Books on the topic 'Consensus guidance'

Il volume riproduce il percorso documentario della mostra Firenze in guerra 1940-1944 promossa dall’Istituto Storico della Resistenza in Toscana in occasione del 70° anniversario della Resistenza e della Liberazione. I contributi introduttivi illustrano il work in progress che ha accompagnato il progetto espositivo e intendono guidare il lettore attraverso una serie di questioni storiografiche al centro della mostra: la centralità della fase 1940-1943, finora rimasta sullo sfondo, le trasformazioni economiche, i nodi del consenso e del controllo sociale, i caratteri dell’occupazione tedesca, il ruolo della Chiesa e la complessa trama della Resistenza fiorentina. Obiettivo della ricerca è stato quello di indagare da vicino l’impatto della guerra sulla popolazione di una grande area urbana, provando a evidenziarne specificità e connessioni con la cornice nazionale.

In the early 2000s, the US monetary policy committee, as well as other central banks around the world, began using “forward guidance,” or changes in their statement language, to signal policy changes. Underlying this shift toward clearer communication was the idea that more comprehensible monetary policy would lead to better economic performance and lower inflation. The first three chapters of this book argue that, rather than being a lofty goal set by altruistically motivated policy makers, transparency depends on the configuration of committee members’ preferences. Monetary policy committees that have central bankers with opposing preferences are argued to communicate more precisely compared to either a single decision maker or central bankers with more similar preferences. Precise communication is then shown to have positive effects by lowering inflation. Shifting focus and using data from the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), chapter 4 presents evidence that committees with opposing preferences use a lower share of uncertainty words in policy statements and make more numerous changes to public announcements. Chapter 5 shows that households in Germany change their inflation expectations when given more precise central bank information. And chapter 6 shows that the level of precision in inflation-related news articles is negatively related to inflation in a sample of countries from Latin America. In conclusion, this book offers a new way of thinking about central bank committees and transparency. It finds that appointing a more policy-diverse central bank committee can encourage intercommittee governance and accountability as well as better economic performance.

This chapter covers the full spectrum of systemic diseases in paediatric rheumatology including: the systemic vasculitides (HSP, Kawasaki disease, PAN, ANCA-associated vasculitis, Takayasu arteritis, Behçet's disease, cerebral vasculitis, and many others); juvenile SLE; scleroderma; JDM; overlap syndromes; antiphospholipid syndrome; sarcoid; and paediatric uveitis. In addition, it provides updated descriptions and treatment approaches for autoinflammatory diseases, including recently described diseases such as DADA, SAVI, CANDLE, and many others. Other systemic diseases described in detail include mucopolysaccharidoses and mucolipidoses; musculoskeletal features of chromosomal abnormalities; cystic fibrosis; and inflammatory bowel disease. Treatment guidelines for all these systemic diseases have been fully updated, and aligned with recent evidence-based/consensus European guidance.

Because of their awesome destructive capability, nuclear weapons require national security policymakers to carefully evaluate how they fit within a country’s national security posture. No consensus exists as to whether the use of such weapons is in fact an option for decision makers to consider or whether the goal is to ensure that they can never be used. The different strategies that have been developed since 1945 for U.S. nuclear strategy—massive retaliation, flexible response, a fatalistic acceptance of the logic of mutually assured destruction, and the search for the most effective ways of stemming nuclear proliferation in unstable or unpredictable actors—all reflect attempts to provide guidance for policymakers as to the strategic purpose of these weapons.

Multiple documents have been published regarding the use of radionuclide imaging which attempt to outline the applications of SPECT and PET cardiac imaging and to offer guidance in not only how these techniques are performed but also when these tests should be used. These guidance documents, which include position papers, consensus documents, white papers, clinical practice guidelines (CPG), and appropriate use criteria (AUC) serve a number of purposes and are applicable to various health care providers. The focus of this chapter is on CPG and AUC, as these provide the basis for care optimization and reimbursement decisions and are the most widely accepted documents regarding radionuclide-imaging utilization. Throughout this book, each chapter has focused on the best practice of nuclear cardiology, emphasizing methods that will not only improve image quality but also provide significant clinical value. This chapter will emphasize the selection of patients for radionuclide imaging and focus on how best to use these resources to improve the outcome of patients with known or suspected heart disease.

