Transaction processing systems handle large databases and hundreds of concurrent users executing transactions. A transaction is a logical unit of database processing that includes database access operations like insertions, deletions, modifications, or retrievals. Transactions must be atomic, consistent, isolated, and durable (ACID properties). Concurrency control techniques like locking and timestamps are used to coordinate concurrent transactions and ensure serializability and isolation. The two-phase locking protocol enforces serializability by acquiring all locks in the growing phase before releasing any locks in the shrinking phase.