This book gathers a selection of the best papers presented during the 14th International Conference on Location Based Services, which was held in Zurich (Switzerland) between the 15th and 17th January 2018. It presents a general overview of recent research activities related to location based services. Such activities have grown in importance over the past several years, especially those concerning outdoor/indoor positioning, smart environments, spatial modeling, personalization and context-awareness, cartographic communication, novel user interfaces, crowdsourcing, social media, big data analysis, usability and privacy.

This book discusses Asia's rapid pace of urbanization, with a particular focus on new spaces created by and for everyday religiosity. The essays in this volume - covering topics from the global metropolises of Singapore, Bangalore, Seoul, Beijing, and Hong Kong to the regional centers of Gwalior, Pune, Jahazpur, and sites like Wudang Mountain - examine in detail the spaces created by new or changing religious organizations that range in scope from neighborhood-based to consciously global. The definition of "spatial aspects" includes direct place-making projects such as the construction of new religious buildings - temples, halls and other meeting sites, as well as less tangible religious endeavors such as the production of new "mental spaces" urged by spiritual leaders, or the shift from terra firma to the strangely concrete effervesce of cyberspace. With this in mind, it explores how distinct and blurred, and open and bounded communities generate and participate in diverse practices as they deliberately engage or disengage with physical landscapes/cityscapes. It highlights how through these religious organizations, changing class and gender configurations, ongoing political and economic transformations, continue as significant factors shaping and affecting Asian urban lives. In addition, the books goes further by exploring new and often bittersweet "improvements" like metro rail lines, new national highways, widespread internet access, that bulldoze - both literally and figuratively - religious places and force relocations and adjustments that are often innovative and unexpected. Furthermore, this volume explores personal experiences within the particularities of selected religious organizations and the ways that subjects interpret or actively construct urban spaces. The essays show, through ethnographically and historically grounded case studies, the variety of ways newly emerging religious communities or religious institutions understand, value, interact with, or strive to ignore extreme urbanization and rapidly changing built environments.

Europa's comprehensive survey of Eastern Europe, Russia and Central Asia. General Survey Leading authorities on the region analyze topics of regional importance. Country Surveys Chapters on each country, containing: - essays on its recent history and economy, and a chronology of events - an extensive statistical survey of economic indicators - a comprehensive directory of the most significant political, commercial and cultural institutions - a bibliography of books concerned with the country's history, politics and economy - detailed coverage of the self-proclaimed secessionist territories of the region, including, for the first time, chronologies of events. Who's Who in Eastern Europe, Russia and Central Asia - biographical information on more than 150 leading political figures in the region Regional Information - a directory of major international organizations and research institutes concerned with the region - select bibliographies of books and periodicals.

This book is the first contemporary book to compare and integrate the various ways geographers think about and use scale across the spectrum of the discipline and includes state-of-the-art contributions by authoritative human geographers, physical geographers, and GIS specialists.

The editors place competing concepts of scale side by side, demonstrating how different aspects are significant for each, and providing a detailed comparative assessment. They set out from the premise that there is much acknowledged common ground between these different approaches and that valuable insight can be gained by exploring it.

In light of the increased interest in global change and globalisation, there has been a huge surge of interest in the environmental and human sciences in the relationship between the global, the regional and the local. For this reason, this cutting edge survey of how geographers conceptualise scale should be of interest across a broad range of disciplines.

This uniquely interdisciplinary volume analyzes the challenges posed by the heterogeneity of the world where radically different players are crammed into increasingly limited political, commercial, social, and ecological space. The rapid rise of Communist Party-ruled China is posing serious challenges to the postwar politico-economic architecture dominated by the United States. Russia, once expected to become a partner of the liberal Western international order, has started behaving in an increasingly unilateral fashion. The developing world is more characterized by failed governance rather than convergence to liberal democracies as was hoped by many Western authors. Given links provided by low-cost carriers, the Internet, and trade and investment, we simply cannot shield ourselves from influences, whether benign or malign, from neighbors on this planet.The authors, including political scientists, economists, social physicists, and experts on complexity theory and informatics, examine how interactions among actors with different properties can cause problems, and they analyze risks resulting from the interactions. While employing a variety of approaches to address topics such as economic interdependence among democracies and authoritarian states, the development assistance regimes, internal conflicts in developing countries, and cyber security, the whole volume presents a clear overview of challenges and risks the world is facing. This work makes a valuable contribution to students of social sciences as well as to practitioners interested in the emerging global order.

We need to understand how to utilize Geospatial Research in order to help us solve problems in environmental, life science, and defense industries, as well as intelligence, natural resources, medical and public safety industries. Emerging Methods and Multidisciplinary Applications in Geospatial Research exemplifies the usage of geographic information science and technology (GIS&T) to explore and resolve geographical issues from various application domains within the social and/or physical sciences. It specializes in studies from applied geography that interfaces with geographic information science and technology. This publication is designed to provide planners and policy analysts, practitioners, academicians, and others using GIS&T useful studies that might support decision-making activities.