Prevention science emphasizes the need for data-driven prevention, but communities often face significant challenges in determining how to collect and analyze data to inform their prevention efforts. Based on the guidance provided to community coalitions in the CTC system, this chapter describes the ways that communities can gather and assess data on risk and protective factors and behavioral health problems experienced by local youth. The advantages and disadvantages of using archival and self-reported data are compared and the benefits of conducting the CTC Youth Survey with middle and high school students are highlighted. Methods for analyzing these data and creating community consensus on the prioritized risk and protective factors that should be targeted by EBIs are also discussed.

Although group consciousness is an important concept in explaining political behavior, both theoretical guidance on how to measure group consciousness and empirical consensus regarding its operationalization are lacking. This has the potential to lead to both diverging results and inaccurate empirical conclusions, which greatly limits the ability to understand the role that group consciousness plays in politics. Using data from Pew’s 2013 “Survey of LGBT Americans,” this analysis provides a foundation for measuring group consciousness using item response theory (IRT). Through an examination of dimensionality, monotonicity, model fit, and differential item functioning, the results demonstrate that many assumptions about measuring group consciousness have been incorrect. Further, the findings suggest that previous conclusions about subgroup differences may be the result of survey bias, rather than actual between-group differences. Moving forward, scholars of political behavior should use IRT to measure latent constructs.

The late twentieth century saw the rise of new forms of religiosity and a growing consensus about the utility of the concept of ‘religion’ to describe a wide range of beliefs and practices. The idea that Africa was perpetually in need of modernization and socio-economic ‘development’ influenced the theological and practical evolution of Christianity, Islam, and various ‘indigenous’ spiritual traditions. Pentecostalism and reformist Islam shared a turn towards the personalization of spiritual quests and a sense of rupture with the recent past. New movements attacked existing institutions, paths to religious knowledge and authority, and the perceived routinization of spiritual guidance. New patterns of connection between Africa and the rest of the world produced complex mixings and inventions separate from the movement of peoples or the territorial expansion of empires. Further research is needed into the links between the political and financial institutions shaping recent forms of globalization and the intellectual and social content of new religious movements.

Urinary tract infections (UTIs) account for the majority of hospital-acquired infections (HAI), and most of these occur in catheterized patients. However, for most the presence of bacteria in the urine (bacteriuria) is asymptomatic, yet in many institutional and national surveillance studies it is still attributed as ‘infection’. Although guidance is that only symptomatic UTI should be treated, except in pregnancy, bacteriuria in catheterized patients is frequently overinvestigated and antibiotics overused. Most infections are caused by enteric bacteria such as Escherichia coli, but other bacteria such as Proteus mirabilis and staphylococci are more prominent in HAI. Aseptic technique for catheter insertion and during subsequent catheter care together with minimizing catheter duration are very important to prevent catheter-associated UTI (CAUTI). Prophylactic antibiotics should be avoided. National and international action to adopt evidence-based consensus protocols for management of catheterized patients and judicial use of antimicrobial chemotherapy promise to be of greatest benefit.

Vascular access is an essential requirement for the care of the critically ill cardiac patient, being necessary for drug and fluid delivery and monitoring of a patient’s haemodynamic response to an instigated therapy. The most common vascular access procedures conducted in the acute cardiac care unit are central venous and peripheral venous access, and arterial cannulation. Traditional landmark methods are associated with complication rates, ranging from 18 to 40%, depending on the site of access. The use of ultrasound to guide venous and arterial access has been shown to reduce the incidence of complications, such as inadvertent arterial puncture and pneumothorax formation (venous) and posterior wall puncture (arterial), to reduce the time taken and number of attempts to place a catheter, and to reduce the incidence of complete failure to insert a vascular access device. Since 2002, international consensus groups have published recommendations that two-dimensional ultrasound guidance be the preferred method for elective and emergency internal jugular catheter insertion. This chapter explores the evidence for the use of ultrasound to guide vascular access across multiple sites of insertion and describes the basic equipment and techniques necessary for successful deployment.

