The subject of this thesis is the application of Support Vector Machines on two totally different applications, facial expressions recognition and remote sensing. The basic idea of kernel algorithms is to transpose input data in a higher dimensional space, the feature space, in which linear operations on the data can be processed more easily. These operations in the feature space can be expressed in terms of input data thanks to the kernel functions. Support Vector Machines is a classifier using this kernel method by computing, in the feature space and on basis of examples of the different classes, hyperplanes that separate the classes. The hyperplanes in the feature space correspond to non linear surfaces in the input space. Concerning facial expressions, the aim is to train and test a classifier able to recognise, on basis of some pictures of faces, which emotion (among these six ones: anger, disgust, fear, joy, sad, and surprise) that is expressed by the person in the picture. In this application, each picture has to be seen has a point in an N-dimensional space where N is the number of pixels in the image. The second application is the detection of camouflage nets hidden in vegetation using a hyperspectral image taken by an aircraft. In this case the classification is computed for each pixel, represented by a vector whose elements are the different frequency bands of this pixel.

Bakgrund: Förlust är ett allmänmänskligt fenomen, som framkallar känslor, uttryck, tankar och handlingar, hos den som drabbats. Genom att ta del av berättelser om fenomenet, möjliggörs att sjuksköterskor kan förstå patienters känslomässiga budskap, vilket är viktigt ur ett omvårdnadsperspektiv. Syfte: Syftet med studien var att genom sjuksköterskestudenters berättelser nå förståelse om fenomenet förlust. Metod: Studien var empirisk med kvalitativ ansats och materialet omfattade 53 sjuksköterskestudenters berättelser om fenomenet förlust. Resultat: Alla studenter hade erfarenheter av och förståelse om fenomenet förlust.  Förlust relaterades oftast till dödsfall och den vanligast förekommande erfarenheten var förlust av husdjur. Studenterna använde metaforiska uttryck, för att beskriva sin förlust och förlusten upplevdes på ett kroppsligt, känslomässigt och existentiellt plan. Detta speglas i ett pussel där alla bitar kan vara var för sig, eller passa ihop med varandra i olika kombinationer. Diskussion: Professionellt förhållningssätt vid sorg diskuteras som ett fynd. Husdjur har en stor betydelse för människor och förlusten av det kan påverka starkt. Vid en förlust triggas existentiella känslor igång, då har hoppet stor betydelse. Slutsats: Slutsatsen av studien, var att förlusten visade olika ansikten. Omvårdnads-personalens inre kompetens kan utvecklas genom att nå förståelse om olika fenomen. / Background: Loss is a phenomenon common to all mankind, which evoke feelings, expressions, thoughts and actions, with those affected. By sharing stories regarding the phenomenon, nurses can understand the patients’ emotional message, which is important from the nursing perspective. Purpose: The purpose of the study was that from the nursing students stories reach understanding about the phenomenon of loss. Method: The study was empirical with qualitative projection and the material comprises 53 nursing students’ stories about the phenomenon loss. Result: All students had experiences from and understanding of the phenomenon loss. Loss was most often related to death and the most common experience was the loss of pets. The students used metaphoric expressions to describe their loss and the loss was experienced physically, emotionally and on an existentially level. This is reflected in a puzzle where all pieces can work independently, or work together in different combinations. Discussion: Professional approach in grief is discussed as a resort. Pets are of great importance to humans and the loss of one can have a large impact. At the time of loss existential feelings are triggered and hope plays a big part. Conclusion: The conclusion of this study shows that the loss has different faces. Internal expertise of the nursing stuff can be developed by creating understanding of various phenomena.

Specialists in conservation have recently reached a consensus about accepting cultural values as the basis of both problems and solutions within historic environments. In this respect, besides tangible properties, the intangible values need to be considered in the conservation studies. This study aims to develop a conceptual framework and methodology for the analysis and the conservation of historic environments as entities of intangible and tangible values to provide the integration of intangible values in conservation studies. As an entity, a historical urban fabric is formed by tangible features, namely, the physical structure made of built and natural structures / and intangible values, specifically, cultural practices and expressions within the built environments, meanings expressed by them and values attributed to them. Understanding and documenting intangible values which shape tangible values, help to explain the variability of buildings and settlement forms within historic environments. This study develops a conceptual and methodological framework for the documentation, conservation and sustainability of the interrelations of intangible and tangible values in the case of Ibrahimpasa Village. First, the research questions are elaborated to understand the relations between tangible and intangible values theoretically and to develop a methodological framework for the documentation and analysis of these. Then the conceptual and methodological framework is applied to the case of Ibrahimpasa Village using a combined methodology composed of the case study and the ethnographic research. As a result, the study puts forward a conservation approach, asserting that the sustainability of the interrelations between tangible and intangible values is vital for the conservation of historic environments and that specific approaches need to be developed for particular interrelations to provide their continuation.

