Elgar Advanced Introductions are stimulating and thoughtful introductions to major fields in the social sciences, business and law, expertly written by the world's leading scholars. Designed to be accessible yet rigorous, they offer concise and lucid surveys of the substantive and policy issues associated with discrete subject areas. This Advanced Introduction provides a critical review and discussion of research concerning spatial statistics, differentiating between it and spatial econometrics, to answer a set of core questions covering the geographic-tagging-of-data origins of the concept and its theoretical underpinnings, conceptual advances, and challenges for future scholarly work. It offers a vital tool for understanding spatial statistics and surveys how concerns about violating the independent observations assumption of statistical analysis developed into this discipline. Key Features: A concise overview of spatial statistics theory and methods, looking at parallel developments in geostatistics and spatial econometrics, highlighting the eclipsing of centography and point pattern analysis by geostatistics and spatial autoregression, and the emergence of local analysis Contemporary descriptions of popular geospatial random variables, emphasizing one- and two-parameter spatial autoregression specifications, and Moran eigenvector spatial filtering coupled with a broad coverage of statistical estimation techniques A detailed articulation of a spatial statistical workflow conceptualization The helpful insights from empirical applications of spatial statistics in agronomy, criminology, demography, economics, epidemiology, geography, remotely sensed data, urban studies, and zoology/botany, will make this book a useful tool for upper-level students in these disciplines.

Spatial Regression Analysis Using Eigenvector Spatial Filtering provides theoretical foundations and guides practical implementation of the Moran eigenvector spatial filtering (MESF) technique. MESF is a novel and powerful spatial statistical methodology that allows spatial scientists to account for spatial autocorrelation in their georeferenced data analyses. Its appeal is in its simplicity, yet its implementation drawbacks include serious complexities associated with constructing an eigenvector spatial filter. This book discusses MESF specifications for various intermediate-level topics, including spatially varying coefficients models, (non) linear mixed models, local spatial autocorrelation, space-time models, and spatial interaction models. Spatial Regression Analysis Using Eigenvector Spatial Filtering is accompanied by sample R codes and a Windows application with illustrative datasets so that readers can replicate the examples in the book and apply the methodology to their own application projects. It also includes a Foreword by Pierre Legendre.

Elgar Advanced Introductions are stimulating and thoughtful introductions to major fields in the social sciences, business and law, expertly written by the world's leading scholars. Designed to be accessible yet rigorous, they offer concise and lucid surveys of the substantive and policy issues associated with discrete subject areas. This Advanced Introduction provides a critical review and discussion of research concerning spatial statistics, differentiating between it and spatial econometrics, to answer a set of core questions covering the geographic-tagging-of-data origins of the concept and its theoretical underpinnings, conceptual advances, and challenges for future scholarly work. It offers a vital tool for understanding spatial statistics and surveys how concerns about violating the independent observations assumption of statistical analysis developed into this discipline. Key Features: A concise overview of spatial statistics theory and methods, looking at parallel developments in geostatistics and spatial econometrics, highlighting the eclipsing of centography and point pattern analysis by geostatistics and spatial autoregression, and the emergence of local analysis Contemporary descriptions of popular geospatial random variables, emphasizing one- and two-parameter spatial autoregression specifications, and Moran eigenvector spatial filtering coupled with a broad coverage of statistical estimation techniques A detailed articulation of a spatial statistical workflow conceptualization The helpful insights from empirical applications of spatial statistics in agronomy, criminology, demography, economics, epidemiology, geography, remotely sensed data, urban studies, and zoology/botany, will make this book a useful tool for upper-level students in these disciplines.

This book discusses key techniques of protection and fault ride-through in VSC-HVDC grids, including high-speed selective protection, DC fault current limitation, converter restarting, and DCCB reclosing strategies. It investigates how high-speed transient-variable-based protection can be used to improve grids' acting sensitivity, acting reliability, and ability to withstand high transition resistance compared with traditional protection. In addition, it discusses the applicability of the pilot protections, including the current differential protection and travelign-wave based protection, in the dc grid, as well as the improved methods. Furthermore, it proposes several DC FCL topologies, which are suitable for DC grids. Lastly, in the context of overhead line application conditions, it explores converter restarting and DCCB reclosing strategies, which not only identify the fault property, but also limit the secondary damage to the system, improving the system's operation security and reliability. As such, the book offers a comprehensive overview of original and advanced methods and techniques for the protection of VSC-HVDC grids.

