Fan Zhang

This report aims to introduce a novel way of positioning water as an engine for growth and equity by highlighting the deep associations between water and inclusive growth.

This book sheds light on the structure of “a unity with diversity” developed in the Qing imperial formation (1636–1912) by a case study of the Qing-Tibetan encounters in the eighteenth century.By analyzing historical and ethnographical materials, the book investigates the translation of Chinese histories and stone inscriptions into Tibetan, the transformation of the landscapes at Mount Wutai and Lhasa, and the transplantation of Chinese deities and medical practices to Tibet. It demonstrates the processes in which the cosmopolitan interlocutors reified imperial integrity while expressing their diverse longings and belongings. It concludes that the Qing’s rule over its cultural others was neither simply Sinicizing nor colonizing, but a translational process in which multivocalic actors shared narratives, landscapes, and practices, while the emperor and tantric masters performed cosmic power over humans and metahumans.This book cuts across the fields of anthropology, history, Chinese Studies, and Tibetan Studies. It reflects on the concepts of sovereignty and ethnicity, and it also extends the methodological horizon of historical anthropology.

Web3 is a new frontier of internet architecture emphasizing decentralization and user control. This text for MBA students and industry professionals explores key Web3 concepts, starting from foundational principles and moving to advanced topics like blockchain, smart contracts, tokenomics, and DeFi. The book takes a clear, practical approach to demystify the tech behind NFTs and DAOs as well as the complex regulatory landscape. It confronts challenges of blockchain scalability, a barrier to mainstream adoption of this transformative technology, and examines smart contracts and the growing ecosystem leveraging their potential. The book also explains the nuances of tokenomics, a vital element underpinning Web3's new economic model. This book is ideal for readers seeking to stay on top of emerging trends in the digital economy.

Based on the author's extensive research experience in collagen textiles and tissue engineering, this book presents a comprehensive introduction and guidelines for engineering artificial tissue using collagen-based fibrous material as a therapeutic candidate for regenerative medicine. The book covers different aspects of fibrous collagen material, including its chemistry, sourcing, fabrication, and applications in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. Collagen-Based Biotextiles for Tissue Engineering provides a state-of-the-art overview of fibrous collagen-based materials and their application in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine for academic researchers, material scientists, and bioengineers.

Attitude Takeover Control of Failed Spacecraft is both necessary and urgently required. This book provides an overview of the topic and the role of space robots in handling various types of failed spacecraft. The book divides the means of attitude takeover control into three types, including space manipulator capture, tethered space robot capture, and cellular space robot capture. Spacecraft attitude control is the process of controlling the orientation of a spacecraft (vehicle or satellite) with respect to an inertial frame of reference or another entity such as the celestial sphere, certain fields, and nearby objects, etc. It has become increasingly important: with the increasing number of human space launch activities, the number of failed spacecraft has increased dramatically in recent years.

This book sheds light on the structure of “a unity with diversity” developed in the Qing imperial formation (1636–1912) by a case study of the Qing-Tibetan encounters in the eighteenth century.By analyzing historical and ethnographical materials, the book investigates the translation of Chinese histories and stone inscriptions into Tibetan, the transformation of the landscapes at Mount Wutai and Lhasa, and the transplantation of Chinese deities and medical practices to Tibet. It demonstrates the processes in which the cosmopolitan interlocutors reified imperial integrity while expressing their diverse longings and belongings. It concludes that the Qing’s rule over its cultural others was neither simply Sinicizing nor colonizing, but a translational process in which multivocalic actors shared narratives, landscapes, and practices, while the emperor and tantric masters performed cosmic power over humans and metahumans.This book cuts across the fields of anthropology, history, Chinese Studies, and Tibetan Studies. It reflects on the concepts of sovereignty and ethnicity, and it also extends the methodological horizon of historical anthropology.

This textbook characterizes the economics of telecommunication services from an engineering perspective. The authors bring out the fundamental drivers of the industry and characterize networks from a graph theoretic perspective, including random, small world, and scale free networks. The authors relate the topology of a telecommunication network using circuit and packet switched architectures to throughput and other performance parameters. The pricing model proposed in this book is based on the cost of displaced opportunity as opposed to the cost of the elements of the network engaged in delivering a service. The displaced opportunity is characterized by the revenue associated with the service that the network could have alternatively delivered most efficiently using an identical level of resources. The book addresses other topics such as regulation in legacy networks, and net neutrality. Finally, the book introduces the application of game theory in a multi-vendor, multi-services competitive marketplace. The book aims to bridge the gap between the science of economics as practiced by economists and practice of pricing from a telecommunication engineer’s perspective. This book is suitable for use by senior undergraduate or graduate students of telecommunication engineering or researchers and practitioners in telecommunication engineering.

