Group items tagged

Scribd Launches Readcast, Integrates With Facebook® Social Plugins to Make Reading More Social SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwire - April 21, 2010) -   f8 Developer Conference -- Scribd, the world's largest social publishing and reading site, launches Scribd Readcast along with Facebook's new social plugins. Readcast is a set of features that enables people to automatically share what they're reading on Scribd with their friends on Facebook and other social sites. The Facebook Like button and Activity Feed are also now part of the Scribd social reading experience. "Scribd is the place where connections form around shared reading interests," said Trip Adler, CEO and co-founder Scribd. "Now, the universe of social reading suddenly opens up to include Twilight fan fiction, investigative reports about Goldman Sachs, Mary Meeker's Web 2.0 presentation, tips for using solar power. This reflects the breadth and depth of what people read on a daily basis, not just what they're reading on news sites." Readcast is a customizable feature that enables people to automatically share what they're reading on Scribd with friends on Facebook and contacts on other social media sites. People can also choose to share Scribd reading events such as scribbles, comments, ratings, downloads, and eventually mobile reading activity, printing and purchases. Visit http://blog.scribd.com for more information about Readcast. Faceboook social plugins integration enables Scribd users to "like" their favorite reading material and to see -- without leaving Scribd.com -- which Scribd books, research, presentations, illustrations and other written works their friends on Facebook friends "like," comment on, and share. "Scribd's integration with our new social plugins allows people to create social connections around written works," said Ethan Beard, director of Facebook Developer Network. "Now, it's easier to connect with friends on Facebook who are reading the same books, researching the same topics or s

Governing Disasters The Challenges of Emergency Risk Regulation Alberto Alemanno Edited by Alberto Alemanno, Jean Monnet Professor of EU Law and Risk Regulation, HEC Paris, France 2011 320 pp Hardback 978 0 85793 572 4 Hardback £75.00 on-line price £67.50 Qty This book is also available as an ebook  978 0 85793 573 1 from - www.EBSCOhost.com www.myilibrary www.ebooks.com www.ebookscorporation.com www.dawsonera.com www.ebrary.com/corp/ www.books.google.com/ebooks Description 'This comprehensive edited volume makes an important and much needed contribution to an increasingly important dimension of risk assessment and management, namely emergency risk regulation. Drawing upon the responses of government, businesses, and the public to the 2010 volcanic eruption in Iceland - which disrupted European air travel, it offers important lessons for policy-makers who are likely to confront similar unanticipated global risks. The recent nuclear power disaster in Japan makes this volume both timely and prescient.' - David Vogel, University of California, Berkeley, US Contents Contributors: A. Alemanno, N. Bernard, V. Brannigan, C.M. Briggs, M. Broberg, A. Burgess, G.G. Castellano, S. Chakraborty, A. Fioritto, F. Hansstein, L. Jachia, A. Jeunemaitre, C. Johnson, C. Lawless, F.B. López-Jurado, D. Macrae, M. Mazzocchi, V. Nikonov, M. Ragona, M. Simoncini, A.M. Viens Further information 'The challenges posed by risky decisions are well documented. These decisions become even more daunting when they must be made in a midst of a crisis. Using the European volcanic risk crisis as the principal case study, Alberto Alemanno and the other contributors to this thought provoking volume derive valuable lessons for how policy makers can cope with the attendant time pressures, uncertainties, coordination issues, and risk communication problems. Once the next emergency risk situation occurs, it may be too late to learn about how to respond. Governing Disasters should be re

Readings in risk Theodore S. Glickman, Michael Gough 0 Resenhas Resources for the Future, 199

"Transparency is not only in the public interest, it is part of the scientific process. We want to make sure that independent scientists, engineers and other experts have every opportunity to review this information and make their own conclusions." -Secretary Chu As part of the Obama Administration's ongoing commitment to transparency surrounding the response to the BP oil spill, the Department of Energy is providing online access to schematics, pressure tests, diagnostic results and other data about the malfunctioning blowout preventer. Secretary Chu insisted on making the data widely available to ensure the public is as informed as possible, and to ensure that outside experts making recommendations have access to the same information that BP and the government have. This site is updated regularly with new data and additional documentation. Latest Information July 9th Combined Total Amount of Oil and Gas Recovered Daily from the Top Hat and Choke Line oil recovery systems. (.xls) (.ods) Visual Breakout of the Cummulative Barrels of Oil Recovered by the LMRP Cap and Q4000. Oil and Gas Flow Data from the Top Hat and from the Choke Line (.xls) (.ods) July 1st Key Events Timeline (.ppt) - This document lists key events beginning with the April 20 fire on the Deepwater Horizon through June 30th. Data Summary from Deepwater Horizon The following documents are a collection of data from operations to control flow from the Deepwater Horizon well. All information was provided directly by BP. The file names have been preserved in order to maintain a traceable record of where each file came from in the BP tracking system and whenever possible, we have worked to ensure that the contents are data readable. Description of System This page gives a general overview of the well, the blow out preventer, the lower marine reservoir package and the riser configuration as best known after the April 20 fire on the Deepwater Horizon. Well Configuration (.pdf)- showing the dept

