Yi Zhou

Huiming Zhang

Lina Reiss

Hearing is dependent on neural processing of acoustic cues obtained by the left and right ears. Neural signals driven by the two ears are integrated at multiple levels of the central auditory system, which enables animals including humans to perform various functions including localization of a sound source. A natural listening environment typically contains sounds from multiple sources. These sounds can have different spectral and temporal features and occur at either the same or different time. Integration can happen among neural signals elicited by the same or different sounds. The way of integration can greatly affect how individual sounds are sensed and perceived. Functions such as auditory grouping and stream segregation, which are central to establishing coherent auditory images in a complex listening environment, are highly dependent on the way of integration. Binaural hearing is complicated by individual differences and developmental changes in head and pinna shape/size as binaural cues can be affected by these differences and changes. Furthermore, neural processing of binaural cues can be influenced by hearing impairments and the use of hearing aids and cochlear implants. These factors likely require a listener to optimize the use of binaural cues through learning and to use plastic changes in the nervous system to perform the optimization. Great strides have been made in understanding binaural processing in normal and impaired auditory systems. This Research Topic aims to highlight some of the latest findings in the following areas: 1) Animal behavioral and human psychoacoustical studies of binaural hearing; 2) Neural encoding and processing of binaural cues and structural as well as neurophysiological bases of such encoding and processing; 3) Contribution of binaural neural processing to auditory functions such as sound-source localization, binaural fusion, binaural interference, spatial release from masking, auditory grouping, and auditory stream segregation; 4) Computational models of binaural processing; 5) Learning and plastic changes in binaural processing following hearing loss or alterations of acoustic environment and structural as well as physiological bases of these behavioral changes; 6) Clinical aspects of binaural processing including application of processing strategies, including research on the benefits of bilateral cochlear implantation, and the neural correlates thereof

Listening with Two Ears – New Insights and Perspectives in Binaural Research

Er Meng Joo

Even since computers were invented, many researchers have been trying to understand how human beings learn and many interesting paradigms and approaches towards emulating human learning abilities have been proposed. The ability of learning is one of the central features of human intelligence, which makes it an important ingredient in both traditional Artificial Intelligence (AI) and emerging Cognitive Science. Machine Learning (ML) draws upon ideas from a diverse set of disciplines, including AI, Probability and Statistics, Computational Complexity, Information Theory, Psychology and Neurobiology, Control Theory and Philosophy. ML involves broad topics including Fuzzy Logic, Neural Networks (NNs), Evolutionary Algorithms (EAs), Probability and Statistics, Decision Trees, etc. Real-world applications of ML are widespread such as Pattern Recognition, Data Mining, Gaming, Bio-science, Telecommunications, Control and Robotics applications. This books reports the latest developments and futuristic trends in ML.

Theory and Novel Applications of Machine Learning

Thierry Montmerle

Seen from “inside the IAU,” this book tells the in-depth story of a major crisis in which China “divorced” from the International Astronomical Union in 1960 as a protest against the admission of Taiwan. This happened to all the scientific unions at the same time, and to the Olympic Games, which, unexpectedly, would serve as a laboratory for the “reconciliation” which took place following the re-opening of China to the world 20 years later. The so-called “China conflict” is the most important crisis in the post-WWII history of the IAU. Yet, many details about this conflict and its links to broader geopolitical events have long remained unsettled, obscure, or altogether absent. In particular, the book describes for the first time the “separation” period, which covered the Cultural Revolution, and in which the IAU made desperate official efforts to reach out to China, while some groups of Western and Chinese astronomers managed to keep contact at times. On the occasion of the IAU Centenary celebrations in 2019, the book revisits this painful succession of events using unpublished documents from the IAU Archives and the International Council of Scientific Unions. The book also contains supplementary typescripts of selected handwritten correspondences and the full translation of key original Chinese documents unknown to readers outside China. What emerges is a complex and fascinating story of human relations and science diplomacy under the shadow of the Cold War. Readers will learn how the 20-year “China conflict” as lived by astronomers and scientists is important not only for the history of the IAU, but also for the history of contemporary China. “This book is full of so many original documents of the IAU office, very reliable and good to open to the public readers.” Shuhua Ye, Shanghai Observatory (IAU Vice-President, 1988-1994) This book is a companion book to "Astronomers as Diplomats," published at the same time in the same series.