The aim of this book is to furnish the reader with a rigorous and detailed exposition of the concept of control parametrization and time scaling transformation. It presents computational solution techniques for a special class of constrained optimal control problems as well as applications to some practical examples. The book may be considered an extension of the 1991 monograph A Unified Computational Approach Optimal Control Problems, by K.L. Teo, C.J. Goh, and K.H. Wong. This publication discusses the development of new theory and computational methods for solving various optimal control problems numerically and in a unified fashion. To keep the book accessible and uniform, it includes those results developed by the authors, their students, and their past and present collaborators. A brief review of methods that are not covered in this exposition, is also included. Knowledge gained from this book may inspire advancement of new techniques to solve complex problems that arise in the future. This book is intended as reference for researchers in mathematics, engineering, and other sciences, graduate students and practitioners who apply optimal control methods in their work. It may be appropriate reading material for a graduate level seminar or as a text for a course in optimal control.

Referencing more than 40 ancient works as well as 70 books and papers of contemporary scholars, this book opens up the civilization, society, culture and communication of the Tang Dynasty. The Tang period represented unprecedented prosperity in the ancient world. Combining the socio-cultural background of ancient China and academic achievements of modern times, this book presents an intensive and in-depth exploration of the communicative organisations, methods and ideas of that period. The book looks at Tang methods of communication, from the postal delivery system and first newspaper to military communication in times of peace and war. It also considers questions of literature, poetry and public space as well as the impact of folk culture and communication on the Tang Dynasty, and examines the intellectual atmosphere of the time and debates surrounding freedom of speech and thought, positioning the Tang Dynasty as the end of the classic world and the beginning of modern society.

With the aim to sequentially determine optimal allocations across a set of assets, Online Portfolio Selection (OLPS) has significantly reshaped the financial investment landscape. Online Portfolio Selection: Principles and Algorithms supplies a comprehensive survey of existing OLPS principles and presents a collection of innovative strategies that leverage machine learning techniques for financial investment. The book presents four new algorithms based on machine learning techniques that were designed by the authors, as well as a new back-test system they developed for evaluating trading strategy effectiveness. The book uses simulations with real market data to illustrate the trading strategies in action and to provide readers with the confidence to deploy the strategies themselves. The book is presented in five sections that: Introduce OLPS and formulate OLPS as a sequential decision task Present key OLPS principles, including benchmarks, follow the winner, follow the loser, pattern matching, and meta-learning Detail four innovative OLPS algorithms based on cutting-edge machine learning techniques Provide a toolbox for evaluating the OLPS algorithms and present empirical studies comparing the proposed algorithms with the state of the art Investigate possible future directions Complete with a back-test system that uses historical data to evaluate the performance of trading strategies, as well as MATLAB® code for the back-test systems, this book is an ideal resource for graduate students in finance, computer science, and statistics. It is also suitable for researchers and engineers interested in computational investment. Readers are encouraged to visit the authors’ website for updates: http://olps.stevenhoi.org.

Protection Technologies of Ultra-High-Voltage AC Transmission Systems considers the latest research on UHV, UHV transmission line electromagnetic field, transmission line parameters, and tower structures, with a focus on protective relaying of UHV transmission systems. This book gives insights into protective relaying of UHV AC transmission systems and sheds light on the conundrum of protective relaying for the EHV systems. In addition, it elaborates on both traditional relaying and the application of new type current differential protection, distance protection and automatic reclosing, as well as protective schemes for transformers and reactors in UHV transmission systems. This resource will serve as an important reference for technical personnel in network design and operation, as well as students and engineers in related engineering areas.

Justice apps - mobile and web-based programmes that can assist individuals with legal tasks - are being produced, improved, and accessed at an unprecedented rate. These technologies have the potential to reshape the justice system, improve access to justice, and demystify legal institutions. Using artificial intelligence techniques, apps can even facilitate the resolution of common legal disputes. However, these opportunities must be assessed in light of the many challenges associated with app use in the justice sector. These include the digital divide and other accessibility issues; the ethical challenges raised by the dehumanisation of legal processes; and various privacy, security, and confidentiality risks. Surveying the landscape of this emergent industry, this book explores the objectives, opportunities, and challenges presented by apps across all areas of the justice sector. Detailed consideration is also given to the use of justice apps in specific legal contexts, including the family law and criminal law sectors. The first book to engage with justice apps, this book will appeal to a wide range of legal scholars, students, practitioners, and policy-makers.

