All of the well-known issues are addressed: the legal questions likely to arise from current research aimed at mapping the human genome, the legal debates over the public schools' treatment of creationism and evolution, the effect of federal agency practices on the course of scientific research, and the use of scientific evidence in legal disputes...Certain to enrich all future discussion of these topics." -Ira Mark Ellman, Professor of Law, Arizona State University It is an article of faith in America that scientific advances will lead to wondrous progress in our daily lives. Americans proudly support scientific research that yields stunning breakthroughs and Nobel prizes. We relish the ensuing debate about the implications-moral, ethical, practical-of these advances. Will genetic engineering change our basic nature? Will artificial intelligence challenge our sense of human uniqueness? And yet the actual implementation of these technologies is often sluggish and much-delayed. From Star Trek to Jurassic Park, the American imagination has always been fascinated by the power of scientific technology. But what does the reality of scientific progress mean for our society? In this controversial book, Steven Goldberg provides a compelling look at the intersection of two of America's most powerful communities-law and science-to explain this apparent contradiction. Rarely considered in tandem, law and science highlight a fundamental paradox in the American character, the struggle between progress and process. Science, with its ethic of endless progress, has long fit beautifully with America's self image. Law, in accordance with the American ideal of giving everyone a fair say, stresses process above all else, seeking an acceptable, rather than a scientifically correct, result. This characteristic has been especially influential in light of the explosive growth of the legal community in recent years. Exposing how the legal system both supports and restricts American science and technology, Goldberg considers the role and future of three projects-artificial intelligence, nuclear fusion, and the human genome initiative-to argue for a scientific vision that infuses research with social goals beyond the pure search for truth. Certain to provoke debate within a wide range of academic and professional communities, Culture Clash reveals one of the most important and defining conflicts in contemporary American life. Steven Goldberg is a Professor of Law at the Georgetown University Law Center. He is the author of Culture Clash: Law and Science in America, winner of the Alpha Sigma Nu Book Award, also available from NYU Press.

In an anarchical society of independent states, unilateral measures play an important role. Fortunately, this does not mean that most states act unilaterally most of the time; on the contrary, cooperation is the key word in most areas of international relations and international law. However, in the absence of a comprehensive judicial system or effective enforcement system, states have and will continue to take unilateral measures to enforce law and policies. Sometimes these measures only claim to legality is the application of the countermeasures doctrine. This landmark book by Dr. Hjortur Bragi Sverrisson, the Head of Legal Affairs at EEA Grants, a development fund within the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), examines the law of countermeasures in the context of violations of international legal environmental obligations of states. It reviews the source of authority of states, namely, sovereignty, its interaction with the notion of international law, and the limitation of the latter. An in-depth review of the doctrine of countermeasures follows, by presenting, contrasting, and critically analyzing the views of the classical masters, as well as contemporary authors and other authoritative sources. The book puts the theories into context by presenting seven cases of states use, or threat of use, of unilateral remedies to protect environmental interests. One must remember that frustration, domestic politics, sovereign identity, and the need to show resolve not only are all a recipe for unlawful countermeasures, but also are often the underlying cause for such measures. Therefore, the environment for a solid and politically detached legal analysis regarding the flora of permissible measures might not be the most favorable. However, the decision to take countermeasures cannot be a spontaneous one; it has to be meticulously analyzed, and proper steps have to be taken before such measures are used. Only then can the countermeasures doctrine form the basis for a legal and legitimate unilateral enforcement of international law. By shedding a light on this labyrinth, this book provides guidance for scholars and students, private actors, and policy makers, as well as legal advisers to governments.

It contributes to the field of posthumanism through its application of posthuman feminism to international law Interdisciplinary approach. Will appeal to students and scholars with interests in legal, feminist, and posthuman theory, as well as those concerned with the contemporary challenges faced by international law.