10 MAY 2010: ANALYSIS The Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill: An Accident Waiting to Happen The oil slick spreading across the Gulf of Mexico has shattered the notion that offshore drilling had become safe. A close look at the accident shows that lax federal oversight, complacency by BP and the other companies involved, and the complexities of drilling a mile deep all combined to create the perfect environmental storm. by john mcquaid It's hard to believe now, as oil from the wrecked Deepwater Horizon well encroaches on the Louisiana marshes. But it was only six weeks ago that President Obama announced a major push to expand offshore oil and gas drilling. Obama's commitment to lift a moratorium on offshore drilling reflected the widely-held belief that offshore oil operations, once perceived as dirty and dangerous, were now so safe and technologically advanced that the risks of a major disaster were infinitesimal, and managing them a matter of technocratic skill. But in the space of two weeks, both the politics and the practice of offshore drilling have been turned upside down. Today, the notion that offshore drilling is safe seems absurd. The Gulf spill harks back to drilling disasters from decades past - including one off the coast of Santa Barbara, Calif. in 1969 that dumped three million gallons into coastal waters and led to the current moratorium. The Deepwater Horizon disaster is a classic "low probability, high impact event" - the kind we've seen more than our share of recently, including space shuttle disasters, 9/11, and Hurricane Katrina. And if there's a single lesson from those disparate catastrophes, it's that pre-disaster assumptions tend to be dramatically off-base, and the worst-case scenarios downplayed or ignored. The Gulf spill is no exception. Getty Images/U.S. Coast Guard Fire boats battle the fire on the oil rig Deepwater Horizon after the April 21 explosion. The post-mortems are only beginning, so the precise causes of the initial

The politics of food Marianne E. Lien, Brigitte Nerlich 1 Resenha Berg Publishers, 2004 - 244 páginas Is shopping for food really a political act? Why is it that, in a world with enough food for everyone, more people than ever go hungry? Why did the French resistance against genetically modified foods become a fight against McDonalds? Why did the foot-and-mouth epidemic in the UK become a problem for consumers? Capable of connecting human bodies to abstract nations, and techno-science to moral concerns, food has become one of the most contested fields of our time. It is high on the political agenda throughout the world. With disease, contamination, famine, hunger and imbalanced food markets all unfortunate realities, a book that interrogates the politics of food is long overdue. From the BSE outbreak in the 1990s through to cultural taboos and the genetic modification of produce and livestock, this timely book raises provocative questions about how we relate to food in the 21st century. Recent food scandals and genetically modified organism controversies have shattered the idea that 'food is food' as we have always known it, and exposed fundamental dilemmas related to risk and control. Taking as its starting point the premise that food is politicized in arenas not commonly thought of as political, The Politics of Food explores issues surrounding the development of global food markets in underdeveloped nations and addresses recent events that have had a profound impact on how consumers feel about what they eat. The epidemic of foot-and-mouth disease that swept through the UK in 2001 spawned a series of questions concerning the real costs of cheap food. What lessons have been learned? And how are food choices linked to the politics of food markets? With globalization, food has increasingly become entangled in webs of political significance. Through ethnographic case studies, this book reveals how food has come to serve a key role in political resistance, grassroots

The next catastrophe: reducing our vulnerabilities to natural, industrial, and terrorist disasters Charles Perrow 3 Resenhas Princeton University Press, 2007 - 377 páginas Charles Perrow is famous worldwide for his ideas about normal accidents, the notion that multiple and unexpected failures--catastrophes waiting to happen--are built into our society's complex systems. InThe Next Catastrophe, he offers crucial insights into how to make us safer, proposing a bold new way of thinking about disaster preparedness. Perrow argues that rather than laying exclusive emphasis on protecting targets, we should reduce their size to minimize damage and diminish their attractiveness to terrorists. He focuses on three causes of disaster--natural, organizational, and deliberate--and shows that our best hope lies in the deconcentration of high-risk populations, corporate power, and critical infrastructures such as electric energy, computer systems, and the chemical and food industries. Perrow reveals how the threat of catastrophe is on the rise, whether from terrorism, natural disasters, or industrial accidents. Along the way, he gives us the first comprehensive history of FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security and examines why these agencies are so ill equipped to protect us. The Next Catastropheis a penetrating reassessment of the very real dangers we face today and what we must do to confront them. Written in a highly accessible style by a renowned systems-behavior expert, this book is essential reading for the twenty-first century. The events of September 11 and Hurricane Katrina--and the devastating human toll they wrought--were only the beginning. When the next big disaster comes, will we be ready?

