This book describes active illumination techniques in computer vision. We can classify computer vision techniques into two classes: passive and active techniques. Passive techniques observe the scene statically and analyse it as is. Active techniques give the scene some actions and try to facilitate the analysis. In particular, active illumination techniques project specific light, for which the characteristics are known beforehand, to a target scene to enable stable and accurate analysis of the scene. Traditional passive techniques have a fundamental limitation. The external world surrounding us is three-dimensional; the image projected on a retina or an imaging device is two-dimensional. That is, reduction of one dimension has occurred. Active illumination techniques compensate for the dimensional reduction by actively controlling the illumination. The demand for reliable vision sensors is rapidly increasing in many application areas, such as robotics and medical image analysis. This book explains this new endeavour to explore the augmentation of reduced dimensions in computer vision. This book consists of three parts: basic concepts, techniques, and applications. The first part explains the basic concepts for understanding active illumination techniques. In particular, the basic concepts of optics are explained so that researchers and engineers outside the field can understand the later chapters. The second part explains currently available active illumination techniques, covering many techniques developed by the authors. The final part shows how such active illumination techniques can be applied to various domains, describing the issue to be overcome by active illumination techniques and the advantages of using these techniques. This book is primarily aimed at 4th year undergraduate and 1st year graduate students, and will also help engineers from fields beyond computer vision to use active illumination techniques. Additionally, the book is suitable as course material for technical seminars.

As women continue to bear children, all parents should ask the following question: How can a woman fulfill her unique responsibility as mother to her child when prevailing parenting practices deny the importance of breastfeeding and maternal care?

Maternal care is now thought to be impractical and a luxury for those who can afford it. Thus, many women need to defend their right and responsibility to care for even the youngest of babies.

Dr. Kawasaki, a pediatrician and stay-at-home mother of two, asserts in "Mothering with Breastfeeding and Maternal Care" that current attitudes toward mothering have not evolved naturally. Over the course of a century, child-rearing experts, sociologists, and feminists have made systematic efforts to undermine the importance of a woman's role in the home.

Dr. Kawasaki offers compelling reasons for parents to think seriously about the unique role women play in their children's lives, particularly in early childhood. She argues that the priceless benefits of breastfeeding and hands-on maternal care help to ensure the optimal growth and development of young babies and children.

This collection covers a variety of materials science topics and has contributions from leading scientists and engineers representing 8 countries and 9 international materials, metals, and minerals societies. Papers are organized into the following sections:Advanced BiomaterialsAdvanced ManufacturingMaterials for Green Energy Materials for Infrastructure Materials for the Oil and Gas Industry Materials for Transportation and LightweightingMinerals Extraction and ProcessingNanocrystalline and Ultra-fine Grain Materials and Bulk Metallic Glasses Steels

In a Functionally Graded Material (FGM), the composition and structure gradually change over volume, resulting in corresponding changes in the properties of the material. By applying the many possibilities inherent in the FGM concept, it is anticipated that materials will be improved and new functions for them created. A comprehensive description of design, modelling, processing, and evaluation of FGMs as well as their applications is covered in this book. In the simplest FGMs, two different material ingredients change gradually from one to the other. Discontinuous changes such as a stepwise gradation of the material ingredients can also be considered an FGM. The most familiar FGM is compositionally graded from a refractory ceramic to a metal. It can incorporate incompatible functions such as the heat, wear, and oxidation resistance of ceramics and the high toughness, high strength, machinability and bonding capability of metals without severe internal thermal stress. Pores are also important material ingredients for FGMs. The gradual increase of pore distribution from the interior to the surface can impart many properties such as mechanical shock resistance, thermal insulation, catalytic efficiency and relaxation of thermal stress. Even if the gradation of material ingredients is limited to a specific location in the material such as the interface, a joint, or a surface, it can be considered a functionally graded material because it includes the FGM concept. Although the FGM concept can be extended to materials with functions that are designed to change gradually over time or with changes in environmental conditions (e.g. a drug delivery system), these time-dependent functions areproduced by tailoring the spatial distribution of the material ingredients. The production of multiple or new functions with graded structures rather than the graded material itself is the basis of the FGM concept reflected in this book.

