Kara Walker is one of the most successful and widely known contemporary African-American artists today--remarkable for her radical engagement with issues of race, gender, and sexuality. Walker is best known for her provocative installations, composed of cut-paper silhouettes depicting fantastic and grotesque scenes of the antebellum South. This thesis examines Walker's work in silhouettes, text, and video in order to establish the unifying logic that unites her media. Walker's use of racist stereotypes has incited vehement criticism, and the debate over the political meaning of her work has been worked and reworked in the voluminous literature on her artistic practice. This thesis focuses on how Walker's defense and explanation of her own work functions as a performative and political component of the art itself. Walker's construction and performance of an artistic identity is an integral and intentional part of her overall practice and a key component to the interpretation of her work.

This dissertation presents a method capable of smoothing the silhouette of a 3D model using interpolation to find smooth edges. The method has as goal to be used with normal mapping to improve the performance and give a better result with a low polygonal count. To do this the lines located on the silhouette of a model is interpolated to find a curve that is used as clipping frame in the stencil buffer. This method is able to modify the silhouette for the better. The amount of interpolation is rather limited.

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento CientÃfico e TecnolÃgico / O alto desempenho da GPU e o crescente uso dos seus mecanismos de programaÃÃo tÃm estimulado diversas aplicaÃÃes grÃficas de realidade virtual a explorar melhor o potencial desse dispositivo para alcanÃar nÃveis mais altos de realismo. Trabalhos tÃm surgido com um enfoque no refinamento da silhueta de malhas geomÃtricas, buscando expressar melhor a superfÃcie dos objetos tridimensionais sendo representados. O tipo de refinamento aplicado pode ser, por exemplo, uma suavizaÃÃo da malha bruta de um avatar, por meio da interpolaÃÃo de uma superfÃcie curva sobre suas faces. A ideia bÃsica à fazer uma discretizaÃÃo adaptativa da malha do objeto e entÃo gerar uma nova silhueta usando essa discretizaÃÃo. MÃtodos anteriores sÃo analisados e sÃo apresentadas melhorias que juntas formarÃo o mÃtodo proposto. O desempenho obtido à superior devido a uma exploraÃÃo melhor do paralelismo da GPU, e a tÃcnica proposta funciona suficientemente bem com malhas existentes sem necessidade de se projetar novos modelos para isso. / The high performance of the GPU and the increasing use of its programming mechanisms have stimulated several graphic applications of virtual reality to explore the potential of this device to achieve higher levels of realism. Studies have emerged with a focus on refining the silhouette of geometric meshes, seeking to express better the surface of three-dimensional objects being represented. The type of refining can be applied, for example, a fabric softening raw an avatar by means of an interpolation curve on their surface faces. Basic idea is to make an adaptive mesh discretization of the object and then generate a new silhouette using this discretization. Previous methods are analyzed and improvements are presented which together form the proposed method. The performance obtained is superior due to a better exploitation of parallelism of the GPU, and the proposed technique works well enough with existing mesh without the need to design new models for this.

A intenção do presente trabalho é conceituar roupa interior feminina com foco no século XIX. A partir da conceituação de roupa interior, e da pesquisa da roupa exterior, as peças internas serão identificadas e analisadas para compreender seu conceito como suporte do corpo. Com o estudo de imagens, catálogos, fotografias, revistas, livros, periódicos e manuais de construção de roupas, o trabalho destina-se ao entendimento do corpo modelado pela roupa interior, formadora das silhuetas do século XIX, analisando os suportes internos como influenciadores da forma do corpo e do comportamento no período / Conceptualizing underclothing for women is the main intention of this paper and such concept is focused in the Nineteenth Century. Based upon the conceptualization of underclothing and the research involving the usual outer clothing of the time, under pieces are identified and analyzed. Thus, it\'s possible to understand the role these pieces play as a concept for bodily support. Through the study of images, catalogs, photographies, magazines, books, journals and guides of garment manufacturing, this paper looks forward to understanding the body as modeled by underclothing (which helped shape the body in the Nineteenth Century) and to analyzing the inner supports as major influences in the social conduct and bodily shapes of that era

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No description available.

