Bücher veröffentlicht von Springer International Publishing AG

The world is warming up rapidly and this change is most noticeable in mountains with already observable consequences on flora and fauna. This book presents concepts, methodologies and major achievements of recent research in climate change ecology in mountains by placing this research in a historical perspective, that of travelers and naturalists of the Romantic era, and first of all Alexander von Humboldt.There is now a renewed interest, both in academia and beyond, in Humboldt, his writings and his view of nature. But how can we actually make use of his writings? How can we put his philosophy into practice? How can we still learn from past scientific figures and do a better science today? In this book, the author presents how it is possible to succeed in modern science by returning to sources, by renewing the tradition of past polymaths such as Humboldt, and by having a fully humanistic approach in science. He illustrates his point based on his 15-year experience in the study of the ecological effects of climate change in the tropical Andes, showing how he has incorporated approaches from other disciplines, from different branches of science, from history and the arts to achieve a more comprehensive view of his scientific field. Alongside hard data, discoveries by past naturalists build our understanding of the world but appealing to our emotions makes us want to understand it. In the author¿s view this is a productive and enjoyable way of doing science that speaks to our humanity and also increases our knowledge about nature. This academic cross-over book appeals to a broad audience of students, scientists or, supported by attractive illustrations, to anyone interested in the adventure or making of science, but not necessarily with a scientific background.

From Newton's prism spectroscopy to modern color science, the study of color has been rooted in the categorization of colors. Building upon this foundation, this book aims to explore the rich and varied examples of color theory through two basic concepts: categorizing colors themselves and categorizing things by color. How have different cultures drawn the line between colors, and why? What do these divisions reveal about color naming, standards, environments, and sensory perceptions? The book delves into these questions, shedding light on how color categorization has shaped our world. Through this exploration of color theory, the author also hopes to draw attention to the potential parallels between Western color classifications and the logic of racism. By examining various theories on color classification standards, the author seeks to unravel this complex issue and encourage readers to reflect on how our understanding of color and categorization can impact our social and cultural attitudes.

Death rituals are a universal feature of every human culture across the world. Every human must eventually face the stark reality of death, and many cultures and religions have sought to make sense of death and bring solace to the people through bereavement rituals. Infant death has been commonplace in most of human history. Despite the high prevalence of pregnancy loss (25% of all pregnancies) and infant death (0.6% of liveborn infants), these deaths are rarely discussed openly. The parents¿ grief often is underestimated or ignored by their social network who may never have met the baby and/or feel uncomfortable discussing the loss of a child. On the other hand, the families enduring perinatal loss experience profound grief, loss of the actual and imagined future for that child, and the baby is never forgotten. Thus, parents seek to have their baby remembered through the creation of keepsakes, memories, and rituals. Having a supportive environment that honors their loss and their child¿s memory and helps to facilitate meaningful rituals can have a profound effect on their long-term bereavement.There is a large amount of literature on death rituals across cultures but most books include infants only briefly and miscarried or stillborn babies are not mentioned at all. This text seeks to fill this substantial gap through review of existing literature paired with dozens of interviews with clinicians and caregivers across many disciplines in the hospital and community as well as bereaved family members who have gone through perinatal loss.The authors recruited in Bereavement Rituals after Pregnancy Loss or Infant Death across U.S. Cultures are a broad group of experts that include clinicians in palliative care and perinatal bereavement, nurses and clergy from different religious groups. The book is broken up into three main sections. The first provides a history and theoretical basis for perinatal death rituals. The second includes an overview of common beliefs and practices in major US religious and cultural groups. The third focuses on the roles of the health care team members and offers a practical how-to guide for health care providers to support families through rituals that fit their personal values and needs.

This successful textbook on the psychology of communication explains - here in English for the first time - how human communication works in a very understandable way. It begins with the explanation of central terms and the explanation of known communication models (e.g. the models according to Schulz von Thun, Watzlawick, Hargie and colleagues), then describes means of non-verbal and verbal communication and ends with a clear and structured summary of communication forms. Concrete fields of application, stumbling blocks (e.g. intercultural differences in communication), practical examples and digressions in the book round off what has been read and consolidate what has been learned. In addition, free learning materials are available on the Internet with which readers can test their knowledge acquisition.

