Discover the inventions that have made our world what it is today

A great invention opens the door to a new era in human history. The stone axe, for example, invented some 2 million years ago in East Africa, enabled us to enter the human path of endless improvements through inventions. The taming of fire enabled us to cook food as well as leave the warmth of Africa and move to the frigid lands of the North. From the stone axe to the computer and the Internet, this book provides a fascinating tour of the most important inventions and inventors throughout history. You'll discover the landmark achievements and the men and women that made the world what it is today.

"Great Inventions That Changed the World" is written by Professor James Wei, a renowned educator and engineer who holds several patents for his own inventions. Following an introductory chapter examining the role of inventors and inventions in fueling innovation and global advancement, the book is organized to show how inventions are spurred by human needs and desires, including: WorkFood, clothing, and housingHealth and reproductionSecurity

As you progress through the book, you'll not only learn about inventions and inventors, but also the impact they have had on our lives and the society and environment in which we live today. Inventions solve problems, but as this book so expertly demonstrates, they can also directly or indirectly create new problems as well, from pollution to global warming to bioterrorism. By enabling us to understand the impact of inventions throughout history, this book can help guide the next generation of citizens, decision makers, and inventors.

China has traditionally been held up around the world as the archetype of centralised governance and a top-down system of public administration. But to what extent does this remain true of modern China? This book provides an updated perspective on modern China through a series of cutting edge, original studies focusing on public administration in China. The book opens with an overview of the key political institutions and the evolution of public administration research in China, followed by two distinct sections. Part I contains studies focusing on power, governance, and administration. Part II focuses on 'what works' in solving wicked problems in Chinese society. The volume shows that China has seen some localisation and decentralisation, alongside experiments with collaboration and networked-based policy making. However, the system of governance and public administration remains innately top-down and centralised with the centre holding strong policy levers and control over society. As the pandemic revealed, this statist approach provided both governing opportunities and disadvantages. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of Policy Studies.

The current chemical engineering curriculum concentrates on process: the efficient manufacturing in quantity of traditional chemical products such as ammonia and benzene. However, many chemical companies now invent and manufacture specialty products with particular properties such as pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and electronic coatings, and their employees need to know how to design the products as well as manufacture them. James Wei, a famous chemical engineer, is writing this book to provide theories and case studies in product engineering the design of new, useful products with desired properties. The first section relates historical case studies of successful product invention and development by individuals and companies. The second part of the book describes the toolbox of molecular structure-property relations. A desired product needs to have certain properties (for example, phase transition or thermal properties) and the chemist must find or design a molecular structure with the required properties This section will instruct chemists in the analysis of structure and property information. The third section is concerned with the next stage: product research and design. It will discuss improving the desired product by additives and blending, among other strategies. It will also cover future challenges in product engineering.

Established in 1960, Advances in Heterocyclic Chemistry is the definitive serial in the area-one of great importance to organic chemists, polymer chemists, and many biological scientists. Written by established authorities in the field, the comprehensive reviews combine descriptive chemistry and mechanistic insight and yield an understanding of how the chemistry drives the properties.

Advances in Chemical Engineering, Volume 19 reflects the major impact of chemical engineering on medical practice, with chapters covering polymer systems for controlled release, receptor binding and signaling, and transport phenomena in tumors. Other key topics include oil refining, pollution prevention in engineering design, and atmospheric dynamics.