With the agricultural sector facing mounting pressure to reduce their carbon footprint, greater emphasis has been placed on improving existing components and practices, such as soil health and biodiversity, which have since emerged as key components to achieving regenerative agriculture. Sensors provide the opportunity to measure crop and soil health at unparalleled scales and resolution. Key developments in sensor technology will help improve our current understanding and optimisation of the complex agricultural systems that make up our global ecosystem. Advances in sensor technology for sustainable crop production provides a comprehensive review of the wealth of research on key developments in sensor technology to improve monitoring and management of crop health, soil health, weeds and diseases. This collection also reviews advances in proximal and remote sensing techniques to monitor soil health, such as spectroscopy and radiometrics, as well as how sensor technology can be optimised for more targeted irrigation, site-specific nutrient and weed management.

Ayn Rand and her philosophical school, Objectivism, have had considerable influence upon American popular culture, yet the true story of her life and work has yet to be told. In The Ayn Rand Cult, Jeff Walker debunks the cult-like following that developed around the author of the best-selling Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead -- a cult that persists even today.

What was Ayn Rand really like and how did she manipulate her adoring disciples? Why do her ideas continue to wield such influence? How does her "cult" fit in with the social climate of the 1940s and 1950s in the United States, and what contributed to its growth? By placing her ideas within the context of her formative influences and important relationships, Walker shares with readers how and why she developed ideas that still both strongly attract and violently repel readers today.

Walker argues that the ideas Rand and her followers claimed as her own are not original, but a pastiche of those of philosophers Friedrich Nietzsche and Herbert Spencer, economists Harriet Martineau and Friedrich Hayek, and 1920s business propaganda. Though Randists claim her novels are groundbreaking and original, both plot and style borrow heavily from best-selling popular fiction of the time.

The author closely examines the cult which was shaped by Rand's volatile personality and unrewarding personal relationships -- her unhappy marriage and search for a domineering partner, her liaisons with much younger men, and lengthy affair with then-disciple Nathaniel Branden -- and draws comparisons to the cult-like followings that developed around other popular figures such as L. Ron Hubbard and Frank Lloyd Wright.

Ultimately, the objectivistmovement came to practice the very opposite of the principles it espoused -- individualism, objectivity, heroism, and laissez-faire -- evolving into a dictatorial cult in which members suffered arranged marriages, took new names in homage to Rand and were tried and excommunicated for expressing opinions different from Rand's.

Until now, almost all books on logical database design focused exclusively on relational design. However, modern database management systems have added powerful features that have driven a movement away from truly normalized database design. Logical Database Design Principles reflects these recent changes. The book begins by covering traditional logical design principles, followed by an analysis of the normalizing and modeling of data. It then examines designing for specific purposes, such as object-oriented databases, online transaction processing (OLTP), and data warehouses. As the text progresses, it moves from the purely logical into some physical design, as determined by how the features of modern databases are implemented. Because this is a logical-design book, the authors attempt to make the examples database-neutral. Because various vendors implement features in different ways, this volume sometimes offers examples from a specific database management system. When necessary, it highlights a specific application, clearly demonstrating the concept being discussed.

From the creator of Product Launch Formula, an expanded edition of the #1 New York Times best-selling guide that’s helped countless entrepreneurs make millions―now in paperback.

The revised and updated edition of the #1 New York Times bestseller Launch will build your business―fast. Whether you've already got an online business or you're itching to start one, this is a recipe for getting more traction and a fast start.

Think about it: What if you could launch like Apple or the big Hollywood studios? What if your prospects eagerly counted down the days until they could buy your product? And you could do it no matter how humble your business or budget?

Since 1996, Jeff Walker has been creating hugely successful online launches. After bootstrapping his first Internet business from his basement, he quickly developed a process for launching new products and businesses with unprecedented success. And once he started teaching his formula to other entrepreneurs, the results were simply breathtaking. Tiny, home-based businesses started doing launches that brought in tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, and even millions of dollars. Whether you have an existing business or you're starting from scratch, this is how you start fast. This formula is how you engineer massive success.

Now the question is this: Do you want to start slow, and fade away from there? Or are you ready for a launch that will change the future of your business and your life?

Is your product or business going to achieve nearly instant momentum and sales, or will it start off slow and fade away from there?
The start of every business is critically important. . .and every truly successful product or business starts with a successful launch. Unfortunately, most entrepreneurs put all their focus into ""getting the doors open,"" without giving much thought to creating a great launch.
It doesn't have to be that way. Since 1996 Jeff Walker has been creating hugely successful launches in our increasingly digital world. Bootstrapping his first Internet business from his basement, he quickly developed an underground zero-budget process for launching new products with then-unheard of success.
But the success-train was just getting started---once he started teaching his formula to other entrepreneurs the results were simply breathtaking. Tiny home-based businesses started doing launches that sold tens of thousands. . .hundreds of thousands. . .and even millions of dollars in just a few days.
What you have in your hands is the treasure map into that world---an almost secret digital society of entrepreneurs who have learned to create cash-on-demand paydays with their product launches and business launches.
Whether you have an existing business with existing products, or whether you have a service-based business and you want to develop your own products so you can leverage your time and your impact, or whether you're still in the planning phase and haven't quite started yet. . .this is your owners manual on how to start. This formula is how you engineer massive success.
Now the question is. . .are you going to start slow, and fade away from there? Or are you ready to engineer a launch that will change the future of your business and your life?

A rhyming collection of dreams, passion, frustration and hip-hop.