Li Ang (1952-) is a famous and prolific feminist writer from Taiwan who challenges and subverts sociocultural traditions through her daring explorations of sex, violence, women's bodies and desire, and national politics. As a taboo-breaking writer and social critic, she uses fiction to expose injustice and represent human nature. Her political engagement further affords her a visionary perspective for interrogating the problematic intersection of gender and politics. The ambivalence in her fictional representations invites controversies and debates. Her works have thus helped raise awareness of the problems, open up discussions, and bring about social and intellectual changes. Some of her works have been translated into such foreign languages as English, French, German, and Japanese. In her career spanning over forty years, she has won numerous literary awards. Li Ang's Visionary Challenges to Gender, Sex, and Politics is the first collection of critical essays in English on Li Ang and some of her most celebrated works. Contributing historians examine her vital roles in the Taiwanese women's movement and political arenas, as well as the social influence of her publications on extramarital affairs. Contributing literary scholars investigate the feminist controversy over her 1983 award-winning novel, Shafu (Killing the Husband; translated as The Butcher's Wife); offer alternative interpretative strategies such as looking into figurations of "biopower" and relationship dynamics; dissect the subtle political significance in her magnificent novel Miyuan (The labyrinthine garden; 1991) and explosive political fiction, Beigang xianglu renren cha (Everyone sticks incense into the Beigang censer; 1997) from the perspective of gender and national identity; scrutinize the multiple discursive levels in her superb novel Qishi yinyuan zhi Taiwan/Zhongguo qingren (Seven prelives of affective affinity: Taiwan/China lovers; 2009); and analyze the "(dis)embodied subversion" accomplished by her fantastic Kandejian de gui (Visible ghosts; 2004). As the first volume in English to examine Li Ang's trail-blazing discourse on gender, sex, and politics, this work will inspire more studies of her oeuvre and contribute usefully to the fields of modern Taiwanese and Chinese literature, feminist studies, and comparative literature.

This book provides a comprehensive overview of the recent advancement in the field of automatic speech recognition with a focus on deep learning models including deep neural networks and many of their variants. This is the first automatic speech recognition book dedicated to the deep learning approach. In addition to the rigorous mathematical treatment of the subject, the book also presents insights and theoretical foundation of a series of highly successful deep learning models.

This book presents the latest research advances in complex network structure analytics based on computational intelligence (CI) approaches, particularly evolutionary optimization. Most if not all network issues are actually optimization problems, which are mostly NP-hard and challenge conventional optimization techniques. To effectively and efficiently solve these hard optimization problems, CI based network structure analytics offer significant advantages over conventional network analytics techniques. Meanwhile, using CI techniques may facilitate smart decision making by providing multiple options to choose from, while conventional methods can only offer a decision maker a single suggestion. In addition, CI based network structure analytics can greatly facilitate network modeling and analysis. And employing CI techniques to resolve network issues is likely to inspire other fields of study such as recommender systems, system biology, etc., which will in turn expand CI's scope and applications. As a comprehensive text, the book covers a range of key topics, including network community discovery, evolutionary optimization, network structure balance analytics, network robustness analytics, community-based personalized recommendation, influence maximization, and biological network alignment. Offering a rich blend of theory and practice, the book is suitable for students, researchers and practitioners interested in network analytics and computational intelligence, both as a textbook and as a reference work.

Cell mechanics is the field of study that looks at how cells detect, modify, and respond to the physical properties of the cell environment. Cells communicate with each other through chemical and physical signals which are involved in a range of process from embryogenesis and wound healing to pathological conditions such as cancerous invasion. Similar principles are also likely to be critical for success in regenerative medicine. Cell mechanics is thus central to understanding these principles. As cell mechanics draws from the fields of biology, chemistry, physics, engineering, and mathematics, this book aims not only to provide a collection of research methods, but also to develop a common language among scientists who share the interest in cell mechanics but enter the field with diverse backgrounds. To this end all of the contributing authors have sought to explain in plain language the nature of the biological problems, the rationale for the approaches, in addition to the methods themselves. In addition, to balance practical utility against conceptual advances, the book has intentionally included both chapters that provide detailed recipes and those that emphasize basic principles.
* Presents a distinctive emphasis on matrix mechanics and their interplay with cell functions
* Includes highly significant topics relevant to basic and translational research, as well as tissue engineering
* Emphasizes mechanical input and output of cells

