Making Them Move : Mechanics, Control & Animation of Articulated Figures

Current computer graphics hardware and software make it possible to synthesize near photo-realistic images, but the simulation of natural-looking motion of articulated figures remains a difficultand challenging task. Skillfully rendered animation of humans, animals, and robots can delight and move us, but simulating their realistic motion holds great promise for many other applications as well, including ergonomic engineering design, clinical diagnosis of pathological movements, rehabilitation therapy, and biomechanics.Making Them Move presents the work of leading researchers in computer graphics, psychology, robotics and mechanical engineering who were invited to attend the Workshop on the Mechanics, Control and Animation of ArticulatedFigures held at the MIT Media Lab in April 1989. The book explores biological and robotic motor control, as well as state-of-the-art computergraphics techniques for simulating human and animal figures in a natural and physically realistic manner.

Until the publication of Introduction to Nuclear Reactions, an introductory reference on nonrelativistic nuclear reactions had been unavailable. Providing a concise overview of nuclear reactions, this reference discusses the main formalisms, ranging from basic laws to the final formulae used to calculate measurable quantities.

Well known in their fields, the authors begin with a discussion of scattering theory followed by a study of its applications to specific nuclear reactions. Early chapters give a framework of scattering theory that can be easily understood by the novice. These chapters also serve as an introduction to the underlying physical ideas. The largest section of the book comprises the physical models that have been developed to account for the various aspects of nuclear reaction phenomena. The final chapters survey applications of the eikonal wavefunction to nuclear reactions as well as examine the important branch of nuclear transport equations.

By combining a thorough theoretical approach with applications to recent experimental data, Introduction to Nuclear Reactions helps you understand the results of experimental measurements rather than describe how they are made. A clear treatment of the topics and coherent organization make this information understandable to students and professionals with a solid foundation in physics as well as to those with a more general science and technology background.