A neotenia é um importante processo biológico-evolutivo que conserva traços fenotípicos do jovem no indivíduo adulto. A neotenia modifica a velocidade típica da ontogênese das características morfológicas compartilhadas pelos ancestrais. Essas mudanças podem representar oportunidades de mudanças fenotípicas dramáticas com poucas alterações genéticas, possibilitando alterações de estados especializados. O etólogo Konrad Lorenz reconheceu características neotênicas em humanos e algumas espécies de mamíferos na fórmula estrutural do corpo (principalmente da face) típica de infantes. Essa fórmula corpórea foi batizada por Lorenz de Kindchenschema. Os humanos típicos respondem quando observam traços infantis ativando uma resposta chamada de Efeito Kindchenschema (EK). Neste efeito verifica-se uma diminuição da agressividade, estimulação do cuidado parental e engajamento social. São raros os trabalhos de escaneamento do olhar em portadores de disfunções do neurodesenvolvimento, como a Síndrome de Williams (SW) e o Transtorno do Espectro Autista (TEA). O presente trabalho é o primeiro na literatura a investigar o escaneamento do olhar em portadores de SW e TEA usando estímulos faciais neotênicos de humanos e animais. Na presente investigação foram estudados 21 portadores de SW e 25 portadores de TEA, o grupo controle (GC) contou com 33 participantes. Encontramos uma correspondência entre os resultados declarados do estímulo preferido e o tempo de fixação. Os resultados mostraram que todos os participantes fixaram mais a região dos olhos de humanos e animais, sendo que o GC fixou mais tempo do que os portadores de SW e TEA. Foi possível separar usando o tempo de fixação nos olhos e HeatMaps os três grupos investigados. É viável a produção de um exame clínico auxiliar rápido e não-invasivo para indivíduos com suspeita de uma disfunção do neurodesenvolvimento. Talvez a região do nariz e boca sejam menos importantes e as orelhas mais importantes do que pensávamos nos estímulos neotênicos. Os estímulos mais neotênicos de infantes humanos e animais produziram um padrão semelhantes do tempo de fixação nos três grupos estudados. Esses resultados demonstram que portadores de SW e TEA respondem positivamente a estímulos faciais neotênicos. Sugerimos que as novas investigações na área incorporem também como variáveis faciais as orelhas, cor do cabelo e olhos, e simetria facial / Neoteny is an important biological-evolutionary process that retains phenotypic traits of the young in the adult individual of a species. Neoteny modifies the typical ontogeny velocity of the morphological characteristics shared with the ancestors. These changes may represent opportunities for dramatic phenotype modifications with few genetic changes, allowing for alterations in specialized states. The ethologist Konrad Lorenz has recognized neotenic characteristics in humans and some species of mammals in the structural formula of the body (mainly of the face) typical of infants. This body formula was named by Lorenz Kindchenschema. Typical humans respond when they observe infant traits by activating a response called the Kindchenschema Effect (KE). In this effect, there is a decrease in aggressiveness, stimulation of parental care and social engagement. There is a paucity of eye scanning in individuals with neurodevelopmental disorders such as Williams Syndrome (WS) and Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The present work is the first in the literature to investigate the eye scanning in WS and ASD patients using neotenic facial stimuli of humans and animals. In the present investigation, 21 WS and 25 ASD participants were studied. The control group (CG) had 33 participants. We found a correspondence between the stated results of the preferred stimulus and the fixation time. The results showed that all the participants fixed more the region of the eyes of humans and animals, and the CG fixed more time than the WS and ASD participants. It was possible to distinguish, using the fixation time in the eyes and Heat Maps, the three groups. The production of a rapid and non-invasive auxiliary clinical examination is feasible for individuals suspected in presenting a neurodevelopmental dysfunction. Perhaps the nose and mouth areas are less important, and the ears are more important than previously considered with respect. The more neotenic stimuli of human and animal infants produced a similar pattern of fixation time in the three groups studied. This may represent a greater adaptive value than we thought of those with WS and ASD. We suggest that the new investigations can also incorporate facial variables as ears, hair color and eyes, and facial symmetry

