Building the View Graph of a Category by Exploiting Image Realism

We propose a weakly supervised method to arrange images of a given category based on the relative pose between the camera and the object in the scene. Relative poses are points on a sphere centered at the object in a given canonical pose, which we call object viewpoints. Our method builds a graph on this sphere by assigning images with similar viewpoint to the same node and by connecting nodes if they are related by a small rotation. The key idea is to exploit a large unlabeled dataset to validate the likelihood of dominant 3D planes of the object geometry. A number of 3D plane hypotheses are evaluated by applying small 3D rotations to each hypothesis and by measuring how well the deformed images match other images in the dataset. Correct hypotheses will result in deformed images that correspond to plausible views of the object, and thus will likely match well other images in the same category. The identified 3D planes are then used to compute affinities between images related by a change of viewpoint. We then use the affinities to build a view graph via a greedy method and the maximum spanning tree.

Reality bites: Documentary photography and architectural realism = Fragmentos de realidad: Fotografía documental y realismo en arquitectura

En el día de hoy nos enfrentamos a una serie de desafíos económicos, geopolíticos y ambientales que apuntan hacia una transformación profunda del mundo tal y como lo conocemos. La arquitectura esta – siempre lo ha estado – imbricada en todos estos problemas. En nuestra actual condición de recursos limitados e injusticia global surge la necesidad de superar la dicotomía entre progreso y tradición, entre innovación y preservación – la urgencia de redefinir incluso cada uno de estos términos. Los tipos de crisis que encaramos ahora no se resolverán con mas tecnología y más crecimiento – se necesita también una profunda reevaluación de nuestros sistemas de valores e incluso de nuestra sensibilidad. En este contexto, la humilde contribución de esta tesis consiste en proponer la idea de un realismo en arquitectura, entendido como una actitud progresista y atenta a lo que ya existe, dispuesta a abrir los ojos al presente, a las condiciones y los problemas reales que nos rodean. Pensando en esta idea, resulta evidente que si bien el realismo carece de una definición clara en el campo de la arquitectura hoy, cuenta sin embargo con numerosos precedentes parciales, entre ellos algunos de los más notorios episodios de la historia de la arquitectura reciente. Al intentar confeccionar una lista provisional de arquitectos realistas en el último siglo, otro hecho se nos presenta: muchos, por no decir todos estos arquitectos, comparten una fijación por la fotografía, bien apropiándose del trabajo de fotógrafos contemporáneos, bien tomando sus propias imágenes como una forma de mirar fuera de sus estudios e incorporar la realidad del medio construido a sus proyectos. Parece entonces lógico pensar que la arquitectura, como disciplina visual, ha acudido a otra disciplina visual en búsqueda de su propia respuesta al problema del realismo – dentro de este campo la fotografía reverbera con la arquitectura especialmente, ya que ambas son consideradas simultáneamente como practicas utilitarias y como parte de las bellas artes. Parece entonces lógico el organizar la investigación como una serie de casos, con la esperanza de que la acumulación de diversas instancias en las que la arquitectura ha acudido a la fotografía en su búsqueda de un realismo arrojara luz sobre las ideas más generales a debate. Por tanto, cada uno de los episodios en este texto se examina en sus propios términos, si bien una serie de interconexiones emergen a medida que el estudio procede con un suave orden cronológico. Hacia el final del texto cuestiones más grandes recobran protagonismo, a medida que las repercusiones políticas de nuestro estudio se hacen más patentes y comenzamos a interrogar las implicaciones contemporáneas y el potencial futuro de nuestra discusión sobre el realismo. ABSTRACT Today we are faced with a series of economic, geopolitical and environmental challenges that outline a deep transformation of the world as we know it. Architecture is – it has always been – ingrained in all of these problems. In our current condition of limited resources and global inequalities there is a necessity to overcome the dichotomy between progress and tradition, between innovation and preservation – an urgency to even redefine these terms altogether. The types of crises that we are facing will not be solved with more technology and more growth – a deep reevaluation of our systems of values and our sensibilities are also needed. In this context, the humble contribution of this text is to put forward the idea of an architectural realism, understood as an attitude that is both progressive and attentive to what is already in place, willing to open its eyes to the present and accept the real conditions and problems around us. In thinking about this prospect, it immediately becomes apparent that even if realism lacks a clear definition in the field of architecture today, there are numerous partial precedents for it, among them some of the most notorious episodes in the recent history of architecture. In crafting a tentative list of realist architects in the last century, another realization takes place: many, not to say all of these architects, have had a fixation with photography, either appropriating the work of contemporary photographers or taking photographs themselves as a way to look out their windows and bring the reality of the built environment into their practices. It seems then logical to think that architecture, as a visual discipline, has looked to other visual disciplines in search for its own take on the problem of realism – within this field, photography specially resonates with architecture, since both are regarded simultaneously as utilitarian practices and belonging to the fine arts. The idea then becomes to organize the research as a series of cases, with the hope that the accumulation of diverse instances in which architecture has approached photography in its realist drive will shed some light on the larger ideas at stake. Therefore, each of the episodes in this text is examined on its own terms, with a series of interconnections slowly emerging as our survey proceeds with a soft chronologic order. Towards the end of the study, larger issues regain relevance as the political repercussions of our inquiry become more pressing and we start to question the contemporary implications and future potentials of our discussion on realism.