This book is a collection of seminal position essays by leading researchers on new development in Geographic Information Sciences (GIScience), covering a wide range of topics and representing a variety of perspectives. The authors propose enrichments and extensions to the conceptual framework of GIScience; discuss a series of transformational methodologies and technologies for analysis and modeling; elaborate on key issues in innovative approaches to data acquisition and integration, across earth sensing to social sensing; and outline frontiers in application domains, spanning from natural science to humanities and social science, e.g., urban science, land use and planning, social governance, transportation, crime, and public health, just name a few. The book provides an overview of the strategic directions on GIScience research and development. It will benefit researchers and practitioners in the field who are seeking a high-level reference regarding those directions.

Justice apps - mobile and web-based programmes that can assist individuals with legal tasks - are being produced, improved, and accessed at an unprecedented rate. These technologies have the potential to reshape the justice system, improve access to justice, and demystify legal institutions. Using artificial intelligence techniques, apps can even facilitate the resolution of common legal disputes. However, these opportunities must be assessed in light of the many challenges associated with app use in the justice sector. These include the digital divide and other accessibility issues; the ethical challenges raised by the dehumanisation of legal processes; and various privacy, security, and confidentiality risks. Surveying the landscape of this emergent industry, this book explores the objectives, opportunities, and challenges presented by apps across all areas of the justice sector. Detailed consideration is also given to the use of justice apps in specific legal contexts, including the family law and criminal law sectors. The first book to engage with justice apps, this book will appeal to a wide range of legal scholars, students, practitioners, and policy-makers.

Loess is a product of aeolian deposition during the Quaternary glaciation cycles and covers approximately 6% of the Earth's land. The Loess Plateau of China, which is home to a population of nearly three hundred million, has the thickest and most complete loess strata, where loess geohazards occur most frequently due to the weak geoenvironment and dense human activities. In recent years, the engineering geological characteristics of loess and geohazards in loess areas have gradually received increasing attention from academic researchers. This book reviews an informative collection of up-to-date literature in this field. It presents the unique features of loess and loess geohazards, and provides a strong foundation for future study via eight systematically structured chapters, e.g., origin and spatial distribution, loess landforms, microstructure, physical properties, permeability, shear strength, tensile strength, and loess geohazard. It can serve as a principal reference for researchers, practical engineers and technicians who are engaged in loess geology and surface processes, and is suitable especially for undergraduate and postgraduate students in the field of loess engineering geology.

To examine the origins, characteristics, and outcomes of resilient governance with Chinese characteristics, this open access book takes Guangzhou, a typical Chinese city from 1990 to 2015, as an example. Through participant observation, semi-structured interviews, and the collection of secondary data, this book finds that (1) the institutional context can be described as an authoritarian land-oriented pro-growth regime; (2) there are three phases with different patterns of governance: the Primitive Market Phase (1990–1998), the Pure Government Phase (1998–2006) and the Multiple Players Phase (2006–2015); (3) redevelopment can serve as a model of resilient governance because it changes in time in a dynamic environment to maximise economic growth; (4)  an authoritarian land-oriented pro-growth regime is the key to support such a resilient governance model. This is an open access book.

This book is a collection of seminal position essays by leading researchers on new development in Geographic Information Sciences (GIScience), covering a wide range of topics and representing a variety of perspectives. The authors propose enrichments and extensions to the conceptual framework of GIScience; discuss a series of transformational methodologies and technologies for analysis and modeling; elaborate on key issues in innovative approaches to data acquisition and integration, across earth sensing to social sensing; and outline frontiers in application domains, spanning from natural science to humanities and social science, e.g., urban science, land use and planning, social governance, transportation, crime, and public health, just name a few. The book provides an overview of the strategic directions on GIScience research and development. It will benefit researchers and practitioners in the field who are seeking a high-level reference regarding those directions.

