Home About us Contact
|
Home About us Contact | ||
|
|
||
Human Face (human + face)
Selected AbstractsPutting a Human Face on DevelopmentINTERNATIONAL SOCIAL SCIENCE JOURNAL, Issue 166 2000Rubens Ricupero The century is ending with failure to solve two major threats to the future: mass unemployment and growing inequality. Furthermore, in the poor parts of the world, the very possibility of sustainable development has been questioned by the economic crisis that started in Asia two years ago. This monetary and financial crisis truly deserved to be called a "crisis of development", for three main reasons. First, it hit almost exclusively most of the developing countries, at the same time sparing and even benefitingthe industrial economies. Second, paradoxically, it was much more destructive in the most advanced of the developing nations. Third, it has created uncertainties and questions regarding the possibility of regaining the previous levels of economic performance that characterised "the Asian tigers". Competition is very analogous to games. Both need fair rules and impartial arbiters. Governments and trade negotiators think that these are sufficient, forgetting a third and fundamental element. To play a game, you have to learn how to play it; through education and time to train. A key to success will be access to information. [source] Functional map and age-related differences in the human face: nonimmunologic contact urticaria induced by hexyl nicotinateCONTACT DERMATITIS, Issue 1 2006Slaheddine Marrakchi Variation in human skin reactivity to various irritants in association with age and body region has been reported. Hexyl nicotinate (HN), a lipophilic nicotinate ester, was used to induce nonimmunologic contact urticaria in human volunteers of 2 age groups: 10 young subjects [24,34 years, mean ± standard deviation (SD) 29.8 ± 3.9 years] and 10 older volunteers (66,83 years, mean ± SD 73.6 ± 17.4 years); and to define skin function and potential age-related differences in various facial areas. About 5 mM of HN in ethanol was applied to 8 locations on the face, neck, and volar forearm. A laser Doppler flowmeter was used to determine baseline blood flow and to monitor the skin blood flow changes after HN application. In the contralateral areas, stratum corneum turnover was determined using 5% dansyl chloride in petrolatum. In the young group, the perioral area exhibited the strongest reaction to HN. In the older group, the chin was the most sensitive site. In both the groups, the forearm was the least responsive. The older group demonstrated a stronger reaction than the younger group in 3 sites (forehead, cheek, and nasolabial area). Stratum corneum turnover was slower in the nasolabial area and in the forearm in both age groups, whereas the fastest was in the perioral area and the chin in the younger group and in the chin and the forehead in the older group. Compared to the older group, the younger group showed a slower stratum corneum turnover in the nose and the neck. This study demonstrates the regional and the age-related variability of the stratum corneum turnover and the skin reactions to HN. These observations may help explain some aspects of the cutaneous intolerance in skin care of the face. [source] Plasticity of ability to form cross-modal representations in infant Japanese macaquesDEVELOPMENTAL SCIENCE, Issue 3 2009Ikuma Adachi In a previous study, Adachi, Kuwahata, Fujita, Tomonaga & Matsuzawa demonstrated that infant Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata) form cross-modal representations of conspecifics but not of humans. However, because the subjects in the experiment were raised in a large social group and had considerably less exposure to humans than to conspecifics, it was an open question whether their lack of cross-modal representation of humans simply reflected their lower levels of exposure to humans or was caused by some innate restrictions on the ability. To answer the question, we used the same procedure but tested infant Japanese macaques with more extensive experience of humans in daily life. Briefly, we presented monkeys with a photograph of either a monkey or a human face on an LCD monitor after playing a vocalization of one of these two species. The subjects looked at the monitor longer when a voice and a face were mismatched than when they were matched, irrespective of whether the preceding vocalization was a monkey's or a human's. This suggests that once monkeys have extensive experience with humans, they will form a cross-modal representation of humans as well as of conspecifics. [source] The volatility of the amygdala response to masked fearful eyesHUMAN BRAIN MAPPING, Issue 10 2010Thomas Straube Abstract Recently, it has been suggested that backwardly masked, and thus subliminally presented, fearful eyes are processed by the amygdala. Here, we investigated in four functional magnetic resonance imaging experiments whether the amygdala responds to subliminally presented fearful eyes per se or whether an interaction of masked eyes with the masks or with parts of the masks used for backward masking might be responsible for the amygdala activation. In these experiments, we varied the mask as well as the position of the target eyes. The results show that the amygdala does not respond to masked fearful eyes per se but to an interaction between masked fearful eyes and the eyes of neutral faces used for masking. This finding questions the hypothesis that the amygdala processes context-free parts of the human face without awareness. Hum Brain Mapp, 2010. © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Neoliberalism and health careINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CONSUMER STUDIES, Issue 2 2001Sue McGregor Abstract Within the context of globalization, health care reform is occurring around the world. This paper