Gerik Scheuermann - Böcker

This book presents new results on applications of geometric algebra. The time when researchers and engineers were starting to realize the potential of quaternions for - plications in electrical, mechanic, and control engineering passed a long time ago. Since the publication of Space-Time Algebra by David Hestenes (1966) and Clifford Algebra to Geometric Calculus: A Uni?ed Language for Mathematics and Physics by David Hestenes and Garret Sobczyk (1984), consistent progress in the app- cations of geometric algebra has taken place. Particularly due to the great dev- opments in computer technology and the Internet, researchers have proposed new ideas and algorithms to tackle a variety of problems in the areas of computer science and engineering using the powerful language of geometric algebra. In this process, pioneer groups started the conference series entitled "Applications of Geometric Algebra in Computer Science and Engineering" (AGACSE) in order to promote the research activity in the domain of the application of geometric algebra. The ?rst conference, AGACSE'1999, organized by Eduardo Bayro-Corrochano and Garret Sobczyk, took place in Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo, Mexico, in July 1999.The contri- tions were published in Geometric Algebra with Applications in Science and En- neering, Birkhauser, 2001. The second conference, ACACSE'2001, was held in the Engineering Department of the Cambridge University on 9-13 July 2001 and was organizedbyLeoDorst,ChrisDoran,andJoanLasenby. Thebestconferencecont- butions appeared as a book entitled Applications of Geometric Algebra in Computer Science and Engineering, Birkhauser, 2002. The third conference, AGACSE'2008, took place in August 2008 in Grimma, Leipzig, Germany.

This book presents new results on applications of geometric algebra. The time when researchers and engineers were starting to realize the potential of quaternions for - plications in electrical, mechanic, and control engineering passed a long time ago. Since the publication of Space-Time Algebra by David Hestenes (1966) and Clifford Algebra to Geometric Calculus: A Uni?ed Language for Mathematics and Physics by David Hestenes and Garret Sobczyk (1984), consistent progress in the app- cations of geometric algebra has taken place. Particularly due to the great dev- opments in computer technology and the Internet, researchers have proposed new ideas and algorithms to tackle a variety of problems in the areas of computer science and engineering using the powerful language of geometric algebra. In this process, pioneer groups started the conference series entitled "Applications of Geometric Algebra in Computer Science and Engineering" (AGACSE) in order to promote the research activity in the domain of the application of geometric algebra. The ?rst conference, AGACSE'1999, organized by Eduardo Bayro-Corrochano and Garret Sobczyk, took place in Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo, Mexico, in July 1999.The contri- tions were published in Geometric Algebra with Applications in Science and En- neering, Birkhauser, 2001. The second conference, ACACSE'2001, was held in the Engineering Department of the Cambridge University on 9-13 July 2001 and was organizedbyLeoDorst,ChrisDoran,andJoanLasenby. Thebestconferencecont- butions appeared as a book entitled Applications of Geometric Algebra in Computer Science and Engineering, Birkhauser, 2002. The third conference, AGACSE'2008, took place in August 2008 in Grimma, Leipzig, Germany.

This is the first book that focuses entirely on the fundamental questions in visualization. Unlike other existing books in the field, it contains discussions that go far beyond individual visual representations and individual visualization algorithms. It offers a collection of investigative discourses that probe these questions from different perspectives, including concepts that help frame these questions and their potential answers, mathematical methods that underpin the scientific reasoning of these questions, empirical methods that facilitate the validation and falsification of potential answers, and case studies that stimulate hypotheses about potential answers while providing practical evidence for such hypotheses. Readers are not instructed to follow a specific theory, but their attention is brought to a broad range of schools of thoughts and different ways of investigating fundamental questions. As such, the book represents the by now most significant collective effort for gathering a large collection of discourses on the foundation of data visualization.Data visualization is a relatively young scientific discipline. Over the last three decades, a large collection of computer-supported visualization techniques have been developed, and the merits and benefits of using these techniques have been evidenced by numerous applications in practice. These technical advancements have given rise to the scientific curiosity about some fundamental questions such as why and how visualization works, when it is useful or effective and when it is not, what are the primary factors affecting its usefulness and effectiveness, and so on. This book signifies timely and exciting opportunities to answer such fundamental questions by building on the wealth of knowledge and experience accumulated in developing and deploying visualization technology in practice.

This is the first book that focuses entirely on the fundamental questions in visualization. Unlike other existing books in the field, it contains discussions that go far beyond individual visual representations and individual visualization algorithms. It offers a collection of investigative discourses that probe these questions from different perspectives, including concepts that help frame these questions and their potential answers, mathematical methods that underpin the scientific reasoning of these questions, empirical methods that facilitate the validation and falsification of potential answers, and case studies that stimulate hypotheses about potential answers while providing practical evidence for such hypotheses. Readers are not instructed to follow a specific theory, but their attention is brought to a broad range of schools of thoughts and different ways of investigating fundamental questions. As such, the book represents the by now most significant collective effort for gathering a large collection of discourses on the foundation of data visualization.Data visualization is a relatively young scientific discipline. Over the last three decades, a large collection of computer-supported visualization techniques have been developed, and the merits and benefits of using these techniques have been evidenced by numerous applications in practice. These technical advancements have given rise to the scientific curiosity about some fundamental questions such as why and how visualization works, when it is useful or effective and when it is not, what are the primary factors affecting its usefulness and effectiveness, and so on. This book signifies timely and exciting opportunities to answer such fundamental questions by building on the wealth of knowledge and experience accumulated in developing and deploying visualization technology in practice.

Visualization research aims to provide insight into large, complicated data sets and the phenomena behind them. While there are di?erent methods of reaching this goal, topological methods stand out for their solid mathem- ical foundation, which guides the algorithmic analysis and its presentation. Topology-based methods in visualization have been around since the beg- ning of visualization as a scienti?c discipline, but they initially played only a minor role. In recent years,interest in topology-basedvisualization has grown andsigni?cantinnovationhasledto newconceptsandsuccessfulapplications. The latest trends adapt basic topological concepts to precisely express user interests in topological properties of the data. This book is the outcome of the second workshop on Topological Methods in Visualization, which was held March 4–6, 2007 in Kloster Nimbschen near Leipzig,Germany.Theworkshopbroughttogethermorethan40international researchers to present and discuss the state of the art and new trends in the ?eld of topology-based visualization. Two inspiring invited talks by George Haller, MIT, and Nelson Max, LLNL, were accompanied by 14 presentations by participants and two panel discussions on current and future trends in visualization research. This book contains thirteen research papers that have been peer-reviewed in a two-stage review process. In the ?rst phase, submitted papers where peer-reviewed by the international program committee. After the workshop accepted papers went through a revision and a second review process taking into account comments from the ?rst round and discussions at the workshop. Abouthalfthepapersconcerntopology-basedanalysisandvisualizationof ?uid?owsimulations;twopapersconcernmoregeneraltopologicalalgorithms, while theremaining papers discuss topology-based visualization methods in application areas like biology, medical imaging and electromagnetism.