The current research project aimed to investigate facial emotion processing from especially developed and validated video stimuli of facial emotional expressions including varying levels of intensity. Therefore, videos were developed showing real people expressing emotions in real time (anger, disgust, fear, sadness, surprise, happiness, contempt, embarrassment, contempt, and neutral) at different expression intensity levels (low, intermediate, high) called the Amsterdam Dynamic Facial Expression Set – Bath Intensity Variations (ADFES-BIV). The ADFES-BIV was validated on all its emotion and intensity categories. Sex differences in facial emotion recognition were investigated and a female advantage in facial emotion recognition was found compared to males. This demonstrates that the ADFES-BIV is suitable for investigating group comparisons in facial emotion recognition in the general population. Facial emotion recognition from the ADFES-BIV was further investigated in a sample of individuals that is characterised by deficits in social functioning; individuals with an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). A deficit in facial emotion recognition was found in ASD compared to controls and error analysis revealed emotion-specific deficits in detecting emotional content from faces (sensitivity) next to deficits in differentiating between emotions from faces (specificity). The ADFES-BIV was combined with face electromyogram (EMG) to investigate facial mimicry and the effects of proprioceptive feedback (from explicit imitation and blocked facial mimicry) on facial emotion recognition. Based on the reverse simulation model it was predicted that facial mimicry would be an active component of the facial emotion recognition process. Experimental manipulations of face movements did not reveal an advantage of facial mimicry compared to the blocked facial mimicry condition. Whereas no support was found for the reverse simulation model, enhanced proprioceptive feedback can facilitate or hinder recognition of facial emotions in line with embodied cognition accounts.

A new measurement technique called fiber optic reflectometer (FOR) was developed to investigate multiphase flows. The principle and setup of the FOR technique were introduced and applied to various experiments. Based on the coherently mixed signal between the Fresnel reflection off the fiber-liquid interface and the scattered signal off the object, such as a gas bubble, and a solid particle, this single probe technique is capable of simultaneously measuring the velocity of the object with a high accuracy and the phase of the fluid. In addition, bubble diameter, velocity, and void fraction were measured directly. By means of a simple modification of the FOR technique, solute concentration and refractive index change were measured with a greatly improved accuracy. This modified technique was used for measuring of a NaCl concentration in deionized water to validate a new normalization technique. In the second part of this thesis, a plunging breaking wave in deep water has been studied. Using the wave focusing method, a strong plunging breaker was generated with accuracy in the deep water condition in a two-dimensional wave tank. It was possible to describe the breaking process in detail using a high speed camera with a frame rate of 500 or 1000 fps. Four kinds of experimental techniques were employed or developed to investigate the plunging breaker. Bubble image velocimetry (BIV) and particle image velocimetry (PIV) were used to measure the velocity fields. The velocity fields of the highly aerated region were obtained from the BIV measurements. In addition, the modified PIV technique is capable of measuring the velocities in the entire flow field including the aerated region. Mean and turbulent properties were obtained by the ensemble average. The mean velocity, mean vorticity, and mean kinetic energy were examined over the entire flow field. In addition, the Reynolds stresses and turbulent kinetic energy were calculated with high temporal and spatial resolutions. Free surface elevation was obtained from wave gauge measurements. BIV and PIV images were also used to obtain the free surface elevation and the boundary of the aerated region for more accurate results. The FOR technique was used to obtain the void ratio at each splash-up region. Compressibility of the plunging breaker was considered. Mass flux, momentum flux, kinetic energy, and Reynolds stresses at each FOR station were recalculated using the void ratio obtained from the FOR measurements. All terms at the first splash-up region were highly overestimated more than 100 percent unless the void ratio was applied to the calculation of fluxes and energies. Compared with the fully developed first splash-up region, the overestimation at the second and third splash-up was less significant. However, most terms were overestimated by 20~30 percent when the void ratio was not considered.

Submitted by Cássio da Cruz Nogueira (cassionogueirakk@gmail.com) on 2017-05-05T11:54:11Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Tese_DeteccaoMolecularVirus.pdf: 1447556 bytes, checksum: 5088b76ee0620f0fb8e6f412cc505896 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Edisangela Bastos (edisangela@ufpa.br) on 2017-05-10T11:38:36Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Tese_DeteccaoMolecularVirus.pdf: 1447556 bytes, checksum: 5088b76ee0620f0fb8e6f412cc505896 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-05-10T11:38:36Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Tese_DeteccaoMolecularVirus.pdf: 1447556 bytes, checksum: 5088b76ee0620f0fb8e6f412cc505896 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-12-12 / A imunodeficiência viral bovina é uma doença crônica e progressiva causada por um lentivírus que acomete bovinos e bubalinos. Embora a infecção seja relatada em bovinos em vários países do mundo, inclusive no Brasil, em bubalinos só existem dois relatos da infecção, um no Paquistão e outro no Camboja. Diante disso o objetivo desse trabalho foi verificar a ocorrência do vírus da imunodeficiência bovina (BIV) em búfalos provenientes do estado do Pará, região Norte do Brasil. Para verificar a ocorrência do BIV no rebanho foi feita a detecção do DNA proviral em 607 amostras de sangue de búfalos obtidas de 10 propriedades do estado do Pará, por meio da reação em cadeia da polimerase - semi-nested (PCR-SN) utilizando-se primers específicos para a região pol do genoma do vírus. Das 607 amostras testadas na PCR-SN para o BIV, 27 (4,4%) foram positivas. As sequências amplificadas foram confirmadas por clonagem e sequenciamento de nucleotídeos. A similaridade da sequência de nucleotídeos das amostras isoladas com a estirpe de referência (R-29) foi de 99%. Epidemiologicamente, este estudo fornece dados iniciais importantes, que revelam a primeira detecção no Brasil da presença do BIV em bubalinos e alertando sobre a possibilidade do vírus funcionar como um fator de risco para a saúde das populações de bubalinos e um potencial agente causador de doença crônica. / Bovine viral immunodeficiency is a chronic and progressive disease caused by a lentivirus that affects cattle and buffalo. Although infection is reported in cattle in several countries, including Brazil, in buffalo there are only two reports of infection, one in Pakistan and one in Cambodia. The aim of this research was to verify the occurrence of bovine immunodeficiency virus (BIV) in buffaloes from the state of Pará, northern Brazil. To verify the occurrence of BIV in herds, the detection of proviral DNA in blood samples from 607 buffaloes obtained from 10 properties in the State of Pará, by semi-nested polymerase chain reaction (snPCR) were made using primers specific for the pol region in the genome of the virus. The 607 samples tested by snPCR for the BIV, 27 (4.4%) were positive. The amplified sequences were confirmed by cloning and nucleotide sequencing. The similarity of nucleotide sequence of the isolates with the reference strain (R-29) was 99%. Epidemiologically, this study provides important initial data, reporting the first detection of BIV in buffaloes in the Brazil and warning of the possibility of the virus function as a risk factor for the health of populations of buffaloes and a potential causative agent of chronic disease.