Adopting a geographically diverse and theoretically rigorous approach, this Handbook on the Geographies of Creativity is a cutting-edge study of creativity as it has emerged in policy, academic, activist, and cultural discourse over the last two decades. A range of sectors are explored with in-depth engagement and understanding, including: dance, music, craft, visual art, circus arts and fashion. This Handbook departs from conventional modes of analysing creativity by industry, region or sector, and instead identifies key themes that thread through shifting contexts of the creative, namely creativity as imaginary, locality, mobility, labour, culture, intervention and method. By tracing the myriad spatialities of creativity, the chapters map its inherently paradoxical features: reinforcing persistent conditions of inequality even as it opens avenues for imagining and enacting more equitable futures. The conceptual framework proposed for critically appraising present debates and articulating future directions for creative and cultural industries will be useful for scholars and academics researching culture, media and design. Policy makers and professionals working in creative and cultural industries (CCIs) will find the wide range of case studies in this Handbook an essential tool for further understanding the field. Contributors include: S.T. Allison, S. Baker, J. Banfield, D. Bennett, S. Black, C. Brennan-Horley, A.R. Brown, P. Carter, S. Ching-Kiu Chan, K. Connell, A. de Dios, S. de Leeuw, O. Efthimiou, C. Gibson, S. Hannon, H. Hawkins, M. Keane, L. Kong, D. Leslie, S. Luckman, H. McLean, S. McQuire, J. O'Connor, N. Papastergiadis, J. Peck, N.M. Rantisi, A. Rogers, J. Smith, J. Wang, S. Warren, D. Wyatt, C. Veal, A. Yue, L. Zhang

The blockbuster danmei/Boys' Love novels from China that inspired the animated Scumbag System series streaming in English! This hilarious story of a man reborn as a villain in a fantasy novel series who ends up romancing the male protagonist is now in English, for the very first time. Half-demon Luo Binghe rose from humble beginnings and a tortured past to become unrivaled in strength and beauty. With his harem of over three hundred wives, and dominion over both the human and demonic realms, he is truly the most powerful protagonist-in a trashy web novel series! At least, that's what Shen Yuan, online alias "Peerless Cucumber," believes as he finishes reading the final chapter in Proud Immortal Demon Way. But when a combination of rage and a poor meal choice leads to his death, Shen Yuan finds himself reborn into the world of the web novel, in the body of Shen Qingqiu-the beautiful but cruel teacher to a young Luo Binghe. Although as Shen Qingqiu, he now has incredible power and abilities as a cultivator, he's destined to be horrifically punished for crimes against the protagonist, so this new Shen Qingqiu has only one course of action: get into Luo Binghe's good graces before the young man's rise to power. That's the only way he'll escape the awful fate of a true scum villain! This Chinese fantasy (xianxia) comedy built around the romanticized love between two men (danmei) has been translated into numerous languages and inspired the animated series Scumbag System, which amassed millions of streaming views--including the English version on YouTube through Tencent Video. As the first novel series by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu to spur a global multimedia franchise, this incredibly fun tale led the way to her future blockbusters in the danmei genre: Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation and Heaven Official's Blessing. The Seven Seas English-language edition will include exclusive, all-new covers and interior illustrations from Xiao Tong Kong (Velinxi) and feature a translation by Faelicy (faelicy) & Lily (lily_ocho).

[CHARACTER DEPTH LEVEL +10] Three years have passed since Shen Qingqiu betrayed Luo Binghe, and now there are only two years left before his "deceased" disciple rises from the dead to claim his bloody glory as the protagonist. At least, that's how the story is supposed to go. In the midst of investigating a mysterious plague, Shen Qingqiu discovers that his actions have irreparably altered the plot-Luo Binghe has returned all too soon and Shen Qingqiu's brilliant escape plan isn't even ready yet! Worse, Shen Qingqiu can no longer predict his young disciple's actions. The only thing that hasn't changed is Luo Binghe's intense fixation on Shen Qingqiu himself, but even this obsession may be more than it seems. Not that Shen Qingqiu has the time to puzzle through all the inconsistencies. There are various parties at play in the changing plot, and if he doesn't act fast, he may face a fate far worse than death.

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

What happens after an epic tale ends? This collection of eleven bonus stories picks up days after the end of Volume 3, and follows adventures and relationships into the future...and back into the past. Readers also get a glimpse into another world, where Luo Binghe was never saved by his beloved teacher - unless he can claim this world's Shen Qingqiu for himself. Other tales recount the riotous history of fan favorites Shang Qinghua and Mobei-Jun, the bittersweet romance of Luo Binghe's parents, and the untold tragedy of the original scum villain himself.

Since its launch in late 2013, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has become a significant factor in shaping China's economic and diplomatic relations with the world. China's increasing clout presents opportunities as well as challenges, especially for the developing economies of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) which constitute major sites for investment and trade alongside the BRI routes.This edited volume examines whether and to what extent China's economic ascendancy has impacted the proposed ASEAN Economic Community and the respective nations in the region. It deals with this question by grounding the analysis along three themes - institutions at a regional level, industry/sector, and particular ASEAN countries' economic relationship with China. Sixteen articles are presented to illuminate the state of affairs at the regional level and in specific ASEAN economies. They point to the importance of managing trade and investment flows stemming from China's increasingly sophisticated national firms. This in turn hinges on forging 'rules of the game' at both the multilateral and bilateral levels, which potentially leads to mutually beneficial industrialization and long-term wealth creation.The Political Economy of Regionalism, Trade, and Infrastructure will be of great interest to scholars of political economy and industrial policy in East Asia, as well as to scholars and policy professionals analyzing approaches to development strategy more broadly.