Submitted by Silvana Teresinha Dornelles Studzinski (sstudzinski) on 2017-02-10T11:07:35Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Jair Carlos Muller_.pdf: 2333529 bytes, checksum: 36c56be5b98f22351456fbe4e419d28f (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-02-10T11:07:35Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Jair Carlos Muller_.pdf: 2333529 bytes, checksum: 36c56be5b98f22351456fbe4e419d28f (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-10-04 / CNPQ – Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico / Este trabalho apresenta um estudo geométrico de um refletor Fresnel linear para a produção de energia térmica com uso de um rastreador solar para orientação dos espelhos. A realização deste trabalho teve como base o estudo do sistema de coordenadas empregado para o cálculo da inclinação dos espelhos em função da posição do Sol em um determinado instante. O método utilizado considera que a radiação direta proveniente do Sol atinja o centro do espelho, cuja inclinação a cada instante permite a reflexão dessa radiação para o centro do absorvedor, situado a uma dada altura em relação ao plano contendo o eixo dos espelhos. Através do estudo da inclinação dos espelhos, foram analisadas as influencias causadas pela distância entre espelhos, altura do receptor, largura dos espelhos e o número de espelhos. Com estes parâmetros analisados, implementou-se uma simulação em MATLAB que forneceu valores de potência refletida no plano de entrada do concentrador secundário, valores de perdas por sombreamento, bloqueio, desfocagem e posição angular de cada fileira de espelho. Tendo estes dados como base foi construído um rastreador solar controlado por um micro controlador Arduino, que permite orientar as fileiras de espelhos com um único motor e eixo de acoplamento. O programa no micro controlador verifica data e hora como dados iniciais, depois as coordenadas geográficas de latitude 29º 45’ 17,979” S e longitude 51º 9’ 1,019” W do local. Assim, foi possível comprovar, através de imagens refletidas pelos espelhos no receptor secundário, que os parâmetros de posição angular estão corretos e que a concentração dos raios solares no absorvedor do concentrador secundário tem precisão adequada, fornecendo ao sistema confiabilidade para sua utilização. / This paper presents a geometric study of a linear Fresnel reflector for the production of thermal energy with use of a solar tracker for orientation of mirrors. This work was based on the study of the coordinate system used for the calculation of the slope of the mirrors as function of the sun’s position at a given time. The method considers that the solar direct radiation reaches the center of the mirror, whose slope at each instant allows the reflection of this radiation to the center of the absorber located at a given height from the plane containing the axis of the mirrors. Through the study of slope of mirrors, were analyzed the influences caused by the distance between mirrors, the height of receiver, width of the mirrors and the number of mirrors. With these parameters, it was implemented a simulation in MATLAB which provided power values reflected in the secondary concentrator inlet plane, values of losses by shading, blocking, by defocus and the angular position of each row of mirror. Having these data as base was built a controlled solar tracker by an Arduino micro controller, which allows directing the rows of mirrors with a single engine and coupling shaft. The program in micro controller checks the date and time as initial data, then the geographical coordinates of latitude 29° 45 ' 17.979 "S and longitude 51° 9 ' 1.019" W the local. Thus, it was possible to prove, through images reflected by mirrors on the secondary receiver, that the angular position parameters are correct and that the concentration of sunrays in the absorber secondary hub has adequate accuracy, providing the system reliability for its use.

Social anxiety is a disorder where people fear social interactions and is associated with physiological changes. Eye tracking studies have shown that people with social anxiety spent more time gazing at emotional faces presented on a computer screen and spent more time gazing at the eye region. There has been limited studies on tracking eye gaze in a real-life setting interacting with another person. We used a wearable eye tracker during a brief one-on-one interview about participants’ challenges faced at work or school. Along with self-report psychological measures about social anxiety and shyness, we also measured participants’ salivary cortisol as a metric for physiological stress. We hypothesized that socially anxious individuals would have higher cortisol levels and spent more time gazing at the face. However, there was no change in cortisol levels before and after the interview. In addition, socially anxious individuals had lower cortisol levels than less anxious people. Furthermore, the time spent fixating on the region of interest (ROI), which was the face, was not correlated with social anxiety, anxiety or shyness. Paradoxically, the more socially anxious participants seem to have had a lower physiological stress response than less socially anxious participants.

<p>This thesis was performed at the research centre CINECA in Bologna, Italy. An interface with six degrees of freedom, 6DOF, to be used in a virtual environ- ment for the positioning of medical components was developed in co-operation with IOR, one of the most important orthopaedic hospitals in Italy. The main reason for doing this was to find out whether or not a virtual en-viron-ment and 6DOF interaction could make the pre-operative planning of an ope-ration more efficient compared to other techniques. Is it easy to posi-tion an object using stereovision and a 6DOF tracker tool? Further-more, the interface might also be used in other applications and areas in the future. </p><p>Described is the development of an interaction class especially constructed for the use of a tracking tool called a stylus pen. This tool takes advantage of all 6DOF, i.e. it recognises movements in the x, y and z directions and likewise the orientation of the tool around the three axis. Moreover, an application which uses the interaction class was created in order to evaluate its usefulness. The application enables the user to load, save and position objects within a virtual environment. The result of this evaluation is then described and discussed. </p><p>In the evaluations it was shown that the stylus pen with 6DOF is an intuitive in-ter-action tool which works well for positioning. The stereovision also seems to further improve the users ability to position objects. However, the created interaction class needs to be further developed before itcan be implemented in a pre-operative planning tool.</p>

