Investigating Macroexpressions and Microexpressions in Computer Graphics Animated Faces

Due to varied personal, social, or even cultural situations, people sometimes conceal or mask their true emotions. These suppressed emotions can be expressed in a very subtle way by brief movements called microexpressions. We investigate human subjects’ perception of hidden emotions in virtual faces, inspired by recent psychological experiments. We created animations with virtual faces showing some facial expressions and inserted brief secondary expressions in some sequences, in order to try to convey a subtle second emotion in the character. Our evaluation methodology consists of two sets of experiments, with three different sets of questions. The first experiment verifies that the accuracy and concordance of the participant’s responses with synthetic faces matches the empirical results done with photos of real people in the paper by X.-b. Shen, Q. Wu, and X.-l. Fu, 2012, “Effects of the duration of expressions on the recognition of microexpressions,” Journal of Zhejiang University Science B, 13(3), 221–230. The second experiment verifies whether participants could perceive and identify primary and secondary emotions in virtual faces. The third experiment tries to evaluate the participant’s perception of realism, deceit, and valence of the emotions. Our results show that most of the participants recognized the foreground (macro) emotion and most of the time they perceived the presence of the second (micro) emotion in the animations, although they did not identify it correctly in some samples. This experiment exposes the benefits of conveying microexpressions in computer graphics characters, as they may visually enhance a character’s emotional depth through subliminal microexpression cues, and consequently increase the perceived social complexity and believabilit

DEMANDA POR ALIMENTOS NA REGIÃO METROPOLITANA DE PORTO ALEGRE: UMA APLICAÇÃO DO ALMOST IDEAL DEMAND SYSTEM

Este trabalho utiliza os dados da Pesquisa de Orçamentos Familiares (POF) na Região Metropolitana de Porto Alegre (RMPA), realizada pelo Centro de Estudos e Pesquisas Econômicas (IEPE) da Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, em 1995, para estimar um sistema de demanda por alimentos. Implementa-se o Almost Ideal Demand System (AIDs), proposto por Deaton e Muellbauer. Com base nos coeficientes estimados, calculam-se as elasticidades-preço, preço-cruzadas e elasticidades-renda para dez subgrupos de alimentos.This paper uses data from the household budget survey in the Metropolitan Region of Porto Alegre, developed by the Centro de Estudos e Pesquisas Econômicas (lEPE) of the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) In 1995, to estimate a demand system for food We implement the Almost Ideal Demand System, proposed by Deaton and Muellbauer. Based on the estimated coefficients, we compute own-price, crossprice and income elasticities for ten subgroups of food

Are mast cells implicated in asphyxia?

In a previous immunohistochemical (IHC) study, we documented the reaction of lung tissue vessels to hypoxia through the immunodetection of HIF1-α protein, a key regulator of cellular response to hypoxic conditions. Findings showing that asphyxia deaths are associated with an increase in the number of mast cell (MC)-derived tryptase enzymes in the blood suggests that HIF1-α production may be correlated with MC activation in hypoxic conditions. This hypothesis prompted us to investigate the possible role of pulmonary MC in acute asphyxia deaths. Lung of 47 medico-legal autopsy cases (35 asphyxia/hypoxia deaths, 11 controls, and 1 anaphylactic death) were processed by IHC analysis using anti-CD117 (c-Kit) antibody to investigate peri-airway and perivascular MC together with their counts and features. Results showed a significant increase in peri-vascular c-kit+ MC in some asphyxia deaths, such as hanging, strangulation, and aspiration deaths. A strong activation of MC in peri-airway and peri-vascular areas was also observed in lung samples from the anaphylaxis case, which was used as a positive control. Our study points to the potential role of MC in hypoxia and suggests that an evaluation of MC in the lungs may be a useful parameter when forensic pathologists are required to make a differential diagnosis between acute asphyxia deaths and other kinds of death

Third trimester intrauterine fetal death: proposal for the assessment of the chronology of umbilical cord and placental thrombosis