This book configures a consistent epistemology of biolaw that distinguishes itself from bioethics and from a mere set of international instruments on the regulation of biomedical practices. Such orthodox intellection has prevented biolaw from being understood as a new branch of law with legally binding force, which has certainly dwindled its epistemological density. Hence, this is a revolutionary book as it seeks to deconstruct the history of biolaw and its oblique epistemologies, which means not accepting perennial axioms, and not seeing paradigms where only anachronism and anomaly still exist. It is a book aimed at validity, but also at solidity because the truth of biolaw has never been told before. In that sense, it is also a revealing text. The book shapes biolaw as an independent and compelling branch of law, with a legally binding scope, which boosts the effectiveness of new deliberative models for legal sciences, as well as it utterly reinforces hermeneutical and epistemological approaches, in tune with the complexity of disturbing legal scenarios created by biomedical sciences' latest applications. This work adeptly addresses the origins of the European biolaw and its connections with American bioethics. It also analyses different biolaw's epistemologies historically developed both in Europe and in the United States, to finally offer a new conception of biolaw as a new branch of law, by exploring its theoretical and practical atmospheres to avoid muddle and uncertainty when applied in biomedical settings. This book is suitable for academics and students of biolaw, law, bioethics, and biomedical research, as well as for professionals in higher education institutions, courts, the biomedical industry, and pharmacological companies.

Today's international trade regime explicitly rejects cultural perceptions of what is safe to eat, overturning millennia of tradition. The World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS) enshrines "science" as the arbiter in resolving disputes involving this vital human need. This mandate, however, is under attack from many quarters. Critics cite environmental and ethical concerns, unpredictably changing technology, taste, food preferences, local culture, adequacy of governmental implementation of WTO standards, and the reliability of scientific opinion. A basic conflict has crystallized: food as culture versus food as commerce. The WTO/SPS approach is increasingly challenged for its balance in favour of economic considerations, and for its visible undermining of unique cultural identities. This book explores the relationship between the SPS Agreement, food traditions, science, and technology. It deliberately confronts those trade experts who refuse to allow other social sciences to influence their economics-based trade theory. The author investigates the local perception of food and food safety from the anthropological and historical points of view, the evolution of food production technologies, and the medicinal, proscriptive (taboo) and security aspects of food that continue to prevail in nearly all cultures today. She succeeds in demonstrating that, no matter how strong the faith in science and economics, it is unwise to flagrantly dismiss the deeply rooted beliefs of billions of people, a huge majority of the world's population. The beef hormones case; the remaining sovereignty related to food safety measures; the increasing significance of "appropriate levels of protection" and "the precautionary principle"; the redefinition of "food hazard" to include production processes as well as food itself; genetically modified seeds and food products; the concept of "risk" in the science-based context of the Codex Alimentarius - these are among the issues and topics covered in depth. The author concludes that, although quick "legal" resolutions of trade disputes about what people should or should not eat might provide a "win" for open trade, support for the entire structure and rationale of the WTO is undermined unless (at the least) some flexibility of interpretation is introduced into the WTO Dispute Resolution System in order to recognize the weight and validity of public opinion.