Digital inpainting is the technique of filling in the missing regions of an image or a video using information from surrounding area. This technique has found widespread use in applications such as restoration, error recovery, multimedia editing, and video privacy protection. This dissertation addresses three significant challenges associated with the existing and emerging inpainting algorithms and applications. The three key areas of impact are 1) Structure completion for image inpainting algorithms, 2) Fast and efficient object based video inpainting framework and 3) Perceptual evaluation of large area image inpainting algorithms. One of the main approach of existing image inpainting algorithms in completing the missing information is to follow a two stage process. A structure completion step, to complete the boundaries of regions in the hole area, followed by texture completion process using advanced texture synthesis methods. While the texture synthesis stage is important, it can be argued that structure completion aspect is a vital component in improving the perceptual image inpainting quality. To this end, we introduce a global structure completion algorithm for completion of missing boundaries using symmetry as the key feature. While existing methods for symmetry completion require a-priori information, our method takes a non-parametric approach by utilizing the invariant nature of curvature to complete missing boundaries. Turning our attention from image to video inpainting, we readily observe that existing video inpainting techniques have evolved as an extension of image inpainting techniques. As a result, they suffer from various shortcoming including, among others, inability to handle large missing spatio-temporal regions, significantly slow execution time making it impractical for interactive use and presence of temporal and spatial artifacts. To address these major challenges, we propose a fundamentally different method based on object based framework for improving the performance of video inpainting algorithms. We introduce a modular inpainting scheme in which we first segment the video into constituent objects by using acquired background models followed by inpainting of static background regions and dynamic foreground regions. For static background region inpainting, we use a simple background replacement and occasional image inpainting. To inpaint dynamic moving foreground regions, we introduce a novel sliding-window based dissimilarity measure in a dynamic programming framework. This technique can effectively inpaint large regions of occlusions, inpaint objects that are completely missing for several frames, change in size and pose and has minimal blurring and motion artifacts. Finally we direct our focus on experimental studies related to perceptual quality evaluation of large area image inpainting algorithms. The perceptual quality of large area inpainting technique is inherently a subjective process and yet no previous research has been carried out by taking the subjective nature of the Human Visual System (HVS). We perform subjective experiments using eye-tracking device involving 24 subjects to analyze the effect of inpainting on human gaze. We experimentally show that the presence of inpainting artifacts directly impacts the gaze of an unbiased observer and this in effect has a direct bearing on the subjective rating of the observer. Specifically, we show that the gaze energy in the hole regions of an inpainted image show marked deviations from normal behavior when the inpainting artifacts are readily apparent.

The yield from a solar photovoltaic (PV) source is dependent on factors such as light and temperature. A control system called a maximum power point tracker (MPPT) ensures that the yield from a solar PV source is maximized in spite of these factors. This thesis presents a novel implementation of a perturb and observe (PO) MPPT. The implementation uses a switched capacitor step down converter and a custom digital circuit implementation of the PO algorithm. Working in tandem, the switched capacitor step down converter and the custom digital circuit implementation were able to successfully track the maximum power point of a simulated solar PV source. This implementation is free of the overhead encountered with general purpose processor based MPPT implementations. This makes this MPPT system a valid candidate for applications where general purpose processors are undesirable. This document will begin by discussing the current state of MPPT research. Afterward, this thesis will present studies done to be able to use the chosen switched capacitor step down converter. Then the digital circuit PO implementation will be discussed in detail. Simulations of the architecture will be presented. Finally, experimental validation using a hardware prototype will be shown.