À quelles conditions deux objets singuliers sont-ils identiques, ou distincts au contraire ? Cette thèse choisit de ne pas aborder cette question de front, en proposant immédiatement des critères – des conditions nécessaires et suffisantes – d’identité pour certains types d’objets (les personnes, les artefacts, les objets inanimés…). Elle commence bien plutôt par prendre du recul, en demandant ce que sont de tels objets ordinaires, quelle est leur ontologie, et quelle est par conséquent la nature d’une relation d’identité entre eux. La conclusion de cette enquête, menée dans une perspective néo-carnapienne, est déflationniste : les relations d’identité numérique entre objets ordinaires ne sont pas déjà présentes dans le monde, comme des faits substantiels que nous n’aurions plus qu’à découvrir. Après avoir élaboré cette théorie de l’identité dans une première partie, cette thèse la met ensuite au travail, pour résoudre dans une deuxième partie les principaux paradoxes de l’identité dont la littérature regorge : problèmes liés au vague, aux modalités, à la coïncidence, problèmes enfin d’identité personnelle. / Under what conditions are two singular objects identical or distinct? This thesis chooses not to tackle this question upfront, by directly putting forward criteria – that is, necessary and sufficient conditions – of identity for certain kinds of objects (such as persons, artefacts, inanimate objects…). It rather begins by stepping backwards, in order to tell a story about ordinary objects, about their ontology, and consequently about the nature of the relation of numerical identity between two such objects. The upshot of this enquiry, led under the guidance of a neo-Carnapian meta-philosophy, is deflationary: numerical identity relations between ordinary objects are not already there in the world, like substantial facts waiting to be discovered. After elaborating such a theory of identity in the first part, this thesis then uses it to solve most of the well-known problems of identity, in the second part: those related to vagueness, essentialism and modality, spatio-temporal coincidence, and eventually personal identity.

Nous nous intéressons à l'acquisition automatique de mouvements 3D de personnes. Cette opération doit être réalisée sans un équipement spécialisé (marqueurs ou habillage spécifique), pour rendre son utilisation générale, sous la contrainte du temps réel. Pour répondre à ces questions, nous sommes amenés à traiter de la reconstruction et l'analyse de la forme 3D. Concernant le problème de reconstruction 3D en temps réel d'entités en mouvement à partir de plusieurs vues, les approches existantes font souvent appel à des calculs complexes incompatibles avec la contrainte du temps réel. Les approches du type SFS offrent un compromis intéressant entre efficacité algorithmique et précision. Ces dernières utilisent les silhouettes issues de chaque caméra pour proposer un volume englobant des objets. Cependant elles nécessitent un environnement particulièrement contraint, dont le placement minutieux des caméras. Les travaux présentés dans ce manuscrit généralisent l'utilisation des approches SFS à des environnements peu contrôlés. L'acquisition du mouvement revient à déterminer les paramètres offrant la meilleure corrélation entre le modèle et la reconstruction 3D. Notre objectif étant le suivi temps réel, nous proposons des méthodes qui offrent la précision requise et le temps réel. Couplé à un suivi temporel par filtre de Kalman, à un recalage d'objets géométriques simples (ellipsoïdes, sphères, etc.), nous proposons un système temps réel, offrant une erreur de l'ordre de 6%.De par sa robustesse, il permet le suivi simultané de plusieurs personnes, même lors de contacts. Les résultats obtenus ouvrent des perspectives à un transfert vers des applications grand public / We aim at automatically capturing 3D motion of persons without markers. To make it flexible, and to consider interactive applications, we address real-time solution, without specialized instrumentation. Real-time body estimation and shape analyze lead to home motion capture application. We begin by addressing the problem of 3D real-time reconstruction of moving objects from multiple views. Existing approaches often involve complex computation methods, making them incompatible with real-time constraints. Shape-From-Silhouette (SFS) approaches provide interesting compromise between algorithm efficiency and accuracy. They estimate 3D objects from their silhouettes in each camera. However they require constrained environments and cameras placement. The works presented in this document generalize the use of SFS approaches to uncontrolled environments. The main methods of marker-less motion capture, are based on parametric modeling of the human body. The acquisition of movement goal is to determine the parameters that provide the best correlation between the model and the 3D reconstruction.The following approaches, more robust, use natural markings of the body extremities: the skin. Coupled with a temporal Kalman filter, a registration of simple geometric objects, or an ellipsoids' decomposition, we have proposed two real-time approaches, providing a mean error of 6%. Thanks to the approach robustness, it allows the simultaneous monitoring of several people even in contacts. The results obtained open up prospects for a transfer to home applications

