Hand detection on images based on deformable part models and additional features

Hand detection on images has important applications on person activities recognition. This thesis focuses on PASCAL Visual Object Classes (VOC) system for hand detection. VOC has become a popular system for object detection, based on twenty common objects, and has been released with a successful deformable parts model in VOC2007. A hand detection on an image is made when the system gets a bounding box which overlaps with at least 50% of any ground truth bounding box for a hand on the image. The initial average precision of this detector is around 0.215 compared with a state-of-art of 0.104; however, color and frequency features for detected bounding boxes contain important information for re-scoring, and the average precision can be improved to 0.218 with these features. Results show that these features help on getting higher precision for low recall, even though the average precision is similar.

A Very Big Hand Is a Very Big Problem: Soft-Tissue Infection, Venous Thrombosis, or Just an Insect Sting?

A 67-year-old woman developed severe edema of her right hand and forearm, for which she was treated with antibiotics, without benefit. The echography excluded a venous thrombosis. Subsequently, she referred a wasp sting before the development of the edema. Specific Hymenoptera venom immunoglobulin E (IgE) was found to be positive for paper wasp and yellow jacket. A large local reaction (LLR) was diagnosed due to the hymenoptera sting. Self-injectable epinephrine was prescribed for possible, though unlikely, systemic reactions following hymenoptera stings.

SUR Hand: A Soft Underactuated Robotic Hand

Soft robots are robots made mostly or completely of soft, deformable, or compliant materials. As humanoid robotic technology takes on a wider range of applications, it has become apparent that they could replace humans in dangerous environments. Current attempts to create robotic hands for these environments are very difficult and costly to manufacture. Therefore, a robotic hand made with simplistic architecture and cheap fabrication techniques is needed. The goal of this thesis is to detail the design, fabrication, modeling, and testing of the SUR Hand. The SUR Hand is a soft, underactuated robotic hand designed to be cheaper and easier to manufacture than conventional hands. Yet, it maintains much of their dexterity and precision. This thesis will detail the design process for the soft pneumatic fingers, compliant palm, and flexible wrist. It will also discuss a semi-empirical model for finger design and the creation and validation of grasping models.

Plan of a tract of land (marked in the General Plan no. 7), containing in the whole 5000 acres, & divided into 20 plantations of 250 acres each, situate on a left hand branch of Elk River, & on the head waters of Salt Lick Creek, in Harrison County, State of Virginia /

Covers part of Harrison County (W.Va.)

Hoyle's games : illustrated edition. Embracing all the most modern modes of play, and the rules practised at the present time, in billiards, whist, draughts, cribbage, backgammon, and all other fashionable games; together with sixteen games adapted to the new Yankee-notion cards. Also the whole of Frer̀e's chess hand-book. Containing, besides elementary instruction and the laws of chess, about fifty select games by the first players, endings of games, and the defeat of the muzio gambit. Also, thirty-six of the choicest chess problems, and a description of, and rules for, four-handed chess /

Classified for chess; Frère's chess hand-book, p. 229-324.

Comparative study of human age estimation based on hand-crafted and deep face features

In the past few years, human facial age estimation has drawn a lot of attention in the computer vision and pattern recognition communities because of its important applications in age-based image retrieval, security control and surveillance, biomet- rics, human-computer interaction (HCI) and social robotics. In connection with these investigations, estimating the age of a person from the numerical analysis of his/her face image is a relatively new topic. Also, in problems such as Image Classification the Deep Neural Networks have given the best results in some areas including age estimation. In this work we use three hand-crafted features as well as five deep features that can be obtained from pre-trained deep convolutional neural networks. We do a comparative study of the obtained age estimation results with these features.

Motivated reasoning in the prediction of sports outcomes and the belief in the “hot hand”

The present paper explores the role of motivation to observe a certain outcome in people's predictions, causal attributions, and beliefs about a streak of binary outcomes (basketball scoring shots). In two studies we found that positive streaks (points scored by the participants' favourite team) lead participants to predict the streak's continuation (belief in the hot hand), but negative streaks lead to predictions of its end (gambler's fallacy). More importantly, these wishful predictions are supported by strategic attributions and beliefs about how and why a streak might unfold. Results suggest that the effect of motivation on predictions is mediated by a serial path via causal attributions to the teams at play and belief in the hot hand.

