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Foundations of Robotics: A Multidisciplinary Approach with Python and ROS
by Damith Herath David St-OngeThis open access book introduces key concepts in robotics in an easy to understand language using an engaging project-based approach. It covers contemporary topics in robotics, providing an accessible entry point to fundamentals in all the major domains. A section is dedicated to introducing programming concepts using Python, which has become a language of choice in robotics and AI. The book also introduces the reader to the Robot Operating System (ROS), the ubiquitous software and algorithmic framework used by researchers and the industry. The book provides an inspired, up-to-date and multidisciplinary introduction to robotics in its many forms, including emerging topics related to robotics on Machine Learning, ethics, Human-Robot Interaction, and Design Thinking. The book also includes interviews with industry experts, providing an additional layer of insight into the world of robotics. The book is made open access through the generous support from Kinova Robotics. The book is suitable as an undergraduate textbook in a relevant engineering course. It is also suitable for students in art and design, high school students, and self-learners who would like to explore foundational concepts in robotics. “This book provides the ‘foundation’ for understanding how robots work. It is the accessible introduction that artists and engineers have been waiting for.” - Ken Goldberg, William S. Floyd Jr. Distinguished Chair in Engineering, UC Berkeley.
We Piano Teachers and Our Demons: Socio-psychological Obstacles on the Road to Inspired and Secure Performance (Landscapes: the Arts, Aesthetics, and Education #32)
by Zecharia PlavinThis book focuses on piano teachers and the many pains they encounter in their careers. These pains play an essential role in blocking the musical inspiration of their students. The author identifies with the sensitivities of the teachers, aiming at the inspiration permeated and safer playing of their students.The book penetrates the protective mechanisms of the teachers that, on the one hand, maintain their professional functioning, while on the other hand, block refreshing ideas. It combines exploration of secure and culturally informed inspired playing, coping with exaggerated anxiety and understanding the interaction of piano actions with pianist’s physiology.This book helps to open teachers’ perceptions of the ways to enable more secure and more inspired performances while remembering the inner feelings of the piano teachers.
Digital TV and Wireless Multimedia Communications: 18th International Forum, IFTC 2021, Shanghai, China, December 3–4, 2021, Revised Selected Papers (Communications in Computer and Information Science #1560)
by Guangtao Zhai Jun Zhou Hua Yang Ping An Xiaokang YangThis book presents revised selected papers from the 18th International Forum on Digital TV and Wireless Multimedia Communication, IFTC 2021, held in Shanghai, China, in December 2021.The 41 papers presented in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 110 submissions. They were organized in topical sections on image analysis; quality assessment; target detection; video processing; big data.
Vision-Based Human Activity Recognition (SpringerBriefs in Intelligent Systems)
by Zhongxu Hu Chen LvThis book offers a systematic, comprehensive, and timely review on V-HAR, and it covers the related tasks, cutting-edge technologies, and applications of V-HAR, especially the deep learning-based approaches. The field of Human Activity Recognition (HAR) has become one of the trendiest research topics due to the availability of various sensors, live streaming of data and the advancement in computer vision, machine learning, etc. HAR can be extensively used in many scenarios, for example, medical diagnosis, video surveillance, public governance, also in human–machine interaction applications. In HAR, various human activities such as walking, running, sitting, sleeping, standing, showering, cooking, driving, abnormal activities, etc., are recognized. The data can be collected from wearable sensors or accelerometer or through video frames or images; among all the sensors, vision-based sensors are now the most widely used sensors due to their low-cost, high-quality, and unintrusive characteristics. Therefore, vision-based human activity recognition (V-HAR) is the most important and commonly used category among all HAR technologies.The addressed topics include hand gestures, head pose, body activity, eye gaze, attention modeling, etc. The latest advancements and the commonly used benchmark are given. Furthermore, this book also discusses the future directions and recommendations for the new researchers.
Picturing Ecology: Photography and the birth of a new science
by Damian HughesThis book examines the role of photography and visual culture in the emergence of ecological science between 1895 and 1939.