This book introduces the new paradigm of lifelong and continual learning dialogue systems to endow dialogue systems with the ability to learn continually by themselves through their own self-initiated interactions with their users and the working environments. The authors present the latest developments and techniques for building such continual learning dialogue systems. The book explains how these developments allow systems to continuously learn new language expressions, lexical and factual knowledge, and conversational skills through interactions and dialogues. Additionally, the book covers techniques to acquire new training examples for learning new tasks during the conversation. The book also reviews existing work on lifelong learning and discusses areas for future research.

This book presents the concept of cryptcoding which arises from the need to obtain secure and accurate transmission. Therefore, it is necessary to improve constantly existing and develop new algorithms that will ensure accurate and secure data transfer. This leads to the intensive development of coding theory and cryptography as scientific fields which solve these problems. To ensure efficient and secure data transmission at the same time, the concept of cryptcoding is developed such that the coding and encryption processes are merged into one process. Cryptcodes provide correction of a certain number of errors in the transmitted message and data confidentiality, using only one algorithm. The main research in this field is to define new algorithms for coding that detects and corrects errors, random codes, stream ciphers, block ciphers, pseudo-random generators, hash functions, etc. This monograph examines an application of quasigroups for designing error-correcting cryptcodes, called Random Codes Based on Quasigroups (RCBQ ). These codes are a combination of cryptographic algorithms and error-correcting codes and depend on several parameters. Some modifications (new coding/decoding algorithms) of RCBQ for improving their performances for transmission ordinary messages, images, and audio files trough a binary-symmetric channel, Gaussian channel, and burst channels are considered. Also, authors propose and analyze filter for visually enhance of the decoded images and improving the quality of decoded audio files.

Companies focus on both organic and inorganic mechanisms in its pursuit for growth. The growth strategies of companies are determined by the industry sector and target market influence. Successful companies utilize multiple growth strategies like market development, disruption, product and channel expansion, strategic alliances, Mergers and Acquisitions and organic growth stimulus. In the modern world, a firm's success depends on innovation. Fast paced growth for a firm is a function of the extent to which company must learn how to scale up and extend its business, lengthen its expansion phase, accumulate and apply new knowledge to new products and markets faster than competitors. Therefore, there is no 'best strategy'.¿This book discusses and analyses the strategies of growth of the fastest 100 companies as ranked by the Fortune Survey. Each case study focuses on market overview, business segments, SWOT analysis, growth strategy, ESG initiatives, risk factors and mitigation strategy, financial strategy, performance and valuation.

¿This edited volume investigates the Czech response to the European migration crisis of 2015. Focusing on the discourses and practices the book analyses the foreign policy ideas which were guiding the Czech foreign policy in the period from 2014 to 2019. The chapters offer a variety of methodologies (discourse analysis, content analysis, and case study) and perspectives (decision-makers, NGOs, emotions, foreign policy practice, and European partners). All the chapters rely on a common conceptual framework that operationalises foreign policy ideas as ideologies (Atlanticism, Europeanism, Internationalism, and Sovereignism) and roles (Democracy Supporter, Protectee, Faithful Ally, Regional Collaborator, Reformer, and Prosperity Builder). The main benefit of the book consists in using a unique conceptual framework to produce new empirical insights into the Czech foreign policy making. The book will be of particular interest to the students of the Czech politics and it can be also used as a case study in foreign policy-making. It also offers a nuanced perspective on the Central and Eastern Europe decision-making during the EU migration crisis which goes beyond the usual ideological classifications of those countries in the West European public discourse.   Petr Drulák is a Professor at the Department of Politics and International Relations at the Faculty of Arts of the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen, a senior researcher at the Institute of International Relations in Prague, and a guest professor at the Paris School of International Affairs (PSIA). He served as Ambassador of the Czech Republic to France and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs. He published extensively on Central Europe, national interest, and theory of international relations (e.g., in European Journal of International Relations, Journal of European Public Policy,Geopolitics, Journal of International Relations and Development, and Osteuropa).

