Dynamic Facial Expression of Emotion Made Easy

Facial emotion expression for virtual characters is used in a wide variety of areas. Often, the primary reason to use emotion expression is not to study emotion expression generation per se, but to use emotion expression in an application or research project. What is then needed is an easy to use and flexible, but also validated mechanism to do so. In this report we present such a mechanism. It enables developers to build virtual characters with dynamic affective facial expressions. The mechanism is based on Facial Action Coding. It is easy to implement, and code is available for download. To show the validity of the expressions generated with the mechanism we tested the recognition accuracy for 6 basic emotions (joy, anger, sadness, surprise, disgust, fear) and 4 blend emotions (enthusiastic, furious, frustrated, and evil). Additionally we investigated the effect of VC distance (z-coordinate), the effect of the VC's face morphology (male vs. female), the effect of a lateral versus a frontal presentation of the expression, and the effect of intensity of the expression. Participants (n=19, Western and Asian subjects) rated the intensity of each expression for each condition (within subject setup) in a non forced choice manner. All of the basic emotions were uniquely perceived as such. Further, the blends and confusion details of basic emotions are compatible with findings in psychology

Options for cost analysis

Journal ArticleMany kinds of cost analysis are possible. Indeed, given the variety of purposes, methods, and types of cost, the number of permutations is virtually unlimited. In broad terms, one can disaggregate the universe of cost studies by distinguishing whether their primary purpose is to determine costs or to explain costs or to evaluate costs. Of course, costs cannot be explained or evaluated until they have been determined, and the difference between explanation and evaluation is not large. Still, the distinctions are useful in thinking about and planning for possible cost studies

Financial impact of part-time enrollments on two-year colleges: a marginal cost perspective

Journal ArticleThe number of part-time students attending public two-year colleges increased rapidly during the 1970s. By the end of the decade, aggregate part-time enrollment constituted about 63 percent of total headcount enrollment at those institutions. Concern has been expressed about the financial implicatopms pf this trend from an institutional perspective. The question is whether the conventional ratio (three-to-one or so) for converting part-time to full-time-equivalent (FTE) enrollment accurately represents the actual costs of providing services to part-time versus full-time students

Factors affecting instructional costs at major research universities

Journal ArticleThe purpose of this article is to analyze in quantitative terms why unit instructional costs differ among major research universities. Previous studies have uncovered many of the factors that account for costs in higher education. The primary task here is to specify the relative importance of these and additional factors. Particular attention is given to the effects of enrollment size on unit instructional costs

Instructional costs per student credit hour: differences by level of instruction

Journal ArticleThe variation of unit costs by level of instruction, on either a per-student or per-student-credit-hour basis, is a traditional issue in the economics and finance of higher education. Funding formulas, for either requesting or allocating funds, often include recognition of an institution's effort by level of instruction

Student price response in higher education: the student demand studies

Journal ArticleWhat happens to enrollments when colleges and universities raise their prices? Who, if anyone, is sent away? What is the net impact of higher prices and reduced enrollments upon institutional financial ledgers? These questions have been investigated in what have come to be called the "student demand studies," the phrase originating in economics as an outgrowth of demand theory

Proportional distribution of predominant rumen bacteria between the solid and the liquid portions of ruminal ingesta

That certain bacteria in the rumen of sheep and cattle are attached to solid particles in the ruminal ingesta has been known for many years. In 1942 Baker published direct microscopical evidence that bacteria were attached to cellulose food particles and to starch granules in the rumen. The sites of attachment of these bacteria corresponded to sites of disintegration of the particles when viewed by polarised light. This indicated that at least bacteria attacking solid substrates such as cellulose and starch were attached to particles of ruminal ingesta. Van der Wath (1942) found rumen bacteria attached to particles of chemically pure cellulose and of crushed maize which he suspended in separate compartments of a pure silk bag inside the rumen of sheep. The bacteria associated with the particles of cellulose were mainly Gram negative rods , while clusters of iodophilic cocci were observed in most instances around the maize kernels . The latter organisms were isolated in pure culture and found to be heat-tolerant, short-chain, Gram positive cocci fermenting glucose, maltose, and other soluble sugars as well as starch. It was thus not surprising that many years later Schwartz et al (1964) obtained evidence which suggested that bacteria metabolising soluble substrates such as glucose also showed marked attachment to solid particles of ingesta

The correlation between clinical, nuclear and histologic findings in a patient with Von Recklinghausen's disease

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumours (MPNST) are known to develop in patients with Neurofibromatosis type I (NF1) resulting in a decreased overall survival. The association between NF1 and the development of such MPNST has been investigated in detail. The biological behaviour however of multiple disseminated neurofibromas in patients with NF1 and the risk factors for malignant transformation remain unknown. Clinical signs are unreliable and additional imaging techniques are therefore required. Of such, positron emission tomography using [¹⁸F]-2-fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose (¹⁸FDG PET) is used to detect malignant changes in neurofibromas.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>A case is presented of a patient suffering from NF1 with clinical signs of malignant change and accumulation of ¹⁸FDG in multiple neurofibromas. Histopathological examination of 20 lesions however, did not reveal any malignant features. There was no statistically significant relation between¹⁸FDG accumulation and malignant change, but rather with pain, size and growth.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This case adds to the knowledge of the diverse biological behaviour of neurofibromas in patients with NF1</p