: The timing of umbilical cord and placental thrombosis in the third trimester intrauterine fetal death (TT-IUFD) may be fundamental for medico-legal purposes, when it undergoes medical litigation due to the absence of risk factors. Authors apply to human TT-IUFD cases a protocol, which includes histochemistry and immunohistochemistry (IHC) for the assessment of thrombi's chronology. A total of 35 thrombi of umbilical cord and/or placenta were assessed: 2 in umbilical artery, 6 in umbilical vein, 15 in insertion, 10 in chorionic vessels, 1 in fetal renal vein, 1 in fetal brachiocephalic vein. Thrombi's features were evaluated with hematoxylin-eosin, Picro-Mallory, Von Kossa, Perls, and immunohistochemistry for CD15, CD68, CD31, CD61, and Smooth Muscle Actin. The estimation of the age of the thrombi was established by applying neutrophils/macrophages ratio taking into consideration, according to literature, the presence of hemosiderophagi, calcium deposition, and angiogenesis. To estimate an approximate age of fresh thrombi (< 1 day), a non-linear regression model was tested. Results were compared to maternal risk factors, fetal time of death estimated at autopsy, mechanism, and cause of death. Our study confirms that the maternal risk factors for fetal intrauterine death and the pathologies of the cord, followed by those of the placental parenchyma, are the conditions that are most frequently associated with the presence of thrombi. Results obtained with histological stainings document that the neutrophile/macrophage ratio is a useful tool for determining placental thrombi's age. Age estimation of thrombi on the first day is very challenging; therefore, the study presented suggests the N/M ratio as a parameter to be used, together with others, i.e., hemosiderophagi, calcium deposition, and angiogenesis, for thrombi's age determination, and hypothesizes that its usefulness regards particularly the first days when all other parameters are negative

Compressive mechanical cracking of pili (Canarium ovatum Engl.) nuts: Concept and mechanism design

A mechanical pili nut cracker that used gradual compression for cracking was proposed and developed. This was a deviation from the traditional practice of applying impact for cracking pili nuts. The cracking unit of the machine accomplishes gradual compression by a rotating assembly of discs and compression bars travelling along an arrangement of cam rails. The cracker’s performance was established using pili nuts at different moisture levels.  The tests followed a single-factor three-level experiment where the response variables included cracking capacity, cracking efficiency, cracking recovery, whole kernel recovery, kernel damage, kernel losses and purity of output. The machine performed satisfactorily using nuts dried for three days after depulping (moisture content wet basis = 11.6%). At this moisture level, the machine showed consistent and satisfactory performance in terms of cracking capacity (25 kernels min-1), cracking efficiency (74.0%), cracking recovery (62.6%) and whole kernel recovery (84.3%). Modifications were recommended to further reduce kernel damage (30.6%) and kernel losses (37.4%) and to improve the purity of output (46.8%). It was successfully demonstrated that gradual compression can be used for cracking pili nuts. It is recommended that the operating characteristics of the machine should be optimized to improve its performance.  Furthermore, a dedicated feeding assembly and a more suitable separation method should be explored to further enhance the performance of the cracker

P1‐245: Mapping local structural hippocampal changes in Alzheimer's disease and normal aging on MR imaging at 3T

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Postharvest heat treatments to inhibit Penicillium digitatum growth and maintain quality of Mandarin (Citrus reticulata blanco)

