Author：Yang,Wenyin;Chen,Yang

Abstract:This chapter investigates the institutional and political motivation behind Chinese local governments’ land conveyance behavior. The principal-agent model is adopted to illustrate the mechanisms of how yardstick competition and fiscal decentralization encourage land sale. We find that although yardstick competition promotes short-term economic growth, the presence of land finance impairs the “selection effect” of yardstick competition. Using a panel data of 31 Chinese provinces from 2003 to 2011 in a spatial autoregressive model, we show that yardstick competition exerts a large positive impact on the intensity of land sale and leasing, while the influence of fiscal decentralization has a moderate impact and the influence of foreign direct investment (FDI) appears to be insignificant.

Author：Konysheva, Elena Yu. ; Bukaemskiy, Andrey A. ; Kuznetsov, Michail V. ; Ma, Tianzheng ; Ermolenko, Yurii E.

Abstract:Phase composition, crystal structure of components, surface composition, and redox behavior were explored in the (100-x) La0.6Sr0.4CoO3-xPrO2-δ (LSCPx) system under air. At high temperatures, a fraction of La0.6Sr0.4CoO3 perovskite phase interacts with praseodymium oxide, forming a new layered perovskite-like phase relating to the Ruddlesden-Popper family of An+1BnO3n+1 compounds with n=1. The Ruddlesden-Popper phase with K2NiF4-type structure (I4/mmm, no.139) exists in a wide compositional range. At room temperature the LSCPx (2 ≤ x ≤ 40) are two-phase compositions, comprising of the perovskite phase with rhombohedral distortion ( R3c, no. 167) and Ruddlesden-Popper phase. Evolution of lattice parameters for both perovskite and Ruddlesden-Popper phases with the raise in the Pr content was discussed. La0.93Sr0.62Pr0.45CoO4 compound with Ruddlesden-Popper structure was synthesized. Both single phase La0.93Sr0.62Pr0.45CoO4 and newly formed Ruddlesden-Popper phase in the two-phase LSCPx (2 ≤ x ≤ 40) exhibit similar behavior with the temperature variation (25-820oC) the expansion of the unit cell along the c-axis is noticeably stronger than within the a-b plain. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy study indicates stronger accommodation of Sr cations within the Ruddlesden-Popper structure. Surface depletion in Co decreases in the two-phase LSCPx compositions with the raise in the fraction of the phase with the Ruddlesden-Popper structure, assuming that the presence of a second phase can facilitate the re-arrangement of cations between the volume and surface. The total oxygen exchange between the gas phase and the two-phase LSCPx (2 ≤ x ≤ 20) compositions decreases gradually with the increase in Pr content in the composites and it becomes almost negligible in the LSCPx (20 ≤ x ≤ 40). This result is unexpected and could be associated with the simultaneous involvement of Pr and Co cations in the redox process. © 2015 Nova Science Publishers, Inc.

Author：Andersson,Åke E.;Andersson,David Emanuel;Harsman,Björn;Daghbashyan,Zara

Author：Ting,T. O.;Yang,Xin She;Cheng,Shi;Huang,Kaizhu

Abstract:Hybrid algorithms play a prominent role in improving the search capability of algorithms. Hybridization aims to combine the advantages of each algorithm to form a hybrid algorithm, while simultaneously trying to minimize any substantial disadvantage. In general, the outcome of hybridization can usually make some improvements in terms of either computational speed or accuracy. This chapter surveys recent advances in the area of hybridizing different algorithms. Based on this survey, some crucial recommendations are suggested for further development of hybrid algorithms.

Author：Prieler,Michael;Kohlbacher,Florian

Abstract:Population aging is a powerful megatrend affecting many countries around the world. This demographic shift has vast effects on societies, economies and businesses, and thus also for the advertising industry. Advertising in the Aging Society presents an insight into advertising practitioners and consumers in Japan.

Author：Goodman,David S.G.

