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

This book introduces the current approaches in prokaryotic taxonomy and streamlines the advanced techniques for use in prokaryotic systematics. While highlighting the key differences in the taxonomy of cultured and not-yet-cultured bacteria and archaea, it presents the genomic technology involved in microbial systematics that serves as comprehensive guidelines for isolating and identifying bacteria. Microbial systematics is a fundamentally important discipline area for microbiologists and those seeking to understand Earth’s biodiversity. As bacterial taxonomy is critical in microbial ecology and clinical microbiology works, the correct identification of microbes is crucial. However, the microbial collection existing and described as cultured species so far are either based on the taxonomic pattern that existed during its time of first cultivation. With evolving technology, many microbes were found to be wrongly classified. Therefore, it is essential to keep in contact with the developing technology and methods for the correct placement of cultured bacteria and their identification. This book is an excellent guideline for adequately identifying, classifying, and describing novel taxa of bacteria and archaea.

This fancifully illustrated multicultural children's book tells a famous Chinese myth about a young boy's quest to save his village. Long ago, in a remote village in China, there lived a kind and generous little boy. He spent his days in the forest, collecting wood to trade for food. One day, the boy made a wondrous discovery: a magic stone that caused his money jar and rice crocks to overflow, both of which he shared with the poor villagers. But strange things began to happen. It no longer rained. The crops died. The rivers dried up. A terrible drought had struck and would not release its grip. The brave young boy, full of dreams of a white, water-spewing Dragon, took his magic stone on a journey-and discovered how to save his village. 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 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 Little Calf-2009 & 2021

This volume draws on findings from the Canada-China Nature Notes Reciprocal Learning Program to explore cross-cultural exchanges in science education in and outside of the classroom. Under the collaborative reciprocity perspective, cross-cultural learning needs to go beyond simple comparison in practices, values, and results and moves to a paradigm that emphasizes a two-way learning process in the context of acting together. Through collaborative work between the international teams and partner schools, the program described in this book shows how collaborative efforts between the two sister schools worked to raise awareness about Chinese farming culture and extend students' outdoor learning experiences. In this book, educators from across the research team share their insights and reflect on the cross-cultural collaborative process and how it impacted the learning experiences of themselves and their students.

The legend of Mulan and her bravery is captured in this beautifully illustrated Chinese children's book. Mulan is a folk story from China's Northern Dynasty (439-589) about the unusual tale of an ordinary girl named Fa Mulan. This book is illustrated based on the original ballad, which depicts her bravery through Chinese ink paintings. A long time ago in China, there lived a young girl named Mulan. Her father was a retired general who taught her many skills girls weren't normally allowed to learn, like martial arts, archery, sword play and how to ride a horse. One day, soldiers came to Mulan's village. They told everyone China was in danger, and that a man from each family must join the army and fight. Mulan was terribly upset. Her father was too old, but was honor-bound to fight. If only she had been born a boy! That night, Mulan came up with a plan to save the honor of her family and her father's life. Early the next morning, disguised as a boy, Mulan took a horse and her father's armor before leaving to join the army. No one recognized her, and Mulan was very careful to never let anyone know she was really a girl. Mulan's bravery, courage and the skills she learned from her father helped her to succeed. Over twelve years, Mulan fought against the threat to China before finally helping to win the war. When she was offered a reward from the emperor for her incredible courage, Mulan instead asked for a horse so she could return home to her family. Mulan's family was so happy to see her! And there, for the first time in twelve years, Mulan exchanged her armor for a dress, fixed her hair into an elegant girl's hairstyle and joined her family, a beautiful young woman once again.

This collection gives broad and up-to-date results in the research and development of materials characterization and processing. Coverage is well-rounded from minerals, metals, and materials characterization and developments in extraction to the fabrication and performance of materials. In addition, topics as varied as structural steels to electronic materials to plant-based composites are explored. The latest research presented in this wide area make this book both timely and relevant to the materials science field as a whole. The book explores scientific processes to characterize materials using modern technologies, and focuses on the interrelationships and interdependence among processing, structure, properties, and performance of materials. Topics covered include ferrous materials, non-ferrous materials, minerals, ceramics, clays, soft materials, method development, processing, corrosion, welding, solidification, composites, extraction, powders, nanomaterials, advanced materials, and several others.

