3D scanning of cultural heritage with consumer depth cameras

Three dimensional reconstruction of cultural heritage objects is an expensive and time-consuming process. Recent consumer real-time depth acquisition devices, like Microsoft Kinect, allow very fast and simple acquisition of 3D views. However 3D scanning with such devices is a challenging task due to the limited accuracy and reliability of the acquired data. This paper introduces a 3D reconstruction pipeline suited to use consumer depth cameras as hand-held scanners for cultural heritage objects. Several new contributions have been made to achieve this result. They include an ad-hoc filtering scheme that exploits the model of the error on the acquired data and a novel algorithm for the extraction of salient points exploiting both depth and color data. Then the salient points are used within a modified version of the ICP algorithm that exploits both geometry and color distances to precisely align the views even when geometry information is not sufficient to constrain the registration. The proposed method, although applicable to generic scenes, has been tuned to the acquisition of sculptures and in this connection its performance is rather interesting as the experimental results indicate

Cyprus: The Island still divided between Turkey and Greece's influences.

openThe Cyprus problem represents one of the few still open conflicts within the European borders. At the same time, it corresponds to the only island divided into two different parties in which the capital, Nicosia, is known to be “the last divided capital” in Europe. This situation has seen only tiny improvements since the escalation of this issue, at the beginning of the 1960s. But the problem does not find its origin uniquely within the island’s border, rather it is the result of the foreign policy preferences and practices that external countries, neighbours and not, implemented towards the island: starting from the Ottoman Empire, the British Empire, to the modern relations between Greece and Turkey. And despite the official independence of the island from the United Kingdom obtained in 1960, Cyprus is located at the heart of one of the most unstable and precarious region, the MENA area, in which every country influences the actions of all the others, more than it happens in other regions. For Cyprus, these persuasive and affecting decisions come mainly from other two countries, Greece and Turkey, whose relationship has presented many complications since the establishment of the two independent nations. The rivalry between them, however, has not seen any improvements and, today, it can still be judged as one of the factors responsible for the non-resolution of the Cyprus problem. This primordial antagonism, nevertheless, is difficult to be solved in the first place as it is composed of many intersecting aspects, from the oldest struggle for supremacy in the Aegean to the most recent rivalry for the control of energy resources, each of which contributes to the non-resolution of the Cyprus problem.The Cyprus problem represents one of the few still open conflicts within the European borders. At the same time, it corresponds to the only island divided into two different parties in which the capital, Nicosia, is known to be “the last divided capital” in Europe. This situation has seen only tiny improvements since the escalation of this issue, at the beginning of the 1960s. But the problem does not find its origin uniquely within the island’s border, rather it is the result of the foreign policy preferences and practices that external countries, neighbours and not, implemented towards the island: starting from the Ottoman Empire, the British Empire, to the modern relations between Greece and Turkey. And despite the official independence of the island from the United Kingdom obtained in 1960, Cyprus is located at the heart of one of the most unstable and precarious region, the MENA area, in which every country influences the actions of all the others, more than it happens in other regions. For Cyprus, these persuasive and affecting decisions come mainly from other two countries, Greece and Turkey, whose relationship has presented many complications since the establishment of the two independent nations. The rivalry between them, however, has not seen any improvements and, today, it can still be judged as one of the factors responsible for the non-resolution of the Cyprus problem. This primordial antagonism, nevertheless, is difficult to be solved in the first place as it is composed of many intersecting aspects, from the oldest struggle for supremacy in the Aegean to the most recent rivalry for the control of energy resources, each of which contributes to the non-resolution of the Cyprus problem

Design and testing of hydrophobic microstructured surfaces produced by vat photopolymerization

Current limits and potentialities in the fabrication of hydrophobic microstructured surfaces by means of Digital Light Processing additive manufacturing were investigated by testing different pillar-based geometries and analyzing the results in terms of quality of the printed features and resulting contact angle. Microstructure-alone induced transition from hydrophilicity to hydrophobicity was achieved, though not to superhydrophobic levels. The influence of geometrical parameters was analyzed.ope

The Hersfeldensis and the Fuldensis of Ammianus Marcellinus:A reconsideration

The only two authoritative manuscripts of Ammianus Marcellinus to survive to the present day were produced in Germany in the first half of the ninth century: Vaticanus Latinus 1873 from Fulda (V), and a fragmentary manuscript from Hersfeld now preserved in Kassel (M). This article challenges the consensus that V is a copy of M; taking into account recently uncovered fragments of M (new transcriptions of which are offered in the appendix), we argue that both are copies of the same damaged original, and discuss the implications for the editing of Ammianus and for our understanding of Carolingian scholarship