Efficient and precise interactive hand tracking through joint, continuous optimization of pose and correspondences

Fully articulated hand tracking promises to enable fundamentally new interactions with virtual and augmented worlds, but the limited accuracy and efficiency of current systems has prevented widespread adoption. Today's dominant paradigm uses machine learning for initialization and recovery followed by iterative model-fitting optimization to achieve a detailed pose fit. We follow this paradigm, but make several changes to the model-fitting, namely using: (1) a more discriminative objective function; (2) a smooth-surface model that provides gradients for non-linear optimization; and (3) joint optimization over both the model pose and the correspondences between observed data points and the model surface. While each of these changes may actually increase the cost per fitting iteration, we find a compensating decrease in the number of iterations. Further, the wide basin of convergence means that fewer starting points are needed for successful model fitting. Our system runs in real-time on CPU only, which frees up the commonly over-burdened GPU for experience designers. The hand tracker is efficient enough to run on low-power devices such as tablets. We can track up to several meters from the camera to provide a large working volume for interaction, even using the noisy data from current-generation depth cameras. Quantitative assessments on standard datasets show that the new approach exceeds the state of the art in accuracy. Qualitative results take the form of live recordings of a range of interactive experiences enabled by this new approach.

Heaven's Sense: a novel / At hand-grips with ruin: the psychology of writer's block

There is a significant attitude of scepticism when it comes to belief in the existence of writer's block as a valid psychological phenomenon, alongside what might be described as the "Tortured Artist Personality". It is contended here that both writer's block and the "Tortured Artist Personality" do exist in a minority of professional and aspiring fiction writers, and furthermore that these phenomena are forms of personality behaviour that have already been well-catalogued by the academic fields of psychiatry, psychology and psychotherapy: specifically, writer's block is a form of unconscious maladaptive procrastination - expressed through avoidance coping or escape coping behaviour - which in turn arises from the fully-accepted personality trait of perfectionism. Aspects of perfectionism, together with various sub-scale traits and mediators, are also the key components in at least one form of "Tortured Artist Personality". This paper lays out the extensive evidence for these assertions, using existing research in the fields of psychology, psychiatry, psychotherapy and neuroscience.

“Here is my hand. Take it”: Proposta di traduzione e analisi del racconto “The Ones Who Stay and Fight” di N.K. Jemisin

“The Ones Who Stay and Fight” è un racconto fantascientifico di N.K. Jemisin, pubblicato nel 2018 nella raccolta “How Long ‘Till Black Future Month?”. In questo elaborato si propone una traduzione ed un’analisi narrativa, sintattica e approfondita dell’opera. L’elaborato è composto da tre parti: nella prima si presenta l’analisi del racconto, la biografia dell’autrice, una comparazione con “Quelli che si allontanano da Omelas” e un’esplorazione dell’Afrofuturismo e il legame fra esso e il racconto; nella seconda si ha la proposta di traduzione all’italiano del racconto; la terza ed ultima parte è un commento alla traduzione in cui vengono spiegate alcune scelte di traduzione.

[the Sociology Of Health In Brazil - The Creation Of An Identity].

This article analyzes the historical, social and cognitive dimensions of the sociology of medicine in the construction of its identity, from Wolf Lepenies' perspective. It is understood that the construction of an identity does not end with the first historical manifestations, but is consolidated when it is institutionalized and structured as a field of knowledge by creating its own forms of cognitive expression. The text is divided into three parts: in the first the precursors are presented, highlighting the role played by some travelers, naturalists and folklore scholars, followed by social physicians-scientists and the first social scientists (1940-1969). In the second part, aspects of the consolidation of the social sciences in health are presented at two significant moments, namely the 1970s and 1980s. In the third part, the issues raised by the field are addressed in general terms. It is considered that once the main structural stages are in place there is still a need for the formation of new generations of social scientists in health. It is also essential to disseminate scientific production and to ensure that the relations are studied in depth and institutionalized with the sociological matrices on the one hand and with the field of health on the other.

Impaired Incretin Secretion And Pancreatic Dysfunction With Older Age And Diabetes.

To estimate the impact of aging and diabetes on insulin sensitivity, beta-cell function, adipocytokines, and incretin production. Hyperglycemic clamps, arginine tests and meal tolerance tests were performed in 50 non-obese subjects to measure insulin sensitivity (IS) and insulin secretion as well as plasma levels of glucagon, GLP-1 and GIP. Patients with diabetes and healthy control subjects were divided into the following groups: middle-aged type 2 diabetes (MA-DM), aged Type 2 diabetes (A-DM) and middle-aged or aged subjects with normal glucose tolerance (MA-NGT or A-NGT). IS, as determined by the homeostasis model assessment, glucose infusion rate, and oral glucose insulin sensitivity, was reduced in the aged and DM groups compared with MA-NGT, but it was similar in the MA-DM and A-DM groups. Insulinogenic index, first and second phase insulin secretion and the disposition indices, but not insulin response to arginine, were reduced in the aged and DM groups. Postprandial glucagon production was higher in MA-DM compared to MA-NGT. Whereas the GLP-1 production was reduced in A-DM, no differences between groups were observed in GIP production. In non-obese subjects, diabetes and aging impair insulin sensitivity. Insulin production is reduced by aging, and diabetes exacerbates this condition. Aging associated defects superimposed diabetic physiopathology, particularly regarding GLP-1 production. On the other hand, the glucose-independent secretion of insulin was preserved. Knowledge of the complex relationship between aging and diabetes could support the development of physiopathological and pharmacological based therapies.

