scholarly journals Automatic Detection of Gaze and Body Orientation in Elementary School Classrooms

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roberto Araya ◽  
Jorge Sossa-Rivera
Keyword(s):  
Verbal Behavior ◽  
Teaching Practices ◽  
Daily Practice ◽  
First Grade ◽  
The Body ◽  
Body Orientation ◽  
Motion Sensors ◽  
The Gaze ◽  
Honest Signals ◽  
Mean Square Errors

Detecting the direction of the gaze and orientation of the body of both teacher and students is essential to estimate who is paying attention to whom. It also provides vital clues for understanding their unconscious, non-verbal behavior. These are called “honest signals” since they are unconscious subtle patterns in our interaction with other people that help reveal the focus of our attention. Inside the classroom, they provide important clues about teaching practices and students' responses to different conscious and unconscious teaching strategies. Scanning this non-verbal behavior in the classroom can provide important feedback to the teacher in order for them to improve their teaching practices. This type of analysis usually requires sophisticated eye-tracking equipment, motion sensors, or multiple cameras. However, for this to be a useful tool in the teacher's daily practice, an alternative must be found using only a smartphone. A smartphone is the only instrument that a teacher always has at their disposal and is nowadays considered truly ubiquitous. Our study looks at data from a group of first-grade classrooms. We show how video recordings on a teacher's smartphone can be used in order to estimate the direction of the teacher and students’ gaze, as well as their body orientation. Using the output from the OpenPose software, we run Machine Learning (ML) algorithms to train an estimator to recognize the direction of the students’ gaze and body orientation. We found that the level of accuracy achieved is comparable to that of human observers watching frames from the videos. The mean square errors (RMSE) of the predicted pitch and yaw angles for head and body directions are on average 11% lower than the RMSE between human annotators. However, our solution is much faster, avoids the tedium of doing it manually, and makes it possible to design solutions that give the teacher feedback as soon as they finish the class.

scholarly journals Knowledge and Practices of Back Care, Experience in Colombian Children

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 2333794X2110234
Author(s):  
Sonia Carolina Mantilla Toloza ◽  
Carlos Alberto Jaimes Guerrero ◽  
Piedad Rocio Lerma Castaño
Keyword(s):  
Education Program ◽  
School Context ◽  
Intervention Group ◽  
First Grade ◽  
The Body ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Preventive Strategy ◽  
Grade School ◽  
Knowledge And Practice ◽  
Back Care

Early back care has become the preventive strategy to mitigate bad postural habits and musculoskeletal alterations that trigger inadequate postural patterns in the body schema. The objective was to determine the knowledge and practice of back care in first-grade school children after applying an educational intervention for back care. Quasi-experimental study with pre-test and post-tests in a sample of 71 first grade school students. Knowledge and practices for back care were evaluated before and after of the intervention. During 5 weeks, a program of education for back care was developed in the intervention group, formed by concepts about anatomy, physiology, alterations of the spine, adoption of appropriate postures and movements in school life and the execution of adequate movements learned. Simultaneously, physical exercises based on aerobic work, strengthening and stretching the back muscles were carried out with the children in the control group. A linear regression model and a two-level hierarchical model were applied to estimate the effect of the intervention. After the execution of the back care education program, a better score was found in the knowledge and practice questionnaire, which was different between the intervention group and the control group (1.72 95% CI 1.21-2.24). The development of an education program generated a change in the score of the questionnaire on knowledge of back care in the intervnetion group, which suggests the implementation of these strategies in the school context during early childhood, contributing to the prevention of back disorders and deficiencies

Tiresian Journeys

2008 ◽  
Vol 52 (4) ◽  
pp. 174-182 ◽  
Author(s):  
Petra Kuppers
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
The Body ◽  
Public Performance ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
The Gaze ◽  
Disability Culture ◽  
The Media ◽  
Extreme Performance ◽  
Performance Project ◽  
Union Square

