Civil engineering structures such as buildings, bridges, stadiums, and offshore structures play an import role in our daily life. However, constructing these structures requires lots of budget. Thus, how to cost-efficiently design structures satisfying all required design constraints is an important factor to structural engineers. Traditionally, mathematical gradient-based optimal techniques have been applied to the design of optimal structures. While, many practical engineering optimal problems are very complex and hard to solve by traditional method. In the past few decades, swarm intelligence algorithms, which were inspired by the social behaviour of natural animals such as fish schooling and bird flocking, were developed because they do not require conventional mathematical assumptions and thus possess better global search abilities than the traditional optimization algorithms and have attracted more and more attention. These intelligent based algorithms are very suitable for continuous and discrete design variable problems such as ready-made structural members and have been vigorously applied to various structural design problems and obtained good results. This book gathers the authors' latest research work related with particle swarm optimizer algorithm and group search optimizer algorithm as well as their application to structural optimal design. The readers can understand the full spectrum of the algorithms and apply the algorithms to their own research problems.

"

This book offers a dynamic introduction to the new developments on national security review of foreign direct investment (FDI) from the perspectives of both domestic law and international investment law. COVID-19 and the Russian invasion of Ukraine have intensified FDI screening to an unprecedented scale, yet its purposes, scope, and potential impact remain ambiguous and controversial. The work first attests the legitimacy of FDI screening by using national security constitutional theory. Part I explicates the national security, public order and public health exceptions clauses in international investment law, and the novel EU Regulation on FDI screening. Part II provides an in-depth analysis of FDI screening in China, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, and the UK, which have either witnessed momentous changes in domestic law recently, or have adopted new laws to cope with the growing security concerns. The book illustrates how States and the EU are using legal instruments to tackle exigent and emerging challenges and the complexity of national security emanated from foreign investment, in the context of evolving disruptive digital technologies and the structural change of the global economy. The volume will be of great value to a wide range of audiences including academics in investment and trade law, legal practitioners, in-house counsels, policymakers, business professionals and law and business students at the graduate level.

Solid-State NMR Characterization of Heterogeneous Catalysts and Catalytic Reactions provides a comprehensive account of state-of-the-art solid-state NMR techniques and the application of these techniques in heterogeneous catalysts and related catalytic reactions. It includes an introduction to the basic theory of solid-state NMR and various frequently used techniques. Special emphasis is placed on characterizing the framework and pore structure, active site, guest-host interaction, and synthesis mechanisms of heterogeneous catalysts using multinuclear one- and two-dimensional solid-sate NMR spectroscopy. Additionally, various in-situ solid-state NMR techniques and their applications in investigation of the mechanism of industrially important catalytic reactions are also discussed. Both the fundamentals and the latest research results are covered, making the book suitable as a reference guide for both experienced researchers in and newcomers to this field. Feng Deng is a Professor at Wuhan Institute of Physics and Mathematics, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Solid Acoustic Waves and Vibration: Theory and Applications is an exciting new book that takes readers inside a fascinating subject. It is charming that there is a complex and delicate structure in characteristic values, which is revealed by introducing a conceptual system including space operator, space-time variable, reference Poisson's ratio, etc., and developing the analytical models for all limiting cases. The dispersion curves of waves in an elastic plate are determined completely, and a systematic and concise description of the fundamental theory of this subject is given.As MEMS and NEMS technology develops, a number of new issues presents, such as the effects of residual stress, thin-film, air captured in micro-air-gaps and coating on the system, which make the problem complicated and spark debates. Micro-diaphragms are modeled by a plate in tension and mounted on air-spring, a general TDK equation of vibration of plates, including free, forced and damped vibrations, and its solutions are developed. The loading effect of coating is modeled by a mass load; a micro-load theory is presented. This book is a summary of the author's long-term research on electromechanical transducers and these related issues, and they provide an excellent description combining theory and application. The principle of electromechanical transducers, which achieve the conversion between mechanical and electrical energy, occupying a particularly important position in the field of robotics and intelligent machines, is elucidated by introducing the concepts of space-time operator, complex transformation factor, inversion impedance, etc., and an unfiled equivalent circuit is presented. The applications in micromachined capacitive ultrasonic transducers (mCUTs, CMUTs) for biomedical imaging and ultrasonic mass resonators (mUMRs) for biochemical sensing, including plate-type, beam-type, nanowire, bulk-wave, LAW and SAW delay-line ultrasonic resonators are described. This interdisciplinary book will be increasingly attractive as MEMS and NEMS technology develops.

