Pelo fato da face ser uma estrutura que envolve multissistemas, ela é considerada anatomica e funcionalmente muito complexa em sua avaliação clínica. Muitos diagnósticos de doenças que afetam a região facial são realizados por meio de métodos de imagem, entretanto, as técnicas convencionais são incompletas, pois apresentam um déficit de informações em relação aos aspectos funcionais, relativos à microcirculação regional e o sistema nervoso autônomo. Para documentação objetiva destas alterações, a termografia por imagem infravermelha tem sido proposta como método auxiliar diagnóstico. O objetivo deste estudo foi identificar, mapear e quantificar pontos de referência baseados na termoanatomia da face, a partir de gradientes térmicos, em uma população adulta. A amostra constituiu-se por 161 voluntários, ambos os gêneros, entre 26 e 84 anos (63 ±15 anos). Foram identificados 28 pontos de referência termoanatômicos fixos em 94,6% da amostra. A temperatura média desses pontos de referência termoanatômicos variou entre 33,3°C a 35,6°C, sendo que o melhor valor de corte para sua correta identificação na face foi acima de 34,5ºC. Não houve diferença estatística quando os comparou entre as hemifaces correspondentes e nem quanto à idade dos voluntários (?T = 0,11°C), exceto entre os gêneros e grupo racial (p<0,05). Concluiu-se que a face apresenta pontos termoanatômicos fixos e confiáveis em adultos, a qual a termografia tem o potencial de auxiliar na identificação de alterações a partir destes pontos. / Anatomical and functional information of the structures of interest are the basis for interpretation of imaging exams. For recognizing diseases it is necessary to understand and identify the anatomical structures and its variations. Diagnosis of some facial diseases may be done through medical imaging techniques; however, the most conventional methods present lack of information regarding physiological and functional aspects such as microcirculation and autonomous nervous system. The aim of this study was to identify, map and quantify the facial thermal gradients (thermo-anatomical points) in healthy adult population. A hundred sixty-one volunteers of both gender and mean age of 63 ±15 years were included. The results showed that twenty eight thermo-anatomical points have been identified in 94.6% of the sample, with a significant difference of the temperature in gender and racial groups (p<0.05). Moreover, there was no statistically significant difference between ages and sides in healthy individuals (?T = 0.11°C). The average temperature of the points ranged from 33.3°C to 35.6°C. When the maximum temperature reached to detect a facial thermal gradient is higher than 34.5°C, the thermo-anatomical point is meant to be correctly delineated. For detection of functional changes from thermoanatomical points on the face, thermography may be used as an auxiliary diagnostic imaging method.

A caricatura, uma imagem da face baseada no exagero de suas características peculiares, geralmente é reconhecida tão bem quanto a fotografia da face sem distorções. Para confecção das caricaturas, exageram-se as diferenças entre a imagem original e um protótipo (face média de um grupo de pessoas); e para confecção das anti-caricaturas essas diferenças são atenuadas. O objetivo desta pesquisa foi investigar se existe um grau de exagero ótimo para que a caricatura represente a face melhor que a fotografia original. Além disso, investigou- se o papel da percepção holística versus percepção componencial no processo de reconhecimento de faces. Foram geradas seis faces prototípicas, masculinas e femininas, de pessoas da população da região de Ribeirão Preto que se auto-declaram branca, parda e preta. A partir das faces prototípicas, foram gerados dois tipos de caricaturas e anticaricaturas: 1. holística: em que todas as diferenças entre a face original e a prototípica foram manipuladas, 2. parcial: em que somente as diferenças de alguns elementos faciais isolados ou combinados entre a face original e a prototípica foram manipuladas. No Experimento I os estímulos teste foram as caricaturas e anti-caricaturas holísticas. No Experimento II os estímulos foram as caricaturas e anti-caricaturas parciais. Em ambos experimentos as caricaturas e anti-caricaturas foram submetidas a julgamentos de similaridade com a face original previamente memorizada. Os resultados do Experimento I indicaram que a melhor representação da face é a fotografia sem distorção e que, nos casos em que a face é atípica em relação ao protótipo, as caricaturas tendem a ser representações tão fidedignas quanto as fotografias sem distorção. Os resultados do Experimento II apontam para a importância dos elementos peculiares no reconhecimento de faces. Comparando-se os resultados dos Experimentos I e II pode-se afirmar que o processamento de faces se dá predominantemente de forma holística e que a manipulação de elementos peculiares da face reduz mais a similaridade entre a face original e a caricatura (ou anti-caricatura) que a manipulação de elementos não-peculiares. / A caricature is an exaggeration of distinctive facial features and is generally recognized just as well as an undistorted photograph of a face. Caricatures can be generated by exaggerating the differences between a face and a prototypical face (average face) and an anticaricature can be generated by reducing those differences. The aim of this study was to investigate whether there is a degree of caricaturing that best captures facial likeness. Moreover, we investigated the role of holistic perception versus componential perception in the facial recognition process. Six prototypical faces, three male and three female, were generated by morphing photographs of Brazilian people from the region of Ribeirão Preto-SP of different races: black, white and mixed race. Two types of caricatures and anticaricatures were generated: 1, holistic: by manipulating of all the differences between a face and the prototypical faces; 2, partial: by manipulating the differences of isolated or combined features between a face and the prototypical face. The stimuli used in Experiment 1 were the holistic caricatures and anticaricatures. In Experiment 2 the stimuli were the partial caricatures and anticaricatures. In both experiments, subjects were asked to rate the similarity between the caricatures and the anticaricatures and a face previously memorized. The results of Experiment 1 provide evidence that the best representation of the face is a photograph without distortion and that, when the face is atypical, the caricatures seem to be as good as photographs without distortion. The results of Experiment 2 point to the importance of the role of distinctive features in face recognition. Comparing the results of Experiments 1 and 2, we can say that the facial recognition process is predominantly holistic but that the manipulation of distinctive facial elements reduces the similarity judgment more than the manipulation of non-distinctive features.