Deep Learning in Solar Astronomy (SpringerBriefs in Computer Science)
by Long Xu Yihua Yan Xin HuangThe volume of data being collected in solar astronomy has exponentially increased over the past decade and we will be entering the age of petabyte solar data. Deep learning has been an invaluable tool exploited to efficiently extract key information from the massive solar observation data, to solve the tasks of data archiving/classification, object detection and recognition. Astronomical study starts with imaging from recorded raw data, followed by image processing, such as image reconstruction, inpainting and generation, to enhance imaging quality. We study deep learning for solar image processing. First, image deconvolution is investigated for synthesis aperture imaging. Second, image inpainting is explored to repair over-saturated solar image due to light intensity beyond threshold of optical lens. Third, image translation among UV/EUV observation of the chromosphere/corona, Ha observation of the chromosphere and magnetogram of the photosphere is realized by using GAN, exhibiting powerful image domain transfer ability among multiple wavebands and different observation devices. It can compensate the lack of observation time or waveband. In addition, time series model, e.g., LSTM, is exploited to forecast solar burst and solar activity indices. This book presents a comprehensive overview of the deep learning applications in solar astronomy. It is suitable for the students and young researchers who are major in astronomy and computer science, especially interdisciplinary research of them.
Exporting Chinese Architecture: History, Issues and “One Belt One Road”
by Charlie Qiuli Xue Guanghui DingThis book studies the unexplored history of China-aided architecture erected in the developing world since the 1950s. By 2019, over 1,000 buildings had been delivered to more than 160 countries, including parliament houses, convention centers, stadiums, gymnasiums, theaters, schools, hospitals, libraries, railways, and stations. These projects, which have played a significant role in promoting economic transformation, cultural engagement and social and environmental well-being, have largely been overlooked or misunderstood by the international community. Why did China donate so many foreign-aid buildings? How were these buildings built in the remote land of developing countries with intricate influences and limited resources? Have they helped modernize the recipient countries? The authors of this book use a wide range of representative projects built in different historic periods and geographical locations as case studies to address the above questions from various perspectives. This book fills an enormous gap in modern architecture in China and the world. It offers architectural students and scholars in various disciplines the necessary knowledge on "diplomatic architecture"; informs architects the appropriate methods of cross-border design and low-tech building; teaches government officials the best practice of donating and receiving foreign-aid buildings; and enhances public awareness of cultural diversity in Asia, Africa, Oceania, and Latin America. With abundant first-hand materials, historical pictures, and drawings, the book is a must-read for those who are interested in modern architecture and developmental aid in the world. China’s architecture abroad, notably in Africa and Asia, has been perceived with both fascination and anxiety. Based on a wealth of sources often difficult to access for scholars from outside China, this book links the history and present of China’s architectural mobilities in ways that will stimulate new debates in architectural history and urban studies. - Łukasz Stanek, Professor of Architectural History, The University of Manchester, UK
Design Praxiology and Phenomenology: Understanding Ways of Knowing through Inventive Practices
by Lynde Tan Beaumie KimThis book offers insight into designerly ways of knowing from the perspectives of experts and professionals engaging in diverse forms of design in workplaces and other public domains. It also aids in the understanding of design practices from designers’ viewpoints via case studies. By pursuing a reflective inquiry in their design epistemology (designerly ways of knowing), design praxiology (practices of design), or design phenomenology (forms of designs), self-studies of design practices, and presenting studies of designs, the authors of this book demonstrate how they influence the people and the object of inquiry or design. The case studies presented in this book also illustrate how designers develop their expertise, and provides inspiration for the incorporation of design-thinking and practice in education.
12th International Conference on Structural Engineering and Construction Management: Proceedings of the ICSECM 2021 (Lecture Notes in Civil Engineering #266)
by Ranjith Dissanayake Priyan Mendis Kolita Weerasekera Sudhira De Silva Shiromal Fernando Chaminda KonthesinghaThis book highlights advances in the fields of civil engineering and construction industry with a particular focus on Structural Engineering and Construction Management. This book consists of top quality and innovative research papers selected from the proceedings of the 12th ICSECM 2021 under the themes of Innovations in Building Materials, Construction Management, Tall buildings, Concrete Technology and High Performance concrete, Geotechnical Engineering, Water and Waste Water Treatment, CKDu problem in Sri Lanka, Structural Health Monitoring & Design of Resistive Structures, Disaster Risk Reduction and Resilience in the Built Environment, Fibre Reinforced Polymer, Life Cycle Assessment of Buildings and Fire Safety Engineering.