The ascendancy of the Western Zhou in Bronze Age China, 1045-771 BC, was a critical period in the development of Chinese civilisation and culture. This book addresses the complex relationship between geography and political power in the context of the crisis and fall of the Western Zhou state. Drawing on the latest archaeological discoveries, the book shows how inscribed bronze vessels can be used to reveal changes in the political space of the period and explores literary and geographical evidence to produce a coherent understanding of the Bronze Age past. By taking an interdisciplinary approach which embraces archaeology, history and geography, the book thoroughly reinterprets late Western Zhou history and probes the causes of its gradual decline and eventual fall. Supported throughout by maps created from the GIS datasets and by numerous on-site photographs, Landscape and Power in Early China gives significant insights into this important Bronze Age society.

This book was first published in 2008. Ancient Chinese society developed a sophisticated and complex bureaucracy which is still in operation today and which had its pristine form in the government of the Western Zhou from 1045 to 771 BC. Li Feng, one of the leading scholars of the period, explores and interprets the origins and operational characteristics of that bureaucracy on the basis of the contemporaneous inscriptions of royal edicts cast onto bronze vessels, many of which have been discovered quite recently in archaeological explorations. The inscriptions clarify the political and social construction of the Western Zhou and the ways in which it exercised its authority. The discussion is accompanied by illustrations of the bronze vessels and their inscriptions, together with full references to their discovery and current ownership. The book also discusses the theory of bureaucracy and criticizes the various models of early-archaic states on the basis of close reading of the inscriptions.

'Early China' refers to the period from the beginning of human history in China to the end of the Han Dynasty in AD 220. The roots of modern Chinese society and culture are all to be found in this formative period of Chinese civilization. Li Feng's new critical interpretation draws on the most recent scholarship and archaeological discoveries from the past thirty years. This fluent and engaging overview of early Chinese civilization explores key topics including the origins of the written language, the rise of the state, the Shang and Zhou religions, bureaucracy, law and governance, the evolving nature of war, the creation of empire, the changing image of art, and the philosophical search for social order. Beautifully illustrated with a wide range of new images, this book is essential reading for all those wanting to know more about the foundations of Chinese history and civilization.

Ancient Chinese society developed a sophisticated and complex bureaucracy which is still in operation today and which had its pristine form in the government of the Western Zhou from 1045 to 771 BC. Li Feng, one of the leading scholars of the period, explores and interprets the origins and operational characteristics of that bureaucracy on the basis of the contemporaneous inscriptions of royal edicts cast onto bronze vessels, many of which have been discovered quite recently in archaeological explorations. The inscriptions clarify the political and social construction of the Western Zhou and the ways in which it exercised its authority. The discussion is accompanied by illustrations of the bronze vessels and their inscriptions, together with full references to their discovery and current ownership. The book also discusses the theory of bureaucracy and criticizes the various models of early-archaic states on the basis of close reading of the inscriptions.

Civil engineering structures such as buildings, bridges, stadiums, and offshore structures play an import role in our daily life. However, constructing these structures requires lots of budget. Thus, how to cost-efficiently design structures satisfying all required design constraints is an important factor to structural engineers. Traditionally, mathematical gradient-based optimal techniques have been applied to the design of optimal structures. While, many practical engineering optimal problems are very complex and hard to solve by traditional method. In the past few decades, swarm intelligence algorithms, which were inspired by the social behaviour of natural animals such as fish schooling and bird flocking, were developed because they do not require conventional mathematical assumptions and thus possess better global search abilities than the traditional optimization algorithms and have attracted more and more attention. These intelligent based algorithms are very suitable for continuous and discrete design variable problems such as ready-made structural members and have been vigorously applied to various structural design problems and obtained good results. This book gathers the authors' latest research work related with particle swarm optimizer algorithm and group search optimizer algorithm as well as their application to structural optimal design. The readers can understand the full spectrum of the algorithms and apply the algorithms to their own research problems.

