This book summarizes the recent advancements for biomaterials in the field of cardiovascular disease, including drug delivery system (gene, protein, drug), implant interventional instrument (heart valve, heart blocker, stent, artificial blood vessel, patch, artificial heart, cardiac pacemaker, etc.) have been innovated and applied to the clinical uses to treatment of cardiovascular disease. Through the summary of this book, readers will have comprehensive and advanced understanding of the application of biomaterials in the field of cardiovascular disease.

State-space models as an important mathematical tool has been widely used in many different fields. This edited collection explores recent theoretical developments of the models and their applications in economics and finance. The book includes nonlinear andnon-Gaussian time series models, regime-switching and hidden Markov models, continuous- or discrete-time state processes, and models of equally-spaced or irregularly-spaced (discrete or continuous) observations.The contributed chapters are divided into four parts. The first part is on Particle Filtering and Parameter Learning in Nonlinear State-Space Models.The second part focuseson the application of Linear State-Space Models in Macroeconomics and Finance.The third part deals with Hidden Markov Models, Regime Switching and Mathematical Finance and the fourth part is on Nonlinear State-Space Models for High Frequency Financial Data. The book will appeal to graduate students and researchers studying state-space modeling in economics, statistics, and mathematics, as well as to finance professionals."

State-space models as an important mathematical tool has been widely used in many different fields. This edited collection explores recent theoretical developments of the models and their applications in economics and finance. The book includes nonlinear and non-Gaussian time series models, regime-switching and hidden Markov models, continuous- or discrete-time state processes, and models of equally-spaced or irregularly-spaced (discrete or continuous) observations. The contributed chapters are divided into four parts. The first part is on Particle Filtering and Parameter Learning in Nonlinear State-Space Models. The second part focuses on the application of Linear State-Space Models in Macroeconomics and Finance. The third part deals with Hidden Markov Models, Regime Switching and Mathematical Finance and the fourth part is on Nonlinear State-Space Models for High Frequency Financial Data. The book will appeal to graduate students and researchers studying state-space modeling in economics, statistics, and mathematics, as well as to finance professionals.

MCDM 2009, the 20th International Conference on Multiple-Criteria Decision M- ing, emerged as a global forum dedicated to the sharing of original research results and practical development experiences among researchers and application developers from different multiple-criteria decision making-related areas such as multiple-criteria decision aiding, multiple criteria classification, ranking, and sorting, multiple obj- tive continuous and combinatorial optimization, multiple objective metaheuristics, multiple-criteria decision making and preference modeling, and fuzzy multiple-criteria decision making. The theme for MCDM 2009 was "New State of MCDM in the 21st Century." The conference seeks solutions to challenging problems facing the development of multiple-criteria decision making, and shapes future directions of research by prom- ing high-quality, novel and daring research findings. With the MCDM conference, these new challenges and tools can easily be shared with the multiple-criteria decision making community. The workshop program included nine workshops which focused on different topics in new research challenges and initiatives of MCDM. We received more than 350 submissions for all the workshops, out of which 121 were accepted. This includes 72 regular papers and 49 short papers. We would like to thank all workshop organizers and the Program Committee for the excellent work in maintaining the conference's standing for high-quality papers.