For the researchers of rice blast disease and plant blast resistances, IRBC is an important chance to exchange information and discussion on rice blast, which has been a rather minor topic on international plant pathological meetings. Especially for those in Asia, where the blast is one the most important agricultural concerns, IRBC was a unique opportunity to discuss on rice blast with scientists in the West, in where it is achieving the positions of a model pathogen and a model system to study plant microbe interactions. However, I and probably many of Japanese blast researchers have felt an accumulated frustration that, in world plant pathological conferences, the information presented from Asia is only a small fraction although they have much more information that may be valuable for world plant pathologists and resistance researchers. I have noticed also some concept gaps between the researchers in East and West, particularly in the field resistance and the multiline system. There seems to be few who study field resistance and multilines in the West, while in Japan they are expected to become mainstream strategies to suppress the disease. Surely there is a great value in rd having 3 IRBC in Japan for cultivating wider communication between the scientists of the East and West.

Although local neighborhood associations are found in many countries, Japan's are distinguished by their ubiquity, scope of activities, and very high participation rates, making them important for the study of society and politics. Most Japanese belong to one local neighborhood association or another, making them Japan's most numerous civil society organization, and one that powerfully shapes governance outcomes in the country. And, they also often blur the state-society boundary, making them theoretically intriguing. Neighborhood Associations and Local Governance in Japan draws on a unique and novel body of empirical data derived from the first national survey of neighborhood associations carried out in 2007 and provides a multifaceted empirical portrait of Japan's neighborhood associations. It examines how local associational structures affect the quality of local governance, and thus the quality of life for Japan's citizens and residents, and illuminates the way in which these ambiguous associations can help us refine civil society theory and show how they contribute to governance. As well as outlining the key features of neighbourhood associations, the book goes on to examine in detail the way in which neighbourhood associations contribute to governance, in terms of social capital, networks with other community organizations, social service provision, cooperation with local governments and political participation. This book will be welcomed by students and scholars of Japanese politics, Japanese society, anthropology, urban studies as well as those interested in social capital and civil society.

Robot Hands and Multi-Fingered Haptic Interfaces is a monograph focusing on the comparison of human hands with robot hands, the fundamentals behind designing and creating the latter, and robotics' latest advancements in haptic technology.This work discusses the design of robot hands; contact models at grasping; kinematic models of constraint; dynamic models of the multi-fingered hand; the stability theorem of non-linear control systems; robot hand control; design and control of multi-fingered haptic interfaces; application systems using multi-fingered haptic interfaces; and telecontrol of robot hands using a multi-fingered haptic interface.Robot Hands and Multi-Fingered Haptic Interfaces is intended mainly for readers who have a foundation in basic robot arm engineering. To understand robot hand manipulation, readers must study kinematic constraint models of fingers, hand dynamics with constraints, stability theorems of non-linear control, and multi-fingered hand control - this book will benefit readers' understanding of this full range of issues regarding robot hand manipulation.

Although local neighborhood associations are found in many countries, Japan s are distinguished by their ubiquity, scope of activities, and very high participation rates, making them important for the study of society and politics. Most Japanese belong to one local neighborhood association or another, making them Japan s most numerous civil society organization, and one that powerfully shapes governance outcomes in the country. And, they also often blur the state-society boundary, making them theoretically intriguing.

Neighborhood Associations and Local Governance in Japan draws on a unique and novel body of empirical data derived from the first national survey of neighborhood associations carried out in 2007 and provides a multifaceted empirical portrait of Japan s neighborhood associations. It examines how local associational structures affect the quality of local governance, and thus the quality of life for Japan s citizens and residents, and illuminates the way in which these ambiguous associations can help us refine civil society theory and show how they contribute to governance. As well as outlining the key features of neighbourhood associations, the book goes on to examine in detail the way in which neighbourhood associations contribute to governance, in terms of social capital, networks with other community organizations, social service provision, cooperation with local governments and political participation.

