Economic theories can be expressed in words, numbers, graphs and symbols. The existing traditional economics textbooks cover all four methods, but the general focus is often more on writing about the theory and methods, with few practical examples. With an increasing number of universities having introduced mathematical economics at undergraduate level, Basic mathematics for economics students aims to fill this gap in the field. Basic mathematics for economics students begins with a comprehensive chapter on basic mathematical concepts and methods (suitable for self-study, revision or tutorial purposes) to ensure that students have the necessary foundation. The book is written in an accessible style and is extremely practical. Numerous mathematical economics examples and exercises are provided as well as fully worked solutions using numbers, graphs and symbols. Basic mathematics for economics students is aimed at all economics students. It focuses on quantitative aspects and especially complements the three highly popular theoretical economics textbooks, Understanding microeconomics, Understanding macroeconomics and Economics for South African students, all written by Philip Mohr and published by Van Schaik Publishers.

Sociopolitical occurrences in recent years have, if anything, brought to the fore the close relationship between developments in the labour market and progress on the socio-econo-political terrain. The ideological divides in South Africa are especially apparent in the labour market, and these compound the basic conflict between the objectives of protecting basic worker rights on the one hand, and increasing economic growth on the other. The South African labour market contains an abundance of information about labour markets in general and the South African labour market in particular. The South African labour market has a down-to-earth and practical approach. It considers the evidence and identifies some urgent discussion points about the sensitivity of employment to economic growth. Three appendix chapters deal extensively with the impact of globalisation on the labour market, how other countries have managed the challenges of globalisation, and consensus-seeking institutions such as Nedlac. Questions and study suggestions are included at the end of each chapter. The South African labour market is aimed at economics students as well as general readers wanting an overview of the South African labour market. The late Dr Frans Barker was a senior executive at the Chamber of Mines. During his career, he was also vice-president of the Economic Society of South Africa and president of the Industrial Relations Association of South Africa. He served on governing structures of Business Unity South Africa (BUSA), was a commissioner for the Commission for Employment Equity and was also involved in Nedlac in various roles. Dr Barker lectured at a number of universities and was the author of several publications related to labour issues. Derek Yu is an associate professor at the Department of Economics at the University of the Western Cape. He has a decade of teaching experience in undergraduate and postgraduate Labour Economics, and has published comprehensively in this area. He is also the author of the first edition of Basic mathematics for economics students: theory and applications. Pietman Roos has a decade's experience in different civil society organisations including national government, news media and organised business. He has worked on economic policy formulation, commentary, negotiation and advocacy, and has lectured undergraduate economics and jurisprudence.

Economic indicators covers all the recent revisions of the GDP, the CPI, the PPI, the various labour market surveys, the balance of payments and other economic indicators. All the data that are used to illustrate and explain the various indicators have been updated and, as always, a wealth of data on the South African economy is provided.

A special forces soldier is spending time in confinement for disobeying an order and killing a notorious drug lord. His extraordinary marksmanship earns himself recruitment into the elite Wolf Warrior squadron.

But before long, the squadron is ambushed by a troop of deadly foreign mercenaries who have sworn to avenge their drug lord's death.

Nanostructured Materials: Physicochemical Chemistry Fundamentals for Energy and Environmental Applications summarizes research knowledge and helps advanced students, researchers and industrial technicians understand specific applications of nanomaterials in energy and the environment. Sections bring a strong foundational focus on the physicochemical basis of nanomaterials for these applications, the basic theory and physicochemical basis of nanomaterials, an energy and environment applications examination of typical cases, and progress. This book will appeal to researchers in the chemical sciences (inorganic and physical chemistry, coordination chemistry, molecular dynamics, electrochemistry, photocatalysis, thermocatalysis, thermodynamics, etc.), nanoscience (graphene, carbon nanotubes, nanocrystals, nano catalysis, energy, and environment-nano science), and more. Efficient use of energy, eco-friendly environmental systems, and technologies play an important role in global sustainable development. Multifunctional nanocomposites have excellent properties and can meet the practical needs of energy development and environmental treatment. They have been gradually applied in chemical materials, energy preparation, pollution control and other fields and have achieved impressive development.

Electrospinning: Nanofabrication and Applications presents an overview of the electrospinning technique, nanofabrication strategies and potential applications. The book begins with an introduction to the fundamentals of electrospinning, discussing fundamental principles of the electrospinning process, controlling parameters, materials and structures. Nanofabrication strategies, including coaxial electrospinning, multi-needle electrospinning, needleless electrospinning, electro-netting, near-field electrospinning, and three-dimensional macrostructure assembling are also covered. Final sections explore the applications of electrospun nanofibers in different fields and future prospects. This is a valuable reference for engineers and materials scientist working with fibrous materials and textiles, as well as researchers in the areas of nanotechnology, electrospinning, nanofibers and textiles.

