The mathematical theory of wavelets is less than 15 years old, yet already wavelets have become a fundamental tool in many areas of applied mathematics and engineering. This introduction to wavelets assumes a basic background in linear algebra (reviewed in Chapter 1) and real analysis at the undergraduate level. Fourier and wavelet analyses are first presented in the finite-dimensional context, using only linear algebra. Then Fourier series are introduced in order to develop wavelets in the infinite-dimensional, but discrete context. Finally, the text discusses Fourier transform and wavelet theory on the real line. The computation of the wavelet transform via filter banks is emphasized, and applications to signal compression and numerical differential equations are given. This text is ideal for a topics course for mathematics majors, because it exhibits and emerging mathematical theory with many applications. It also allows engineering students without graduate mathematics prerequisites to gain a practical knowledge of wavelets.

Racism, racial equity, and the race-place connections related to racial inequalities in the U.S. are the major themes of this book. The long history of U.S. White racism toward Blacks, Hispanics, and Asians is deeply rooted in the political, socioeconomic, and intellectual frameworks of America, permitting racial inequities to become expressed as c

This book stands as a rebuke to any who would attempt to forward simplistic interpretations of China's rise. In place of parsimonious arguments, or an endorsement of any singular set of images (whether pacific or confrontational), it repeatedly calls attention to the remarkable complexity of China's emerging international profile. More specifically, the leading Chinese and American scholars working in the fields of Chinese foreign policy, international political economy, and national security, who contributed to this volume argue that while China appears to be entering a new era in its relationship with the outside world, such a development encompasses disparate, even contradictory, policies, and, as a result, there is a great deal of fluidity within China's place in world politics.

This volume assembles reviews on topics in two major related areas. One of these concerns the interactions of cells with substrata and with other cells, which are mediated by the extracellular matrix and soluble molecules. As described in this volume, these interactions are responsible for controlling cell functions ranging from embryogenesis and neural development to blood clotting. More over, important properties of the extracellular matrix can be modulated by the interdependent actions of tumor cells and fibroblasts. The other major area of interest concerns the response of cells to extracellular signals. Recent work has begun to reveal how a remarkable diversity of cellular functions, including neuronal, proliferative, membrane--cytoskeletal, and many other kinds of re sponses, are elicited through the mediation of a relatively small and interdepen dent set of second messenger systems. These include both changes in cytoplasmic ionic balances and activation of various kinds of protein kinases. Both subjects are covered in this volume. The two areas are linked by the common theme of cellular response to an external environment that is sensed through cellular interactions with informational molecules, which are soluble agents, as well as those that are components of insoluble matrices. It is only recently that we have come to appreciate the complex interplay between the matrix surrounding a cell and the cell's response to hormones and growth factors. Thus, we have tried to select examples in which this type of extracellular integration may playa role."

State workers in China have until recently enjoyed the 'iron rice bowl' of comprehensive cradle-to-grave benefits and lifetime employment. This central institution in Chinese politics emerged over the course of various crises that swept through China's industrial sector prior to and after revolution in 1949. Frazier explores critical phases in the expansion of the Chinese state during the middle third of the twentieth century to reveal how different labour institutions reflected state power. While the 'iron rice bowl' is usually seen as an outgrowth of Communist labour policy, Frazier's account shows that is has longer historical roots. As a product of the Chinese state, the iron rice bowl's dismantling in the 1990s has raised sensitive issues about the way in which the contemporary Chinese state exerts control over urban industrial society. This book sheds light on state and society relations in China under the Nationalist and Communist regimes.

Racism, racial equity, and the race-place connections related to racial inequalities in the U.S. are the major themes of this book. The long history of U.S. White racism toward Blacks, Hispanics, and Asians is deeply rooted in the political, socioeconomic, and intellectual frameworks of America, permitting racial inequities to become expressed as cultural landscapes--the places where many racial minorities exist. The contemporary geographic patterns of segregation and isolation are different from those of earlier U.S. history, but are equally damning and present extremely difficult challenges for social action in a nation that will change its racial/ethnic composition dramatically during the current generation.As America changes over the next quarter century, the visible and invisible race-place inequalities that help define U.S. urban geography will continue in housing, education, employment, travel requirements, shopping choices, environmental hazards, and other living conditions. Minority groups, ever increasing in numbers, will find inequalities unacceptable. How America deals with racial inequalities will likely have consequences for all its citizens.

The origins of the "iron rice bowl" of comprehensive cradle-to-grave benefits and lifetime employment in Chinese factories is traced in this book. It suggests that, in some ways, the Chinese revolution in 1949 was not as revolutionary as most have thought. This is one of a very few books to look comparatively at the Chinese industrial workplace in pre-1949 China and post-1949 China. Frazier has mined sources that were unavailable to previous generations of researchers on China.