Intelligent Sustainable Systems: Proceedings of ICISS 2022 (Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems #458)
by Jennifer S. Raj Yong Shi Danilo Pelusi Valentina Emilia BalasThis book features research papers presented at the 5th International Conference on Intelligent Sustainable Systems (ICISS 2022), held at SCAD College of Engineering and Technology, Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu, India, during February 17–18, 2022. The book discusses latest research works that discusses the tools, methodologies, practices, and applications of sustainable systems and computational intelligence methodologies. The book is beneficial for readers from both academia and industry.
Overhang Design Methods: Optimal Thermal and Daylighting Performance (SpringerBriefs in Architectural Design and Technology)
by Sanja StevanovicIt is estimated that windows in office buildings are responsible for one third of energy used for their heating and cooling. Designing window shading that balances often contradictory goals of preventing excessive heat gains in hot periods, without compromising beneficial heat gains in cold periods or visual comfort in indoor spaces of modern buildings with highly glazed facades, is an interesting multi-objective optimisation problem that represents an active research topic in the field of building energy and daylighting. Window overhangs are the simplest and most traditional shading devices that are easy to install, highly cost-effective, require low or no maintenance and offer unobstructed views outside. This book provides a review of overhang design methods for optimal thermal and daylighting performance. It starts with a historical overview of methods based on solar positions and shading masks. Next it discusses current research methodology, including shading calculation methods, ways of quantifying thermal and daylighting overhang effectiveness and the use of multi-objective optimisation approaches, together with the case studies that employ them. It further covers methods for designing innovative overhang types such as NURBS outlined overhangs and PV integrated dynamic overhangs. The appendix classifies published overhang case studies according to major climate type and latitude of their locations. As such, the book presents a valuable resource for understanding subtle nuances of interaction between solar radiation, shading devices and indoor comfort. The intended target audience are building energy researchers interested in optimisation of window shading devices.
Dance Pedagogy and Education in China: A personal narrative of teaching in, about and through dance education
by Ralph BuckThis pivot offers an innovative approach to dance education, bringing a creative and inclusive dance education pedagogy into Chinese dance classrooms. Associate Professor Ralph Buck’s experiences of teaching dance at the Beijing Dance Academy and the possible implications for dance education in China lie at the heart of this text. Through a critical examination of personal teaching practice, pedagogical issues, trends and rationales for dance education in the curriculum are highlighted. Informed by constructivist ideals that recognise dialogue and interaction, this pivot suggests that dance can be re-positioned and valued within educational contexts when pedagogical strategies and objectives are framed in terms of teaching and learning in, about and through dance education.
Exploring Place in the Australian Landscape: In the Country of the White Cockatoo
by David S. JonesIncluded is a deep ethno-ecological and cross-cultural translation, that takes the reader through both the Western understanding of sense of place as well as the Australian Aboriginal understanding of Country. Both are different intellectual constructions of thoughts, values and ideologies, but which share numerous commonalities due to their archetypal meanings, feelings and values transmitted to humans.
International Cases of Corporate Governance
by Jean Jinghan ChenThis book provides insights into current issues in corporate governance by examining twelve cases from the 2010s and 2020s where corporate governance was seen to be an issue. The cases are designed to introduce the reader to ‘real life’ episodes with corporate governance implications, shedding light on why corporate scandals continue to occuer, to what extent these are a corporate governance failure, and in which ways corporate governance – and the behaviour of those involved in ensuring good governance and an ethical culture in their business - may be improved in the future. This book will be of interest to businesspeople, students of business, and lawyers and motivate discussion on the reasons why corporate governance failed, or was seen to be inadequate.
ICSCEA 2021: Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Sustainable Civil Engineering and Architecture (Lecture Notes in Civil Engineering #268)
by J. N. Reddy Chien Ming Wang Van Hai Luong Anh Tuan LeThis book presents articles from the Second International Conference on Sustainable Civil Engineering and Architecture, held on 30 October 2021 in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The conference brings together international experts from both academia and industry to share their knowledge, expertise, to facilitate collaboration and improve cooperation in the field. The book highlights the latest advances in sustainable architecture and civil engineering, covering topics such as offshore structures, structural engineering, construction materials, and architecture.
