Pattern Classification Using Ensemble Methods

Kung Fu has evolved from a traditional means of defence to become a system of attacking and defending oneself, with or without weapons, exercising the body and maintaining good physical and mental health. As such, these practices have found an international following. Yet what has remained a largely unexplored area is the scientific principles behind these martial arts. This book not only covers the brief history of Chinese martial arts, but also brings together the wisdom of a Kung Fu grand master with a scientist and teacher to explain the scientific reasons why Kung Fu is the powerful practice that it is. Using the principles of physics, biomechanics and biology, with a number of drawings showing some basic postures of Kung Fu, the authors present a deep understanding of how the styles, the specific movements and methods of attack and defence operate.

Evolution of language has evolved at multiple levels—from changes in the cognitive processes by which language is acquired in the individual, to language change by diffusion of acquired linguistic features across populations of individuals, to the emergence of linguistic features over phylogenetic time scales. Evolution of language at each of these levels interacts with that at each other level. This volume is a collection of essays by noted researchers from diverse fields that deals with a broad spectrum of issues in the study of language evolution. The principle topics addressed here include: the genetic and cognitive bases for the phylogenetic emergence of language; several distinct accounts of the underlying cognitive processes by which children learn to acquire language; a critique of the methods employed by historical linguists in the last century; the modeling of language evolution using mathematical and computational techniques; discussions on the complexity of language.

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.

Having analysed the most common English errors made in over 600 academic papers written by Chinese undergraduates, postgraduates, and researchers, Steve Hart has written an essential, practical guide specifically for the native Chinese speaker on how to write good academic English. English Exposed: Common Mistakes Made by Chinese Speakers is divided into three main sections. The first section examines errors made with verbs, nouns, prepositions, and other grammatical classes of words. The second section focuses on problems of word choice. In addition to helping the reader find the right word, it provides instruction for selecting the right style too. The third section covers a variety of other areas essential for the academic writer, such as using punctuation, adding appropriate references, referring to tables and figures, and selecting among various English date and time phrases. Using English Exposed will allow a writer to produce material where content and ideas—not language mist

The genre of poems that may be read both forward and backward, producing different creations was known as the “flight of wild geese.” These poems were often sent so that a distant lover, like the migrating birds, would return. Its greatest practitioner, and the focus of this critical anthology, is Su Hui, a woman who, in the 4th Century, embroidered a silk for her distant husband using a grid of 840 characters that created perhaps 12,000 ways to read this poem. With examples from the 3rd to the 19th centuries, Michele Metail describes reversible poems as “a singular adventure at the edge of meaning, of language, and of writing.”

Professor William S-Y. Wang is among the most influential contemporary linguists. For several decades, he has been leading the development of Chinese Linguistics to a higher level. Professor Wang established the famous theory of lexical diffusion, advocating an evolutionary perspective and interdisciplinary methods for research on language and linguistics. His writings have appeared in handbooks, textbooks, encyclopedias, numerous technical journals, and have been translated into several languages. On the occasion of his 80th birthday, numerous pupils and colleagues of Professor Wang come together for the compilation of the Festschrift to pay tribute to him. The Festschrift has over sixty contributions by scholars from Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, East Asia, North America and Europe, partitioned in Chinese and English volumes. Authors are active in areas of various linguistic frontiers, investigating language and linguistics from an interdisciplinary perspective. Most of the con

Based on true stories about TCM/ Oriental Medicine and spirituality. You will be astonished at how much TCM can achieve. ◎本書初衷原於作者對她孩子們講述針灸原理，最終以說故事方式呈現中醫療癒身心的臨床經驗，作者很清楚我們都擁有與生俱來的自癒能力。如何保持整體健康是個人的責任。 The book originated from the author’s intention to introduce the principle of acupuncture to her children. In describing the true stories of clinical experiences of healing the body and mind by practicing TCM, it becomes clear to the author that we all possess innate healing power within. How to retain holistic health is a personal responsibility. ◎生老病死，面對生命常態，我們不斷學會覺察、適應與轉變，縱有片刻黑暗苦難，生命依舊自然優雅。 You will learn to adapt and transform while observing the natural cycle of life - Birth, aging, sickness, and death so that you may live in elegance even through darkness and suffering. ◎書中不僅包含中醫傳統的針灸、刮痧、拔罐等臨床療癒故事外，進而闡述宇宙氣候醫學、能量醫學與靈性療癒等多樣化的自我療癒真實故事。 This book also contains true stories about clinical cases of TCM healing methods such as acupuncture, moxibustion, scraping, cupping, and many of sel

Books about cities can open pathways to discover new places, and familiar places anew. Hong Kong is a much visited place. Over 50 million people stream through its hotels, restaurants and shopping malls each year. That is a lot of first impressions! This book, written by fourteen reflective scholars about living and learning from Hong Kong, builds on the growing interest of using “place” as text while providing a model of deepening cross-cultural encounters. Each chapter is written in a personal and experiential style, exploring Hong Kong through the lenses of a range of disciplines that shaped individual author's perceptions and encounters. The city is like a text one reads and deciphers, linking one’s sense of other cities with one’s present experiences of this city in this moment of time. In reading the city, readers discover not only what is “out there” in the ever moving surround of Hong Kong’s urban life, but also what is inside oneself as newcomer and as from another city and