This book will be welcomed by students and scholars of Japanese politics, Japanese society, anthropology, urban studies as well as those interested in social capital and civil society. "

Culture no longer has borders. With the advent of internet sites like Sothebys.com and the increasing reality of globalisation, culture itself has gone global. This collection focuses on questions involving national identity, indigenous culture, economic growth, free trade, cultural policy, and global tourism. Global Culture looks at all aspects of the "arts" including: film, art, music, theatre, television, and museums. This book fleshes out how current cultural policies are working and forecasts what we can expect the future landscape of global culture to look like.

Patterns are becoming the focal point of many areas of scientific endeavour in recent years owing to the progress of computer science, laboratory experiments and observations, and analytical tools. This book brings together articles by the leading experts in this field. The following topics are discussed in this volume: current status of pattern research with emphasis on real phenomena and new theoretical concepts; interdisciplinary subjects involving Statistical Physics, Condensed Matter Physics, Fluid Mechanics, Nonequilibrium and Nonlinear Phenomena.

This book describes active illumination techniques in computer vision. We can classify computer vision techniques into two classes: passive and active techniques. Passive techniques observe the scene statically and analyse it as is. Active techniques give the scene some actions and try to facilitate the analysis. In particular, active illumination techniques project specific light, for which the characteristics are known beforehand, to a target scene to enable stable and accurate analysis of the scene. Traditional passive techniques have a fundamental limitation. The external world surrounding us is three-dimensional; the image projected on a retina or an imaging device is two-dimensional. That is, reduction of one dimension has occurred. Active illumination techniques compensate for the dimensional reduction by actively controlling the illumination. The demand for reliable vision sensors is rapidly increasing in many application areas, such as robotics and medical image analysis. This book explains this new endeavour to explore the augmentation of reduced dimensions in computer vision. This book consists of three parts: basic concepts, techniques, and applications. The first part explains the basic concepts for understanding active illumination techniques. In particular, the basic concepts of optics are explained so that researchers and engineers outside the field can understand the later chapters. The second part explains currently available active illumination techniques, covering many techniques developed by the authors. The final part shows how such active illumination techniques can be applied to various domains, describing the issue to be overcome by active illumination techniques and the advantages of using these techniques. This book is primarily aimed at 4th year undergraduate and 1st year graduate students, and will also help engineers from fields beyond computer vision to use active illumination techniques. Additionally, the book is suitable as course material for technical seminars.

This collection covers a variety of materials science topics and has contributions from leading scientists and engineers representing 8 countries and 9 international materials, metals, and minerals societies. Papers are organized into the following sections:Advanced BiomaterialsAdvanced ManufacturingMaterials for Green Energy Materials for Infrastructure Materials for the Oil and Gas Industry Materials for Transportation and LightweightingMinerals Extraction and ProcessingNanocrystalline and Ultra-fine Grain Materials and Bulk Metallic Glasses Steels

The MRS Symposium Proceeding series is an internationally recognised reference suitable for researchers and practitioners.

Seven years have elapsed since Dr. Renee Ford, editor-in-chief of Materials Technology, first suggested to me to publish a book on Functionally Graded Materials (FGMs). She said that the FGM concept, then largely unknown outside of Japan and a relatively few laboratories elsewhere, would be of great interest to everyone working in the materials field because of its potentially universal applicability. There was no book about FGMs in English at that time, although the number of research papers, review articles, and FGM conference proceedings had been increasing yearly. We discussed what the book should cover, and decided it should present a comprehensive description from basic theory to the most recent applications of FGMs. This would make it useful both as an introduction to FGMs for those simply curious about what this new materials field was all about, and also as a textbook for researchers, engineers, and graduate students in various material fields. The FGM Forum in Japan generously offered to support this publication program. is very difficult for an individual author to write a book that Because it covers such a wide range of various aspects of many different materials, I invited more than 30 eminent materials scientists throughout the world, who were associated with FGM research, to contribute selected topics. I also asked several leading researchers in this field to edit selected chapters: Dr. Barry H. Rabin, then at the U. S.