Social theories of risk Sheldon Krimsky, Dominic Golding 2 Resenhas Praeger, 1992 - 412 páginas The social science approach to risk has matured over the past two decades, with distinct paradigms developing in disciplines such as anthropology, economics, geography, psychology, and sociology. Social Theories of Risk traces the intellectual origins and histories of twelve of the established and emerging paradigms from the perspective of their principal proponents. Each contributor examines the underlying assumptions of his or her paradigm, the foundational issue it seeks to address, and likely future directions of research. Taken together, these essays illustrate that the principal achievement of social sciences has been to broaden the debate about risk beyond the narrow, technical considerations of engineers and the physical and life sciences. The authors conclude that expert knowledge is not value-free, that public perceptions of and attitudes toward risks vary according to a wide range of social, psychological, and cultural variables, and that public opposition to particular risks cannot be assuaged by technical fixes. The essays reveal the circuitous paths that lead people to the study of risk, highlight how these paths have crossed and discuss some of the seminal influences on individuals and the field in general. Social Theories of Risk presents a broad, retrospective view of the state of the theory in the social sciences, written by many who have been on the cutting edge of risk research since its early days. The book includes both established and novel perspectives that address the theoretical foundations of the field and reflect what we know about risk as a psychological, social, and cultural phenomenon. The collection of papers not only informs us of the tributary ideas that spawned the social studies of risk, but also how the field has matured. The biographical flavor of the essays provides fascinating reading for established members of the field, and a v

Risk governance: coping with uncertainty in a complex world Ortwin Renn 0 Resenhas Earthscan, 2008 - 455 páginas This book, for the first time, brings together and updates the ground-breaking work of renowned risk theorist and researcher Ortwin Renn and integrates the major disciplinary concepts of risk in the social, engineering, and natural sciences. The book unfolds through consecutive acts, opening with the context of risk handling and flowing through the core topics of assessment, evaluation, perception, management, and communication, culminating in a look at the transition from risk management to risk governance and a glimpse at a new understanding of risk in (post)modern societies. The focus is on systemic risks, such as genetically modified organisms, that load high on complexity, uncertainty, and ambiguity and have major repercussions on financial, economic, and social impact areas beyond the physical world. This is essential reading for all researchers, academics, and professionals across the social sciences, sciences, medical, engineering, and financial secto

Gender and PlanningEdited by Susan S. Fainstein and Lisa J. ServonRutgers University Press, 2005 Increasingly, experts recognize that gender has affected urban planning and the design of the spaces where we live and work. Too often, urban and suburban spaces support stereotypically male activities and planning methodologies reflect a male-dominated society. To document and analyze the connection between gender and planning, the editors of this volume have assembled an interdisciplinary collection of influential essays by leading scholars. Contributors point to the ubiquitous single-family home, which prevents women from sharing tasks or pooling services. Similarly, they argue that public transportation routes are usually designed for the (male) worker's commute from home to the central city, and do not help the suburban dweller running errands. In addition to these practical considerations, many contributors offer theoretical perspectives on issues such as planning discourse and the construction of concepts of rationality. While the essays call for an awareness of gender in matters of planning, they do not over-simplify the issue by moving toward a single feminist solution. Contributors realize that not all women gravitate toward communal opportunities, that many women now share the supposedly male commute, and that considerations of race and class need to influence planning as well. Among various recommendations, contributors urge urban planners to provide opportunities that facilitate women's needs, such as childcare on the way to work and jobs that are decentralized so that women can be close to their children. Bringing together the most important writings of the last twenty-five years, this book is essential reading for students and scholars of planning theory as well as anyone concerned with gender and diversity. Contributors: Susan S. Fainstein, Ann Forsyth, Dolores Hayden, Sikivu Hutchinson, Ann R. Markusen, Doreen Massey, Linda McDowell, Martha C. Nuss

