Yan Liu

The book is the first thorough study of the role of phosphorus chemistry in the origin of life. This book starts with depiction of the phosphorus role in life creation and evolution. Then it outlines in vital processes how different phosphorus-containing compounds participate as biomarker in life evolution. Written by renowned scientists, it is suitable for researchers and students in organic phosphorus chemistry and biochemistry.

A pioneering treatise presenting how the new mathematical techniques of holographic duality unify seemingly unrelated fields of physics. This innovative development morphs quantum field theory, general relativity and the renormalisation group into a single computational framework and this book is the first to bring together a wide range of research in this rapidly developing field. Set within the context of condensed matter physics and using boxes highlighting the specific techniques required, it examines the holographic description of thermal properties of matter, Fermi liquids and superconductors, and hitherto unknown forms of macroscopically entangled quantum matter in terms of general relativity, stars and black holes. Showing that holographic duality can succeed where classic mathematical approaches fail, this text provides a thorough overview of this major breakthrough at the heart of modern physics. The inclusion of extensive introductory material using non-technical language and online Mathematica notebooks ensures the appeal to students and researchers alike.

Modern Chinese for Heritage Beginners aims to serve as a stepping-stone for Chinese heritage language learners’ future Chinese learning, inspiring them to reflect on their identities, learn Chinese American history, and embrace their cultural heritage. The book starts with talking about individuals and families and then expands to the Chinese and Asian American communities in the U. S. and eventually to the entire American society, all from the unique perspective of Chinese American students. Taking a macro approach that builds learners’ literacy skills on their initial abilities in speaking and listening, each lesson starts with listening and speaking activities and then moves to reading and writing. The content complexity and language difficulty are balanced to present rich content that matches students’ critical thinking abilities in a language appropriate for their literacy level. Lively and humorous language makes the book a joy to read. Each lesson has a conversation and an essay to expose students to informal and formal registers. Moreover, authentic tasks are designed to facilitate students’ language output, following the three modes of communication promoted by the American Council on Teaching Foreign Languages: interpersonal, interpretive, and presentational. This theme-based Chinese textbook is written for high school and college-level Chinese heritage language learners.

Modern Chinese for Heritage Beginners aims to serve as a stepping-stone for Chinese heritage language learners’ future Chinese learning, inspiring them to reflect on their identities, learn Chinese American history, and embrace their cultural heritage. The book starts with talking about individuals and families and then expands to the Chinese and Asian American communities in the U. S. and eventually to the entire American society, all from the unique perspective of Chinese American students. Taking a macro approach that builds learners’ literacy skills on their initial abilities in speaking and listening, each lesson starts with listening and speaking activities and then moves to reading and writing. The content complexity and language difficulty are balanced to present rich content that matches students’ critical thinking abilities in a language appropriate for their literacy level. Lively and humorous language makes the book a joy to read. Each lesson has a conversation and an essay to expose students to informal and formal registers. Moreover, authentic tasks are designed to facilitate students’ language output, following the three modes of communication promoted by the American Council on Teaching Foreign Languages: interpersonal, interpretive, and presentational. This theme-based Chinese textbook is written for high school and college-level Chinese heritage language learners.

This report investigates the role of foreign direct investment (FDI) in helping developing countries participate in global value chains (GVCs). It aims to provide practical guidance for developing countries to develop strategies that use FDI to strengthen GVC participation and upgrading.

Winner of the 2023 William H. Welch Medal, sponsored by the American Association for the History of MedicineA revealing study of risky cures in classical Chinese pharmacyAt first glance, medicine and poison might seem to be opposites. But in China's formative era of pharmacy (200–800 CE), poisons were strategically deployed as healing agents to cure everything from chills to pains to epidemics. Healing with Poisons explores the ways physicians, religious devotees, court officials, and laypeople used powerful substances to both treat intractable illnesses and enhance life. It illustrates how the Chinese concept of du—a word carrying a core meaning of "potency"—led practitioners to devise a variety of techniques to transform dangerous poisons into efficacious medicines. Recounting scandals and controversies involving poisons from the Era of Division to the early Tang period, Yan Liu considers how the concept of du was central to the ways people of medieval China perceived both their bodies and the body politic. Liu also examines a wide range of du-possessing minerals, plants, and animal products in classical Chinese pharmacy, including the highly poisonous herb aconite and the popular arsenic drug Five-Stone Powder. By recovering alternative modes of understanding wellness and the body's interaction with potent medicines, this study cautions against arbitrary classifications and exemplifies the importance of paying attention to the technical, political, and cultural conditions in which substances become truly meaningful. Healing with Poisons is freely available in an open access edition thanks to TOME (Toward an Open Monograph Ecosystem) and the generous support of the University at Buffalo Libraries. DOI 10.6069/9780295749013

