Over the last two decades, China has emerged as one of the most powerful state actors in the post-Cold War international system. This book provides a multifaceted and spatially oriented analysis of how China’s re-emergence as a global power impacts the dominance of the United States as well as domestic state and non-state actors in various world-regions, including the Asia-Pacific, Africa, South America and the Caribbean, the Middle East, Europe and the Arctic. Chapters reflect on how and under which conditions competition (and cooperation) between the United States and China vary across these regions and what such variations mean for the prospects of war and peace, universal human dignity and global cooperation.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 20th International Conference on Formal Engineering Methods, ICFEM 2018, held in Gold Coast, QLD, Australia, in November 2018. The 22 revised full papers presented together with 14 short papers were carefully reviewed and selected from 66 submissions. The conference focuses on all areas related to formal engineering methods, such as verification; network systems; type theory; theorem proving; logic and semantics; refinement and transition systems; and emerging applications of formal methods.

The book is focused primarily on characteristics and determinative methods of reservoir orientation, the concept of vector well pattern and corresponding realistic techniques of well pattern deployment, well pattern control principles, Optimum design of well pattern based on the reservoir direction characteristics, and the schemes of well spacing density regulation at different stages of development. The procedures for improving water flooding efficiency have been provided. This book is suitable for reservoir engineering managers, reservoir engineers, and students of petroleum engineering.

The book is focused primarily on characteristics and determinative methods of reservoir orientation, the concept of vector well pattern and corresponding realistic techniques of well pattern deployment, well pattern control principles, Optimum design of well pattern based on the reservoir direction characteristics, and the schemes of well spacing density regulation at different stages of development. The procedures for improving water flooding efficiency have been provided. This book is suitable for reservoir engineering managers, reservoir engineers, and students of petroleum engineering.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 15th International Conference on Formal Engineering Methods, ICFEM 2013, held in Queenstown, New Zealand, in October/November 2013. The 28 revised full papers together with 2 keynote speeches presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 88 submissions. The topics covered are abstraction and refinement, formal specification and modeling, program analysis, software verification, formal methods for software safety, security, reliability and dependability, tool development, integration and experiments involving verified systems, formal methods used in certifying products under international standards, and formal model-based development and code generation.

This book explores effectiveness and fairness in higher education admissions policy. It reviews the literatures from the 1940s until the 2010s and provides a theoretical framework. The book explores comparisons between this framework and the empirical data by interviewing policymakers from the Chinese government as well as admissions officer at Chinese universities. The book contributes to providing underlying theoretical foundation on the future Chinese higher education admissions policy reform. This book appeals to policymakers on all level of education, practitioners of admissions policy, researchers on education policy, and anyone who is interested in this field.

The book introduces the fundamentals (principle, structure, characteristics, classification etc.) of control systems. The dynamic behavior are also illustrated in detail. The authors also present the time/ frequency/stability/error response analyses of control system. This book is an essential reference for graduate students, scientists and practitioner in the research fields of mechanical and electrical engineering.

In Contemporary Urban Youth Culture in China: A Multiperspectival Cultural Studies of Internet Subcultures, Jing Sun explores contemporary Chinese urban youth culture through analyses of three Chinese Internet subcultural artifacts-A Bloody Case of a Steamed Bun, Cao Ni Ma, and Du Fu Is Busy. Using Douglas Kellner's (1995) multiperspectival cultural studies (i.e., critical theory and critical media literacy) as the theoretical framework, and diagnostic critique and semiotics as the analytical method, Sun examines three general themes--resistance, power relations, and consumerism. The power of multiperspectival cultural studies, an interdisciplinary inquiry, lies in its potentials to explore contemporary Chinese urban youth culture from multiple perspectives; explore historical backgrounds and complexity of cultural artifacts to understand contradictions and trajectories of contemporary Chinese urban youth culture; recognize alternative medias as a space for contemporary urban Chinese youth to express frustrations and dissatisfactions, to challenge social inequalities and injustices, and to create dreams and hopes for their future; recognize that the intertexuality among cultural artifacts and subcultures creates possibilities for Chinese urban youth to invent more alternative media cultures that empower them to challenge dominations, perform their identities, and release their imagination for the future; invite Chinese youth to be the change agents for the era but not to be imprisoned by the era; and overcome misunderstanding, misrepresentation, or underrepresentation of contemporary Chinese urban youth cultural texts to promote linguistic and cultural diversity in a multicultural, multilingual, and multiracial world. Sun argues that contemporary urban youth need to obtain critical media literacy to become the change agents in contemporary China. They need to be the medium of cultural exchanges in the multicultural, multilingual, and multiracial world. In order to best assist contemporary Chinese urban youth in expressing their voices, portraying their hopes, and performing their historical responsibilities as change agents, Sun sincerely hopes more research will be done on the contemporary Chinese urban youth culture, especially on its contradictions and trajectories, with the intent to shed light on more richly textured, nuanced, and inspiring insights into the interconnection between contemporary Chinese urban youth and media power in an increasingly multicultural, multilingual, and multiracial world.