Use of fungicides is a common practice as a postharvest treatment to control fruit decay. Nowadays, environment-friendly technologies, such as heat treatments, are viable replacements. This study evaluated the effects of post-harvest heat treatments (traditional and microwave-assisted) on mandarins intentionally inoculated with Penicillium digitatum. For the studied heat treatments, the target temperature was 50C, which was held for 2.5 min. After heating, mandarins were cooled and stored at 25C for 13 days. MW treatments effectively prevented mold growth during storage, while HW only delayed it. Control mandarins (without treatment) showed the highest significant weight loss. Neither thermal treatment nor storage affected fruit juice pH (p \u3e 0.05). Treated mandarins had a significantly lower vitamin C content than control fruits throughout storage, and all mandarins lost firmness by the 13th day (p \u3c 0.05). Control and MW-treated mandarins had lower citric acid content; however, they retained color, total soluble solids (TSS) and had a higher maturity index. While HW mandarins did not have changes in citric acid content, they had higher TSS, and lower maturity index. MW-assisted treatments were effective at inactivating molds and helped retain some nutritional and physical-chemical characteristics of mandarins. However, juice of MW-treated mandarins was not preferred by judges in the sensory tests, the juice was rated lower than that obtained from the other treatment. Postharvest heat treatments may constitute a helpful application to control mandarin’ fungal decay

“Detection and significance of adenoviruses in cases of sudden infant death”.

Respiratory tract infections have been thought to act as a trigger mechanism in sudden infant death. In 118 autopsy cases of infant death, paraffin-embedded or frozen lung tissues were investigated by means of a nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to detect adenovirus (AV) DNA. The primers used are general primers and allow the detection of most pathogenic adenoviruses with high specificity and sensitivity and independently of devitalization of viruses or degradation of viral DNA. For the investigation three groups were established: there were 13 cases of unnatural death, 78 cases of natural death without histological signs of interstitial pneumonia, and 27 cases with interstitial pneumonia. The first group was AV negative. In the group without interstitial pneumonia AV was detected in 10.2% of the cases. In the group with interstitial pneumonia the frequency of AV detection was almost 26%. The results obtained demonstrate an association between interstitial pneumonia and detection of AV DNA, indicating that AV may play an important part in pulmonary infection in infants. Histological evidence of interstitial pneumonia was not observed in all AV-positive cases, perhaps because nonspecific virus-related changes occurred only in early stages of viral infection. Comparison of the AV frequency in SIDS (15%) and non-SIDS cases (4%) indicates an association between pulmonary AV infections and sudden death. These results support the working hypothesis of respiratory infections acting as a trigger mechanism in sudden infant death

Identification of possible source markers in marine dissolved organic matter using ultrahigh resolution mass spectrometry

Author Posting. © Elsevier B.V., 2009. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Elsevier B.V. for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 73 (2009): 4384-4399, doi:10.1016/j.gca.2009.04.033.Marine dissolved organic matter (DOM) is one of the most heterogeneous and largest pools of reactive carbon on earth, rivaling in mass the carbon in atmospheric carbon dioxide. Nevertheless, the molecular-level composition of marine DOM has eluded detailed description, impeding inquiry into the specific mechanisms that add or remove compounds from the DOM pool. Here we describe the molecular-level composition of C18-extracted DOM along an east-west transect of the North Atlantic Ocean. We examine the changes in DOM composition along this transect with ultrahigh resolution mass spectrometry and multivariate statistics. We use indicator species analysis (ISA) to identify possible source markers for photochemical degradation and heterotrophic bacterial metabolism. The inclusion of ISA in statistical evaluation of DOM mass spectral data allows investigators to determine the m/z values associated with significant changes in DOM composition. With this technique, we observe indicator m/z values in estuarine water that may represent components of terrestrially-derived chromophoric DOM subject to photo-chemical degradation. We also observe a unique set of m/z values in surface seawater and show that many of these are present in pure cultures of the marine α-proteobacterium Candidatus Pelagibacter ubique when grown in natural seawater. These findings indicate that a complex balance of abiotic and biotic processes controls the molecular composition of marine DOM to produce signatures that are characteristic of different environments.The authors gratefully acknowledge the funding sources for this work: the National Science Foundation (OCE-0443217 (EBK, NVB, RDV), CAREER-OCE- 0529101(EBK)), the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation Marine Microbiology Initiative (SJG) and WHOI startup funds (EBK)