The International Symposium on Colloid and Polymer Science was held at Nagoya Institute of Technology, Nagoya, Japan, in October 1996. The program covered both the fundamental aspects as well as technological applications of micelles, microemulsions, monolayers, and biocolloids. Special emphasis was placed on formation and dynamics of self-organized structures, including technical developments, applications, general theory, and results of investigations.

Cholesterol is essential for normal cellular function. It is found in all cells of the body and is a major constituent of cell membranes. In addition, certain specialized tissues use cholesterol as the basic substrate for the synthesis of more complicated sterols such as bile acids and the steroid hormones. Like most lipids cholesterol has a very low solubility in water. Therefore, in order for these molecules to be transported be tween different organs of the body a series of lipid carriers known as lipoproteins has evolved. Over the last several years epidemiological evidence has accumulated suggest ing a strong relationship between the risk of atherosclerosis and high plasma concen trations of one of these lipoproteins, low density lipoprotein (LDL) 1). Thus, in popula tions with high plasma concentrations of LDL-cholesterol a correspondingly high incidence of vascular disease is seen. Since it has been demonstrated that reducing the steady-state plasma LDL-cholesterol concentration produces a proportional decrease in the risk of developing atherosclerosis 2), a major effort is now underway to develop safe and effective lipid lowering agents. In the past, these efforts have been hampered by a lack of knowledge concerning the physiological regulation of the plasma LDL-cholesterol concentration. However, recently there have been several major advances in these areas and it is now possible to precisely determine those factors that have the greatest effect on either increasing or decreasing the plasma LDL-cholesterol concentration."

The fourth Nishinomiya-Yukawa Memorial Symposium, devoted to the topic of dynamics and patterns in complex fluids, was held on October 26 and 27, 1989, in Nishinomiya City, Japan, where ten invited speakers gave their lectures. A one-day meeting, comprising short talks and poster sessions, was then held on the same topic on October 28 at the Research Institute for Fundamental Physics, Kyoto University. The present volume contains the 10 invited papers and 38 contributed papers presented at these two meetings. The symposium was sponsored by Nishinomiya City, where Prof. Hideki Yukawa once lived and where he wrote the celebrated paper describing the work that was later honored by a Nobel prize. The topic of the fourth symposium was chosen from one of the most vigorously evolving and highly interdisciplinary fields in condensed matter physics. The field of complex fluids is very diverse and still in its infancy and, as a result, the definition of a complex fluid varies greatly from one researcher to the next. One of the objectives of the symposium was to clarify its definition by explicitly posing a number of potentially rich problems waiting to be explored. Indeed, experimentalists are disclosing a variety of intriguing dynamical phenomena in complex systems such as polymers, liquid crystals, gels, colloids, and surfactant systems. We, the organizers, hope that the symposium will contribute to the increasing importance of the field in the coming years.

The aim of this book is to provide experimental protocols covering many aspects of glycobiology, glycotechnology, and chemistry: biochemistry, molecular and cellular biology, genetics, physiology, and medicine. The protocols are all self-contained descriptions of the equipment and reagents needed, followed by details of the experimental procedure.

In the post-genomic era, glycobiology is coming of age because more than half of proteins are glycosylated and the importance of sugar chains in various fields of life science research cannot be disregarded. Many scientists had not entered this area because glycobiology and glycoscience used to be considered difficult fields. This book, therefore, is presented much like a cookbook which can help scientists in fields other than glycobiology and glycoscience carry out research more easily.

Provides a detailed discussion of all aspects of employment (including recruitment, tenure, turnover, promotion, labor force participation, unemployment, and retirement) and labor payments (wages, bonus payments, non-wage costs) in the Japanese labor market. All topics are discussed in relation to comparable experience in the United States and Europe. A major theme concerns whether or not key features of Japanese labor market institutions and practices differ from competitor economies.

Each time Bubbie gets diverted from making charoses for the Passover seder, family members add their own secret ingredient until the charoses is atrocious.