This collection gives broad and up-to-date results in the research and development of materials characterization and processing. Coverage is well-rounded from minerals, metals, and materials characterization and developments in extraction to the fabrication and performance of materials. In addition, topics as varied as structural steels to electronic materials to plant-based composites are explored. The latest research presented in this wide area make this book both timely and relevant to the materials science field as a whole. The book explores scientific processes to characterize materials using modern technologies, and focuses on the interrelationships and interdependence among processing, structure, properties, and performance of materials. Topics covered include ferrous materials, non-ferrous materials, minerals, ceramics, clays, soft materials, method development, processing, corrosion, welding, solidification, composites, extraction, powders, nanomaterials, advanced materials, and several others.

This book addresses the fundamental theory and key technologies of narrowband and broadband mobile communication systems specifically for railways. It describes novel relaying schemes that meet the different design criteria for railways and discusses the applications of signal classification techniques as well as offline resource scheduling as a way of advancing rail practice. Further, it introduces Novel Long Term Evolution for Railway (LTE-R) network architecture, the Quality of Service (QoS) requirement of LTE-R and its performance evaluation and discusses in detail security technologies for rail-dedicated mobile communication systems. The advanced research findings presented in the book are all based on high-speed railway measurement data, which offer insights into the propagation mechanisms and corresponding modeling theory and approaches in unique railway scenarios.It is a valuable resource for researchers, engineers and graduate students in the fields of rail traffic systems, telecommunication and information systems.

This collection focuses on the characterization of minerals, metals, and materials as well as the application of characterization results on the processing of these materials. Papers cover topics such as clays, ceramics, composites, ferrous metals, non-ferrous metals, minerals, electronic materials, magnetic materials, environmental materials, advanced materials, and soft materials. In addition, papers covering materials extraction, materials processing, corrosion, welding, solidification, and method development are included. This book provides a current snapshot of characterization in materials science and its role in validating, informing, and driving current theories in the field of materials science. This volume will serve the dual purpose of furnishing a broad introduction of the field to novices while simultaneously serving to keep subject matter experts up-to-date.

With beautiful illustrations this multicultural children's book takes readers on a tour of China's most famous caves! The sandstorm was blowing hard over the Gobi Desert. Xiao Ming got separated from his parents on their way to the Mogao Caves. As it was getting dark Xiao Ming, along with the other travelers who were separated from the group, were huddling in the sand helplessly. In the darkness of the Gobi Desert, Xiao Ming vaguely saw a little light flashing in the dust. The light got closer and closer and, finally, he saw a deer with nine shades of color in his fur. His antlers were as white as snow and his body was wrapped with a touch of bright light. The nine-colored deer told Xiao Ming to follow him. The story unfolds with Ming being guided to the caves where ancient paintings come to life!

In America, every child knows the story of the three little pigs and the big, bad wolf, so they'll love reading about the pigs' Chinese counterparts. Told in a bilingual Chinese and English edition, this is the story of three little pigs whose appetites initially get the better of them. In a shared dream, they met an old man who tells them to deliver sweet rice cakes to him a week before New Year's Eve. The next morning, they see some sweet rice cakes on their kitchen table. The three little pigs completely forget the old man and eat every bit of them. When their mother comes home, she is very angry to discover all the cakes gone. Seeing their mother unhappy, the three little pigs help her make more delicious sweet rice cakes. When there is only a week left before Chinese New Year's Eve, their mother lays the sweet rice cakes in front of the portrait of the Kitchen God and prays for the peace for the family. On seeing the portrait, the three little pigs realize that the old man in their dreams is actually the Kitchen God! Other books in the Chinese Zodiac Series (as well as the year of that animal) include: 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 Little Calf-2009 & 2021

In ancient times under the reign of Yellow Emperor (about 2500 B.C.), people kept records by piling stones and tying knots. One day, Cang Jie, a historical official who tied knots to keep records under Yellow Emperor, unexpectedly made a big mistake. Feeling very guilty, he was determined to find out a better way for keeping records. He went back to his hometown to think it over for many days and nights. Inspired by the footprints of animals, he began to carefully observe the sun, moon, stars, mountains, rivers, lakes, seas, as well as birds and animals. At the same time, he traveled around collecting signs created by fishermen, farmers, hunters and soldiers. In the end, he succeeded in creating Chinese characters, which are still widely used today. In this multicultural children's story, kids will find out that there is a story behind every Chinese character. Children will also learn about basic Chinese characters and how to make them.

In this colorfully illustrated multicultural children's book a boy of today and a Little Emperor from the past find adventure and fun in the Forbidden City! On a visit to the Forbidden City, Xiao Ming somehow manages to lose his father. During his search, Ming finds a strange set of stairs. Perhaps his father went down them? Off he goes-down the stairs, across a strange pathway and through a hall where, rather than finding his father, Ming finds himself in the midst of the Qing Dynasty! The awed little boy is discovered by Imperial Bodyguards who take him to meet the Little Emperor. Ming described the airplanes and cars of the future and the Little Emperor shows Ming his treasures. The new friends are admiring a bronze dragon when suddenly the dragon comes to life and carries the Little Emperor and Ming up into the sky! The two boys and the dragon fly over the whole city, until Ming slips and falls from the dragon's tail into the city moat, bringing him back to the present-and his anxious father. A delightful tale of past meets present, Ming's Adventures in the Forbidden City will surely capture the imagination of children and parents alike.