Le visage joue un rôle prépondérant en langue des signes, notamment par le sens porté par ses expressions. Peu d'études existent sur les expressions faciales en langue des signes ; cela est dû au manque d'outil de description. Dans cette thèse, il s'agit de développer des méthodes permettant la description la plus précise et exhaustive possible des différents mouvements faciaux observables au cours d'une séquence vidéo de langue des signes.<br /><br />Le formalisme des modèles à apparence active (Active Appearance Models - AAM) est utilisé ici pour modéliser le visage en termes de déplacements d'un certain nombre de points d'intérêt et en termes de variations de texture. Quand il est associé à une méthode d'optimisation, ce formalisme permet de trouver les coordonnées des points d'intérêt sur un visage. Nous utilisons ici une méthode d'optimisation dite "à composition inverse", qui permet une implémentation efficace et l'obtention de résultats précis.<br /><br />Dans le contexte de la langue des signes, les rotations hors-plan et les occultations manuelles sont fréquentes. Il est donc nécessaire de développer des méthodes robustes à ces conditions. Il existe pour cela une variante robuste des méthodes d'optimisation d'AAM qui permet de considérer une image d'entrée éventuellement bruitée.<br />Nous avons étendu cette variante de façon à ce que la détection des occultations puisse se faire de manière automatique, en supposant connu le comportement de l'algorithme dans le cas non-occulté.<br />Le résultat de l'algorithme est alors constitué des coordonnées 2D de chacun des points d'intérêt du modèle en chaque image d'une séquence vidéo, associées éventuellement à un score de confiance. Ces données brutes peuvent ensuite être exploitées dans plusieurs applications.<br /><br />Nous proposons ainsi comme première application de décrire une séquence vidéo expressive en chaque instant par une combinaison de déformations unitaires activées à des intensités différentes. Une autre application originale consiste à traiter une vidéo de manière à empêcher l'identification d'un visage sans perturber la reconnaissance de ses expressions.

Mes activités de recherche portent sur l'analyse et l'interprétation des mouvements humains à partir de données visuelles avec comme application principale l'amélioration du processus de communication entre l'homme et la machine. L'idée sous-jacente est de tendre vers une communication homme machine non pas par l'intermédiaire des traditionnels écran/clavier/souris mais vers un processus plus « humain » de communication. Ceci suppose que la machine est capable de reconnaître et d'interpréter tous les signes de communication humaine à savoir le langage verbal mais aussi tous les signes de communication non verbale. Nous nous plaçons donc en amont de la problématique des interactions homme-machine proprement dites. Ces travaux se focalisent sur l'interprétation des gestes humains de communication non verbale et en particulier sur l'interprétation des expressions faciales, des mouvements de la tête rigides (hochements...) ou non rigides (clignements, bâillement...), de certains gestes de mains (langage parlé complété destiné aux malentendants) ainsi que de certaines postures (assis, debout...).

Facial expression detection by a machine is a valuable topic for Human Computer Interaction and has been a study issue in the behavioural science for some time. Recently, significant progress has been achieved in machine analysis of facial expressions but there are still some interestes to study the area in order to extend its applications. This work investigates the theoretical concepts behind facial expressions and leads to the proposal of new algorithms in face detection and facial feature localisation, design and construction of a prototype system to test these algorithms. The overall goals and motivation of this work is to introduce vision based techniques able to detect and recognise the facial expressions. In this context, a facial expression prototype system is developed that accomplishes facial segmentation (i.e. face detection, facial features localisation), facial features extraction and features classification. To detect a face, a new simplified algorithm is developed to detect and locate its presence from the fackground by exploiting skin colour properties which are then used to distinguish between face and non-face regions. This allows facial parts to be extracted from a face using elliptical and box regions whose geometrical relationships are then utilised to determine the positions of the eyes and mouth through morphological operations. The mean and standard deviations of segmented facial parts are then computed and used as features for the face. For images belonging to the same class, thses features are applied to the K-mean algorithm to compute the controid point of each class expression. This is repeated for images in the same expression class. The Euclidean distance is computed between each feature point and its cluster centre in the same expression class. This determines how close a facial expression is to a particular class and can be used as observation vectors for a Hidden Markov Model (HMM) classifier. Thus, an HMM is built to evaluate an expression of a subject as belonging to one of the six expression classes, which are Joy, Anger, Surprise, Sadness, Fear and Disgust by an HMM using distance features. To evaluate the proposed classifier, experiments are conducted on new subjects using 100 video clips that contained a mixture of expressions. The average successful detection rate of 95.6% is measured from a total of 9142 frames contained in the video clips. The proposed prototype system processes facial features parts and presents improved results of facial expressions detection rather than using whole facial features as proposed by previous authors. This work has resulted in four contributions: the Ellipse Box Face Detection Algorithm (EBFDA), Facial Features Distance Algorithm (FFDA), Facial features extraction process, and Facial features classification. These were tested and verified using the prototype system.