A top social media guru shares the secrets to expanding your business through relationships

People have always done business with people they know, like, and trust. That's the essence of "relationship marketing." Today, the popularity of online social networking has caused a paradigm shift in relationship marketing. This book helps businesspeople and marketers master this crucial new skill set. Social marketing expert Mari Smith outlines a step-by-step plan for building a sizable, loyal network comprised of quality relationships that garner leads, publicity, sales, and more.

If you're a businessman or businesswoman feeling the pressure to shift your approach to using social media marketing, to better understand the new soft skills required for success on the social web, and to improve your own leadership and relationship skills through emotional and social intelligence, this book is for you.Outlines how to become a significant "center of influence" for your customers and prospectsExplains the unspoken rules of online etiquette--and the common "turnoffs" that drive customers and potential partners awayDetails the unique cultures of Facebook, Twitter, and other popular online platformsShows exactly what to automate and delegate to build your social media persona, yet still retain the personal touch

Even if you currently have zero presence online, this book will help you see measurable results in a short time.

This book summarizes and provides a detailed overview of the enhanced mechanical and functional properties of bulk nanostructured metallic materials with respect to their potential applications. These applications include nanostructured Ti-based materials in bio-medical engineering, Al alloys and Cu in electrical engineering and nanostructured steels in construction engineering. Moreover, this book describes the application of severe plastic deformation for the formation of hybrid metal systems from simple powders and solid metals for an enhancement in the functional properties of materials. Authored by global leaders in the field, this book will serve as a bridge between researchers and professionals engineering the newest nanomaterials.

Praise for "Energize Growth Now"

"Effective, timely, balanced-this book captures the critical steps for growing a business the 'right way' and avoiding the usual pitfalls of a poor growth strategy."
--Stephen R. Covey, author, "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" and "The Leader in Me"

"Much like my experience at Apple, you will need to know when it's time to stop acting like a bootstrapper and start operating like a growth company. This book is a great resource to ease the transition. By applying these core principles and time-tested planning guides, you will have changed the world for the better."
--Guy Kawasaki, author, "Reality Check" and "The Art of the Start," and cofounder, Alltop

"I wish I'd had access to this book's wisdom in the past. It's a wellspring of invaluable marketing ideas and wealth-building strategies business owners and management teams can-and should-use to take their companies where they need to go. There's no abstruse theory or hard-to-understand doublespeak here. Just actionable plans anyone can literally start using tomorrow. That makes Lisa Nirell the growth strategy guru for sustainable businesses."
--Jeffrey Hollender, President and Chief Inspired Protagonist, Seventh Generation

""Energize Growth NOW" appears at an ideal time to provide small business owners with their rightful wealth, life balance, and peace of mind through great advice, easily applied. Lisa Nirell's advice is more important than any business plan you now have in place."
--Alan Weiss, PhD, author, "Million Dollar Consulting"

""Energize Growth NOW" is simply a fantastic how-to guide for building a great company. Try the ideas in this book and not only will your business grow, but so will you "
--Marshall Goldsmith, "New York Times" and "Wall Street Journal" #1 bestselling author of "What Got You Here Won't Get You There" and "Succession: Are You Ready?"

"In "Energize Growth NOW," Lisa Nirell has written a smart, concise guide for business leaders looking to navigate growth successfully. The book provides valuable tips on how companies can grow better as well as bigger, and how leaders can create the kind of vibrant culture that's critical now more than ever."
--Ray Davis, CEO, Umpqua Bank, and author, "Leading for Growth"

"Lisa Nirell has captured the essence of what it takes to grow an entrepreneurial venture into a successful, sustainable enterprise."
--Jerry Andres, CEO, Jeld-Wen Development, and Chairman of the Board, Clear Choice Health Plans

"What's uniquely cool about Lisa's book is the way she interweaves values with financial success. Making big bucks without values smells. Having high values go unrewarded ultimately destroys beliefs. She keeps them together."
--Gary Sutton, author, "The Six-Month Fix" and "Corporate Canaries"