Quality Assessment of Visual Content (Advances in Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition)
by Ke Gu Hongyan Liu Chengxu ZhouThis book provides readers with a comprehensive review of image quality assessment technology, particularly applications on screen content images, 3D-synthesized images, sonar images, enhanced images, light-field images, VR images, and super-resolution images. It covers topics containing structural variation analysis, sparse reference information, multiscale natural scene statistical analysis, task and visual perception, contour degradation measurement, spatial angular measurement, local and global assessment metrics, and more. All of the image quality assessment algorithms of this book have a high efficiency with better performance compared to other image quality assessment algorithms, and the performance of these approaches mentioned above can be demonstrated by the results of experiments on real-world images. On the basis of this, those interested in relevant fields can use the results obtained through these quality assessment algorithms for further image processing. The goal of this book is to facilitate the use of these image quality assessment algorithms by engineers and scientists from various disciplines, such as optics, electronics, math, photography techniques and computation techniques. The book can serve as a reference for graduate students who are interested in image quality assessment techniques, for front-line researchers practicing these methods, and for domain experts working in this area or conducting related application development.
Technology-Enabled Innovations in Education: Select Proceedings of CIIE 2020 (Transactions on Computer Systems and Networks)
by Samira Hosseini Diego Hernan Peluffo Julius Nganji Arturo Arrona-PalaciosThis book contains peer-reviewed selected papers of the 7th International Conference on Educational Innovation (CIIE 2020). It presents excellent educational practices and technologies complemented by various innovative approaches that enhance educational outcomes. In line with the Sustainable Development Goal 4 of UNESCO in the 2030 agenda, CIIE 2020 has attempted to “ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.” The CIIE 2020 proceeding offers diverse dissemination of innovations, knowledge, and lessons learned to familiarize readership with new pedagogical-oriented, technology-driven educational strategies along with their applications to emphasize their impact on a large spectrum of stakeholders including students, teachers and professors, administrators, policymakers, entrepreneurs, governments, international organizations, and NGOs.
When Was Arts in Health?: A History of the Present
by Frances WilliamsThis book critically appraises the field of Arts in Health in the light of the recent public health crisis and so-called culture wars. A new term was coined in Britain in 2017 for this area of work by an All-Party Parliamentary Group: “creative health”. Williams sets this hopeful assertion against a darker backdrop of austerity, rising inequality and “Covid-nationalism”. Understandings of the field as a (multi)national phenomenon are examined through contested narratives that surround its origin. Using genealogical methods, Williams shows how at supra, national and local policy levels, Arts in Health is presented as an idea that transcends place and time. Arguing against this premise, post-war decades are examined to reveal hidden, mutable arts-health expressions. Examples of practice, and their recognition as such, are context dependent it is concluded – produced by political economies as well as oppositional social movements.
Cultural Sustainability and Arts Education: International Perspectives on the Aesthetics of Transformation (Yearbook of Arts Education Research for Cultural Diversity and Sustainable Development #2)
by Benjamin Jörissen Lisa Unterberg Tanja KlepackiThis book is based on the topics, questions and results of the international conference "Aesthetics of Transformation - Arts Education Research and the Challenge of Cultural Sustainability". It aims to foster and sharpen the understanding of the potential role of arts education and arts education research for cultural sustainability. In an ever more complex and interconnected world, culture is a valuable resource for sustainable development. Based on the thesis that the change towards sustainability has to be a change that starts with cultural practices of perception and knowledge, this book makes an important contribution to the broad discourse on cultural sustainability, which has begun to emerge in recent years.In this context, the volume first deals with Intangible Cultural Heritage and how aesthetic practices and certain forms of art are changing through cultural transformation processes. Subsequently, it focuses on issues such as arts and cultural education in times of neoliberalism, (post-)migration and post-coloniality as well as on arts and cultural education under conditions of digital transformation. These theoretical and empirical contributions are complemented by insights into field trips to institutions and exemplary places of practice, showing different representations of educational art practices, cultural heritage, and cultural sustainability. Against this background the book finally offers responses and commentaries that can form the starting point for a far reaching interactive dialogical process on the utmost importance of cultural, aesthetic and arts education as part of a global endeavor for sustainable development.
