..".the perfect companion to "Programming Massively Parallel Processors" by Hwu & Kirk." -Nicolas Pinto, Research Scientist at Harvard & MIT, NVIDIA Fellow 2009-2010

Graphics processing units (GPUs) can do much more than render graphics. Scientists and researchers increasingly look to GPUs to improve the efficiency and performance of computationally-intensive experiments across a range of disciplines.

"GPU Computing Gems: Emerald Edition" brings their techniques to you, showcasing GPU-based solutions including: Black hole simulations with CUDAGPU-accelerated computation and interactive display of molecular orbitalsTemporal data mining for neuroscienceGPU -based parallelization for fast circuit optimizationFast graph cuts for computer visionReal-time stereo on GPGPU using progressive multi-resolution adaptive windowsGPU image demosaicingTomographic image reconstruction from unordered lines with CUDAMedical image processing using GPU -accelerated ITK image filters"41 more chapters" of innovative GPU computing ideas, written to be accessible to researchers from any domain

"GPU Computing Gems: Emerald Edition" is the first volume in Morgan Kaufmann's Applications of GPU Computing Series, offering the latest insights and research in computer vision, electronic design automation, emerging data-intensive applications, life sciences, medical imaging, ray tracing and rendering, scientific simulation, signal and audio processing, statistical modeling, and video / image processing.
Covers the breadth of industry from scientific simulation and electronic design automation to audio / video processing, medical imaging, computer vision, and moreMany examples leverage NVIDIA's CUDA parallel computing architecture, the most widely-adopted massively parallel programming solutionOffers insights and ideas as well as practical "hands-on" skills you can immediately put to use

With the advancement of technology in the modern world, the constant influx of data, information, and computing can become droning and one-dimensional. Re-examining these methods through a different approach helps highlight broader perspectives and further understanding. Applying abstract and holistic methods, such as nature and visualization, to computing technologies is a developing area of study but has yet to be empirically researched. Graphical Thinking for Science and Technology Through Knowledge Visualization provides emerging research exploring the theoretical and practical aspects of implementing visuals and images within data and information. The text contains projects, examples of students' solutions, and invites the reader to apply graphical thinking. Featuring coverage on a broad range of topics such as nanoscale structures, computer graphics, and data visualization, this book is ideally designed for software engineers, instructional designers, researchers, scientists, artists, marketers, media professionals, and students seeking current research on applying artistic solutions within information and computing.

A compilation of key chapters from the top MK computer animation books available today - in the areas of motion capture, facial features, solid spaces, fluids, gases, biology, point-based graphics, and Maya. The chapters provide CG Animators with an excellent sampling of essential techniques that every 3D artist needs to create stunning and versatile images. Animators will be able to master myriad modeling, rendering, and texturing procedures with advice from MK's best and brightest authors.

Divided into five parts (Introduction to Computer Animation and Technical Background, Motion Capture Techniques, Animating Substances, Alternate Methods, and Animating with MEL for MAYA), each one focusing on specific substances, tools, topics, and languages, this is a MUST-HAVE book for artists interested in proficiency with the top technology available today Whether you're a programmer developing new animation functionality or an animator trying to get the most out of your current animation software, Computer Animation Complete: will help you work more efficiently and achieve better results. For programmers, this book provides a solid theoretical orientation and extensive practical instruction information you can put to work in any development or customization project. For animators, it provides crystal-clear guidance on determining which of your concepts can be realized using commercially available products, which demand custom programming, and what development strategies are likely to bring you the greatest success.
Expert instruction from a variety of pace-setting computer graphics researchers.Provides in-depth coverage of established and emerging animation algorithms.For readers who lack a strong scientific background, introduces the necessary concepts from mathematics, biology, and physics.A variety of individual languages and substances are addressed, but addressed separately - enhancing your grasp of the field as a whole while providing you with the ability to identify and implement solutions by category.

This book provides a full representation of Inverse Synthetic Aperture Radar (ISAR) imagery, which is a popular and important radar signal processing tool. The book covers all possible aspects of ISAR imaging. The book offers a fair amount of signal processing techniques and radar basics before introducing the inverse problem of ISAR and the forward problem of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR). Important concepts of SAR such as resolution, pulse compression and image formation are given together with associated MATLAB codes.

After providing the fundamentals for ISAR imaging, the book gives the detailed imaging procedures for ISAR imaging with associated MATLAB functions and codes. To enhance the image quality in ISAR imaging, several imaging tricks and fine-tuning procedures such as zero-padding and windowing are also presented. Finally, various real applications of ISAR imagery, like imaging the antenna-platform scattering, are given in a separate chapter. For all these algorithms, MATLAB codes and figures are included. The final chapter considers advanced concepts and trends in ISAR imaging.