Urbanisation in the time of Claudius in the western provinces of the Empire

The present work encompasses an analysis of Claudius’ activities in the provinces of the western Empire in order to get an idea of his political attitude in a broader context and see how his interests in the provinces influence the urban works. The first aim of the project is to find structures, urban development and changes in the cities which are directly connected to Claudius. The second goal is a reflection on planning issues and strategies adopted by the emperor. In particular It was conducted a comprehensive examination of new buildings or additions to prior ones (with statues for example) and the underlying intentions as well as how and in which way the prototypes in Italy influenced the construction in the provinces. The last aim is connected to Venturi’s work who deals with his activities in Italy and in particular at Rome and Ravenna. I retrieve if the trends found by Venturi are applicable also in the provinces and I try to find new ones as well which can explain his political actions

Kriegserinnerungen in zwei Dörfern der Toskana: vom autobiographischen zum sozialen Gedächtnis

'Der Beitrag analysiert erzählte Erinnerungen an Massaker, die deutsche Truppen in zwei Dörfern der Toskana während des Zweiten Weltkriegs verübt haben. Er untersucht die Mechanismen der Konstruktion eines Gruppengedächtnisses, wobei sowohl die soziale als auch die emotionale Seite der Erinnerungen beleuchtet wird. Ausgehend von Maurice Blochs These, dass es zwischen den Repräsentationen des autobiographischen und des historischen Gedächtnisses keine Unterschiede gibt, werde ich zu zeigen versuchen, dass die visuellen Bilder, die mit früheren traumatischen Erfahrungen assoziiert sind, eine zentrale Rolle beim Erzählen spielen und so den Übergang zwischen privaten und öffentlichen Erinnerungen erleichtern. Indem ich Erinnerung als eine Form des mit symbolischen Inhalten gefüllten intersubjektiven Wissens betrachte, statt als einstimmiges, kollektives Unterfangen, vertrete ich eine Sichtweise, die unterschiedliche Disziplinen zu integrieren versucht.' (Autorenreferat)'The article analyses narratives of massacres by German troops in two villages in Tuscany during the Second World War. It explores the mechanisms of construction of group memory, considering the recollections from the perspective of both their social patterning and their emotional quality. Working from Maurice Bloch's assertion that there is no difference between the representations of autobiographical memory and those of historical accounts, I argue that visual imagery associated with past traumatic experience is a fundamental part of oral narratives, and facilitates the passage from personal to public memories. Treating memory as a form of intersubjective knowledge endowed with symbolic content, rather than as a unanimous, collective endeavour, I argue for an approach that integrates different disciplinary theories.' (author's abstract

Bill Viola ou l’image sans représentation

Bill Viola affirme que l’ère de la vision optique est terminée et, malgré cela, ses œuvres donnent l’impression d’une parfaite évidence visuelle : ce paradoxe d’une image non destinée à la vue est le thème de cet article. La première thèse développée grâce à la comparaison de la production du vidéaste avec l’art figuratif et le théâtre est qu’elle a une autonomie esthétique spécifique qui se fonde sur l’élision préalable du seuil de la fiction. La deuxième thèse est que B. Viola propose à nouveau la conception de cet œil innocent dont on pensait qu’il n’existait pas, sous la forme d’un corps sincère dont l’existence reste encore à prouver. Il crée en effet des configurations audiovisuelles qui permettent, par la mise en avant de l’expressivité originaire de l’homme, de produire un effet persuasif, affirmatif même, sur le spectateur qu’il soit naïf ou sophistiqué tout en sollicitant son système nerveux. La troisième thèse est que dans toute sa production est à l’œuvre le même problème esthétique, à savoir le délitement de l’identité psychologique du spectateur qui fait l’expérience sur lui-même du véritable thème des vidéos : l’émotion. Ces images vont alors s’incorporer dans l’homme.Bill Viola claims that the era of optical vision is over and, despite this, his works give the impression of a perfect visual evidence. This article sets out to look at the paradox of an image which is not aimed to the sight. First, in comparing the work of this video-maker with figurative art and theatre, we can see that it partakes of a specific aesthetic autonomy grounded in the previous elision of the threshold of vision. Second, we can see that B. Viola offers once more the innocent eye which was believed not to exist, under the form of a sincere body whose existence remains to be proven. He indeed creates audio-visual configurations which allow by bringing forward the original expressivity of man, to produce a persuasive or even claiming effect on the viewer, be he naive or sophisticated in using his nervous system. Thirdly, the same aesthetic problem operates in his whole work: the deleting of psychological identity of the viewer experiencing within himself the theme of the video, this theme being emotion. Such images will then be incorporated within him