Les caméras pushbroom sont omniprésentes en imagerie satellitaire. Ce capteur linéaire enregistre des images 1-D et utilise le défilement du satellite autour de la terre pour construire des bandeaux d'image ; son principe de fonctionnement est identique aux scanners et photocopieurs que l'on peut utiliser tous les jours. Les avantages liés à cette technologie sont principalement une résolution d'image étendue qui va bien au delà des caméras perspectives, un coût d'exploitation faible et une robustesse au contexte spatial. Pour reconstruire des images couleur, le plan focal d'un satellite embarque plusieurs caméras pushbroom sensibles à différentes bandes spectrales de la lumière. Ce mode d'acquisition dépendant du temps suppose que l'orientation du satellite, également appelée attitude dans cette étude, ne varie pas au cours du survol d'une scène. Les satellites ont jusqu'à maintenant été considérés comme stables du fait de leur inertie. Cependant les technologies récentes développées dans la recherche spatiale tendent à réduire leur taille et alléger leur poids pour les rendre plus agiles et moins coûteux en énergie lors de leur mise en orbite. La résolution des capteurs a également été améliorée, ce qui rend nettement plus critique la moindre oscillation de l'imageur. Ces facteurs cumulés font qu'un changement d'attitude de quelques microradians peut provoquer des déformations géométriques notables dans les images. Les solutions actuelles utilisent les capteurs de positionnement du satellite pour asservir son attitude et rectifier les images, mais elles sont coûteuses et limitées en précision. Les images contiennent pourtant une information cohérente sur les mouvements du satellite de par leurs éventuelles déformations. Nous proposons dans cette étude de retrouver les variations d'attitude par recalage des images enregistrées par le satellite. Nous exploitons la disposition des caméras pushbroom dans le plan focal ainsi que la nature stationnaire des oscillations pour conduire l'estimation. Le tout est présenté dans un cadre bayesien, où les données images peuvent se mêler avec une information a priori sur le mouvement ainsi que des mesures exogènes fournies par un capteur stellaire couramment appelé star tracker. Différentes solutions sont décrites et comparées sur des jeux de données satellitaires fournis par le constructeur de satellite EADS Astrium.

Η παρούσα διπλωματική εργασία πραγματεύεται τη μελέτη και κατασκευή μιας διάταξης που παρακολουθεί συνεχώς τη θέση του ήλιου στον ουρανό και στρέφει αντίστοιχα ένα φωτοβολταϊκό πάνελ κατά τέτοιο τρόπο ώστε να μεγιστοποιείται η ένταση της ηλιακής ακτινοβολίας που προσπίπτει σε αυτό και επομένως και η ενεργειακή του απόδοση (solar tracker). Προκειμένου να πραγματοποιηθεί η εφαρμογή, το ίδιο το φωτοβολταϊκό πάνελ χρησιμοποιήθηκε ως ανιχνευτής της θέσης του ήλιου στον ουρανό απλουστεύοντας έτσι την κατασκευή και μειώνοντας το κόστος της καθώς δεν χρειάστηκαν επιπλέον αισθητήρες. Συγκεκριμένα, ανά τακτά χρονικά διαστήματα δειγματοληπτούνταν η τιμή της τάσης στα άκρα του φωτοβολταϊκού πάνελ από τον μικροελεγκτή msp430F169 της εταιρείας texas instruments, αποθηκεύονταν στους καταχωρητές του και αφού μετατρεπόταν το σήμα από αναλογικό σε ψηφιακό συγκρινόταν με τις προηγούμενες τιμές. Ανάλογα με το αποτέλεσμα της σύγκρισης, ο μικροελεγκτής έδινε εντολή στον κινητήρα που κατεύθυνε το φωτοβολταϊκό πάνελ να κινηθεί στην αντίστοιχη κατεύθυνση. Η διαδικασία επαναλαμβανόταν μέχρις ότου βρεθεί το σημείο εκείνο όπου η τάση στα άκρα του γίνεται μέγιστη. Το σύστημα που κατασκευάσαμε περιλαμβάνει κίνηση γύρω από έναν άξονα. Συγκεκριμένα παρακολουθεί την αζιμουθιακή κίνηση του ήλιου ξεκινώντας από την ανατολή (Earth) και καταλήγοντας στη δύση (West). / The present thesis deals with the study and construction of a solar tracker that constantly detects the sun position to the sky and directs correspondingly a photovoltaic panel in order to maximize the intensity of solar radiation prostrating to it and as a result, its energy performance as well. In order the application to be realized, the same photovoltaic panel was used as detector of the sun position to the sky, simplifying the construction and reducing its cost, as no further sensors were required. Particularly, the point-to-point voltage value of the photovoltaic panel was regularly sampled by the microcontroller msp430F169 of the Texas Instruments Company, it was saved to the register, and after the signal was being converted from analog to digital, it was being compared to the previous value. Depending on the result of the comparison, the microcontroller ordered the motor directing the photovoltaic panel to move across the corresponding direction. The process was being repeated until a point was found were the point-to-point voltage value was the maximum. The system created includes motion around one axis. Particularly, it observes the azimuthal solar motion starting from East and ending to West

