Learn how the kind ox earned his place as one of the Chinese Zodiac Animals. The little calf is very curious about the world, but hasn't experienced much of it in his young life. When he and his mother begin to help the aging grandfather that lives next door to their farm, that changes. In the spring, when the grandpa is struggling to plow the fields, the calf picks up the plow without saying a word. He runs up and down the fields, though his plowing is uneven. The calf soon learns from his mother cow how to plow the fields neatly. In return, the grandpa prepares fresh grass and sweet spring water for them. In the autumn, when the grandpa is too weak to grind wheat, the calf wants to help. He fails after his first attempt, but soon learns from his mother how to grind wheat into fine flour. In the winter, when the grandpa is too tired to pull his cart into town to sell his flour, the calf volunteers to help him. The cart is heavy and the calf has never pulled one before. Along the bumpy road, it is shaking so badly that the grandpa keeps bouncing around, but the calf soon learns from his mother cow how to pull the cart smoothly. When they finally arrive in town, the calf and grandpa exchange their flour for a cart full of goods for the Chinese New Year, which they celebrate together at home. This is a story about courage, diligence and being helpful. The "Cultural Explanation" section at the end of the book includes the characteristics of the people born in the year of Ox and the years they were born. It also includes an interesting Chinese idiom about the calf. Other books in the Chinese Zodiac Series (as well as the year of that animal) include: Little Pigs and the Sweet Rice Cakes-2007 & 2019 Magical Rooster-2005 & 2017 Water Dragon-2012 & 2024 Little Monkey King's Journey-2016 & 2028 Snake Goddess Colors the World-2013 & 2025 Horse and the Mysterious Drawing-2014 & 2026 Sheep Beauty-2015 & 2027 Bronze Dog-2006 & 2018 Little Rat and the Golden Seed-2008 & 2020

Introductory courses in combinatorial optimization are popular at the upper undergraduate/graduate levels in computer science, industrial engineering, and business management/OR, owed to its wide applications in these fields. There are several published textbooks that treat this course and the authors have used many of them in their own teaching experiences. This present text fills a gap and is organized with a stress on methodology and relevant content, providing a step-by-step approach for the student to become proficient in solving combinatorial optimization problems. Applications and problems are considered via recent technology developments including wireless communication, cloud computing, social networks, and machine learning, to name several, and the reader is led to the frontiers of combinatorial optimization. Each chapter presents common problems, such as minimum spanning tree, shortest path, maximum matching, network flow, set-cover, as well as key algorithms, such as greedy algorithm, dynamic programming, augmenting path, and divide-and-conquer. Historical notes, ample exercises in every chapter, strategically placed graphics, and an extensive bibliography are amongst the gems of this textbook.

This book is intended to be used as a textbook for graduate students studying theoretical computer science. It can also be used as a reference book for researchers in the area of design and analysis of approximation algorithms. Design and Analysis of Approximation Algorithms is a graduate course in theoretical computer science taught widely in the universities, both in the United States and abroad. There are, however, very few textbooks available for this course. Among those available in the market, most books follow a problem-oriented format; that is, they collected many important combinatorial optimization problems and their approximation algorithms, and organized them based on the types, or applications, of problems, such as geometric-type problems, algebraic-type problems, etc. Such arrangement of materials is perhaps convenient for a researcher to look for the problems and algorithms related to his/her work, but is difficult for a student to capture the ideas underlying the various algorithms. In the new book proposed here, we follow a more structured, technique-oriented presentation. We organize approximation algorithms into different chapters, based on the design techniques for the algorithms, so that the reader can study approximation algorithms of the same nature together. It helps the reader to better understand the design and analysis techniques for approximation algorithms, and also helps the teacher to present the ideas and techniques of approximation algorithms in a more unified way.

Multiwavelength Optical Networks systematically studies the major research issues in WDM (Wavelength Division Multiplexing) optical networks, such as routing and wavelength assignment, QoS multicast routing, design of logical topologies, and placement of wavelength converters. The book consists of two parts. The first part studies the fundamental concepts and principles of WDM networks. The second part discusses advanced and research issues of WDM networks.
The authors of the book have many years of working experience in the areas of computer networks and network optimization. The book discusses many difficult issues of WDM networks in a very comprehensive way. For each problem, there is a background discussion, and then the mathematical formulation, followed by the solutions.

The 14th Annual International Computing and Combinatorics Conference, CO- COON2008, tookplaceinDalian, China, June27-29,2008.PastCOCOONc- ferences were held in Xi'an (1995), Hong Kong (1996), Shanghai (1997), Taipei (1998), Tokyo (1999), Sydney (2000), Guilin (2001), Singapore (2002), Montana (2003), Jeju Island (2004), Kunming (2005), Taipei (2006), and Alberta (2007). COCOON 2008 provided a forum for researchers working in the areas of - gorithms, theory of computation, computational complexity, and combinatorics related to computing. The Program Committee received 172 submissions from 26 countries and regions: Canada, Australia, Austria, Brazil, China, Denmark, France, Germany, HongKong, Hungary, India, Iran, Israel, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Morocco, Netherlands, Pakistan, Singapore, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan, Ukraine, the UK, and USA. With the help of 116 external referees, each submission was reviewed by at least two Program Committee members or external referees. Of the 172 subm- sions,66paperswereselectedforpresentationintheconferenceandareincluded in this volume. Some of these will be selected for publication in a special issue of Algorithmica and a special issue of the Journal of Combinatorial Optimization under the standard refereeing procedure. In addition to the selected papers, the conference also included two invited presentations by Der-Tsai Lee (Academia Sinica, Taiwan) and Takao Nishizeki (Tohoku University, Japan). The best paper awards were given for "Visual Cryptography on Graphs" to Lu, Manchala and Ostrovsky, and for "A Linear Programming Duality - proach to Analyzing Strictly Nonblocking d-ary Multilog Networks under G- eral Crosstalk Constraints" to Ngo, Wang and Le.

Multiwavelength Optical Networks systematically studies the major research issues in WDM (Wavelength Division Multiplexing) optical networks, such as routing and wavelength assignment, QoS multicast routing, design of logical topologies, and placement of wavelength converters. The book consists of two parts. The first part studies the fundamental concepts and principles of WDM networks. The second part discusses advanced and research issues of WDM networks.
The authors of the book have many years of working experience in the areas of computer networks and network optimization. The book discusses many difficult issues of WDM networks in a very comprehensive way. For each problem, there is a background discussion, and then the mathematical formulation, followed by the solutions.

Open up this book and find a fun, interactive way for kids to learn more about Chinese art and symbolism! Each two-page spread highlights a Chinese ceramic artifact, pulled from a museum collection. On the left-hand side, a photo of the piece, its history and any hidden symbols that are important in Chinese culture. On the right-hand side, a pop-out puzzle with 25 pieces that-when put together-shows a close-up of the artwork featured on the adjacent ceramic artifact. The patterns include daring dragons, elegant cranes and beautiful roses, among many other plants and animals. Kids will have fun finding and identifying all of the wildlife and mythical creatures painted on the ancient ceramic. For example: Dragons, the most sacred animal in Chinese culture, symbolize good luck and power. Deer represent good luck. One hundred deer is a wish for peace and happiness. An art form for many millennia, Chinese ceramics have been shipped around the world since the establishment of trade routes. Porcelain is so closely associated with the country, that it is still called "china" in everyday English. Children can develop their thinking and motor skills while also learning about important symbolism in China. This beautiful book will provide entertainment for kids and their parents&#8212and both will come away having learned something new!