Author：Pak,Donald Henry Ah;Ding,Xiaoming

Author：Cao,Xuanwei;Fischer,Doris

Author：Phiri, Michael ; Chen, Bing

Abstract:The development and update of healthcare premises planning information, technical guidance and tools in health care are controversial and have tended to engender a lot of debate. This is because many interrelated issues are involved, for example, stewardship (whether public or private), regulation (extent of compliance and associated penalties for non-compliance), rationale (whether prescription or performance based), quality, responsibilities and costs of development and updates to keep this information relevant and responsive to changing healthcare practice and technology. In recent years, there have also been many concerns over the ever-increasing amount of advice on best practice standards in the planning and design of healthcare facilities due to burgeoning safety legislation, raising expectations for quality and safety improvements and demands for effectiveness and to achieve value for money. The introduction of new procurement routes such as private finance initiative, public-private partnerships over and above the traditional one has added complexity. A summative rather than a comprehensive review of the healthcare planning information, healthcare facility briefing systems and tools provides an appropriate basis to evaluate some of the issues identified above. The review also answers the question of need for technical guidance and tools in healthcare over and above the planning regulation and building control applied to other types of the built environment. Traditional focus of building control has, in recent times, seen expanded state interventions in health and safety, including prevention of fire risk in buildings to application of rules, regulations and standards relating to the form and performance of buildings and the built environment. This has been necessary not only in order for building design to respond to increased threats to health and safety posed by terrorism and climate change but also to address sociopsychological and cultural issues related to place-making and sustainable urban living. As a result, there has been a proliferation of state-centred legal forms of regulation, formations and a plethora of rules, standards and governance practices as well as requirements by insurance companies to identify, prevent and contain risk (Imrie and Street 2011). © The Author(s) 2014.

Author：Julian,Craig C.;Xu,Junqian

Abstract:Although the literature on international joint ventures (IJVs) is already sizeable and steadily growing, there is a paucity of studies on at least one critical issue relating to the growth of IJVs in Asian economies, namely, the salient factors influencing IJV marketing performance. In the international business literature there are many studies that identify important determinants of IJV performance in general (Johnson et al., 2001; Lee and Beamish, 1995; Makino and Beamish, 1998). However, the literature does not adequately cover the issues relating to IJV marketing performance. In the international business literature, studies on marketing performance are largely confined to those firms involved in direct or indirect exporting (Cavusgil and Zou, 1994; Julian, 2003) with very little empirical evidence on IJV marketing performance. Given that successful marketing performance is critical to overall successful business performance (Crocombe, 1991), and the deficiency in the level of empirical evidence on IJV marketing performance, we decided to focus on marketing performance in order to enhance the already significant body of IJV literature. IJV marketing performance is defined as the degree to which the IJV’s marketing objectives, both economic and strategic, with respect to a product/service are achieved in a foreign market (that foreign market being China) through the planning and implementation of a specific marketing plan.

Author：Verdini,Giulio;Wang,Yiwen;Zhang,Xiaonan

Author：Miao,Ying

Abstract:Many studies of the Chinese middle class focus on defining it and viewing its significance for economic development and its potential for sociopolitical modernisation. This book goes beyond such objective approaches and considers middle class people's subjective understanding and diverse experiences of class. Based on extensive original research including social surveys and detailed interviews, the book explores who the middle class think they are, what they think about a wide range of socioeconomic and sociopolitical issues, and why they think as they do. It examines attitudes towards the welfare state, social inequality, nationalism, relations with foreign countries and opinions on many social controversies, thereby portraying middle class people as more than simply luxury consumers and potential agents of democracy. The book concludes that a clear class identity and political consciousness have yet to emerge, but that middle class attitudes are best characterised as searching for a balance between old and new, the traditional and the foreign, the principled and the pragmatic.