This book presents the fundamental concepts of organizational learning (OL) and related topics. In addition, it discusses various factors that influence the success of, and readiness to adopt, OL.  In the modern competitive market, companies are looking for ways to excel by focusing more on innovation and knowledge discovery. In response, the book presents a ready-to-use tool for driving OL, called Project Action Learning (PAL). The PAL framework helps teams effectively work on, and learn from, meaningful projects. In this regard, equal emphasis is placed on achieving the project outcome and the participants’ learning objectives. Moreover, the book offers a step-by-step guidebook on how PAL-driven OL can be achieved, making it a valuable asset for educators and practitioners alike. 

In this book, the authors cover the recent progress in the synthesis, characterization and application of various multi-layered carbides, carbonitrides and nitrides. Moreover, the processing and development of MXene-based composites are elaborated, focusing on their applications and performances as transparent conductors in environmental remediation and energy storage systems.

Written for the upper level undergraduate, this updated book is also a solid reference for the graduate food engineering student and professional. This edition features the addition of sections on freezing, pumps, the use of chemical reaction kinetic date for thermal process optimization, and vacuum belt drying. New sections on accurate temperature measurements, microbiological inactivation curves, inactivation of microorganisms and enzymes, pasteurization, and entrainment are included, as are non-linear curve fitting and processes dependent on fluid film thickness. Other sections have been expanded.

The authors give a systematic introduction to boundary value problems (BVPs) for ordinary differential equations. The book is a graduate level text and good to use for individual study. With the relaxed style of writing, the reader will find it to be an enticing invitation to join this important area of mathematical research. Starting with the basics of boundary value problems for ordinary differential equations, linear equations and the construction of Green's functions are presented clearly.A discussion of the important question of the existence of solutions to both linear and nonlinear problems plays a central role in this volume and this includes solution matching and the comparison of eigenvalues.The important and very active research area on existence and multiplicity of positive solutions is treated in detail. The last chapter is devoted to nodal solutions for BVPs with separated boundary conditions as well as for non-local problems.While this Volume II complements , it can be used as a stand-alone work.

The authors give a treatment of the theory of ordinary differential equations (ODEs) that is excellent for a first course at the graduate level as well as for individual study. The reader will find it to be a captivating introduction with a number of non-routine exercises dispersed throughout the book.The authors begin with a study of initial value problems for systems of differential equations including the Picard and Peano existence theorems. The continuability of solutions, their continuous dependence on initial conditions, and their continuous dependence with respect to parameters are presented in detail. This is followed by a discussion of the differentiability of solutions with respect to initial conditions and with respect to parameters. Comparison results and differential inequalities are included as well.Linear systems of differential equations are treated in detail as is appropriate for a study of ODEs at this level. Just the right amount of basic properties of matrices are introduced to facilitate the observation of matrix systems and especially those with constant coefficients. Floquet theory for linear periodic systems is presented and used to analyze nonhomogeneous linear systems.Stability theory of first order and vector linear systems are considered. The relationships between stability of solutions, uniform stability, asymptotic stability, uniformly asymptotic stability, and strong stability are examined and illustrated with examples as is the stability of vector linear systems. The book concludes with a chapter on perturbed systems of ODEs.

This book provides a comprehensive introduction to applying compressive sensing to improve data quality in the context of mobile crowdsensing. It addresses the following main topics: recovering missing data, efficiently collecting data, preserving user privacy, and detecting false data. Mobile crowdsensing, as an emerging sensing paradigm, enables the masses to take part in data collection tasks with the aid of powerful mobile devices. However, mobile crowdsensing platforms have yet to be widely adopted in practice, the major concern being the quality of the data collected. There are numerous causes: some locations may generate redundant data, while others may not be covered at all, since the participants are rarely systematically coordinated; privacy is a concern for some people, who don't wish to share their real-time locations, and therefore some key information may be missing; further, some participants may upload fake data in order to fraudulently gain rewards. To address these problematic aspects, compressive sensing, which works by accurately recovering a sparse signal using very few samples, has proven to offer an effective solution.

This book investigates why students choose to study in key Asian cities, and how this trend relates to the strategic intent of states and universities to build 'knowledge economies' and 'world-class' profiles. Drawing on substantial theoretical and empirical research, the authors examine the emotional geographies of East Asian international education, and offer new analytical insights into the relations between emotions, nation and subjectivity. The book challenges Eurocentric views of Asia as a space of volatile nationalist rivalries. By offering richly textured portraits of mobile students, it questions contemporary memes about the utility-maximising Asian learner. This is a thought-provoking text that will appeal to university researchers, academics and students interested in the changing architectures of international education.

This book describes the huge efforts by the Chinese Government concerning the restoration and future sustainable management of Chinese water systems. It presents the results of a Sino-European joint project concerning the Songhuajiang-Liaohe River Basin (SLRB) in Northeast China conducted by the Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences (CRAES), the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Germany, and the Natural Environment Research Council as represented by the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH), UK. The book explains in great detail the development of risk assessment and corresponding management methods for (i) controlling water pollution, (ii) assessing river health and ecological restoration options, (iii) characterizing persistent organic pollutants (POPs), and (iv) protecting fragile groundwater resources. It also describes the implemented demonstration sites of SLRB during the project course as well as lessons learnt on efficient project management and the dissemination of knowledge and technologies.