This is the first of a three-volume anthology of Edo- and Meiji-era urban literature that includes An Edo Anthology: Literature from Japan’s Mega-City, 1750–1850 and A Tokyo Anthology: Literature from Japan’s Modern Metropolis, 1850–1920. The present work focuses on the years in which bourgeois culture first emerged in Japan, telling the story of the rising commoner arts of Kamigata, or the “Upper Regions” of Kyoto and Osaka, which harkened back to Japan’s middle ages eve...

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Social Robotics, ICSR 2020, held in Golden, CO, USA, in November 2020. The conference was held virtually.The 57 full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 101 submissions. The theme of the 2020 conference is Entertaining Robots. The papers focus on the following topics: human-robot trust and human-robot teaming, robot understanding and following of social and moral norms, phy...

In 1763, an 11-year-old boy named Thomas Chatterton began publishing mature works of poetry. Before long, he was fooling the literary world by passing his work off as that of a non-existent 15th-century poet named Thomas Rowley—which he did until unmasked by Horace Walpole. Brought up in poverty and without a father, he studied furiously and went on to try and earn a living from his writing. After impressing the likes of the Lord Mayor, William Beckford and the radical leader John Wilkes, ...

In A Changed Man, Thomas Hardy offers a quiet meditation on fate, character, and the subtle turns of the human heart. With his signature restraint and clarity, he draws a moment when the past gently disturbs the present and a single decision reveals the deep currents beneath an ordinary life.This story reflects Hardy's enduring concern with moral struggle and the slow, often silent shifts within the self. Deceptively simple, it unfolds with the muted drama of real people s...

Life is to be lived. Experiences gained, pleasures sampled. But, troublingly, when you are a classic author your thoughts sometimes lean towards darker thoughts. Within the space of a few paragraphs these literary masters shape a new world; more difficult experiences, darker pleasures. Life becomes uneasy, a queasy feeling, perhaps a repulsion here, a disgust there and very soon what was cosy, warm and comfortable becomes cold, painful, even horrific.The talents of their pens now f...

An author’s talents may seem obvious and indisputable as they move words and ideas into gathered phrases and stories.But where do these ideas and stories come from? A lonely thought that suddenly gathers form? An inspiration from a Muse? A suggestion from an everyday event?Perhaps in the case of their darker, more malevolent stories, other forces are at work. They help to nourish single words into sentences and paragraphs that ease themselves from the shadows and are sudden...

A wonderfully evocative tale of the courtship of Fancy Day, newly arrived schoolmistress, by Dick Dewy, carrier of goods, during the four seasons of one year in Wessex.Most of Hardy’s work had tragedy woven into the narrative but Under the Greenwood Tree is full of whimsy and good humour. The story is not without its serious comment, however, as Hardy reflects on class division and the disappearance of heritage in the rural community.Parson Maybold, a rival for Fan...

This is a strong foundation of human-centric virtual reality design for anyone and everyone involved in creating VR experiences. Without a clear understanding of the human side of virtual reality (VR), the experience will always fail.The VR Book bridges this gap by focusing on human-centered design. Creating compelling VR applications is an incredibly complex challenge. When done well, these experiences can be brilliant and pleasurable, but when done badly...

Neuromorphic and brain-based robotics have enormous potential for furthering our understanding of the brain. By embodying models of the brain on robotic platforms, researchers can investigate the roots of biological intelligence and work towards the development of truly intelligent machines. This book provides a broad introduction to this groundbreaking area for researchers from a wide range of fields, from engineering to neuroscience. Case studies explore how robots are being used in curr...

Artificial Intelligence in Behavioral and Mental Health Care summarizes recent advances in artificial intelligence as it applies to mental health clinical practice. Each chapter provides a technical description of the advance, review of application in clinical practice, and empirical data on clinical efficacy. In addition, each chapter includes a discussion of practical issues in clinical settings, ethical considerations, and limitations of use. The book encompasses AI based advances in de...

Today, people are in an era of digitally mediated Human-to-Human Interaction, which cannot provide full sensorial contact and therefore, emotions cannot be communicated completely. The intimate cover of the human body, i.e. garment is the interface, where many personal traits are embodied. With the improvements in textile and electronics industry, this embodiment can be carried on a higher level, where the garments become dynamic interfaces and extensions of the human body. This book consi...

The core message of this book is: computer games best realise affective interaction. This book brings together contributions from specialists in affective computing, game studies, game artificial intelligence, user experience research, sensor technology, multi-modal interfaces and psychology that will advance the state-of-the-art in player experience research; affect modelling, induction, and sensing; affect-driven game adaptation and game-based learning and assessment. In 3 parts the book...