Η ραγδαία αύξηση των εικόνων, σε συνδυασμό με την αδυναμία των συστημάτων ανάκτησης εικόνας βάσει περιεχομένου να εξάγουν σημασιολογικά χαρακτηριστικά, οδήγησαν στην εισαγωγή του ανθρώπινου παράγοντα στην πειραματική διαδικασία. Ένας πολύ συνηθισμένος και επιτυχημένος τρόπος χρησιμοποίησης του ανθρώπινου συστήματος όρασης είναι μέσω της καταγραφής των οφθαλμικών κινήσεων. Στο σύστημα ανάκτησης το οποίο προτείνεται στην παρούσα εργασία γίνεται καταγραφή των σημείων εστίασης που προέκυψαν κατά την παρατήρηση των εικόνων βάσεως. Από τα σημεία αυτά, γίνεται εξαγωγή χαρακτηριστικών υφής με δύο μεθόδους, τα φίλτρα Gabor και το διακριτό μετασχηματισμό συνημιτόνου (DCT), παράγοντας πολυδιάστατα διανύσματα. Τα διανύσματα αυτά συγκρίνονται ανά δύο μέσω του μη παραμετρικού WW test, δημιουργώντας έναν πίνακα αποστάσεων. Με την εισαγωγή μιας ζητούμενης εικόνας στο σύστημα, τα χαρακτηριστικά υφής της συγκρίνονται με αυτά της βάσης προσθέτοντας μια επιπλέον διάσταση στον πίνακα απόστασης. Η απεικόνιση της σχέσης μεταξύ όλων των εικόνων (συμπεριλαμβανομένης και της αιτούμενης) γίνεται σε ένα χάρτη τριών διαστάσεων μέσω πολυδιάστατης κλιμάκωσης (MDS αλγόριθμος). Τα αποτελέσματα τα οποία προέρχονται από τα φίλτρα Gabor παρουσιάζουν μεγαλύτερη αξιοπιστία, κάνοντας εφικτή την επέκταση του συστήματος με χρήση μίας μεγαλύτερης βάσης εικόνων. / The rapid increase of images, combined with the weakness of the Content Based Image Retrieval (CBIR) systems to extract semantic features, led to the introduction of the human factor into the experimental procedure. A very common and successful way of using the human vision system is through the record of eye movements. In the retrieval system which is proposed in the present thesis, the fixation points that arose from viewing the database images are recorded. From these points, the texture features are extracted using two methods, Gabor filters and Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT), producing multidimensional vectors. These vectors are compared through the non parametric WW test, creating a distance matrix. By producing a query image in the system, its’ texture features are compared to those of the database, adding an extra dimension to the distance matrix. The visual representation of the relation among all the images (query image included), is depicted in a three dimensional map using multidimensional scaling (MDS algorithm). The results obtained from Gabor filters are characterized by higher robustness, making the expansion of the system possible, by using a bigger image database.

Thesis (MEng)-- Stellenbosch University, 2013. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The next generation of CubeSats will require accurate attitude knowledge throughout orbit for advanced science payloads and high gain antennas. A star tracker can provide the required performance, but star trackers have traditionally been too large, expensive and power hungry to be included on a CubeSat. The aim of this project is to develop and demonstrate a CubeSat compatible star tracker. Subsystems from two other CubeSat components, CubeSense and CubeComputer, were combined with a sensitive, commercial image sensor and low-light lens to produce one of the smallest star trackers in existence. Algorithms for star detection, matching and attitude determination were investigated and implemented on the embedded system. The resultant star tracker, named CubeStar, can operate fully autonomously, outputting attitude estimates at a rate of 1 Hz. An engineering model was completed and demonstrated an accuracy of better than 0.01 degrees during night sky tests. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die volgende generasie van CubeSats sal akkurate orientasie kennis vereis gedurende 'n volle omwentelling van die aarde. 'n Sterkamera kan die vereiste prestasie verskaf, maar sterkameras is tradisioneel te groot, duur en krag intensief om ingesluit te word aanboord 'n CubeSat. Die doel van hierdie projek is om 'n CubeSat sterkamera te ontwikkel en te demonstreer. Substelsels van twee ander CubeSat komponente, CubeSense en CubeComputer, was gekombineer met 'n sensitiewe kommersiële beeldsensor en 'n lae-lig lens om een van die kleinste sterkameras op die mark te produseer. Algoritmes vir die ster opsporing, identi kasie en orientasie bepaling is ondersoek en geïmplementeer op die ingebedde stelsel. Die gevolglike sterkamera, genaamd CubeStar, kan ten volle outonoom orientasie afskattings lewer teen 'n tempo van 1 Hz. 'n Ingenieursmodel is voltooi en 'n akkuraatheid van beter as 0.01 grade is gedemonstreer.