Riots, strikes, and protests broke out in the streets of Shanghai and Bombay (renamed Mumbai in 1995), with impressive frequency during the twentieth century. Many of the landmark protests and social movements had close connections with the neighborhoods, workplaces, and civic space of each city. By the late twentieth century, as the political geography of each city changed rapidly with the commodification of urban land, so too did the patterns of political contention. Using a comparative historical lens, Frazier chronicles the political biographies of these two metropolises and leading centers of manufacturing and finance. Debates over ideology, citizenship, and political representation took material form through clashes over housing, jobs, police violence, public space, among much else, in the lived experience of urban residents. Frazier puts contemporary debates over informal housing, eviction of inner-city residents, scarcities of manufacturing jobs, and questions of unequal citizenship in an illuminating historical context.

Riots, strikes, and protests broke out in the streets of Shanghai and Bombay (renamed Mumbai in 1995), with impressive frequency during the twentieth century. Many of the landmark protests and social movements had close connections with the neighborhoods, workplaces, and civic space of each city. By the late twentieth century, as the political geography of each city changed rapidly with the commodification of urban land, so too did the patterns of political contention. Using a comparative historical lens, Frazier chronicles the political biographies of these two metropolises and leading centers of manufacturing and finance. Debates over ideology, citizenship, and political representation took material form through clashes over housing, jobs, police violence, public space, among much else, in the lived experience of urban residents. Frazier puts contemporary debates over informal housing, eviction of inner-city residents, scarcities of manufacturing jobs, and questions of unequal citizenship in an illuminating historical context.

Wavelet theory is on the boundary between mathematics and engineering, making it ideal for demonstrating to students that mathematics research is thriving in the modern day. Students can see non-trivial mathematics ideas leading to natural and important applications, such as video compression and the numerical solution of differential equations. The only prerequisites assumed are a basic linear algebra background and a bit of analysis background. Intended to be as elementary an introduction to wavelet theory as possible, the text does not claim to be a thorough or authoritative reference on wavelet theory.

"The longest, most difficult, and most perilous motorcycle journey ever attempted." The Bicycling World and Motorcycle Review "Anyone who desires to diverge from the beaten path and visit points that may be of peculiar interest to him personally, the motorcycle is undoubted the only satisfactory means of travel." Syracuse Herald "One must die sometime and to die with one's boots on is very noble." Carl Stearns Clancy while riding his motorcycle at night in Spain, 1913. This travelogue originally authored by Clancy is for the avid motorcycle adventurist, the travel dreamer thirsting for motorcycle touring. Clancy circled the globe during 1912-1913 on a 1912 motorcycle. There were no GPSs, ATMs, Internet, and often no gas, roads or motorcycle repair shops. It describes the first motorcycle global adventure ride by the man who survived a dream quest with his gun, determination, grit, and guts. Edited by author Dr. Gregory W. Frazier, "America's #1 extreme motorcycle adventurer," who has raced, ridden, and repaired motorcycles over 1,000,000 miles and five times around the world. Best-selling author, journalist, film producer and professional photographer, Frazier's works include 14 books and 10 films. He says of motorcycle adventures, "I hate adventure that involves snakes or sharks."

Over the past two decades, China has rapidly increased its spending on its public pension programs, to the point that pension funding is one of the government's largest expenditures. Despite this, only about fifty million citizens one-third of the country's population above the age of sixty receive pensions. Combined with the growing and increasingly violent unrest over inequalities brought about by China's reform model, the escalating costs of an aging society have brought the Chinese political leadership to a critical juncture in its economic and social policies.

In Socialist Insecurity, Mark W. Frazier explores pension policy in the People's Republic of China, arguing that the government's push to expand pension and health insurance coverage to urban residents and rural migrants has not reduced, but rather reproduced, economic inequalities. He explains this apparent paradox by analyzing the decisions of the political actors responsible for pension reform: urban officials and state-owned enterprise managers. Frazier shows that China's highly decentralized pension administration both encourages the "grabbing hand" of local officials to collect large amounts of pension and other social insurance revenue and compels redistribution of these revenues to urban pensioners, a crucial political constituency.

More broadly, Socialist Insecurity shows that the inequalities of welfare policy put China in the same quandary as other large uneven developers countries that have succeeded in achieving rapid growth but with growing economic inequalities. While most explanations of the formation and expansion of welfare states are derived from experience in today's mature welfare systems, developing countries such as China, Frazier argues, provide new terrain to explore how welfare programs evolve, who drives the process, and who sees the greatest benefit."