Chinese is a fascinating language that can seem impossibly difficult to learn at first but is relatively easy if you focus on the spoken language. This user-friendly guide to the basics helps you learn how to speak Chinese quickly and easily by drawing parallels with something you already know; English. The revised edition contains new dialogues, cultural notes, IT, smartphone and social media vocabulary and new manga illustrations. This book is designed for everyone who wants to learn to speak and understand colloquial spoken Chinese whether it is for business, for pleasure, or for travel in China;and it allows you to enjoy the process of learning the language! A lighthearted guide that brings Chinese to life in a down-to-earth fashion Real-life dialogues and situations help you to converse with confidence Sentence pattern exercises and drills help to reinforce what you are learning Native-speaker audio recordings teach you to pronounce Chinese accurately Interesting notes, idioms, sayings, and poems introduce you to Chinese culture Mandarin Chinese for Beginners contains lots of extra hints and tips drawn from the authors' many years of experience in teaching the language in adult evening classes. Answer Keys to the exercise questions are provided, and an Extend Your Vocabulary section in each chapter helps you to remember and understand more words that you'd think possible. Photos and insider tips about China's culture and its many unique places, add spice to the adventure! Mandarin Chinese for Beginners focuses on real-life situations that you'll encounter in China. New words are explained regarding how you'll use them to communicate with friends in real-life. The audio recordings allow you listen, repeat and remember the sentences with ease. These will help you to declare with pride, I can say that in Chinese!

This book covers a variety of topics in the field of industrial engineering, with a special focus on research and industrial applications aimed at both improving quality of processes and products and contributing to a sustainable economy. Based on a set of papers presented at the 2nd International Conference "Innovation in Engineering", ICIE, held in Minho, Portugal, on June 28-30, 2022, it focuses on innovative technologies associated with and strategies for the development of Industry 4.0. The chapters discuss new ways to improve industrial production and supply chain management by applying mathematical and computational methods. They also cover important issues relating to sustainability, education, and collaborations between industry and universities, and national developments. This book, which belongs to a three-volume set, provides engineering researchers and professionals with a timely overview and extensive information on trends and technologies behind the current and future developments of Industry 4.0.

Given recent public rage over executive pay, especially over large salaries for executives at companies that have received bailout money, President Obama's administration is working on tougher restrictions on executive compensation. His main principles, consistent with the objectives of Internal Revenue Code Section 162(m), were meant to curb excessive executive compensation and ensure that pay reflects corporate performance. This study provides a retrospective evaluation of the 1993 regulatory intervention on corporate pay decisions, and extends the analysis of the effectiveness of the Internal Revenue Code Section 162(m) on long-term performance. The findings of this paper offer some insights into the economic effects consequent to government legislation and provide suggestions and insights valuable to those persons engaged in current policy intervention attempts.