Edward Paice's Wrath of God: Lisbon 1755 I read this book very quickly, while away on half term last week. It is a brilliantly researched and well-written account of a world-changing tragedy - and there is no small, grim irony that this is the week in which the Porguguese island of Madeira has suffered more natural disaster. That Lisbon 1755 was a terrible moment (earthquake followed by rampant fires followed by tsunami) is not in doubt and simply as a human story, it is entirely deserving of study. Indeed, it was such a huge event that the impact was felt 100s of miles away, and the sea was affected on the other side of the Atlantic (in the Caribbean). It thus qualified as one of only two 'teletsunami' (a tsunami that has travelled over 1000km) ever recorded in the Caribbean. But its wider importance cannot be underestimated either, because of the philosophical and moral repercussions it had on European thought. As Paice describes Voltaire's brilliant deconstruction of prevailing ideas: In Voltaire's deft hands the Lisbon earthquake became the vehicle for an assault on optimism and the orthodox view of divine Providence which would change the way people thought for ever; and it in turn it arguably became the last disaster in which God held centre stage. (p195) The reasons are many - but if a city could ever have claimed to have been 'Christian' Lisbon was one that would have tried (although many Protestants at the time including the likes of Wesley and Whitefield would have disputed it). It's Catholicism was very strong - perhaps 1/6th of the population were so called 'religioso' - but its forms were (even by many european Catholics' admissions) rampantly corrupt and hypocritical. Worse, though, was that the first big quake struck at 10am on Saturday 1st November 1755 - which was at precisely the moment that many of Lisbon's citizens would have been in church. For 1st November is also All Saints' Day, and this was a huge fea

This is by far one of the best presentations of the technology of oilwell blowout control. The first chapters present the classic subjects such as the Driller's method and the Weight and Wait method. Later chapters cover more of the current techniques for well control. Each chapter is strucutred to first go through the steps of a method and immediately following with a detail discussion of each step and the consequences of errors in actions and assumptions. All the required calculation methods are provided and presented in refreshing clarity. The last chapter of the book provides a really interesting history of the Kuwait well control efforts. The entire contents of the book assume the reader does have some knowledge of the nomenclature of the BOP stack and the control system. However, the terminology is not overwhelming. The best chapter in the book is the case study toward the end of the book. The author puts everything together that is covered in the previous chapters to resonate ideas and concepts. The one thing that will probably make this a classic is the "turn of events" in this chapter. It reads just like a mystery novel and this writer will not spoil the ending.

In contemporary culture risk is ubiquitous, filtering through a range of activities, practices and experiences. In line with rising public concerns about the management of current threats - such as crime, terrorism and global warming -interest in risk has gathered momentum in the social sciences, galvanized by Ulrich Beck's risk society thesis. Bringing together cutting edge academics and researchers, Beyond the Risk Society provides an understanding of the relevance and impact of the concept of risk in various subject areas. Contributions by domain experts critically evaluate the way in which theoretical risk perspectives have influenced their fields of interest, offering the opportunity to reflect upon the problems and possibilities for future work on risk. In assembling this collection, the editors propose a holistic and trans-disciplinary approach to understanding the nature and consequences of risk in everyday life.This text is key reading for social sciences students in a range of disciplines, including sociology, criminology, cultural studies, media studies, psychology and social policy. Contributors: Alison Anderson, Rob Flynn, Jane Franklin, Hazel Kemshall, Deborah Lupton, Phil Macnaghten, Jim McGuigan, Peter McMylor, Gabe Mythen, Pat O'Malley, Teela Sanders, Steve Tombs, Sandra Walklate, Dave Whyte, Iain Wilkinson

Symposium examines legal issues from BP oil spill Filed under Announcements, InsideUF (Campus), Top Stories on Thursday, September 9, 2010. GAINESVILLE, Fla. - Legal responses to the disaster caused by the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill this summer are wide-ranging and varied, according to law professors from the University of Florida Levin College of Law who have been studying laws and policies that can determine liability for such environmental disasters. A symposium outlining the legal basis for responding to the oil spill will be held at 4 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 16, in the Martin H. Levin Legal Advocacy Center at UF's Levin College of Law. The public is invited. Symposium participants include six UF law faculty members, one UF sociology faculty member and six UF law students who have studied the legal structures governing follow-up decisions in the aftermath of the spill along the Gulf Coast. The symposium will examine: 1. Florida laws governing oil spills, including a comparison of laws in other states affected by the spill, which are Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Texas; 2. Federal and admiralty laws relating to oil spills and recovery, including the Oil Pollution Act, which is the central authority on oil spills at the federal level; 3. Types of recovery that can include natural resource restoration, economic compensation for individuals, communities, and businesses, and punitive damages or fines; 4. The claims process established initially by BP and now administered by Kenneth Feinberg through the Gulf Coast Claims Facility; 5. Responses from commissions established by the State of Florida and by President Obama; and 6. Legislative actions that could assist oil spill victims. "We are in the initial stages of developing a legal framework for examining the law and policy issues that will be discussed throughout the region in the coming months and even years," said Jon Mills, who chairs UF law's Oil Spill Working Group and also serves on the univer

Resources for the Future, 1990