3D Hand Pose Estimation with Neural Networks

We propose the design of a real-time system to recognize and interprethand gestures. The acquisition devices are low cost 3D sensors. 3D hand pose will be segmented, characterized and track using growing neural gas (GNG) structure. The capacity of the system to obtain information with a high degree of freedom allows the encoding of many gestures and a very accurate motion capture. The use of hand pose models combined with motion information provide with GNG permits to deal with the problem of the hand motion representation. A natural interface applied to a virtual mirrorwriting system and to a system to estimate hand pose will be designed to demonstrate the validity of the system.

Outlines/lecture notes, undated

These documents contain notes on a wide range of subjects, from Jewish synagogues to George Washington.

Student lecture notes of Benjamin Peirce, 1797-1798

This collection contains approximately twenty-three handwritten lecture summaries on six leaves made by Harvard undergraduate Benjamin Peirce between September 1797 and November 22, 1798. The summaries generally provide a few sentences describing the topic covered and primarily pertain to lectures on English grammar delivered by Eliphalet Pearson, the Hollis Professor of Hebrew and other Oriental Languages. There are also summaries for single lectures by David Tappan, the Hollis Professor Divinity; Samuel Webber, the Hollis Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy; and John Snelling Popkin, the Greek Tutor from 1795 to 1798, and later the Eliot Professor of Greek Literature. There is also an undated summary of a lecture by Benjamin Waterhouse, the Hersey Professor of Theory and Practice of Physic.

Popery a complex falsehood: or an attempt to clear and evidence, that it is so, in a lecture had at Harvard College in Cambridge, New England, on May 10th, 1769

The hand-sewn notebook contains a 30-page manuscript draft of the Dudleian lecture delivered by Samuel Mather on May 10, 1769 at Harvard College. The sermon begins with the Biblical text 2 Thess. 11:11, 12. The copy includes a small number of edits and struck-out words. The item has unattached pages and is in fragile condition. The lecture was never published.

Diocesan Episcopacy: as Founded on the supposed Episcopacy of Timothy & Titus, subverted in a sermon preached at Harvard College May 9, 1770 at the Lecture founded by Paul Dudley

Two handwritten drafts of the Dudleian lecture delivered by Amos Adams on May 9, 1770 at Harvard College written in the same hand. The sermon begins with the Biblical text Titus 1:5. The first copy (HUC 5340.70) is bound between black paper covers and includes edits and citations written on interleaved pages. The second copy (HUC 5340.70.2) appears to be a subsequent draft of the address with additional edits.

An account of the capture of St. Johns by the French : manuscript, 1709 May 14

Manuscript narrative, signed by John Campion and Joseph Knills; dated at Carbonnear Is., Newfoundland, 14 May 1709.

Sermon at the annual Dudleian lecture at Harvard College in Cambridge, May 14th, 1760

The hand-sewn notebook contains a 41-page manuscript draft of the Dudleian lecture delivered by Samuel Wigglesworth on May 14, 1760 at Harvard College. The sermon begins with the Biblical text I Cor. 1:21. The copy includes a small number of edits and struck-out words. The covers are no longer with the item.

Mr. Abbot's sermon at the Dudleian lecture at Harvard College in Cambridge August 29, 1764 pm: being the third in course on the important subject of Reveal'd-religion

The hand-sewn notebook contains a 27-page manuscript draft of the Dudleian lecture delivered by Hull Abbot on August 29, 1764 at Harvard College on the topic of revealed religion. The sermon begins with the Biblical text Zech. 4:6 and Rom. 10:18. The copy includes a small number of edits and struck-out words. The lecture was not printed.

Sermon at the annual Dudleian lecture, May 13th, 1772

The hand-sewn notebook contains a 108-page manuscript draft of the Dudleian lecture delivered by Benjamin Stevens on May 13, 1772 at Harvard College. The sermon begins with the Biblical text Heb. 1:1, 2. The copy includes a small number of edits and struck-out words. The cover page is no longer attached.

