Generating anatomical substructures for physically-based facial animation.

Physically-based facial animation techniques are capable of producing realistic facial deformations, but have failed to find meaningful use outside the academic community because they are notoriously difficult to create, reuse, and art-direct, in comparison to other methods of facial animation. This thesis addresses these shortcomings and presents a series of methods for automatically generating a skull, the superficial musculoaponeurotic system (SMAS – a layer of fascia investing and interlinking the mimic muscle system), and mimic muscles for any given 3D face model. This is done toward (the goal of) a production-viable framework or rig-builder for physically-based facial animation. This workflow consists of three major steps. First, a generic skull is fitted to a given head model using thin-plate splines computed from the correspondence between landmarks placed on both models. Second, the SMAS is constructed as a variational implicit or radial basis function surface in the interface between the head model and the generic skull fitted to it. Lastly, muscle fibres are generated as boundary-value straightest geodesics, connecting muscle attachment regions defined on the surface of the SMAS. Each step of this workflow is developed with speed, realism and reusability in mind

The Use of Argumentation in Socio-Scientific Issues: Enhancing Evolutionary Biology Instruction

With the adoption of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), further emphasis in science education is being placed on preparing students to become more informed voters regarding social, ethical, economic and political topics that affect contemporary society. Parallel to this shift is a stronger emphasis on integrating evolutionary theory as a unifying concept in the biological sciences. Given that evolution is one of the aforementioned topics commonly discussed and debated about in social and political arenas, ensuring that instruction provides students from all backgrounds a comprehensive understanding of its principals is becoming increasingly important in contemporary science education. Chapter II of this project functions as a review of contemporary literature that will be utilized to help determine the best methodology for enhancing instruction and comprehension of prominent Socio-Scientific Issues (SSI) like evolution. Literature suggests that using argumentation to engage students in socially controversial scientific content may enhance comprehension and retention of material. More specifically, since evolution is a SSI that is often perceived by some to challenge individuals’ religious and ethical beliefs, engaging students in the content is often difficult using traditional methods that do not allow alternative, non-scientific ideologies to be incorporated. Therefore, it is suggested that the incorporation of a data driven, formal argumentation that allows students the option to argue either for or against evolution may serve to increase the level of engagement of the student body as a whole in evolutionary content. Chapter III of this project is a unit planned designed to incorporate data driven SSI argumentation into an evolutionary context. Through the use of five case studies, students will be introduced to the raw data that is used by evolutionary biologists to support evolutionary theory. Using these activities, students will collaboratively analyze the data, and be asked to decide individually whether to use it to support evolutionary theory or creationism. Subsequently, the formal argumentation piece is designed to engage all students in active argumentation using debate questions related to each case study

Brain Activity of Human Mastication.

The aim of this project was to evaluate brain activity in human subjects related to chewing. A second purpose was to develop a new device to assess chewing. Twenty nine healthy subjects with class I occlusion were selected. Functional magnetic resonance imaging was performed on patients while they were chewing gum on the right side for ten scanning blocks of 25 seconds. The data were processed using blood oxygen dependent level analysis. We found that there were activations in motor cortex, brainstem, basal ganglia and cerebellum when the chewing block was contrasted with the rest block. A second analysis was performed where the chewing block was divided into five segments of five seconds each. This analysis showed that there were dynamic changes in brain activity patterns over time, and that the brain activity at the beginning of the chewing task was unique when compared to the activity from the remaining segments. The data set was processed under a functional connectivity MRI toolbox to determine functional connectivity maps associated with chewing. Motor cortices, cerebellums and pons were used as seeds for the analysis. The results showed that the motor cortices where functionally connected with the cerebellum, brainstem, contralateral cortex, precuneus and basal ganglia. The cerebellum was functionally connected with the motor cortex, temporal cortex and frontal cortex. The pons showed functional connectivity mainly with the parahippocampal cortices. For the first time we showed how areas such as the cerebellum and precuneus have an important role in chewing. In the second part of the study we created an oral dynamometer to assess chewing. Forty healthy subjects were selected, and they chew on the oral dynamometer for ten minutes. Work of the chewing task was established, and we determined that it was normally distributed and that no differences between women and men were found. Also no changes in chewing frequency per subject were found over the ten minutes. The oral dynamometer promises to be a reliable instrument to assess chewing that overcomes the limitations of other methods.Ph.D.Oral Health SciencesUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/91562/1/andresqv_1.pd