It is now widely recognized that the emotional dimension of products and services is a critical success factor in many sectors. Generating products with significant emotional features is a complex challenge, as professionals responsible for designing and developing new products should be able to focus the design effort on eliciting specific emotions. But how do designers prepare themselves to convey emotions through the products they design? How do they know how to provoke certain emotions? To obtain the benefits that the knowledge of emotions can bring when it is integrated into the design process, professionals need to be assisted with approaches to apply the knowledge of emotions systematically and strategically. This book presents the development of a process to support product design teams to envision emotion-focused new product ideas - Emotion-Driven Innovation (E-DI). The E-DI process supports designers in identifying the occurrence of emotions in a certain category of products present in the market and applying this information to make strategic decisions when defining the emotional intentions for the new product. It also helps to focus their creative thinking to develop strong and meaningful emotion-centric new product ideas. This book targets a professional audience wanting to learn more about this process and provides useful tools and frameworks that can be applied in real-life cases.

This open access textbook introduces and defines digital humanism from a diverse range of disciplines. Following the 2019 Vienna Manifesto, the book calls for a digital humanism that describes, analyzes, and, most importantly, influences the complex interplay of technology and humankind, for a better society and life, fully respecting universal human rights.The book is organized in three parts: Part I ¿Background¿ provides the multidisciplinary background needed to understand digital humanism in its philosophical, cultural, technological, historical, social, and economic dimensions. The goal is to present the necessary knowledge upon which an effective interdisciplinary discourse on digital humanism can be founded. Part II ¿Digital Humanism ¿ a System¿s View¿ focuses on an in-depth presentation and discussion of the main digital humanism concerns arising in current digital systems. The goal of this part is to make readers aware and sensitive to these issues, including e.g. the control and autonomy of AI systems, privacy and security, and the role of governance. Part III ¿Critical and Societal Issues of Digital Systems¿ delves into critical societal issues raised by advances of digital technologies. While the public debate in the past has often focused on them separately, especially when they became visible through sensational events the aim here is to shed light on the entire landscape and show their interconnected relationships. This includes issues such as AI and ethics, fairness and bias, privacy and surveillance, platform power and democracy.This textbook is intended for students, teachers, and policy makers interested in digital humanism. It is designed for stand-alone and for complementary courses in computer science, or curricula in science, engineering, humanities and social sciences. Each chapter includes questions for students and an annotated reading list to dive deeper into the associated chapter material. The book aims to provide readers with as wide an exposure as possible to digital advances and their consequences for humanity. It includes constructive ideas and approaches that seek to ensure that our collective digital future is determined through human agency.

This book provides a thorough overview of recent progress in video object tracking, allowing researchers and industrial practitioners to gain a better understanding of the most important problems and developed technologies in the area. Video tracking is a key research area in computer vision and aims to track unique objects in a given video, which are useful for various applications such as video conference, video editing, surveillance, and autonomous driving. This book begins with an introduction to the task of video object tracking, including the most common problem settings. Given the revolution of deep learning in computer vision problems, numerous new tasks, datasets, and methods have been recently proposed in the domain of video tracking. The book includes these recent results as well as benchmarks in large-scale human-centric video analysis in complex events.

This textbook offers an introduction to abelian varieties, a rich topic of central importance to algebraic geometry. The emphasis is on geometric constructions over the complex numbers, notably the construction of important classes of abelian varieties and their algebraic cycles.The book begins with complex tori and their line bundles (theta functions), naturally leading to the definition of abelian varieties. After establishing basic properties, the moduli space of abelian varieties is introduced and studied. The next chapters are devoted to the study of the main examples of abelian varieties: Jacobian varieties, abelian surfaces, Albanese and Picard varieties, Prym varieties, and intermediate Jacobians. Subsequently, the Fourier-Mukai transform is introduced and applied to the study of sheaves, and results on Chow groups and the Hodge conjecture are obtained.This book is suitable for use as the main text for a first course on abelian varieties, for instance as a second graduate course in algebraic geometry. The variety of topics and abundant exercises also make it well suited to reading courses. The book provides an accessible reference, not only for students specializing in algebraic geometry but also in related subjects such as number theory, cryptography, mathematical physics, and integrable systems.