This book explores the practices in a Zen Buddhist temple located in Northwest Ohio against the backdrop of globalization. Drawing on the previous studies on Buddhist modernization and westernization, it provides a better understanding of the westernization of Buddhism and its adapted practices and rituals in the host culture. Using rhetorical criticism methodology, the author approaches this temple as an embodiment of Buddhist rhetoric with both discursive and non-discursive expressions within the discourses of modernity. By analyzing the rhetorical practices at the temple through abbots’ teaching videos, the temple website, members’ dharma names, and the materiality of the temple space and artifacts, the author discovers how Buddhist rhetoric functions to constitute and negotiate the religious identities of the community members through its various rituals and activities. At the same time, the author examines how the temple’s space and settings facilitate the collective the formationand preservation of the Buddhist identity. Through a nuanced discussion of Buddhist rhetoric, this book illuminates a new rhetorical methodology to understand religious identity construction. Furthermore, it offers deeper insights into the future development of modern Buddhism, which are also applicable to Buddhist practitioners and other major world religions.

This book explores the practices in a Zen Buddhist temple located in Northwest Ohio against the backdrop of globalization. Drawing on the previous studies on Buddhist modernization and westernization, it provides a better understanding of the westernization of Buddhism and its adapted practices and rituals in the host culture. Using rhetorical criticism methodology, the author approaches this temple as an embodiment of Buddhist rhetoric with both discursive and non-discursive expressions within the discourses of modernity. By analyzing the rhetorical practices at the temple through abbots’ teaching videos, the temple website, members’ dharma names, and the materiality of the temple space and artifacts, the author discovers how Buddhist rhetoric functions to constitute and negotiate the religious identities of the community members through its various rituals and activities. At the same time, the author examines how the temple’s space and settings facilitate the collective the formationand preservation of the Buddhist identity. Through a nuanced discussion of Buddhist rhetoric, this book illuminates a new rhetorical methodology to understand religious identity construction. Furthermore, it offers deeper insights into the future development of modern Buddhism, which are also applicable to Buddhist practitioners and other major world religions.

Electricity shortages are among the biggest barriers to South Asia's development. Did you know that 30 percent of households in South Asia are not connected to the power grid? Even households and firms that are connected often experience long hours of blackouts. How much do power sector distortions cost South Asian economies? Previous research considers a narrow definition of the power sector which includes generation, transmission, and distribution, but often does not account for the upstream distortions in coal and gas production, downstream distortions from the lack of electricity access, or the pollution generated by fossil-fuel plants. They also address only the fiscal costs of distortions though many distortions do not have a direct fiscal cost. This study offers a comprehensive assessment of the economic cost of energy sector distortions in Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan. It uses microeconomic data from utilities, households, and firms to estimate key parameters for each country. It then uses these parameters to generate precise estimates of the cost of regulatory, institutional, and social and environmental distortions. The study finds that some of the most costly distortions are upstream and downstream. Urgent power sector reforms should be a top priority because they can rapidly and effectively promote economic growth. Smart reforms would reduce the need for massive investments in generation because existing capacity is currently poorly utilized. The report finds that price distortions are often not the most important source of economic cost. Institutional reforms would have a greater and more sustainable effect than energy pricing liberalization alone. Removing price distortions and addressing environmental costs could, however, lead to a sharp increase in electricity prices. Therefore, improving efficiency and providing targeted social assistance to poor and vulnerable households should be prioritized. In the absence of privatization, incentive regulation is likely to be more effective than corporatization to improve efficiency.

China's recent evolution is not only a story of extraordinary economic growth but also a story of great institutional change. Fan Zhang challenges traditional theory to explain the real origins of China's reform, the political and economic forces driving it, and the reasoning behind its stagnation. The institutional re-arrangement of government and market has been crucial in this marketization process.Using a wealth of documents and cases, Zhang provides a detailed analysis of China's institutional changes over the past 40 years, focusing on the government-market relationship. A theoretical framework is presented to explain the targets and incentives of government and business firms in a bureaucratic-market system, which promoted economic growth, but also fostered corruption and resulted in a re-centralisation of the system. Using an index of marketization in China since 1978, Zhang shows that overall, market expansion has continued but with diminishing marginal gains. The government control of financial resources that had previously been relaxed in the early years of reform has been enhanced to some extent as a result of the changing institutional environment. Policy makers dealing with China-related policies, researchers and postgraduate students in political science, economics and Chinese studies will find this book a compelling exploration of the current and constant cooperation and conflict between government and market.

This book introduces the latest advances made in both fundamental studies and potential applications of upconversion nanomaterials, particularly in the field of high-resolution in vitro bioanalysis and in vivo imaging. This book starts with the synthesis and characterization, and focuses on applications ranging from materials science to biology. Above all, it describes cutting-edge advances in upconversion nanophosphor (UCNP)-based applications in multiplexed encoding, guest delivery and release systems, photodynamic therapy (PDT), solar cells, photocatalysis and so on. The major barriers that currently prevent UCNPs from being used in mainstream applications are also presented in detail.