Aristotelian predicables, universality and realism: the logic of comparison in topics as denying the view that Aristotle was a realist

Aristotle is reportedly held to have been a Moderate Realist in that he would maintain that a concept derives from an act of grasping a mind-independent universal object that exists somehow inside of the many different things which the concept is predicated of. As far as a universal is independent of mind, it would stand for the proper object of a concept that subsumes a given number of things as its own instantiations. But we claim that Aristotle rejected such a view and instead did perceive and comprehend universality as a feature of thought rather than as a feature of reality in its own right. As showed in the chapters of Topics regarding the so-called logic of comparison (with the support of Albert the Great’s commentary), each predicate can be more or less consistent with the attribute of the subject of which it may be predicated. Both essential and accidental attributes assume a definite degree of being related to the degree of belonging to substance. Unlike particular things, the universality of a concept is to be understood always in comparison with another concept according to a hierarchy of predicates in terms of universality degree arranged by comparative terms such as ‘more’, ‘less’, and ‘likewise’. What is really mind-independent are the truth conditions which make a universal true when exclusively referring to a set of things identically meant by the same predicate whose universality is given by the place occupied in the hierarchy of predicates.

Balancing realism and vision - The prospects of EU-Israel relations in times of change and uncertainty. European Policy Brief, 28 May 2015

In this joint EPC-FSD Policy Brief, Andrea Frontini and Eran Etzion assess the state of play and the future prospects of EU-Israel relations in the light of recent domestic and regional political developments. They argue that, despite frequent cacophony and recurring stalemates, the EU-Israel partnership still has the potential to pursue shared strategic objectives. The two sides have to realign their relations, taking into account new realities and common challenges in the Middle East and Northern Africa region, and the current state of the Middle East Peace Process. More careful differentiation and stronger prioritisation of the policy dossiers at stake are urgently needed. An autonomous but joined up review of the overall relationship, guided by courage, pragmatism and stronger strategic direction, is crucial in order to move ahead.

Energy across the Mediterranean: a call for realism. Bruegel Policy Brief ISSUE 2016/03 APRIL 2016

Political instability in the southern Mediterranean countries have highlighted the unsustainability of their economic models. Widespread economic discontent, and in particular very high youth unemployment, underpinned the Arab Spring uprisings. As the refugee crisis shows, this is also Europe’s problem and Euro-Mediterranean economic cooperation needs to be reviewed. Energy is a key part of the cooperation framework.

Tales from the Italian and Spanish: realism and romance, adventure and humor, revealing the soul of the Latin lands.

v.l. Stories of love and revenge. v. 2. Stories of heroism and romance. v. 3. Stories of humor and adventure. v. 4. The betrothed lovers. v. 5. v. 6. The Spanish rogue. v. 7. Pepito Jiménez and Marta and Maria. v. 8. Tales of today and Spanish-American stories..̐

The new realism: coöperative studies in philosophy by Edwin B. Holt,

Introduction.--The emancipation of metaphysics from epistemology, by W. T. Marvin.--A realistic theory of independence, by R. B. Perry.--A defense of analysis, by E. G. Spaulding.--A realistic theory of truth and error, by W. P. Montague.--The place of illusory experience in a realistic world, by E. B. Holt.--Some realistic implications of biology, by W. B. Pitkin.--Appendix: Program and first platform of six realists (reprinted from the J. of phil., psychol., etc., 1910, 7, 393) Montague on Holt; Holt on Montague; Pitkin on Montague and Holt.

Berkeley and spiritual realism /

"A short list of books bearing on the subject": p. 85.

Bergson and Personal realism,

Mode of access: Internet.