Loess is a product of aeolian deposition during the Quaternary glaciation cycles and covers approximately 6% of the Earth's land. The Loess Plateau of China, which is home to a population of nearly three hundred million, has the thickest and most complete loess strata, where loess geohazards occur most frequently due to the weak geoenvironment and dense human activities. In recent years, the engineering geological characteristics of loess and geohazards in loess areas have gradually received increasing attention from academic researchers. This book reviews an informative collection of up-to-date literature in this field. It presents the unique features of loess and loess geohazards, and provides a strong foundation for future study via eight systematically structured chapters, e.g., origin and spatial distribution, loess landforms, microstructure, physical properties, permeability, shear strength, tensile strength, and loess geohazard. It can serve as a principal reference for researchers, practical engineers and technicians who are engaged in loess geology and surface processes, and is suitable especially for undergraduate and postgraduate students in the field of loess engineering geology.

Polymers have been used as dielectric materials owing to their light weight, great flexibility, and processability as well as high insulation properties. To enhance their performance for various desired dielectric applications, fabrication of polymeric nanocomposites is believed to be one of the most effective approaches. By controlling the nanomaterial dispersion and interfacial structures with the polymer matrices in nanocomposites, dielectric properties can be tailored for specific applications. This book reviews representative polymer nanocomposite systems, focusing on the roles of nanodispersion, interfacial structures, and properties of polymer matrix materials in the dielectric properties and energy storage performance. The book reviews various dielectric relaxation models applicable to the analysis of polymer nanocomposites. It compiles the recent progress in new dielectric polymer nanocomposites based on biomaterials and hybrid nanomaterial systems for advanced dielectric applications.

This book addresses selected practical applications and recent developments in the areas of quantitative financial modeling in derivatives instruments, some of which are from the authors' own research and practice. It is written from the viewpoint of financial engineers or practitioners, and, as such, it puts more emphasis on the practical applications of financial mathematics in the real market than the mathematics itself with precise (and tedious) technical conditions. It attempts to combine economic insights with mathematics and modeling so as to help the reader to develop intuitions.Among the modeling and the numerical techniques presented are the practical applications of the martingale theories, such as martingale model factory and martingale resampling and interpolation. In addition, the book addresses the counterparty credit risk modeling, pricing, and arbitraging strategies from the perspective of a front office functionality and a revenue center (rather than merely a risk management functionality), which are relatively recent developments and are of increasing importance. It also discusses various trading structuring strategies and touches upon some popular credit/IR/FX hybrid products, such as PRDC, TARN, Snowballs, Snowbears, CCDS, and credit extinguishers.While the primary scope of this book is the fixed-income market (with further focus on the interest rate market), many of the methodologies presented also apply to other financial markets, such as the credit, equity, foreign exchange, and commodity markets.

This book discusses key techniques of protection and fault ride-through in VSC-HVDC grids, including high-speed selective protection, DC fault current limitation, converter restarting, and DCCB reclosing strategies. It investigates how high-speed transient-variable-based protection can be used to improve grids' acting sensitivity, acting reliability, and ability to withstand high transition resistance compared with traditional protection. In addition, it discusses the applicability of the pilot protections, including the current differential protection and travelign-wave based protection, in the dc grid, as well as the improved methods. Furthermore, it proposes several DC FCL topologies, which are suitable for DC grids. Lastly, in the context of overhead line application conditions, it explores converter restarting and DCCB reclosing strategies, which not only identify the fault property, but also limit the secondary damage to the system, improving the system's operation security and reliability. As such, the book offers a comprehensive overview of original and advanced methods and techniques for the protection of VSC-HVDC grids.

The aim of this book is to furnish the reader with a rigorous and detailed exposition of the concept of control parametrization and time scaling transformation. It presents computational solution techniques for a special class of constrained optimal control problems as well as applications to some practical examples. The book may be considered an extension of the 1991 monograph A Unified Computational Approach Optimal Control Problems, by K.L. Teo, C.J. Goh, and K.H. Wong. This publication discusses the development of new theory and computational methods for solving various optimal control problems numerically and in a unified fashion. To keep the book accessible and uniform, it includes those results developed by the authors, their students, and their past and present collaborators. A brief review of methods that are not covered in this exposition, is also included. Knowledge gained from this book may inspire advancement of new techniques to solve complex problems that arise in the future. This book is intended as reference for researchers in mathematics, engineering, and other sciences, graduate students and practitioners who apply optimal control methods in their work. It may be appropriate reading material for a graduate level seminar or as a text for a course in optimal control.

