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Human faces are familiar to our visual systems. We easily recognize a person's face in arbitrary lighting conditions and in a variety of poses; detect small appearance changes; and notice subtle expression details. Can computer vision systems process face images as well as human vision systems can Face image processing has potential applications in surveillance, image and video search, social networking, and other domains. A comprehensive guide to this fascinating topic, this book provides a systematic description of modeling face geometry and appearance from images, including information on mathematical tools, physical concepts, image processing and computer vision techniques, and concrete prototype systems. The book will be an excellent reference for researchers and graduate students in computer vision, computer graphics, and multimedia as well as application developers who would like to gain a better understanding of the state of the art.

Providing all the necessary theoretical tools, this comprehensive introduction to machine vision shows how these tools are applied in actual image processing and machine vision systems. A key feature is the inclusion of many programming exercises giving insights into the development of practical image processing algorithms. A CD-ROM containing software and data used in these exercises is also included. Aimed at graduate students in electrical engineering, computer science, and mathematics, the book will be a useful reference for professionals as well.

The new field of machine ethics is concerned with giving machines ethical principles, or a procedure for discovering a way to resolve the ethical dilemmas they might encounter, enabling them to function in an ethically responsible manner through their own ethical decision making. Developing ethics for machines, in contrast to developing ethics for human beings who use machines, is by its nature an interdisciplinary endeavor. The essays in this volume represent the first steps by philosophers and artificial intelligence researchers toward explaining why it is necessary to add an ethical dimension to machines that function autonomously, what is required in

Ambient Intelligence is a vision of the future where the world will be surrounded by electronic environments sensitive and responsive to people, wherein devices work in concert to support people in carrying out their everyday life activities, in an easy and natural way. This edited volume is based on the workshop Multimedia Techniques for Ambient Intelligence (MTDAI08), held in Mogliano Veneto, Italy in March 2008. Contributed by world renowned leaders in the field from academia and industry, this volume is dedicated to research on technologies used to improve the intelligence capability of multimedia devices for imaging, image processing and computer vision. Focuses on recent developments in digital signal processing, including evolutions in audiovisual signal processing, analysis, coding and authentication, and retrieval techniques. Designed for researchers and professionals, this book is also suitable for advanced-level students in computer science and electrical engineering.

This digital document is a journal article from European Journal of Operational Research, published by Elsevier in 2007. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.Description: The present article focuses on the application of a procedure based on ant colonies to solve an assembly line balancing problem. After an introduction to assembly line problems, the problem under study is presented: the Time and Space constrained Assembly Line Balancing Problem (TSALBP); and a basic model of one of its variants is put forward for study. Subsequently, an ant algorithm is presented that incorporates some ideas that have offered good results with simple balancing problems. Finally, the validity of the proposed algorithms is tested by means of a computational experience with reference instances, and the conclusions of the study are presented.

Whether for computer evaluation of otherworldly terrain or the latest high definition 3D blockbuster, digital image processing involves the acquisition, analysis, and processing of visual information by computer and requires a unique skill set that has yet to be defined a single text. Until now. Taking an applications-oriented, engineering approach, Digital Image Processing and Analysis provides the tools for developing and advancing computer and human vision applications and brings image processing and analysis together into a unified framework.Providing information and background in a logical, as-needed fashion, the author presents topics as they become necessary for understanding the practical imaging model under study. He offers a conceptual presentation of the material for a solid understanding of complex topics and discusses the theory and foundations of digital image processing and the algorithm development needed to advance the field. With liberal use of color through-out and more materials on the processing of color images than the previous edition, this book provides supplementary exercises, a new chapter on applications, and two major new tools that allow for batch processing, the analysis of imaging algorithms, and the overall research and development of imaging applications. It includes two new software tools, the Computer Vision and Image Processing Algorithm Test and Analysis Tool (CVIP-ATAT) and the CVIP Feature Extraction and Pattern Classification Tool (CVIP-FEPC).Divided into five major sections, this book provides the concepts and models required to analyze digital images and develop computer vision and human consumption applications as well as all the necessary information to use the CVIPtools environment for algorithm development, making it an ideal reference tool for this fast growing field.

