Pattern Classification Using Ensemble Methods

For myself, however, it is the human element, the recollected words, the remembered faces, which give life to the printed record.” James Hayes’s many writings have made a major contribution to knowledge about life in rural Hong Kong. This book presents sixteen of his illuminating and original articles, each of which is rooted in his experiences as a district officer, administering and visiting villages under his care. His interest in the life and lives of the people went far beyond the formal demands of his official work, and Dr Hayes grew to admire and respect the villagers. As a result, his writings are suffused with his affection and esteem. Intended for scholars in the field of New Territories history as well as general readers interested in rural life in the region, A Pattern of Life provides a fascinating, academically important, yet highly readable picture of traditional life in rural South China and reinforces Dr Hayes’s reputation as one of the most important writers on the N

Eros of International Relations: Self-Feminizing and the Claiming of Postcolonial Chineseness is a distinctive work that explores the much-neglected Chinese perspective in broader international relations theory. Using the concept of “self-feminizing”—adoption of a feminine identity to oblige and achieve mutual caring as a relational strategy—this book argues that postcolonial actors have employed gendered identities in order to survive the squeezing pressure of globalization and nationalism in their own ways. Sovereign actors who have historically claimed to act on behalf of Chineseness have taken advantage of the images of femininity thrust upon them by transnational capitalism, the media, or intellectual thought. Shih illustrates the feminist potential for emancipation through a range of empirical examples, showing that women of various Chinese characteristics, acting on behalf of their nation, city, and corporations, reject the masculinization of their groups of belonging as remedy

An individual’s health depends on their personal lifestyle and living conditions, which are influenced by a host of complex physical, social, and economic determinants. The same is true of organisational and community health. This book explains the Healthy Settings Approach as a means to define population and health standards as well as a framework to promote and evaluate health in daily living activities. The determinants affecting public health go beyond the availability and quality of healthcare, and a concerted effort from all sectors of the community is required to bring about sustained improvements. Using the Healthy Settings Approach to facilitate the “right to health”, this book argues that promoting health in multiple and varied settings concurrently will ensure healthy living throughout the community and, ultimately, the world. The author uses real life experiences from different countries, with a focus on Hong Kong, and discusses many initiatives that have been enacted (alth

本書集結六篇論文（第一、三、四、六篇德文，第二篇西班牙文，第五篇義大利文），本書為因應時代變遷下的教育環境及學生職涯挑戰，在教學方法上所提出新的論述及建構。 This book contains essays by various teachers from different universities and departments with the aim of presenting modern teaching methods for the changed learning and study conditions on the basis of theoretical preliminary considerations. Language teachers at Taiwanese universities often encounter similar difficulties in designing lessons: students’ increasing frustration and lack of motivation. Many students experience a high level of frustration and demotivation; they cannot find future prospects in language studies. Confronted with reality of time-consuming internships, part-time jobs and life, many students become painfully aware that a linguistic degree won’t prepare them for later work or provides career opportunities. In addition, they realize their low language skills and life experiences. Aware of that problem, the language departments have to find new teaching methods and create curricula which

桑梓蘭 國立台灣大學外文系學士，美國加州大學柏克萊分校比較文學博士。曾任教於奧勒岡大學和史丹佛大學，現任密西根州立大學語言系教授。研究專長為現代中文文學，華語電影，性別研究，台灣研究。主要學術專著有 The Emerging Lesbian: Female Same-Sex Desire in Modern China (芝加哥大學出版社，2003；中文版《浮現中的女同性戀：現代中國的女同性愛欲》，台大出版中心，2014)，Documenting Taiwan on Film: Issues and Methods in New Documentaries (Routledge, 2012) 等。研究之餘，亦從事翻譯和創作。

Developmental social work emphasizes interdisciplinary collaborations and believes it can accurately respond to the issues and the needs of our society. Therefore, more and more non-profit organizations are involved in this field. In Taiwan, the recent social issues, such as the poverty of young adults and the Long-term Care, all indicate a need for fresh thoughts and working methods. Responding to this need, “social innovation” has been seen as a way of developmental social work practice. Since 2015, Eden Social Welfare Foundation has collaborated with the Department of Social Work of National Taiwan University to hold three international conferences regarding developmental social work. We published two conference proceedings Developmental Social Work: Theory and Practice and Developmental Social Work: Advancing Policy and Practice. This book focuses on the theme of “social innovation” and contains various innovative ongoing cases of developmental social work. It also compiles lectu

