Disaster Management calls for papers / meetings & conferences

Call for Papers: Historical and Contemporary Studies of Disasters

Placing Chernobyl, 9/11, Katrina, Deepwater Horizon, Fukushima and Other Events in Historical and Comparative Perspective

Co-Sponsored by the SHOT Prometheans (Engineering) SIG / SHOT Asia Network / Teach 3.11

and held during the Society for the History of Technology (SHOT) Annual Meeting Sunday, 7 October 2012 Copenhagen, Denmark

For this year’s Prometheans / SHOT Asia Network SIG workshop (with co-sponsorship from Teach 3.11, a project of the Forum for the History of Science in Asia), we would like to focus on historical and contemporary studies of both natural and anthropogenic disasters. Inspired by discussions about Fukushima and the greater East Japan Earthquake (Tohoku-chiho Taiheiyo Oki Shishin) and tsunami during the SHOT/4S/HSS co-located meeting in Cleveland last year, an interdisciplinary and international group of scholars from these three societies decided to create an open forum for academic discussions about disasters and the opportunity to place them in historical and comparative perspective. This year’s SIG session will be one gathering of this forum, with a focus on analyzing the sociotechnical dimensions of disasters from historical and other disciplinary perspectives.

This workshop will take place during the Sunday morning* special-interest-group (SIG) time slot at the SHOT annual meeting in Copenhagen. (*This event may be 1/2 day or full day depending on the level of interest.) Offered in an interactive workshop format, the event will be directed primarily towards historical and contemporary studies of disasters of different scales. A portion of the program may also be dedicated to interpreting the events surrounding the Fukushima nuclear disaster and the East Japan Earthquake through comparison with other disasters. While we anticipate that historians may comprise a significant portion of the membership because the event will take place at SHOT, scholars of all academic disciplines are invited to contribute and to attend.

Among the kinds of papers that we are interested in seeing are the following:

Historical or contemporary studies of any disaster of natural or anthropogenic origin. Especially papers that focus on the organizational, technological, and/or sociotechnical dimensions of the disaster, and how this contributed to or exacerbated a particular disaster or the responses that followed the disaster.

An examination of the cultural, political, or economic dimensions of a particular industry, such as nuclear energy, oil extraction, or civil engineering and construction, and their contributions to the disaster.

Historical and contemporary studies of environmental movements and environmental organizations and their relationship to disasters and disaster response.

Any comparative study of disasters, and specific dimensions of disasters.

The workshop format will consist of pre-circulated papers (1000-1800 words in length) and prepared responses; open discussions around predetermined themes during the workshop; and written responses and reflections submitted following the workshop. Members of the Prometheans, SHOT Asia Network, and Teach 3.11 will serve as the program committee for this event, and will work organize the papers received into coherent sessions. Works-in-progress, and submissions by graduate students as well as senior scholars, from any nation, are actively encouraged.

We ask those who are interested to signal your interest by sending us an email, with proposed title, at your earliest convenience so we are able to make an early decision about the scope of the workshop. The applications process will be open until June 1st, by which point we will need a firm commitment to attend and a 300-word abstract from all participants. Pre-circulated papers will be due on September 1st. Those presenting material during the main SHOT conference are still welcome to participate in the workshop with the same (or different) material, and are encouraged to do so (please indicate, for planning purposes, that this will be the case).

Please send emails signaling your interest with a proposed title for your paper to the SIG Workshop Program Committee chair, Atsushi Akera at akeraa@rpi.edu.

Call for Papers: 2012 Quetelet Seminar--Adult Mortality and Morbidity

December 5-7, 2012 Research Centre in Population and Societies, Catholic University of Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium

Numerous demographic studies have been focusing on mortality and range from analysis of age-specific mortality to cause-of-death analysis or risks factors analysis. In countries with a long statistical tradition, mortality levels by sex, age and cause of death are easily obtained. Epidemiologists as well as demographers took interest in identifying risks factors and markers by age, sex and cause. Although these factors and markers remain the same for morbidities and the resulting mortality, little is known about morbidity levels, be it in terms of prevalence or incidence, except for pathologies that are recorded in specific registrars or for which large surveys are conducted. In countries with incomplete demographic data, both mortality and morbidity are little or badly documented except when subjected to specific surveys such as under-5 mortality or, to a lesser extent, morbidity. The need for medical diagnosis and assessment of severity of illness makes morbidity data collection especially challenging. Morbidity data collection is especially challenging as it involves. In addition, in armed conflict, post-conflict or natural disaster situations, evaluating the number of victims is crucial to assess needs as well as to ease the reconciliation process.