With a Foreword by Viviane Reding, EU Commissioner for Education and Culture The European Union and Sport: Legal and Policy Documents is the first volume in the T.M.C. Asser Institute series of collections of documents on international sports law containing material on the intergovernmental (interstate) element of international sports law. Previous volumes have dealt with the Statutes and Constitutions of universal sports organizations, their Doping as well as their Arbitral and Disciplinary Rules. The legal and policy texts in the present book are arranged in thematical, alphabetical order and are chronologically subordered per theme. They cover the period since the Walrave judgement in 1974 when the European Court of Justice established that sport is subject to Community law to the extent that it constitutes an economic activity. The book in fact gives a detailed insight into what could be called the 'EU Sport Acquis' for the present and future (candidate) Member States. This acquis has been developed over the years in numerous decisions and policy documents by, in particular, the Council, Commission, European Parliament and Court of Justice. The contents of this book are divided into three parts totalling twenty chapters and covering all themes which the EC/EU has dealt with so far. The General part contains general policy documents such as, for example, the European Model of Sport and the so-called Helsinki Report on Sport. Specific Subjects concern Boycott, Broadcasting (in particular the Television without Frontiers Directive), Community Aid and Sport Funding (for example, the Eurathlon Programme), Competition (central selling of tv rights regarding the UEFA Champions League, the German Bundesliga, the English Premier League, etc., Formula One, World Cup ticketing arrangements, players' agents), Customs, Diplomas (Heylens), Discrimination (Walrave, Dona, Kolpak, and including Women in sport), Doping (Community Support Plan and Pilot Project for Campaigns to Combat Doping in Sport), Education / Youth (European Year of Education through Sport 2004, and documents concerning child protection in sport and trafficking in young footballers), the freedom of establishment to provide services (Deliege) and of movement of workers (Bosman, Lehtonen), the Olympic Games, State Aid, Tax, Tobacco Advertising, Trade Marks (Arsenal/Reed), Vandalism and Violence (football hooliganism) and Miscellanea (Fishing, Horses, Hunting, etc.). The European Union and Sport: Legal and Policy Documents provides an invaluable source of reference for governmental and sports officials, legal practitioners and the academic world. With the increasing public interest in the legal aspects of sports, this collection of documents is a timely and welcome contribution to enhancing the accessibility of basic texts on international sports law and policy.

This book questions the use of salvage law as legal regulatory framework for the remuneration of environmental services in salvage operations, proposing that such services should be based on direct contracting between commercial salvors and coastal States. Adopting an environment-first approach, it argues that direct contracting better serves and promotes environmental protection outcomes. It also takes a functional view of the law as a tool to promote values and sought outcomes. Salvage operations are recognised as a first line of defence against pollution following shipping incidents. Although regulated under the law of salvage, these operations form an integral component of a framework of environmental protection measures regulated under different legal instruments or laws. The law of salvage fails to effectively integrate salvage operations in broader pollution response mechanisms because it does not aligns comfortably with this framework of laws. Despite the emphasis on environmental protection in the 1989 London Salvage Convention, the Convention maintains the traditional notion of salvage operations as a service to property, while environmental outcomes and the remuneration of environmental services are positioned as a secondary outcome of the law of salvage. This book argues that directly contracting for environmental services bolsters the primacy of environmental protection and the functional use of law to further environmental protection and policy formulation. Direct contracting between coastal States and Salvors for environmental services complements existing practices and pollution response mechanisms and provides a sound legal basis for the effective realisation of salvage operations as a first line of defence against pollution following shipping incidents without fundamentally altering the established commercial identity of the traditional law of salvage. This book will be key reading for students, academics and practitioners working at the intersection of shipping and environmental law.

Patenting Nanomedicines: Legal Aspects, Intellectual Property and Grant Opportunities focusses on the fundamental aspects of Patenting Nanomedicines applied in different Drug Delivery and Targeting Systems . The promoters of new findings in this field of research are numerous and spread worldwide; therefore, managing intellectual property portfolios, and the acquisition and exploitation of new knowledge face several contingency factors. Today, the scientific community is discussing issues of economic outcomes in the field of Nanomedicines. Major concerns include questions as to whether the research groups, academics, industry and other stakeholders should work in unison or independently, if innovation or adaptation of new technology should be prioritized, public versus private research funding, and safeguarding versus sharing knowledge. However, despite its increasing importance for humankind, it is a matter of concern as to whether technological development can really be stimulated by patent protection. An intellectual property strategy should aim to develop a qualitative patent portfolio for continuous learning.

