This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the IFIP WG 8.6 International Working Conference "ICT Unbounded, Social Impact of Bright ICT Adoption" on Transfer and Diffusion of IT, TDIT 2019, held in Accra, Ghana, in June 2019. The 30 revised full papers and 4 short papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 72 submissions. The papers focus on Bright Information and Communication Technology, a concept that entails the development of relevant technologies, business models, public policies, social norms, international agreements, metrics of measuring national progress and preventing undesirable activities on the Internet. They are organized in the following topical sections: technology adoption, diffusion and ubiquitous computing; big data and business intellligence; smart cities; and security, privacy, ethics and misinformation.
The Proceedings of the 4th International Indonesia Conference on Interdisciplinary Studies (IICIS) 2023 contains several papers presented at the seminar with the theme "Defining the Interest of Indonesian Society and State to Achieve Welfare and Justice." The 4th IICIS 2023 was held in a hybrid format, with both in-person and remote participation on November 2, 2023. The conference was organized by the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Universitas Lampung, Indonesia. The 4th IICIS 2023 featured speakers from various countries, including Masanori Kaneko, Ph.D. (Associate Professor from the Faculty of Foreign Studies, Setsunan University), Mohammad Reevany, Ph.D. (Associate Professor from University Sains Malaysia), Prof. Abu Bakarr Bah, Ph.D. (Department of Sociology, Northern Illinois University), Dr. Yusharto Huntoyungo, M.Pd. (Head of the Domestic Policy Strategy Agency), Laksdya TNI Prof. Dr. Ir. Amarulla Octavian, S.T., M.Sc., DESD. (Expert Council of APPSI & Vice Chairman of BRIN), Intan Fitri Meutia, S.A.N., M.A., Ph.D (Public Administration, Universitas Lampung). They are professors and researchers who have contributed to the advancement of science in their respective fields. The proceedings contain 20 papers that have passed through the review process and were accepted by the committee. All papers align with several sub-themes of the conference, including The Interest Struggle of Marginalized Groups, Identify Interest and Violence in Politics (Global and Local), Gender and The Interest of Development, Global Governance and Sustainable Development, Contemporary Media and Digital Communication, Business and Entrepreneurship, Social Movement and Government Resistance in Any Social Issues. The IICIS committee has made strong efforts to review the papers submitted to the conference to ensure that participants benefit greatly. A heartfelt thank you to all participants of the 4th IICIS 2023 for their understanding and contributions. Thanks also to EAI Publishing for publishing it in this volume.
Why do states block some foreign direct investment on national security grounds even when it originates from within their own security community? Government intervention into foreign takeovers of domestic companies is on the rise, and many observers find it surprising that states engage in such behaviour not only against their strategic and military competitors, but also against their closest allies. Ashley Lenihan argues that such puzzling behaviour can be explained by recognizing that states use intervention into cross-border mergers and acquisitions as a tool of statecraft to internally balance the economic and military power of other states through non-military means. This book tests this theory using quantitative and qualitative analysis of transactions in the United States, Russia, China, and fifteen European Union states. It deepens our understanding of why states intervene in foreign takeovers, the relationship between interdependence and conflict, the limits of globalization, and how states are balancing power in new ways. This title is also available as Open Access.
Very Short Introductions: Brilliant, Sharp, Inspiring Marketing is pivotal in today's world. Used for determining and satisfying the needs of the customer, it stands at the interface between an organisation and its environment. Marketing provides customer and competitor information to the organisation, as well as creating awareness of the company's offering. As globalization creates increasing challenges to established marketing practices, marketing efforts need to reposition and adapt continuously to maintain an organisation's ability to reach potential customers. This Very Short Introduction provides a general overview of the function and importance of marketing to modern organisations. Kenneth Le Meunier-FitzHugh discusses how marketing remains central to creating competitive advantage, and why it needs to be forward looking and constantly reinventing itself in line with new developments in the marketplace, such as the growth of social media, and the importance of ethics and responsible marketing. He shows how this has led to the role of marketing expanding beyond advertising and promotion, encompassing a broader sense of customer relationship management. He also considers how marketers need to remain able to manage the marketing mix in response to their understanding of customer's purchasing habits. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.