In Contemporary Urban Youth Culture in China: A Multiperspectival Cultural Studies of Internet Subcultures, Jing Sun explores contemporary Chinese urban youth culture through analyses of three Chinese Internet subcultural artifacts-A Bloody Case of a Steamed Bun, Cao Ni Ma, and Du Fu Is Busy. Using Douglas Kellner's (1995) multiperspectival cultural studies (i.e., critical theory and critical media literacy) as the theoretical framework, and diagnostic critique and semiotics as the analytical method, Sun examines three general themes--resistance, power relations, and consumerism. The power of multiperspectival cultural studies, an interdisciplinary inquiry, lies in its potentials to explore contemporary Chinese urban youth culture from multiple perspectives; explore historical backgrounds and complexity of cultural artifacts to understand contradictions and trajectories of contemporary Chinese urban youth culture; recognize alternative medias as a space for contemporary urban Chinese youth to express frustrations and dissatisfactions, to challenge social inequalities and injustices, and to create dreams and hopes for their future; recognize that the intertexuality among cultural artifacts and subcultures creates possibilities for Chinese urban youth to invent more alternative media cultures that empower them to challenge dominations, perform their identities, and release their imagination for the future; invite Chinese youth to be the change agents for the era but not to be imprisoned by the era; and overcome misunderstanding, misrepresentation, or underrepresentation of contemporary Chinese urban youth cultural texts to promote linguistic and cultural diversity in a multicultural, multilingual, and multiracial world. Sun argues that contemporary urban youth need to obtain critical media literacy to become the change agents in contemporary China. They need to be the medium of cultural exchanges in the multicultural, multilingual, and multiracial world. In order to best assist contemporary Chinese urban youth in expressing their voices, portraying their hopes, and performing their historical responsibilities as change agents, Sun sincerely hopes more research will be done on the contemporary Chinese urban youth culture, especially on its contradictions and trajectories, with the intent to shed light on more richly textured, nuanced, and inspiring insights into the interconnection between contemporary Chinese urban youth and media power in an increasingly multicultural, multilingual, and multiracial world.

Singing is a great vehicle for communal activity, but it has disappeared as a part of adulthood in many communities. Children still sing in kindergarten, but when do we as adults sing together? Singing has a wide range of personal benefits besides learning about music and how to create it. Developing and improving healthy singing techniques has been shown to have multiple physiological and social benefits for the participants, while also being a thoroughly enjoyable experience. Working with the voice has many physical benefits, such as improved posture and respiratory strength, increased energy levels and also stimulation for the mind. There are also many social and personal benefits, such as boosted self-esteem and confidence, improved communication and listening skills, raised self-awareness and awareness of others and developed team working skills. One area of communal activity that has received increasing attention is participative community singing, because it entails aerobic exercise, social interaction and promotion of a sense of connectedness. We believe it may be a good avenue to increase sense of connectedness and to promote participation in exercise activities. In this book we provide persuasive evidence from research to demonstrate the power of community singing in promoting social and emotional wellbeing, preventing depression, promoting healthy behaviours and promoting access to health services in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Australia. In addition, the health effects of Tai Chi as another form of the arts is also explored. Academics have collaborated with practitioners to produce the study results, all of which are quantitative and report on the effects of community singing practices for a marginalised population in Australia.

