This book focuses on the synthesis of lower-mobility parallel manipulators, presenting a group-theory-based method that has the advantage of being geometrically intrinsic. Rotations and translations of a rigid body as well as a combination of the two can be expressed and handled elegantly using the group algebraic structure of the set of rigid-body displacements. The book gathers the authors' research results, which were previously scattered in various journals and conference proceedings, presenting them in a unified form. Using the presented method, it reveals numerous novel architectures of lower-mobility parallel manipulators, which are of interest to those in the robotics community. More importantly, readers can use the method and tool to develop new types of lower-mobility parallel manipulators independently.

This book contains the papers included in the proceedings of the 1st International Workshop on High-speed and Intercity Railways (IWHIR 2011) held in Shenzhen and Hong Kong, China from July 19 to July 22, 2011, which is organized by The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, in collaboration with Southwest Jiaotong University, Beijing Jiaotong University, Dalian Jiaotong University, China Engineering Consultants, Inc., Zhejiang University, and Tsinghua University. Continuing the great initiatives and momentums of the rapid development in high-speed and intercity railways worldwide in recent years, IWHIR 2011 aims at providing a platform for academic scholars and practicing engineers to share knowledge and experience, to promote collaboration, and to strengthen R&D activities related to railway engineering. Engineers, scientists, professors, and students from universities, research institutes, and related industrial companies have been cordially invited to participate in the workshop. These papers have covered a wide range of issues concerning high-speed and intercity railways in the theoretical, numerical, and experimental work pertaining to high-speed and intercity railways. Showcasing diversity and quality, these papers report the state-of-the-art and point to future directions of research and development in this exciting area.

This book contains the papers included in the proceedings of the 1st International Workshop on High-speed and Intercity Railways (IWHIR 2011) held in Shenzhen and Hong Kong, China from July 19 to July 22, 2011, which is organized by The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, in collaboration with Southwest Jiaotong University, Beijing Jiaotong University, Dalian Jiaotong University, China Engineering Consultants, Inc., Zhejiang University, and Tsinghua University. Continuing the great initiatives and momentums of the rapid development in high-speed and intercity railways worldwide in recent years, IWHIR 2011 aims at providing a platform for academic scholars and practicing engineers to share knowledge and experience, to promote collaboration, and to strengthen R&D activities related to railway engineering. Engineers, scientists, professors, and students from universities, research institutes, and related industrial companies have been cordially invited to participate in the workshop. These papers have covered a wide range of issues concerning high-speed and intercity railways in the theoretical, numerical, and experimental work pertaining to high-speed and intercity railways. Showcasing diversity and quality, these papers report the state-of-the-art and point to future directions of research and development in this exciting area.

This book includes keynote presentations, invited speeches, and general session papers presented at the 7th International Symposium on Environmental Vibration and Transportation Geodynamics (formerly the International Symposium on Environmental Vibration), held from October 28 to 30, 2016 at Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China. It discusses topics such as the dynamic and cyclic behaviors of soils, dynamic interaction of vehicle and transportation infrastructure; traffic-induced structure and soil vibrations and wave propagation; soil-structure dynamic interaction problems in transportation; environmental vibration analysis and testing; vehicle, machine and human-induced vibrations; monitoring, evaluation and control of traffic induced vibrations; transportation foundation deformation and deterioration induced by vibration; structural safety and serviceability of railways, metros, roadways and bridges; and application of geosynthetics in transportation infrastructure. It is a valuable resource for government managers, scientific researchers, and engineering professionals engaged in the field of geotechnical and transportation engineering.

China’s emergence as an aid donor in Africa has caught global attention, with China’s activity being viewed as the projection of soft power of a neo-colonialist kind in an international relations context. This book, which focuses on China’s education aid - government scholarships, training, Confucius Institutes, dispatched teachers, etc. – reveals a much more complicated picture. It outlines how the divide between the Chinese Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Education hinders China’s soft power projection, how much of China’s aid is bound up with an education-for-economic-growth outlook, mirroring China’s own recent experiences of economic development, and how China’s aid, prioritized to reflect the commercial sector’s interests, is out of step with most international development aid, which is dominated by education agendas and the campaigns of international organizations and traditional donors, which leaves China easily exposed to the charge of neo-colonialism. It emphasizes the international development cooperation architecture as an open system by which both traditional donors and Southern countries transform.

In this book the author explores the work and living experiences of Confucius Institute Chinese teachers (CICTs) in the UK, how they interpret and make sense of their sojourning experience, and how this context and the wider globalised social environment have impacted on their understandings and their personal growth. Because of their betwixt and between situation, the CICTs' stories differ from those of other immigrants, international students and pre-service student teachers, who have been the main focus in L2 identity research. The book offers new insights into the Confucius Institutes (CI) with real life stories from teachers drawn from blogs, interviews and focus groups, drawing attention in the process to weaknesses of the CI programme and offering suggestions for ways forward which will be of interest to both stakeholders and those responsible for future international exchange programmes.

