We are delighted to introduce the proceeding of the first edition of the International Conference on Science and Technology (ICoST) that was held in Claro Hotel, May 2-3, 2019. It was organized by Faculty of Science and Technology, Universitas Islam Negeri Alauddin Makassar in partnership with Forum Dekan Fakultas Sains dan Teknologi PTKIN. The theme of the ICoST is “Roles and Challenges of Science and Technology in Guaranteeing Halal Products in the Industrial Revolution 4.0”. The Indonesian government has begun to respond this industrial change by launching the roadmap of 'Making Indonesia 4.0' as a strategy to ease Indonesia's steps to become one of the new powers in Asia in April 2018. This roadmap provides a clear direction for the movement of the national industry in the future, including a focus on developing priority sectors that will become Indonesia's strength towards Industry 4.0. The proceeding of ICoST contains the scientific research, written by the academicians, researchers, practitioners, and government elements who have the same thoughts about the effort to develop the society’s ability to adapt the advancement of science and technology in the global competition to face the industrial revolution 4.0. We are also very grateful to all keynote speakers and committee members, willing to act as referee for their time and efforts to keep our conference going well. In the future, we expect the ICoST will be able to provide another scientific atmosphere and stimulate more participants to join this conference.

This open access book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 17th International Conference on String Processing and Information Retrieval, ICOST 2019, held in New York City, NY, USA, in October 2019. The 15 full papers and 5 short papers presented in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 24 submissions. They cover topics such as: e-health technology design; well-being technology; biomedical and health informatics; and smart environment technology.

The proceedings of the 11th International Mine Ventilation Congress (11th IMVC), is focused on mine ventilation, health and safety and Earth science. The IMVC has become the most influential international mine ventilation event in the world, and has long been a popular forum for ventilation researchers, practitioners, academics, equipment manufacturers and suppliers, consultants and government officials around the globe to explore research results, exchange best practices, and to launch new products for a better and safer industry. It also serves as a useful platform to attract and train future ventilation professionals and mine planning engineers, as well as for mining companies to discover better practices to provide better ventilation planning.

The twelfth volume in the Progress in International Business Research series presents extensive accounts of the contemporary scientific debate on how to assess the impacts of distance, both negative and positive ones, on the conduct of international business.

Just about any social need is now met with an opportunity to "connect" through digital means. But this convenience is not free—it is purchased with vast amounts of personal data transferred through shadowy backchannels to corporations using it to generate profit. The Costs of Connection uncovers this process, this "data colonialism," and its designs for controlling our lives—our ways of knowing; our means of production; our political participation. Colonialism might seem like a thing of the past, but this book shows that the historic appropriation of land, bodies, and natural resources is mirrored today in this new era of pervasive datafication. Apps, platforms, and smart objects capture and translate our lives into data, and then extract information that is fed into capitalist enterprises and sold back to us. The authors argue that this development foreshadows the creation of a new social order emerging globally—and it must be challenged. Confronting the alarming degree of surveillance already tolerated, they offer a stirring call to decolonize the internet and emancipate our desire for connection.

This proceedings book includes papers that cover the latest developments in automotive vehicles and environment, advanced transport systems and road traffic, heavy and special vehicles, new materials, manufacturing technologies and logistics and advanced engineering methods. Authors of the papers selected for this book are experts from research, industry and universities, coming from different countries. The overall objectives of the presentations are to respond to the major challenges faced by the automotive industry, and to propose potential solutions to problems related to automotive technology, transportation and environment, and road safety. The congress is organized by SIAR (Society of Automotive Engineers from Romania) in cooperation with SAE International. The purpose is to gather members from academia, industry and government and present their possibilities for investigations and research, in order to establish new future collaborations in the automotive engineering and transport domain. This proceedings book is just a part of the outcomes of the congress. The results presented in this proceedings book benefit researchers from academia and research institutes, industry specialists, Ph.D. students and students in Automotive and Transport Engineering programs.