Bin Yang

Chinese traders and explorers first visited the Maldives, an archipelago in the Indian Ocean, in the early fourteenth century. The traveler Wang Dayuan “discovered” the island sultanate for the Chinese world, and merchants increasingly dealt in Maldivian goods such as coconuts, cowrie shells, and ambergris. Zheng He’s fifteenth-century voyages ventured to the islands, by then a trading hub, and brought their envoys to Beijing. But the Maldives faded from Chinese records by the end of the sixteenth century, after the Ming state suddenly retreated from the Indian Ocean and shifted focus to Southeast Asia.Discovered but Forgotten is a pioneering examination of China’s relations with the Maldives and Sino-Indian Ocean interactions, offering new ways to understand Chinese maritime exploration and the global history of the Indian Ocean. Drawing on a wide range of sources—including written records, Chinese and Jesuit maps, and archaeological analysis of shipwrecks—Bin Yang provides a comprehensive account of Chinese links to the Maldives and the Indian Ocean world from ancient times through the late Ming era. He scrutinizes Chinese understandings of the islands, emphasizing both seafaring material culture and textual knowledge production. Yang reconsiders the works of travelers such as Marco Polo and Ibn Battuta in light of Chinese explorations, and he opens a window onto a colorful world of intriguing commodities, port marriages, and voyages across the vast waters of maritime Asia. Transregional and interdisciplinary, Discovered but Forgotten reveals how a remote archipelago shaped the vast Chinese empire.

Chinese traders and explorers first visited the Maldives, an archipelago in the Indian Ocean, in the early fourteenth century. The traveler Wang Dayuan “discovered” the island sultanate for the Chinese world, and merchants increasingly dealt in Maldivian goods such as coconuts, cowrie shells, and ambergris. Zheng He’s fifteenth-century voyages ventured to the islands, by then a trading hub, and brought their envoys to Beijing. But the Maldives faded from Chinese records by the end of the sixteenth century, after the Ming state suddenly retreated from the Indian Ocean and shifted focus to Southeast Asia.Discovered but Forgotten is a pioneering examination of China’s relations with the Maldives and Sino-Indian Ocean interactions, offering new ways to understand Chinese maritime exploration and the global history of the Indian Ocean. Drawing on a wide range of sources—including written records, Chinese and Jesuit maps, and archaeological analysis of shipwrecks—Bin Yang provides a comprehensive account of Chinese links to the Maldives and the Indian Ocean world from ancient times through the late Ming era. He scrutinizes Chinese understandings of the islands, emphasizing both seafaring material culture and textual knowledge production. Yang reconsiders the works of travelers such as Marco Polo and Ibn Battuta in light of Chinese explorations, and he opens a window onto a colorful world of intriguing commodities, port marriages, and voyages across the vast waters of maritime Asia. Transregional and interdisciplinary, Discovered but Forgotten reveals how a remote archipelago shaped the vast Chinese empire.

Flexible Piezoelectric Energy Harvesters and Sensors A systematic and complete discussion of the latest progress in flexible piezoelectric energy harvesting and sensing technologies In Flexible Piezoelectric Energy Harvesters and Sensors, a team of distinguished researchers delivers a comprehensive exploration of the design methods, working mechanisms, microfabrication processes, and applications of flexible energy harvesters for wearable and implantable devices. The book discusses the monitoring of normal force, shear force, strain, and displacement in flexible sensors, as well as relevant artificial intelligence algorithms. Readers will also find an overview of design and research challenges facing professionals in the field, as well as a variety of perspectives on flexible energy harvesters and sensors. With an extensive focus on the use of flexible piezoelectric material technologies for medical applications, Flexible Piezoelectric Energy Harvesters and Sensors also includes: A thorough introduction to the working principles of piezoelectric devices, including discussions of flexible PEH and piezoelectric sensors Comprehensive treatments of the design of flexible piezoelectric energy harvesters, including the challenges associated with their structural design Fulsome explanations of the fabrication of flexible piezoelectric energy harvesters, including piezoelectric ceramic thin and think films In-depth treatments of cantilever piezoelectric energy harvesters, including optimized cantilever, bimorph, and optimized bimorph PEH Perfect for materials scientists, electronics engineers, and solid-state physicists, Flexible Piezoelectric Energy Harvesters and Sensors will also earn a place in the libraries of sensor developers, and surface physicists.

This book elaborates on the physical principles of polarization remote sensing. It explains the reflective characteristics of surface objects and atmosphere separately, including theory, experiment, instrument and application. In addition, it introduces how polarization remote sensing works in advanced research programs as it can be used in aviation, astronomy, disaster risk prevention and navigation fields. This book serves as a fundamental and comprehensive reference for researchers and students.

This book elaborates on the physical principles of polarization remote sensing. It explains the reflective characteristics of surface objects and atmosphere separately, including theory, experiment, instrument and application. In addition, it introduces how polarization remote sensing works in advanced research programs as it can be used in aviation, astronomy, disaster risk prevention and navigation fields. This book serves as a fundamental and comprehensive reference for researchers and students.

