"The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic marks the most significant, singular global disruption since World War II, with health, economic, political, and security implications that will ripple for years to come." -Global Trends 2040 (2021) Global Trends 2040-A More Contested World (2021), released by the US National Intelligence Council, is the latest report in its series of reports starting in 1997 about megatrends and the world's future. This report, strongly influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic, paints a bleak picture of the future and describes a contested, fragmented and turbulent world. It specifically discusses the four main trends that will shape tomorrow's world: - Demographics-by 2040, 1.4 billion people will be added mostly in Africa and South Asia. - Economics-increased government debt and concentrated economic power will escalate problems for the poor and middleclass. - Climate-a hotter world will increase water, food, and health insecurity. - Technology-the emergence of new technologies could both solve and cause problems for human life. Students of trends, policymakers, entrepreneurs, academics, journalists and anyone eager for a glimpse into the next decades, will find this report, with colored graphs, essential reading.

This volume is a collection of papers presented at the Fourteenth International Conference on Ultrafast Phenomena held in Niigata, Japan from July 25-30, 2004. The Ultrafast Phenomena Conferences are held every two years and provide a forum for discussion of the latest results in ultrafast optics and their applications in science and engineering. A total of more than 300 papers were presented, reporting the forefront of research in ultrashort pulse generation and characterization, including new techniques for shortening the duration of laser pulses, for stabilizing their absolute phase, and for improving tenability over broad wavelength ranges, output powers and peak intensities. Ultrafast spectroscopies, particularly time-resolved X-ray and electron diffraction and two-dimensional spectroscopy, continue to give new insights into fundamental processes in physics, chemistry and biology. Control and optimization of the outcome of ultrafast processes represent another important field of research. There are an increasing number of applications of ultrafast methodology in material diagnostics and processing, microscopy and medical imaging. The enthusiasm of the participants, the involvement of many students, the high quality of the papers in both oral and poster sessions made the conference very successful. Many people and organizations made invaluable contributions. The members of the international program committee reviewed the submissions and organized the program. The staff of the Optical Society of America deserves special thanks for making the meeting arrangements and running the meeting smoothly.

Planning Support Methods offers the only practical guide to the key methods of urban and regional planning. The authors apply and critically assess the most important methods for demographic and economic analysis and projection and land suitability analysis, providing an essential resource for practicing planners and planning students alike. For helpful tools from the author including Excel workbooks, visit https://planningsupport.org/tools/. For resources including PowerPoint presentations and supplemental readings, visit https://planningsupport.org/resources/.

1) This is a comprehensive volume on energy security constructions in India. 2) It contains articles by well known scholars in the field like Girijesh Pant, Shebonti Ray Dadwal, S.D. Muni, G.V.C. Naidu etc., and looks at India’s eastward engagement and its challenges and opportunities. 3) This book will be of interest to departments of South Asian Studies and East Asian Studies across UK and USA.