This book takes a hemispheric approach to contemporary urban intervention, examining urban ecologies, communication technologies, and cultural practices in the twenty-first century. It argues that governmental and social regimes of control and forms of political resistance converge in speculation on disaster and that this convergence has formed a vision of urban environments in the Americas in which forms of play and imaginations of catastrophe intersect in the vertical field. Schifani explores a diverse range of resistant urban interventions, imagining the city as on the verge of or enmeshed in catastrophe. She also presents a model of ecocriticism that addresses aesthetic practices and forms of play in the urban environment. Tracing the historical roots of such tactics as well as mapping their hopes for the future will help the reader to locate the impacts of climate change not only on the physical space of the city, but also on the epistemological and aesthetic strategies that cities can help to engender. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of Urban Studies, Media Studies, American Studies, Global Studies, and the broad and interdisciplinary field of Environmental Humanities.

"Advances in Imaging and Electron Physics" merges two long-running serials-Advances in Electronics and Electron Physics and Advances in Optical and Electron Microscopy. This series features extended articles on the physics of electron devices (especially semiconductor devices), particle optics at high and low energies, microlithography, image science and digital image processing, electromagnetic wave propagation, electron microscopy, and the computing methods used in all these domains.
An important feature of these Advances is that the subjects are written in such a way that they can be understood by readers from other specialities.

Congruences are ubiquitous in computer science, engineering, mathematics, and related areas. Developing techniques for finding (the number of) solutions of congruences is an important problem. But there are many scenarios in which we are interested in only a subset of the solutions; in other words, there are some restrictions. What do we know about these restricted congruences, their solutions, and applications? This book introduces the tools that are needed when working on restricted congruences and then systematically studies a variety of restricted congruences. Restricted Congruences in Computing defines several types of restricted congruence, obtains explicit formulae for the number of their solutions using a wide range of tools and techniques, and discusses their applications in cryptography, information security, information theory, coding theory, string theory, quantum field theory, parallel computing, artificial intelligence, computational biology, discrete mathematics, number theory, and more. This is the first book devoted to restricted congruences and their applications. It will be of interest to graduate students and researchers across computer science, electrical engineering, and mathematics.

This book describes recent innovations in 3D media and technologies, with coverage of 3D media capturing, processing, encoding, and adaptation, networking aspects for 3D Media, and quality of user experience (QoE). The main contributions are based on the results of the FP7 European Projects ROMEO, which focus on new methods for the compression and delivery of 3D multi-view video and spatial audio, as well as the optimization of networking and compression jointly across the Future Internet (www.ict-romeo.eu).

The delivery of 3D media to individual users remains a highly challenging problem due to the large amount of data involved, diverse network characteristics and user terminal requirements, as well as the user s context such as their preferences and location. As the number of visual views increases, current systems will struggle to meet the demanding requirements in terms of delivery of constant video quality to both fixed and mobile users.

ROMEO will design and develop hybrid-networking solutions that combine the DVB-T2 and DVB-NGH broadcast access network technologies together with a QoE aware Peer-to-Peer (P2P) distribution system that operates over wired and wireless links. Live streaming 3D media needs to be received by collaborating users at the same time or with imperceptible delay to enable them to watch together while exchanging comments as if they were all in the same location.

The volume provides state-of-the-art information on 3D multi-view video, spatial audio networking protocols for 3D media, P2P 3D media streaming, and 3D Media delivery across heterogeneous wireless networks among other topics. Graduate students and professionals in electrical engineering and computer science with an interest in 3D Future Internet Media will find this volume to be essential reading."

A key technology enabling fast-paced embedded media processing developments is the high-performance, low-power, small-footprint convergent processor, a specialized device that combines the real-time control of a traditional microcontroller with the signal processing power of a DSP. This practical guide is your one-stop shop for understanding how to implement this cutting-edge technology. You will learn how to: * Choose the proper processor for an application. * Architect your system to avoid problems at the outset. * Manage your data flows and memory accesses so that they line up properly * Make smart-trade-offs in portable applications between power considerations and computational performance. * Divide processing tasks across multiple cores. * Program frameworks that optimize performance without needlessly increasing programming model complexity. * Implement benchmarking techniques that will help you adapt a framework to best fit a target application, and much more Covering the entire spectrum of EMP-related design issues, from easy-to-understand explanations of basic architecture and direct memory access (DMA), to in-depth discussions of code optimization and power management, this practical book will be an invaluable aid to every engineer working with EMP, from the beginner to the seasoned expert.