Given the media frenzy over Hillary Clinton's unsuccessful presidential bid, and the ensuing questions about the state of feminism, it seems a serendipitous moment to feature two pieces—written by the women who conceived and performed them—that offer very different but complementary takes on agency, identity, and the conflation of the public and private as one's body becomes the locus of the gaze. Petra Kuppers's dramaturgical meditation on her experiences as part of Tiresias, a disability culture performance project, investigates erotics, change, mythology, and identity. A collaboration between photographers, writers, and dancers, the project, occurring over six months in 2007, posits the body as the site at which myth might be reshaped and movement might become poetry. Lián Amaris critically analyzes her feminist public performance event Fashionably Late for the Relationship, which took place over three days in July 2007 on the Union Square traffic island in New York City. Informed by Judith Butler's citational production of gender, the piece focused on exposing and critiquing the marked visibility of gender construction and maintenance within an extreme performance paradigm.

scholarly journals Shaping Toronto: female economy and agency in the corset industry, 1871-1914

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alanna M. M. McKnight
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Material Culture ◽  
The Body ◽  
Fashion History ◽  
Women's Bodies ◽  
The Gaze ◽  
Female Consumers ◽  
Private And Public ◽  
Female Bodies ◽  
The Relationship

In amplifying the contours of the body, the corset is an historical site that fashions femininity even as it constricts women’s bodies. This study sits at the intersection of three histories: of commodity consumption, of labour, and of embodiment and subjectivity, arguing that women were active participants in the making, selling, purchasing and wearing of corsets in Toronto, a city that has largely been ignored in fashion history. Between 1871 and 1914 many women worked in large urban factories, and in small, independent manufacturing shops. Toronto’s corset manufacturers were instrumental in the urbanization of Canadian industry, and created employment in which women earned a wage. The women who bought their wares were consumers making informed purchases, enacting agency in consumption and aesthetics; by choosing the style or size of a corset, female consumers were able to control to varying degrees, the shape of their bodies. As a staple in the wardrobe of most nineteenth-century women, the corset complicates the study of conspicuous consumption, as it was a garment that was not meant to be seen, but created a highly visible shape, blurring the lines between private and public viewing of the female body. Marxist analysis of the commodity fetish informs this study, and by acknowledging the ways in which the corset became a fetishized object itself, both signaling the shapeliness of femininity while in fact augmenting and diminishing female bodies. This study will address critical theory regarding the gaze and subjectivity, fashion, and modernity, exploring the relationship women had with corsets through media and advertising. A material culture analysis of extant corsets helps understand how corsets were constructed in Toronto, how the women of Toronto wore them, and to what extent they actually shaped their bodies. Ultimately, it is the aim of this dissertation to eschew common misconceptions about the practice of corsetry and showcase the hidden manner in which women produced goods, labour, and their own bodies in the nineteenth century, within the Canadian context.

scholarly journals El Hombre / Mujer, el Ángel / Demonio. Cuerpo, misterio e inquietud en Sirena Selena Vestida de Pena

2014 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Guillermo A Severiche
Keyword(s):  
Gender Stereotypes ◽  
The Body ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Gaze