The 2012 Quetelet Seminar will focus on adult age morbidity and mortality analysis from the data collection and measurement perspective. It will be organised in collaboration with the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (UCL-CRED/WHO) and International Network for the Demographic Evaluation of Populations and Their Health in Developing Countries (INDEPTH). Communications will cover existing or in-the-making tools for data collection and measurement that serve to estimate adult-age morbidity levels in countries with good-level statistical data and adult-age morbidity and mortality levels in countries with incomplete data. Particular attention will be devoted to papers that deal with estimating mortality and morbidity in crisis or post-crisis time. Studies analysing interactions between mortality and morbidity as well as the role of health monitoring systems in situations conducive to potentially high public health risk are encouraged.

The 2012 Quetelet Seminar will be organised along the following three axes:

1. Morbidity Analysis

What are the existing data collection and measurement tools to estimate incidence and prevalence of diseases, including chronic diseases? What are their limits?

What morbidity data collection and registration tools are most effective? What are the most reliable data to collect for the measurement of functional and cognitive abilities in a population so as to evaluate dependency ratios? What health monitoring systems should be developed to detect and prevent infectious disease?

2. Adult mortality in countries where data are incomplete

What are the latest developments in the estimation of adult mortality in countries where civil registration data are incomplete or non-existent? How has adult mortality changed recently in developing countries, more than three decades after the onset of the HIV epidemic and in a context of increased access to antiretroviral treatment? Beyond mortality levels, how are inequalities in adult mortality analysed (by sex, according to educational or poverty levels)? What are the lessons to be learned from demographic surveillance sites, particularly in terms of causes of death, as reflected by verbal autopsies and associated tools?

3. Demographic impacts of armed conflicts and natural disasters

What impact armed conflicts and natural disasters have on adult morbidity and mortality? How is this impact measured? What different forms of resilience develop and how are they captured? What early warning systems can be put in place to limit the impact of disasters?

Instructions for submitting paper
Abstracts (1 page including tables) should be submitted by email before 8th June, 2012 to Isabelle Theys (Isabelle.Theys@uclouvain.be). The abstracts should include a description of the paper’s objective, background, data and research methods, as well as expected findings. Authors of accepted papers will be notified by 29th June.

Paper
The completed papers, either in English or French, should be sent before 15th November, 2012. The final version should not exceed 20 single-spaced pages, including tables and references.

Language
Papers will be presented in French or English, without simultaneous translation.

Publication
A selection of publications will be published in the proceedings of the Chaire Quetelet 2012.

Deadlines
Deadline for submission: 8th June, 2012
Author notification of accepted paper abstract: 29th June, 2012
Deadline for complete paper: 15th November, 2012
Quetelet Seminar: 5th-7th December, 2012

Call for Abstracts: International Society for Disease Surveillance Annual Conference

The ISDS Annual Conference is the premier event dedicated to the advancement of the science and practice of biosurveillance. This year’s theme, Expanding Collaborations to Chart a New Course in Public Health Surveillance, will highlight the importance of working together across agencies, sectors, and disciplines to improve surveillance methods and population health outcomes. The conference will be held at the Sheraton San Diego Hotel and Marina in San Diego, CA, December 4-5, 2012, with Pre-Conference Workshops on December 3rd.

The ISDS Conference draws professionals from a broad range of disciplines— epidemiology and computer science to mathematical modeling and health policy—to learn and contribute the latest achievements, methodologies, best practices, conceptual frameworks, and technical innovations in the rapidly evolving field of biosurveillance. This year's conference will provide fertile ground for cultivating new ideas and partnerships with roundtable discussions, panels and other opportunities to collaborate.

The scope of this conference includes all of the components, policies, methods, practices, infrastructure, research and evaluation related to timely surveillance of communicable diseases, chronic diseases and injuries. This includes notifiable conditions, adverse events and emerging/novel threats; biological, chemical, and radiological health threats; plant, animal, and food surveillance; and environmental monitoring.

Questions regarding the Call for Abstracts may be sent to Tera Reynolds, ISDS Program Manager.

Submission deadline: September 6, 2012 (11:59pm Eastern Daylight Time)

Authors notified of acceptance: October 3, 2012

Pre-Conference Workshops: December 3, 2012

Annual Conference: December 4-5, 2012

Submission Types

Note: All abstracts for the ISDS Conference will be submitted using ScholarOne. There is a limit of 4810 characters for the text of your submission. The character count includes spaces. The character count WILL include title, authors, institutions, tables, and images, but WILL NOT include presenting author brief biographical summaries (bios) or the abstract summary that will be used in the conference program.