All disc-based content for this title is now available on the Web.

* Comprehensive subject coverage with emphasis on practical application * Essential assembly language code included throughout text * Many real-world examples using Analog's popular Blackfin Processor architecture

This publication contributes to the serious games field by investigating original contributions and methods that use serious games in various domains. This comprehensive and timely publication works as an essential reference source, building on the available literature in the field of Serious Games for the economic and social development of countries while providing for further research opportunities in this dynamic and growing field. Thus, the book provides the opportunity for a reflection on this important issue, increasing the understanding of the importance of Serious Games in the context of organizations' improvements, providing relevant academic work, empirical research findings, and an overview of this relevant field of study. This text provides the resources necessary for policy makers, technology developers and managers to adopt and implement solutions for a more digital era.

Trying to learn Maya programming from the documentation can be daunting whether or not you are a programmer. The first edition of "MEL Scripting for Maya Animators" earned the reputation as the best introductory book on MEL, Maya's scripting language. Now fully revised and updated, the second edition also includes new features, such as a discussion of global procedures, new chapters on fixing programming bottlenecks, advanced user interface techniques, and optimizing character rigs. New chapters on utility nodes and Maya's Web Panel feature provide new ideas on how to use MEL in applications.
This new edition has kept the popular style of the first edition that offered very clear explanations of programming concepts to those without programming experience. A generous collection of code examples and Maya scene files is included on the companion Web site. This is a book for animators, artists, game developers, visual effects developers, and technical directors who want to learn the fundamentals of Maya, how to automate tasks, personalize user interfaces, build custom tools, and solve problems with MEL.
* Fully updated with several new chapters.
* Profusely illustrated and includes a companion Web site with numerous code examples and scene files.
* The authors bring their extensive experience in professional production studios to provide expert guidance.

Image and signal processing techniques are receiving increasing interest because of their numerous real-world applications. Data is now available in different forms, different wavelengths, and even in different dimensions, creating the need for novel multidisciplinary solutions for automated data processing and analysis. Applied Signal and Image Processing: Multidisciplinary Advancements highlights the growing multidisciplinary nature of signal and image processing by focusing on emerging applications and recent advances in well-established fields. This book covers state-or-the-art applications in both signal and image processing, which include optical communication and sensing, wireless communication management, face recognition and facial imaging, solar imaging and feature detection, fractal analysis, and video processing.

In this book, differential evolution and its modified variants are applied to the clustering of data and images. Metaheuristics have emerged as potential algorithms for dealing with complex optimization problems, which are otherwise difficult to solve using traditional methods. In this regard, differential evolution is considered to be a highly promising technique for optimization and is being used to solve various real-time problems. The book studies the algorithms in detail, tests them on a range of test images, and carefully analyzes their performance. Accordingly, it offers a valuable reference guide for all researchers, students and practitioners working in the fields of artificial intelligence, optimization and data analytics.

The advancement of security technologies has allowed information systems to store more crucial and sensitive data. With these advancements, organisations turn to physiological and behavioral methods of identification in order to guard against unwanted intrusion. Research Developments in Biometrics and Video Processing Techniques investigates advanced techniques in user identification and security, including retinal, facial, and finger print scans as well as signature and voice authentication models. Through its in-depth examination of computer vision applications and other biometric security technologies, this reference volume will provide researchers, engineers, developers, and students with insight into the latest research on enhanced security systems design and development.

This book discusses the computational geometry, topology and physics of digital images and video frame sequences. This trio of computational approaches encompasses the study of shape complexes, optical vortex nerves and proximities embedded in triangulated video frames and single images, while computational geometry focuses on the geometric structures that infuse triangulated visual scenes. The book first addresses the topology of cellular complexes to provide a basis for an introductory study of the computational topology of visual scenes, exploring the fabric, shapes and structures typically found in visual scenes. The book then examines the inherent geometry and topology of visual scenes, and the fine structure of light and light caustics of visual scenes, which bring into play catastrophe theory and the appearance of light caustic folds and cusps. Following on from this, the book introduces optical vortex nerves in triangulated digital images. In this context, computational physics is synonymous with the study of the fine structure of light choreographed in video frames. This choreography appears as a sequence of snapshots of light reflected and refracted from surface shapes, providing a solid foundation for detecting, analyzing and classifying visual scene shapes.