Sustainable Geo-Technologies for Climate Change Adaptation (Springer Transactions in Civil and Environmental Engineering)
by Hemanta Hazarika Stuart Kenneth Haigh Haruichi Kanaya Babloo Chaudhary Yoshifumi Kochi Masanori Murai Sugeng Wahyudi Takashi FujishiroThis edited volume is a compilation of peer-reviewed papers of the plenary lectures, keynote lectures, special lectures and young researcher’s special lectures delivered at the 1st International Symposium on Construction Resources for Environmentally Sustainable Technologies (CREST 2020) organized by Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan. The book focuses on sustainability, promotion of new ideas and innovations in design, construction and maintenance of geotechnical structures with the aim of contributing towards climate change adaptation and disaster resiliency to meet the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It presents latest research, information, technological advancement, practical challenges encountered, and solutions adopted in the field of geotechnical engineering for sustainable infrastructure towards climate change adaptation. This volume will be of interest to those in academia and industry alike.
Traditional Urbanism Response to Climate Change: Walled City of Jaipur (Advances in 21st Century Human Settlements)
by Anjali Krishan SharmaThe book focuses on the key contemporary issue of Climate change, constructing the narrative from traditions’ of Urbanism through its Axiology and Epistemology. The book is a rich collection of seven chapters and attempts to address each of the aspects and building further for traditional Urbanism. The book further explores the synergies of traditional urbanism for Climate change through climate responsive practices with main thrust on Energy use. The said understanding is validated through the case example of walled city of Jaipur: World Heritage Site 2019. The chapters enumerate how the traditional urbanism of Jaipur was designed that evolved as climate responsive typology for the respective geography.
China, Russia and Central Asian Infrastructure: Fragmenting or Reformatting the Region? (Palgrave Series in Asia and Pacific Studies)
by Peter KrasnopolskyThis book evaluates Central Asian regionalism by analyzing the impact of Russia and China on physical infrastructure in the region. The narrative builds a picture of the nature of the two powers’ influence on the development of regional connectivity in Central Asia. The study covers the 30-year period since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, with a focus on the last decade preceding the global pandemic. Qualitative research methods, i.e., documentary analysis, media analysis, and elite interviews, are implemented to explore how activities of Russia and China impact regional cooperation among Central Asian states. Multiple case studies of projects in the networked sectors of infrastructure, i.e., transportation, energy, and telecommunications, are used to build the argument and demonstrate the ways in which Russia’s and China’s engagement influence regional connectivity. The book is of interest to the scholars who study international relations in Eurasia, major power relations, Sino-Russian relations, China foreign policy, international institutions in Asia, multilateralism, and regionalism. The empirical depth of the book attracts attention of area studies scholars who focus on Central Asia, Central Eurasia, and any of the five Central Asian states. Additionally, the scholars who analyze the roles of hard infrastructure find the book particularly important. The in-depth cases on multilateral financial institutions and regional networks, particularly energy, transportation, and telecommunication, are of great value to those interested in these respective sectors.
Proceedings of the 2nd International Civil Engineering and Architecture Conference: CEAC 2022, 11-14 March 2022, Singapore (Lecture Notes in Civil Engineering #279)
by Marco CasiniThis book collects the scientific proceedings presented during the “2022 The 2nd International Civil Engineering and Architecture Conference” held in Singapore in March 2022 with the aim of showing the latest advancements in theoretical and applied research in the architecture, engineering, and construction sector (AEC). The book is organized into 4 main parts, namely (1) Sustainable Urban Planning and Architecture; (2) Architectural and Environmental Design; (3) Built Environment Materials and Construction Technology; and (4) Civil Engineering and Construction Management. The goal of the book is to provide readers with an overview of the ongoing transformation of the AEC industry presenting a thorough investigation of the emerging trends in the fields of green building design, construction, and operation.
