Young Enterprise: Evaluating the impact of the Team programme

This report sets out the findings of the evaluation of the Team programme conducted by the International Centre for Guidance Studies at the University in 2016. The project adopted a mixed methodology which focussed on the experiences of staff, students and business advisers in a sample of twenty schools selected from a possible 40 which are funded for the Team programme as part of the DfE Character programme. The research findings are encouraging and show that the Team programme has a positive impact on the development of the knowledge, skills and attitudes required by young people to make a successful transition to learning, work and the adult world.Young Enterpris

Investigating facial animation production through artistic inquiry

Studies into dynamic facial expressions tend to make use of experimental methods based on objectively manipulated stimuli. New techniques for displaying increasingly realistic facial movement and methods of measuring observer responses are typical of computer animation and psychology facial expression research. However, few projects focus on the artistic nature of performance production. Instead, most concentrate on the naturalistic appearance of posed or acted expressions. In this paper, the authors discuss a method for exploring the creative process of emotional facial expression animation, and ask whether anything can be learned about authentic dynamic expressions through artistic inquiry

Creative approaches to emotional expression animation

In facial expression research, it is well established that certain emotional expressions are universally recognized. Studies into observer perception of expressions have built upon this research by highlighting the importance of particular facial regions, actions, and movements to the recognition of emotions. In many studies, the stimuli for such studies have been generated through posing by non-experts or performances by trained actors. However, character animators are required to craft recognizable, believable emotional facial expressions as a part of their profession. In this poster, the authors discuss some of the creative processes employed in their research into emotional expressions, and how practice-led research into expression animation might offer a new perspective on the generation of believable emotional expressions

Considerations for believable emotional facial expression animation

Facial expressions can be used to communicate emotional states through the use of universal signifiers within key regions of the face. Psychology research has identified what these signifiers are and how different combinations and variations can be interpreted. Research into expressions has informed animation practice, but as yet very little is known about the movement within and between emotional expressions. A better understanding of sequence, timing, and duration could better inform the production of believable animation. This paper introduces the idea of expression choreography, and how tests of observer perception might enhance our understanding of moving emotional expressions

Nitrous oxide and methane in the Atlantic Ocean between 50 degrees North and 52 degrees South: Latitudinal distribution and sea-to-air flux

We discuss nitrous oxide (N2O) and methane (CH4) distributions in 49 vertical profiles covering the upper 300 m of the water column along two 13,500 km transects between 50°N and 52°S during the Atlantic Meridional Transect (AMT) programme (AMT cruises 12 and 13). Vertical N2O profiles were amenable to analysis on the basis of common features coincident with Longhurst provinces. In contrast, CH4 showed no such pattern. The most striking feature of the latitudinal depth distributions was a well-defined “plume” of exceptionally high N2O concentrations coincident with very low levels of CH4, located between 23.5°N and 23.5°S; this feature reflects the upwelling of deep waters containing N2O derived from nitrification, as identified by an analysis of N2O, apparent oxygen utilization (AOU) and NO3-, and presumably depleted in CH4 by bacterial oxidation. Sea-to-air emissions fluxes for a region equivalent to 42% of the Atlantic Ocean surface area were in the range 0.40–0.68 Tg N2O yr-1 and 0.81–1.43 Tg CH4 yr-1. Based on contemporary estimates of the global ocean source strengths of atmospheric N2O and CH4, the Atlantic Ocean could account for 6–15% and 4–13%, respectively, of these source totals. Given that the Atlantic Ocean accounts for around 20% of the global ocean surface, on unit area basis it appears that the Atlantic may be a slightly weaker source of atmospheric N2O than other ocean regions but it could make a somewhat larger contribution to marine-derived atmospheric CH4 than previously thought

A practice-led approach to facial animation research

In facial expression research, it is well established that certain emotional expressions are universally recognized. Studies into the observer perception of dynamic expressions have built upon this research by highlighting the importance of particular facial regions, timings, and temporal configurations to perception and interpretation. In many studies, the stimuli for such studies have been generated through posing by non-experts or performances by trained actors. However, skilled character animators are capable of crafting recognizable, believable emotional facial expressions as a part of their professional practice. ‘Emotional Avatars’ was conceived as an interdisciplinary research project which would draw upon the knowledge of animation practice and emotional psychology. The aim of the project was to jointly investigate the artistic generation and observer perception of emotional expression animation to determine whether the nuances of emotional facial expression could be artistically choreographed to enhance audience interpretation

Animating believable facial expressions:is it possible to choreograph perceptually valid emotional expressions?

In psychology research, the nuances of facial movement have been investigated to determine the key characteristics of emotional expressions. Studies have shown that movement alone can communicate emotion, that particular facial regions have varying degrees of importance to expression recognition, and that temporal factors might affect the appearance of facial regions during expressions. Furthermore, researchers have suggested that emotional expressions could have temporal configurations. If facial expressions have perceptually valid (or invalid) configurations of facial actions over time, then a detailed study of how configuration manipulation affects perception could inform the practice of character animation. Studies of facial expression - most notably Ekman and Friesen’s Facial Action Coding System – have had an impact on animation research and application. However, most studies have focused on static expressions. A better understanding of the choreography of authentic dynamic expressions (where choreography could be described as the sequence, timing, and duration of regional facial movement within and between expressions) could be of more value to practicing animators. In this paper, the authors discuss ‘Emotional Avatars’ - an interdisciplinary research project which aims to expand upon the findings of psychology-based methods in order to inform artistic practice. Drawing upon the experience of animators and psychologists, the primary aim of the project is to determine whether audiences perceive certain choreographies of facial movement to be more or less authentic. The current research concerns the sequence and timing of regional movement within and between expressions of emotion. Using existing resources as a basis for peak expression appearance the authors systematically generate and manipulate animated expressions of emotion based on the generally accepted ‘universal expressions’ (happiness, sadness, anger, fear, disgust, and surprise). By producing a range of animations with variation in sequence, and then testing observer perception of the animations under controlled conditions, the goal of the current research is to identify potential valid and invalid emotional expression choreographies

A Submillimetre Survey of the Hubble Deep Field: Unveiling Dust-Enshrouded Star Formation in the Early Universe

The advent of sensitive sub-mm array cameras now allows a proper census of dust-enshrouded massive star-formation in very distant galaxies, previously hidden activity to which even the deepest optical images are insensitive. We present the deepest sub-mm survey, taken with the SCUBA camera on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT) and centred on the Hubble Deep Field (HDF). The high source density on this image implies that the survey is confusion-limited below a flux density of 2 mJy. However within the central 80 arcsec radius independent analyses yield 5 reproducible sources with S(850um) > 2 mJy which simulations indicate can be ascribed to individual galaxies. These data lead to integral source counts which are completely inconsistent with a no evolution model, whilst the combined brightness of the 5 most secure sources in our map is sufficient to account for 30-50% of the previously unresolved sub-mm background, and statistically the entire background is resolved at about the 0.3 mJy level. Four of the five brightest sources appear to be associated with galaxies which lie in the redshift range 2 < z < 4. With the caveat that this is a small sample of sources detected in a small survey area, these submm data imply a star-formation density over this redshift range that is at least five times higher than that inferred from the rest-frame ultraviolet output of HDF galaxies.Comment: to appear in the proceedings of `The Birth of Galaxies', Xth Rencontres de Blois, 4 pages, 1 postscript figure, uses blois.sty (included