explores the neoliberal mind set shaping health care reform in the UK, Canada, United States, Australia and New Zealand. Neoliberalism is comprised of three principles: individualism, free market via privatization and deregulation, and decentralization. After describing the nature of a health care system that is shaped by those embracing this mind set, an alternative approach is introduced that could bring dignity and a human face to health care. The basic premise of the paper is that we must broaden our analysis of health care by understanding and challenging the neoliberal mind set. [source] A multimodal fusion system for people detection and trackingINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF IMAGING SYSTEMS AND TECHNOLOGY, Issue 2 2005Mau-Tsuen Yang Abstract Because a people detection system that considers only a single feature tends to be unstable, many people detection systems have been proposed to extract multiple features simultaneously. These detection systems usually integrate features using a heuristic method based on the designers' observations and induction. Whenever the number of features to be considered is changed, the designer must change and adjust the integration mechanism accordingly. To avoid this tedious process, we propose a multimodal fusion system that can detect and track people in a scalable, accurate, robust, and flexible manner. Each module considers a single feature and all modules operate independently at the same time. A depth module is constructed to detect people based on the depth-from-stereo method, and a novel approach is proposed to extract people by analyzing the vertical projection in each layer. A color module that detects the human face, and a motion module that detects human movement are also developed. The outputs from these individual modules are fused together and tracked over time, using a Kalman filter. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Imaging Syst Technol, 15, 131,142, 2005; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/ima.20046 [source] Face tracking for model-based coding and face animationINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF IMAGING SYSTEMS AND TECHNOLOGY, Issue 1 2003Jörgen Ahlberg Abstract We present a face and facial feature tracking system able to extract animation parameters describing the motion and articulation of a human face in real-time on consumer hardware. The system is based on a statistical model of face appearance and a search algorithm for adapting the model to an image. Speed and robustness is discussed, and the system evaluated in terms of accuracy. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Imaging Syst Technol 13: 8,22, 2003; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/ima.10042 [source] Face as an index: Knowing who is who using a PDAINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF IMAGING SYSTEMS AND TECHNOLOGY, Issue 1 2003Jie Yang Abstract In this article, we present a PDA-based system for extending human memory or/and information retrieval using a human face as the lookup index. The system can help a user to remember names of people whom he/she has met before and find useful information, such as names and research interests, about people whom he/she is interested in talking to. The system uses a captured face image as the lookup index to retrieve information from some available resource such as departmental directory, web sites, personal homepages, etc. We describe the development of a PDA-based face recognition system and introduce algorithms for image preprocessing to enhance the quality of the image by sharpening focus and normalizing both lighting condition and head rotation. We use a unified LDA/PCA algorithm for face recognition. We address design issues of the interface to assist in visualization and comprehension of retrieved information. We present user study and experiment results to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed system. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Imaging Syst Technol 13: 33,41, 2003; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/ima.10046 [source] E-learning: a service offeringKNOWLEDGE AND PROCESS MANAGEMENT: THE JOURNAL OF CORPORATE TRANSFORMATION, Issue 4 2004Anu Moisio In Finland, both public and private organizations are actively applying information and communication technology (ICT) in adult education. Providing ICT-supported education, e-learning, requires focus on the virtual setting, but also on physical and human factors. Studying the e-learning phenomenon from a service perspective gives new insights into how to provide better learner satisfaction. The article presents a qualitative two-case study. The cases come from Finnish organizations: one case from a polytechnic and one case from a large company. The choice of cases gives an excellent opportunity to compare practices between public and private sector. The cases have been studied using participative case simulation, an action research method. This method enables gathering of rich data, since all key players from the real-life case gather together to share knowledge on a case that was realized in the near past. The researchers get to know how the case was executed in its reality, and not an ideal version about how it should have been realized. After analyzing these cases from a service process point of view, a framework of e-learning as service provisioning is presented in this article. This framework emphasizes the fact that e-learning is a mixture of physical and virtual servicing. The most important service element is the interaction between the learner and the tutor. The technology has not removed the importance of the human face; the role of a tutor is reshaping itself. