This book explains the Beta-spline representation for curves and surfaces. This topic is important for the modeling of objects delineated by free-form curved surfaces. Such models are needed in the design and manufacture of three-dimensional parts, as well as in the generation of synthetic computer images. The Beta-spline technique follows from the earlier techniques of Bézier and B-spline curves and surfaces, and forms the latest method in this field. The utility of this technique is the capability of representing complex curved surface objects using natural input specifications. The Beta-spline technique combines powerful and general mathematics with an intuitive specification method. Mathematical underpinnings are sufficiently flexible to allow the representation of a wide class of complex shapes. At the same time, description of these shapes is achieved through the use of intuitive and meaningful specification parameters. In addition to a set of points in three-space, called control vertices, shape parameters are introduced which are parameters whose values indicate the shape of the object in terms of "sharpness" or "flatness".

Image Processing, Analysis and Machine Vision represent an exciting part of modern cognitive and computer science. Following an explosion of inter­ est during the Seventies, the Eighties were characterized by the maturing of the field and the significant growth of active applications; Remote Sensing, Technical Diagnostics, Autonomous Vehicle Guidance and Medical Imaging are the most rapidly developing areas. This progress can be seen in an in­ creasing number of software and hardware products on the market as well as in a number of digital image processing and machine vision courses offered at universities world-wide. There are many texts available in the areas we cover - most (indeed, all of which we know) are referenced somewhere in this book.

Long before he signed to Yep Roc in 2013, Tony Joe White perfected his minimalist groove – so much so, his records often seemed like they flowed from the same swamp. Bad Mouthin', his third record for Yep Roc since 2013, doesn't necessarily break from that tradition – from its first note, it is quite clearly the work of Tony Joe White – but it does prove a variation on his signature by offering his first album devoted entirely to the blues. Combining blues standards with songs he wrote years ago, White highlights how pivotal the skeletal shuffles of John Lee Hooker and Jimmy Reed were to his own sound.