A topological approach for segmenting human body shape

Segmentation of a 3D human body, is a very challenging problem in applications exploiting human scan data. To tackle this problem, the paper proposes a topological approach based on the discrete Reeb graph (DRG) which is an extension of the classical Reeb graph to handle unorganized clouds of 3D points. The essence of the approach concerns detecting critical nodes in the DRG, thereby permitting the extraction of branches that represent parts of the body. Because the human body shape representation is built upon global topological features that are preserved so long as the whole structure of the human body does not change, our approach is quite robust against noise, holes, irregular sampling, frame change and posture variation. Experimental results performed on real scan data demonstrate the validity of our method

Fictions of life and death: Tomb automata in medieval romance

While automata appear in medieval European textual sources in many different settings, they frequently cluster around tombs, memorials and other places associated with the dead. In several different literary examples, automata expose the unstable definitions of ‘life’ and ‘death’ and reveal contemporary ideas about the complexity and permeability of these categories

A discrete Reeb graph approach for the segmentation of human body scans

Segmentation of 3D human body (HB) scan is a very challenging problem in applications exploiting human scan data. To tackle this problem, we propose a topological approach based on discrete Reeb graph (DRG) which is an extension of the classical Reeb graph to unorganized cloud of 3D points. The essence of the approach is detecting critical nodes in the DRG thus permitting the extraction of branches that represent the body parts. Because the human body shape representation is built upon global topological features that are preserved so long as the whole structure of the human body does not change, our approach is quite robust against noise, holes, irregular sampling, moderate reference change and posture variation. Experimental results performed on real scan data demonstrate the validity of our method

Technology and Wonder in Thirteenth-Century Iberia and Beyond

As the desire for affective experiences of the sacred increased in communities across Europe in the late Middle Ages, the Christian faithful crafted lifelike, mechanized figures of Christ, the Virgin Mary, and saints for use in religious festivals. Although each devotional culture evidences unique body/object relationships and meanings, in general animated ritual objects encouraged lay participation in the celebration of saints and the Passion by engaging the senses, and, consequently, an emotional sense of God. In this essay I investigate the ritual alliances between moveable, prop-like saints and their Iberian devotees, in particular the performative meanings that arose from encounters with technologies of the sacred

Interview with Astero Styliani Lamprinou on her use of archive images in her screendance work Secret City (Belgium, 2020)

No abstract available

Truth and Lies in the Stravinskyan Sense: Oedipus Rex

English and American Literature and Languag

The Agency of Art Objects in Northern Europe, 1380–1520

This monograph book offers a new interpretation of northern European art of the fifteenth century. The author presents it as a conglomerate of objects-things which act on the recipient in a specific – material and spatial – way. He analyzes macro-scale objects that impose movement on the viewer, and micro-scale objects that encourage manipulation. Inspired by the anti-anthropocentric concept of “returning to things” (B. Latour, A. Gell and others), the author searches for the “agency of things” in late-medieval art objects, which evoke specific liturgical, devotional, propaganda-political behaviors, or establish the status of social owner of the object that once co-created the network of material and spiritual culture. This methodologically innovative approach is part of the latest research in early art in Western Europe and the United States

DE-SANCTIFICATION IN FOLK BELIEFS OF CENTRAL VIETNAM: A QUALITATIVE STUDY ON TAOISM-RELATED RITUALS AND MAGIC

This article examines the nature and dynamics of de-sanctification in Central Vietnamese folk beliefs through certain rituals and magic practices related to Taoism. Adopting a qualitative research approach, the study investigates the de-sanctification of worship, purification of impurities, and dissolution of spiritual relationships with supernatural forces to gain insights into the nature and dynamics of the sacred within the Central region's folk beliefs. This article highlights that the essence of the sacred is grounded in the relationship between physical or human forms and supernatural forces, and that de-sanctification is the act of changing or dissolving social links in folk religious beliefs. Through analyzing the rituals and magic involved, the article not only showcases the influence of Taoism in folk beliefs but also reveals their social function and role in providing spiritual security for the Vietnamese people in the Central region