This book analyzes unexpected preference query results for three problems: causality and responsibility problems, why-not and why questions, and why-few and why-many questions. Further, it refines preference queries and discusses how to modify the original preference query based on different objectives, in order to obtain satisfying results. This highly informative and carefully presented book provides valuable insights for researchers, postgraduates and practitioners with an interest in database usability.

DASFAA is an annual international database conference, located in the Asia- Paci?cregion,whichshowcasesstate-of-the-artR & Dactivities in databases- tems and their applications. It provides a forum for technical presentations and discussions among database researchers, developers and users from academia, business and industry. DASFAA 2009, the 14th in the series, was held during April 20-23, 2009 in Brisbane, Australia. In this year, we carefully selected six workshops, each focusing on speci?c research issues that contribute to the main themes of the DASFAA conference. Thisvolumecontainsthe?nalversionsofpapersacceptedforthesesixworkshops that were held in conjunction with DASFAA 2009. They are: - First International Workshop on Benchmarking of XML and Semantic Web Applications (BenchmarX 2009) - Second International Workshop on Managing Data Quality in Collaborative Information Systems (MCIS 2009) - First International Workshop on Data and Process Provenance (WDPP 2009) - First International Workshop on Privacy-Preserving Data Analysis (PPDA 2009) - FirstInternationalWorkshoponMobileBusinessCollaboration(MBC2009) - DASFAA 2009 PhD Workshop All the workshops were selected via a public call-for-proposals process. The workshop organizers put a tremendous amount of e?ort into soliciting and - lecting papers with a balance of high quality, new ideas and new applications. We asked all workshops to follow a rigid paper selection process, including the procedure to ensure that any Program Committee members are excluded from the paper review process of any paper they are involved with. A requirement about the overall paper acceptance rate of no more than 50% was also imposed on all the workshops.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Database Systems for Advanced Applications, DASFAA 2009, held in Brisbane, Australia, in April 2009.

The 39 revised full papers and 22 revised short papers presented together with 3 invited keynote papers, 9 demonstration papers, 3 tutorial abstracts, and one panel abstract were carefully reviewed and selected from 186 submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections on uncertain data and ranking, sensor networks, graphs, RFID and data streams, skyline and rising stars, parallel and distributed processing, mining and analysis, XML query, privacy, XML keyword search and ranking, Web and Web services, XML data processing, and multimedia.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Rough Sets, Fuzzy Sets, Data Mining, and Granular Computing, RSFDGrC 2003, held in Chongqing, China in May 2003. The 39 revised full papers and 75 revised short papers presented together with 2 invited keynote papers and 11 invited plenary papers were carefully reviewed and selected from a total of 245 submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections on rough sets foundations and methods; fuzzy sets and systems; granular computing; neural networks and evolutionary computing; data mining, machine learning, and pattern recognition; logics and reasoning; multi-agent systems; and Web intelligence and intelligent systems.

It is a wild hold myth that native-English-speaking (NES) language instructors are capable of teaching English writing in non-native English speaking environment. By providing a glimpse of how NES instructors teaching English writing in a Chinese university, the study leads to a rethinking of hiring NES instructors as English writing instructors in China. As one of the first few studied expatriate NES instructors' writing instruction in depth, the study has significant implications in EFL writing field for understanding the expertise of expatriate NES instructors, for selecting qualified NES instructors and supporting them. English instruction policymakers, school administrators in EFL context, NES instructors who want to teach in non-English-speaking countries and areas will find the book informative and helpful.

This new-in-paperback edition provides a general introduction to algebraic and arithmetic geometry, starting with the theory of schemes, followed by applications to arithmetic surfaces and to the theory of reduction of algebraic curves.
The first part introduces basic objects such as schemes, morphisms, base change, local properties (normality, regularity, Zariski's Main Theorem). This is followed by the more global aspect: coherent sheaves and a finiteness theorem for their cohomology groups. Then follows a chapter on sheaves of differentials, dualizing sheaves, and Grothendieck's duality theory. The first part ends with the theorem of Riemann-Roch and its application to the study of smooth projective curves over a field. Singular curves are treated through a detailed study of the Picard group.
The second part starts with blowing-ups and desingularization (embedded or not) of fibered surfaces over a Dedekind ring that leads on to intersection theory on arithmetic surfaces. Castelnuovo's criterion is proved and also the existence of the minimal regular model. This leads to the study of reduction of algebraic curves. The case of elliptic curves is studied in detail. The book concludes with the fundamental theorem of stable reduction of Deligne-Mumford.
This book is essentially self-contained, including the necessary material on commutative algebra. The prerequisites are few, and including many examples and approximately 600 exercises, the book is ideal for graduate students.

This book provides a comprehensive overview of current achievements in biomedical applications of nanotechnology, including stem cell based regenerative medicine, medical imaging, cell targeting, drug delivery, and photothermal/photodynamic cancer therapy. New approaches in early cancer diagnosis and treatment are introduced with extensive experimental results. In particular, some novel materials have been synthesized with new properties that are most effective in cancer therapy. Some of the key issues are also addressed with these recent discoveries such as bio safety and bio degradability, that are essential in the success of nano medicine.An important aspect of this book is the introduction of nanotechnology to the medical communities that are searching for new treatments of cancer, therefore breaking barriers between the physical and medical sciences so that more MDs will be able to appreciate the new discoveries and establishments in medical diagnoses and therapies capable of tackling major clinical issues.

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), with a history of thousands of years, is the crystallization of the ancient Chinese people's experience in their struggle against diseases. It is also an integral part of their splendid culture. Under the influence and direction of classic Chinese philosophies, it has undergone long-term medical practice and infiltrated into, as well as absorbed from, other subjects at that time, thus gradually evolving into a unique medical theoretical system that contributed significantly to the health care of the Chinese people and the prosperity of the Chinese nation. This 7-volume set comprehensively covers the main components of TCM, such as Basic Theory, Diagnosis, Prescription, Chinese Materia Medica, Tui Na, Acupuncture and Moxibustion.