This book examines working memory in pre-term and full-term infants at eight months after the expected date of delivery. Although numerous studies have reported that the overall development of pre-term infants is comparable to that of full-term infants at the same corrected age, it is unclear to what extent the development of specific cognitive abilities is affected by pre-maturity and/or other factors such as medical complications. As pre-term infants have a high rate of learning difficulties, it is possible that factors associated with pre-maturity specifically affect the development of some regions of the brain associated with working memory.

The World Health Organization defines health promotion "as the process of enabling people to increase control over and to improve, their health". It moves beyond a focus on individual behaviour towards a wide range of social and environmental interventions. Discussions on how to define health promotion already emerged in the 1970s from the Lalonde report in Canada, which contained a health promotion strategy "aimed at informing, influencing and assisting both individuals and organisations so that they will accept more responsibility and be more active in matters affecting mental and physical health". Health promotion and health service, using a socio-ecological approach, has been effective to promote mental and physical health, and improve social functioning and social support in a range of population groups. A socio-ecological approach addresses the importance of the interaction between individual level characteristics, families, institutions, and community support to promote health to an optimal level. There is increasing evidence to indicate promoting resilience at both the individual and organisation levels is important to help individuals cope with daily stress challenges, and buffer the adverse effects of distress, abuse and neglect, psychological traumatic events, and disease. The key concepts of resilience promotion is structured around self-esteem, self-efficacy, optimism, goal orientation, autonomy, and the ability to seek social and environmental support. These concepts play an important role in improving quality of life, chronic disease conditions, increasing exercise levels, and reduction of risk health behaviours.

Video encryption technology is a combination of cryptography and video technology. Video encryption has become a specialised research branch in data encryption files because of its particular requirements and the special properties of video data. This book introduces several aspects of video encryption related research methods and technology solutions. A thorough description of video encryption techniques included its performance requirements, principles for designing a secure video encryption algorithm, the primary encryption algorithms and analysis, the latest research achievement, as well as its performance evaluations, novel applications are given. In addition, the open problems and potential research area of video encryption is discussed in this unique book.

In international relations today, influence is as essential as military and economic might. Consequently, leaders promote favorable images of the state in order to attract allies and win support for their policies. Jing Sun, an expert on international relations and a former journalist, refers to such soft power campaigns as "charm offensives."

Sun focuses on the competition between China and Japan for the allegiance of South Korea, Taiwan, and other states in the region. He finds that, instead of adopting a one-size-fits-all approach, the Chinese and the Japanese deploy customized charm campaigns for each target state, taking into consideration the target's culture, international position, and political values. He then evaluates the effectiveness of individual campaigns from the perspective of the target state, on the basis of public opinion polls, media coverage, and the response from state leaders.

A deep, comparative study, "Japan and China as Charm Rivals" enriches our understanding of soft power by revealing deliberate image campaign efforts and offering a method for assessing the effectiveness of such charm offensives.

In international relations today, influence is as essential as military and economic might. Consequently, leaders promote favorable images of the state in order to attract allies and win support for their policies. Jing Sun, an expert on international relations and a former journalist, refers to such soft power campaigns as "charm offensives."

Sun focuses on the competition between China and Japan for the allegiance of South Korea, Taiwan, and other states in the region. He finds that, instead of adopting a one-size-fits-all approach, the Chinese and the Japanese deploy customized charm campaigns for each target state, taking into consideration the target's culture, international position, and political values. He then evaluates the effectiveness of individual campaigns from the perspective of the target state, on the basis of public opinion polls, media coverage, and the response from state leaders.

A deep, comparative study, "Japan and China as Charm Rivals" enriches our understanding of soft power by revealing deliberate image campaign efforts and offering a method for assessing the effectiveness of such charm offensives.