Oral

All abstracts submitted for oral presentation are automatically considered for poster presentation as well. Include the following components when submitting an abstract for oral presentation:

· Title (85 characters MAX)

· Objective

· Introduction

· Methods

· Results

· Conclusions

· Acknowledgements

· References

· Names and affiliations of authors

· Brief bio of lead author/intended presenter (450 characters/75 words)

· Brief summary (600 characters/100 words) of submission to be used in conference program

Poster

Include the following components when submitting an abstract for poster presentation:

· Title (85 characters MAX)

· Objective

· Introduction

· Methods

· Results

· Conclusions

· Acknowledgements

· References

· Names and affiliations of authors

· Brief bio of lead author/intended presenter (450 characters/75 words)

· Brief summary (600 characters/100 words) of submission (for potential inclusion in conference program)

Panel *New for 2012*

Panel topics should be a specific aspect of design, theory, application, or experience pertaining to the science or practice of biosurveillance. Suggested panels should be comprised of no more than four participants and a moderator. A typical panel session will consist of four 15 minute presentations, each followed by 5 minutes of questions, with 10 minutes for closing discussion (presentation lengths will be subject to change based on final agenda). When submitting an abstract for a panel, include the following components:

· Title (85 characters MAX)

· Objective

· Introduction

· Panel description

· How the moderator intends to engage the audience in discussions on the panel topic

· Names of panel presenters, moderator and affiliations

· Brief bios for each panel presenter and moderator (450 characters/75 words each) for abstract reviewers to assess appropriateness to serve on the panel for the described topic

· Brief summary (600 characters/100 words) of panel to be used in conference program

Roundtable *New for 2012*

Roundtables can have up to three facilitators to briefly introduce the topic of interest and facilitate active discussion among attendees. Roundtables must be discussion-oriented rather than didactic, lecture-driven sessions. Roundtable discussions will be 60-90 minutes (depending on final agenda). When submitting an abstract for a roundtable, include the following components:

· Title (85 characters MAX)

· Objective

· Introduction

· Roundtable description

· How the facilitator intends to engage the audience in the roundtable discussion, including sample questions

· Names of facilitators and affiliations

· Brief bios for each facilitator (450 characters/75 words each) for abstract reviewers to assess appropriateness to lead a discussion on the described topic

· Brief summary (600 characters/100 words) of roundtable to be used in conference program

System Showcase Demonstrations *New for 2012*

System showcase demonstrations will be presented during the evening poster session on the first day of the conference. A typical demonstration will illustrate one or more aspects of an innovative population/public health surveillance system that is in use or under development. Demonstrations of open source and/or free products are strongly encouraged. System showcase demonstrations are not intended to be marketing or sales presentations and such submissions will be rejected; those interested in supporting the ISDS conference with an exhibit booth should contact Tera Reynolds at ISDS for more information. When submitting an abstract for a system showcase demonstration, include the following components:

· Title (85 characters MAX)

· Objective

· Introduction

· Description, highlighting benefits to public/population health surveillance and how this demonstration will be a unique addition to the ISDS conference

· Conclusions, including lessons learned and design principles from this demonstration that attendees can take away, even if not using or intending to use the system demonstrated

· Names of demonstrators and affiliations

· Brief summary (600 characters/100 words) of showcase to be used in conference program

Track Descriptions

I. Analytical Methods

a. Analytical Methods: Applied

b. Analytical Methods: Research & Development

This theme is focused on important and novel advances in the field of surveillance methodologies and analytical approaches. Abstracts in the Applied sub-track should describe methods or processes routinely used in a production-type environment. Abstracts in the Research and Development sub-track should describe methods and processes still under development or tested within a research or pilot setting. Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

· Analytic evaluation of surveillance components

· Decision support

· Estimating morbidity and impact

· Evaluation of algorithms and systems through epidemic simulation

· Geospatial analysis

· Innovative use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology

· Integrating evidence from multiple sources

· Integration of mathematical modeling and statistical analyses

· New algorithms and evaluation of existing algorithms for cluster and event detection

· Pattern recognition algorithms

· Predictive disease modeling/predictive analytics

· Spatial cluster detection

· Statistical methods and tools for analyzing and interpreting data

· Time series analysis

II. Informatics

a. Informatics: Applied

b. Informatics: Research & Development

Abstracts in the Applied sub-track should describe methods or processes routinely used in a production-type environment. Abstracts in the Research and Development sub-track should describe methods and processes still under development or tested within a research or pilot setting. Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