Finite element method has been the dominant technique in computational mechanics in the past decades, and it has made significant contributions to the developments in engineering and science. Nevertheless, finite element method is not well suited to problems having severe mesh distortion owing to extremely large deformations of materials, encountering moving discontinuities such as crack propagation along arbitrary and complex paths, involving considerable meshing and re-meshing in structural optimization problems, or having multidomain of influence in multi-phenomenon physical problems. It is impossible to completely overcome those mesh-related difficulties by a mesh-based method. The highly structured nature of finite element approximations imposes severe penalties in the solutions of those problems.

Distinguishing with finite element, finite difference and finite volume methods, meshless method discretizes the continuum body only with a set of nodal points and the approximation is constructed entirely in terms of nodes. There is no need of mesh or elements in this method. It does not posses the mesh related difficulties, eliminates at least part of the FE structure, and provides an approach with more flexibility in the applications in engineering and science.

The meshless method started to capture the interest of a broader community of researchers only several years ago, and now it becomes a growing and evolving field. It is showing that this is a very rich area to be explored, and has great promise for many very challenging computational problems. On the one hand, great developments on meshless methods have been achieved. On the other hand, there are many aspects of meshless methods that could be benefit from improvements. A broader community of researchers can bring divergent skills and backgrounds to bear on the task of improving this method.

The main objective of this book is to provide a textbook for graduate courses on the computational analysis of continuum and solid mechanics based on meshless (also known as mesh free) methods. It can also be used as a reference book for engineers and scientists who are exploring the physical world through computer simulations. Emphasis of this book is given to the understanding of the physical and mathematical characteristics of the procedures of computational solid mechanics. It naturally brings the essence, advantages and challenging problems of meshless methods into the picture.

The subjects in this book cover the fundamentals of continuum mechanics, the integral formulation methods of continuum problems, the basic concepts of finite element methods, and the methodologies, formulations, procedures, and applications of various meshless methods. It also provides general and detailed procedures of meshless analysis on elastostatics, elastodynamics, non-local continuum mechanics and plasticity with a large number of numerical examples. Some basic and important mathematical methods are included in the Appendixes. For the readers who want to gain knowledge through hands-on experience, the meshless programs for elastostatics and elastodynamics are also introduced in the book.

Bioinformatics is growing by leaps and bounds; theories/algorithms/statistical techniques are constantly evolving. Nevertheless, a core body of algorithmic ideas have emerged and researchers are beginning to adopt a "problem solving" approach to bioinformatics, wherein they use solutions to well-abstracted problems as building blocks to solve larger scope problems.Problem Solving Handbook for Computational Biology and Bioinformatics is an edited volume contributed by world renowned leaders in this field. This comprehensive handbook with problem solving emphasis, covers all relevant areas of computational biology and bioinformatics. Web resources and related themes are highlighted at every opportunity in this central easy-to-read reference.Designed for advanced-level students, researchers and professors in computer science and bioengineering as a reference or secondary text, this handbook is also suitable for professionals working in this industry.

Practical data design tips from a data visualization expert of the modern ageData doesnt decrease; it is ever-increasing and can be overwhelming to organize in a way that makes sense to its intended audience. Wouldnt it be wonderful if we could actually visualize data in such a way that we could maximize its potential and tell a story in a clear, concise manner Thanks to the creative genius of Nathan Yau, we can. With this full-color book, data visualization guru and author Nathan Yau uses step-by-step tutorials to show you how to visualize and tell stories with data. He explains how to gather, parse, and format data and then design high quality graphics that help you explore and present patterns, outliers, and relationships.Presents a unique approach to visualizing and telling stories with data, from a data visualization expert and the creator of flowingdata.com, Nathan YauOffers step-by-step tutorials and practical design tips for creating statistical graphics, geographical maps, and information design to find meaning in the numbersDetails tools that can be used to visualize data-native graphics for the Web, such as ActionScript, Flash libraries, PHP, and JavaScript and tools to design graphics for print, such as R and IllustratorContains numerous examples and descriptions of patterns and outliers and explains how to show themVisualize This demonstrates how to explain data visually so that you can present your information in a way that is easy to understand and appealing.

This book provides a rigorous algebraic study of the most popular inference formalisms with a special focus on their wide application area, showing that all these tasks can be performed by a single generic inference algorithm. Written by the leading international authority on the topic, it includes an algebraic perspective (study of the valuation algebra framework), an algorithmic perspective (study of the generic inference schemes) and a "practical" perspective (formalisms and applications). Researchers in a number of fields including artificial intelligence, operational research, databases and other areas of computer science; graduate students; and professional programmers of inference methods will benefit from this work.