The study analyzes the social, sectoral, and fiscal impacts of the proposed district heating tariff reform in Belarus, and identifies and recommends measures to mitigate adverse impacts of district heating tariff increases on the households.

This book introduces the latest advances made in both fundamental studies and potential applications of upconversion nanomaterials, particularly in the field of high-resolution in vitro bioanalysis and in vivo imaging. This book starts with the synthesis and characterization, and focuses on applications ranging from materials science to biology. Above all, it describes cutting-edge advances in upconversion nanophosphor (UCNP)-based applications in multiplexed encoding, guest delivery and release systems, photodynamic therapy (PDT), solar cells, photocatalysis and so on. The major barriers that currently prevent UCNPs from being used in mainstream applications are also presented in detail.

This book will describe ultra low-power, integrated circuits and systems designed for the emerging field of neural signal recording and processing, and wireless communication. Since neural interfaces are typically implanted, their operation is highly energy-constrained. This book introduces concepts and theory that allow circuit operation approaching the fundamental limits. Design examples and measurements of real systems are provided. The book will describe circuit designs for all of the critical components of a neural recording system, including: Amplifiers which utilize new techniques to improve the trade-off between good noise performance and low power consumption. Analog and mixed-signal circuits which implement signal processing tasks specific to the neural recording application: Detection of neural spikes Extraction of features that describe the spikes Clustering, a machine learning technique for sorting spikes Weak-inversion operation of analog-domain transistors, allowing processing circuits that reduce the requirements for analog-digital conversion and allow low system-level power consumption. Highly-integrated, sub-mW wireless transmitter designed for the Medical Implant Communications Service (MICS) and ISM bands.

This innovative book places China's urbanization within a broader global context, including a detailed estimate of China's total domestic market and its impact on the world economy.Urbanization has become a new driving force in China's development. Through China's urbanization process, China's role in the world economy will change from the world's major workshop to one of the world s central markets. The increase in demand triggered by urbanization has created a tremendous impact in the international market, changing China's international trade patterns, foreign investment and exchange rate. The success of China's urbanization depends on a group of intertwined economic and political reforms, the vision and determinedness of the leadership, cooperation and opposition of the local government, and the attitude of society. This book focuses on the logic and contradictions of China's urbanization and its future, its impact on the world economy, and the policy tradeoffs the Chinese leadership face.Economists, policymakers, academics and students interested in urban policy, international studies, Asian studies and the impact of China's urbanization on the world economy will all have much to learn in this groundbreaking book.

Pollution from fossil fuels and degraded natural lands are raising the earth’s temperature. The evidence of the causes of global warming is clear, as are its consequences. The economic impacts of climate change are already apparent and they threaten development gains. Extreme weather events have brought severe droughts to Central Asia, heat waves and forest fires to Russia, and floods to Southeastern Europe. Unchecked emissions will come at rising economic cost and increasing risk to individuals. There is a clear case for all of the world's economies to move to a low-carbon growth path. Yet, climate action has been inadequate, especially in Eastern Europe and Central Asia (ECA). With prospects of a global climate agreement uncertain, Growing Green: The Economic Benefits of Climate Action identifies the actions that governments in the region can take to reduce the carbon footprints of their economies. It shows that many of these actions will more than pay for themselves - and quite quickly when indirect benefits such as better health and increased competitiveness are considered. To realise these benefits, policy makers in ECA need to quickly move on three sets of priorities: use energy much more efficiently, gradually move to cleaner energy sources, and increase carbon capture in soils and forests. This will require transformations in power generation, industrial production, mobility, city living, and in farming and forestry. Policy makers are justifiably worried that climate action may jeopardise economic performance and strain the budgets of poorer families. The report shows how well-designed growth and social policies can make climate action growth-enhancing while protecting the living standards of less-well-off households. The ECA Region has been a bystander on climate action, and sluggish in realising the benefits of the economic and technological innovations available to combat climate change. This book aims to help ECA become a leader in confronting this challenge. In doing so, it shows how countries in the region can make climate action-along with economic growth and social inclusion - the third pillar of their development strategies.

This book will describe ultra low-power, integrated circuits and systems designed for the emerging field of neural signal recording and processing, and wireless communication. Since neural interfaces are typically implanted, their operation is highly energy-constrained. This book introduces concepts and theory that allow circuit operation approaching the fundamental limits. Design examples and measurements of real systems are provided. The book will describe circuit designs for all of the critical components of a neural recording system, including: Amplifiers which utilize new techniques to improve the trade-off between good noise performance and low power consumption. Analog and mixed-signal circuits which implement signal processing tasks specific to the neural recording application: Detection of neural spikes Extraction of features that describe the spikes Clustering, a machine learning technique for sorting spikes Weak-inversion operation of analog-domain transistors, allowing processing circuits that reduce the requirements for analog-digital conversion and allow low system-level power consumption. Highly-integrated, sub-mW wireless transmitter designed for the Medical Implant Communications Service (MICS) and ISM bands.