In the rapidly changing business world, only a small percentage of firms are able to survive and prosper despite recessions, industrial evolutions and economic changes. An often-asked question is: What determines a firm’s sustainable competitive advantage? One of the most popular competitive strategies is partnering with other firms. So: How do firms make intelligent and informed decisions when it comes to selecting business partners, to utilizing available resources and capabilities in pa...

This textbook provides a comprehensive review of the evolution of mobile communications and networking from the birth of cellular networks to the forthcoming sixth-generation mobile communications, which is envisioned to be commercially deployed first in 2030. New students who are coming to wireless communications/electrical engineering/computer networking/telecommunications and network engineering can benefit from this book by quickly grasping the whole history of cellular networks, under...

Seismic Risk Analysis of Nuclear Power Plants addresses the needs of graduate students in engineering, practicing engineers in industry, and regulators in government agencies, presenting the entire process of seismic risk analysis in a clear, logical, and concise manner. It offers a systematic and comprehensive introduction to seismic risk analysis of critical engineering structures focusing on nuclear power plants, with a balance between theory and applications, and includes the latest ad...

This book clarifies the misconceptions and misinterpretations of the Chinese Path through historical and market logic. The author begins with a historical review of Chinese institutions from their cultural origins to their modern connotations: Chinese regard unity over individualism; Chinese are more cooperative, intrapersonal and defensive than competitive, invasive and expansive. The market economy is another factor that emphasizes the importance of a peaceful environment and stable syst...

This book explores the establishment process, mechanism design, and role orientation of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) under the new background of global economic governance. After the international financial crisis in 2008, the process of economic globalization and the comparison of international forces have presented a new situation, and the global economic governance system since has entered a period of deep adjustment and transformation. At the same time, the problems ...

This collection features five peer-reviewed reviews on ensuring the welfare of laying hens.The first chapter highlights the key welfare issues in poultry housing and management, focussing on the use of conventional cages to house laying hens. The chapter then explores the emergence of enriched cages and cage-free housing, as well as the benefits and risks of each system on bird health and welfare.The second chapter reviews the range of welfare issues affect...

Based on three years of fieldwork in Zhanli, a remote Kam Village in Guizhou Province, Wang and Jiang explore the complex dynamics between the discursive practices of the local government and the villagers in relation to the reconstruction of Kam identity in response to social change, particularly the rise of rural tourism.China’s profound demographic and socio-economic transformation has intensified the dominance of Han culture and language and seriously challenged the traditional...

Multi-agent systems are special networked systems full of research interest and practical sense, which are abundant in real life, ranging from mobile robot networks, intelligent transportation management, to multiple spacecraft, surveillance and monitoring. Consensus control is one of the most typical and hot research issues for multi-agent systems. Distributed Adaptive Consensus Control of Uncertain Multi-agent Systems provides innovative technologies to design and analyz...

Microforming Technology: Theory, Simulation and Practice addresses all aspects of micromanufacturing technology, presenting detailed technical information and the latest research developments. The book covers fundamentals, theory, simulation models, equipment and tools design, practical micromanufacturing procedures, and micromanufacturing-related supporting systems, such as laser heating system, hydraulic system and quality evaluation systems. Newly developed technology, including micro w...

Written between 500 BCE and 700 CE, these seven texts have inspired generals for millennia, both in China and the wider world. Featuring Sun Tzu's The Art of War, this new translation brings to light the military masterpieces of ancient China. These seven texts display an understanding of strategy and warfare still relevant more than 2,000 years after they were originally written. Together, they present a uniquely eastern tradition of warfare that emphasizes speed, stealth, and cu...

This book focuses on security science and technology, data and information security, and mobile and network security for space-air-ground integrated networks (SAGINs). SAGIN are expected to play an increasingly important role in providing real-time, flexible, and integrated communication and data transmission services in an efficient manner. Today, SAGINs have been widely developed for a range of applications in navigation, environmental monitoring, traffic management, counter-terrorism, e...

This book mainly deals with grassland digitalization and recognition through computer vision, which will make contributions to implement of grass auto recognition and data acquisition. Taking advantage of computer vision, it focuses on intrinsic feature extraction to realize the functions such as auto recognition of forage seeds and microscope images mosaic. The book presents a new approach for identification of grass seeds, with clear figures and detailed tables. It enlightens reader by s...