Transforming the Void: Embryological Discourse and Reproductive Imagery in East Asian Religions considers paths to self-cultivation and salvation that are patterned on human embryological development or procreative imagery in the religions of China and Japan. Focusing on Taoism, Esoteric Buddhism, Shinto, Shugendō, and local religious traditions, the contributors to the volume provide new insight into how the body’s generative processes are harnessed as powerful metaphors for spiritual attainment. This volume offers an in-depth examination of the religious dimensions of embryology and reproductive imagery, topics that have been hitherto solely approached through the lens of the history of medicine. Contributors include: Brigitte Baptandier, Catherine Despeux, Grégoire Espesset, Christine Mollier, Fabrizio Pregadio, Dominic Steavu, Lucia Dolce, Bernard Faure, Iyanaga Nobumi, Anna Andreeva, Kigensan Licha, Gaynor Sekimori.

Bullitt wrote this book when she couldn't find the guide she needed to lead her out of her crises. It is told through the gripping personal stories of those she has known and counseled, who have found their way out of despair by following the six-step plan described here. The dynamic program is for those mourning the loss of a loved one, a marriage, a job, property, money and more.

A Mind Imprisoned Is The Greatest Of Hells. 1853. South China Sea. While on patrol between the Opium Wars, the crew of the steam frigate HMS Charger pursues a fleet of pirates that have been terrorizing the waters surrounding Hong Kong. But now the hunters have become the hunted. Something else has come to the South China Sea, something ancient and powerful and malevolent. Now, the crew of the Charger must face their worst nightmares in order to survive the terrible creature they come to know as the Darkstar. A Song For The Void is a haunting, terrifying historical horror novel that will keep you turning the pages and jumping at the shadows. Fans of HP Lovecraft, Neil Gaiman, Stephen King, or other authors of horror or surreal fantasy will enjoy A Song For The Void.

A woman in Tokyo avoids harassment at work by perpetuating, for nine months and beyond, the lie that she’s pregnant in this prizewinning, thrillingly subversive debut novel about the mother of all deceptions, for fans of Convenience Store Woman and Breasts and Eggs When thirty-four-year-old Ms. Shibata gets a new job to escape sexual harassment at her old one, she finds that as the only woman at her new workplace—a manufacturer of cardboard tubes—she is expected to do all the menial tasks. One day she announces that she can’t clear away her coworkers’ dirty cups—because she’s pregnant and the smell nauseates her. The only thing is . . . Ms. Shibata is not pregnant. Pregnant Ms. Shibata doesn’t have to serve coffee to anyone. Pregnant Ms. Shibata isn’t forced to work overtime. Pregnant Ms. Shibata rests, watches TV, takes long baths, and even joins an aerobics class for expectant mothers. She’s finally being treated by her colleagues as more than a hollow core. But she has a nine-month ruse to keep up. Before long, it becomes all-absorbing, and with the help of towel-stuffed shirts and a diary app that tracks every stage of her “pregnancy,” the boundary between her lie and her life begins to dissolve. Surreal and absurdist, and with a winning matter-of-factness, a light touch, and a refreshing sensitivity to mental health, Diary of a Void will keep you turning the pages to see just how far Ms. Shibata will carry her deception for the sake of women, and especially working mothers, everywhere.

Mercy and Peter are happily expecting their first child, when perfectly preserved body parts start turning up all over Savannah and Mercy fears for her unborn child.

A large segment of the population struggles with feelings of being detached from themselves and their loved ones. They feel flawed, and blame themselves. Running on Empty will help them realize that they're suffering not because of something that happened to them in childhood, but because of something that didn't happen. It's the white space in their family picture, the background rather than the foreground. This will be the first self-help book to bring this invisible force to light, educate people about it, and teach them how to overcome it.

Practical OpenCV is a hands-on project book that shows you how to get the best results from OpenCV, the open-source computer vision library. Computer vision is key to technologies like object recognition, shape detection, and depth estimation. OpenCV is an open-source library with over 2500 algorithms that you can use to do all of these, as well as track moving objects, extract 3D models, and overlay augmented reality. It's used by major companies like Google (in its autonomous car), Intel, and Sony; and it is the backbone of the Robot Operating System’s computer vision capability. In short, if you're working with computer vision at all, you need to know OpenCV. With Practical OpenCV, you'll be able to: Get OpenCV up and running on Windows or Linux. Use OpenCV to control the camera board and run vision algorithms on Raspberry Pi. Understand what goes on behind the scenes in computer vision applications like object detection, image stitching, filtering, stereo vision, and more. Code complex computer vision projects for your class/hobby/robot/job, many of which can execute in real time on off-the-shelf processors. Combine different modules that you develop to create your own interactive computer vision app. What you’ll learn The ins and outs of OpenCV programming on Windows and Linux Transforming and filtering images Detecting corners, edges, lines, and circles in images and video Detecting pre-trained objects in images and video Making panoramas by stitching images together Getting depth information by using stereo cameras Basic machine learning techniques BONUS: Learn how to run OpenCV on Raspberry Pi Who this book is for This book is for programmers and makers with little or no previous exposure to computer vision. Some proficiency with C++ is required. Table of ContentsPart 1: Getting comfortable Chapter 1: Introduction to Computer Vision and OpenCV Chapter 2: Setting up OpenCV on your computer Chapter 3: CV Bling – OpenCV inbuilt demos Chapter 4: Basic operations on images and GUI windows Part 2: Advanced computer vision problems and coding them in OpenCV Chapter 5: Image filtering Chapter 6: Shapes in images Chapter 7: Image segmentation and histograms Chapter 8: Basic machine learning and keypoint-based object detection Chapter 9: Affine and Perspective transformations and their applications to image panoramas Chapter 10: 3D geometry and stereo vision Chapter 11: Embedded computer vision: Running OpenCV programs on the Raspberry Pi

Louis Althusser is remembered today as the scourge of humanist Marxism, but that was his later incarnation, an identity formed by years grappling with the intellectual inheritance of Hegel and Catholicism. The Spectre of Hegel collects the writings of the young Althusser, before his final epistemological break with the philosopher's work in 1953. The Spectre of Hegel gives a unique insight into Althusser's engagement with a philosophy he would later renounce.

Explores the concept of spiritual transformation through the lenses of theology and psychology.