Hand Posture Recognition in Sign Language Using Shape Distributions

A shape distribution is a histogram used to uniquely identify different shapes. The histogram is produced by taking random distances on the surface of a shape or object. Theoretically, each shape or object should produce a unique histogram, as the distribution of distances for each shape should be different. Shape distributions have recently been implemented in a number of object recognition areas. They are an attractive method as they are inherently simple, fast and generic. This paper presents the results of research undertaken on the application of shape distributions for the purpose of sign language recognition. There are four main elements that need to be undertaken in building a fully operational sign language recognition system, namely: posture, position, orientation and motion. It is the first of these components that this paper addresses

Computational Models for the Automatic Learning and Recognition of Irish Sign Language

This thesis presents a framework for the automatic recognition of Sign Language sentences. In previous sign language recognition works, the issues of; user independent recognition, movement epenthesis modeling and automatic or weakly supervised training have not been fully addressed in a single recognition framework. This work presents three main contributions in order to address these issues. The first contribution is a technique for user independent hand posture recognition. We present a novel eigenspace Size Function feature which is implemented to perform user independent recognition of sign language hand postures. The second contribution is a framework for the classification and spotting of spatiotemporal gestures which appear in sign language. We propose a Gesture Threshold Hidden Markov Model (GT-HMM) to classify gestures and to identify movement epenthesis without the need for explicit epenthesis training. The third contribution is a framework to train the hand posture and spatiotemporal models using only the weak supervision of sign language videos and their corresponding text translations. This is achieved through our proposed Multiple Instance Learning Density Matrix algorithm which automatically extracts isolated signs from full sentences using the weak and noisy supervision of text translations. The automatically extracted isolated samples are then utilised to train our spatiotemporal gesture and hand posture classifiers. The work we present in this thesis is an important and significant contribution to the area of natural sign language recognition as we propose a robust framework for training a recognition system without the need for manual labeling

Dynamic gesture recognition using transformation invariant hand shape recognition

In this thesis a detailed framework is presented for accurate real time gesture recognition. Our approach to develop a hand-shape classifier, trained using computer animation, along with its application in dynamic gesture recognition is described. The system developed operates in real time and provides accurate gesture recognition. It operates using a single low resolution camera and operates in Matlab on a conventional PC running Windows XP. The hand shape classifier outlined in this thesis uses transformation invariant subspaces created using Principal Component Analysis (PCA). These subspaces are created from a large vocabulary created in a systematic maimer using computer animation. In recognising dynamic gestures we utilise both hand shape and hand position information; these are two o f the main features used by humans in distinguishing gestures. Hidden Markov Models (HMMs) are trained and employed to recognise this combination of hand shape and hand position features. During the course o f this thesis we have described in detail the inspiration and motivation behind our research and its possible applications. In this work our emphasis is on achieving a high speed system that works in real time with high accuracy

Pointing as an Instrumental Gesture : Gaze Representation Through Indication

The research of the first author was supported by a Fulbright Visiting Scholar Fellowship and developed in 2012 during a period of research visit at the University of Memphis.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Incest and Empire in The Faerie Queene

When considered in the context of Elizabeth\u27s effort to silence all discussion of incest, Edmund Spenser\u27s courtly epic aiming to cultivate favor with the monarch looks like a disastrous miscalculation, for incest appears throughout The Faerie Queene. Indeed, incest sits at the center (both literally and figuratively) of the Book of Chastity, the very book wherein Spenser encourages Elizabeth \u27in mirrours more then one her selfe to see.\u27 In the present essay, I investigate the apparently illogical and impolitic prominence afforded to incest in book three of The Faerie Queene, ultimately arguing that the imperialist logic underpinning the epic is linked to an intense fear of miscegenation that, in turn, privileges endogamous relations as a way of warding off foreign invasion and contamination. For Spenser, incest becomes a positive practice, one that ensures national and individual purity

Communication responses to positive or neutral facial expressions between the genders

The purpose of this thesis was to determine whether or not college students would respond with any communication to a stimulus of nonverbal communication of either eye contact alone or paired with smiling to the same or opposite gender. The characteristics of this study may have implications on how successful nonverbal communication can be. One-hundred-sixty students, 8 groups within, were randomly stimulated by either a female or male with either a positive or neutral facial expression and their natural responses were recorded. The responses were coded on a Likert scale and analyzed with a 3 way ANOVA. The data presented in this study allows this researcher to reject the second null hypothesis and accept the alternate hypothesis that a particular gender providing the nonverbal communication stimuli will gain more responses from the participants. A significant difference was found among the female providing nonverbal communication stimuli

