The Marching Cubes algorithm is a popular high-resolution isosurface extraction method used in volume data visualization. However, it is relatively computationally intensive making real-time operation on normal workstations a diicult goal when applied to large datasets. One solution is to transform the serial algorithm into a vector-parallel algorithm designed to exploit the potential computing...

We present a technique for texture mapping arbitrary sphere-like surfaces with minimal distortions by spherical embedding. The embedding is computed using spherical multi-dimensional scaling (MDS). MDS is a family of methods that map a set of points into a nite dimensional domain by minimizing the difference in distances between every pair of points in the original and the new embedding domain...

B ecause of their well-documented advantages, randomized controlled trials (RCTs) represent the gold standard for testing hypotheses in medical research. However, RCTs are not ideal for addressing certain research questions (e.g., the risk for renal insufficiency associated with alcohol intake). In addition, conducting a properly designed RCT often requires substantial time and resources. For t...

Throughout our history, the United States has come to the rescue of many countries under siege from wars, national disasters, and overt poverty. At this time in our history, it is our older adult community that is a facing a threat to its general welfare. A growing older adult population, increasing longevity with accompanying frailty, depleted governmental resources, and minimal Medicare/Medic...

In this paper we present a novel probabilistic sampling-based motion planning algorithm called the Fast Marching Tree algorithm (FMT∗ ). The algorithm is specifically aimed at solving complex motion planning problems in highdimensional configuration spaces. This algorithm is proven to be asymptotically optimal and is shown to converge to an optimal solution faster than its state-of-the-art coun...

A characterization and classification of the isosurfaces of trilinear functions is presented. Based upon these results, a new algorithm for computing a triangular mesh approximation to isosurfaces for data given on a 3D rectilinear grid is presented. The original marching cubes algorithm is based upon linear interpolation along edges of the voxels. The asymptotic decider method is based upon bi...

In robotics it is well known that antipodal grasps can be achieved on curved objects in the presence of friction. This paper presents an efficient algorithm that computes, up to numerical resolution, all pairs of antipodal points on a simple, closed, and twice continuously differentiable plane curve. Dissecting the curve into segments everywhere convex or everywhere concave, the algorithm perfo...