A set of linked adventures, The Book of Quests introduces you to The Realm and the insane schemes of the outlawed sorcerer, Jedakiah.Jedakiah has returned to The Realm. What are his schemes? Who are his allies? What malevolence has he planned? Who can challenge him, defeat him? Can The Realm even win?Book of Quests follows the sorcerer's nefarious plans from one end of The Realm to the other. Seven scenarios that can be played together as a campaign, or run individually, slotting into any Mythras setting. These scenarios take the characters from insect-infested swamps, to political intrigue in the hearts of cities, and thence to the mountain fortress of the Chaos Mother.CaravanJoin Jhonen's caravan as it heads north to Aylesford - there to discover a terrible secret...Beneath the Black WaterLord Drystan's niece has been kidnapped by the vile creatures of the Frogfens. Can the characters save her from She Who Dwells Beneath?Shadows Behind the ThroneKing Myur, ruler of The Realm, harbours a secret of his own. Can the party uncover the truth - and will they save him, or damn him?The Chaos Mother's ChaliceAn ancient temple hides an important artefact crucial to Jedakiah's plans. Can the characters find it before the sorcerer's agents? Can they survive its corrupting influence?Curse of the ContessaThe Contessa, a forlorn beauty, is devoted to her only child. What lies behind her sadness? Who is seeking to control the nobles of The Realm? Are things really what they seem?Raid on Yagelan's BluffAn evil race is rising again in the north; The Realm's only chance of survival is to strike hard and strike fast. The characters must venture into the strange lair of a stranger race, confronting the vile creations being bred to deliver slaughter and mayhem...Reckoning at Distaff PeakThe sorcerer must be defeated; his plans must be stopped. All that stands between Jedakiah's evil are the characters - and the reckoning looms at Dark Child's Tower...

As social media scholarship matures, early optimism has been replaced by a more complex and arguably gloomier picture of the role of digital media platforms in our lives. This incisive Research Handbook showcases the academic community’s responses to key societal challenges posed by evolving social media ecologies. Multidisciplinary and international in outlook, leading contributors present wide-ranging and balanced coverage of social media research, including non-Western settings and the Global South. Chapters explore emerging interdisciplinary research methods which support the increasingly sophisticated, theoretical understanding in the field. They also debate the complex ethical issues confronting social media scholars today. Students and early career researchers in communications, digital media and sociology will find this a highly valuable book. Due to its inclusion of diverse contexts and locales, this book will also be of interest to experienced researchers and academics.

Biomechatronics, 2nd Edition provides an updated, complete, and comprehensive account of this advanced subject for graduate and upper-division undergraduate students.  This new edition introduces two new chapters – Animals Biomechatronics and Plants Biomechatronics – highlighting the importance of the rapidly growing world population and associated challenges with food production.  The chapters are co-authored by top experts led by Professor Marko B. Popovic, researcher and educator at the forefront of advancements in this fascinating field. Beginning with an updated introduction to biomechatronics and its historical background, the updates chapters delve into the most groundbreaking recent developments in a wide variety of subjects, such as artificial organs and tissues, prosthetic limbs, neural interfaces, orthotic systems, wearable systems for physical augmentation, physical therapy and rehabilitation, robotic surgery, natural and synthetic actuators, sensors, and control systems. 

This book gives a description of state-sum quantum gravity models which are based on triangulations of a smooth spacetime manifold. It contains detailed descriptions of Regge quantum gravity, spin-foam models and spin-cube models. Some other similar models, like the dynamical triangulations models, are only briefly described, since the sum over the spacetime triangulations is outside the scope of this book.The book also contains a detailed description of the approach where the piecewise linear (PL) manifold corresponding to a smooth manifold triangulation is considered as the basic structure of the spacetime. Hence the PL structure is not an auxiliary tool used to define the gravitational path integral for a smooth spacetime, but it is taken as a physical property of the spacetime. Consequently, it is straightforward to construct a finite gravitational path integral. Another consequence is that the problems of determination of the classical limit and how to calculate the quantum corrections can be solved by using the effective action method. The smooth manifold limit problem is then replaced by the problem of a smooth manifold approximation for the effective action, which can be obtained by using the standard quantum field theory with a physical cutoff.Some physical effects of a PL spacetime quantum gravity theory are also described, one of which is that the cosmological constant spectrum contains the observed value.A short exposition of higher gauge theory is also given, which is a promising way to generalize a gauge symmetry by using the concept of a 2-group. A 2-group is a categorical generalization of a group, and by using this approach one can construct the spin-cube models of quantum gravity.