◎線條＋符號＋顏色，多種抽象概念的新詮釋。 Line + symbols + colors, new interpretations of multiple abstract concepts. ◎跳過望文生義可能產生的歧解，以最簡單的形式進行最直觀的哲學演繹。 Avoid ambiguity that literal interpretations may lead to, directly interpret philosophies with the simplest methods. 你可曾想過用簡單的筆劃與顏色勾勒物質世界的抽象概念？ 打破現實形式的框架，以冥想、意象、解構，重新簡約而寧靜的感受世界！ 作者以簡單的線條、圖象、文字與顏色演繹二維、三維、四維的種種抽象概念， 藉著解構每幅創作的線條勾勒與組合，可以感受作者解讀物質世界的獨特角度， 是一部意識流動強烈的藝術、哲學創作集。

Leung Ping Kwan brought as much talent and inspiration to the writing of his short stories as he did to his poems. ‘I have drawn on magical realism to explore the absurdity of Hong Kong,’ he wrote of the story ‘See Mun and the Dragon’ (1975) in which we find him using a simple, clipped style. The later story ‘Drowned Souls’ (2007) was written in a more symbolic, lyrical and more complex manner. Although the two stories are separated by over thirty years, and are in many ways so very different, dragons play a prominent part in both. The dragon has always been a fascinating creature, a complex embodiment of the timeless soul of China, symbol of the universal power of the imagination, of the creative energy and transformative possibilities of the Tao. Both of these enchanting stories are anchored in the author’s idea of freedom and liberation.

Advances in Quantitative Analysis of Finance and Accounting (New Series) is an annual publication designed to disseminate developments in the quantitative analysis of finance and accounting. The publication is a forum for statistical and quantitative analyses of issues in finance and accounting as well as applications of quantitative methods to problems in financial management, financial accounting, and business management. The objective is to promote interaction between academic research in finance and accounting and applied research in the financial community and the accounting profession.

榮獲美國出版人協會（Association of American Publishers）電腦資訊科學最佳書籍獎 電腦網路技術無所不在：每天，我們從海量的資訊中搜尋到所要的資訊、我們上傳照片到臉書上、我們運用公鑰加密來傳送私人資訊例如信用卡號碼等等、我們使用數位簽章來確認所造訪的網站的真偽…… 這本書介紹了讓電腦網路世界得以運作，塑造今日人類生活的九種最重要的演算法（algorithm）。作者挑選這九大演算法的標準是： 1.每天會被一般電腦使用者用到的演算法。 2.必須能解決現實世界的具體問題。 3.主要是與資訊科學理論有關的演算法。 4. 美、簡潔、優雅。 本書所介紹的九大演算法是：搜尋引擎的索引（search engine indexing）、網頁排序（page rank）、公鑰加密（public-key cryptography）、錯誤更正碼（error-correcting codes）、模式辨識（pattern recognition，如手寫辨識、聲音辨識、人臉辨識等等）、資料壓縮（data compression）、資料庫（databases）、數位簽章（digital signature），以及一種如果存在的話將會很了不起的偉大演算法，並探討電腦能力的極限。 作者將我們日常生活會用到的電腦功能背後的道理，以淺顯易懂的方式介紹，不具備資訊科學的背景也可以了解。而且令人驚喜的是，每一種演算法，都是一個解決問題的創意與線索，也讓我們得以一窺近代數學家、資訊科學家的努力探索成果。面對越來越科技化的現代生活與職場挑戰，這些基本原理和概念值得我們去了解、吸收，為未來世界做好準備。 媒體好評： 「這是一本很容易讀的書，介紹了一些很重要的演算法。最重要的是，這本書傳達了一種神奇——不光是指科技的成就，而是使得電腦發揮神奇功能的美麗科學。」 Andreas Trabesinger，《自然物理學》(Nature Physics) 「這本書寫得非常好……風格相當平易近人，適合廣大讀者閱讀。」 John Gilbey，《泰晤士報高等教育專刊》(Times Higher Education) 「作者讓讀者有一種發動機的感覺，這台發動機為網路世界提供動力……本書讓讀者體會真實世界，開始看到這些演算法在你我周遭活跳跳。」 Kevin Slavin，《新科學家