Resumen: En la novela de Mayra Santos-Febres, la mirada de los demás personajes configura el cuerpo de Sirena Selena como un cuerpo que reconcilia dicotomías, que las fusiona: hombre / mujer, ángel / demonio. Este cuerpo fusionado se idealiza con el fin de despertar el deseo. El mismo sirve como motivación para generar una inquietud tanto en los demás personajes como en los lectores: ¿qué cuerpo es digno de ser amado, de ser deseado? Exploraremos el armado de su cuerpo a través de una subversión de ciertos estereotipos y para ello nos centraremos en dos nociones: la de disidentification y la de tropicalization. El cuerpo funciona aquí como una suerte de entidad que revitaliza estereotipos de género (hombre/mujer), religiosos (angel/demonio) y al mismo tiempo, los deconstruye. El cuerpo se erige como superficie de inscripción y de crítica frente a la artificialidad de estos discursos para mostrar que justamente son artificiales, que son construcciones. Abstract: In Mayra Santos-Febres’ novel, Sirena Selena, the gaze of the other characters configures the protagonist’s body; a body that reconciles dichotomies and merges them: man/woman, angel/demon. This merged body is idolized and its aim is to provoke desire. This body also becomes a motivation to generate an anxiety in the other characters as well as readers: what body deserves to be loved, to be desired? We will explore the assembly of her body through the subversion of certain stereotypes and in order to do that we will focus on two notions: disidentification and tropicalization. The body works as a sort of entity that revitalizes gender stereotypes (man/woman) and at the same time, it deconstructs them. The body becomes a surface of inscription and a form of criticism for the artificiality of these discourses; and it shows their artificiality, their constructiveness.

Kubrick’s audible bodies: unseen subjectivities in 2001 and The Shining

Semiotica ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
James Batcho
Keyword(s):  
The Body ◽  
Stanley Kubrick ◽  
The Gaze ◽  
The World ◽  
Film Spectatorship ◽  
Visual Gaze

Abstract Stanley Kubrick is regarded as a filmmaker of complex imagery. Yet the vitality of his more metaphysical works lies in what is unseen. There is an embodiment to Kubrick’s films that maintains a sense of subjectivity, but one which is unapparent and non-visual. This opens another way into Kubrick’s works, that of conditions of audibility (hearing/listening), affectivity, and signs. To think of embodiment from such an audible perspective requires one to subvert film spectatorship (the frame) and instead enter the reality of the film’s immanent, borderless unfolding as itself. This essay applies Gilles Deleuze’s semiotic concepts of cinema, metaphysics, and subjectivity to conditions of audibility and unseeing, a connection Deleuze largely ignored in his writings. These dual concepts of audibility and unseeing break prevailing analytical norms in cinema discourse that affirm limitations via material, visual, textual, and spatial reification: subjective-objective delineations, the body and the gaze, sound as necessarily spatial/material, and the dominance of images in regard to aesthetics, surveillance, and evidence. Instead, this essay moves through Kubrick’s constructions of milieu that are unseen in the midst of an otherwise visual unfolding, and audible in the midst of an otherwise sonic unfolding. To consider Kubrick’s films through their audible embodiment, one must detach (1) the microphone from its adherence to space, (2) the body from its visual gaze. Here, sounds, images, and objects become secondary to hearing and signs in a temporal unfolding, resulting in a cinema that is experiential rather than representational. This opens to an actuality of spirit within the world of the film, offering new opportunities for creativity in the cinematic form.

A Novel Training Bike and Camera System to Evaluate Pose of Cyclists

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raman Garimella ◽  
Koen Beyers ◽  
Thomas Peeters ◽  
Stijn Verwulgen ◽  
Seppe Sels ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Inertial Sensors ◽  
Sagittal Plane ◽  
Aerodynamic Drag ◽  
Linear Regression Analysis ◽  
The Body ◽  
Frontal Area ◽  
Motion Sensors ◽  
Joint Angles ◽  
Camera System ◽  
Flexion Extension

Abstract Aerodynamic drag force can account for up to 90% of the opposing force experienced by a cyclist. Therefore, aerodynamic testing and efficiency is a priority in cycling. An inexpensive method to optimize performance is required. In this study, we evaluate a novel indoor setup as a tool for aerodynamic pose training. The setup consists of a bike, indoor home trainer, camera, and wearable inertial motion sensors. A camera calculates frontal area of the cyclist and the trainer varies resistance to the cyclist by using this as an input. To guide a cyclist to assume an optimal pose, joint angles of the body are an objective metric. To track joint angles, two methods were evaluated: optical (RGB camera for the two-dimensional angles in sagittal plane of 6 joints), and inertial sensors (wearable sensors for three-dimensional angles of 13 joints). One (1) male amateur cyclist was instructed to recreate certain static and dynamic poses on the bike. The inertial sensors provide excellent results (absolute error = 0.28°) for knee joint. Based on linear regression analysis, frontal area can be best predicted (correlation > 0.4) by chest anterior/posterior tilt, pelvis left/right rotation, neck flexion/extension, chest left/right rotation, and chest left/right lateral tilt (p < 0.01).