A discourse on natural religion: delivered in the chapel of the University in Cambridge, September 3r, 1795, at the lecture founded by the Honourable Paul Dudley, Esqr

The hand-sewn notebook contains a manuscript draft of the Dudleian lecture delivered by Thomas Barnard on September 3, 1795 at Harvard College. The sermon begins with the Biblical text Acts 14-57. The copy includes a small number of edits and struck-out words. The covers are no longer with the item.

Student lecture notes on the Theory & Practice of Physic, and patient case histories, of Lyman Spalding, 1795-1799 (inclusive)

Contains notes taken by Harvard student Lyman Spalding from lectures delivered by Hersey Professor of the Theory and Practice of Physic Benjamin Waterhouse (1754-1846) in 1795. The notes cover the history of medicine, theories of contemporary physicians like Herman Boerhaave, William Cullen, and John Brown, and topics like fetal growth, digestion, and circulation. The volume also contains six pages of patient case notes from Spalding’s medical practice in Walpole, New Hampshire, in 1799, which detail the patients’ symptoms and course of treatment he pursued. In the case of a young man who complained of pain in his breast following a wrestling match, Spalding bled him and prescribed a cathartic of soap and aloes. Spalding also operated on a man who cut off part of his ankle with an ax.

Student lecture notes on anatomy and surgery, and medical notes, of Lyman Spalding, 1795

Contains notes taken by Harvard student Lyman Spalding (1775-1821) from lectures on anatomy and surgery delivered by Harvard Professor John Warren (1753-1815) in 1795, as well a section entitled “Medical Observations,” which includes entries on “Vernal Debility,” or diseases occurring in the spring, and lung function. It is unclear if these are Spalding’s own writings or transcriptions from a published work. There is also text transcribed from “Elementa Medicinae,” published in 1780 by Scottish physician John Brown.

Sexualité et corporéité féminines dans le cinéma de réalisatrices contemporaines : une lecture féministe

Ce mémoire de maîtrise étudie le traitement cinématographique de la sexualité et de la corporéité féminines dans le travail de réalisatrices contemporaines. Il prend appui sur les films Anatomie de l’enfer (Catherine Breillat, 2004), Sleeping Beauty (Julia Leigh, 2011), Nuit #1 (Anne Émond, 2011), et Klip (Maja Milos, 2012). Notre hypothèse est que ces réalisatrices adoptent une posture féministe, affirmée ou non, par leur révision des stéréotypes de genre relatifs au corps et à la sexualité féminine. Dans un premier temps, nous nous intéressons à la dynamique érotique entretenue, à travers l’Histoire, entre la femme comme objet de désir et l’homme comme sujet désirant, au cinéma comme ailleurs. Puis, nous analysons la déconstruction des stéréotypes de genre féminins de pudeur et de passivité au sein du corpus choisi. Nous démontrons ainsi qu’en révisant ces stéréotypes, les réalisatrices déjouent volontairement le spectateur dans son expérience érotique. Enfin, nous examinons les stratégies d’auto-réification du corps féminin récurrentes chez les cinéastes étudiées. Nous estimons que les cinéastes s’inscrivent de la sorte dans une tendance à la subversion observable dans les pratiques artistiques féministes contemporaines.

Europe between financial repression and regulatory capture. Bruegel Working Paper 2014/08, July 2014

From the Introduction. In the long shadow of the euro-area crisis, the relationship between governments and their banks has been brought to the the centre of the policy debate in Europe by the implementation of regulatory reforms, the risks associated with financial fragmentation, and the fight to sustain the flow of credit to governments and corporates. The attempt to interpret the patterns of pressure and influence running between governments and their financial system has led commentators to rediscover and give new life to concepts originating from academic debates of the 1970s such as “regulatory capture” and “financial repression”. Government agencies have been frequently described as being at the mercy of the financial sector, often allowing financial interests to hijack political, regulatory and supervisory processes in order to favouring their own private interests over the public good1. An opposite view has instead pointed the finger at governments, which have often been portrayed as subverting markets and abusing the financial system to their benefit, either in order to secure better financing conditions to overcome their own financial difficulties, or with the objective of directing credit to certain sectors of the economy, “repressing” the free functioning of financial markets and potentially the private interests of some of its participants2