What does it mean to be queer in a Confucian society in which kinship roles, ties, and ideologies are of such great importance? This book makes sense of queer cultures in China—a country with one of the largest queer populations in the world—and offers an alternative to Euro-American blueprints of queer individual identity. This book contends that kinship relations must be understood as central to any expression of queer selfhood and culture in contemporary cultural production in China. Using a critical approach—“queering Chinese kinship”—Lin Song scrutinizes the relationship between queerness and family relations, and questions Eurocentric queer culture’s frequent assumption of the separation of queerness from blood family. Offering five case studies of queer representations across a range of media genres, this book also challenges the tendency in current scholarship on Chinese and East Asian queerness to understand queer cultures as predominantly counter-mainstream, marginal, and un

St. Stephen’s Girls’ College is one of the many schools run under the auspices of the Anglican Church in Hong Kong. Starting as a tiny missionary school for upper-class Chinese girls and their younger brothers, it has evolved into a large establishment, comprising kindergarten, primary and secondary sections, playing its full part in the public sector of education and now serving a complete socio-economic cross-section of the community. As one of the earliest schools for girls in the territory, St. Stephen’s played a significant role in the opening up of educational opportunities for Chinese girls. This book records the history and development of the school and is written for its 90th Anniversary, using much original source material. The author, who was head of the school for over thirty years, has set this history within the educational, social and political context of the times. This book will be of obvious interest to those who have a connection with the school: council members, t

Appropriate for use by students at varying levels of competence, Burmese: A Cultural Approach provides a thorough and systematic introduction to the Burmese writing system in Part One and a series of true-to-life conversations in Part Two. Students with some prior knowledge of the spoken language but little familiarity with the Burmese script can use Part One to solidify their grasp of the Burmese sound system as well as its orthography. Intrepid beginners could also start their study of the language by making use of Part One. Doing so would mean making a slower start at formulating phrases as compared to using a romanization system but learners would gain a firmer foundation for the later—and eventually, faster—development of their speaking and reading skills. The conversations in Part Two are extensively annotated in order to illustrate grammatical patterns, characteristic turns of phrase, and typical habits of social interaction. True to an anthropological approach to language le

“Without a clear idea of the history of the New Territories, the history of Hong Kong as a whole would be impossible to bring to any sort of satisfactory completion. ... Elucidating the development of a village, a clan, a temple, or a market-town is also, in and of itself, real and valuable history, and abundantly justifies the time and effort spent on it.” This book is a history of village communities in the New Territories of Hong Kong, including those in the areas of Ha Tsuen, Hung Shui Kiu, and Sha Tin as well as those on the islands of Lamma, Ma Wan, and Tung Ping Chau. Elaborating on primary interviews with village elders, government documents, and public information, this book places the individual histories of each area into the context of Hong Kong’s rich past. The introduction sets up the rest of the book, outlining common themes and highlighting the dangers of using the communal memories of village communities while, at the same time, showing the valuable information doing

Proportionality is a German, and thus continental European, concept in public law that is applied by both the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) and the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). The principle specifies that measures adopted by executive authorities should not exceed the limits of what is appropriate and necessary in order to achieve legitimate objectives in the interest of the public. Using a functional comparative approach, this book evaluates the extent to which proportionality has been integrated into the English and Hong Kong judicial systems by comparing case law in these courts with that of the CJEU and the ECtHR. The text also reviews the development of proportionality and presents a topical understanding of why its adoption and application have encountered difficulties, particularly regarding socio-economic rights, in some jurisdictions, such as the United Kingdom and Hong Kong. Written by a scholar with experience from both within the Hong Kong judici