Originating in the sea, especially in the waters surrounding the low-lying islands of the Maldives, Cypraea moneta (sometimes confused with Cypraea annulus) was transported to various parts of Afro-Eurasia in the prehistoric era, and in many cases, it was gradually transformed into a form of money in various societies for a long span of time. Yang provides a global examination of cowrie money within and beyond Afro-Eurasia from the archaeological period to the early twentieth century. By focusing on cowrie money in Indian, Chinese, Southeast Asian and West African societies and shell money in Pacific and North American societies, Yang synthsises and illustrates the economic and cultural connections, networks and interactions over a longue durée and in a cross-regional context. Analysing locally varied experiences of cowrie money from a global perspective, Yang argued that cowrie money was the first global money that shaped Afro-Eurasian societies both individually and collectively. He proposes a paradigm of the cowrie money world that engages local, regional, transregional and global themes.

Originating in the sea, especially in the waters surrounding the low-lying islands of the Maldives, Cypraea moneta (sometimes confused with Cypraea annulus) was transported to various parts of Afro-Eurasia in the prehistoric era, and in many cases, it was gradually transformed into a form of money in various societies for a long span of time. Yang provides a global examination of cowrie money within and beyond Afro-Eurasia from the archaeological period to the early twentieth century. By focusing on cowrie money in Indian, Chinese, Southeast Asian and West African societies and shell money in Pacific and North American societies, Yang synthsises and illustrates the economic and cultural connections, networks and interactions over a longue durée and in a cross-regional context. Analysing locally varied experiences of cowrie money from a global perspective, Yang argued that cowrie money was the first global money that shaped Afro-Eurasian societies both individually and collectively. He proposes a paradigm of the cowrie money world that engages local, regional, transregional and global themes.

Shape memory polymers (SMPs) are some of the most important and valuable engineering materials developed in the last 25 years. These fascinating materials demonstrate remarkably versatile properties—including capacity for actuation and stimulus responsiveness—that are enabling technologists to develop applications used to explore everything from the outer reaches of space to the inside of the human body. Polyurethane Shape Memory Polymers details the fundamentals of SMP makeup, as well as their shape-recovery features and their seemingly endless potential for use in applications ranging from the macro- to submicron scales. With an abundance of illustrations and vivid pictures to explain how SMPs and their composites work and how they can be used, this book covers: History and most recent developments in SMPs Thermomechanical properties and behavior of the polymers and their composites Modification of SMPs and novel actuation mechanisms Large-scale surface pattern generation Multi-shape memory effect Fabrication techniques Characterization of compositesA must-have reference for anyone working in the materials science and engineering fields, this book outlines the properties—such as light weight, low cost, and ability to handle high strain—that make the easily processed SMPs so useful in fields including aerospace, biomedicine, and textiles. It is intended to help readers understand and apply the knowledge and techniques presented to develop new innovations that will further benefit society.

Seeking renewable and clean energies is essential for releasing the heavy reliance on mineral-based energy and remedying the threat of global warming to our environment. In the last decade, explosive growth in research and development efforts devoted to microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) technology and nanowires-related nanotechnology have paved a great foundation for new mechanisms of harvesting mechanical energy at the micro/nano-meter scale. MEMS-based inertial sensors have been the enabler for numerous applications associated with smart phones, tablets, and mobile electronics. This is a valuable reference for all those faced with the challenging problems created by the ever-increasing interest in MEMS and nanotechnology-based energy harvesters and their applications. This book presents fundamental physics, theoretical design, and method of modeling for four mainstream energy harvesting mechanisms -- piezoelectric, electromagnetic, electrostatic, and triboelectric. Readers are provided with a comprehensive technical review and historical view of each mechanism.The authors also present current challenges in energy harvesting technology, technical reviews, design requirements, case studies, along with unique and representative examples of energy harvester applications. Market Researchers in energy harvesting techniques; Engineers working on device design; Academics and students.

Between Winds and Clouds tells the two-thousand-year history of Yunnan, an ethnic frontier bordered by Tibet, mainland Southeast Asia, and southwest China. Yunnan's prime geographic location turned the site into a center of cross-regional trade, and consequently, it became a desirable conquest for Eurasian rivals. Bin Yang details the fight for military control of Yunnan and its demographic, administrative, and economic transformation into a local entity. In conclusion, he discusses the impact of Yunnan's imperial legacy on modern state building, or, conversely, the way in which the modern state has contributed to the development of imperial discourse. Deploying a unique cross-regional approach, Yang brings the activities of Southeast and East Asia, Tibet, the Indian Ocean, and modern Europe to bear on the history of Yunnan, emphasizing both the local and the international forces that played a role in the region's long-term transformation.

Shape memory polymers (SMPs) are some of the most important and valuable engineering materials developed in the last 25 years. These fascinating materials demonstrate remarkably versatile properties—including capacity for actuation and stimulus responsiveness—that are enabling technologists to develop applications used to explore everything from the outer reaches of space to the inside of the human body. Polyurethane Shape Memory Polymers details the fundamentals of SMP makeup, as well as their shape-recovery features and their seemingly endless potential for use in applications ranging from the macro- to submicron scales. With an abundance of illustrations and vivid pictures to explain how SMPs and their composites work and how they can be used, this book covers: History and most recent developments in SMPs Thermomechanical properties and behavior of the polymers and their composites Modification of SMPs and novel actuation mechanisms Large-scale surface pattern generation Multi-shape memory effect Fabrication techniques Characterization of compositesA must-have reference for anyone working in the materials science and engineering fields, this book outlines the properties—such as light weight, low cost, and ability to handle high strain—that make the easily processed SMPs so useful in fields including aerospace, biomedicine, and textiles. It is intended to help readers understand and apply the knowledge and techniques presented to develop new innovations that will further benefit society.