This book examines the changing nature of global inequalities and efforts that are being made to move toward a more egalitarian world society. The contributors are world historical sociologists and geographers who place the contemporary issues of unequal power, wealth and income in a global historical perspective. The geographers examine the roles of geopolitics and patterns of warfare in the historical development of the modern world-system, and the sociologists examine endeavours to improve the situations of poor peoples and nations and to engage the challenges of sustainability that are linked with global inequalities. Overcoming Global Inequalities contains cutting-edge research from engaged social scientists intended to help humanity deal with the challenges of global inequality in the 21st century.

This book is a collection of selected papers presented at the Third Congress on Intelligent Systems (CIS 2022), organized by CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Bangalore, India, under the technical sponsorship of the Soft Computing Research Society, India, during September 5–6, 2022. It includes novel and innovative work from experts, practitioners, scientists, and decision-makers from academia and industry. It covers topics such as the Internet of Things, information security, embedded systems, real-time systems, cloud computing, big data analysis, quantum computing, automation systems, bio-inspired intelligence, cognitive systems, cyber-physical systems, data analytics, data/web mining, data science, intelligence for security, intelligent decision-making systems, intelligent information processing, intelligent transportation, artificial intelligence for machine vision, imaging sensors technology, image segmentation, convolutional neural network, image/video classification, soft computing for machine vision, pattern recognition, human-computer interaction, robotic devices and systems, autonomous vehicles, intelligent control systems, human motor control, game playing, evolutionary algorithms, swarm optimization, neural network, deep learning, supervised learning, unsupervised learning, fuzzy logic, rough sets, computational optimization, and neuro-fuzzy systems.

This book is a collection of selected papers presented at the Second Congress on Intelligent Systems (CIS 2021), organized by Soft Computing Research Society and CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Bengaluru, India, during September 4 – 5, 2021. It includes novel and innovative work from experts, practitioners, scientists, and decision-makers from academia and industry. It covers topics such as Internet of things, information security, embedded systems, real-time systems, cloud computing, big data analysis, quantum computing, automation systems, bio-inspired intelligence, cognitive systems, cyber physical systems, data analytics, data/web mining, data science, intelligence for security, intelligent decision making systems, intelligent information processing, intelligent transportation, artificial intelligence for machine vision, imaging sensors technology, image segmentation, convolutional neural network, image/video classification, soft computing for machine vision, pattern recognition, human–computer interaction, robotic devices and systems, autonomous vehicles, intelligent control systems, human motor control, game playing, evolutionary algorithms, swarm optimization, neural network, deep learning, supervised learning, unsupervised learning, fuzzy logic, rough sets, computational optimization, and neuro-fuzzy systems.

This book is a collection of selected papers presented at the First Congress on Intelligent Systems (CIS 2020), held in New Delhi, India during September 5 – 6, 2020. It includes novel and innovative work from experts, practitioners, scientists and decision-makers from academia and industry. It covers topics such as Internet of Things, information security, embedded systems, real-time systems, cloud computing, big data analysis, quantum computing, automation systems, bio-inspired intelligence, cognitive systems, cyber physical systems, data analytics, data/web mining, data science, intelligence for security, intelligent decision making systems, intelligent information processing, intelligent transportation, artificial intelligence for machine vision, imaging sensors technology, image segmentation, convolutional neural network, image/video classification, soft computing for machine vision, pattern recognition, human computer interaction, robotic devices and systems, autonomous vehicles, intelligent control systems, human motor control, game playing, evolutionary algorithms, swarm optimization, neural network, deep learning, supervised learning, unsupervised learning, fuzzy logic, rough sets, computational optimization, and neuro fuzzy systems.

This work analyzes and compares the legal framework for foreign investments in the mining sector in Australia, South Africa and Colombia. The admission of foreign investments, corporate structure requirements, ownership of minerals and mineral rights, mining licenses, land access, performance requirements, distribution of profits and the tax regime, repatriation of profits, national and international dispute resolution mechanisms and the question of the Social License to Operate (SLO) / Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) policies are discussed in detail. The work concludes with an outlook on the future regulation of foreign mining investments and finally suggests the development of an International Mining Investment Law.

South Africa and the Global Hydrogen Economy is the publication of a MISTRA research project on the use of strategic minerals in the global putative hydrogen economy. The book highlights the global significance of platinum group metals (PGM) and explores the strategic opportunities that arise out of South Africa's endowment of these strategic resources. From their extraction to their applications in fuel cells, what options are available for the country, the region and the world to better leverage this endowment towards supporting growth and development objectives? In view of their expanding range of applications, do PGM need the hydrogen economy? Conversely, does the hydrogen economy need PGM? Addressed to all industry stakeholders, including those in the public and private sectors, the options explored in this book are based on a thorough analysis of the global dynamics that should inform policy and business models related to PGM.