This book addresses questions of ethics, socio-political policies and regulatory aspects of novel Nanomedicine-based products which are currently under development for the diagnosis and treatment of different types of diseases. It is divided in two parts Part I is composed of the first 3 chapters, which focus on the fundamentals of legal aspects, emerging threats, advantages and disadvantages of patenting Nanomedicines, whereas Part II collects 12 chapters discussing different types of Nanomedicine-based products, their potential marketing aspects and patent protection. Whenever applied, each chapter offers a list of patents, based on a specific application in drug delivery and targeting. An outstanding team of 53 authors have contributed to this book, which will be of interest to professionals from the field of patent examiners, academics, researchers and scientists, students and other practitioners.

This book exposes the barriers to inclusive and effective public policy making, which are the current decision making paradigm and commonly held ideas that reduce public policy problems to scientific and technical ones. Through both environmental policy and other decision making examples, readers are shown the commonalities of all decision making. Solution-oriented practitioners and stakeholders will find this book filling a conceptual and methodological gap in existing policy literature and practice. The authors deftly guide readers from post-normal science, wicked problems, and uncertainty concepts to a conceptually-grounded, practical implementation of a new approach, the open solution approach. The Multi-criteria Integrated Resource Assessment (MIRA) is described as the first generation methodology that fulfills the expectations for the inclusive, transparent, and learning-based open solutions approach. MIRA is a holistic package of concepts, methods and analytical tools that is designed to assess Decision Uncertainty, the combined uncertainties that include data, problem formulation, expert judgments, and stakeholder opinions. Introduction of the Requisite Steps, the common steps found in all decision making, provides the yardstick for evaluating a variety of decision making processes, decision tools, and commonly found indices such as the Dow Jones Industrial Average or the Newsweek Green Ranking of corporations. The use of anecdotes, policy stories, and case examples makes this a very readable and practical book for citizens and experts. With this book, readers are prepared to critically evaluate these common indices for their personal use as well as challenge policy processes as a stakeholder. For policy practitioners, this guidebook will become a rubric to ensure an effective public policy making process and to critically evaluate decision support tools.

This book addresses the use and regulation of traditional drugs such as peyote, ayahuasca, coca leaf, cannabis, khat and Salvia divinorum. The uses of these substances can often be found at the intersection of diverse areas of life, including politics, medicine, shamanism, religion, aesthetics, knowledge transmission, socialization, and celebration. The collection analyzes how some of these psychoactive plants have been progressively incorporated and regulated in developed Western societies by both national legislation and by the United Nations Drug Conventions. It focuses mainly, but not only, on the debates in court cases around the world involving the claim of religious use and the legal definitions of "religion." It further touches upon issues of human rights and cognitive liberty as they relate to the consumption of drugs. While this collection emphasizes certain uses of psychoactive substances in different cultures and historical periods, it is also useful for thinking about the consumption of drugs in general in contemporary societies. The cultural and informal controls discussed here represent alternatives to the current merely prohibitionist policies, which are linked to the spread of illicit and violent markets. By addressing the disputes involved in the regulation of traditional drug use, this volume reflects on notions such as origin, place, authenticity, and tradition, thereby relating drug policy to broader social science debates.

Most Americans had never heard of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) before the summer of 2008 when gas prices exceeded $4.00 per gallon. At that time, a national cry rang out for relief at the pumps and for increased energy security to prevent such a painful recurrence. ANWR suddenly became a highly contentious issue in the energy debates raging in Congress, eventually spilling over into the presidential campaigns throughout the fall. It was front page news as Congressional delegations and media outlets made the obligatory pilgrimage to Anchorage and points beyond in a half-hearted effort to find truth amid the mounting hype.

Yet what was learned from all this activity? What do any of us really know about ANWR that wasn't gleaned from a thirty-second news bite? The sad truth is that most Americans had never seen, and never will see, this remote, majestic corner of northern Alaska.

Regrettably, there is no manual with respect to comprehending the issues surrounding ANWR. Current sources run a somewhat limited spectrum from addressing narrow topics in total isolation, to being only mildly informative. More importantly, the information, whether it is derived from energy advocates, environmental organizations, or political analysts, tends to harbor an innate bias. This book is a good faith effort to inform, without bias.