5,968 research outputs found
Facial Feature Tracking and Occlusion Recovery in American Sign Language
Facial features play an important role in expressing grammatical information in signed languages, including American Sign Language(ASL). Gestures such as raising or furrowing the eyebrows are key indicators of constructions such as yes-no questions. Periodic head movements (nods and shakes) are also an essential part of the expression of syntactic information, such as negation (associated with a side-to-side headshake). Therefore, identification of these facial gestures is essential to sign language recognition. One problem with detection of such grammatical indicators is occlusion recovery. If the signer's hand blocks his/her eyebrows during production of a sign, it becomes difficult to track the eyebrows. We have developed a system to detect such grammatical markers in ASL that recovers promptly from occlusion. Our system detects and tracks evolving templates of facial features, which are based on an anthropometric face model, and interprets the geometric relationships of these templates to identify grammatical markers. It was tested on a variety of ASL sentences signed by various Deaf native signers and detected facial gestures used to express grammatical information, such as raised and furrowed eyebrows as well as headshakes.National Science Foundation (IIS-0329009, IIS-0093367, IIS-9912573, EIA-0202067, EIA-9809340
Drawing bobbin lace graphs, or, Fundamental cycles for a subclass of periodic graphs
In this paper, we study a class of graph drawings that arise from bobbin lace
patterns. The drawings are periodic and require a combinatorial embedding with
specific properties which we outline and demonstrate can be verified in linear
time. In addition, a lace graph drawing has a topological requirement: it
contains a set of non-contractible directed cycles which must be homotopic to
, that is, when drawn on a torus, each cycle wraps once around the minor
meridian axis and zero times around the major longitude axis. We provide an
algorithm for finding the two fundamental cycles of a canonical rectangular
schema in a supergraph that enforces this topological constraint. The polygonal
schema is then used to produce a straight-line drawing of the lace graph inside
a rectangular frame. We argue that such a polygonal schema always exists for
combinatorial embeddings satisfying the conditions of bobbin lace patterns, and
that we can therefore create a pattern, given a graph with a fixed
combinatorial embedding of genus one.Comment: Appears in the Proceedings of the 25th International Symposium on
Graph Drawing and Network Visualization (GD 2017
Thermomechanical testing techniques for high-temparature composites: TMF behavior of SiC(SCS-6)/Ti-15-3
Thermomechanical testing techniques recently developed for monolithic structural alloys were successfully extended to continuous fiber reinforced composite materials in plate form. The success of this adaptation was verified on a model metal matrix composite (MMC) material, namely SiC(SCS-6)/Ti-15V-3Cr-3Al-3Sn. Effects of heating system type and specimen preparation are also addressed. Cyclic lives determined under full thermo-mechanical conditions were shown to be significantly reduced from those obtained under comparable isothermal and in-phase bi-thermal conditions. Fractography and metallography from specimens subjected to isothermal, out-of-phase and in-phase conditions reveal distinct differences in damage-failure modes. Isothermal metallography revealed extensive matrix cracking associated with fiber damage throughout the entire cross-section of the specimen. Out-of-phase metallography revealed extensive matrix damage associated with minimal (if any) fiber cracking. However, the damage was located exclusively at surface and near-surface locations. In-phase conditions produced extensive fiber cracking throughout the entire cross-section, associated with minimal (if any) matrix damage
Theoretical Models for Classical Cepheids: IV. Mean Magnitudes and Colors and the Evaluation of Distance, Reddening and Metallicity
We discuss the metallicity effect on the theoretical visual and near-infrared
PL and PLC relations of classical Cepheids, as based on nonlinear, nonlocal and
time--dependent convective pulsating models at varying chemical composition. In
view of the two usual methods of averaging (magnitude-weighted and
intensity-weighted) observed magnitudes and colors over the full pulsation
cycle, we briefly discuss the differences between static and mean quantities.
We show that the behavior of the synthetic mean magnitudes and colors fully
reproduces the observed trend of Galactic Cepheids, supporting the validity of
the model predictions. In the second part of the paper we show how the estimate
of the mean reddening and true distance modulus of a galaxy from Cepheid VK
photometry depend on the adopted metal content, in the sense that larger
metallicities drive the host galaxy to lower extinctions and distances.