· Advances in methods for classifying data

· Approaches to building interoperable surveillance systems and components

· Borderless data exchange models (e.g. federated information sharing approaches)

· Cloud computing for public health surveillance

· Data integration – acquiring, moving, storing, processing, coding, normalizing, and preparing data for analysis between systems

· Data quality

· Data visualization methods

· Electronic health records and public health surveillance

· Health information exchange

· How clinical information systems can support public health surveillance efforts

· How public health information systems can support clinical efforts

· Informatics lessons learned

· Information and knowledge exchange

· Innovations in public health informatics

· Mobile technologies for public health

· Natural language processing

· Standards and Interoperability Framework (Public Health Reporting Initiative)

· Standards used in public health surveillance

· System architectures for limited connectivity environments and disaster surveillance

· System architectures for surveillance in low-resource environments

· System architectures to leverage HIE for public health surveillance

· System descriptions of real-world solutions to challenging integration problems

· Workforce requirements and training

· Use of social media for biosurveillance

III. Policy (at local, state, federal, international levels)

This theme is focused on sharing successes, challenges or approaches leveraged in the use or development of policy which affects biosurveillance operations and activities. Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

· Creating successful surveillance partnerships

· Data sharing policies

· Federal policy agendas

· Funding strategies for surveillance

· How public health surveillance data have been used to inform policy

· International Health Regulations

· Legal/ethical/security/privacy issues in surveillance

· Meaningful Use responses by public health departments

· Policies around social media/leveraging social networks for risk communication, etc.

· Research collaborations to expand evidence-based health policy

· Workforce

IV. Public/Population health surveillance

a. Public/Population Health Surveillance: Practice

b. Public/Population Health Surveillance: Research

c. Public/Population Health Surveillance: Evaluation

This theme is focused on improving the daily processes of timely public/population health surveillance, including detection, signal validation, event characterization, investigation, and response. Abstracts in the Practice sub-track should describe practices routinely used in a production environment and/or deployed in field by public health departments or other agencies. Abstracts in the Research sub-track should describe research related to surveillance, health systems, etc. Abstracts in the Evaluation sub-track should describe evaluations of public/population health surveillance systems, workflows, protocols, etc. Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

· Adverse drug events and pharmacovigilance

· Case studies

· Chronic disease surveillance

· Collaboration success stories

· Contact tracing and network analysis

· Disaster/event surveillance

· Disparities surveillance

· Evaluation of surveillance systems

· Infectious disease surveillance

· Influenza-like illness surveillance

· Injury surveillance

· Innovations in biosurveillance

· Integrating surveillance across multiple data sources

· Integrating surveillance systems, e.g. syndromic and reportable diseases

· Linking response with frontline health workers

· Meaningful Use and how it’s changing/not changing surveillance practice

· Measuring vaccine efficacy, coverage, etc.

· Messaging/risk communication (what to say to the public, politicians and media about syndromic systems alerts)

· Mobile technologies for public health

· Novel approaches to communicable diseases surveillance and reporting (e.g., notifiable conditions, MRSA, nosocomial infections)

· OneHealth

· Outbreak detection, characterization and outbreak management

· School and university surveillance

· Situational awareness

· Social media and surveillance

· Surveillance across borders

· Surveillance for refugees and recent immigrants

· Surveillance in resource-limited settings

· Surveillance using ambulatory care data

· Surveillance using inpatient data

· Vaccine-preventable disease surveillance

Call for Papers: Pan Arab Psychiatric Conference (PAPC2012)

Novembe 29-December 1, 2012 Dubai, United Arab Emirates 

The theme selected for the Mental Health Changes in the Arab World (Violence, Trauma and Recovery) will address the involvement of the mental health professionals in providing services for people affected by the recent developments in the region. It is an opportunity to discuss and share development, trends, scientific research and treatments advancements in the impact of the violence on the mental health specifically and psychotrauma and Psychiatric disorders in general not forgetting Recovery.

Together with a carefully selected educational program and a group of highly renowned regional and international keynote speakers, we promise you a significant scientific enrichment for people involved hoping to benefit the region on the ground in the post period of the conference and initiate mental health programs the region needs.

The Scientific Committee welcomes the submission of abstracts to make poster presentations at PAPC2012 from professionals, researchers and students in the Psychiatric field.

Deadline
Deadline for abstract submission is 30 August 2012, 8 pm Dubai time.

