By-example synthesis of structurally sound patterns

International audienceSeveral techniques exist to automatically synthesize a 2D image resembling an input exemplar texture. Most of the approaches optimize a new image so that the color neighborhoods in the output closely match those in the input, across all scales. In this paper we revisit by-example texture synthesis in the context of additive manufacturing. Our goal is to generate not only colors, but also structure along output surfaces: given an exemplar indicating ‘solid’ and ’empty’ pixels, we generate a similar pattern along the output surface. The core challenge is to guarantee that the pattern is not only fully connected, but also structurally sound.To achieve this goal we propose a novel formulation for on-surface by-example texture synthesis that directly works in a voxel shell around the surface. It enables efficient local updates to the pattern, letting our structural optimizer perform changes that improve the overall rigidity of the pattern. We use this technique in an iterative scheme that jointly optimizes for appearance and structural soundness. We consider fabricability constraints and a user-provided description of a force profile that the object has to resist.Our results fully exploit the capabilities of additive manufacturing by letting users design intricate structures along surfaces. The structures are complex, yet they resemble input exemplars, resulting in a modeling tool accessible to casual users

Type-Directed Program Transformations for the Working Functional Programmer

We present preliminary research on Deuce+, a set of tools integrating plain text editing with structural manipulation that brings the power of expressive and extensible type-directed program transformations to everyday, working programmers without a background in computer science or mathematical theory. Deuce+ comprises three components: (i) a novel set of type-directed program transformations, (ii) support for syntax constraints for specifying "code style sheets" as a means of flexibly ensuring the consistency of both the concrete and abstract syntax of the output of program transformations, and (iii) a domain-specific language for specifying program transformations that can operate at a high level on the abstract (and/or concrete) syntax tree of a program and interface with syntax constraints to expose end-user options and alleviate tedious and potentially mutually inconsistent style choices. Currently, Deuce+ is in the design phase of development, and discovering the right usability choices for the system is of the highest priority

Neurophenomenology of Hearing: Relations to Intentionality and Time Consciousness

The aim of my (admittedly rather programmatic) talk is to show some shortcomings in neurophenomenology, often related to its strong focus on vision. By the same token, I will illustrate the particular fruitfulness of considering auditory phenomena in improving our understanding of time consciousness and of intuition and intentionality. Because of this, the topic of my talk also has more general interest for the philosophy of mind, extending beyond inner-phenomenological issues and debates

THE CHILD AND THE WORLD: How Children acquire Language

HOW CHILDREN ACQUIRE LANGUAGE Over the last few decades research into child language acquisition has been revolutionized by the use of ingenious new techniques which allow one to investigate what in fact infants (that is children not yet able to speak) can perceive when exposed to a stream of speech sound, the discriminations they can make between different speech sounds, differentspeech sound sequences and different words. However on the central features of the mystery, the extraordinarily rapid acquisition of lexicon and complex syntactic structures, little solid progress has been made. The questions being researched are how infants acquire and produce the speech sounds (phonemes) of the community language; how infants find words in the stream of speech; and how they link words to perceived objects or action, that is, discover meanings. In a recent general review in Nature of children's language acquisition, Patricia Kuhl also asked why we do not learn new languages as easily at 50 as at 5 and why computers have not cracked the human linguistic code. The motor theory of language function and origin makes possible a plausible account of child language acquisition generally from which answers can be derived also to these further questions. Why computers so far have been unable to 'crack' the language problem becomes apparent in the light of the motor theory account: computers can have no natural relation between words and their meanings; they have no conceptual store to which the network of words is linked nor do they have the innate aspects of language functioning - represented by function words; computers have no direct links between speech sounds and movement patterns and they do not have the instantly integrated neural patterning underlying thought - they necessarily operate serially and hierarchically. Adults find the acquisition of a new language much more difficult than children do because they are already neurally committed to the link between the words of their first language and the elements in their conceptual store. A second language being acquired by an adult is in direct competition for neural space with the network structures established for the first language

Who is that? Brain networks and mechanisms for identifying individuals

Social animals can identify conspecifics by many forms of sensory input. However, whether the neuronal computations that support this ability to identify individuals rely on modality-independent convergence or involve ongoing synergistic interactions along the multiple sensory streams remains controversial. Direct neuronal measurements at relevant brain sites could address such questions, but this requires better bridging the work in humans and animal models. Here, we overview recent studies in nonhuman primates on voice and face identity-sensitive pathways and evaluate the correspondences to relevant findings in humans. This synthesis provides insights into converging sensory streams in the primate anterior temporal lobe (ATL) for identity processing. Furthermore, we advance a model and suggest how alternative neuronal mechanisms could be tested