Early Warning for Infectious Disease Outbreak: Theory and Practice is divided into three parts, with the first section introducing basic theory and key technologies of early warning and the basic principles of infectious disease surveillance. The second section introduces the technical details in the process of establishment, operation and usage of CIDARS and Pudong Syndromic Surveillance and the Early Warning System of the Shanghai World Expo. The third part explores the study of early warning technology, collecting some useful exploration in the fields of infectious diseases involving sentinel setting, data analysis, influence factors study, calculation and evaluation of early warning models. Provide insights into the theory and practice of early warning systems that have been evaluated and shown to be effective Presents a synopsis of current state-of-the-art practices and a starting point for the development and evaluation of new methods Covers applied research and complete case studies that focus on local, regional, national and international implementation Includes techniques from other fields, such as intelligence and engineering Explores future innovations in biosurveillance, including advances in analytical methods, modeling and simulation Addresses policy and organizational issues related to the construction of biosurveillance systems

From the Pulitzer Prize-winner: the second installment, following Some Luck, of her widely acclaimed, best-selling American trilogy, which brings the journey of a remarkable family with roots in the Iowa heartland into mid-century America Early Warning opens in 1953 with the Langdon family at a crossroads. Their stalwart patriarch, Walter, who with his wife, Rosanna, sustained their farm for three decades, has suddenly died, leaving their five children, now adults, looking to the future. Only one will remain in Iowa to work the land, while the others scatter to Washington, D.C., California, and everywhere in between. As the country moves out of post–World War II optimism through the darker landscape of the Cold War and the social and sexual revolutions of the 1960s and ’70s, and then into the unprecedented wealth—for some—of the early 1980s, the Langdon children each follow a different path in a rapidly changing world. And they now have children of their own: twin boys who are best friends and vicious rivals; a girl whose rebellious spirit takes her to the notorious Peoples Temple in San Francisco; and a golden boy who drops out of college to fight in Vietnam—leaving behind a secret legacy that will send shock waves through the Langdon family into the next generation. Capturing a transformative period through richly drawn characters we come to know and care deeply for, Early Warning continues Smiley’s extraordinary epic trilogy, a gorgeously told saga that began with Some Luck and will span a century in America. But it also stands entirely on its own as an engrossing story of the challenges—and rewards—of family and home, even in the most turbulent of times, all while showcasing a beloved writer at the height of her considerable powers.

Drought risk management involves three pillars: drought early warning, drought vulnerability and risk assessment, and drought preparedness, mitigation, and response. This book collects in one place a description of all the key components of the first pillar, and describes strategies for fitting these pieces together. The best modern drought early warning systems incorporate and integrate a broad array of environmental information sources: weather station observations, satellite imagery, land surface and crop model simulations, and weather and climate model forecasts, and analyze this information in context-relevant ways that take into account exposure and vulnerability. Drought Early Warning and Forecasting: Theory and Practice assembles a comprehensive overview of these components, providing examples drawn from the Famine Early Warning Systems Network and the United States Drought Monitor. This book simultaneously addresses the physical, social, and information management aspects of drought early warning, and informs readers about the tools, techniques, and conceptual models required to effectively identify, predict, and communicate potential drought-related disasters. This book is a key text for postgraduate scientists and graduate and advanced undergraduate students in hydrology, geography, earth sciences, meteorology, climatology, and environmental sciences programs. Professionals dealing with disaster management and drought forecasting will also find this book beneficial to their work. Describes and discusses the strategies and components used in effective and integrated 21st century drought early warning systems Provides a one-stop-shop that describes in one book the observations, models, forecasts, indices, social context, and theory used in drought early warning Identifies the latest tools and approaches used to monitor and forecast drought, sources of predictive skill, and discusses the technical and theoretical details required to use these tools and approaches in a real-world setting

Written for a broad audience this book offers a comprehensive account of early warning systems for hydro meteorological disasters such as floods and storms, and for geological disasters such as earthquakes. One major theme is the increasingly important role in early warning systems played by the rapidly evolving fields of space and information technology. The authors, all experts in their respective fields, offer a comprehensive and in-depth insight into the current and future perspectives for early warning systems. The text is aimed at decision-makers in the political arena, scientists, engineers and those responsible for public communication and dissemination of warnings.

"In Distant Early Warning, Alex Kitnick reveals the story of Marshall McLuhan's entanglement with the art and artists of the twentieth-century avant-garde. It is a story packed with big names: Marcel Duchamp, Robert Rauschenberg, Claes Oldenburg, Andy Warhol, Nam June Paik, Tom Wolfe, Harold Rosenberg, Max Kozloff, and more. Kitnick, though, is not focused on celebrity, instead he carefully forges connections between McLuhan, his theories, and the artists of his time with thorough research and superb use of McLuhan's own words. McLuhan's writings on media spread quickly and his provocations about what art should be and what artists should be responsible for fueled then current debates. McLuhan observed that artists are first to act in response to change, and he believed they should be the ones to which we entrust new media and technologies. Thus Rauschenberg's desire to connect with culture through things is met with McLuhan's faith in artists as bellwethers of the networked world. In his postscript, Kitnick overlays McLuhan's faith onto the state of contemporary and post-internet art. This final channeling of McLuhan is a swift and beautiful analysis, with a personal touch, of art's recent transgressions and what its future may hold"--

From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of A Thousand Acres comes the much-anticipated final volume in the acclaimed The Last Hundred Years Trilogy, following Some Luck and Early Warning. A richly absorbing new novel that is “a monumental portrait of an American family and an American century…. Smiley’s plot is a marvel of intricacy that’s full of surprises.” —Los Angeles Times It’s 1987, and the next generation of Langdons is facing economic, social, and political challenges unlike anything their ancestors have encountered. Michael and Richie, twin sons of World War II hero Frank, work in the high-stakes worlds of government and finance—but their fiercest enemies may be closer to home. Charlie, the charmer, struggles to find his way; Guthrie is deployed to Iraq, leaving the Iowa family farm in the hands of his younger sister, Felicity—who, as always, has her own ideas. Determined to help preserve the planet, she worries that her family farm’s land is imperiled, and not only by the extremes of climate change. Moving seamlessly from the power-brokered 1980s and the scandal-ridden ‘90s to our own present moment and beyond, Golden Age combines intimate drama, emotional suspense, and an intricate view of history, bringing to a magnificent conclusion the epic trilogy of one unforgettable family.

This book documents seven examples of Early Warning Systems for hydrometeorological and other hazards that have proven effective in reducing losses due to these hazards. The cases studied encompass a variety of climatic regimes and stages of economic development, raging across the industrialized countries of Germany, France, Japan and the United States, to Bangladesh, the island nation of Cuba and the mega-city of Shanghai. Demonstrated characteristics of these exemplary cases are synthesized into ten guiding principles for successful early warning systems that will, it is hoped, prove useful to countries seeking to develop or strengthen such systems within their own borders.