"

With the advent of the Internet, and the resulting interconnection within a city and among cities, internet innovation has led to a number of important applications in economic and social fields, helping traditional industries upgrade and organizations gain new core competencies, thereby engendering new business models and new industries. This is what we refer to as the 'Internet Plus'. The 'Internet Plus' action plan was first introduced by Premier Li Keqiang in his Government Work Report at the Third Plenary Session of the 12th National People's Congress on March 5, 2015. This book expounds how 'Internet Plus' plan transforms and influences traditional economy, impacts technological and economic aspects of industries, extends its reach to people's daily lives and creates more profound social implications. In addition, the authors put forward constructive measures and suggestions for Shanghai to promote development of the 'Internet Plus' era and to enhance the city's economic impact and service level as a core city.

'Early China' refers to the period from the beginning of human history in China to the end of the Han Dynasty in AD 220. The roots of modern Chinese society and culture are all to be found in this formative period of Chinese civilization. Li Feng's new critical interpretation draws on the most recent scholarship and archaeological discoveries from the past thirty years. This fluent and engaging overview of early Chinese civilization explores key topics including the origins of the written language, the rise of the state, the Shang and Zhou religions, bureaucracy, law and governance, the evolving nature of war, the creation of empire, the changing image of art, and the philosophical search for social order. Beautifully illustrated with a wide range of new images, this book is essential reading for all those wanting to know more about the foundations of Chinese history and civilization.

This book covers C-Programming focussing on its practical side. Volume 2 deals mainly with composite data structures and their composition. An extensive use of figures and examples help to give a clear description of concepts and help the reader to gain a systematic understanding of the programming language.

This book covers C-Programming focussing on its practical side. Volume 1 deals mainly with basic data structures, algorithms and program statements. An extensive use of figures and examples help to give a clear description of concepts help the reader to gain a systematic understanding of the language.

Based on fifteen years' experience teaching e-Business modules, Feng Li takes the reader through the vast range of topics and issues surrounding e-business. This much-needed new text gives business and technology students the integrated framework they need to interpret conflicting and rapidly changing business phenomena.
A coherent introduction to e-business.
Features case studies of the transformation of various industries, including banking, the music industry, e-tailing, the telecoms industry, and e-public services.
Discusses emerging issues such as privacy, security, identity and presence in the cyber world, Internet marketing, legal, regulatory, social and political issues.
Supported by online lecturer and student resources, available soon.

The ascendancy of the Western Zhou in Bronze Age China, 1045-771 BC, was a critical period in the development of Chinese civilisation and culture. This book addresses the complex relationship between geography and political power in the context of the crisis and fall of the Western Zhou state. Drawing on the latest archaeological discoveries, the book shows how inscribed bronze vessels can be used to reveal changes in the political space of the period and explores literary and geographical evidence to produce a coherent understanding of the Bronze Age past. By taking an interdisciplinary approach which embraces archaeology, history and geography, the book thoroughly reinterprets late Western Zhou history and probes the causes of its gradual decline and eventual fall. Supported throughout by maps created from the GIS datasets and by numerous on-site photographs, Landscape and Power in Early China gives significant insights into this important Bronze Age society.

Reaction Engineering clearly and concisely covers the concepts and models of reaction engineering and then applies them to real-world reactor design. The book emphasizes that the foundation of reaction engineering requires the use of kinetics and transport knowledge to explain and analyze reactor behaviors. The authors use readily understandable language to cover the subject, leaving readers with a comprehensive guide on how to understand, analyze, and make decisions related to improving chemical reactions and chemical reactor design. Worked examples, and over 20 exercises at the end of each chapter, provide opportunities for readers to practice solving problems related to the content covered in the book.