Ihwg-μnir: A Miniaturised Near-infrared Gas Sensor Based On Substrate-integrated Hollow Waveguides Coupled To A Micro-nir-spectrophotometer.

A miniaturised gas analyser is described and evaluated based on the use of a substrate-integrated hollow waveguide (iHWG) coupled to a microsized near-infrared spectrophotometer comprising a linear variable filter and an array of InGaAs detectors. This gas sensing system was applied to analyse surrogate samples of natural fuel gas containing methane, ethane, propane and butane, quantified by using multivariate regression models based on partial least square (PLS) algorithms and Savitzky-Golay 1(st) derivative data preprocessing. The external validation of the obtained models reveals root mean square errors of prediction of 0.37, 0.36, 0.67 and 0.37% (v/v), for methane, ethane, propane and butane, respectively. The developed sensing system provides particularly rapid response times upon composition changes of the gaseous sample (approximately 2 s) due the minute volume of the iHWG-based measurement cell. The sensing system developed in this study is fully portable with a hand-held sized analyser footprint, and thus ideally suited for field analysis. Last but not least, the obtained results corroborate the potential of NIR-iHWG analysers for monitoring the quality of natural gas and petrochemical gaseous products.

Efficacy Of Ethylene-diamine-tetra-acetic Acid Associated With Chlorhexidine On Intracanal Medication Removal: A Scanning Electron Microscopy Study.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of 17% ethylene-diamine-tetra-acetic acid (EDTA) used alone or associated with 2% chlorhexidine gel (CHX) on intracanal medications (ICM) removal. Sixty single-rooted human teeth with fully formed apex were selected. The cervical and middle thirds of each canal were prepared with Gates Glidden drills and rotary files. The apical third was shaped with hand files. The specimens were randomly divided into two groups depending on the ICM used after instrumentation: calcium hydroxide Ca(OH)(2) +CHX or Ca(OH)(2) +sterile saline (SS). After seven days, each group was divided into subgroups according to the protocol used for ICM removal: instrumentation and irrigation either with EDTA, CHX+EDTA, or SS (control groups). All specimens were sectioned and processed for observation of the apical thirds by using scanning electron microscopy. Two calibrated evaluators attributed scores to each specimen. The differences between the protocols for ICM removal were analyzed with Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney U tests. Friedman and Wilcoxon signed rank tests were used for comparison between the score of debris obtained in each root canal third. Remains of Ca(OH)(2) were found in all specimens independently of the protocol and ICM used (P > 0.05). Seventeen percent EDTA showed the best results in removing ICM when used alone (P < 0.05), particularly in those associated with CHX. It was concluded that the chelating agent 17% EDTA significantly improved the removal of ICM when used alone. Furthermore, the type of the vehicle associated with Ca(OH)(2) also plays a role in the ICM removal.

Visual Navigation In The Neotropical Ant Odontomachus Hastatus (formicidae, Ponerinae), A Predominantly Nocturnal, Canopy-dwelling Predator Of The Atlantic Rainforest.

The arboreal ant Odontomachus hastatus nests among roots of epiphytic bromeliads in the sandy forest at Cardoso Island (Brazil). Crepuscular and nocturnal foragers travel up to 8m to search for arthropod prey in the canopy, where silhouettes of leaves and branches potentially provide directional information. We investigated the relevance of visual cues (canopy, horizon patterns) during navigation in O. hastatus. Laboratory experiments using a captive ant colony and a round foraging arena revealed that an artificial canopy pattern above the ants and horizon visual marks are effective orientation cues for homing O. hastatus. On the other hand, foragers that were only given a tridimensional landmark (cylinder) or chemical marks were unable to home correctly. Navigation by visual cues in O. hastatus is in accordance with other diurnal arboreal ants. Nocturnal luminosity (moon, stars) is apparently sufficient to produce contrasting silhouettes from the canopy and surrounding vegetation, thus providing orientation cues. Contrary to the plain floor of the round arena, chemical cues may be important for marking bifurcated arboreal routes. This experimental demonstration of the use of visual cues by a predominantly nocturnal arboreal ant provides important information for comparative studies on the evolution of spatial orientation behavior in ants. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Neotropical Behaviour.