In this illuminating study of a vital but long overlooked aspect of Chinese religious life, Jimmy Yu reveals that in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, self-inflicted violence was an essential and sanctioned part of Chinese culture. He examines a wide range of practices, including blood writing, filial body-slicing, chastity mutilations and suicides, ritual exposure, and self-immolation, arguing that each practice was public, scripted, and a signal of certain cultural expectations. Yu shows how individuals engaged in acts of self-inflicted violence to exercise power and to affect society, by articulating moral values, reinstituting order, forging new social relations, and protecting against the threat of moral ambiguity. Self-inflicted violence was intelligible both to the person doing the act and to those who viewed and interpreted it, regardless of the various religions of the period: Buddhism, Daoism, Confucianism, and other religions. Self-inflicted violence as a category reveals scholarly biases that tend to marginalize or exaggerate certain phenomena in Chinese culture. Yu offers a groundbreaking contribution to scholarship on bodily practices in late imperial China, challenging preconceived ideas about analytic categories of religion, culture, and ritual in the study of Chinese religions.

A clinical handbook for practitioners of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) that provides quick and easy reference to the selection of herbs for treatment and their action alone and in combination. This is a handbook from two eminent teachers from the Nanjing College of Traditional Chinese Medicine who have between them accumulated over 60 years of clinical practice and teaching. They emphasise how to combine herbs and differentiate between single herbs and formulae depending on the treatment strategy adopted. It contains case histories illustrating how to adapt formulae in practice.A practical, easy-to-use guide for the busy practitioner or student A glossary explains unfamiliar terms Information in tables - for quick identification of herbs and combination of herbs Illustrated with line diagrams showing where the herbs act on the body The authors teach at China's leading college of TCM

The neutron is an elementary particle that has been extensively studied, both theoretically and experimentally. This book reviews and analyses the results of the mainly experimental research on the neutron and rationalizes what is known so far about its intrinsic properties. The book covers topics that have not previously been dealt with in detail, including the gravitational properties of the neutron, precise determination of its mass, beta-decay, and its electromagnetic properties. This translation is an updated version of the original Russian text and also covers the more recent advances made during the past 7-8 years, including the application of methods based on the storage of ultra-cold neutrons to the study of beta-decay, new precise measurement of the mass of the neutron, and confirmation of modern theories of the internal structure of the neutron.

Sociopolitical occurrences in recent years have, if anything, brought to the fore the close relationship between developments in the labour market and progress on the socio-econo-political terrain. The ideological divides in South Africa are especially apparent in the labour market, and these compound the basic conflict between the objectives of protecting basic worker rights on the one hand, and increasing economic growth on the other. The South African labour market contains an abundance of information about labour markets in general and the South African labour market in particular.

The South African labour market has a down-to-earth and practical approach. It considers the evidence and identifies some urgent discussion points about the sensitivity of employment to economic growth. Four appendix chapters deal extensively with globalisation, the Fourth Industrial Revolution, labour market outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic period, consensus-seeking institutions such as Nedlac, as well as detailed labour market statistics from 1995–2021. Questions and study suggestions are included at the end of each chapter.

The South African labour market is aimed at economics students as well as general readers wanting an overview of the South African labour market.

The scope and depth of family business research have been quickly expanding in the last two decades. The editors and contributors to this book present eight recent studies examining the impact of external or internal family conditions on the innovation, growth, and succession of family firms in Asia. By examining the influence of families on firm behaviors and decisions, researchers have been pushing the boundaries of this field. As researchers develop a better understanding of how families influence their businesses, the family conditions, including the properties and dynamics of families, have been found to play significant roles in the business decisions. In addition, globalization as a pressing issue has brought new opportunities and challenges to families and their businesses. This volume comprises diverse topics, including less commonly examined issues such as kinship, immigrant family enterprises, and family asset management. This book is a rich resource for researchers, students, and family business consultants.

Bursting with color and charm, this pumpkin-themed finger puppet book lets inquisitive babies and toddlers touch, feel, and explore a lively pumpkin patch!

With its irresistible plush character, adorable illustrations, and sweet, simple text, this autumn-themed offering from the bestselling Baby Finger Puppet series is guaranteed to delight parents and toddlers alike. Featuring a plush finger puppet that peeks into each lovingly illustrated page, Baby Pumpkin offers parents and children a fun, interactive way to play and read as they build a lifelong love of books (and the Halloween season!) together.

