Shadow mapping algorithms: Applications and limitations

This study provides an overview of popular and famous algorithms and techniques in shadow maps generation.Well- known techniques in shadow maps generation is described detail, along with a discussion of the advantages and drawbacks of each. Basic ideas, improvements and future works of the techniques are also comprehensively summarized and analyzed in depth. Often, programmers have difficulty selecting an appropriate shadow generation algorithm that is specific to their purpose. We have classified and systemized these techniques. The main goal of this paper is to provide researchers with background on a variety of shadow mapping techniques so as make it easier for them to choose the method best suited to their aims. It is al-so hoped that our analysis will help researchers find solutions to the shortcomings of each technique. © 2015 NSP Natural Sciences Publishing Co

Computer Science & Technology Series : XIX Argentine Congress of Computer Science. Selected papers

CACIC’13 was the nineteenth Congress in the CACIC series. It was organized by the Department of Computer Systems at the CAECE University in Mar del Plata. The Congress included 13 Workshops with 165 accepted papers, 5 Conferences, 3 invited tutorials, different meetings related with Computer Science Education (Professors, PhD students, Curricula) and an International School with 5 courses. CACIC 2013 was organized following the traditional Congress format, with 13 Workshops covering a diversity of dimensions of Computer Science Research. Each topic was supervised by a committee of 3-5 chairs of different Universities. The call for papers attracted a total of 247 submissions. An average of 2.5 review reports were collected for each paper, for a grand total of 676 review reports that involved about 210 different reviewers. A total of 165 full papers, involving 489 authors and 80 Universities, were accepted and 25 of them were selected for this book.Red de Universidades con Carreras en Informática (RedUNCI

A platform to restore intra-tissue flow in live explant assays

Tissue resection during first-line surgery is a standard strategy in the clinic for several life-threatening diseases, such as cancer. In case of malignancy, despite the benefits from surgery, cancer often becomes treatment-resistant and metastasises, limiting therapeutic options and patient survival. Due to tumour heterogeneity, treatment personalisation can improve patient outcomes, however tools based on native tissue samples, used for patient-specific drug screening remain very limited. This is primarily due to the diffusion-limited mass transport in static culture conditions, where tissue viability is rapidly reduced due to ischemia. Our aim is to develop a platform that restores intra-tissue flow through native tissue specimens to prolong their preservation ex vivo. Flow of culture media around tissue specimens has been commonly used for sample preservation. However, the efficacy of most currently available platforms has been limited, as ex vivo specimen perfusion is not facilitated in these technologies. As fluid is allowed to travel around specimen periphery, intra-tissue flow is hydraulically disadvantaged and benefits from culture media renewal only affect cells within 200 μm from explant surface. In this thesis, a novel system is presented that comprises a channel-based device with a suitably-designed constriction to block peri-fusion (i.e. flow around the tissue) and facilitate specimen entrapment and perfusion. Using a syringe pump, device efficacy to facilitate intra-tissue flow was investigated, showing that the induced perfusion occurred through both the vasculature and the interstitium. The effects of perfusion on specimen maintenance and function were also investigated. It was showed that healthy mouse liver and cancerous mouse and human omental specimens were better preserved under perfused conditions in the developed apparatus for 48h. Intra-tissue flow was also effective to inhibit cell metabolism after a 2h-specimen perfusion with a metabolic poison, suggesting this system may have great potential for predictive, live explant assays.Open Acces

Computer Science & Technology Series : XVIII Argentine Congress of Computer Science. Selected papers

CACIC’12 was the eighteenth Congress in the CACIC series. It was organized by the School of Computer Science and Engineering at the Universidad Nacional del Sur. The Congress included 13 Workshops with 178 accepted papers, 5 Conferences, 2 invited tutorials, different meetings related with Computer Science Education (Professors, PhD students, Curricula) and an International School with 5 courses. CACIC 2012 was organized following the traditional Congress format, with 13 Workshops covering a diversity of dimensions of Computer Science Research. Each topic was supervised by a committee of 3-5 chairs of different Universities. The call for papers attracted a total of 302 submissions. An average of 2.5 review reports were collected for each paper, for a grand total of 752 review reports that involved about 410 different reviewers. A total of 178 full papers, involving 496 authors and 83 Universities, were accepted and 27 of them were selected for this book.Red de Universidades con Carreras en Informática (RedUNCI

Mitochondrial Metabolism Elucidated by Rapid Fractionation from Tissue

Mitochondria are metabolic hubs, with many diseases found to have altered metabolism and mitochondrial dysfunction, such as ischaemia-reperfusion injury. A detailed understanding of the metabolic changes in different cellular pools would aid diagnosis and treatment. However, the current methods of mitochondrial isolation are too slow to provide a snapshot of purely mitochondrial metabolism, meaning that current metabolic data is only from whole cell. This project has developed and used a novel technique to rapidly isolate mitochondria from tissue by density centrifugation through silicone oil, with a view to assess the mitochondrial metabolic changes during ischaemia-reperfusion injury. This method has minimal cytosolic contamination and is completed in under 5 minutes, and mass spectroscopy analysis has shown enrichment of mitochondrial metabolites. Seahorse and Oroboros analysis have shown that the mitochondria are functional and capable of coupled respiration. Data is presented on how the method optimisation was analysed and developed. This largely reduced time frame gives the advantage over other methods to enable the study of metabolism in mitochondria

Telemorphosis: Theory in the Era of Climate Change, Vol. 1

The writers in the volume ask, implicitly, how the 21st century horizons that exceed any political, economic, or conceptual models alters or redefines a series of key topoi. These range through figures of sexual difference, bioethics, care, species invasion, war, post-carbon thought, ecotechnics, time, and so on. As such, the volume is also a dossier on what metamorphoses await the legacies of -humanistic- thought in adapting to, or rethinking, the other materialities that impinge of contemporary -life as we know it.- With essays by Robert Markley, J. Hillis Miller, Bernard Stiegler, Justin Read, Timothy Clark, Claire Colebrook, Jason Groves, Joanna Zylinska, Catherine Malabou, Mike Hill, Martin McQuillan, Eduardo Cadava and Tom Cohen

Hardware Acceleration of Progressive Refinement Radiosity using Nvidia RTX

A vital component of photo-realistic image synthesis is the simulation of indirect diffuse reflections, which still remain a quintessential hurdle that modern rendering engines struggle to overcome. Real-time applications typically pre-generate diffuse lighting information offline using radiosity to avoid performing costly computations at run-time. In this thesis we present a variant of progressive refinement radiosity that utilizes Nvidia's novel RTX technology to accelerate the process of form-factor computation without compromising on visual fidelity. Through a modern implementation built on DirectX 12 we demonstrate that offloading radiosity's visibility component to RT cores significantly improves the lightmap generation process and potentially propels it into the domain of real-time.Comment: 114 page

Impasses of the Post-Global: Theory in the Era of Climate Change, Vol. 2

The diverse materials comprising Impasses of the Post-Global take as their starting point an interrelated, if seemingly endless sequence of current ecological, demographic, socio-political, economic, and informational disasters. These include the contemporary discourses of deconstruction, climate change, ecological imbalance and despoilment, sustainability, security, economic bailout, auto-immunity, and globalization itself. With essays by James H. Bunn, Rey Chow, Bruce Clarke, Tom Cohen, Randy Martin, Yates McKee, Alberto Moreiras, Haun Saussy, Tian Song, Henry Sussman, Samuel Weber, Ewa P. Ziarek, and Kryzsztof Ziarek