Abstract Topics
1....Psychological trauma and recovery.
2....Resilience and recovery after psychological trauma.
3....Disaster psychiatry
4....Role of NGPs in developing mental health services
5....Violence and mental health (Domestic Violence, Violence among psychiatric population)
6....Recent advances in psychopharmacology of major mental illnesses
......(schizophrenia, bipolar, depression etc)
7....Addiction, personality and deliberate self harm available services and different managements.
8....Co morbidity of physical and psychiatric disorders
9....Special populations (Women's, child, adolescent and old age)
10..Community psychiatry and post discharge services & managements.
11..Psychiatry and the law
12..Cultural issues of psychiatric practice in the Arab world
13..Bridging the gap between psychology and psychiatry in the Arab world
14..Psychiatry and spirituality
15..Recruitment into psychiatry & Postgraduate training in psychiatry
16..Arab Psychiatrists experience abroad, prospects & challenges

Meeting Minds Experts
PAPC2012 Professional Conference Organisers

pco@papc2012.com

Call for Papers for a Session on Health, Disease, and Physical Culture at the Northeast Popular Culture Association Annual Conference

The Northeast Popular/American Culture Association (NEPCA) is soliciting papers for topics in the area of Health, Disease and Culture for its annual meeting, which will be held October 26-26 on the campus of St. John Fisher College in Rochester, New York.

Topics in Health, Disease and Culture may include such themes as below: Mass media images of health and disease in popular culture--print, film, television, etc.

Portrayals of health institutions (e.g., hospitals, clinics, medical homes, pharmacies) and health professionals in history, literature or mass media

Portrayals of Prescription Drugs (E.G., Development, Marketing, Advertising, Consumption, Role in Treatment of Chronic Illnesses

Representations of the body in discourses of health and illness

Narratives of illness from patient and health practitioner perspectives in novels, short stories, memoirs, graphic comics, etc., discussed in larger sociocultural (ethnicity, race, gender, class), and political (health care system) contexts

Disability discourses in history, literature, and public policy

Outbreak narratives of infectious diseases (e.g., endemic, epidemic, pandemic) in popular media and literature; infectious diseases in history and public policy

Historical and contemporary perspectives on the promotion of health through diet, exercise, personal or domestic hygiene, cosmetic procedures, public health campaigns (e.g., smoking, obesity).

Focuses on Public Health: The Built Environment, Global Health, Emergency Preparedness, Occupational Health, Surveillance and Public Health

Creative Writing and Health Care Presentations from patient, caregiver, health professional or medical humanities practitioners, etc.

We invite both individual papers and proposals for complete panels (please include titles and abstracts for each panelist). Please send a 1-2 page paper proposal and a one-page vita to both the Program Chair Tim Madigan tmadigan@sjfc.edu and to the Area Chair for Health, Disease and Culture, Jennifer Tebbe-Grossman jennifer.tebbe-grossman@mcphs.edu. The deadline for submission is June 1, 2012.

Jennifer Tebbe-Grossman
Professor of Political Science and American Studies
School of Arts and Sciences
Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences-Boston
179 Longwood Avenue
Boston, Massachusetts 02115
Phone: 617-732-2904
Email: jennifer.tebbe-grossman@mcphs.edu

Call for Presentations: 12th World Congress on Stress, Trauma & Coping

February 19-24, 2013 Baltimore, Maryland

Submission Deadline: June 15, 2012

The 12th World Congress on Stress, Trauma and Coping is the premier forum for multidisciplinary exchange of ideas and information among those who provide crisis and disaster mental health services.

Sessions during the 12th World Congress have been designed to provoke critical thinking challenge current convention offer innovative ideas and insights & fully explore the many applications of critical incident response in various industries, settings and situations.

World Congress participants will identify the tools needed to solve current problems and explore the future direction of the crisis intervention field. The 6 day World Congress will include a variety of presentation formats ideally suited to exploring concepts, practical applications and results in sessions designed for professionals in all practice settings and experience levels.