A função mastigatória é uma das principais constituintes do sistema estomatognático e impreterivelmente antecede a absorção de nutrientes pelo organismo humano. A força de mordida é um componente dessa função e um indicador clínico do funcionamento desse sistema. Em sujeitos com deformidade dentofacial, a mastigação está prejudicada devido ao desequilíbrio das relações esqueléticas e musculares maxilomandibulares e da oclusão. A abordagem investigativa tridimensional é única que possui a vantagem de avaliar a morfologia facial nos três planos do espaço, tal como se configura a face humana e a deformidade dentofacial. Portanto, o objetivo deste trabalho foi analisar a variação da morfologia facial em diferentes medidas tridimensionais, assim como verificar possível assimetria na força de mordida e diferenças na distribuição de força e área dos contatos oclusais entre sujeitos com deformidades dentofaciais padrão dentoesquelético II, padrão dentoesquelético III e controles. O estudo foi realizado com 77 sujeitos que compuseram dois diferentes grupos, a saber: deformidade dentofacial (DDF) e controle (GC). O grupo com o diagnóstico de deformidade dentofacial (DDF) foi subdividido segundo a classificação da mesma. Assim, 20 sujeitos classe II (4 homens e 16 mulheres, com média de idade de 26 anos) integraram o subgrupo DDF II, 32 classe III (15 homens e 16 mulheres, com média de idade de 27 anos) formaram o DDF III e 25 voluntários saudáveis (9 homens e 16 mulheres, idade média de 24 anos) compreenderam o GC. Todos foram submetidos à avaliação tridimensional da morfologia facial, por meio de escaneamento facial a laser, medidas de força de mordida pelo gnatodinamômetro, análise da distribuição de força oclusal e área de contato dentário pelo sistema T-Scan. As comparações entre GC e DDF foram realizadas pela Análise de Variância (ANOVA) para amostras independentes. O teste de correlação de Spearman foi aplicado para avaliar as possíveis associações entre as medidas de força de mordida e as medidas antropométricas, além da análise de regressão linear múltipla para identificar as variáveis antropométricas associadas à força de mordida. Foi adotado nível de significância de 5%. Na investigação da morfologia, os sujeitos com DDF apresentaram características específicas e compatíveis com as classes II e III esqueléticas, com aumento da altura facial principalmente em retrognatas. A força de mordida foi menor para o grupo DDF, porém não se diferenciou entre os grupos e não houve assimetrias nesse quesito. A área de contato oclusal evidenciou-se mais deficitária para sujeitos com padrão dentoesquelético III, porém a distribuição de força oclusal não demonstrou diferenças entre os grupos. Pode-se concluir o método de análise tridimensional confirmou achados específicos relevantes no que diz respeito às deformidades dentofacias estudadas. E as proporções faciais foram consideradas fatores influenciadores da magnitude da força de mordida em sujeitos com a deformidade dentofacial. / The masticatory function is the one of the main constituents of stomatognathic system and necessarily precedes the absorption of nutrients by the human organism. Bite force is a component of this function and a clinical parameter of this system\'s health. In dentofacial deformity, chewing is impaired due the imbalance of skeletal and muscular maxillomandibular relationships and of the occlusion. Three-dimensioal investigative approach is unique and has the advantage about the evaluation of facial morphology in the three planes of space, such as the configuration of the human face and dentofacial deformity. Therefore, the objective of this study was to analyze the variation of facial morphology in different three-dimensional measurements, as well as to verify possible asymmetry in bite force and the difference in the distribution of force in dental arc and occlusal contact area between subjects with dentofacial deformities class II, class III and control. The study was performed with 77 subjects who composed two different groups: dentofacial deformity (DDF) and control (CG). The group of dentofacial deformity (DDF) was subdivided according to its classification. Thus, 20 class II subjects (4 men and 16 women, mean age of 26 years old) were included in the DDF II subgroup, 32 class III (15 men and 16 women, mean age of 27 years old) formed DDF III, and 25 healthy volunteers (9 men and 16 women, mean age of 24 years old) comprised the CG. All were submitted to the threedimensional assessment of the facial morphology by laser scanning, bite force measurements by gnatodynamometer, analysis of occlusal force distribution and occlusal contact area by the T-Scan system. Comparisons between CG and DDF groups were performed by Analyses of Variance (ANOVA) for independent samples. Spearman\'s correlation test was applied to evaluate the possible association between bite force and anthropometric measurements, as well as multiple linear regression analysis to identify the anthropometric variables associated to the bite force. A significance level of 5% was adopted. In the investigation of morphology the subjects with dentofacial deformities presented specific features and compatible with the skeletal class II and skeletal class III, with increase of facial height, mainly in retrognathic subjects. The bite force was lower for DDF, did not differentiate between the groups and there were no asymmetries about them. The occlusal contact area was found to be poorer for subjects with class III deformity, but the occlusal force distribution did not show differences between the groups. It can be concluded the three-dimensional analysis method confirmed specific and relevant findings to the studied dentofacial deformities. And the facial proportions were considered factors influencing the magnitude of the bite force in subjects with deformity.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-12T18:35:56Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 arquivo7580_1.pdf: 1894132 bytes, checksum: f824b8d337668464969ea01c49081053 (MD5) license.txt: 1748 bytes, checksum: 8a4605be74aa9ea9d79846c1fba20a33 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006 / Este trabalho, situado no paradigma sociointeracionista de linguagem, é fundamentado por algumas teorias baseadas na análise do funcionamento da língua, em especial naquelas que circulam nos domínios da Lingüística Textual. Trata-se de um estudo comparativo entre dois gêneros textuais bastante parecidos, a conversação face a face e a conversação mediada por computador, mas concretizados a partir de diferentes modalidades da língua, a fala e a escrita. Nosso objetivo específico é analisar, nesses dois gêneros, aspectos formais e funcionais daquilo que a literatura entende por expressões indiciais . Também refletimos sobre o que denominamos processo de virtualização da conversação face a face a transposição, para o ciberespaço, dos elementos verbais e não-verbais e das estratégias lingüísticas e interacionais que caracterizam a conversação face a face , bem como sobre os critérios de distinção entre as duas categorias lingüísticas que costumam ser relacionadas às expressões indiciais: os dêiticos discursivos e os anafóricos indiciais. Defendemos o afrouxamento das fronteiras entre essas duas categorias, com base nas seguintes constatações: em todo procedimento dêitico discursivo sempre há uma remissão anafórica; e todo anafórico indicial possui um certo grau de deiticidade. Trabalhamos com um corpus constituído de sessões de interação face a face e no MSN Messenger, cuja análise indica haver algumas especificidades do ciberespaço que dotam os chats de características próprias, repercutindo em sua organização lingüística e discursiva. Nesse sentido, a virtualização da conversação face a face altera o funcionamento e o cenário organizacional das expressões indiciais