Winner of the 2023 William H. Welch Medal, sponsored by the American Association for the History of MedicineA revealing study of risky cures in classical Chinese pharmacyAt first glance, medicine and poison might seem to be opposites. But in China's formative era of pharmacy (200–800 CE), poisons were strategically deployed as healing agents to cure everything from chills to pains to epidemics. Healing with Poisons explores the ways physicians, religious devotees, court officials, and laypeople used powerful substances to both treat intractable illnesses and enhance life. It illustrates how the Chinese concept of du—a word carrying a core meaning of "potency"—led practitioners to devise a variety of techniques to transform dangerous poisons into efficacious medicines. Recounting scandals and controversies involving poisons from the Era of Division to the early Tang period, Yan Liu considers how the concept of du was central to the ways people of medieval China perceived both their bodies and the body politic. Liu also examines a wide range of du-possessing minerals, plants, and animal products in classical Chinese pharmacy, including the highly poisonous herb aconite and the popular arsenic drug Five-Stone Powder. By recovering alternative modes of understanding wellness and the body's interaction with potent medicines, this study cautions against arbitrary classifications and exemplifies the importance of paying attention to the technical, political, and cultural conditions in which substances become truly meaningful. Healing with Poisons is freely available in an open access edition thanks to TOME (Toward an Open Monograph Ecosystem) and the generous support of the University at Buffalo Libraries. DOI 10.6069/9780295749013

Urban development and migration from rural to urban areas are impacting prime agricultural land and natural landscapes, particularly in the less developed countries. These phenomena will persist and require serious study by those monitoring global environmental change. To address this need, various models have been devised to analyze urbanization and the physical, socioeconomic, and institutional factors impacting urban development. The most promising and rapidly developing of these paradigms take advantage of new Geographical Information System (GIS) technology. Modelling Urban Development with Geographical Information Systems and Cellular Automata presents one such cutting-edge model that is more than just predictive. It describes how the model simulates the urbanization process, and it provides theoretical context to promote understanding. Starting with a practical overview of the modelling techniques used in urban development research, the author focuses on the cellular automata model and its greatest strength – the incorporation of fuzzy set and fuzzy logic approaches through which urban development can be viewed as a spatially and temporally continuous process. Real-Life Application to Develop Future Planning Methods The text describes a landmark study underway, in which the fuzzy constrained cellular automata model has been implemented in a GIS environment to simulate urban development in Sydney, Australia. Featuring a survey of associated research and a geographical database for the Sydney simulation, this book answers many general "what if" questions for urban planners and details a new approach that they can adapt to their own testing and evaluation needs. This modeling method will provide researchers and planners with the means to not just predict population trends, but to better prepare for their consequences.

Demonstrates how to solve reliability problems using practical applications of Bayesian models This self-contained reference provides fundamental knowledge of Bayesian reliability and utilizes numerous examples to show how Bayesian models can solve real life reliability problems. It teaches engineers and scientists exactly what Bayesian analysis is, what its benefits are, and how they can apply the methods to solve their own problems. To help readers get started quickly, the book presents many Bayesian models that use JAGS and which require fewer than 10 lines of command. It also offers a number of short R scripts consisting of simple functions to help them become familiar with R coding. Practical Applications of Bayesian Reliability starts by introducing basic concepts of reliability engineering, including random variables, discrete and continuous probability distributions, hazard function, and censored data. Basic concepts of Bayesian statistics, models, reasons, and theory are presented in the following chapter. Coverage of Bayesian computation, Metropolis-Hastings algorithm, and Gibbs Sampling comes next. The book then goes on to teach the concepts of design capability and design for reliability; introduce Bayesian models for estimating system reliability; discuss Bayesian Hierarchical Models and their applications; present linear and logistic regression models in Bayesian Perspective; and more. Provides a step-by-step approach for developing advanced reliability models to solve complex problems, and does not require in-depth understanding of statistical methodologyEducates managers on the potential of Bayesian reliability models and associated impactIntroduces commonly used predictive reliability models and advanced Bayesian models based on real life applicationsIncludes practical guidelines to construct Bayesian reliability models along with computer codes for all of the case studiesJAGS and R codes are provided on an accompanying website to enable practitioners to easily copy them and tailor them to their own applications Practical Applications of Bayesian Reliability is a helpful book for industry practitioners such as reliability engineers, mechanical engineers, electrical engineers, product engineers, system engineers, and materials scientists whose work includes predicting design or product performance.