A richly illustrated book featuring recent revelations about China's first emperor, Ying Zheng, and his famous burial site containing an army of life-size terracotta soldiers and other artifacts First discovered by a farmer in 1974, the burial site of China's first emperor, Ying Zheng, has yielded thousands of life-size terracotta figures and artifacts, and continues to be excavated today. This fascinating publication features more than 130 works including ten of these majestic terracotta figures, arms and armor, horse and chariot fittings, ritual bronze vessels, works in gold and silver, jade ornaments, precious jewelry, and ceramics. Dating from the Eastern Zhou dynasty (770-256 BC) through the Qin dynasty (221-206 BC), these objects represent the complex history, myths, and burial customs of ancient China. The texts introduce recent scholarship on this material culture to illuminate not only the first emperor's burial complex, but also his powerful influence in Chinese history and the myriad ways in which his political and economic reforms transformed the daily lives of the Chinese people. Distributed for the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Exhibition Schedule: Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (11/18/17-03/11/18) Cincinnati Art Museum (04/20/18-08/12/18)

This beautifully illustrated multicultural children's book follows Ming as he discovers the birth of Kung Fu. After Xiao Ming participates in a martial arts exercise at school, his parents take him on a trip to the Shaolin Temple-the birth-place of kung fu-in the central Henan Province of China. The temple is situated in the forests of Shaoshi Mountain, one of the seven mountains of Song Mountains. With a history of over 1,500 years, the grand Shaolin Temple has precious stone-carvings in its many buildings. At the Warrior Monks School (Wuseng Yuan), he sees monks practicing kung fu and jumps in to learn some martial arts skills. He then goes into a stone cave by mistake and meets a monk who turns out to be Bodhidharma, the founder of Zen Buddhism, according to legend. Bodhidharma takes him onto the mountain to see peach flowers, small birds and big trees. He tells Ming how the Shaolin Temple became the birthplace of Zen in Buddhism.

This collection gives broad and up-to-date results in the research and development of materials characterization and processing. Topics covered include characterization methods, ferrous materials, non-ferrous materials, minerals, ceramics, polymer and composites, powders, extraction, microstructure, mechanical behavior, processing, corrosion, welding, solidification, magnetic, electronic, environmental, nano-materials, and advanced materials The book explores scientific processes to characterize materials using modern technologies, and focuses on the interrelationships and interdependence among processing, structure, properties, and performance of materials.

The kindness and generosity of those born under the sign of the sheep in the Chinese zodiac is brought to life in this heartwarming multicultural fairy tale. Long, long ago, there lived a kind physician. He lived on a mountain in a small Chinese village where he practiced traditional Chinese medicine for all the villagers. On his way home one day, he found an injured sheep, rescued it and brought it home where he nursed the sheep back to life. One evening, after the sheep had been living with the physician for some time, a beast barged into the village, demanding payment of each household in the form of one child. If the villagers refused to hand over their children, the beast would eat everyone! In the blink of an eye, the rescued sheep transforms into a lovely girl, who, with a clever plan, manages to frighten the beast away and keep everyone in the village safe from harm. And so, with one simple act of kindness, an entire village is saved, reminding us that every action, no matter how small, has consequences. 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 Bronze Dog-2006 & 2018 Little Rat and the Golden Seed-2008 & 2020 Little Calf-2009 & 2021

This beautifully illustrated multicultural children's book tells a story about China's most famous archeological site-the terracotta soldiers of Xi'an. When a special exhibition of terracotta warriors comes to town, Ming and his mother go to see them at the museum. To remember this exciting event, Ming's mother buys him a little figurine of a General to keep in his room at home. But at midnight, Ming wakes up and finds the General figurine is alive and he has a copper carriage ready to take Ming to his home in Emperor Qin Shi Huang's Tomb in Xi'an, China. In this mysterious underground world over 2,000 years old, Ming meets the General's army of terracotta warriors. Read and find out more about Ming's adventures with his new friends!