Being the most active field in modern physics, Optical Physics has developed many new branches and interdisciplinary fields overlapping with various classical disciplines. This series summarizes the advancements of optical physics in the past twenty years in the following fields: High Field Laser Physics, Precision Laser Spectroscopy, Nonlinear Optics, Nanophotonics, Quantum Optics, Ultrafast Optics, Condensed Matter Optics, and Molecular Biophotonics.

Audio Coding: Theory and Applications provides succinct coverage of audio coding technologies that are widely used in modern audio coding standards. Delivered from the perspective of an engineer, this book articulates how signal processing is used in the context of audio coding. It presents a detailed treatment of contemporary audio coding technologies and then uses the DRA audio coding standard as a practical example to illustrate how numerous technologies are integrated into a fully-fledged audio coding algorithm. Drawing upon years of practical experience and using numerous examples and illustrations Dr. Yuli You, gives a description of practical audio coding technologies including: * Designing high-performance algorithms that can be readily implemented on fixed-point or integer microprocessors. * How to properly implement an audio decoder on various microprocessors. Transient detection and adaptation of time-frequency resolution of subband filters. * Psychoacoustic models and optimal bit allocation. Audio Coding: Theory and Applications will be a valuable reference book for engineers in the consumer electronics industry, as well as students and researchers in electrical engineering.

Over-pumping of aquifers is a worldwide problem, mainly caused by agricultural water use. Among its consequences are the falling dry of streams and wetlands, soil subsidence, die-off of phreatophytic vegetation, saline water intrusion, increased pumping cost and loss of storage needed for drought relief. Stopping or reversing the trend requires management interventions. The North China Plain serves as an example. A management system is set up for a typical county. It contains three components: monitoring, decision support based on modelling, and implementation in the field. Besides all monitoring data, the decision support module contains an irrigation calculator, a box model, and a distributed groundwater model to project the outcomes of different water allocation scenarios. In view of grain security, a solution combines an adaptation of the cropping system with imports of surface water from the South. The Open Access book does not only describe the problem and the path to its solution. It also gives access to nine manuals concerning methods used. They include computer programs and the game Save the Water. The Chinese experience should be of considerable interest to other regions in the world which suffer from over-pumping of aquifers.

Aerospace vehicles are by their very nature a crucial environment for safety-critical systems. By virtue of an effective safety control system, the aerospace vehicle can maintain high performance despite the risk of component malfunction and multiple disturbances, thereby enhancing aircraft safety and the probability of success for a mission. Autonomous Safety Control of Flight Vehicles presents a systematic methodology for improving the safety of aerospace vehicles in the face of the following occurrences: a loss of control effectiveness of actuators and control surface impairments; the disturbance of observer-based control against multiple disturbances; actuator faults and model uncertainties in hypersonic gliding vehicles; and faults arising from actuator faults and sensor faults. Several fundamental issues related to safety are explicitly analyzed according to aerospace engineering system characteristics; while focusing on these safety issues, the safety control design problems of aircraft are studied and elaborated on in detail using systematic design methods. The research results illustrate the superiority of the safety control approaches put forward. The expected reader group for this book includes undergraduate and graduate students but also industry practitioners and researchers. About the Authors: Xiang Yu is a Professor with the School of Automation Science and Electrical Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing, China. His research interests include safety control of aerospace engineering systems, guidance, navigation, and control of unmanned aerial vehicles. Lei Guo, appointed as "Chang Jiang Scholar Chair Professor", is a Professor with the School of Automation Science and Electrical Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing, China. His research interests include anti-disturbance control and filtering, stochastic control, and fault detection with their applications to aerospace systems. Youmin Zhang is a Professor in the Department of Mechanical, Industrial and Aerospace Engineering, Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. His research interests include fault diagnosis and fault-tolerant control, and cooperative guidance, navigation, and control (GNC) of unmanned aerial/space/ground/surface vehicles. Jin Jiang is a Professor in the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada. His research interests include fault-tolerant control of safety-critical systems, advanced control of power plants containing non-traditional energy resources, and instrumentation and control for nuclear power plants.