Parametric synthesis of sign language

The isolation of the deaf community from mainstream society is in part due to the lack of knowledge most hearing people have of sign language. To most, there seems to be little need to learn a language that is spoken by such a small minority unless perhaps a relative is unable to hear. Even with a desire to learn, the task may seem insurmountable due to the unique formational and grammatical rules of the language. This linguistic rift has led to the call for an automatic translation system with the ability to take voice or written text as input and produce a comprehensive sequence of signed gestures through computing. This thesis focused on the development of the foundation of a system that would receive English language input and generate a sequence of related signed gestures each synthesized from their basic kinematic parameters. A technique of sign specification for a computer-based translation system was developed through the use of Python objects and functions. Sign definitions, written as Python algorithms, were used to drive the simulation engine of a human-modeling software known as Jack. This research suggests that 3-dimensional computer graphics can be utilized in the production of sign representations that are intelligible and natural in appearance

Stories of people with dementia who experience word-finding difficulties.

Much research on word-finding difficulties (WFDs) in dementia focuses on quantifying cognitive and linguistic deficits, rather than exploring the ways in which people living with dementia (PLWD) use their existing cognitive and linguistic resources to communicate and share their stories. In addition, little research has focused on exploring the use of non-verbal communication (NVC) and how this is performed through storytelling. The current research aimed to elicit narratives of PLWD and WFDs. Accounts were elicited from three one-to-one interviews which took place in a community setting. These interviews were videorecorded to explore the use of NVC of both the person living with dementia and the researcher. Narrative analysis of the interviews explored the key narratives told by the participants, and the interactional context between the participant and the researcher within the wider socio-political contexts. In addition, NVC has also been interpreted to demonstrate the ways in which this is used as a resource in storytelling. By attending to NVC, it was found that even in silences and manifestations of WFDs participants expressed themselves in a multitude of ways which complemented storytelling, showing the capacity to be humorous, engaging, expressive, and moving, even in the absence of words. In privileging the stories of PLWD and WFDs, it was found that the use of NVC is used resourcefully to affirm their identities and personhood despite threats against these. However, participants did story that experiencing WFDs did lead to frustration, anger, shame, and feelings of dismissal from others. The findings and implications of this study are then discussed, considering their relationship to wider discourses. Findings indicate possibilities for future research and professional practice. The stories presented here may provide ideas for how Clinical Psychologists can improve access to our services at all stages of the dementia journey and promote personhood irrespective of the cognitive and linguistic difficulties experienced by those living with dementia

Encompassing the Intolerable: Laughter, Memory, and Inscription in the Fiction of John McGahern

Encompassing the Intolerable examines John McGahern\u27s depiction of individual consciousness struggling with postcolonial Ireland\u27s three dominant and interconnected institutions: nation, family, and the Catholic Church. While McGahern\u27s work, especially the early fiction, is often considered unremittingly bleak, this study argues that his exposure of abuse, repression, and disillusionment within these institutions does not finally entail a pessimistic vision. Instead, through close readings emphasizing character and epiphany, I contend that his texts use the motifs of laughter, memory, and inscription to demonstrate how consciousness can accommodate intolerable realities such as violence and loss rather than becoming defined or controlled by them. Moreover, these motifs trace a progression of subjectivity from survival (laughter) to private identity (memory) to public identity (inscription). Through this process, I argue that McGahern\u27s fiction uncovers a guarded sense of continuity with the above institutions and the awareness that they provide the raw materials for (re)constructing a valid worldview. Chapter 2 argues that for McGahern\u27s physically or psychically wounded characters, a self-reflexive and dianoetic laugh functions as a minimum confirmation of subjectivity and prepares consciousness to encompass the intolerable. Chapter 3 examines McGahern\u27s portrayal of the extraordinary power of memory to revivify images, refrains, or narratives, and argues that characters who successfully encompass a traumatic past do so by relinquishing the will to power expressed by silence or dogmatic interpretations of individual or collective history. Instead, these characters construct and continually revise dissertation-ended narratives and find that meaning resides in the recounting of such narratives rather than in affixing a final and singular meaning to events. Chapter 4 looks at both the public role of the writer and his or her audience. I argue that McGahern\u27s writing protagonists trace an approach to point-of-view that moves from a defensive posture of isolation and recrimination toward an dissertation posture based on community and forgiveness, and that the latter elicits new ways to encompass the intolerable