Scholars of Vedic religion have long recognized the centrality of ritual categories to Indian thought. There have been few successful attempts, however, to bring the same systematic rigor of Vedic Scholarship to bear on later "Hindu" ritual. Excavating the deep history of a prominent ritual category in "classical" Hindu texts, Geslani traces the emergence of a class of rituals known as Santi, or appeasement. This ritual, intended to counteract ominous omens, developed from the intersection of the fourth Vedathe oft-neglected Atharvavedaand the emergent tradition of astral science (Jyotisastra) sometime in the early first millennium, CE. Its development would come to have far-reaching consequences on the ideal ritual life of the king in early-medieval Brahmanical society. The mantric transformations involved in the history of santi led to the emergence of a politicized ritual culture that could encompass both traditional Vedic and newer Hindu performers and practices. From astrological appeasement to gift-giving, coronation, and image worship, Rites of the God-King chronicles the multiple lives and afterlives of a single ritual mode, unveiling the always-inventive work of the priesthood to imagine and enrich royal power. Along the way, Geslani reveals the surprising role of astrologers in Hindu history, elaborates conceptions of sin and misfortune, and forges new connections between medieval texts and modern practices. In a work that details ritual forms that were dispersed widely across Asia, he concludes with a reflection on the nature of orthopraxy, ritual change, and the problem of presence in the Hindu tradition.

This is the first in-depth, English-language history of modern Serbia in nearly half a century. It covers the period from the Serbian state’s revolutionary rebirth in the early nineteenth century, under the rebel leaders Karađorđe Petrović and Miloš Obrenović; its turbulent history of wars, uprisings and dynastic rivalries; the triumph of Yugoslav unification in 1918; and the catastrophe of occupation by Nazi Germany in 1941. It shows how the birth of the modern nation-state involved the creation of a new elite–dynasty, army and bureaucracy–whose rule over the peasantry generated a popular resistance that would ultimately take form in Nikola Pašić’s mighty People’s Radical Party. The resulting struggle between elitist Westernisers and pro- Russian populists became entwined with the struggle for pan-Serb and Yugoslav liberation and unification. These causes came together with the Sarajevo assassination of 1914, which triggered the First World War. Existing histories of the Yugoslav kingdom that emerged from that war focus on the national conflict between Serbs, Croats, Bosnian Muslims and others, but Marko Attila Hoare challenges this narrative. He shows how the new kingdom’s politics continued to be dominated by the ongoing internal Serbian power struggle, bringing renewed disaster to Yugoslavia and its peoples.

With the ongoing evolution of the digital society challenging the boundaries of the law, new questions are arising - and new answers being given - even now, almost three decades on from the digital revolution. Written by a panel of legal specialists and edited by experts on EU Internet law, this book provides an overview of the most recent developments affecting the European Internet legal framework, specifically focusing on four current debates. Firstly, it discusses the changes in online copyright law, especially after the enactment of the new directive on the single digital market. Secondly, it analyzes the increasing significance of artificial intelligence in our daily life. The book then addresses emerging issues in EU digital law, exploring out of the box approaches in Internet law. It also presents the last cyber-criminality law trends (offenses, international instrument, behaviors), and discusses the evolution of personal data protection. Lastly, it evaluates the degree of consumer and corporate protection in the digital environment, demonstrating that now, more than ever, EU Internet law is based on a combination of copyright, civil, administrative, criminal, commercial and banking laws.