O objetivo principal deste trabalho foi desenvolver duas escalas de silhuetas para crianças de ambos os sexos entre quatro e seis anos de idade, para avaliação da percepção e insatisfação com o tamanho corporal. O estudo foi composto por duas etapas. A primeira etapa envolveu a construção de uma escala de silhuetas bidimensional e uma escala de silhuetas tridimensional, a partir das fotos de 18 crianças voluntárias, divididas em nove crianças de cada sexo, sendo uma representante para cada intervalo de IMC estabelecido para a construção das escalas. Para garantir as qualidades psicométricas dos instrumentos, estabeleceram-se os valores médios de IMC correspondentes para cada figura com incremento constante de 1,9 Kg/m². Foram fotografadas crianças com Índice de Massa Corporal correspondente às médias dos intervalos estabelecidos para as figuras da sequência das escalas. Estas fotos foram transformadas por um designer gráfico em um arquivo para impressão 3D e um arquivo 2D frontal de silhuetas infantis. A segunda etapa contemplou a análise das qualidades psicométricas dos instrumentos. A coleta de dados ocorreu em quatro escolas particulares em diferentes cidades. Participaram do estudo 193 crianças de quatro a seis anos de idade, sendo 102 do sexo feminino e 91 do sexo masculino. As escalas foram apresentadas para cada criança em ordem ascendente ou aleatória, perguntando-se Qual figura representa seu corpo atual? e Qual figura representa o corpo que você gostaria de ter?, sendo a discrepância entre a figura que representa o IMC Atual e a que representa o IMC Desejado, caracterizada como Insatisfação com o tamanho corporal, e a discrepância entre a figura que representa o IMC Real e a que representa o IMC Atual caracterizada como Inacurácia da percepção do tamanho corporal. A escala bidimensional é apresentada na forma de nove cartões plastificados para cada gênero, com 12,5cm de altura por 6,5cm de largura, com a figura centralizada. A escala tridimensional é composta de nove bonecos para cada gênero impressos através da tecnologia de impressão 3D, com 12cm de altura. A Escala de Silhuetas Bidimensional mostrou valores de fidedignidade satisfatórios para Acurácia e Satisfação para crianças de seis anos, podendo ser um indicativo da influência do ambiente e do desenvolvimento em crianças menores. A Escala de Silhuetas Tridimensional apresentou-se mais adequada para a avaliação da Insatisfação com o tamanho corporal em relação a Bidimensional, mostrando que detalhes mais reais permitem um melhor julgamento por parte das crianças, seja do corpo como um todo, seja de partes dele. Este estudo sugere que as escalas de silhuetas podem ser usadas em crianças, e que pré-escolares já conseguem cumprir a tarefa de selecionar a figura que representa seu corpo nesta faixa etária. A construção e desenvolvimento das escalas mostraram-se ser válidas e permitem a investigação mais acurada de fatores relacionados as dimensões perceptivas da imagem corporal em pré-escolares, porém, parecem refletir também outras fontes de variância e influência que precisam ser investigadas. / The aim of this study was to develop two silhouettes scales for children of both sexes between four and six years old to evaluate the perception and body size dissatisfaction. The study consisted of two phases. The first phase consisted in the construction of a two-dimensional silhouettes scale and a three-dimensional silhouettes scale, from the photos of 18 volunteer children, who were divided into nine children of each sex, one representative for each BMI range established for the construction of the scales. To ensure the psychometric qualities of the instruments, it was settled that the mean values of BMI for each figure would be calculated with a constant increase of 1.9 kg/m². Children with a body mass index equal to the mean of the ranges specified for the pictures of the sequence of scales. These photos have been transformed by a graphic designer in a file for 3D printing and a 2D front file of children\'s silhouettes. The second phase included the analysis of the psychometric properties of the instruments. Data collection occurred in four private schools in different cities. The study included 193 children aged from four to six years old, being 102 females and 91 males. The scales were presented to each child in ascending or random order, asking them \"What figure represents your current body?\", \"What figure represents the body youd like to have?\", the discrepancy between the figure representing the current BMI and the BMI which represents the desired one, characterized the dissatisfaction with the body size, and the gap between the figure representing the real BMI the childs actual BMI was characterized as inaccuracy of the perception of the body size. The two-dimensional scale is presented in the form of nine plastic cards for each gender, being 12.5cm tall and 6.5cm wide with a central figure. The three dimensional scale consists of nine figures printed for each genre via 3D printing technology with 12cm of height. The dimensional silhouettes scale showed good teste-retest reliability for accuracy and satisfaction for six year-old children and may be indicative of the influence of the environment and development in small children. The tridimensional silhouettes scale showed to be more appropriate for the assessment of dissatisfaction with the body size in relation of Bidimensional, showing that more details actually allows a better judgment from the children on their whole body as well as on their body parts. This study suggests that silhouettes scales can be used in children, and that preschoolers can already fulfill the task of selecting the figure representing their own body by this age. The scales were found to be valid, but they seem to also reflect other sources of variance and influence that need to be investigated. The construction and development of the scales allows more accurate investigation of factors related to body image in preschoolers.