From a perspective of precision instrumentation, this book provides a guided tour to readers on exploring the inner workings of atomic force microscopy (AFM). Centered around AFM, a broad range of mechatronic system topics are covered including mechanics, sensors, actuators, transmission design, system identification, signal processing, dynamic system modeling, controller. With a solid theoretical foundation, practical examples are provided for AFM subsystem level design on nano-positioning system, cantilever probe, control system and system integration. This book emphasizes novel development of active cantilever probes with embedded transducers, which enables new AFM capabilities for advanced applications. Full design details of a low-cost educational AFM and a Scale Model Interactive Learning Extended Reality (SMILER) toolkit are provided, which helps instructors to make use of this book for curriculum development. This book aims to empower AFM users with deeper understanding of the instrument to extend AFM functionalities for advanced state-of-the-art research studies. Going beyond AFM, materials presented in this book are widely applicable to precision mechatronic system design covered in many upper-level graduate courses in mechanical and electrical engineering to cultivate next generation instrumentalists.

This textbook introduces formal languages and automata theory for upper-level undergraduate or beginning graduate students. While it contains the traditional mathematical development usually employed in computational theory courses, it is also quite different from many of them. Machines, grammars, and algorithms developed as part of a constructive proof are intended to be rendered as programs. The book is divided into four parts that build on each other. Part I reviews fundamental concepts. It introduces programming in FSM and reviews program design. In addition, it reviews essential mathematical background on sets, relations, and reasoning about infinite sets. Part II starts the study of formal languages and automata theory in earnest with regular languages. It first introduces regular expressions and shows how they are used to write programs that generate words in a regular language. Given that regular expressions generate words, it is only natural to ask how a machine can recognize words in a regular language. This leads to the study of deterministic and nondeterministic finite-state machines. Part III starts the exploration of languages that are not regular with context-free languages. It begins with context-free grammars and pushdown automata to generate and recognize context-free languages, and it ends with a discussion of deterministic pushdown automata and illustrates why these automatons are fundamentally different from nondeterministic pushdown automata. Part IV eventually explores languages that are not context-free, known as context-sensitive languages. It starts by discussing the most powerful automaton known to mankind: the Turing machine. It then moves to grammars for context-sensitive languages, and their equivalence with Turing machines is explored. The book ends with a brief chapter introducing complexity theory and explores the question of determining if a solution to a problem is practical.

Successful public order management is critical to upholding democracy and maintaining the rule of law. Negative police-public interactions during assemblies can impact the safety and well-being of citizens and officers, as well as local and international perceptions of police legitimacy. As observed during events across the world, including assemblies in the U.S., Myanmar, Belarus, Russia, and elsewhere, police mismanagement of mass demonstrations often instigates crowd violence and other harmful behaviors. The causes of violence at assemblies are complex and multi-faceted. Failure to understand crowd dynamics that lead to violence limits police effectiveness and contributes to poor officer decision-making. This book offers an international review of public order management experiences and effective practices. Practical examples, grounded in multi-disciplinary theory and science, offer a roadmap to improve police response and increase safety at assemblies in democratic countries. The diverse content, perspectives, and lessons learned presented in this volume will serve as a useful guide for all people working in the field of public order management, including police officials, policymakers, and researchers. This edited volume was written by and for practitioners, pracademics, and academics to review the complex and demanding task of policing public order.

Patients are increasingly accessing their own electronic health record, ushering medical chart notes out of the cloistered purview of clinicians and into the age of transparency. With the recognition that patients are reading what is written about them, there is a need for a comprehensive reference on best practices for writing medical notes in this new era. The Patient-Centered Approach to Medical Note-Writing covers important topics including stigmatizing language, the electronic health record, the different parts of a typical medical note, mental health, substance use, difficult encounters, and how to address electronic communication such as test results and patient messages. This book serves as a vital reference for students, residents, fellows and practicing clinicians.

