Metal-dielectric interfaces are ubiquitous in modern electronics. As advanced gigascale electronic devices continue to shrink, the stability of these interfaces is becoming an increasingly important issue that has a profound impact on the operational reliability of these devices. In this book, the authors present the basic science underlying the thermal and electrical stability of metal-dielectric interfaces and its relationship to the operation of advanced interconnect systems in gigascal...

This book is a detailed and comprehensive examination of the physical, symbolic and cultural uses of bamboo in China, where it has long had a ubiquitous presence in all aspects of the lives of the Chinese people: how and what they eat, what they wear, where they live, how they travel, as well as their productive activities, writing, religion, art and philosophy. The authors adopt the theoretical methods of culturology, axiology and semiotics to understand the implications and characteristi...

In Beyond Retention: Cultivating Spaces of Equity, Fairness, and Justice for Women of Color in U.S. Higher Education, Brenda Marina and Sabrina N. Ross address the continued underrepresentation of women faculty of color at predominantly White colleges and universities through a creative convergence of scholarship focused on intellectual activism and structural change. Inspired by the African American oral tradition of call and response, this text illuminates the calls, or personal narrativ...

Fundamentals of Matrix-Analytic Methods targets advanced-level students in mathematics, engineering and computer science. It focuses on the fundamental parts of Matrix-Analytic Methods, Phase-Type Distributions, Markovian arrival processes and Structured Markov chains and matrix geometric solutions.New materials and techniques are presented for the first time in research and engineering design. This book emphasizes stochastic modeling by offering probabilistic interpretati...

High Strength Steels: Microstructure, Properties, and Applications summarizes the historical context and recent research directions of new high strength steels including high-strength low alloyed steel (HSLA), dual-phase (DP) steel, transformation-induced plasticity (TRIP) assisted steel, quenching and partitioning (Q&P) steel, medium-Mn steel, high-Mn twinning induced plasticity (TWIP) steel, bainitic steel, martensitic steel and maraging steel. In particular, the state-of-the-art underst...

This book introduces the fundamentals of materials science and is intended to be used by undergraduate students in materials-related majors mainly in China. The book focusses on the basic theories of the three primary types of solid state materials (metals, ceramics and polymers) and composites and emphasizes the relationships between the structures and properties of materials. In addition, it presents the crystal structure, imperfections, microstructure, material processing and performanc...

As China strengthens its links with its neighbours through its Belt and Road initiative, there is growing interest in the indigenous peoples of China’s western and southwestern borderlands. This book, based on extensive original research, considers the indigenous peoples of Yunnan province, which is a major gateway between China and the countries of south and south-east Asia. Unlike many books on China’s indigenous peoples which are written by foreigners who have lived for a while in China...

Thermoelectric materials have received a great deal of attention in energy-harvesting and cooling applications, primarily due to their intrinsic low cost, energy efficient and eco-friendly nature. The past decade has witnessed heretofore-unseen advances in organic-based thermoelectric materials and devices. This title summarises the significant progress that has been made in the molecular design, physical characterization, and performance optimization of organic thermoelectric materials, f...

Scope of the Book: Personal~Passionate~Participatory Inquiry into Social Justice in Education, the first book in the series, features 14 programs of social justice oriented research on life in schools, families, and communities. This work, done by a diverse group of practitioner researchers, educators, and scholars, connects the personal with the political, the theoretical with the practical, and research with social and educational change. These inquiries demonstrate three distinct qualit...

Integrated circuit (IC) reliability is of increasing concern in present-day IC technology where the interconnect failures significantly increases the failure rate for ICs with decreasing interconnect dimension and increasing number of interconnect levels. Electromigration (EM) of interconnects has now become the dominant failure mechanism that determines the circuit reliability. This brief addresses the readers to the necessity of 3D real circuit modelling in order to evaluate the EM of in...

This work looks at cross-cultural lives and identities in the multicultural landscape. It covers such topics as: lives in China along the Yangtze River and the Yellow River before, during and after the cultural revolution; cross-cultural lives in China and Canada; and more.

This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed proceedings of the 16th National Conference, NASAC 2017, held in Harbin, China, in November 2017, and the 17th National Conference, NASAC 2018, held in Shenzhen, China, in November 2018.The 6 revised selected papers were selected from 17 submissions for NASAC 2017, and 5 revised selected papers were selected from 20 submissions for NASAC 2018. The papers focus on all aspects of software engineering, e.g. requirements engineering, softwa...