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Surface Points (surface + point)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Engineering	25%

Selected Abstracts

Three-dimensional distribution of no sources in a primary mechanosensory integration center in the locust and its implications for volume signaling

THE JOURNAL OF COMPARATIVE NEUROLOGY, Issue 15 2010
Daniel Münch
Abstract Nitric oxide (NO) is an evolutionarily conserved mediator of neural plasticity. Because NO is highly diffusible, signals from multiple sources might combine in space and time to affect the same target. Whether such cooperative effects occur will depend on the effective signaling range and on the distances of NO sources to one another and to their targets. These anatomical parameters have been quantified in only few systems. We analyzed the 3D architecture of NO synthase (NOS) expression in a sensory neuropil, the ventral association center (VAC) of the locust. High-resolution confocal microscopy revealed NOS immunoreactive fiber boutons in submicrometer proximity to both the axon terminals of sensory neurons and their postsynaptic target, interneuron A4I1. Pharmacological manipulation of NO signaling affected the response of A4I1 to individual wind-puff stimuli and the response decrement during repetitive stimulation. Mapping NOS immunoreactivity in defined volumes around dendrites of A4I1 revealed NOS-positive fiber boutons within 5 ,m of nearly every surface point. The mean distances between neighboring NOS-boutons and between any point within the VAC and its nearest NOS-bouton were likewise about 5 ,m. For an NO signal to convey the identity of its source, the effective signaling range would therefore have to be less than 5 ,m, and shorter still when multiple boutons release NO simultaneously. The architecture is therefore well suited to support the cooperative generation of volume signals by interaction between the signals from multiple active boutons. J. Comp. Neurol. 518:2903,2916, 2010. © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]

Three-dimensional distribution of NO sources in a primary mechanosensory integration center in the locust and its implications for volume signaling

Immersive Integration of Physical and Virtual Environments

COMPUTER GRAPHICS FORUM, Issue 3 2004
Henry Fuchs
We envision future work and play environments in which the user's computing interface is more closely integrated with the physical surroundings than today's conventional computer display screens and keyboards. We are working toward realizable versions of such environments, in which multiple video projectors and digital cameras enable every visible surface to be both measured in 3D and used for display. If the 3D surface positions were transmitted to a distant location, they may also enable distant collaborations to become more like working in adjacent offices connected by large windows. With collaborators at the University of Pennsylvania, Brown University, Advanced Network and Services, and the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center, we at Chapel Hill have been working to bring these ideas to reality. In one system, depth maps are calculated from streams of video images and the resulting 3D surface points are displayed to the user in head-tracked stereo. Among the applications we are pursuing for this tele-presence technology, is advanced training for trauma surgeons by immersive replay of recorded procedures. Other applications display onto physical objects, to allow more natural interaction with them "painting" a dollhouse, for example. More generally, we hope to demonstrate that the principal interface of a future computing environment need not be limited to a screen the size of one or two sheets of paper. Just as a useful physical environment is all around us, so too can the increasingly ubiquitous computing environment be all around us -integrated seamlessly with our physical surroundings. [source]

Freeform Shape Representations for Efficient Geometry Processing

COMPUTER GRAPHICS FORUM, Issue 3 2003
Leif Kobbelt
The most important concepts for the handling and storage of freeform shapes in geometry processing applications are parametric representations and volumetric representations. Both have their specific advantages and drawbacks. While the algebraic complexity of volumetric representations is independent from the shape complexity, the domain of a parametric representation usually has to have the same structure as the surface itself (which sometimes makes it necessary to update the domain when the surface is modified). On the other hand, the topology of a parametrically defined surface can be controlled explicitly while in a volumetric representation, the surface topology can change accidentally during deformation. A volumetric representation reduces distance queries or inside/outside tests to mere function evaluations but the geodesic neighborhood relation between surface points is difficult to resolve. As a consequence, it seems promising to combine parametric and volumetric representations to effectively exploit both advantages. In this talk, a number of projects are presented and discussed in which such a combination leads to efficient and numerically stable algorithms for the solution of various geometry processing tasks. Applications include global error control for mesh decimation and smoothing, topology control for level-set surfaces, and shape modeling with unstructured point clouds. [source]

Gradient Estimation in Volume Data using 4D Linear Regression

COMPUTER GRAPHICS FORUM, Issue 3 2000
László Neumann
In this paper a new gradient estimation method is presented which is based on linear regression. Previous contextual shading techniques try to fit an approximate function to a set of surface points in the neighborhood of a given voxel. Therefore a system of linear equations has to be solved using the computationally expensive Gaussian elimination. In contrast, our method approximates the density function itself in a local neighborhood with a 3D regression hyperplane. This approach also leads to a system of linear equations but we will show that it can be solved with an efficient convolution. Our method provides at each voxel location the normal vector and the translation of the regression hyperplane which are considered as a gradient and a filtered density value respectively. Therefore this technique can be used for surface smoothing and gradient estimation at the same time. [source]

Steady-state 3D rolling-contact using boundary elements

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR NUMERICAL METHODS IN BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING, Issue 10 2007
R. Abascal
Abstract This work presents a new approach to the steady-state rolling contact problem for 3D elastic bodies. The problem solution is achieved by minimizing a general function representing the equilibrium equation and the rolling-contact restrictions. The boundary element method is used to compute the elastic influence coefficients of the surface points involved in the contact (equilibrium equations); while the contact conditions are represented with the help of projection functions. Finally, the minimization problem is solved by the generalized Newton's method with line search. Classic rolling problems are also solved and commented. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]

Modeling and predicting binding affinity of phencyclidine-like compounds using machine learning methods

JOURNAL OF CHEMOMETRICS, Issue 1 2010
Ozlem Erdas
Abstract Machine learning methods have always been promising in the science and engineering fields, and the use of these methods in chemistry and drug design has advanced especially since the 1990s. In this study, molecular electrostatic potential (MEP) surfaces of phencyclidine-like (PCP-like) compounds are modeled and visualized in order to extract features that are useful in predicting binding affinities. In modeling, the Cartesian coordinates of MEP surface points are mapped onto a spherical self-organizing map (SSOM). The resulting maps are visualized using electrostatic potential (ESP) values. These values also provide features for a prediction system. Support vector machines and partial least-squares method are used for predicting binding affinities of compounds. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]

A uniform evaluation of the PO integral for 2D cylinders with arbitrary contour

MICROWAVE AND OPTICAL TECHNOLOGY LETTERS, Issue 5 2008
Felipe Vico Bondia
Abstract A new 2D fast physical optics method is presented for computing the field diffracted by a conducting cylinder with arbitrary contour. This method produces a fast solution with uniform accuracy in all frequencies and incidence/observation angles. The method is a combination of different techniques such as path deformation, Morse theory, and Fourier LS continuation. The technique presented here is also valid and uniformly accurate near the caustic singularities produced by surface points with infinite curvature radius. This method also takes into account the endpoint contributions. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 50: 1418,1423, 2008; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.23364 [source]