Applied Geochemistry: Advances in Mineral Exploration Techniques is a book targeting all levels of exploration geologists, geology students and geoscientists working in the mining industry. This reference book covers mineral exploration techniques from multiple dimensions, including the application of statistics - both principal component analysis and factor analysis - to multifractal modeling. The book explains these approaches step-by-step and gives their limitations. In addition to techniques and applications in mineral exploration, Applied Geochemistry describes mineral deposits and the theories underpinning their formation through worldwide case studies.

Based on fifteen years' experience teaching e-Business modules, Feng Li takes the reader through the vast range of topics and issues surrounding e-business. This much-needed new text gives business and technology students the integrated framework they need to interpret conflicting and rapidly changing business phenomena.
A coherent introduction to e-business.
Features case studies of the transformation of various industries, including banking, the music industry, e-tailing, the telecoms industry, and e-public services.
Discusses emerging issues such as privacy, security, identity and presence in the cyber world, Internet marketing, legal, regulatory, social and political issues.
Supported by online lecturer and student resources, available soon.

Rubber tree (Hevea brasiliensis Muell. Arg.), which originated in South America Amazon River basin, is a typical tropical rainforest plant in favor of environment with high temperature and humidity. Since its introduction to China, rubber tree could grow and develop normally. However, these areas were in the tropical northern margin (Northern latitude 18-24 degree). Rubber tree frequently subjected to chilling injury. After 60 years of practice, unique and effective measurements were development in the cold planting cultivation of rubber trees in China. This book features as provide detail knowledge of chilling types and damage on tubber tree. The useful cultivation measurements and important chilling torlerant clones were showed. Furthermore, rubber clone seedlings with differential chilling tolerant abilities were subjected to artificial chilling treatment for measurement of its physiological indicators specific to antioxidant systems. This book provided a theoretical and practical basis for rubber clone breeding programme for chilling tolerance.

Li Feng grew up in Mao's communist China with her mother's motto burning in her ears - Success demands two things: unconditional sacrifice and absolute mental focus. Finally breaking free of her mother's overbearing clutches and fleeing to Sydney as an adult, Li struggled to make sense of her own lost childhood by piecing together her family's history. What she found was a heartbreaking tale of love and loss that echoed across four generations of women - from Silver Dollar, who fought to regain her dignity and change her destiny after being sold into a loveless marriage at the age of 13; to Ming Xiu, who was forced to make a choice no mother should ever have to make following the execution of her husband; to Li's mother Rong, who grew up as an outcast on the periphery of society but never gave up hope of a better life for herself and for her daughters. Despite economic and political upheaval, these women battled to offer their children a better future through sheer determination in the face of unimaginable adversity. FORGED FROM SILVER DOLLAR is an inspiring true story about Modern China, iron will and the strength of a mother's love.

Lipids play an essential role in cell signaling and subcellular structure. Systematic analysis of the total lipid structure of a cell or organism, the lipodome, can reveal novel avenues of therapeutic intervention and diagnosis. This analysis is best modeled after the lessons learned from proteomics. With contributions from pioneering researchers from the US, Europe, Canada, Japan, and China, Functional Lipidomics introduces lipidomics, explores the current state of the field, and provides a comprehensive background for future groundbreaking work in this burgeoning field.

The first book dedicated to the topic, Functional Lipidomics first defines and introduces the field before delving deeply into the methods, processes, analyses, and research aspects. The book uncovers the biosynthesis, metabolism, and function of fatty acids, acylglyerols, glycerophospholipids, sphingolipids, terpenes, and lipids that complex with proteins. Taking both academic and industrial perspectives, the contributors elaborate upon cutting-edge approaches to lipid analysis, diagnostic approaches using lipid and lipid-binding protein patterns, and the therapeutic significance of targeting proteins involved with the lipid signaling pathway.

Functional Lipidomics elucidates state-of-the-art strategies and techniques that enable us to understand biochemical patterns related to disease states, develop new targets for drug design, and identify important markers of a developmental stage, pathological condition, or disease treatment.