World Congress Major Content Themes
Over 125 presenters will cover the spectrum of crisis intervention in these and other areas:

Research / Innovations Military Disaster Response Healthcare Settings Faith Based Applications Emergency Services, Public Safety Corporate / Industry / EAP Specialty Populations Team Development and Care Schools, Children

Who Should Attend

The ICISF 12th World Congress is a “must attend” experience for anyone working in the fields of crisis intervention, traumatic stress, emergency services & disaster mental health, including:

Disaster response personnel Psychiatrists Humanitarian aid workers Counselors Law-enforcement officers Social workers Firefighters Faith-based providers EMTs / Paramedics Employee representative organizations & Unions Military personnel First response support agencies Homeland security personnel Media correspondents / journalists Emergency service administrators Grief counselors Emergency operations administrators & managers Employee assistance professionals Corrections officials Commercial & industrial organization employees Healthcare professionals & administrators Airline & other transportation industry personnel Educators, school employees Communication officers & dispatch personnel Crisis workers Security professionals Suicidologists Victim's advocates Psychologists Risk managers

Why Attend?
The Crisis Intervention field continues to grow, building on excellent proven programs and strategies while incorporating innovations that meet the needs and challenges of the diverse populations we serve. As crisis interventionists we must learn from one another to continually improve the services provided to the level of best practices.

At the 12th World Congress, you'll have an incomparable opportunity to interact with experts in the field and hundreds of your peers from around the U.S. and world who, like you, are committed to providing assistance to those affected by critical incident stress. Choose from over 70 presentations that will explore how the practice of crisis intervention is evolving and adapting to meet the needs and challenges of the future.

Please address any questions to:

Shelley Cohen
World Congress Program Manager
scohen@icisf.org
(410) 750-9600

Call for Papers: International Telecommunication Union Kaleidoscope 2013 Building Sustainable Communities Academic Conference

22–24 April 2013, Kyoto, Japan

Kaleidoscope 2013 Building Sustainable Communities is the fifth in a series of peer-reviewed academic conferences organized
by ITU that brings together a wide range of views from universities, industry and research institutions of different fields. The aim of Kaleidoscope conferences is to identify emerging developments in Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) at an early stage to generate successful products and services through the development of international and open standards.

Future technologies should be designed to enhance the quality of human life. Kaleidoscope 2013 will, therefore, highlight multidisciplinary aspects of future ICTs including future services and applications demand as well as socio-economic, cultural, ethical, legal, and sustainable development policy aspects of communities of the future.

ICTs can be used as a catalyst for transforming life to meet the challenges of the new millennium, including global economic and
financial crises, high unemployment rates, accessibility issues, global diseases, food availability and distribution, climate change,
environmental disasters, energy consumption, transport systems, safety, security, and welfare.

Sustainable communities will combine human-oriented technologies and human values.

Besides technical issues, building sustainable communities also raises ethical concerns such as responsibility for future generations and for the environment, as well as for data and information privacy. Therefore, an improved understanding of technology, its suitable application, and a high consideration of its potential consequences are necessary.

To address these issues, and for a co-evolution of technology and sustainable communities, standards are indispensable. Developing these standards will require concerted global efforts by inter-sectoral stakeholders. This conference will help to further such collaborations.

Building Sustainable Communities is calling for original academic papers offering innovative and bold approaches in research
and development to build smart, ethical, and sustainable communities.

Submission of papers
Prospective authors, from countries that are Members of ITU, are invited to submit complete, original papers with a maximum
length of 4,500 words within eight pages including summary and references, using the template available on the event website.
Paper proposals will be evaluated according to content, originality, clarity, relevance to the conference’s theme and, in particular, significance to future standards.

Suggested (non-exclusive) list of topics

Track 1: Technology and architecture evolution

-- Long-distance and ultra-high-speed transmission network systems (terabit, exabit)
-- Disaster relief systems, network resilience and recovery
-- Wireless sensor networks
-- Optical wireless communication
-- Human-centric, cognitive and context-aware systems
-- Machine-to-machine communication and Internet of Things
-- Body-area networks
-- Near-field communications
-- Environmental and biometric actuators and sensors
-- Security and privacy-enhancing technologies
-- Pervasive and trusted network and service infrastructure
-- Mobility and nomadicity
-- Adaptive antenna techniques

Track 2: ICT applications and services for sustainable communities

-- e-government and e-democracy
-- e-learning and e-science
-- e-agriculture
-- e-health and telemedicine
-- Ageing and ambient assistive living
-- Smart cities: utilities, transport, buildings and homes
-- Innovative applications and content delivery (IPTV, games, etc.)
-- Mobile payment and money transfer
-- Augmented reality and technology intelligence
-- Location-based services
-- Service layer requirements
-- XaaS (Anything as a Service)
-- QoS for differentiated source
-- Location services