Conversely, self-consistent estimates of the Cepheid mean reddening, distance
and metallicity may be derived if three-filter data are taken into account. By
applying the theoretical PL and PLC relations to available BVK data of Cepheids
in the Magellanic Clouds we eventually obtain Z \sim 0.008, E(B-V) \sim 0.02
mag, DM \sim 18.63 mag for LMC and Z \sim 0.004, E(B-V) \sim 0.01 mag., DM \sim
19.16 mag. for SMC. The discrepancy between such reddenings and the current
values based on BVI data is briefly discussed.Comment: 16 pages, 11 postscript figures, accepted for publication on Ap
Differential Radial Velocities and Stellar Parameters of Nearby Young Stars
Radial velocity searches for substellar mass companions have focused
primarily on stars older than 1 Gyr. Increased levels of stellar activity in
young stars hinders the detection of solar system analogs and therefore there
has been a prejudice against inclusion of young stars in radial velocity
surveys until recently. Adaptive optics surveys of young stars have given us
insight into the multiplicity of young stars but only for massive, distant
companions. Understanding the limit of the radial velocity technique,
restricted to high-mass, close-orbiting planets and brown dwarfs, we began a
survey of young stars of various ages. While the number of stars needed to
carry out full analysis of the problems of planetary and brown dwarf population
and evolution is large, the beginning of such a sample is included here. We
report on 61 young stars ranging in age from beta Pic association (~12 Myr) to
the Ursa Majoris association (~300 Myr). This initial search resulted in no
stars showing evidence for companions greater than ~1-2 M_Jup in short period
orbits at the 3 sigma-level. Additionally, we present derived stellar
parameters, as most have unpublished values. The chemical homogeneity of a
cluster, and presumably of an association, may help to constrain true
membership. As such, we present [Fe/H] abundances for the stars in our sample.Comment: Accepted for publication in the PAS
Disturbances in the spontaneous attribution of social meaning in schizophrenia
Background. Schizophrenia patients show disturbances on a range of tasks that assess mentalizing or 'Theory of Mind' (ToM). However, these tasks are often developmentally inappropriate, make large demands on verbal abilities and explicit problem-solving skills, and involve after-the-fact reflection as opposed to spontaneous mentalizing.
Method. To address these limitations, 55 clinically stable schizophrenia out-patients and 44 healthy controls completed a validated Animations Task designed to assess spontaneous attributions of social meaning to ambiguous
abstract visual stimuli. In this paradigm, 12 animations depict two geometric shapes' interacting' with each other in three conditions: (1) ToM interactions that elicit attributions of mental states to the agents, (2) Goal-Directed (GO) interactions that elicit attributions of simple actions, and (3) Random scenes in which no interaction occurs. Verbal
descriptions of each animation are rated for the degree of Intentionality attributed to the agents and for accuracy.
Results. Patients had lower Intentionality ratings than controls for ToM and GO scenes but the groups did not significantly differ for Random scenes. The descriptions of the patients less closely matched the situations intended by the developers of the task. Within the schizophrenia group, performance on the Animations Task showed minimal
associations with clinical symptoms.
Conclusions. Patients demonstrated disturbances in the spontaneous attribution of mental states to abstract visual stimuli that normally evoke such attributions. Hence, in addition to previously established impairment on mentalizing tasks that require logical inferences about others' mental states, individuals with schizophrenia show disturbances in implicit aspects of mentalizing
On the properties of the interstellar medium in extremely metal-poor blue compact dwarf galaxies: GMOS-IFU spectroscopy and SDSS photometry of the double-knot galaxy HS 2236+1344
The main goal of this study is to carry out a spatially resolved
investigation of the warm interstellar medium (ISM) in the extremely metal-poor
Blue Compact Dwarf (BCD) galaxy HS 2236+1344. Special emphasis is laid on the
analysis of the spatial distribution of chemical abundances, emission-line
ratios and kinematics of the ISM, and to the recent star-forming activity in
this galaxy. This study is based on optical integral field unit spectroscopy
data from Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph at the Gemini North telescope and
archival Sloan Digital Sky Survey images. The data were obtained in two
different positions across the galaxy, obtaining a total 4 arcsec X 8 arcsec
field which encompasses most of its ISM. Emission-line maps and broad-band
images obtained in this study indicate that HS 2236+1344 hosts three Giant HII
regions. Our data also reveal some faint curved features in the BCD periphery
that might be due to tidal perturbations or expanding ionized-gas shells. The
ISM velocity field shows systematic gradients along the major axis of the BCD,
with its south-eastern and north-western half differing by ~80 km/s in their
recessional velocity. The Ha and Hb equivalent width distribution in the
central part of HS 2236+1344 is consistent with a very young (~3 Myr) burst.
Our surface photometry analysis indicates that the ongoing starburst provides
~50% of the total optical emission, similar to other BCDs. It also reveals an
underlying lower-surface brightness component with moderately red colors, which
suggest that the galaxy has undergone previous star formation. We derive an
integrated oxygen abundance of 12+log(O/H)=7.53\pm0.06 and a nitrogen-to-oxygen
ratio of log(N/O)=-1.57\pm0.19. Our results are consistent, within the
uncertainties, with a homogeneous distribution of oxygen and nitrogen within
the ISM of the galaxy. (abridged)Comment: 15 pages, 16 figures, accepted for publication in A&
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