This book contains the papers included in the proceedings of the 1st International Workshop on High-speed and Intercity Railways (IWHIR 2011) held in Shenzhen and Hong Kong, China from July 19 to July 22, 2011, which is organized by The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, in collaboration with Southwest Jiaotong University, Beijing Jiaotong University, Dalian Jiaotong University, China Engineering Consultants, Inc., Zhejiang University, and Tsinghua University. Continuing the great initiatives and momentums of the rapid development in high-speed and intercity railways worldwide in recent years, IWHIR 2011 aims at providing a platform for academic scholars and practicing engineers to share knowledge and experience, to promote collaboration, and to strengthen R&D activities related to railway engineering. Engineers, scientists, professors, and students from universities, research institutes, and related industrial companies have been cordially invited to participate in the workshop. These papers have covered a wide range of issues concerning high-speed and intercity railways in the theoretical, numerical, and experimental work pertaining to high-speed and intercity railways. Showcasing diversity and quality, these papers report the state-of-the-art and point to future directions of research and development in this exciting area.

The book provides a thorough overview of recent developments in the design of AI systems and their uses in a range of industries, including education, technology, and bioinformatics. The papers in the proceedings were presented at the Sixth International Conference on Artificial Intelligence, Medical Engineering, and Education (AIMEE2022), which took place in Wuhan, China, from August 19 to 21, 2022. The book underlines the need for the intensification of training of an increasing number of appropriate specialists given the rapid growth of AI systems. In order to replicate human and other species' natural intelligence in digital AI systems, the researchers have been studying genetics and inherited biological processes in-depth. These studies offer fresh ideas for developing ever more powerful AI techniques. The featured articles cover a variety of themes in the fields of mathematics and biomathematics, medical approaches, technical and educational approaches, and medical approaches. The book is a compilation of recent academic papers in the discipline, covering a wide range of topics that are important to both business managers and engineers. This proceedings is a fantastic resource for asset management practitioners, researchers, and academics, as well as undergraduate and graduate students who are interested in AI, bioinformatics systems, and their developing applications. This is due to the breadth and depth of the proceedings. Experts, students, and other people who are interested in learning about how AI systems might be used in the future are the target audience.

This book focuses on the synthesis of lower-mobility parallel manipulators, presenting a group-theory-based method that has the advantage of being geometrically intrinsic. Rotations and translations of a rigid body as well as a combination of the two can be expressed and handled elegantly using the group algebraic structure of the set of rigid-body displacements. The book gathers the authors' research results, which were previously scattered in various journals and conference proceedings, presenting them in a unified form. Using the presented method, it reveals numerous novel architectures of lower-mobility parallel manipulators, which are of interest to those in the robotics community. More importantly, readers can use the method and tool to develop new types of lower-mobility parallel manipulators independently.

This book includes keynote presentations, invited speeches, and general session papers presented at the 7th International Symposium on Environmental Vibration and Transportation Geodynamics (formerly the International Symposium on Environmental Vibration), held from October 28 to 30, 2016 at Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China. It discusses topics such as the dynamic and cyclic behaviors of soils, dynamic interaction of vehicle and transportation infrastructure; traffic-induced structure and soil vibrations and wave propagation; soil-structure dynamic interaction problems in transportation; environmental vibration analysis and testing; vehicle, machine and human-induced vibrations; monitoring, evaluation and control of traffic induced vibrations; transportation foundation deformation and deterioration induced by vibration; structural safety and serviceability of railways, metros, roadways and bridges; and application of geosynthetics in transportation infrastructure. It is a valuable resource for government managers, scientific researchers, and engineering professionals engaged in the field of geotechnical and transportation engineering.

This book contains the papers included in the proceedings of the 1st International Workshop on High-speed and Intercity Railways (IWHIR 2011) held in Shenzhen and Hong Kong, China from July 19 to July 22, 2011, which is organized by The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, in collaboration with Southwest Jiaotong University, Beijing Jiaotong University, Dalian Jiaotong University, China Engineering Consultants, Inc., Zhejiang University, and Tsinghua University. Continuing the great initiatives and momentums of the rapid development in high-speed and intercity railways worldwide in recent years, IWHIR 2011 aims at providing a platform for academic scholars and practicing engineers to share knowledge and experience, to promote collaboration, and to strengthen R&D activities related to railway engineering. Engineers, scientists, professors, and students from universities, research institutes, and related industrial companies have been cordially invited to participate in the workshop. These papers have covered a wide range of issues concerning high-speed and intercity railways in the theoretical, numerical, and experimental work pertaining to high-speed and intercity railways. Showcasing diversity and quality, these papers report the state-of-the-art and point to future directions of research and development in this exciting area.