China is aging at an extraordinary speed and has the largest quantity of elderly persons in the world. Scholars utilize this unprecedented living experience of human being and the unique Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS) datasets with the aim to answer in this volume the following questions critical to the aging population world wide. Is the period of disability compressing or expanding with increasing life expectancy and what factors are associated with these trends in the recent decades? Is it possible to realize morbidity compression with a prolongation of the life span in the future? The first section of the book presents the CLHLS project's study design, sample distribution, contents of data collected, and assessments of age reporting and data quality. The remaining chapters are grouped into sections dealing with the demographic, social, economic, familial and psychological dimensions of healthy longevity.

Old-age survival has considerably improved in the second half of the twentieth century. The life expectancy in wealthy countries has increased, on average, from 65 years in 1950 to 76 years in 2005. The rise was more spectacular in some countries: the life expectancy for Japanese women rose from 62 years to 86 years during the same period. Driven by this longevity extension, the population aged 80 and over in those countries has grown fivefold from 8.5 millions in 1950 to 44.5 millions in 2005. Why has such a substantial extension of human lifespan occurred? How long can we live? In this book, these fundamental questions are explored by experts from such diverse fields as biology, medicine, epidemiology, demography, sociology, and mathematics: they report on recent cutting-edge studies about essential issues of human longevity such as evolution of lifespan of species, genetics of human longevity, reasons for the recent improvement in survival of the elderly, medical and behavioral causes of deaths among very old people, and social factors of long survival in old age.

People are living longer and most countries are experiencing unprecedented increases in the number and proportion of their elderly populations, resulting from declines in mortality, lower fertility, and the baby boom cohorts entering old age. A fundamental issue facing the global community is meeting the challenges of population aging and achieving healthy aging to maintain an active older population and reduce the number of disabled people. Healthy aging is obviously a major goal of all societies and is the central theme of this book.

The focus of this book is on theoretical issues and empirical findings related to trends and determinants of healthy aging, including factors related to "healthy longevity" of the oldest-old, aged 80 and over. The group is the most rapidly increasing elderly sub-population and is most likely to need assistance in daily living in all countries. Chapters include both longitudinal and cross-sectional data from North America, Europe, and Asia in country-specific studies and cross-national comparisons.

We organized the twenty chapters into four parts. Part I focuses on the definition, components, concepts, measurements, and determinants of healthy aging, and discusses the trends and patterns of disability and healthy life expectancy at the macro level. Part II addresses individual healthy aging, including its biological and socio-demographic aspects. Part III focuses on issues concerning the family and healthy aging, and Part IV explores formal and informal care for healthy aging through governmental policy interventions and community service programs.

Engineering and science research can be difficult for beginners because scientific research is fraught with constraints and disciplines. Research and Technical Writing for Science and Engineering breakdowns the entire process of conducting engineering and scientific research. This book covers those fascinating guidelines and topics on conducting research, as well as how to better interact with your advisor. Key Features: advice on conducting a literature review, conducting experiments, and writing a good paper summarizing your findings. provides a tutorial on how to increase the impact of research and how to manage research resources. By reflecting on the cases discussed in this book, readers will be able to identify specific situations or dilemmas in their own lives, as the authors provide comprehensive suggestions based on their own experiences.

This book studies healthy aging in China based on analyses of the datasets of eight waves of longitudinal survey in 1998-2018 with worldwide largest sample of oldest-old. It consists of four parts. The first part reports the 6th, 7th, and 8th surveys of "Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey" (CLHLS), with the largest sample of oldest-old aged 80+ in the world and comparable sample of young-old aged 65-79, trends and characteristics of physical health and mental health of older adults in China based on analyses of the CLHLS datasets. The second part focuses on analyses and discussions of the influencing factors of healthy aging from perspectives of families, socioeconomics and community environments. The third part reports studies on the gender and age differences in main chronic diseases' prevalence rates, inflammation, anti-oxidation, trace elements, effects of the nutritional dietary structure and the environmental selenium on health among the older adults. The fourth part focuses on the analyses and discussions of policy recommendations to face the serious challenges of the population aging in China and the database of the eight waves of CLHLS from 1998 to 2018, which are available free of charge to scholars, practitioners and general public for scientific research and socioeconomic planning. This book is easy to read and to understand by researchers and the general public, and no special professional background is required.

