Archaeology has an often contentious relationship with the consequences of economic development. Tourism, urban development and natural resource exploitation have generated adverse impact on the archaeological record, indigenous cultures and local communities worldwide. Over the decades, international conventions, national laws and corporate ventures have sought to address the problems, but too often they have fallen short and immense challenges remain. Looking ahead, the contributions to this volume constitute a global conversation on the most salient issue facing archaeology as it interacts with economic development: Is collision with development still the best course? Or, is a more effective strategy to pursue collaborative relationships with the forces of economic and social change?

Asia's 48 countries have an estimated 1.757 billion urban population and 2.4 billion people in rural areas (or approximately 60 per cent of the global population). Divided into central, eastern, southern, south-eastern and western regions, the continent is also extremely heterogeneous in terms of water quality conditions. The policies and management practices vary significantly from one country to another, and even within one country, depending on specific economic, political, social, environmental, legal and institutional factors. In order to appreciate the complexities associated with water quality policy and management, it is important to acknowledge the multiplicity of interrelated and often conflicting events, issues, actors and interests, both within and outside the water sector that impact them. This complexity, alongside institutional inability for systematic and coordinated collaboration, are potent reasons as to why, in the second decade of the 21st century, formulation and implementation of efficient water quality management policies benefitting humankind and the environment have still not been achieved. The book was originally published as a special issue of the International Journal of Water Resources Development.

Infrared Thermography (IRT) is commonly as a NDE tool to identify damages and provide remedial action. The fields of application are vast, such as, materials science, life sciences and applied engineering. This book offers a collection of ten chapters with three major sections - relating to application of infrared thermography to study problems in materials science, agriculture, veterinary and sports fields as well as in engineering applications. Both mathematical modeling and experimental aspects of IRT are evenly discussed in this book. It is our sincere hope that the book meets the requirements of researchers in the domain and inspires more researchers to study IRT.

The collection of peerreviewed papers from researchers, engineers and scientists presents their newadvances and research results in the field of advanced materials engineeringand technology. This volume covered all the aspects of advanced materialsengineering and technology, particularly of advanced characterization,biomaterials, biotechnology and life sciences, building materials, coating andsurface engineering, composite and polymer materials, optical and photonicmaterials and any other related topics. Volume is indexed by Thomson Reuters CPCI-S (WoS).