Diagrams of Power in Benjamin and Foucault: The Recluse of Architecture
by Mark Laurence JacksonThis book’s overarching premise is that discussion and critique in the discourses of architecture and urbanism have their primary focus on engagements with form, particularly in the sense of the question as to what planning and architecture signify with respect to the forms they take, and how their meanings or content (what is “contained”) is considered in relation to form-as-container. While significant critical work in these disciplines has been published over the past 20 years that engages pertinently with the writings of Walter Benjamin and Michel Foucault, there has been no address to the co-incidence in the work of Benjamin and Foucault of an architectural figure that is pivotal to each of their discussions of the emergence of modernity: The arcade for Benjamin and the panoptic prison for Foucault have a parallel role. In Foucault’s terms, panopticism is a “diagram of power.” The parallel, for Benjamin, would be his understanding of “constellation.” In more recent architectural writings, the notion of the diagram has emerged as a key motif. Yet, and in as much as it supposedly relates to aspects of the work of Foucault, along with Gilles Deleuze, this notion of “diagram” amounts, for the most part, to a thinly veiled reinstatement of geometry-as-idea. This book redresses the emphasis given to form within the cultural philosophy of modernity and—particularly with respect to architecture and urbanism—inflects on the agency of force that opens a reading of their productive capacities as technologies of power. It is relevant to students and scholars in poststructuralist critical theory, architecture, and urban studies.“This is a book about Foucault and Benjamin and it is grounded in a deep knowledge of and reflection upon their works, but it is also underpinned by an impressive erudition. There are reflections on Hegel and Heidegger (central to the author) and Derrida, along with Kierkegaard, and others. This leads to a rich and suggestive discussion … in staging a spatial-architectural-political conversation between Foucault and Benjamin.”- Anonymous Reviewer“Mark Jackson’s Diagrams of Power in Benjamin and Foucault, The Recluse of Architecture juxtaposes and interrogates its two leading actors so as to draw from and through them a theory of architecture, which is inseparable from its recluse. In doing so it elaborates a series of complex connections with their various interlocutors and inspirations, Hegel, Heidegger, Derrida, the Kabbalah, Agamben, allegory, Marx, Deleuze, Klossowski, tragedy, capitalism, modernity, and so on. The list is long and impressive. This is not only done with an extremely high degree of scholarship, but is presented in a light, lucid and very compelling manner in a voice both personal and authoritative. The recluse is the figure of mimesis itself, the appearance of a withdrawal, always already a ruin. This book not only contributes a highly astute reading of its philosophical objects, but it enacts the ontology of the recluse through its own unfolding, simultaneously revealing and withholding the meaning of architecture ‘as such’, so that we not only understand its meaning, but feel the pulsing differential of the book’s object as if it were alive within us.”- Stephen Zepke, Independent Researcher, Vienna
[ ] With Design: Proceedings of the 9th Congress of the International Association of Societies of Design Research (IASDR 2021)
by Gerhard Bruyns Huaxin WeiThis collection stems from the International Association of Societies of Design Research (IASDR) congress in 2021, promoting the research of design in its many fields of application. Today's design finds itself at a critical moment where the conventional ‘modes’ of doing, thinking and application are increasingly challenged by the troubled ideology of globalisation, climate change, migration patterns and the rapid restructuring of locally driven manufacturing sectors. The volume presents a selection of papers on state-of-the-art design research work. As rapid technological development has been pushing and breaking new ground in society, the broad field of design is facing many unprecedented changes. In combination with the environmental, cultural, technological, and, crucially, pandemic transitions, design at large is called to fundamentally alter its modes of practice. Beyond the conventional models of conducting research, or developing solutions to ‘wicked’ problems, the recoupling of design with different modes should be seen as an expression to embrace other capacities of thinking, criticisms and productions. This selection of proceedings papers delivers the latest insights into design from a multitude of perspectives, as reflected in the eight thematic modes of the congress ; i.e., [social] , [making] , [business] , [critical], [historical/projective], [impact], [pandemic], and [alternative] with design modes. The book benefits design researchers from both academia and industry who are interested in the latest design research results, as well as in innovative design research methods. In presenting an interesting corpus of design case studies as well as studies of design impact, this comprehensive collection is of relevance to design theorists and students, as well as scholars in related fields seeking to understand how design plays a critical role in their respective domains.