In its first English-language edition, this book introduces the many-faceted interactions of animal populations with their habitats. From soil fauna, ants and termites to small and large herbivores, burrowing mammals and birds, the author presents a comprehensive analysis of animals and ecosystems that is as broad and varied as all nature. Chapter 2 addresses the functional role of animals in landscape ecosystems, emphasizing fluxes of energy and matter within and between ecosystems, and the effects of animals on qualitative and structural habitat change. Discussion includes chapters on the role of animal population density and the impacts of native herbivores on vegetation and habitats from the tropics to the polar regions. Cyclic mass outbreaks of species such as the larch bud moth in Switzerland, the mountain pine beetle and the African red-billed weaver bird are described and analyzed. Other chapters discuss Zoochory - the dispersal of seeds by ants, mammals and birds - and the influence of burrowing animals on soil development and geomorphology. Consideration extends to the impact of feral domestic animals. Chapter 5 focuses on problems resulting from introduction of alien animals and from re-introduction of animal species to their original habitats, discusses the effects on ecosystems of burrowing, digging and trampling by animals. The author also addresses keystone species such as kangaroo rats, termites and beavers. Chapter 6 addresses the role of animals in landscape management and nature conservation, with chapters on the impact of newcomer species such as animals introduced into Australia, New Zealand and Europe, and the consequences of reintroduction of species to original habitat. It also discusses the carrying capacity of natural habit, public attitudes toward conversation and more. The final section ponders the effects of climate on interactions between animals and their habitats.

As a legacy of the socialist state with central planning, Five-Year Planning (FYP) is very important in regulating socio-economic and spatial development even in post-reform China. This book tries to fill the research gap between examining the role of FYP and how spatial elements in the FYP mechanism have operated and transformed in spatial regulatory practices in transitional China. By building a conceptual framework and studying two empirical cases at different spatial scales, with the help of both qualitative and quantitative methods, it helps to understand various stakeholders, institutions and planning administrations, mechanisms of articulating spatial planning into the FYP system and the effectiveness of spatial planning in solving place-specific governance issues in urban and regional China.

Combining impartial analysis with reliable facts and figures, this fully revised and updated 24th edition provides up-to-date commentary on these vast North American nations. General Survey Essays by leading experts analyse topics of regional importance, including: - US-Canadian integration, US foreign policy in the Arctic region, and the COVID-19 pandemic in North America. Country Surveys Each country is dealt with in greater detail within its own section. Country chapters include: - a chronology of political events - essays covering key socio-political and economic themes, including: recent political developments; foreign policy; constitution; the economy; energy policy; agriculture; trade; health and social policy - additional essays examining timely subjects such as religion in US politics and the US Judicial system - historical, political and economic surveys of each of the US states and Canadian provinces and territories - statistical surveys of economic and demographic indicators - comprehensive directory sections covering public affairs, the economy and society, which provide contact details and other useful information for the most significant institutions in the region.

The three volumes comprising the "Handbook of Natural Resource and Energy Economics" examine the current theory, and sample current application methods for natural resource and energy economics. Volumes 1 & 2 deal with the economics of environmental and renewable resources, and are divided into six parts. The first deals with basic concepts, and subsequent sections are concerned with ethics and environmental topics. Volume 3 deals primarily with non-renewable resources. It analyzes the economics of energy and minerals and includes chapters on the economics of environmental policy. For more information on the Handbooks in Economics series, please see our home page on http: //www.elsevier.nl/locate/hes

This book addresses space science and communication - one of the main pillars of space science sustainability, an area that has recently become of great importance. In this regard, research and development play a crucial role in sustainability development. However, obtaining essential data in the physical world to interpret the universe and to predict what could happen in the future is a challenging undertaking. Accordingly, providing valid information to understand trends, evaluate needs, and create sustainable development policies and programs in the best interest of all the people is indispensable. This book was prepared in conjunction with the fifth meeting of the 2017 International Conference on Space Science and Communication (IconSpace2017), held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 3-5 May 2017 to introduce graduate stuandents, researchers, lecturers, engineers, geospatialists, meteorologists, climatologists, astronomers and practitioners to the latest applications of space science, telecommunications, meteorology, remote sensing and related fields. The individual papers discuss a broad range of space science and technology applications, e.g. the formation of global warming from space, environmental and remote sensing, communication systems, and smart materials for space applications.

The three volumes comprising the "Handbook of Natural Resource and Energy Economics" examine the current theory, and sample current application methods for natural resource and energy economics. Volumes 1 & 2 deal with the economics of environmental and renewable resources, and are divided into six parts. The first deals with basic concepts, and subsequent sections are concerned with ethics and environmental topics. Volume 3 deals primarily with non-renewable resources. It analyzes the economics of energy and minerals and includes chapters on the economics of environmental policy. For more information on the Handbooks in Economics series, please see our home page on http: //www.elsevier.nl/locate/hes

Offering new historical understandings of human responses to climate and climate change, this cutting-edge volume explores the dynamic relationship between settlement, climate, and colonization, covering everything from the physical impact of climate on agriculture and land development to the development of "folk" and government meteorologies.