Intense media coverage of the public pension funding crisis continues to fuel heightened awareness in and debate over public pension benefits. With over $3 trillion in assets currently under management, the ramifications of poor oversight are severe. It is important that practitioners, researchers, and taxpayers be well-advised regarding any concer

Since 1978, when China started remaking its economy, it has also embarked on an unparalleled effort at remaking its pension system to accommodate its hybrid economic model. This book tells the story of how China has managed to build a national pension system that now covers most of its population and what this system holds for its future.This book covers the following topics: evolution of Chinese pension system to its current form; benefit design, financing, and governance of curre...

The contested and polysemic concept of ideology has been used only marginally in research on intercultural communication education. This edited volume focuses on the ideological dimensions of online interculturality in higher education, encompassing areas such as telecollaboration, virtual classrooms and online teacher professional development.The chapter authors explore the intercultural engagements, perceptions and experiences of students, teachers and researchers in different pa...

Bayesian Modeling and Computation in Python aims to help beginner Bayesian practitioners to become intermediate modelers. It uses a hands on approach with PyMC3, Tensorflow Probability, ArviZ and other libraries focusing on the practice of applied statistics with references to the underlying mathematical theory.The book starts with a refresher of the Bayesian Inference concepts. The second chapter introduces modern methods for Exploratory Analysis of Bayesian Models. With ...

This book explores how visualization provides an effective way of improving not only the interpretability but also the generalization capabilities of machine learning models. It shows how visualization can bridge the gap between complex models or algorithms and human understanding while also facilitating data curation and model refinement. Therefore, visualization for artificial intelligence (VIS4AI) has become an emerging area that combines interactive visualization with machine learning ...

This book serves as an introduction of the off-diagonal Bethe Ansatz method, an analytic theory for the eigenvalue problem of quantum integrable models. It also presents some fundamental knowledge about quantum integrability and the algebraic Bethe Ansatz method. Based on the intrinsic properties of R-matrix and K-matrices, the book introduces a systematic method to construct operator identities of transfer matrix. These identities allow one to establish the inhomogeneous T-Q relation form...

Membrane computing is a class of distributed and parallel computing models inspired by living cells. Spiking neural P systems are neural-like membrane computing models, representing an interdisciplinary field between membrane computing and artificial neural networks, and are considered one of the third-generation neural networks. Models and applications constitute two major research topics in spiking neural P systems. The entire book comprises two parts: models and applications.In ...

This is an authoritative book that acts as a guide to understanding maize kernel development. Written by a team of experts, it covers topics spanning pre- and post-fertilization events, embryo and endosperm development, grain filling and maturation, and factors influencing crop yield. It explores the significance of maize and other cereal grains, existing hypotheses and research, and important gaps in our knowledge and how we might fill them. This is a valuable resource for researchers of ...

This book highlights the latest advances in advanced insulating materials. Energy crisis and environmental pollution are two major themes currently faced by the human society. It is of unprecedented strategic importance to construct a strong smart grid with super/ultra-high voltage network as the backbone and clean energy transmission as the leading force. However, the performance of electrical equipment and devices is greatly determined by the properties of their insulating materials, esp...

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of ICIVIS2023, held in Baoding, China, in August 2023. The papers included in the proceedings have been carefully reviewed and selected from the submitted manuscripts in the areas of image, vision and intelligent systems.This book provides a reference for theoretical innovative problems as well as recent practical solutions and applications for the state-of-the-art results in image, vision and intelligent systems. The intended audience...

Based on the design theory and development experience of Beidou navigation satellite system (BDS), this book highlights the space segment and the related satellite technologies as well as satellite-ground integration design from the perspective of engineering. The satellite navigation technology in this book is divided into uplink and reception technology, broadcasting link technology, inter-satellite link technology, time-frequency system technology, navigation signal generation and asses...

This book highlights the practical models and algorithms of earth observation satellite (EOS) task scheduling. EOS task scheduling is a typical complex combinatorial optimization problem with NP-Hard computational complexity. It is a key technology in aerospace scheduling and has attracted global attention. Based on the actual needs of the EOS operation control center, the book summarizes and reviews the state of the art in this research and engineering field. In both deterministic scenari...