The moment in the sun for special operations sometimes appears to have passed, seemingly eclipsed by preparations for potential conflict under the guise of ‘great power’ competition, combined with failure in Afghanistan. Yet the war in Ukraine serves as a reminder that special operations play an even greater role today―before, during and presumably after conflict. The challenge remains dealing with current irregular and hybrid threats, at the same time as preparing for an uncertain future,...

Karavanserai is a restless, many-roomed poetry book in which a traveller moves through cities, deserts, ports, and dream-zones, carrying language the way an old merchant would carry spices. The poems keep circling one question: how do you stay human inside empires, religions, markets, and other machines that want to smooth you out. So the book keeps switching registers: Istanbul and the Bosphorus, a serail at the edge of prayer, peacocks as watchdogs, a rubber room, angels that look like c...

Computational Modeling of Inorganic Nanomaterials provides an accessible, unified introduction to a variety of methods for modeling inorganic materials as their dimensions approach the nanoscale. With contributions from a team of international experts, the book guides readers on choosing the most appropriate models and methods for studying the stru

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;...

Improvement of energy efficiency is one of the important options for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. According to the Third Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, hundreds of technologies for improving the end-use energy efficiency make up more than half of the global potential for greenhouse gas emission reduction in the short and medium term (2010 -2020). (IPCC, 2001; see also WEA, 2000). An important next question is how these options can actually be depl...

Connections define the functions of neurons: information flows along connections, as well as growth factors and viruses, and even neuronal death can progress through connections. Accordingly, knowing how the various parts of the brain are interconnected to form functional systems is a prerequisite for properly understanding data from all fields in the neurosciences.Clinical Neuroanatomy: Brain Circuitry and Its Disorders bridges the gap between neuroanatomy and clinical ne...

This book constitutes revised selected papers from the 6th International Workshop on Active Inference, IWAI 2025, held in Montreal, Canada, during October 15-17, 2025.The 24 full papers included in this book were carefully reviewed and selected from 76 submissions. They were organized in topical sections as follows: Models of Decision Making; Forney Style Factor Graphs; Fundamental Active Inference Extensions; Simulations of Mental Processes; Human Experiments; Scaling and Efficien...

Ellis loves popcorn. No, she REALLY loves popcorn. It's serious. So when her school and her dads ban all snack foods—INCLUDING POPCORN—Ellis won't listen. But when she tries to quietly sneak her favorite salty snack, one kernel refuses to pop. LOUDLY. Soon, the kernel has sprouted a face, arms, and legs! He's alive, his name is Popcorn Bob, and he is NOT in a good mood. He is HANGRY. Will Ellis be able to keep Bob a secret until she can get rid of him? (And after a few days with him, will ...

“Van der Burg presents an innovative transregional study of Napoleonic governance in the often-overlooked northern periphery of the Empire. This book carefully examines the Empire’s administrative structure in the north, focusing on the heterogeneous community of prefects and subprefects as ‘tools of incorporation’, binding the regions to the central state. His rich comparative analysis highlights the incomplete integration of the north and makes important contributions to our understandin...

This volume analyses thirteen cases, from the perspective of sixteen national European legal systems, in order to explore the legal nature of the precontractual phase and the liability which may follow a break-off of precontractual negotiations. The precontractual phase is difficult to characterise and analyse in either legal or practical terms. The negotiating parties have begun their journey together, but they are not yet in the relationship - the contract - which is their aim. The negot...

This volume constitutes the papers of the 4th International Workshop on Active Inference, IWAI 2023, held in Ghent, Belgium on September 2023.The 17 full papers included in this book were carefully reviewed and selected from 34 submissions. They were organized in topical sections as follows: active inference and robotics; decision-making and control; active inference and psychology; from theory to implementation; learning representations for active inference; and theory of learning...

The capitalist market, progressives bemoan, is a cold monster: it disrupts social bonds, erodes emotional attachments, and imposes an abstract utilitarian rationality. But what if such hallowed critiques are completely misleading? This book argues that the production of new sources of faith and enchantment is crucial to the dynamics of the capitalist economy. Distinctively secular patterns of attraction and attachment give modern institutions a binding force that was not available to more ...