This five-volume set, LNCS 14004 - 14008 constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 42nd Annual International Conference on Theory and Applications of Cryptographic Techniques, Eurocrypt 2023, which was held in Lyon, France, in April 2023. The total of 109 full papers presented were carefully selected from 415 submissions. They are organized in topical sections as follows: Theoretical Foundations; Public Key Primitives with Advanced Functionalities; Classic Public Key Cryptography; Secure and Efficient Implementation, Cryptographic Engineering, and Real-World Cryptography; Symmetric Cryptology; and finally Multi-Party Computation and Zero-Knowledge.
This book, Functional Analysis, is designed for absolute beginners who want to understand the fundamental ideas of functional analysis without advanced prerequisites. Starting from the basics, it introduces concepts like vector spaces, norms, and linear operators, using simple explanations and examples to build a strong foundation. Each chapter breaks down complex topics step-by-step, making it accessible for anyone new to the subject. By the end, readers will have a clear understanding of the core principles of functional analysis and how these ideas apply in mathematics, physics, and engineering.
'Science has never had an advocate quite like David Deutsch ... A computational physicist on a par with his touchstones Alan Turing and Richard Feynman, and a philosopher in the line of his greatest hero, Karl Popper. His arguments are so clear that to read him is to experience the thrill of the highest level of discourse available on this planet and to understand it' Peter Forbes, Independent In our search for truth, how far have we advanced? This uniquely human quest for good explanations has driven amazing improvements in everything from scientific understanding and technology to politics, moral values and human welfare. But will progress end, either in catastrophe or completion - or will it continue infinitely? In this profound and seminal book, David Deutsch explores the furthest reaches of our current understanding, taking in the Infinity Hotel, supernovae and the nature of optimism, to instill in all of us a wonder at what we have achieved - and the fact that this is only the beginning of humanity's infinite possibility. 'This is Deutsch at his most ambitious, seeking to understand the implications of our scientific explanations of the world ... I enthusiastically recommend this rich, wide-ranging and elegantly written exposition of the unique insights of one of our most original intellectuals' Michael Berry, Times Higher Education Supplement 'Bold ... profound ... provocative and persuasive' Economist 'David Deutsch may well go down in history as one of the great scientists of our age' Scotsman
This third edition is addressed to the mathematician or graduate student of mathematics - or even the well-prepared undergraduate - who would like, with a minimum of background and preparation, to understand some of the beautiful results at the heart of nonlinear analysis. Based on carefully-expounded ideas from several branches of topology, and illustrated by a wealth of figures that attest to the geometric nature of the exposition, the book will be of immense help in providing its readers with an understanding of the mathematics of the nonlinear phenomena that characterize our real world. Included in this new edition are several new chapters that present the fixed point index and its applications. The exposition and mathematical content is improved throughout. This book is ideal for self-study for mathematicians and students interested in such areas of geometric and algebraic topology, functional analysis, differential equations, and applied mathematics. It is a sharply focused and highly readable view of nonlinear analysis by a practicing topologist who has seen a clear path to understanding. "For the topology-minded reader, the book indeed has a lot to offer: written in a very personal, eloquent and instructive style it makes one of the highlights of nonlinear analysis accessible to a wide audience."-Monatshefte fur Mathematik (2006)
Is there evidence for the existence of God, defined as the transcendent entity responsible for all material existence? The author believes that there is, albeit such evidence is not necessarily proof for everyone. In this two-part study, Wayne Talbot firstly presents the evidence that has convinced him that God is the most plausible explanation. With a limited but sufficient understanding of the nature of existence, in terms of energy, matter, space, and time, he demonstrates his primary axiom: that nothing can explain itself. The natural corollary of this is that scientists will never be able to explain the origins of material existence by examining the material itself. An explanation of origins must always lie outside the entity being examined. This is why scientists cannot explain the origin of the proposed singularity and why some scientists seek an alternative to the Big Bang model of our universe, even resorting to logical absurdities such as the universe creating itself out of nothing while in the presence of something. With the reality of God being his presupposition for what follows, the author examines the case for monotheistic religions versus polytheistic, concluding that the latter are antithetical to a God who is one. Left with a choice between Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, he concludes that if God has communicated his guidance for living to any, it is most likely Judaism as recorded in the Hebrew scriptures. The question becomes, Which parts of those scriptures were intended for the children of Israel alone, and which were for all people for all time? Researching ever deeper, he reveals what he has come to believe about how God wants us to relate to him and the specific guidance that should be reworded for contemporary times. The spirit of Torah is so much more than the mere words.