This book presents an innovative demographic toolkit known as the ProFamy extended cohort-component method for the projection of household structures and living arrangements with empirical applications to the United States, the largest developed country, and China, the largest developing country. The ProFamy method uses demographic rates as inputs to project detailed distributions of household types and sizes, living arrangements of all household members, and population by age, sex, race/ethnicity, and urban/rural residence at national, sub-national, or small area levels. It can also project elderly care needs and costs, pension deficits, and household consumption. The ProFamy method presented herein has substantial merits compared to the traditional headship rate method, which is not linked to demographic rates and projects limited household types without other household members than "heads."

The book consists of four parts. The first part presents the methodology, data, estimation issues, and empirical assessments. The next parts present applications in the United States (part two) and China (part three), concerning demographic, social, economic, and business research; policy analysis, including forecasting future trends of household type/size, elderly living arrangements, disability, and home-based care costs, and household consumption including housing and vehicles. The fourth part includes a user's guide for the ProFamy software to project households, living arrangements, and home-based consumptions.

This book offers an invaluable toolkit for researchers, analysts and students in academic, public and private businesses, whose work is related to levels and rates of change in households, population and consumption patterns.

Engineering and science research can be difficult for beginners because scientific research is fraught with constraints and disciplines. Research and Technical Writing for Science and Engineering breakdowns the entire process of conducting engineering and scientific research. This book covers those fascinating guidelines and topics on conducting research, as well as how to better interact with your advisor. Key Features: advice on conducting a literature review, conducting experiments, and writing a good paper summarizing your findings. provides a tutorial on how to increase the impact of research and how to manage research resources. By reflecting on the cases discussed in this book, readers will be able to identify specific situations or dilemmas in their own lives, as the authors provide comprehensive suggestions based on their own experiences.

Support vector machines (SVMs) are used in a range of applications, including drug design, food quality control, metabolic fingerprint analysis, and microarray data-based cancer classification. While most mathematicians are well-versed in the distinctive features and empirical performance of SVMs, many chemists and biologists are not as familiar with what they are and how they work. Presenting a clear bridge between theory and application, Support Vector Machines and Their Application in Chemistry and Biotechnology provides a thorough description of the mechanism of SVMs from the point of view of chemists and biologists, enabling them to solve difficult problems with the help of these powerful tools. Topics discussed include: Background and key elements of support vector machines and applications in chemistry and biotechnology Elements and algorithms of support vector classification (SVC) and support vector regression (SVR) machines, along with discussion of simulated datasets The kernel function for solving nonlinear problems by using a simple linear transformation method Ensemble learning of support vector machines Applications of support vector machines to near-infrared data Support vector machines and quantitative structure-activity/property relationship (QSAR/QSPR) Quality control of traditional Chinese medicine by means of the chromatography fingerprint technique The use of support vector machines in exploring the biological data produced in OMICS study Beneficial for chemical data analysis and the modeling of complex physic-chemical and biological systems, support vector machines show promise in a myriad of areas. This book enables non-mathematicians to understand the potential of SVMs and utilize them in a host of applications.

This book presents an innovative demographic toolkit known as the ProFamy extended cohort-component method for the projection of household structures and living arrangements with empirical applications to the United States, the largest developed country, and China, the largest developing country. The ProFamy method uses demographic rates as inputs to project detailed distributions of household types and sizes, living arrangements of all household members, and population by age, sex, race/ethnicity, and urban/rural residence at national, sub-national, or small area levels.  It can also project elderly care needs and costs, pension deficits, and household consumption. The ProFamy method presented herein has substantial merits compared to the traditional headship rate method, which is not linked to demographic rates and projects limited household types without other household members than "heads". The book consists of four parts. The first part presents the methodology, data, estimation issues, and empirical assessments. The next parts present applications in the United States (part two) and China (part three), concerning demographic, social, economic, and business research; policy analysis, including forecasting future trends of household type/size, elderly living arrangements, disability, and home-based care costs, and household consumption including housing and vehicles. The fourth part includes a user’s guide for the ProFamy software to project households, living arrangements, and home-based consumptions. This book offers an invaluable toolkit for researchers, analysts and students in academic, public and private businesses, whose work is related to levels and rates of change in households, population and consumption patterns.

