This book comprises the proceedings of the conference on "Permafrost Soil and Natural Freezing" involving Commission B1 (Thermodynamics and transfer processes), with Commissions Cl and C2 of the IIR. This was the first conference on permafrost soil organized by the IIR. Specialists from 10 countries took part in this 3-day event dealing with: - freezing of dispersed media: behavior; - properties of frozen ground, measurement methods and numerous applications; - modelling of these phenomena; - effects of global warming and various types of pollution on permafrost soil; - cryological issues related to permafrost soil; - permafrost soil on Mars. The 36 papers comprising these proceedings represent the state of the art in this highly important field.

Some numbers called Special issue and consist of summaries of papers to be presented at the International Congresses of Refrigeration.

We live in turbulent times with continents and nations facing ever-heightening risks such as natural disasters, intense and protracted conflicts, terrorism, corporate crises, cyber threats to infrastructures and mega-events. We are witnessing the rise of mega-crises and a new class of adversity with many unknowns. The prospect of mega-crises presents professionals and students in the field of crisis management with four major tasks. First, they should engage in “deep thinking” about the causes of the increasing occurrence of mega-crises. Second, they should identify and work through the dominant trends which complicate contemporary crisis management. Third, they should upgrade institutional crisis management capacity. Fourth, they should improve societal resilience since no institutional complex can mitigate or manage these mega-crisis on its own. This book is divided into four primary parts, each of which looks at one facet of mega-crises. Part I focuses on the concept of a mega-crisis and mega-crisis management; Part II examines crisis management of mega-natural disasters; Part III evaluates crisis management of man-made mega-crises; and Part IV identifies mega-threats and vulnerabilities. Additional major topics include Hurricane Katrina; Hurricane Gustav; the London Bombings; the Mumbai Terrorist Attacks of July 7, 2005; corporate meltdowns; the subprime crisis; the Olympic Games; electricity grids; global climate change; the Dutch Delta; risks to food security; and mega-crises and the Internet. This comprehensive text will provide practitioners and academics with the results of an across-the-board research effort in the prospects, nature, characteristics, and the effects of mega-crises.