OVER 8 MILLION COPIES SOLD IN THE SERIES: The Finger Puppet books are a trusted, go-to series for new parents and gift-givers!

PLAYTIME MEETS LEARNING: A simple storyline shares themes of friendship and pumpkin-patch fun, while a colorful cloth finger puppet offers a chance for little hands to play and build motor skills.

CELEBRATE HALLOWEEN: Fans of Jack-o'-lanterns and the Halloween spirit will rejoice with this addition to the Finger Puppet series, making it a great companion to Little Ghostie and Little Witch Cat.

STURDY AND SECURE: Never worry about losing this soft plush finger puppet, which is permanently attached to the back cover of the book.

Perfect for:

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

Approx.480 pages

Shu Lin is starting at a new school. She stands alone in the playground and at lunchtime she eats by herself from little boxes of brightly coloured food. "What's up with her?" says Barney. But when Shu Lin's grandpa comes to school and shows the class his amazing Chinese paintings, everything changes.... With a stunning double-gatefold spread revealing a beautiful Chinese picture, this uplifting story shows the transformative power of art and imagination in developing cultural understanding and empathy.

Flexible Distribution Networks facilitates the enhanced flexibility, efficiency and reliability of distribution networks under complex operating environments delivered by high DG penetration. Considering the high share of DG and flexibility improvement brought by SOP-type power electronic devices, the work aims to solve the issues of optimal operation of flexible distribution networks. Technical solutions for flexible operation problems of FDN are discussed in depth, including efficient analytical methods with high penetration of DG, SOP-based optimal operation methods with uncertainty, and high-performance convex optimization algorithms. Readers will develop sound knowledge and gain insights into the optimal operation of FDN with high penetration of DG.

Robotics for Cell Manipulation and Characterization provides fundamental principles underpinning robotic cell manipulation and characterization, state-of-the-art technical advances in micro/nano robotics, new discoveries of cell biology enabled by robotic systems, and their applications in clinical diagnosis and treatment. This book covers several areas, including robotics, control, computer vision, biomedical engineering and life sciences using understandable figures and tables to enhance readers' comprehension and pinpoint challenges and opportunities for biological and biomedical research.

This book presents some new models and methods in the context of dynamical portfolio optimization. It encapsulates the authors' recent progress in their research on several interesting, featured issues of dynamic portfolio optimization problems with default contagion, tracking benchmark, consumption habit, and model uncertainty.For the sake of the reader's convenience, preliminary knowledge on stochastic analysis and stochastic control are summarized in Chapters 2 and 3, which also serve as a brief basic introduction to the theory of SDEs, BSDEs, and the theory of optimal stochastic control.The book will be a good reference for graduate students and researchers working on stochastic control and mathematical finance. The reader may pursue some presented research problems and be inspired to formulate and study other new and interesting problems in dynamic portfolio optimization and beyond.

Newborns will love snuggling up with Baby Lion! Baby Lion pounces, explores, and takes a cool nap in the shade. Featuring a plush finger puppet that peeks into each lovingly illustrated page, this entry in the bestselling Finger Puppet series offers parents and children a fun, interactive way to play and read as they build a lifelong love of books together.

Nanocomposite Manufacturing Technologies: Fundamental Principles, Mechanisms, and Processing provides the latest research in innovative manufacturing methods to produce nanocomposite materials for a range of applications. Nanocomposite material research has advanced rapidly in the past decade, revealing important insights into the nature of fiber reinforcement, unique properties and specific new-generation applications. This book draws the most important of these research findings into a single volume, together with the latest advances in relevant manufacturing technology, to provide a coherent resource helping students, researchers and industrial R&D staff to navigate this field. Detailed descriptions of nanocomposite manufacturing processes help readers understand differences between them, also helping them choose which process or combination of processes will lead to the material that solves their design challenge.

Adversarial Robustness for Machine Learning summarizes the recent progress on this topic and introduces popular algorithms on adversarial attack, defense and veri?cation. Sections cover adversarial attack, veri?cation and defense, mainly focusing on image classi?cation applications which are the standard benchmark considered in the adversarial robustness community. Other sections discuss adversarial examples beyond image classification, other threat models beyond testing time attack, and applications on adversarial robustness. For researchers, this book provides a thorough literature review that summarizes latest progress in the area, which can be a good reference for conducting future research. In addition, the book can also be used as a textbook for graduate courses on adversarial robustness or trustworthy machine learning. While machine learning (ML) algorithms have achieved remarkable performance in many applications, recent studies have demonstrated their lack of robustness against adversarial disturbance. The lack of robustness brings security concerns in ML models for real applications such as self-driving cars, robotics controls and healthcare systems.