Popular among online shoppers, comparison-shopping provides a new sales channel for small to medium enterprises to contend with brand name vendors. ""Comparison-Shopping Services and Agent Designs"" provides a collection of comprehensive research articles on the latest technologies involved with online consumer services. This ""Premier Reference Source"" provides e-commerce and agent technology researchers, academicians, and practitioners with a useful overview as well as references to the latest advancements in the field.

Despite its increasingly secure place in the world, the People's Republic of China remains dissatisfied with its global status. Its growing material power has simultaneously led to both greater influence and unsettling questions about its international intentions. China also has found itself in a constant struggle to balance its aspirations abroad with a daunting domestic agenda. This authoritative book provides a unique exploration of the complex and dynamic motivations behind Beijing's foreign policy. The authors focus on China's choices and calculations on issues such as the ruling Communist party-regime's interests, international status and image, nationalism, Taiwan, human rights, globalization, U.S. hegemony, international institutions, and the war on terrorism. Taken together, the chapters offer a comprehensive diagnosis of the emerging paradigms in Chinese foreign policy, illuminating especially China's struggle to engineer and manage its rise in light of the opportunities and perils inherent in the post-cold war and post-9/11 world.

Deep Learning through Sparse Representation and Low-Rank Modeling bridges classical sparse and low rank models-those that emphasize problem-specific Interpretability-with recent deep network models that have enabled a larger learning capacity and better utilization of Big Data. It shows how the toolkit of deep learning is closely tied with the sparse/low rank methods and algorithms, providing a rich variety of theoretical and analytic tools to guide the design and interpretation of deep learning models. The development of the theory and models is supported by a wide variety of applications in computer vision, machine learning, signal processing, and data mining. This book will be highly useful for researchers, graduate students and practitioners working in the fields of computer vision, machine learning, signal processing, optimization and statistics.

Functioning as both a dense manual, a detailed roadmap, and an edifying tale of spiritual maturity, this third installment in Wang Yun's best-selling series brings you rare and authentic Daoism, straight from the culture that gave birth to it. With clear instruction and dozens of illustrated and filmed exercises, you can begin or strengthen your spiritual practice, boost your immune system, and find deep peace of mind, all right from the comfort of your home. Lofty Daoist philosophy and its practical applications are made easy to grasp and apply through Wang Yun's effort to translate the old teachings on how to apply the mindset and skills of Daoist meditation, alchemy and qigong to all affairs of life. To this end, Returning from Qingcheng Mountain spins a blend of rare tales from Daoist lore, straightforward explanations of ways to shape the body and mind, and inspiring stories from Wang Yun's own practice path. To 'remain natural in all things' is the tenet that pervades every page, an eternal invitation toward being at ease, no matter the circumstances. By doing so, one returns to the world out there and handles mundane matters with poise and efficiency, transforming all the challenges and joys and relationships of daily life into a practice, a meditation, and a chance to grow and develop one's spirit, and by token, the body.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the joint 9th Asia-Pacific Web Conference, APWeb 2007, and the 8th International Conference on Web-Age Information Management, WAIM 2007, held in Huang Shan, China in June 2007.

The 47 revised full papers and 36 revised short papers presented together with 4 invited papers and the abstracts of 4 keynote papers were carefully reviewed and selected from a total of 554 submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections on data mining and knowledge discovery, information retrieval, P2P systems, sensor networks, spatial and temporal databases, Web mining, XML and semi-structured data, sensor networks and grids, query processing and optimization, data streams, data integration and collaborative systems, data mining and e-learning, data mining, privacy and security, as well as data mining and data streams.

Port Planning and Management Simulation examines port planning simulation applications, showing how they supports better port decision-making. Using a clear organizational format based on actual port system structure and operation processes, the book provides practical and theoretical insights on port planning and management. The book describes the water, land, collecting and distributing components of the port system, focusing on management, development, and risk mitigation. It examines the key challenges based on discrete system simulation theory that is less affected by local or national regulations. It compares various simulation scenarios for optimal port operational strategy. It quantifies port emissions, analyzes the impact of different reduction strategies, and presents operational strategies for green port planning developmentmand management. Port Planning and Management Simulation provides guidance for carrying out deep analysis in a complex and dynamic system, providing an integrated solution framework based on simulation techniques for improving efficiency and cost savings of the port system.

Mount Qingcheng, one of China's mystical mountains, has been the birth place of discovery, realization and preservation of the recipes that stimulate the deep potential of the human body for generations. This is the book of a Daoist master and spiritual guide Wang Yun as a young seeker and tells the tales of his inner journey which now guides the reader on a path of healing, rejuvenation and actualization of the body's innate potential. Climbing the Steps to Qingcheng Mountain brings Wang Yun's knowledge and wisdom to the West for the first time. * It serves as a guide to health and spiritual practices * including meditation and qigong exercises * based on centuries of Daoist knowledge and wisdom. * Through tales ranging from Daoist immortals to sleep-deprived salesmen, * this book offers guidance to support physical and mental wellbeing in this modern, stressful world. For a preview, exercise videos and more about the author: www.modernwisdomtg.com

Immersing the mind with the concepts of the Daoist path of health and immortality, Clouds over Qingcheng Mountain invokes the sacred birthplace of one of China's mystical mountains that has stimulated both mind and body for generations. Whilst the first volume, Climbing the Steps to Qingcheng Mountain, invited the reader to travel across time and through the history of China and Daoism, Clouds over Qingcheng Mountain is more focused in the book's purpose. Wang Yun places special focus on relaxation and the breath through five sets of foundational yet all-encompassing practices, such as posting, to deepen both themes. He offers tales from his life and journey, along with accessible tools to strengthen both body and qi. Bridging the gap between practical experience and philosophical background, Clouds over Qingcheng Mountain simplifies the complex practices of Daoism handed down by generations of accomplished Masters, and gifts the reader with its most valuable aspects for a modern world.