The history of computer-aided face recognition dates to the 1960s, yet the problem of automatic face recognition ¿ a task that humans perform routinely and effortlessly in our daily lives ¿ still poses great challenges, especially in unconstrained conditions.This highly anticipated new edition provides a comprehensive account of face recognition research and technology, spanning the full range of topics needed for designing operational recognition systems. After a thorough introduction, each subsequent chapter focuses on a specific topic, reviewing background information, up-to-date techniques, and recent results, as well as offering challenges and future directions.Topics and features:Fully updated, revised, and expanded, covering the entire spectrum of concepts, methods, and algorithms for automated detection and recognition systemsProvides comprehensive coverage of face detection, alignment, feature extraction, and recognition technologies, and issues in evaluation, systems, security, and applicationsContains numerous step-by-step algorithmsDescribes a broad range of applications from person verification, surveillance, and security, to entertainmentPresents contributions from an international selection of preeminent expertsIntegrates numerous supporting graphs, tables, charts, and performance dataThis practical and authoritative reference is an essential resource for researchers, professionals and students involved in image processing, computer vision, biometrics, security, Internet, mobile devices, human-computer interface, E-services, computer graphics and animation, and the computer game industry.

Conflicts within the owner circle  - or rather, within the "family of the family business"  - are often the main cause of existential crises for family businesses. The damaging effects of unchecked family conflicts affect two social systems: the family business and the business family itself. The impairment of the survival capability of the family business goes hand in hand with the reduced chance of constructive follow-up communication between family members. Once caught up in conflict communication, it is extremely difficult for business families to get out of it without the help of external knowledge. It is therefore surprising that the topic of conflict prevention in business families has so far been given relatively little attention. Against this background, this book takes a closer look at the topic of "Conflicts in the Business Family" and deals with a number of topics that are essential to understanding the subject: the specific challenges and conflicts that business families typically face, as well as practically proven methods of conflict resolution at different levels. The content is based on the experiences that the two authors have gained in a variety of research projects, conflict moderation, and family strategic consulting projects over the past 18 years. The key findings from this wealth of experience are now made available to the general public.

This textbook introduces Python and its programming through a multitude of clearly presented examples and worked-out exercises.Based on a course taught to undergraduate students of mathematics, science, engineering and finance, the book includes chapters on handling data, calculus, solving equations, and graphics, thus covering all of the basic topics in Python. Each section starts with a description of a new topic and some basic examples. The author then demonstrates the new concepts through worked out exercises. The intention is to enable the reader to learn from the codes, thus avoiding lengthy, exhausting explanations. With its strong focus on programming and problem solving, and an emphasis on numerical problems that do not require advanced mathematics, this textbook is also ideal for self-study, for instance for researchers who wish to use Python as a computational tool.

This book offers an easily understood introduction to the core concepts of Virtual Reality, Virtual Environments and related topics of Augmented Reality and Extended Reality. These complex technological concepts are demystified and broken down in 10 lectures, written in an approachable and easy to understand way. If you find yourself enticed and mystified by this new technology, this book can help you make sense of its core concepts and internal workings.

This concise text introduces the reader to the use of perturbation methods, able to investigate nonlinear phenomena in continuous (not only discrete) mechanical systems. Distinct from the classic books on perturbation methods, the algorithms are directly illustrated for continuous systems, referring to a very simple case-study as well as to a metamodel, for which Statics, Buckling, Dynamics and Bifurcation behavior are quickly analyzed. Moreover, fundamental mechanical aspects are discussed in dealing with applications. Concepts herein are reinforced with worked examples at the end the book, relevant to several continuous systems.