It is well known that the Soviet Union strongly influenced China in the early 1950s, since China committed itself both to the Sino-Soviet alliance and to the Soviet model of building socialism. What is less well known is that Chinese proved receptive not only to the Soviet economic model but also to the emulation of the Soviet Union in realms such as those of ideology, education, science, and culture. In this book an international group of scholars examines China's acceptance and ultimate rejection of Soviet models and practices in economic, cultural, social, and other realms. The chapters vividly illustrate the wide-ranging and multi-dimensional nature of Soviet influence, which to this day continues to manifest itself in one critical aspect, namely in China's rejection of liberal political reform.

In this book an international group of scholars examines China's acceptance and ultimate rejection of Soviet models and practices in economic, cultural, social, and other realms.

Number theory is an important research field of mathematics. In mathematical competitions, problems of elementary number theory occur frequently. These problems use little knowledge and have many variations. They are flexible and diverse. In this book, the author introduces some basic concepts and methods in elementary number theory via problems in mathematical competitions. Readers are encouraged to try to solve the problems by themselves before they read the given solutions of examples. Only in this way can they truly appreciate the tricks of problem-solving.

In the first systematic study of its kind, Hua-yu Li tackles one of the most important unresolved mysteries of the early history of the People's Republic of China_the economic policy shift of 1953. As a result of this policy shift, the moderate economic policies of 'New Democracy' were abruptly terminated_much sooner than specified by the official party line_and replaced with a radical Stalinist economic program called the 'general line for socialist transition.' Utilizing the rich archival materials released in China since the mid-1980s and Russian archival information released since the early 1990s, Li presents a compelling explanation for the policy shift. Placing the analysis within the larger context of the world communist movement, communist ideology, and Mao's complicated relationship with Stalin, this book makes it clear that the policy shift was initiated by Mao and that he did so for two reasons. First, he was committed to a history text compiled under Stalin's guidance that purported to describe the Soviet experience of building socialism in the 1920s and 1930s. Mao relied heavily on this text as a road map for China to follow in building socialism in the early 1950s. Second, Mao was driven by feelings of personal rivalry with Stalin and of national rivalry with the Soviet Union: he wanted China to achieve socialism faster than the Soviet Union had. The precise timing of the change, Li argues, resulted from Mao's belief that China was economically ready to build socialism and from his decision to interpret an ambiguous statement made by Stalin in October 1952 as a clear endorsement of a policy shift. Li asserts that Mao was a committed Stalinist, that he dominated domestic policy decision-making, and that he skillfully maneuvered his way through his negotiations with Stalin in advancing his own agenda. Situating its analysis within the larger context of the world communist movement, this carefully researched book will have a profound impact on the fields of communist studies and Sino-Soviet relations and in studies of Mao, Stalin, and their relationship.

This book presents the latest research advances in complex network structure analytics based on computational intelligence (CI) approaches, particularly evolutionary optimization. Most if not all network issues are actually optimization problems, which are mostly NP-hard and challenge conventional optimization techniques. To effectively and efficiently solve these hard optimization problems, CI based network structure analytics offer significant advantages over conventional network analytics techniques. Meanwhile, using CI techniques may facilitate smart decision making by providing multiple options to choose from, while conventional methods can only offer a decision maker a single suggestion. In addition, CI based network structure analytics can greatly facilitate network modeling and analysis. And employing CI techniques to resolve network issues is likely to inspire other fields of study such as recommender systems, system biology, etc., which will in turn expand CI's scope and applications. As a comprehensive text, the book covers a range of key topics, including network community discovery, evolutionary optimization, network structure balance analytics, network robustness analytics, community-based personalized recommendation, influence maximization, and biological network alignment. Offering a rich blend of theory and practice, the book is suitable for students, researchers and practitioners interested in network analytics and computational intelligence, both as a textbook and as a reference work.