Paediatric Rheumatology, second edition is an indispensable resource for the identification and management of rheumatological diseases of children and young people. As well as covering common and rare musculoskeletal problems, there are also chapters on rheumatological emergencies designed for quick reference, and essential core clinical skills of relevance to the full spectrum of paediatric rheumatological disease. This second edition is fully updated, including state-of-the-art descriptions of new autoinflammatory diseases, advances in genetics in paediatric rheumatology, up-to-date guidance on the treatment of JIA, vasculitis, SLE, JDM, and other connective tissue diseases. Highlights of the second edition include alignment of management approaches for paediatric rheumatological diseases with recent evidence-based / consensus European guidelines; a description of North American treatment approaches to JIA; updated chapters on more specialist interventions including immunization in the immunosuppressed, and haematopoietic stem cell transplantation; and sections describing approaches to the management of rheumatological diseases in developing countries. Bone diseases are also described in detail including CRMO, skeletal dysplasias, and metabolic bone diseases. The second edition also includes a colour plate depicting rashes presenting in paediatric rheumatological conditions. This second edition is fully endorsed by the British Society for Paediatric and Adolescent Rheumatology (BSPAR), and many members of BSPAR have contributed most of the chapters. This second edition thus provides fully updated clinical guidelines and supporting information needed to successfully manage children and young people with rheumatological conditions.

In the UK, belief, and faith are protected under the legal frame of the Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA) and the Equality Act 2010 (Perfect 2016, 11), in which a person is given the right to hold a religion or belief and the right to change their religion or belief. It also gives them a right to show that belief as long as the display or expression does not interfere with public safety, public order, health or morals, or the rights and freedoms of others (Equality Act 2010). The Equality Act 2010 protects employees from discrimination, harassment and victimisation because of religion or belief. Religion or belief are mainly divided into religion and religious belief, and philosophical belief (Equality Act 2010, chap. 1). The Dialogue Society supports the Equality Act 2010 (Perfect 2016, 11). Consequently, The Dialogue Society believes we have a duty to eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunity, and foster good relations within our organisation and society. The Dialogue Society aims to promote equality and human rights by empowering people and bringing social issues to light. To this end, we have organised many projects, research, courses, scriptural reasoning readings/gatherings, and panel discussions specifically on interfaith dialogue, having open conversations around belief and religion. To encourage dialogue, interaction and cooperation between people working on interreligious dialogue and to demonstrate good interfaith relations and dialogue are integral and essential for peace and social cohesion in our society, the Dialogue Society has been a medium, facilitating a platform to all from faith and non-faith backgrounds. The Dialogue Society thrives on being more inclusive to those who might be overlooked in society as a group. Although women seem to be in the core of society as an essential element, the women who contravene the monotype identity tend to remain in the shadows. The media is not just used to get information but also used as a way of having a sense of belonging by the audience. The media creates collective imaginary identities for public opinion. It gathers the audience under one consensus and creates an identity for the people who share this consensus. Hence, a form of media functions as a medium for identity creation and representation. Therefore, the production and reproduction of stereotypes and a monotype representation of women and women of faith in media content are the primary sources of the public's general attitudes towards women of faith. In the context of this report, the media limits not only women's gender but also their religious identity. The monotype identity of women opposes the plurality of the concept of women. Notably, media outlets are criticised for not recognising the differences in women's identities. Women of faith are susceptible to the lack of representation or misrepresentation and get stuck between the roles constructed for their gender and religion. Women who do not fit in these policies' stereotypes get misrepresented or disregarded by the media. Moreover, policymakers also limit their scope to a single monotype of women's identity when policies are made, creating a public consensus around women of faith. As both these mediums lack representation or have very symbolic and distorted representations of women of faith, we strive to provide a platform for all women from faith and non-faith backgrounds. The Dialogue Society has organised women-only community events for women of faith to have a bottom-up approach, including interfaith knitting, reading, and cooking clubs. Several women-only courses have informed women of the importance of interfaith dialogue, promoting current best practices, and identifying and promoting promising future possibilities. We have hosted panel discussions and held women-only interfaith circles where women from different faith backgrounds came together to discuss boundaries within religion and what they believed to transgress their boundaries. Consequently, we organised a panel series to focus on the roles of women of faith within different areas of society, aiming to highlight their unique individual and shared experiences and bring to light issues of inequality that impact women of faith. Although women of faith exist within all areas of society, we chose to explore women's experiences within three different settings to give a breadth of understanding about women of faith's interactions within society. Therefore, we held a panel series titled 'Women of Faith', including three panels, each focusing on a particular area: Women of Faith in Community, Women of Faith in Public Service, and Women of Faith in Media. In this report, following the content analysis method to systematically sort the information gathered by the panel series, we have written a series of recommendations to address these issues in media and policymaking. This paper has a section on specific policy recommendations for those in decision-making positions in the community, public service, and media, according to the content and findings gathered. This report aims to initiate and provide interactive and transferable advice and guidance to those in a position. The policy paper gives insight to social workers, teachers, council members, liaison officers, academics and relevant stakeholders, policymakers, and people who wish to understand more about empowering women of faith and hearing their experiences. It also aims to inspire ongoing efforts and further action to accelerate the achievement of complete freedom of faith, gender equality in promoting, recommending, and implementing direct top-level policies for faith and gender equality, and ensuring that existing policies are gender-sensitive and practices are safe from gender-based and faith-based discrimination for women of faith. Finally, this report is to engage and illustrate the importance of allyship, the outstanding achievement through dialogue based on real-life experience, and facilitate resilient relationships among people of different religious positions. We call upon every reader of this report to join the efforts of the Dialogue Society in promoting an equal society for women of faith.