Detta självständiga arbete utforskar min egen interpretationsprocess och musikaliska gestaltning av stycket O wüsst’ ich doch den Weg zurück tonsatt av Johannes Brahms (1833-1897), text av Klaus Groth (1819-1899) utifrån ett hermeneutiskt perspektiv. Insamling av data har skett under en termin med hjälp av loggbok och videoinspelning. Syftet med denna studie är att få en större insikt i, och förståelse för vad ett interpretationsarbete innebär. Analysresultatet visar att interpretationsprocessen innehåller många olika moment och delmoment som sammanfattats i dessa sex teman: Översättning och tolkning, uttal och textning, inre scenografi, musikaliska uttrycksmedel, memorering samt samspel med pianist. Resultatet diskuteras därefter i relation till tidigare forskning och bakgrundslitteratur inom området. / This study explores my own assimilation process, and musical interpretation of the piece O wüsst’ ich doch den Weg zurück composed by Johannes Brahms (1833-1897), text by Klaus Groth (1819-1899) from a hermeneutic perspective. The data was gathered during one semester and has mainly been taken down in form of a logbook and at some selected occasions video recording was used. The purpose of this work is to find out what an interpretation process can include and how it might be structured in order to be able to develop the interpretational process. The results of this study show that the interpretation process includes many different elements, which is summarized in six themes: Translation and interpretation, pronunciation and articulation, musical expressions, internal imaging, memorization and interaction with the pianist. The results are then discussed in relation to previous research and literature.

This study examined self-reported emotions and emotional facial expressions following moral transgressions using an ethnically diverse sample of 242 4-, 8-, and 12-year-old children. Self-reported emotions were examined in response to three transgression contexts: an intentional harm, an instance of social exclusion, and an omission of a prosocial duty. Children’s emotional expressions of sadness, happiness, anger, fear and disgust were analyzed immediately after being asked how they would feel if they had committed one of the described transgressions. Emotional expressions were scored using automated emotion recognition software. Four-year-olds reported significantly more happiness as compared to 8- and 12-year-olds. In addition, self-reports of sadness decreased between 8- and 12-year-olds, while self-reported guilt increased between these age groups. Furthermore, 4- and 8-year-olds demonstrated higher levels of facially expressed happiness than 12-year-olds. These findings highlight the role of automatic affective and controlled cognitive processes in the development of children’s emotions following moral transgressions.

Motivation to learn, aggressive treatment and addictions expressions’ dependence on teenagers physical activity and gender SUMMARY In this study were analysed correlation between motivation of learning, aggressive treatment, addictions and teenagers’ physical activity. Absence of definite answer, how sport activity governs students’ motivation of learning and attitude to school, initiated this study. Researches don’t answer, are the physical active pupil more susceptible to aggressive treatment and addictions. In this case as independent variable was chose pupils’ physical activity and gender, and dependent variable – attitude to school, learning and motivation of learning peculiarity, aggressive treatment and addictions expression. Our purpose – to find motivation of learning, aggressive treatment and addictions expression dependence on teenagers’ physical activity and gender. Research tasks 1. To find attitude to school and motivation of learning subject to teenagers’ physical activity and gender. 2. To evaluate aggressive treatment expression subject to teenagers’ physical activity and gender. 3. To evaluate addictions expression subject to teenagers’ physical activity and gender. To serve the purpose were investigated 230 the eighth class students of Kaunas secondary schools. Were investigated 105 boys and 125 girls. Students were picked accidentally using serial principle from ten different schools and in every one was examined by one the eighth class. We used... [to full text]

Abstract The current study evaluated the effects of training on the haptic classification of culturally universal facial expressions of emotion as depicted in simple 2D raised-line drawings. Blindfolded sighted (N = 60) and blind (N = 4) participants participated in Experiments 1 and 3, respectively. A small vision control study (N = 12) was also conducted (Experiment 2) to compare haptic versus visual learning patterns. A hybrid learning paradigm consisting of pre/post- and old/new-training procedures was used to address the nature of the underlying learning process in terms of token-specific learning and/or generalization. During the Pre-Training phase, participants were tested on their ability to classify facial expressions of emotion using the set with which they would be subsequently trained. During the Post-Training phase, they were tested with the training set (Old) intermixed with a completely novel set (New). For sighted observers, visual classification was more accurate than haptic classification; in addition, two of the three adventitiously blind individuals tended to be at least as accurate as the sighted haptic group. All three groups showed similar learning patterns across the learning stages of the experiment: accuracy improved substantially with training; however, while classification accuracy for the Old set remained high during the Post-Training test stage, learning effects for novel (New) drawings were reduced, if present at all. These results imply that learning by the sighted was largely token-specific for both haptic and visual classification. Additional results from a limited number of blind subjects tentatively suggest that the accuracy with which facial expressions of emotion are classified is not impaired when visual loss occurs later in life. / Thesis (Master, Neuroscience Studies) -- Queen's University, 2009-10-23 12:04:41.133