This book provides a comprehensive overview of the recent advancement in the field of automatic speech recognition with a focus on deep learning models including deep neural networks and many of their variants. This is the first automatic speech recognition book dedicated to the deep learning approach. In addition to the rigorous mathematical treatment of the subject, the book also presents insights and theoretical foundation of a series of highly successful deep learning models.

Combinatorial testing of software analyzes interactions among variables using a very small number of tests. This advanced approach has demonstrated success in providing strong, low-cost testing in real-world situations. Introduction to Combinatorial Testing presents a complete self-contained tutorial on advanced combinatorial testing methods for real-world software. The book introduces key concepts and procedures of combinatorial testing, explains how to use software tools for generating combinatorial tests, and shows how this approach can be integrated with existing practice. Detailed explanations and examples clarify how and why to use various techniques. Sections on cost and practical considerations describe tradeoffs and limitations that may impact resources or funding. While the authors introduce some of the theory and mathematics of combinatorial methods, readers can use the methods without in-depth knowledge of the underlying mathematics. Accessible to undergraduate students and researchers in computer science and engineering, this book illustrates the practical application of combinatorial methods in software testing. Giving pointers to freely available tools and offering resources on a supplementary website, the book encourages readers to apply these methods in their own testing projects.

Today, the development of robots is making steady advances. In particular, the Robot Operating System (ROS) offers a unified platform that greatly facilitates the development of robots and has become a new hotspot for learning and application in the field of robotics research.This book introduces readers to the key technologies and development methods for ROS-based intelligent robots. Covering both the development history of robots and various aspects of programming robots, it offers effective support for beginners.The book is divided into three parts, the first of which introduces the basics of robots, including their definition, development, composition, and key technologies. In turn, the second part covers the hardware and software components and the implementation of functions such as vision, speech, grasping, and autonomous navigation. These functions need to work together to provide user-friendlier and more intelligent service. The third part shows how to develop robots with different functions in different application scenarios.Combining theoretical and practical aspects, with a strong focus on application, this work can be used as a reference book for robotics-related courses. Moreover, it will benefit all readers who are interested in intelligent robot development, sharing essential insights into developing service robots based on ROS.

Over-pumping of aquifers is a worldwide problem, mainly caused by agricultural water use. Among its consequences are the falling dry of streams and wetlands, soil subsidence, die-off of phreatophytic vegetation, saline water intrusion, increased pumping cost and loss of storage needed for drought relief. Stopping or reversing the trend requires management interventions. The North China Plain serves as an example. A management system is set up for a typical county. It contains three components: monitoring, decision support based on modelling, and implementation in the field. Besides all monitoring data, the decision support module contains an irrigation calculator, a box model, and a distributed groundwater model to project the outcomes of different water allocation scenarios. In view of grain security, a solution combines an adaptation of the cropping system with imports of surface water from the South. The Open Access book does not only describe the problem and the path to its solution. It also gives access to nine manuals concerning methods used. They include computer programs and the game Save the Water. The Chinese experience should be of considerable interest to other regions in the world which suffer from over-pumping of aquifers.

Qigong (CHEE-GUNG) has swept America as the newest approach to healing and was on the rise in China until the recent Falun gong crackdowns. This 2,500-year-old form of traditional Chinese medicine claims that the human body has channels (meridians) through which flows a substance known as Qi. While internal Qigong is essentially a relaxation and meditation technique, external Qigong is an alleged form of energy radiation emitted from the fingertips of 'masters.' Practitioners of this form of Qigong claim that they can heal serious diseases such as hypertension, glaucoma, asthma, ulcers, and even cancer.This remarkable book, written by a group of Chinese scientists, discusses the nature and practice of Qigong and its various manifestations. They give special attention to the many pseudoscientific claims made for external Qigong and uncover a good deal of deception practised by charlatans in the name of medicine. Exposed are such alleged Qigong practices as: clairvoyance, telepathy, weightlessness, energy discharge, energy-impregnated language (Qigong prescriptions), and much more.