This book empowers college students and young professionals to develop a critical capacity of climate action in the energy transformation, which is necessary to address unprecedented climate crises. It illuminates the monumental challenges and pioneering solutions in accelerating renewable energy technologies, including solar energy, wind power, bioenergy, hydropower, and geothermal energy, as well as energy storage, along with their practical applications. The book offers the most current insights into innovations in renewable energy and energy storage, which are pivotal in forging a reliable and sustainable future powered exclusively by renewables. Its chapters equip the younger generation with the knowledge and critical skills needed to become well-informed and discerning professionals, ready to meet the demands of future sustainable job markets. Readers are encouraged to actively engage in and contribute to the ongoing revolution in renewable energy and energy storage.

This book offers a comprehensive overview of smartphone security, focusing on various operating systems and their associated challenges. It covers the smartphone industry's evolution, emphasizing security and privacy concerns. It explores Android, iOS, and Windows OS security vulnerabilities and mitigation measures. Additionally, it discusses alternative OSs like Symbian, Tizen, Sailfish, Ubuntu Touch, KaiOS, Sirin, and HarmonyOS.The book also addresses mobile application security, best practices for users and developers, Mobile Device Management (MDM) in enterprise settings, mobile network security, and the significance of mobile cloud security and emerging technologies such as IoT, AI, ML, and blockchain. It discusses the importance of balancing innovation with solid security practices in the ever-evolving mobile technology landscape.

This book provides a thorough introduction to the many facets of designing technologies for autism, with a particular focus on optimizing visual attention frameworks. This book is designed to provide a detailed overview of several aspects of technology for autism. Each Chapter illustrates different parts of the Sensory Accommodation Framework and provides examples of relevant available technologies. The books first discusses a variety of skills that make up human development as well as a history of autism as a diagnosis and the birth of the neurodiversity movement. It goes on to detail individual types of therapy and how they interact with autism. The systems involved in sensory processing and their specific relation to autism are then explored, including through technologies that have addressed these areas and applications for designers. Readers will learn about designing sensory environments and sensory interactions, such as through virtual reality. This book places a needed emphasis on the hierarchy of information in technology development by exploring visual attention in neurodivergent conditions like autism, ADHD, and dyslexia. It also delves into the relationship between sensory perception and nonverbal communication, the bridge between sensory input and social behavior, and dynamic information. The discussion is rounded out with examinations of temporal processing as and multisensory integration as complicating factors that have existing technological solutions. Finally, the book closes with a summary of the sensory accommodation framework in respect to how each layer offers different user experience goals and specific mechanisms to promote those goals. Readers from a variety of research backgrounds will find this book informative and useful, while designers will learn essential skills for effectively designing autism technologies.

Presenting a rich collection of exercises on partial differential equations, this textbook equips readers with 96 examples, 222 exercises, and 289 problems complete with detailed solutions or hints. It explores a broad spectrum of partial differential equations, fundamental to mathematically oriented scientific fields, from physics and engineering to differential geometry and variational calculus.Organized thoughtfully into seven chapters, the journey begins with fundamental problems in the realm of PDEs. Readers progress through first and second-order equations, wave and heat equations, and finally, the Laplace equation. The text adopts a highly readable and mathematically solid format, ensuring concepts are introduced with clarity and organization.Designed to cater to upper undergraduate and graduate students, this book offers a comprehensive understanding of partial differential equations. Researchers and practitioners seeking to strengthen their problem-solving skills will also find this exercise collection both challenging and beneficial.

This book enables analysts in government and the private sector as well as policy advisors and decision makers to assess global risks and opportunities systematically, make well-founded and informed decisions, and anticipate the unanticipated. The authors illuminate the basics of intuitive and analytical thinking and how structured techniques can mitigate the impact of cognitive biases, misapplied heuristics, and intuitive traps. Three case studies illustrate how to apply over 30 Structured Analytic Techniques (SATs) with step-by-step instructions. The final chapter focuses on how to optimize the impact of your analytic product, be it a paper, briefing, or digital display.