The Effect of a School Backpack Mass Back Carried on the Features of Body Posture in the Frontal Plane of 7-year-old Students of Both Sexes

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mirosław Mrozkowiak ◽  
Marta Stępień-Słodkowska
Keyword(s):  
Physical Fitness ◽  
Frontal Plane ◽  
First Grade ◽  
The Body ◽  
Body Posture ◽  
Health Determinants ◽  
Future Health ◽  
Load Removal ◽  
The Asymmetry ◽  
The Impact

Abstract BackgroundThe lifestyle of children has a significant impact on the future health of the whole society. Therefore, health education, prevention and monitoring of health determinants is important at every stage of ontogenesis. This requires a thorough knowledge of the schoolchild's environment, perceived as a wide set of stressors, including not only genetic but also epigenetic factors. One of them is the issue of the correct and abnormal body posture at school and on the way there.MethodBody posture tests were carried out in a group of 65 students aged 7 years, using the projection moiré method in 4 positions: 1-habitual posture, 2-posture after 10-minute of asymmetric axial load, 3-a posture after one minute of the load removal, 4- a posture after two minutes of the load removal. Physical fitness was measured with the Sekita test. ResultsThe significance of differences between the 1st and 2nd measurements was analyzed to determine the impact of the backpack load and the correlation with physical fitness, and to study its influence on the value of the differences in posture features. ConclusionsCarrying school supplies on the back induces significant changes in the value of the features describing the body posture in the frontal plane. It should be assumed that the greater the weight of the container and, carrying time and intensity of physical effort is the greater the changes will be. Relatedly, it is not recommended to carry school supplies weighing more than 4 kg by first-grade students.Physical fitness has a various and sex-dependent influence on the value of changes in body posture features because of carrying school supplies. Among boys it significantly affects the asymmetry of the torso bend, shoulder height, the waist triangles height and width, whereas among girls it affects the asymmetry of the shoulders and the distance of the angles of the lower shoulder blades from the line of the spinous processes of the spine. Among boys the changes in the value of posture features are mostly influenced by endurance and speed, but strength, power and agility are of lower influence, whereas among girls only agility matters.

The Physics of Ultrasound

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerry van Rensburg ◽  
Andrew Smith ◽  
Ben O’Brien
Keyword(s):  
Continuous Wave ◽  
Imaging Modality ◽  
Doppler Frequency ◽  
Daily Practice ◽  
The Body ◽  
Ultrasound Images ◽  
Plain Language ◽  
Color Flow ◽  
Continuous Wave Doppler ◽  
Physical Principles

Clinical ultrasound has attained significant importance for the practising anesthesiologist. Its applications reach far and wide in anatomic and physiologic diagnosis, and it is a powerful adjunct for guiding interventional procedures. This article describes the physical principles that allow for the generation of ultrasound, its transmission and reflection from within the body, and generation of the ultrasound images used in daily practice. We not only review definitions of important technical terms but also provide synonyms in plain language, as jargon often presents a barrier to grasping basic and fundamental principles. Furthermore, we review the mathematical and physical principles that facilitate the generation of Doppler modes, such as pulsed wave, continuous wave, color flow. Clinically safe practice requires that all data be interpreted in the light of the technology’s shortcomings; we additionally review the common pitfalls and artifacts encountered in the use of this imaging modality. This review contains 16 figures, 1 table, and 5 references. Keywords: attenuation, continuous wave Doppler, Doppler, frequency, imaging artefacts, physics, pulsed-wave Doppler, ultrasound

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document