Humans have a natural instinct to help others. Imagine walking up to a stranger on the subway and asking them for their seat. What about asking a random person on the street if you could borrow their phone? If the idea makes you squeamish, you're not alone--social psychologists have found that doing these very things makes most of us almost unbearably uncomfortable. But here's the funny thing: even though we hate to ask for help, most people are wired to be helpful. And that's a good thing, because every day in the modern, uber-collaborative workplace, we all need to know when and how to call in the cavalry. However, asking people for help isn't intuitive; in fact, a lot of our instincts are wrong. As a result, we do a poor job of calling in the reinforcements we need, leaving confused or even offended colleagues in our wake. This pragmatic book explains how to get it right. With humor, insight, and engaging storytelling, Heidi Grant, PhD, describes how to elicit helpful behavior from your friends, family, and colleagues--in a way that leaves them feeling genuinely happy to lend a hand. Whether you're a first-time manager or a seasoned leader, getting people to pitch in is what leadership is. Fortunately, people have a natural instinct to help other human beings; you just need to know how to channel this urge into what it is you specifically need them to do. It's not manipulation. It's just management.

The significantly expanded and updated new edition of a widely used text on reinforcement learning, one of the most active research areas in artificial intelligence. Reinforcement learning, one of the most active research areas in artificial intelligence, is a computational approach to learning whereby an agent tries to maximize the total amount of reward it receives while interacting with a complex, uncertain environment. In Reinforcement Learning, Richard Sutton and Andrew Barto provide a clear and simple account of the field's key ideas and algorithms. This second edition has been significantly expanded and updated, presenting new topics and updating coverage of other topics. Like the first edition, this second edition focuses on core online learning algorithms, with the more mathematical material set off in shaded boxes. Part I covers as much of reinforcement learning as possible without going beyond the tabular case for which exact solutions can be found. Many algorithms presented in this part are new to the second edition, including UCB, Expected Sarsa, and Double Learning. Part II extends these ideas to function approximation, with new sections on such topics as artificial neural networks and the Fourier basis, and offers expanded treatment of off-policy learning and policy-gradient methods. Part III has new chapters on reinforcement learning's relationships to psychology and neuroscience, as well as an updated case-studies chapter including AlphaGo and AlphaGo Zero, Atari game playing, and IBM Watson's wagering strategy. The final chapter discusses the future societal impacts of reinforcement learning.

Earth reinforcing techniques are increasingly becoming a useful, powerful and economical solution to various problems encountered in geotechnical engineering practice. Expansion of the experiences and knowledge in this area has succeeded in developing new techniques and their applications to geotechnical engineering problems. In order to discuss the latest experiences and knowledge, and with the purpose of spreading them all over the world for further development, the IS Kyushi conference series on the subject of earth reinforcement have been held in Fukuoka, Japan, every four years since 1988. This fourth symposium, entitled Landmarks in Earth Reinforcement, is a continuation of the series IS Kyushu conferences, and also aims at being one of the landmarks in the progress of modern earth reinforcement practice. The first volume contains 137 papers selected for the symposium covering almost every aspect of earth reinforcement. The second volume contains texts of the special and keynote lectures.

Natural fiber-reinforced composites have the potential to replace synthetic composites, leading to less expensive, stronger and more environmentally-friendly materials. This book provides a detailed review on how a broad range of biofibers can be used as reinforcements in composites and assesses their overall performance. The book is divided into five major parts according to the origins of the different biofibers. Part I contains chapters on bast fibers, Part II; leaf fibers, Part III; seed fibers, Part IV; grass, reed and cane fibers, and finally Part V covers wood, cellulosic and other fibers including cellulosic nanofibers. Each chapter reviews a specific type of biofiber providing detailed information on the sources of each fiber, their cultivation, how to process and prepare them, and how to integrate them into composite materials. The chapters outline current and potential applications for each fiber and discuss their main strengths and weaknesses. - The book is divided into five major parts according to the origins of the different biofibers - bast, leaf, seed; grass, reed and cane fibers, and finally wood, cellulosic and other fibers including cellulosic nanofibers. - This book provides a detailed review on how a broad range of biofibers can be used as reinforcements in composites and assesses their overall performance - The chapters outline current and potential applications for each fiber and discuss their main strengths and weaknesses

Earth reinforcement techniques are used worldwide, providing dependable solutions to a wide range of geotechnical engineering problems.Well-established earth reinforcement technologies are regularly augmented by new materials, innovative construction techniques and advances in design and analysis. Furthermore, reinforced earth structures are increasingly seen as expedient and economical techniques in disaster situations, such as earthquakes, flooding or tsunamis. NEW HORIZONS in EARTH REINFORCEMENT contains contributions from the 5th International Symposium on Earth Reinforcement, Kyushu, Japan, 14-16 November 2007, and presents the very latest earth reinforcement techniques and design procedures. The volume showcases advances in materials and emerging applications, with special emphasis on disaster mitigation and geoenvironmental issues. The book will be invaluable to academics and professionals in geotechnical engineering.

Composite Reinforcements for Optimum Performance, Second Edition, has been brought fully up to date with the latest developments in the field. It reviews the materials, properties and modelling techniques used in composite production and highlights their uses in optimizing performance. Part I covers materials for reinforcements in composites, including chapters on fibers, carbon nanotubes and ceramics as reinforcement materials. In Part II, different types of structures for reinforcements are discussed, with chapters covering woven and braided reinforcements, three-dimensional fibre structures and two methods of modelling the geometry of textile reinforcements: WiseTex and TexGen. Part III focuses on the properties of composite reinforcements, with chapters on topics such as in-plane shear properties, transverse compression, bending and permeability properties. Finally, Part IV covers the characterization and modelling of reinforcements in composites, with chapters focusing on microscopic and mesoscopic approaches, X-ray tomography analysis and modelling reinforcement forming processes. With its distinguished editor and international team of contributors, Composite Reinforcements for Optimum Performance, Second Edition, is an essential reference for designers and engineers working in the composite and composite reinforcement manufacturing industry, as well as all those with an academic research interest in the subject. - Discusses the characterization and modeling of reinforcements in composites, focusing on such topics as microscopic and mesoscopic approaches, X-ray tomography analysis, and modeling reinforcement forming processes - Provides comprehensive coverage of the types and properties of reinforcement in composites, along with their production and performance optimization - Includes sections on NCF (non-crimp fabrics), natural fiber reinforcements, tufting composite reinforcements, sustainability, multiscale modeling, knitted reinforcements, and more