This beautifully illustrated multicultural children's book tells the story of two young brothers and a magical dog in both English and Chinese. Once upon a time, at the foot of the mountains called Zhongnan in the Shaanxi Province of China, there were two brothers who lived alone and depended on each other. One day, the elder one dug out a bronze dog while tilling which made the brothers very happy, as they could sell it for money. But unexpectedly, the bronze dog suddenly got bigger and swallowed the elder brother. Having seen this, the younger one rushed to find a hammer, intending to smash the bronze dog to save his brother. In order not to be destroyed, the bronze dog promised to give the young boy three gifts which he wanted most. But he told the dog he would rather ask for nothing but his brother. The bronze dog was deeply moved by the love between the two brothers, so it spat the elder one out and magically turned into a real dog. Luckily, the brothers got a new companion, and all of them lived happily ever after. 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 Little Rat and the Golden Seed-2008 & 2020 Little Calf-2009 & 2021

This beautifully illustrated Chinese children's book tells a traditional myth in both English and Chinese characters. Long ago in China, there was a little boy who lived a nomadic life with his family. Hunger and hardship followed them wherever they went. They tried to grow food once, but whenever the seeds were sown, winter came and all the seedlings became frozen. One day, while passing by the Yellow River, the boy's white horse suddenly got free of the reins and plunged into the river. After a while, the horse sprang out of the water with a drawing on its back. Everyone wondered what the drawing meant, but only the boy was clever enough to figure it out and explained to his family: "This drawing shows the cycle of the changing seasons. The horse wants to help us grow grains to make food. Why don't we do what is on this drawing and sow seeds in the spring, water them in the summer, and harvest in the autumn. In the winter, we need to let the earth rest." Following the farming method on the drawing, people had bountiful harvests year after year, providing enough grain for rice and dumplings. They were able to stay in one place to build homes. 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 Sheep Beauty-2015 & 2027 Bronze Dog-2006 & 2018 Little Rat and the Golden Seed-2008 & 2020 Little Calf-2009 & 2021

This beautifully illustrated multicultural children's book tells a classical Chinese myth in both English and Chinese. Long long ago, the world was a colorless, gray place. It had stayed that way for thousands of years. People never expected anything different until one day, the colorful Snake Goddess, Nuwa, fell from the sky. She was determined to bring color and beauty to the gray nothingness of the earth, but all the colors kept running out through a giant hole in the sky. To fix the hole and bring color to the world, Nuwa would have journey near and far to find the five magical colored stones that were her only hope for fixing the sky. Join the Snake Goddess on her journey to bring color to a desolate world! 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 Horse and the Mysterious Drawing-2014 & 2026 Sheep Beauty-2015 & 2027 Bronze Dog-2006 & 2018 Little Rat and the Golden Seed-2008 & 2020 Little Calf-2009 & 2021

In this beautifully illustrated multicultural children's book, a modern-day boy goes on an adventure where he meets Confucius-China's most famous ancient philosopher. In his newest adventure, Ming and his father travel to Qufu in China's Shandong Province, the hometown of the famous Chinese sage Confucius, born over 2,500 years ago. While Ming's father studies the stunning historic architecture, Ming's attention is drawn to a game of Chinese checkers set up in a gazebo. But as soon as he touches the checkers, Ming finds himself magically transported back in time to ancient Qufu. There he meets Confucius and his students, and explores with them the principles established by the renowned teacher, which remain so important in China today. Another delightful tale of past meets present from author/artist Li Jian, Ming's Adventures with Confucius in Qufu is sure to inspire a new generation of children.

Cloud Computing has brought a huge impact in IT industry. Computing resources are easier to get in Cloud Computing. Briefly speaking, Cloud Computing is a resource pool, which contains a masssive amount of interconnected computers. Under such background, in order to make full use of the network, Google initiated MapReduce model. This model is an implementation of Parallel Computing, which aims at processing large amount of data. Given certain computing resources and MapReduce model, this book gives some thinking about how to estimate the time consumption of a huge computation task. Based on classical Parallel Computing theories, this book proposed two models to estimate the time consumption. It also gives conclusions about what type of computation task is estimatable. The experiments in this book are easy to implement, which are very suitable references for Cloud Computing fans.

This book provides a comprehensive overview of diagnostic imaging in infectious and inflammatory diseases in central nervous system and spine. It starts with basic theory of infectious diseases, including pathological basis, laboratory diagnostic methods, and clinical imaging techniques. In following chapters, the authors firstly introduce the central nervous system infections related to respiratory, gastrointestinal, and contagious diseases. Then viral, bacterial, fungal, parasitic and special infections in central nervous system and spine are presented with clinical cases. Each disease is clearly illustrated using cases combined with high-quality CT and MRI. The book provides a valuable reference source for radiologists and doctors working in the area of infectious and inflammatory diseases.