Support vector machines (SVMs) are used in a range of applications, including drug design, food quality control, metabolic fingerprint analysis, and microarray data-based cancer classification. While most mathematicians are well-versed in the distinctive features and empirical performance of SVMs, many chemists and biologists are not as familiar with what they are and how they work. Presenting a clear bridge between theory and application, Support Vector Machines and Their Application in Chemistry and Biotechnology provides a thorough description of the mechanism of SVMs from the point of view of chemists and biologists, enabling them to solve difficult problems with the help of these powerful tools. Topics discussed include: Background and key elements of support vector machines and applications in chemistry and biotechnology Elements and algorithms of support vector classification (SVC) and support vector regression (SVR) machines, along with discussion of simulated datasets The kernel function for solving nonlinear problems by using a simple linear transformation method Ensemble learning of support vector machines Applications of support vector machines to near-infrared data Support vector machines and quantitative structure-activity/property relationship (QSAR/QSPR) Quality control of traditional Chinese medicine by means of the chromatography fingerprint technique The use of support vector machines in exploring the biological data produced in OMICS study Beneficial for chemical data analysis and the modeling of complex physic-chemical and biological systems, support vector machines show promise in a myriad of areas. This book enables non-mathematicians to understand the potential of SVMs and utilize them in a host of applications.

Old-age survival has considerably improved in the second half of the twentieth century. Life expectancy in wealthy countries has increased, on average, from 65 years in 1950 to 76 years in 2005. The rise was more spectacular in some countries: the life expectancy for Japanese women rose from 62 years to 86 years during the same period. Driven by this longevity extension, the population aged 80 and over in those countries has grown fivefold from 8.5 million in 1950 to 44.5 million in 2005. Why has such a substantial extension of human lifespan occurred? How long can we live? In this book, these fundamental questions are explored by experts from such diverse fields as biology, medicine, epidemiology, demography, sociology, and mathematics: they report on recent cutting-edge studies about essential issues of human longevity such as evolution of lifespan of species, genetics of human longevity, reasons for the recent improvement in survival of the elderly, medical and behavioral causes of deaths among very old people, and social factors of long survival in old age.

People are living longer and most countries are experiencing unprecedented increases in the number and proportion of their elderly populations, resulting from declines in mortality, lower fertility, and the baby boom cohorts entering old age. A fundamental issue facing the global community is meeting the challenges of population aging and achieving healthy aging to maintain an active older population and reduce the number of disabled people. Healthy aging is obviously a major goal of all societies and is the central theme of this book.

The focus of this book is on theoretical issues and empirical findings related to trends and determinants of healthy aging, including factors related to "healthy longevity" of the oldest-old, aged 80 and over. The group is the most rapidly increasing elderly sub-population and is most likely to need assistance in daily living in all countries. Chapters include both longitudinal and cross-sectional data from North America, Europe, and Asia in country-specific studies and cross-national comparisons.

We organized the twenty chapters into four parts. Part I focuses on the definition, components, concepts, measurements, and determinants of healthy aging, and discusses the trends and patterns of disability and healthy life expectancy at the macro level. Part II addresses individual healthy aging, including its biological and socio-demographic aspects. Part III focuses on issues concerning the family and healthy aging, and Part IV explores formal and informal care for healthy aging through governmental policy interventions and community service programs.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the International Conference on Brain Informatics, BI 2017, held in Beijing, China, in November 2017. The 31 revised full papers were carefully reviewed and selected from 64 submissions. BI addresses the computational, cognitive, physiological, biological, physical,ecological and social perspectives of brain informatics, as well as topics related tomental health and well-being.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Brain Inspired Cognitive Systems, BICS 2016, held in Beijing, China, in November 2016. The 32 full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 43 submissions. They discuss the emerging areas and challenges, present the state of the art of brain-inspired cognitive systems research and applications in diverse fields by covering many topics in brain inspired cognitive systems related research including biologically inspired systems, cognitive neuroscience, models consciousness, and neural computation.

Key research in the world's largest aging population - in China - has fed into this important new work, which aims to answer questions critical to older people worldwide. These include: is the period of disability compressing or expanding with increasing life expectancy and what factors are associated with these trends in the recent decades? And is it possible to realize morbidity compression with a prolongation of the life span in the future? Essential reading for gerontologists.