Hacking the Kinect is the technogeek's guide to developing software and creating projects involving the groundbreaking volumetric sensor known as the Microsoft Kinect. Microsoft's release of the Kinect in the fall of 2010 startled the technology world by providing a low-cost sensor that can detect and track body movement in three-dimensional space. The Kinect set new records for the fastest-selling gadget of all time. It has been adopted worldwide by hobbyists, robotics enthusiasts, artists, and even some entrepreneurs hoping to build business around the technology. Hacking the Kinect introduces you to programming for the Kinect. You'll learn to set up a software environment, stream data from the Kinect, and write code to interpret that data. The progression of hands-on projects in the book leads you even deeper into an understanding of how the device functions and how you can apply it to create fun and educational projects. Who knows? You might even come up with a business idea.* Provides an excellent source of fun and educational projects for a tech-savvy parent to pursue with a son or daughter * Leads you progressively from making your very first connection to the Kinect through mastery of its full feature set * Shows how to interpret the Kinect data stream in order to drive your own software and hardware applications, including robotics applications What you'll learn * How to create a software environment and connect to the Kinect from your PC * How to create three-dimensional images from the Kinect data stream * How to recognize and work around hardware limitations * How to build computer interfaces in the style of Minority Report * How to interact directly with objects in the virtual world * The ins and outs of point clouds, voxel occupancy maps, depth images, and other fundamentals of volumetric sensor technology Who this book is for Hacking the Kinect is aimed at makers of all types. Tech-savvy artists can use the Kinect to drive three-dimensional, interactive artwork. Robotics hobbyists can create robots capable of seeing and responding to human motion and gesture.Programmers can create applications in which users manipulate data through physical motion and gestures. The creative possibilities are limitless, and fun Hacking the Kinect does require some programming background. Familiarity with programming in C++ or similar languages is assumed. Readers should also be reasonably comfortable working with electronics - for example, with Arduino or similar equipment. Table of Contents * Introducing the Kinect * Hardware * Software * Computer Vision * Gesture Recognition * Voxelization * Introducing Point Clouds * Enhancing Our Point Clouds * Object Modeling and Detection * Multiple Kinects

Successfully Measure the Benefits of Green Design and Construction Sustainability in Engineering Design and Construction outlines the sustainable practices used in engineering design and construction operations for all types of engineering and construction projects. Aimed at ushering the engineering and construction industry into embracing sustainable practices and green construction techniques, this book addresses sustainability in engineering design and construction operations from a historical and global perspective, and delves into specific sustainability concepts and processes.The book explains the concepts of sustainable development, corporate social responsibility (CSR), the Dow Jones Global Sustainability Index (DJGSI), key performance indicators (KPIs), corporate sustainability, and the triple bottom line (economic, environmental, and social values in design and construction). Relevant to sustainability in every facet of engineering and construction, it also covers life-cycle environmental cost analysis, discusses sustainable engineering and site selection, the economic considerations evaluated when making sustainability decisions, and explains how to measure and quantify sustainable performance and apply these practices in the real world. It also covers project and corporate level sustainability practices, sustainable construction materials and processes, sustainable heavy construction equipment, traditional and alternative energy sources, provides implementation resources for starting and evaluating sustainability programs, and includes a checklist for measuring the sustainability of construction operations. The text contains detailed information on sustainable construction materials and processes, heavy construction equipment, and traditional and alternative energy sources. It presents information on sustainable designs, selecting sustainable sites, designing for passive survivability, designing for disassembly, and the ISO 14,000 standards. It provides implementation resources for starting and evaluating sustainability programs and a checklist for measuring the sustainability of construction operations In addition, it provides definitions of sustainability terms and expressions, as well as case studies, examples, discussion questions, and a list of supplemental references at the end of each chapter. This book provides information on: Definitions for sustainability terms Sources for locating global sustainability requirements Current sustainability issues Environmental laws related to sustainability and their implications Sustainable design Life-cycle cost assessment models Sustainable practices currently being used in the engineering and construction (E&C) industry Corporate-level sustainability practices Project-level sustainability practices Global sustainability trends and implications Sustainable materials Sustainable heavy construction equipment Traditional and alternative energy sources LEED Green Building Rating System Sustainability organizations and certification programs Sustainability implementation resources A summary of sustainable engineering design and construction

Few publications cover the full span of the history of revolutionary movements in Latin America. In Revolution and Revolutionaries, editor Daniel Castro examines all aspects of guerrilla warfare-from revolutionary programs to the repressive tactics used by various governments to rid themselves of the threats presented by revolutionary movements. In addition to illustrating specific cases of guerrilla struggles, Revolution and Revolutionaries also analyzes the political and social conditions that made the outbreak of revolutionary movements throughout the region unavoidable. Finally, Castro examines the remaining guerrilla movements still active in Latin America as the century comes to a close. Revolution and Revolutionaries revives the debate about the viability of revolutionary violence in Latin America, and will interest those studying Latin American history and sociology, and political science.

Few publications cover the full span of the history of revolutionary movements in Latin America. In Revolution and Revolutionaries, editor Daniel Castro examines all aspects of guerrilla warfare-from revolutionary programs to the repressive tactics used by various governments to rid themselves of the threats presented by revolutionary movements. In addition to illustrating specific cases of guerrilla struggles, Revolution and Revolutionaries also analyzes the political and social conditions that made the outbreak of revolutionary movements throughout the region unavoidable. Finally, Castro examines the remaining guerrilla movements still active in Latin America as the century comes to a close. Revolution and Revolutionaries revives the debate about the viability of revolutionary violence in Latin America, and will interest those studying Latin American history and sociology, and political science.

The Spanish cleric Bartolome de Las Casas is a key figure in the history of Spain's conquest of the Americas. Las Casas condemned the torture and murder of natives by the conquistadores in reports to the Spanish royal court and in tracts such as A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies (1552). For his unrelenting denunciation of the colonialists' atrocities, Las Casas has been revered as a noble protector of the Indians and as a pioneering anti-imperialist. He has become a larger-than-life figure invoked by generations of anticolonialists in Europe and Latin America. Separating historical reality from myth, Daniel Castro provides a nuanced, revisionist assessment of the friar's career, writings, and political activities. Castro argues that Las Casas was very much an imperialist. Intent on converting the Indians to Christianity, the religion of the colonizers, Las Casas simply offered the natives another face of empire: a paternalistic, ecclesiastical imperialism. Castro contends that while the friar was a skilled political manipulator, influential at what was arguably the world's most powerful sixteenth-century imperial court, his advocacy on behalf of the natives had little impact on their lives. Analyzing Las Casas's extensive writings, Castro points out that in his many years in the Americas, Las Casas spent very little time among the indigenous people he professed to love, and he made virtually no effort to learn their languages. He saw himself as an emissary from a superior culture with a divine mandate to impose a set of ideas and beliefs on the colonized. He differed from his compatriots primarily in his antipathy to violence as the means for achieving conversion.