Backward Face Ageing Model (B-FAM) for Digital Face Image Rejuvenation

International audienceFacial ageing modelling has been an active research topic in the field of anthropology. Considering the fact that ageing is a non-uniform and a non-linear process for different face types (e.g. origins, gender etc.), dealing with a reliable face-ageing model may considerably help investigators working in some specific fields such as forensics. Unlike numerous studies dealing with forward or predictive face models, in this study, the authors propose a backward model aiming at estimating childhood face images using their corresponding adult face appearance as an input. For the proposed approach, face contour and different components are modified non-linearly, based on an estimated geometrical model. On the other hand, the face texture is estimated by mapping a reference face texture to the estimated geometrical model. This approach will show that it will be possible to `digitally' rejuvenate an adult person's face down to it being 3-4 years old. For evaluation purposes, a database has been created from 112 subjects. Results have been evaluated using both objective (face recognition system) and subjective (human perception) criteria. The most promising and interesting results will be highlighted further ahead

Spotlights on Contemporary Family Life

Spotlights on Contemporary Family Life covers four issues of cross-cutting importance to families Structures and forms of families: issues relating to a diversification of families away from the ‘traditional nuclear family form’ are relatively uncontroversial from an academic perspective, but much more so for policy makers and family associations. Chapter 1 provides a thorough overview of the state of contemporary European families. Solidarities in families: too often the issue of an ‘ageing society’ is simply reduced to the problem of over-burdening social care systems, but longevity also represents opportunities for new kinds of solidarities inside families and family networks, and new relations between family members – not to mention the satisfaction felt by people who can continue to live fulfilling and rewarding lives long after they’re considered ‘elderly’. Chapter 2 gives voice to authors who identify these new opportunities and challenges. Demographic change: women are having fewer children and having them later in life. Having children is now a conscious decision and fertility rates have declined below the level required to sustain our current populations. At the same time we witness the ‘greying’ of Europe, which brings with it a whole host of opportunities and challenges. Chapter 3 raises important issues for policy makers today. Volunteering: inspired by family associations who could not survive without the support of volunteers, this chapter gives an overview of what’s known - and what isn’t - about volunteering. Coinciding with the European Year of Volunteering 2011, this chapter takes a timely look at the efforts that families put into volunteering across Europe and the important benefits that Europe gains from all of this combined voluntary effort. Linden Farrer and William Lay work for the Confederation of Family Organisations in the European Union (COFACE). This publication was produced by FAMILYPLATFORM, a project funded by the European Commission

A Multidisciplinary Approach to Capability in Age and Ageing

This open access book provides insight on how to interpret capability in ageing – one’s individual ability to perform actions in order to reach goals one has reason to value – from a multidisciplinary approach. With for the first time in history there being more people in the world aged 60 years and over than there are children below the age of 5, the book describes this demographic trends as well as the large global challenges and important societal implications this will have such as a worldwide increase in the number of persons affected with dementia, and in the ratio of retired persons to those still in the labor market. Through contributions from many different research areas, it discussed how capability depends on interactions between the individual (e.g. health, genetics, personality, intellectual capacity), environment (e.g. family, friends, home, work place), and society (e.g. political decisions, ageism, historical period). The final chapter summarizes the differences and similarities in these contributions. As such this book provides an interesting read for students, teachers and researchers at different levels and from different fields interested in capability and multidisciplinary research

A Multidisciplinary Approach to Capability in Age and Ageing

This open access book provides insight on how to interpret capability in ageing – one’s individual ability to perform actions in order to reach goals one has reason to value – from a multidisciplinary approach. With for the first time in history there being more people in the world aged 60 years and over than there are children below the age of 5, the book describes this demographic trends as well as the large global challenges and important societal implications this will have such as a worldwide increase in the number of persons affected with dementia, and in the ratio of retired persons to those still in the labor market. Through contributions from many different research areas, it discussed how capability depends on interactions between the individual (e.g. health, genetics, personality, intellectual capacity), environment (e.g. family, friends, home, work place), and society (e.g. political decisions, ageism, historical period). The final chapter summarizes the differences and similarities in these contributions. As such this book provides an interesting read for students, teachers and researchers at different levels and from different fields interested in capability and multidisciplinary research

Shared Destiny: China Story Yearbook 2014

Humanity as never before shares a common destiny, whether it be in terms of the resources of the planet, the global environment, economic integration, or the movement of peoples, ideas, cultures. For better or worse humankind is a Community of Shared Destiny 命运共同体. The People’s Republic of China under the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party and its ‘Chairman of Everything’, Xi Jinping, has declared that it shares in the destiny of the countries of the Asia and Pacific region, as well as of nations that are part of an intertwined national self-interest. The Party, according to Marxist-Leninist-Maoist theory, is the vanguard of progressive social forces; it cleaves to the concept of shared destiny and its historical role in shaping that destiny. Since its early days nearly a century ago it has emphasised the collective over the individual, the end rather than the means. It addresses majority opinion while guiding and moulding the agenda both for today, and for the future