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Learning to look: developing clinical observational skills at an art museumMEDICAL EDUCATION, Issue 12 2001Charles L Bardes Context Clinical diagnosis involves the observation, description, and interpretation of visual information. These skills are also the special province of the visual arts. We describe an educational collaboration between a medical school and an art museum, designed for the purpose of developing student skills in observation, description, and interpretation. Objectives In the programme, medical students first examine painted portraits, under the tutelage of art educators and medical school faculty. Then, the students examine photographs of patients' faces and apply the same skills. Conclusion This programme, well-received by students and faculty, appeared to help the students not only in improving their empirical skills in observation, but also in developing increased awareness of emotional and character expression in the human face. [source] Facial skin fluorescence as a marker of the skin's response to chronic environmental insults and its dependence on ageBRITISH JOURNAL OF DERMATOLOGY, Issue 1 2006G.N. Stamatas Summary Background, Throughout life facial skin is exposed to a variety of adverse environmental conditions and is constantly required to repair itself. The rate of epidermal cell proliferation is indicative of the skin's repair rate and can be monitored noninvasively in vivo using skin intrinsic fluorescence markers. Objectives, The goal of the present study was to assess the effects of ageing, geographical region, ethnic origin and season on the ability of facial skin to repair itself in the presence of chronic environmental insults using in vivo fluorescence spectroscopy. Methods, Skin fluorescence emission was measured on the cheeks of 522 individuals in winter and repeated in summer in five different geographical locations in the Asia-Pacific region. Fluorescence emission was also measured from 80 caucasians of fair complexion in the United States (New Jersey area) on the face and on a relatively protected area (upper inner arm). The age range of the participants was 14,75 years. Results, We found that epidermal proliferation rates decrease monotonically with age, while the fluorescence of collagen and elastin cross-links increases with age indicating accumulation of advanced glycation end-products. These trends were independent of geographical region, ethnic origin and season of measurement. Epidermal proliferation rates of facial skin were higher than those of unexposed sites; they may be 10 times higher in younger (second decade) than in older (seventh decade) individuals, and they decrease with age at rates 10 times faster compared with those of unexposed sites. Conclusions, This is the first time that epidermal proliferation and its dependence on ageing have been measured noninvasively on the human face. The higher tryptophan fluorescence values on the face vs. the protected site are indicative of accelerated rates of epidermal proliferation in the presence of chronic environmental insults. The repair potential of facial skin, i.e. its ability to maintain high proliferation rates, is maximal in younger populations and gradually decreases with age. [source] Detached from attachment: neurobiology and phenomenology have a human faceACTA NEUROPSYCHIATRICA, Issue 4 2010Paul Dignam First page of article [source] Superior detection of threat-relevant stimuli in infancyDEVELOPMENTAL SCIENCE, Issue 1 2010Vanessa LoBue The ability to quickly detect potential threat is an important survival mechanism for humans and other animals. Past research has established that adults have an attentional bias for the detection of threat-relevant stimuli, including snakes and spiders as well as angry human faces. Recent studies have documented that preschool children also detect the presence of threatening stimuli more quickly than various non-threatening stimuli. Here we report the first evidence that this attentional bias is present even in infancy. In two experiments, 8- to 14-month-old infants responded more rapidly to snakes than to flowers and more rapidly to angry than to happy faces. These data provide the first evidence of enhanced visual detection of threat-relevant stimuli in infants and hence offer especially strong support for the existence of a general bias for the detection of threat in humans. [source] Face recognition based on face-specific subspaceINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF IMAGING SYSTEMS AND TECHNOLOGY, Issue 1 2003Shiguang Shan Abstract In this article, we present an individual appearance model based method, named face-specific subspace (FSS), for recognizing human faces under variation in lighting, expression, and viewpoint. This method derives from the traditional Eigenface but differs from it in essence. In Eigenface, each face image is represented as a point in a low-dimensional face subspace shared by all faces; however, the experiments conducted show one of the demerits of such a strategy: it fails to accurately represent the most discriminanting features of a specific face. Therefore, we propose to model each face with one individual face subspace, named Face-Specific Subspace. Distance from the face-specific subspace, that is, the reconstruction error, is then exploited as the similarity measurement for identification. Furthermore, to enable the proposed approach to solve the single example problem, a technique to derive multisamples from one single example is further developed. Extensive experiments on several academic databases show that our method significantly outperforms Eigenface and template matching, which intensively indicates its robustness under variation in illumination, expression, and viewpoint. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Imaging Syst Technol 13: 23,32, 2003; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/ima.10047 [source] | |||||||||||||