Manufacturers have shifted their focus from products to smart solutions in search of higher returns and additional growth opportunities. This shift, described as servitization, or lately as a digital servitization, is not a simple process. Academic study has revealed that its issues are complex, problematic, contingent, and even paradoxical, involving multiple organizational layers, such as operations, strategic, relational, and even ecosystemic layers. Recent literature studies have called for improved theories in servitization, and even alternative narratives. In this handbook, the chapters take different perspectives towards servitization, digital servitization or Product-Service-Software systems, presenting and debating over concepts such as organizational transformation, change management, strategic management, business models, innovation and product-service operations. The handbook provides an opportunity to develop improved theoretical grounds for servitization, and thus to elaborate and develop the field further. This volume will be of great interest for the servitization community, including scholars, Ph.D. and master students, but also company managers, developers and consultants facilitating company's servitization efforts.

This book provides a comparison and practical guide of the data protection laws of Canada, China (Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan), Laos, Philippines, South Korea, United States and Vietnam. The book builds on the first book Data Protection Law. A Comparative Analysis of Asia-Pacific and European Approaches, Robert Walters, Leon Trakman, Bruno Zeller. As the world comes to terms with Artificial Intelligence (AI), which now pervades the daily lives of everyone. For instance, our smart or Iphone, and smart home technology (robots, televisions, fridges and toys) access our personal data at an unprecedented level. Therefore, the security of that data is increasingly more vulnerable and can be compromised. This book examines the interface of cyber security, AI and data protection. It highlights and recommends that regulators and governments need to undertake wider research and law reform to ensure the most vulnerable in the community have their personal data protected adequately, while balancing the future benefits of the digital economy.

This book offers a comprehensive presentation of the most important phenomena in building physics: heat transfer, moisture/humidity, sound/acoustics and illumination. As the book is primarily aimed at engineers, it addresses technical issues with the necessary pragmatism and incorporates many practical examples and related international standards. In order to ensure a complete understanding, it also explains the underlying physical principles and relates them to practical aspects in a simple and clear manner. The relationships between the various phenomena of building physics are clarified through consistent cross-referencing of formulas and ideas. The second edition features both new and revised sections on topics such as energy balance, solar gain, ventilation, road traffic and daylighting and takes into account new developments in international standards. It newly features almost 200 illustrations and 21 videos worth of supplementary material. The book is primarily aimed at students of civil engineering and architecture, as well as scientists and practitioners in these fields who wish to deepen or broaden their knowledge of topics within building physics.

With current socio-economic development trends and changing work landscapes, modern workplaces are progressively becoming a subject of flexibilisation and hybridisation. Contemporary office environments are commonly adapting to the needs of the flexible labour markets by offering the non-territorial and rotation-based practice of allocating desks to workers on dynamic schedules. This book explores this growing trend by offering different perspectives on the benefits and challenges of the flexible workplace phenomena. Topics discussed range from defining and comparing flexible, coworking and corpoworking spaces, policies made in local environments, and the flexible working taxonomy.

This book explores nonparametric statistical process control. It provides an up-to-date overview of nonparametric Shewhart-type univariate control charts, and reviews the recent literature on nonparametric charts, particularly multivariate schemes. Further, it discusses observations tied to the monitored population quantile, focusing on the Shewhart Sign chart. The book also addresses the issue of practically assuming the normality and the independence when a process is statistically monitored, and examines in detail change-point analysis-based distribution-free control charts designed for Phase I applications. Moreover, it introduces six distribution-free EWMA schemes for simultaneously monitoring the location and scale parameters of a univariate continuous process, and establishes two nonparametric Shewhart-type control charts based on order statistics with signaling runs-type rules. Lastly, the book proposes novel and effective method for early disease detection.

This book provides a comprehensive and effective exchange of information on current developments in the management of manufacturing systems and Industry 4.0. The book aims to establish channels of communication and disseminate knowledge among professionals working in manufacturing and related institutions. In the book, researchers, academicians and practitioners in relevant fields share their knowledge from the sectors of management of manufacturing systems. The chapters were selected from several conferences in the field, with the topics including management of manufacturing systems with support for Industry 4.0, logistics and intelligent manufacturing systems and applications, cooperation management, and its effective applications. The book also includes case studies in logistics, RFID applications, and economic impacts in logistics, ICT support for industry 4.0, industrial and smart logistics, intelligent manufacturing systems and applications