In 3D printing, it is critical to use as few as possible supporting materials for efficiency and material saving. Multiple model decomposition methods and multi-DOF (degrees of freedom) 3D printers have been developed to address this issue. However, most systems utilize model decomposition and multi-DOF independently. Only a few existing approaches combine the two, i.e. partitioning the models for multi-DOF printing. In this paper, we present a novel model decomposition method for multidirectional 3D printing, allowing consistent printing with the least cost of supporting materials. Our method is based on a global optimization that minimizes the surface area to be supported for a 3D model. The printing sequence is determined inherently by minimizing a single global objective function. Experiments on various complex 3D models using a five-DOF 3D printer have demonstrated the effectiveness of our approach.

We investigate the minimal and isoperimetric surface problems in a large class of sub-Riemannian manifolds, the so-called Vertically Rigid spaces. We construct an adapted connection for such spaces and, using the variational tools of Bryant, Griffiths and Grossman, derive succinct forms of the Euler-Lagrange equations for critical points for the associated variational problems. Using the Euler-Lagrange equations, we show that minimal and isoperimetric surfaces satisfy a constant horizontal mean curvature conditions away from characteristic points. Moreover, we use the formalism to construct a horizontal second fundamental form, II0, for vertically rigid spaces and, as a first application, use II0 to show that minimal surfaces cannot have points of horizontal positive curvature and that minimal surfaces in Carnot groups cannot be locally strictly horizontally geometrically convex. We note that the convexity condition is distinct from others currently in the literature.

Because of its importance in number theory and singularity theory, the problem of nding a polynomial sharp upper estimate of the number of positive integral points in an n- dimensional (n  3) polyhedron has received attention by a lot of mathematicians. S. S.-T. Yau proposed the upper estimate, so-called the Yau Number Theoretic Conjecture. The previous results on the Yau Number Theoretic Conjecture in low dimension cases (n  6) have been proved by using the sharp GLY conjecture. Unfortunately, it is only valid in low dimension. The Yau Number Theoretic Conjecture for n = 7 has been shown with a completely new method in [19]. In this paper, the similar method has been applied to prove the Yau Number Theoretic Conjecture for n = 8, but with more meticulous analyses. The main method of proof is summing existing sharp upper bounds for the number of points in 7-dimensional simplexes over the cross sections of eight-dimensional simplex. This reasearch project paves the way for the proof of a fully general sharp upper bound for the number of lattice points in a simplex. It also moves the mathematical community one step closer towards proving the Yau Number Theoretic Conjecture in full generality. As an application, we give a sharper estimate of the Dickman-De Bruijn function (x; y) for 5  y < 23, compared with the result obtained by Ennola.

This is the <i>Leonardo da Vinci Lecture</i> given in Milan in March 2006. It is a survey on the concept of space-time over the last 3000years: it starts with Euclidean geometry, discusses the contributions of Gauss and Riemannian geometry, presents the dynamic concept of space-time in Einsteins general relativity, describes the importance of symmetries, and ends with Calabi-Yau manifolds and their importance in todays string theories in the attempt for a unified theory of physics.

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