Third-variable effect refers to the effect transmitted by third-variables that intervene in the relationship between an exposure and a response variable. Differentiating between the indirect effect of individual factors from multiple third-variables is a constant problem for modern researchers. Statistical Methods for Mediation, Confounding and Moderation Analysis Using R and SAS introduces general definitions of third-variable effects that are adaptable to all different types of response (categorical or continuous), exposure, or third-variables. Using this method, multiple third- variables of different types can be considered simultaneously, and the indirect effect carried by individual third-variables can be separated from the total effect. Readers of all disciplines familiar with introductory statistics will find this a valuable resource for analysis. Key Features: Parametric and nonparametric method in third variable analysis Multivariate and Multiple third-variable effect analysis Multilevel mediation/confounding analysis Third-variable effect analysis with high-dimensional data Moderation/Interaction effect analysis within the third-variable analysis R packages and SAS macros to implement methods proposed in the book

Referencing more than 40 ancient works as well as 70 books and papers of contemporary scholars, this book opens up the civilization, society, culture and communication of the Tang Dynasty. The Tang period represented unprecedented prosperity in the ancient world. Combining the socio-cultural background of ancient China and academic achievements of modern times, this book presents an intensive and in-depth exploration of the communicative organisations, methods and ideas of that period. The book looks at Tang methods of communication, from the postal delivery system and first newspaper to military communication in times of peace and war. It also considers questions of literature, poetry and public space as well as the impact of folk culture and communication on the Tang Dynasty, and examines the intellectual atmosphere of the time and debates surrounding freedom of speech and thought, positioning the Tang Dynasty as the end of the classic world and the beginning of modern society.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 17 International Conference on Intelligent Data Engineering and Automated Learning, IDEAL 2016, held in Yangzhou, China, in October 2016. The 68 full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 115 submissions. They provide a valuable and timely sample of latest research outcomes in data engineering and automated learning ranging from methodologies, frameworks, and techniques to applications including various topics such as evolutionary algorithms; deep learning; neural networks; probabilistic modeling; particle swarm intelligence; big data analysis; applications in regression, classification, clustering, medical and biological modeling and predication; text processing and image analysis.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Intelligent Data Engineering and Automated Learning, IDEAL 2013, held in Hefei, China, in October 2013. The 76 revised full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from more than 130 submissions. These papers provided a valuable collection of latest research outcomes in data engineering and automated learning, from methodologies, frameworks and techniques to applications. In addition to various topics such as evolutionary algorithms, neural networks, probabilistic modelling, swarm intelligent, multi-objective optimisation, and practical applications in regression, classification, clustering, biological data processing, text processing, video analysis, including a number of special sessions on emerging topics such as adaptation and learning multi-agent systems, big data, swarm intelligence and data mining, and combining learning and optimisation in intelligent data engineering.

With the aim to sequentially determine optimal allocations across a set of assets, Online Portfolio Selection (OLPS) has significantly reshaped the financial investment landscape. Online Portfolio Selection: Principles and Algorithms supplies a comprehensive survey of existing OLPS principles and presents a collection of innovative strategies that leverage machine learning techniques for financial investment. The book presents four new algorithms based on machine learning techniques that were designed by the authors, as well as a new back-test system they developed for evaluating trading strategy effectiveness. The book uses simulations with real market data to illustrate the trading strategies in action and to provide readers with the confidence to deploy the strategies themselves. The book is presented in five sections that: Introduce OLPS and formulate OLPS as a sequential decision task Present key OLPS principles, including benchmarks, follow the winner, follow the loser, pattern matching, and meta-learning Detail four innovative OLPS algorithms based on cutting-edge machine learning techniques Provide a toolbox for evaluating the OLPS algorithms and present empirical studies comparing the proposed algorithms with the state of the art Investigate possible future directions Complete with a back-test system that uses historical data to evaluate the performance of trading strategies, as well as MATLAB (R) code for the back-test systems, this book is an ideal resource for graduate students in finance, computer science, and statistics. It is also suitable for researchers and engineers interested in computational investment. Readers are encouraged to visit the authors' website for updates: http://olps.stevenhoi.org.