Author：Zhong,Guoqiang;Huang,Kaizhu

Abstract:Semi-supervised learning is an important area of machine learning. It deals with problems that involve a lot of unlabeled data and very scarce labeled data. The book focuses on state-of-the-art research on semi-supervised learning. In the first chapter, Weng, Dornaika and Jin introduce a graph construction algorithm named the constrained data self-representative graph construction (CSRGC). In the second chapter, to reduce the graph construction complexity, Zhang et al. use anchors that were a special subset chosen from the original data to construct the full graph, while randomness was injected into graphs to improve the classification accuracy and deal with the high dimensionality issue. In the third chapter, Dornaika et al. introduce a kernel version of the Flexible Manifold Embedding (KFME) algorithm. In the fourth chapter, Zhang et al. present an efficient and robust graph-based transductive classification method known as the minimum tree cut (MTC), for large scale applications. In the fifth chapter, Salazar, Safont and Vergara investigated the performance of semi-supervised learning methods in two-class classification problems with a scarce population of one of the classes. In the sixth chapter, by breaking the sample identically and independently distributed (i.i.d.) assumption, one novel framework called the field support vector machine (F-SVM) with both classification (F-SVC) and regression (F-SVR) purposes is introduced. In the seventh chapter, Gong employs the curriculum learning methodology by investigating the difficulty of classifying every unlabeled example. As a result, an optimized classification sequence was generated during the iterative propagations, and the unlabeled examples are logically classified from simple to difficult. In the eighth chapter, Tang combines semi-supervised learning with geo-tagged photo streams and concept detection to explore situation recognition. This book is suitable for university students (undergraduate or graduate) in computer science, statistics, electrical engineering, and anyone else who would potentially use machine learning algorithms; professors, who research artificial intelligence, pattern recognition, machine learning, data mining and related fields; and engineers, who apply machine learning models into their products.

Author：Ding,Peng

Author：Harris,Geoffrey

Author：Coyle-Shapiro, JAM;Costa, SP;Doden, W;Chang, CC

Abstract:We provide a review of psychological contract research, beginning with past conceptualizations and empirical evidence. We tailor this retrospective look by reviewing the antecedents and outcomes associated with psychological contract breach and discussing the dominant theoretical explanations for the breach-outcome relationship. This synthesis of past evidence provides the foundation for reviewing the present emerging and developing themes in psychological contract research. This discussion is organized around the expansion of resources exchanged and the antecedents of contract breach and outcomes, moving beyond reciprocity as an underpinning explanation. We highlight the practical implications of research to date on psychological contracts and end with directions for future research to include the need for greater attention given to ideological currency, employee health, polycontextual approaches, the role of psychological needs, and post-breach/violation.

Author：Herr,Christiane M.

Abstract:Radical constructivism can be described as the epistemological twin of second-order cybernetics. This chapter presents a close look at radical constructivism, at its implications for design, and at the interrelatedness of epistemology and design in their theoretical as well as in their applied manifestations. The chapter discusses connections between three aspects of design cybernetics: design as a domain of action, cybernetics as its theoretical complement and radical constructivism as an epistemological basis for both. It further outlines implications of radical constructivist thinking for design research and design education.

Author：Godfrey,Barry;Cox,Pamela;Shore,Heather;Alker,Zoe

Abstract:Young Criminal Lives is the first cradle-to-grave study of the experiences of some of the thousands of delinquent, ‘difficult’, and destitute children passing through the early English juvenile industrial school and reformatory system. Applying biographical research methodologies to digital data, we have reconstructed the lives, families, and neighbourhoods of 500 children who were sent to reformatory and industrial schools in the north-west of England from courts around the UK over a fifty-year period from the 1860s onwards. For the first time, we have been able to follow these children on their journey in and out of institutional care, and then though to their adulthood and old age. We centre on institutions celebrated in this period for their pioneering approaches to child welfare and others that were investigated for cruelty and scandal. Both were typical of the new kind of state-certified provision offered, from the 1850s onwards, to children who had committed criminal acts, or who were considered ‘vulnerable’ to predation, poverty, and the ‘inheritance’ of criminal dispositions.

Author：Tang,Beibei

Author：Zhang, Bailing ; Zhang, Yanchun