Track 3: Social, economic and policy aspects of ICT in sustainable communities

-- Digital rights and identity management
-- Societal impact
-- Legislative and regulatory frameworks
-- Security, confidentiality and privacy
-- Accessibility and usability
-- Business models (including accounting, billing and charging)
-- Standardization models
-- Network neutrality
-- Inclusiveness, affordability and equal access
-- Internationalization and localization
-- Environmental sustainability
-- Ethical issues
-- Regulation (for QoS, network sharing, etc.)
-- Standardization and innovation management
-- Stakeholder perceptions in standards
-- Standards in healthcare services

Deadlines
Submission of full paper proposals: 10 September 2012
Notification of paper acceptance: 12 November 2012
Submission of camera-ready accepted papers: 3 December 2012

Contact: kaleidoscope@itu.int

Call for Papers: Workshop on Natural Disaster and the City--Historical Perspectives from Southeast Asia and Japan, 1945-2010

16-17 January 2013

Centre for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan

The Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University will be holding a workshop on Natural Disasters and the City: Historical Perspectives from Southeast Asia and Japan.

This workshop invites papers that undertake inter-disciplinary and transnational approaches to the study of natural disasters. It aims to historically contextualise the causes and consequences of disasters and to compare them across societies. The focus is on cities in Southeast Asia and Japan after World War Two, as expressed along three general lines of inquiry.

First, the workshop will explore how the vulnerability of urban populations was influenced by new or accelerated human processes that were most manifest in cities in the postwar period, such as population growth, urbanisation, migration, national integration, economic development, and environmental degradation. Below the macro, the workshop considers how urban communities have coped with hazardous living, how far responses have been fractured by various forms of social stratification and whether local perspectives and agency have diverged from state and international approaches to disaster prevention and rehabilitation. Finally, the workshop examines why some disasters have not merely been events occurring at the tail end of long-term processes, but have themselves become catalysts for historic change in the postwar period.

Relevant themes include:

• Historical factors affecting the risk faced by urban populations.
• Cities as sites of risk, response and rehabilitation.
• Cultures of disaster and coping mechanisms of urban communities.
• Micro-histories, ethnographies and memories of urban disasters.
• Disasters as catalysts for historical change.

The session welcomes contributions from historians, geographers, sociologists, and anthropologists, among others, and from both established scholars and PhD students at an advanced stage of their research. Papers can examine individual cities or compare different cities.

Pls submit a 500-word abstract and a copy of your CV to Loh Kah Seng lkshis@cseas.kyoto-u.ac.jp by 30 June 2012.

Convenors:
Professor Yoko Hayami
Dr Loh Kah Seng

Mario Lopez Assistant Professor
Center for Southeast Asian Studies,
Kyoto University
46 Shimoadachi-cho Yoshida, Sakyoku
Kyoto 606-8501, Japan

Call for Abstracts: Dynamics of Preparedness Conference

October 22-24, 2012 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

The University of Pittsburgh MIDAS National Center of Excellence, in cooperation with the Journal of Public Health Management & Practice and the Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics at the Harvard School of Public Health, invite researchers, graduate students, and post-doctoral fellows to the Dynamics of Preparedness Conference in Pittsburgh, October 22–24, 2012.

Purpose: The past decade has seen unprecedented investments in research on preparedness from many sectors of government and the private sector. Numerous reports have appeared, evaluating the preparedness status of states and communities. Dynamics of Preparedness will convene researchers from diverse disciplines to present, critique, and consider the future of research on emergency preparedness in public health systems.

Dynamics describes the complex interactivity among numerous governmental, private, and voluntary components of public health systems. Systems must adapt to emergencies and disasters —both as individuals, agencies, and organizations and as system components affecting the populations served—in ways that often produce unexpected, secondary impacts. Preparedness includes prevention, mitigation, response, and recovery relevant to infectious disease outbreaks as well as other emergencies and disasters.

Goals:

Compile research on public health systems that support preparedness, specifically highlighting innovative methods and novel approaches.
Critique the rigor and quality of output from this research arena, noting the findings and insights with implications for public policy and practical application.
Catalogue the issues and problems where the evidence base for preparedness policy and practice remains weak as an agenda for future research and seek solution-focused innovations.