Divorce, Separation and Reconciliation (1958–1982)

China and the International Astronomical Union

Yves Gomas

This book presents the exceptional biography of the 20th century Chinese astronomer Cheng Maolan, who came to France in 1926 on a China-France cooperation program to do his PhD with the idea of returning to China after a few years. Instead, he lived two lives. He first stayed in France and studied astronomy in Lyon, the “Silk city”, where he suffered the hardships of the German occupation, but also witnessed the construction of the Haute-Provence Observatory. After the war, he started a promising career at Lyon Observatory. However, in 1957 he decided to live a second life, by returning to the motherland, which had in the meantime become the People's Republic of China. There, he suffered the hardships of the Cultural Revolution, but he managed to play a pivotal role in establishing the Beijing Observatory as its director. In particular, he prepared the ground for the Xinglong 2-m telescope, which saw its first light in 1989, ten years after his death. Cheng Maolan is now considered a "Chinese hero": an "Astronomy and Technology Museum" was built and named after him in 2018, in his native city of Boye, Hebei Province, China, featuring a tall, white statue in front of the building.

From the "French Silk Road to Astronomy" to the Meanders of Mao’s China

The Two Lives of Cheng Maolan

Haidan Wang

Chinese for Working Professionals is for learners who intend to use Chinese in a multinational global workplace. It has eight thematic units focusing on developing learners' transferrable skills in addition to expanding the cross-cultural competences required in a real-world work-place. Key features: Topical themes expose the ongoing changes in China for working professionals such as career preparation, economic development, business etiquette, the working environment, and overall lifestyle. Authentic reading materials and live videos on a companion website (www.routledge.com/cw/zhou) to incorporate understandings of the norm and expectations of the workplace and society at large, and also prepare learners for a quick transition from classroom to targeted scenarios. Abundant simulated real-life collaborative tasks, case studies, and projects enhance learners' problem-solving skills in Chinese, in addition to work strategies in different scenarios such as communication for work and leisure, and teamwork projects necessary and crucial for professions in multilingual and cross-cultural global settings. This textbook is a key resource for learners of Chinese at an ACTFL Intermediate-High proficiency level and above, or CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference for Language) B1.2 to B2.1 level in terms of language control, extensive and applicable vocabulary and expressions, communication strategies, as well as cultural awareness.

A Textbook for Intermediate-high to Advanced Learners

Chinese for Working Professionals

Chinese for Working Professionals is for learners who intend to use Chinese in a multinational global workplace. It has eight thematic units focusing on developing learners’ transferrable skills in addition to expanding the cross-cultural competences required in a real-world work-place. Key features: Topical themes expose the ongoing changes in China for working professionals such as career preparation, economic development, business etiquette, the working environment, and overall lifestyle. Authentic reading materials and live videos on a companion website to incorporate understandings of the norm and expectations of the workplace and society at large, and also prepare learners for a quick transition from classroom to targeted scenarios. Abundant simulated real-life collaborative tasks, case studies, and projects enhance learners’ problem-solving skills in Chinese, in addition to work strategies in different scenarios such as communication for work and leisure, and teamwork projects necessary and crucial for professions in multilingual and cross-cultural global settings. This textbook is a key resource for learners of Chinese at an ACTFL Intermediate-High proficiency level and above, or CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference for Language) B1.2 to B2.1 level in terms of language control, extensive and applicable vocabulary and expressions, communication strategies, as well as cultural awareness.

A Textbook for Intermediate-High to Advanced Learners

Tatsien Li

This book focuses on nonlinear wave equations, which are of considerable significance from both physical and theoretical perspectives. It also presents complete results on the lower bound estimates of lifespan (including the global existence), which are established for classical solutions to the Cauchy problem of nonlinear wave equations with small initial data in all possible space dimensions and with all possible integer powers of nonlinear terms. Further, the book proposes the global iteration method, which offers a unified and straightforward approach for treating these kinds of problems. Purely based on the properties of solut ions to the corresponding linear problems, the method simply applies the contraction mapping principle.

Yi Zhou

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