Abstract Automatic face recognition is a challenging problem which has received much attention during recent years due to its many applications in different fields such as law enforcement, security applications, human-machine interaction etc. Up to date there is no technique that provides a robust solution for all situations and different applications. From still gray images to face sequences (and passing through color images), this thesis provides new algorithms to learn, detect and recognize faces. It also analyzes some emerging directions such as the integration of facial dynamics in the recognition process. To recognize faces, the thesis proposes a new approach based on Local Binary Patterns (LBP) which consists of dividing the facial image into small regions from which LBP features are extracted and concatenated into a single feature histogram efficiently representing the face image. Then, face recognition is performed using a nearest neighbor classifier in the computed feature space with Chi-square as a dissimilarity metric. The extensive experiments clearly show the superiority of the proposed method over the state-of the-art algorithms on FERET tests. To detect faces, another LBP-based representation which is suitable for low-resolution images, is derived. Using the new representation, a second-degree polynomial kernel SVM classifier is trained to detect frontal faces in complex gray scale images. Experimental results using several complex images show that the proposed approach performs favorably compared to the state-of-art methods. Additionally, experiments with detecting and recognizing low-resolution faces are carried out to demonstrate that the same facial representation can be efficiently used for both the detection and recognition of faces in low-resolution images. To detect faces when the color cue is available, the thesis proposes an approach based on a robust model of skin color, called a skin locus, which is used to extract the skin-like regions. After orientation normalization and based on verifying a set of criteria (face symmetry, presence of some facial features, variance of pixel intensities and connected component arrangement), only facial regions are selected. To learn and visualize faces in video sequences, the recently proposed algorithms for unsupervised learning and dimensionality reduction (LLE and ISOMAP), as well as well known ones (PCA, SOM etc.) are considered and investigated. Some extensions are proposed and a new approach for selecting face models from video sequences is developed. The approach is based on representing the face manifold in a low-dimensional space using the Locally Linear Embedding (LLE) algorithm and then performing K-means clustering. To analyze the emerging direction in face recognition which consists of combining facial shape and dynamic personal characteristics for enhancing face recognition performance, the thesis considers two factors (face sequence length and image quality) and studies their effects on the performance of video-based systems which attempt to use a spatio-temporal representation instead of a still image based one. The extensive experimental results show that motion information enhances automatic recognition but not in a systematic way as in the human visual system. Finally, some key findings of the thesis are considered and used for building a system for access control based on detecting and recognizing faces.