Dynamics of Preparedness will feature sessions in:

Data: resources for, as well as barriers and constraints upon, quantitative and qualitative research

Innovations: methodological challenges and novel multi-disciplinary approaches

Outcomes: demonstrations, observational studies, and comparisons focused on the outcomes of response to public health emergencies

Modeling: use of computational, conceptual, and mathematical modeling to explore legal frameworks, resource deployment, and operational efficiency and effectiveness under resource-constrained conditions

Progress of Research: presentation of studies on the critical themes of system sustainability, communications, workforce capabilities, and criteria and metrics and on the cross-cutting issues of legal infrastructure and special-needs populations

Translation: utility and application of research results for policy making and practice

Call for Abstracts: Research perspectives at this conference will include: law and policy—including statutory authorities, organizational structures, and governance characteristics; economic resources—including finances, workforce, physical assets, equipment, and facilities; and operational effectiveness—as measured by performance processes and outcomes, quality improvement and quality assurance, and operational plans and protocols. The Conference will welcome innovative computational researchers who have entered the field of public health systems using methods from systems engineering, mathematical simulation, computational modeling, natural-language processing, Bayesian statistics, and other fields.

Deadline for submission: Friday, June 1, 2012

Selection and Notification: Selected abstract authors will be notified beginning June 30, 2012.

Call for Papers: Fourth Conference on Environment and Health

2013 American Meteorological Society Annual Meeting

January 6-10, 2013 Austin, Texas

The abstract submission deadline is: 1 August 2012

The overarching theme for the 2013 AMS Annual Meeting is “Taking Predictions to the Next Level: Expanding Beyond Today’s Weather and Climate Forecasts and Projections.” Over the past 60 years the meteorological community has made tremendous strides in making prediction a fundamental part of its scientific and operational/service heritage through the development and application of complex numerical models involving the atmosphere, ocean, land, and cryosphere components of the Earth System. Applying our predictive capabilities into a broader domain including public health, food security, air and water quality, alternative energy and responses to climate trends, is a central objective of this meeting.

In the context of this overarching theme, the goal of 4Health is to go in-depth into Earth’s influence on human health and well-being. In doing so, we seek to better understand how the atmospheric and oceanic systems exert measurable (positive or negative) impacts; moreover, we are interested in how planetary information feeds into surveillance and preparedness (including adaptation) models and decisions.

We are especially interested in public health and medical factors such as:

Asthma
Cardio and Respiratory Diseases
Foodborne Diseases and Nutrition
Vectorborne and Zoonotic Diseases
Waterborne Illnesses
Infectious Diseases
Mental Health
Food Securtiy
Heat and Extreme Weather-related Mortality and Morbity
Physical Safety

The sessions are arranged to help us explore these topics (and possibly others) in the context of hydro-meteorological and oceanographic factors so that our community understands how our science and technologies are utilized (or could be applied) for health. Thus, papers from the environment, health, and medical disciplines that explore this approach through the following subjects: integrated modeling; climate, ocean, weather and water forecasts; in-situ and satellite monitoring and observations; communication tools and technologies; and, inter-disciplinary coordination are encouraged.

Of specific interest are papers that address end-to-end science and management approaches of the aforementioned health concerns in the context of these environmental factors:

1) Ocean and coastal–related human health risks

2) Dust transport, transformation, and consequence

3) Extreme temperatures, including attendant influences on drought and wildfires

4) Examples of adaptation risks and solutions at local, regional, and international levels

5) Disaster risk reduction for healthcare delivery services (e.g., EMT) and infrastructure (e.g., hospitals), including its systems of dependency (e.g., utility grids, water, sanitation)

Achieving the 4Health goal requires participation and engagement from colleagues in the public health, medical, hydro-meteorological, and oceanic disciplines.

Papers and posters from graduate and undergraduate students are welcome.

For overall questions:

Sue Estes, NASA (email: sue.m.estes@nasa.gov; tel : 256-961-7961)

Wendy Marie Thomas (e-mail: wthomas@ametsoc.org, tel: 202-355-9820);

For Extreme Temperatures/Drought/Wildfires Topics

Glenn McGregor (e-mail: g.mcgregor@auckland.ac.nz, tel: 64 9 3737599 ext 85280)

Paul English, CA Dept of Health (email: Paul.English@cdph.ca.gov; tel: 510-620-3684)

For Health-Specific Topics

Kris Ebi, IPCC/Stanford (email: krisebi@ipcc-wg2.gov)

Paul English, CA Dept of Health (email: Paul.English@cdph.ca.gov; tel: 510-620-3684)

For Climate-Related Topics

Eileen Shea, NOAA (email: eileen.shea@noaa.gov; tel: 828-271-4384)

For Dust-Related Topics

Bill Sprigg, Univ of AZ/NASA (email: wsprigg@u.arizona.edu; tel: 520-621-6834)

For Oceans and Human Health Topics

Juli Trtanj, NOAA (email: juli.trtanj@noaa.gov)