Ivan Petrov was born in 1934 in the industrial town of Chapaevsk. His father was shot by Stalin as an 'enemy of the people', and Ivan was brought up by his mother and violent stepfather - both alcoholics, along with most of the rest of the town. By his early 20s, Ivan had also succumbed to the lure of the bottle. 'Smashed in the USSR' is his eye-opening, frequently eye-watering story.

This book was motivated by the remarkable advances that continue to be made in electron microscope instrumentation and techniques for applications to materials science. Advances include quantitative high-resolution imaging, atomic-resolution Z-contrast imaging, elemental mapping by energy-filtered TEM or spectrum imaging, atomic resolution EELS for composition and bonding, quantitative CBED, site- occupancy determination by ALCHEMI, electron holography, EBSP in the SEM for phase identification and orientation imaging microscopy, low-voltage microanalysis of bulk specimens, and in situ experiments of dynamic phenomena. The book emphasizes how these recent developments in electron microscopy are being used to solve materials problems. It features different groups of materials or microstructural components rather than electron microscope techniques or instrumentation. Papers focus on low-energy electron microscopy of surfaces, crystallography, defects, specimen preparation, and interfaces in metals and ceramics. Technological applications include magnetic materials, microelectronic materials, partially ordered and nanophase materials, polymers, ceramics, metallic alloys, concrete, biomaterials, and glasses.

"IAS has been held every two years since 1986 providing venue for the latest accomplishments and innovations in advanced intelligent autonomous systems. New technologies and application domains continuously pose new challenges to be overcome in order to apply intelligent autonomous systems in a reliable and user-independent way in areas ranging from industrial applications to professional service and household domains. The present book contains the papers presented at the 17th International Conference on Intelligent Autonomous Systems (IAS-17), which was held from June 13-16, 2022, in Zagreb, Croatia. In our view, 62 papers, authored by 196 authors from 19 countries, are a testimony to the appeal of the conference considering travel restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Our special thanks go to the authors and the reviewers for their effort-the results of their joint work are visible in this book. We look forward to seeing you at IAS-18 in 2023 in Suwon, South Korea!"

In times of implementation of Basel II Approach and financial crisis, the importance of Loss Given Default (LGD), as a measure of expected losses by default of banks, companies, corporations, etc. will increase rapidly. The understanding of central statistical characteristics of LGD will help the Banks, Hedge Funds and other Lending Parties to forecast and measure the potential losses, if a company goes bankrupt. For its prediction should be created new accurate mathematical and risk management models and therefore the involving parties should have more empirical observations from the past and study the existing models in that area.