This thesis proposes a new way to analyze facial expressions through 3D scanned faces of real-life people. The expression analysis is based on learning the facial motion vectors that are the differences between a neutral face and a face with an expression. There are several expression analysis based on real-life face database such as 2D image-based Cohn-Kanade AU-Coded Facial Expression Database and Binghamton University 3D Facial Expression Database. To handle large pose variations and increase the general understanding of facial behavior, 2D image-based expression database is not enough. The Binghamton University 3D Facial Expression Database is mainly used for facial expression recognition and it is difficult to compare, resolve, and extend the problems related detailed 3D facial expression analysis. Our work aims to find a new and an intuitively way of visualizing the detailed point by point movements of 3D face model for a facial expression. In our work, we have created our own 3D facial expression database on a detailed level, which each expression model has been processed to have the same structure to compare differences between different people for a given expression. The first step is to obtain same structured but individually shaped face models. All the head models are recreated by deforming a generic model to adapt a laser-scanned individualized face shape in both coarse level and fine level. We repeat this recreation method on different human subjects to establish a database. The second step is expression cloning. The motion vectors are obtained by subtracting two head models with/without expression. The extracted facial motion vectors are applied onto a different human subject’s neutral face. Facial expression cloning is proved to be robust and fast as well as easy to use. The last step is about analyzing the facial motion vectors obtained from the second step. First we transferred several human subjects’ expressions on a single human neutral face. Then the analysis is done to compare different expression pairs in two main regions: the whole face surface analysis and facial muscle analysis. Through our work where smiling has been chosen for the experiment, we find our approach to analysis through face scanning a good way to visualize how differently people move their facial muscles for the same expression. People smile in a similar manner moving their mouths and cheeks in similar orientations, but each person shows her/his own unique way of moving. The difference between individual smiles is the differences of movements they make.

No description available.

No description available.

Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have difficulties in many areas of social cognition including face perception. Decades of research examining face processing abilities in ASD populations have yielded equivocal results. The current thesis includes a series of experiments intended to clarify the nature of the face processing deficits seen in ASD. In Study 1 I examined norm-based coding of facial identity in adults with ASD. I measured identity aftereffects in adults with and without ASD and found no significant group differences. In Study 2 I examined simple (Experiment 1) and opposing (Experiment 2) figural aftereffects for male and female faces and found no significant group differences as adults with ASD. In Study 3 I examined perceptual strategies employed by adults with ASD when processing emotional facial expressions and found that adults with ASD employ a rule-based strategy. Finally, in Study 4 I examined what drives face processing deficits in adults with ASD; deficits in processing emotional information in faces or a deficit in processing socially complex information in faces. I found that adults with ASD had a deficit in discriminating basic and complex emotional facial expressions, suggesting that emotion-perception demands are associated with poor face processing in ASD. The results of the studies demonstrate that adult with ASD show typical perceptual mechanisms underlying face perception, use an atypical perceptual strategies when processing facial expressions, and have a specific deficit in processing emotional expressions. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

No description available.