O objetivo principal deste trabalho foi desenvolver duas escalas de silhuetas para crianças de ambos os sexos entre quatro e seis anos de idade, para avaliação da percepção e insatisfação com o tamanho corporal. O estudo foi composto por duas etapas. A primeira etapa envolveu a construção de uma escala de silhuetas bidimensional e uma escala de silhuetas tridimensional, a partir das fotos de 18 crianças voluntárias, divididas em nove crianças de cada sexo, sendo uma representante para cada intervalo de IMC estabelecido para a construção das escalas. Para garantir as qualidades psicométricas dos instrumentos, estabeleceram-se os valores médios de IMC correspondentes para cada figura com incremento constante de 1,9 Kg/m². Foram fotografadas crianças com Índice de Massa Corporal correspondente às médias dos intervalos estabelecidos para as figuras da sequência das escalas. Estas fotos foram transformadas por um designer gráfico em um arquivo para impressão 3D e um arquivo 2D frontal de silhuetas infantis. A segunda etapa contemplou a análise das qualidades psicométricas dos instrumentos. A coleta de dados ocorreu em quatro escolas particulares em diferentes cidades. Participaram do estudo 193 crianças de quatro a seis anos de idade, sendo 102 do sexo feminino e 91 do sexo masculino. As escalas foram apresentadas para cada criança em ordem ascendente ou aleatória, perguntando-se Qual figura representa seu corpo atual? e Qual figura representa o corpo que você gostaria de ter?, sendo a discrepância entre a figura que representa o IMC Atual e a que representa o IMC Desejado, caracterizada como Insatisfação com o tamanho corporal, e a discrepância entre a figura que representa o IMC Real e a que representa o IMC Atual caracterizada como Inacurácia da percepção do tamanho corporal. A escala bidimensional é apresentada na forma de nove cartões plastificados para cada gênero, com 12,5cm de altura por 6,5cm de largura, com a figura centralizada. A escala tridimensional é composta de nove bonecos para cada gênero impressos através da tecnologia de impressão 3D, com 12cm de altura. A Escala de Silhuetas Bidimensional mostrou valores de fidedignidade satisfatórios para Acurácia e Satisfação para crianças de seis anos, podendo ser um indicativo da influência do ambiente e do desenvolvimento em crianças menores. A Escala de Silhuetas Tridimensional apresentou-se mais adequada para a avaliação da Insatisfação com o tamanho corporal em relação a Bidimensional, mostrando que detalhes mais reais permitem um melhor julgamento por parte das crianças, seja do corpo como um todo, seja de partes dele. Este estudo sugere que as escalas de silhuetas podem ser usadas em crianças, e que pré-escolares já conseguem cumprir a tarefa de selecionar a figura que representa seu corpo nesta faixa etária. A construção e desenvolvimento das escalas mostraram-se ser válidas e permitem a investigação mais acurada de fatores relacionados as dimensões perceptivas da imagem corporal em pré-escolares, porém, parecem refletir também outras fontes de variância e influência que precisam ser investigadas. / The aim of this study was to develop two silhouettes scales for children of both sexes between four and six years old to evaluate the perception and body size dissatisfaction. The study consisted of two phases. The first phase consisted in the construction of a two-dimensional silhouettes scale and a three-dimensional silhouettes scale, from the photos of 18 volunteer children, who were divided into nine children of each sex, one representative for each BMI range established for the construction of the scales. To ensure the psychometric qualities of the instruments, it was settled that the mean values of BMI for each figure would be calculated with a constant increase of 1.9 kg/m². Children with a body mass index equal to the mean of the ranges specified for the pictures of the sequence of scales. These photos have been transformed by a graphic designer in a file for 3D printing and a 2D front file of children\'s silhouettes. The second phase included the analysis of the psychometric properties of the instruments. Data collection occurred in four private schools in different cities. The study included 193 children aged from four to six years old, being 102 females and 91 males. The scales were presented to each child in ascending or random order, asking them \"What figure represents your current body?\", \"What figure represents the body youd like to have?\", the discrepancy between the figure representing the current BMI and the BMI which represents the desired one, characterized the dissatisfaction with the body size, and the gap between the figure representing the real BMI the childs actual BMI was characterized as inaccuracy of the perception of the body size. The two-dimensional scale is presented in the form of nine plastic cards for each gender, being 12.5cm tall and 6.5cm wide with a central figure. The three dimensional scale consists of nine figures printed for each genre via 3D printing technology with 12cm of height. The dimensional silhouettes scale showed good teste-retest reliability for accuracy and satisfaction for six year-old children and may be indicative of the influence of the environment and development in small children. The tridimensional silhouettes scale showed to be more appropriate for the assessment of dissatisfaction with the body size in relation of Bidimensional, showing that more details actually allows a better judgment from the children on their whole body as well as on their body parts. This study suggests that silhouettes scales can be used in children, and that preschoolers can already fulfill the task of selecting the figure representing their own body by this age. The scales were found to be valid, but they seem to also reflect other sources of variance and influence that need to be investigated. The construction and development of the scales allows more accurate investigation of factors related to body image in preschoolers.