This book systematically explains the fundamentals of system-level electromagnetic compatibility and introduces the basic concept of system-level electromagnetic compatibility quantification design. The topics covered include the critical technologies in the top-down quantification design of electromagnetic compatibility, quantification design of system-level electromagnetic compatibility, evaluation methods and application examples, quality control and application examples of electromagnetic compatibility development process, and real-world engineering example analysis of electromagnetic compatibility. The book proposes a top-down system-level electromagnetic compatibility quantification design method and is the first book to describe in detail how to quantitatively evaluate and predict system-level electromagnetic compatibility performance. It includes abundant engineering examples and experimental data demonstrating the usage and results of the top-down quantification design methods of system-level electromagnetic compatibility. It enables readers to obtain a thorough understanding of the theory and methods of system-level electromagnetic compatibility quantification design as well as the methodologies for engineering practice.

This book integrates the fundamentals of asymptotic theory of statistical inference for time series under nonstandard settings, e.g., infinite variance processes, not only from the point of view of efficiency but also from that of robustness and optimality by minimizing prediction error. This is the first book to consider the generalized empirical likelihood applied to time series models in frequency domain and also the estimation motivated by minimizing quantile prediction error without assumption of true model. It provides the reader with a new horizon for understanding the prediction problem that occurs in time series modeling and a contemporary approach of hypothesis testing by the generalized empirical likelihood method. Nonparametric aspects of the methods proposed in this book also satisfactorily address economic and financial problems without imposing redundantly strong restrictions on the model, which has been true until now. Dealing with infinite variance processes makesanalysis of economic and financial data more accurate under the existing results from the demonstrative research. The scope of applications, however, is expected to apply to much broader academic fields. The methods are also sufficiently flexible in that they represent an advanced and unified development of prediction form including multiple-point extrapolation, interpolation, and other incomplete past forecastings. Consequently, they lead readers to a good combination of efficient and robust estimate and test, and discriminate pivotal quantities contained in realistic time series models.

Qu Leilei now stands as a technically accomplished master, capable of handling brush and ink with the utmost competency and photographic-like quality. His visual language is well established, and it represents a fusion of east and west. Some ink painters have chosen to push boundaries by making traditional styles more abstract or ornamented. By contrast, Leilei has sought to blend the descriptive, realistic styles of the European Renaissance with Chinese ink painting. Moreover, he has constantly worked to achieve profound concepts in his work, ideas that have universal application. This catalogue is a retrospective, an overview of the body of work Qu Leilei has produced up to the present day. Certain broad themes can be divined: a burning interest in the history of China, and what can be learned from it; a loving concern for human beings and their individual achievements; an absorption in the anatomy and depiction of the human body; an urge to warn against the perils of the world; and a heartfelt desire to integrate Chinese and western art practice and techniques. These themes have been pursued with ever-growing skill throughout the years.

The Material Point Method: A Continuum-Based Particle Method for Extreme Loading Cases systematically introduces the theory, code design, and application of the material point method, covering subjects such as the spatial and temporal discretization of MPM, frequently-used strength models and equations of state of materials, contact algorithms in MPM, adaptive MPM, the hybrid/coupled material point finite element method, object-oriented programming of MPM, and the application of MPM in impact, explosion, and metal forming. Recent progresses are also stated in this monograph, including improvement of efficiency, memory storage, coupling/combination with the finite element method, the contact algorithm, and their application to problems.

Urban development and migration from rural to urban areas are impacting prime agricultural land and natural landscapes, particularly in the less developed countries. These phenomena will persist and require serious study by those monitoring global environmental change. To address this need, various models have been devised to analyze urbanization and the physical, socioeconomic, and institutional factors impacting urban development. The most promising and rapidly developing of these paradigms take advantage of new Geographical Information System (GIS) technology. Modelling Urban Development with Geographical Information Systems and Cellular Automata presents one such cutting-edge model that is more than just predictive. It describes how the model simulates the urbanization process, and it provides theoretical context to promote understanding. Starting with a practical overview of the modelling techniques used in urban development research, the author focuses on the cellular automata model and its greatest strength – the incorporation of fuzzy set and fuzzy logic approaches through which urban development can be viewed as a spatially and temporally continuous process. Real-Life Application to Develop Future Planning Methods The text describes a landmark study underway, in which the fuzzy constrained cellular automata model has been implemented in a GIS environment to simulate urban development in Sydney, Australia. Featuring a survey of associated research and a geographical database for the Sydney simulation, this book answers many general "what if" questions for urban planners and details a new approach that they can adapt to their own testing and evaluation needs. This modeling method will provide researchers and planners with the means to not just predict population trends, but to better prepare for their consequences.