This book provides a comprehensive overview of the foundational attributes of the Particle Swarm Optimization(PSO) algorithm, including general descriptions, topological structures, evaluation metrics, and diversity. It explores in depth the issues of premature convergence and the kinematic characteristics of the Gbest (Global best), Pbest (Personal best), and standard particle models. The book also introduces a stability criterion based on dynamic time-varying systems and examines the Mar...

This book addresses the transfer of rhetorical knowledge from a first language (L1) to a second language (L1-to-L2 rhetorical transfer), a common cognitive phenomenon in the L2 writing of students in foreign language learning environments. It investigates L1-to-L2 rhetorical transfer from a cognitive perspective and examines a specific component of L2 writers’ agency in this transfer, namely metacognition. The book’s ultimate goal is to enhance our understanding of the cognitive mechanism ...

Rotating Electrode Methods and Oxygen Reduction Electrocatalysts provides the latest information and methodologies of rotating disk electrode and rotating ring-disk electrode (RDE/RRDE) and oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). It is an ideal reference for undergraduate and graduate students, scientists, and engineers who work in the areas of energy, electrochemistry science and technology, fuel cells, and other electrochemical systems. - Presents a comprehensive description, from fundamentals ...

A great nation has a great dream; a great country has a great dream. China’s dream is to build a society of common prosperity and a world in which all people live together in peace and harmony.This book provides predictions up to 2030 regarding the future major developments and trends of both China and the world in general from a historical and worldwide perspective. This book spells out the dreams of all mankind in the pursuit of common prosperity. It also offers China’s vision an...

This book provides a comprehensive review of the latest modelling developments in flow batteries, as well as some new results and insights. Flow batteries have long been considered the most flexible answer to grid scale energy storage, and modelling is a key component in their development. Recent modelling has moved beyond macroscopic methods, towards mesoscopic and smaller scales to select materials and design components. This is important for both fundamental understanding and the design...

This book aims to extend existing works on consensus of multi-agent systems systematically. The agents to be considered range from double integrators to generic linear systems. The primary goal is to explicitly characterize how agent parameters, which reflect both self-dynamics and inner coupling of each agent, and switching network topologies jointly influence the collective behaviors. A series of necessary and/or sufficient conditions for exponential consensus are derived.The con...

This book presents recent research work on stochastic jump hybrid systems. Specifically, the considered stochastic jump hybrid systems include Markovian jump Ito stochastic systems, Markovian jump linear-parameter-varying (LPV) systems, Markovian jump singular systems, Markovian jump two-dimensional (2-D) systems, and Markovian jump repeated scalar nonlinear systems. Some sufficient conditions are first established respectively for the stability and performances of those kinds of stochasti...

The third generation of solar cells includes those based on semiconductor quantum dots. This sophisticated technology applies nanotechnology and quantum mechanics theory to enhance the performance of ordinary solar cells. Although a practical application of quantum dot solar cells has yet to be achieved, a large number of theoretical calculations and experimental studies have confirmed the potential for meeting the requirement for ultra-high conversion efficiency. In this book, high-profil...

China's Economy: What Everyone Needs to Know® is a concise introduction to the most astonishing economic growth story of the last three decades. In the 1980s China was an impoverished backwater, struggling to escape the political turmoil and economic mismanagement of the Mao era. Today it is the world's second biggest economy, the largest manufacturing and trading nation, the consumer of half the world's steel and coal, the biggest source of international tourists, and one of the ...

The aim of the book is to give an accessible introduction of mathematical models and signal processing methods in speech and hearing sciences for senior undergraduate and beginning graduate students with basic knowledge of linear algebra, differential equations, numerical analysis, and probability. Speech and hearing sciences are fundamental to numerous technological advances of the digital world in the past decade, from music compression in MP3 to digital hearing aids, from network based ...

One of the current main challenges in the area of scientific computing is the design and implementation of accurate numerical models for complex physical systems which are described by time dependent coupled systems of nonlinear PDEs. This volume integrates the works of experts in computational mathematics and its applications, with a focus on modern algorithms which are at the heart of accurate modeling: adaptive finite element methods, conservative finite difference methods and finite vo...