What explains war? The so-called bargaining approach has evolved quickly in the past two decades, opening up important new possibilities and raising fundamental challenges to previous conventional thinking about the origins of political violence. Bargaining is intended to explain the causes of conflict on many levels, from interpersonal to international. War is not the product of any of a number of variables creating opportunity or willingness, but instead is caused by whatever factors prevent competitors from negotiating the settlements that result from fighting. Conflict is thus a bargaining failure, a socially inferior outcome, but also a determined choice.Embraced by a growing number of scholars, the bargaining perspective rapidly created a new consensus in some circles. Bargaining theory is radical in relocating at least some of the causes of conflict away from material, cultural, political, or psychological factors and replacing them with states of knowledge about these same material or ideational factors. Approaching conflict as a bargaining failure—produced by uncertainty and incentives to misrepresent, credible commitment problems, or issue indivisibility—is the “state of the art” in the study of conflict.At the same time, bargaining theories remain largely untested in any systematic sense: theory has moved far ahead of empirics. The bargaining perspective has been favored largely because of compelling logic rather than empirical validity. Despite the bargaining analogy’s wide-ranging influence (or perhaps because of this influence), scholars have largely failed to subject the key causal mechanisms of bargaining theory to systematic empirical investigation. Further progress for bargaining theory, both among adherents and in the larger research community, depends on empirical tests of both core claims and new theoretical implications of the bargaining approach.The limited amount of systematic empirical research on bargaining theories of conflict is by no means entirely accident or the product of lethargy on the part of the scholarly community. Tests of theories that involve intangible factors like states of belief or perception are difficult to pursue. How does one measure uncertainty? What does learning look like in the midst of a war? When is indivisibility or commitment a problem, and when can it be resolved through other measures, such as ancillary bargains? The challenge before researchers, however, is to surmount these obstacles. To the degree that progress in science is empirical, bargaining theory needs testing.As should be clear, the dearth of empirical tests of bargaining approaches to the study of conflict leaves important questions unanswered. Is it true, for example, as bargaining theory suggests, that uncertainty leads to the possibility of war? If so, how much uncertainty is required and in what contexts? Which types of uncertainty are most pernicious (and which are perhaps relatively benign)? Under what circumstances are the effects of uncertainty greatest and where are they least critical? Empirical investigation of the bargaining model can provide essential guidance to theoretical work on conflict by identifying insights that can offer intellectual purchase and by highlighting areas of inquiry that are likely to be empirical dead ends. More broadly, the impact of bargaining theory on the study and practice of international relations rests to a substantial degree on the success of efforts to substantiate the perspective empirically.