This book provides a comprehensive guide to the state-of-the-art in cardiovascular computing and highlights novel directions and challenges in this constantly evolving multidisciplinary field. The topics covered span a wide range of methods and clinical applications of cardiovascular computing, including advanced technologies for the acquisition and analysis of signals and images, cardiovascular informatics, and mathematical and computational modeling.

This book introduces the applications of deep learning in various human centric visual analysis tasks, including classical ones like face detection and alignment and some newly rising tasks like fashion clothing parsing. Starting from an overview of current research in human centric visual analysis, the book then presents a tutorial of basic concepts and techniques of deep learning. In addition, the book systematically investigates the main human centric analysis tasks of different levels, ranging from detection and segmentation to parsing and higher-level understanding. At last, it presents the state-of-the-art solutions based on deep learning for every task, as well as providing sufficient references and extensive discussions. Specifically, this book addresses four important research topics, including 1) localizing persons in images, such as face and pedestrian detection; 2) parsing persons in details, such as human pose and clothing parsing, 3) identifying and verifying persons, such as face and human identification, and 4) high-level human centric tasks, such as person attributes and human activity understanding. This book can serve as reading material and reference text for academic professors / students or industrial engineers working in the field of vision surveillance, biometrics, and human-computer interaction, where human centric visual analysis are indispensable in analysing human identity, pose, attributes, and behaviours for further understanding.

This book shows how the web-based PhysGL programming environment (http://physgl.org) can be used to teach and learn elementary mechanics (physics) using simple coding exercises. The book's theme is that the lessons encountered in such a course can be used to generate physics-based animations, providing students with compelling and self-made visuals to aid their learning. Topics presented are parallel to those found in a traditional physics text, making for straightforward integration into a typical lecture-based physics course. Users will appreciate the ease at which compelling OpenGL-based graphics and animations can be produced using PhysGL, as well as its clean, simple language constructs. The author argues that coding should be a standard part of lower-division STEM courses, and provides many anecdotal experiences and observations, that include observed benefits of the coding work.

As the most natural and convenient means of conveying or transmitting information, images play a vital role in our daily lives. Image processing is now of paramount importance in the computer vision research community, and proper processing of two-dimensional (2D) real-life images plays a key role in many real-life applications as well as commercial developments. Intelligent Multidimensional Data and Image Processing is a vital research publication that contains an in-depth exploration of image processing techniques used in various applications, including how to handle noise removal, object segmentation, object extraction, and the determination of the nearest object classification and its associated confidence level. Featuring coverage on a broad range of topics such as object detection, machine vision, and image conversion, this book provides critical research for scientists, computer engineers, professionals, researchers, and academicians seeking current research on solutions for new challenges in 2D and 3D image processing.

The computer graphics (CG) industry is an attractive field for undergraduate students, but employers often find that graduates of CG art programmes are not proficient. The result is that many positions are left vacant, despite large numbers of job applicants. This book investigates how student CG artists develop proficiency. The subject is important to the rapidly growing number of educators in this sector, employers of graduates, and students who intend to develop proficiency for the purpose of obtaining employment. Educators will see why teaching software-oriented knowledge to students does not lead to proficiency, but that the development of problem-solving and visualisation skills do. This book follows a narrow focus, as students develop proficiency in a cognitively challenging task known as 'NURBS modelling'. This task was chosen due to an observed relationship between students who succeeded in the task, and students who successfully obtained employment after graduation. In the study this is based on, readers will be shown that knowledge-based explanations for the development of proficiency do not adequately account for proficiency or expertise in this field, where visualisation has been observed to develop suddenly rather than over an extended period of time. This is an unusual but not unique observation. Other studies have shown rapid development of proficiency and expertise in certain professions, such as among telegraph operators, composers and chess players. Based on these observations, the book argues that threshold concepts play a key role in the development of expertise among CG artists.

This textbook guides readers through their first steps into the challenging world of mimicking human vision with computational tools and techniques pertaining to the field of image processing and analysis. While today's theoretical and applied processing and analysis of images meet with challenging and complex problems, this primer is confined to a much simpler, albeit critical, collection of image-to-image transformations, including image normalisation, enhancement, and filtering.It serves as an introduction to beginners, a refresher for undergraduate and graduate students, as well as engineers and computer scientists confronted with a problem to solve in computer vision. The book covers basic image processing/computer vision pipeline techniques, which are widely used in today's computer vision, computer graphics, and image processing, giving the readers enough knowledge to successfully tackle a wide range of applied problems.