Face Detection and Facial Feature Localization for multi-pose faces and complex backgroundimages

The objective of this thesis work, is to propose an algorithm to detect the faces in a digital image with complex background. A lot of work has already been done in the area of face detection, but drawback of some face detection algorithms is the lack of ability to detect faces with closed eyes and open mouth. Thus facial features form an important basis for detection. The current thesis work focuses on detection of faces based on facial objects. The procedure is composed of three different phases: segmentation phase, filtering phase and localization phase. In segmentation phase, the algorithm utilizes color segmentation to isolate human skin color based on its chrominance properties. In filtering phase, Minkowski addition based object removal (Morphological operations) has been used to remove the non-skin regions. In the last phase, Image Processing and Computer Vision methods have been used to find the existence of facial components in the skin regions.This method is effective on detecting a face region with closed eyes, open mouth and a half profile face. The experiment’s results demonstrated that the detection accuracy is around 85.4% and the detection speed is faster when compared to neural network method and other techniques.

The facial affective scale as a predictor for pain unpleasantness when children undergo immunizations.

Needle fear is a common problem in children undergoing immunization. To ensure that the individual child's needs are met during a painful procedure it would be beneficial to be able to predict whether there is a need for extra support. The self-reporting instrument facial affective scale (FAS) could have potential for this purpose. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether the FAS can predict pain unpleasantness in girls undergoing immunization. Girls, aged 11-12 years, reported their expected pain unpleasantness on the FAS at least two weeks before and then experienced pain unpleasantness immediately before each vaccination. The experienced pain unpleasantness during the vaccination was also reported immediately after each immunization. The level of anxiety was similarly assessed during each vaccination and supplemented with stress measures in relation to the procedure in order to assess and evaluate concurrent validity. The results show that the FAS is valid to predict pain unpleasantness in 11-12-year-old girls who undergo immunizations and that it has the potential to be a feasible instrument to identify children who are in need of extra support to cope with immunization. In conclusion, the FAS measurement can facilitate caring interventions.

The Facial Affective Scale (FAS) as a predictor for pain unpleasantness when children undergo immunizations

Needle fear is a common problem in children undergoing immunization. To ensure that the individual child’s needs are met during a painful procedure it would be beneficial to be able to predict whether there is a need for extra support. The self-reporting instrument facial affective scale (FAS) could have potential for this purpose. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether the FAS can predict pain unpleasantness in girls undergoing immunization. Girls, aged 11-12 years, reported their expected pain unpleasantness on the FAS at least two weeks before and then experienced pain unpleasantness immediately before each vaccination. The experienced pain unpleasantness during the vaccination was also reported immediately after each immunization. The level of anxiety was similarly assessed during each vaccination and supplemented with stress measures in relation to the procedure in order to assess and evaluate concurrent validity. The results show that the FAS is valid to predict pain unpleasantness in 11-12-year-old girls who undergo immunizations and that it has the potential to be a feasible instrument to identify children who are in need of extra support to cope with immunization. In conclusion, the FAS measurement can facilitate caring interventions.

Students’ Role in Distance Learning

1. IntroductionMuch of the support that students have in a traditional classroom is absent in a distance learning course. In the traditional classroom, the learner is together with his or her classmates and the teacher; learning is socially embedded. Students can talk to each other and may learn from each other as they go through the learning process together. They also witness the teacher’s expression of the knowledge firsthand. The class participants communicate to each other not only through their words, but also through their gestures, facial expressions and tone of voice, and the teacher can observe the students’ progress and provide guidance and feedback in an as-needed basis. Further, through the habit of meeting in a regular place at a regular time, the participants reinforce their own and each other’s commitment to the course. A distance course must somehow provide learners other kinds of supports so that the distance learner also has a sense of connection with a learning community; can benefit from interaction with peers who are going through a similar learning process; receives feedback that allows him or her to know how he or she is progressing; and is guided enough so that he or she continues to progress towards the learning objectives. This cannot be accomplished if the distance course does not simultaneously promote student autonomy, for the distance course format requires students to take greater responsibility for their own learning. This chapter presents one distance learning course that was able to address all of these goals. The English Department at Högskolan Dalarna, Sweden, participates in a distance learning program with Vietnam National University. Students enrolled in this program study half-time for two years to complete a Master’s degree in English Linguistics. The distance courses in this program all contain two types of regular class meetings: one type is student-only seminars conducted through text chat, during which students discuss and complete assignments that prepare them for the other type of class meeting, also conducted through text chat, where the teacher is present and is the one to lead the discussion of seminar issues and assignments. The inclusion of student-only seminars in the course design allows for student independence while at the same time it encourages co-operation and solidarity. The teacher-led seminars offer the advantages of a class led by an expert.In this chapter, we present chatlog data from Vietnamese students in one distance course in English linguistics, comparing the role of the student in both student-only and teacher-led seminars. We discuss how students navigate their participation roles, through computer-mediated communication (CMC), according to seminar type, and we consider the emerging role of the autonomous student in the foreign-language medium, distance learning environment. We close by considering aspects of effective design of distance learning courses from the perspective of a foreign language (FL) environment.

La risa en los Chistes de Facebook

People tell jokes in order to amuse and produce laughter. It is possible to represent laughter in the cyberspace discourse by writing how it sounds or by using a representation of a facial expression formed by various combinations of keyboard characters called emoticon. Jokes are appreciated by both men and women in our society but is there any difference between the way they represent laughter in the cyberspace discourse? In this research, we use the qualitative and quantitative method. First, we analyze the mechanism of linguistic construction of five jokes and their types and techniques based on Freud’s theory about this subject. Then we present the reactions produced by the jokes found in a social network and focus in the written representation of the laughter. The results show us that more women than men react to the jokes by writing a comment. The most popular laughter used by both men and women in a Spanish social network is "jajajaja" and the emoticon "XD". We have also found that people use the international laughter "hahahaha" and more women than men use "jejeje" to represent laughter in the same network. Although each individual has a laughter style, the way people represent the laughter graphically in the cyberspace discourse is almost the same between men and women but it differs in the way they use them as a reaction to the type and technique of the joke.