The Functional Morphology of the Primate Zygomatic Arch in Relation to Diet

abstract: Craniofacial morphology in primates can vary on the basis of their diet because foods are often disparate in the amount and duration of force required to break them down. Therefore diet has the potential to exercise considerable selective pressure on the morphology of the masticatory system. The zygomatic arch is a known site of relatively high masticatory strain and yet the relationship between arch form and load type is relatively unknown in primates. While the relative position and robusticity of the arch is considered a key indicator of craniofacial adaptations to a mechanically challenging diet, and central to efforts to infer diet in past species, the relationships between morphology and diet type in this feature are not well established. This study tested hypotheses using two diet categorizations: total consumption percent and food material properties (FMPs). The first hypothesis that cortical bone area (CA) and section moduli (bone strength) are positively correlated with masticatory loading tests whether CA and moduli measures were greatest anteriorly and decreased posteriorly along the arch. The results found these measures adhered to this predicted pattern in the majority of taxa. The second hypothesis examines sutural complexity in the zygomaticotemporal suture as a function of dietary loading differences by calculating fractal dimensions as indices of complexity. No predictable pattern was found linking sutural complexity and diet in this primate sample, though hard object consumers possessed the most complex sutures. Lastly, cross-sectional geometric properties were measured to investigate whether bending and torsional resistance and cross-sectional shape are related to differences in masticatory loading. The highest measures of mechanical resistance tracked with areas of greatest strain in the majority of taxa. Cross-sectional shape differences do appear to reflect dietary differences. FMPs were not correlated with cross-sectional variables, however pairwise comparisons suggest taxa that ingest foods of greater stiffness experience relatively larger measures of bending and torsional resistance. The current study reveals that internal and external morphological factors vary across the arch and in conjunction with diet in primates. These findings underscore the importance of incorporating these mechanical differences in models of zygomatic arch mechanical behavior and primate craniofacial biomechanics.Dissertation/ThesisAppendix AAppendix BAppendix DDoctoral Dissertation Anthropology 201

Our journey to the cave – adventures by balloon

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Generating anatomical substructures for physically-based facial animation

Physically-based facial animation techniques are capable of producing realistic facial deformations, but have failed to find meaningful use outside the academic community because they are notoriously difficult to create, reuse, and art-direct, in comparison to other methods of facial animation. This thesis addresses these shortcomings and presents a series of methods for automatically generating a skull, the superficial musculoaponeurotic system (SMAS – a layer of fascia investing and interlinking the mimic muscle system), and mimic muscles for any given 3D face model. This is done toward (the goal of) a production-viable framework or rig-builder for physically-based facial animation. This workflow consists of three major steps. First, a generic skull is fitted to a given head model using thin-plate splines computed from the correspondence between landmarks placed on both models. Second, the SMAS is constructed as a variational implicit or radial basis function surface in the interface between the head model and the generic skull fitted to it. Lastly, muscle fibres are generated as boundary-value straightest geodesics, connecting muscle attachment regions defined on the surface of the SMAS. Each step of this workflow is developed with speed, realism and reusability in mind.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Resurrecting an Ancient Bite: Virtual Chewing Model Sheds Light on one of the Earliest Primates

The first true primates in the fossil record are known from near the Paleocene-Eocene boundary, approximately 55 million years ago. The prevailing evidence suggests that these primates diversified rapidly, making the sequence of events which make up their evolutionary history challenging to navigate. (Kay et al., 2004; Rose, 2006). A powerful tool for enhancing the understanding of primate origin is deciphering early primate chewing anatomy, as it can help paleontologists to infer a range of features including diet, body form and function and evolution. (Perry, 2008). The study of such ancient anatomy is inherently difficult, however, due to their fossil remains often being damaged and distorted, having undergone eons of geological stress. Furthermore, soft tissue is usually completely absent from the fossil remains of this time period. Perry and colleagues (2015; 2018), however, have developed a rigorous muscular reconstructive techniques using mathematical estimates of muscle size based on muscle-bone correlation in living analogs. These techniques can radically enhance the reconstruction of a specimen but can be hindered by sediment obscuring the necessary osteological measurement points. Additionally, these estimates, although novel, are entirely static numerical reconstructions making their implications and plausibility difficult to visualize. This project used virtual visualization techniques to facilitate both the accessibility and dynamic reconstruction of chewing muscle data acquired from a specimen of one of the earliest primate species, Smilodectes gracils. The rigorous restoration of the virtual skull allowed for novel jaw adductor volume data to be collected and subsequently visualized through an interactive web application, featuring the virtually reconstructed 3D skull, chewing musculature, and an animated chewing simulation which brings static numerical data to life. This project contributes to the fields of virtual paleontology and biocommunication by using visualization to both extract and dynamically display hard data. These tools helps demystify a portion the often convoluted and controversial discussion of primate origins, and have implications for understanding the ecological history of our own species

Generating anatomical substructures for physically-based facial animation

Physically-based facial animation techniques are capable of producing realistic facial deformations, but have failed to find meaningful use outside the academic community because they are notoriously difficult to create, reuse, and art-direct, in comparison to other methods of facial animation. This thesis addresses these shortcomings and presents a series of methods for automatically generating a skull, the superficial musculoaponeurotic system (SMAS – a layer of fascia investing and interlinking the mimic muscle system), and mimic muscles for any given 3D face model. This is done toward (the goal of) a production-viable framework or rig-builder for physically-based facial animation. This workflow consists of three major steps. First, a generic skull is fitted to a given head model using thin-plate splines computed from the correspondence between landmarks placed on both models. Second, the SMAS is constructed as a variational implicit or radial basis function surface in the interface between the head model and the generic skull fitted to it. Lastly, muscle fibres are generated as boundary-value straightest geodesics, connecting muscle attachment regions defined on the surface of the SMAS. Each step of this workflow is developed with speed, realism and reusability in mind.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

The establishment of soft tissue thicknesses and profiles for reconstruction of the adult male Zulu face

A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Dentistry, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. 1993Three-dimensional forensic facial reconstruction involves the building up in clay of the soft tissues of the human face onto an unidentified skull to suggest the identity of its owner. Early researchers physically punctured the facial tissues of cadavers at known anthropological to measure their depth. Later workers used radiography, ultrasonography and magnetic resonance imaging for collecting both depth and surface data on the head and face.GR 201