This textbook provides an opportunity for undergraduate students studying the environment to work on addressing real-world environmental problems and practice the disciplinary and professional skills necessary to tackle complex issues. Each of the 12 units that comprise the heart of this workbook-style text focus on a specific environmental challenge directly or indirectly tied to climate change. Students are guided through activities that require them to review relevant environmental content knowledge, practice an array of learning outcome-based skills, evaluate potential solutions, and advocate for action. An important feature of the book is its problem-based approach, using climate change as a common lens through which to view an array of current environmental challenges. Showing students how they might apply their core knowledge and disciplinary skills to identify possible solutions demonstrates the utility of science to inform decision making and builds student competency in learning outcomes common across environmental academic programs. Designed to provide problem-area options to match student interests (from sea turtle conservation to climate migrants to urban heat islands), instructors can choose among units to best engage students, or work through units sequentially to scaffold instruction while building student capacity. Each unit contains activities that focus on: (1) Discovery, where students are guided through exploration to build their knowledge of the issue and prepare a formal Problem Statement;(2) Analysis, where students dig into relevant data and begin to evaluate potential solutions; and(3) Solutions, where students practice their problem solving, decision making and environmental communication skills. Environmental Problem Solving in an Age of Climate Change underscores the pervasive nature of climate change as a common factor in all environmental issues. The book demonstrates how sustainable solutions require the efforts of many people working on smaller, more tangible issues to tackle the grand challenge that climate change presents.

This unique book provides a self-contained exposition of the theory of cellular automata on groups and explores its deep connections with recent developments in geometric and combinatorial group theory, amenability, symbolic dynamics, the algebraic theory of group rings, and other branches of mathematics and theoretical computer science. The topics treated include the Garden of Eden theorem for amenable groups, the Gromov¿Weiss surjunctivity theorem, and the solution of the Kaplansky conjecture on the stable finiteness of group rings for sofic groups. Entirely self-contained and now in its second edition, the volume includes 10 appendices and more than 600 exercises, the solutions of which are presented in the companion book Exercises in Cellular Automata and Groups (2023) by the same authors. It will appeal to a large audience, including specialists and newcomers to the field.

This book demonstrates how information security requires a deep understanding of an organization's assets, threats and processes, combined with the technology that can best protect organizational security. It provides step-by-step guidance on how to analyze business processes from a security perspective, while also introducing security concepts and techniques to develop the requirements and design for security technologies. This interdisciplinary book is intended for business and technology audiences, at student or experienced levels.Organizations must first understand the particular threats that an organization may be prone to, including different types of security attacks, social engineering, and fraud incidents, as well as addressing applicable regulation and security standards. This international edition covers Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), American security regulation, and European GDPR. Developing a risk profile helps to estimate the potential costs that an organization may be prone to, including how much should be spent on security controls.Security planning then includes designing information security, as well as network and physical security, incident response and metrics. Business continuity considers how a business may respond to the loss of IT service. Optional areas that may be applicable include data privacy, cloud security, zero trust, secure software requirements and lifecycle, governance, introductory forensics, and ethics.This book targets professionals in business, IT, security, software development or risk. This text enables computer science, information technology, or business students to implement a case study for an industry of their choosing..

Aggregates are among the most common natural resource used in everyday's life, having enhanced life quality. They are essential for construction, being utilized in nearly all residential, commercial, and industrial building construction and most public work projects such as roads, highways and bridges, railroad beds, dams, airports, tunnels, and many others. In the future, the rebuilding of deteriorated roads, highways, bridges, airports, seaports, and private and public buildings will require vast amounts of aggregate. Although it is almost impracticable to know the total amount of aggregates extracted every year globally, it is roughly estimated that annual aggregate production totals about 25 billion tons. Both developed and developing nations require extensive use of aggregates.The book "The Basics of Aggregates" covers all topics related to utilizing this type of material, including the properties of aggregates, types of deposits, geological occurrence, exploration methodologies and extraction methods, and processing techniques as well as their main applications and the importance of recycled aggregates. It serves as a basic text on aggregates for natural sciences and provides information about the main aggregate materials comprehensively with extensive number of illustrations and equips students to handle the mining cycle of aggregates. It enhances the understanding of the different aggregate types, being interdisciplinary and practice-oriented. This textbook addresses bachelor and master students of geology and general earth science as well as students of engineering and environmental sciences. It is written for undergraduate and graduate students, researches and professionals alike.