On the application of the probabilistic linear discriminant analysis to face recognition across expression

Facial expression is one of the main issues of face recognition in uncontrolled environments. In this paper, we apply the probabilistic linear discriminant analysis (PLDA) method to recognize faces across expressions. Several PLDA approaches are tested and cross-evaluated on the Cohn-Kanade and JAFFE databases. With less samples per gallery subject, high recognition rates comparable to previous works have been achieved indicating the robustness of the approaches. Among the approaches, the mixture of PLDAs has demonstrated better performances. The experimental results also indicate that facial regions around the cheeks, eyes, and eyebrows are more discriminative than regions around the mouth, jaw, chin, and nose.

Engaging undergraduate nursing students in face-to-face tutorials

Chronic nursing shortages have placed increasing pressure on many nursing schools to recruit greater numbers of students with the consequence of larger class sizes. Larger class sizes have the potential to lead to student disengagement. This paper describes a case study that examined the strategies used by a group of nursing lecturers to engage students and to overcome passivity in a Bachelor of Nursing programme. A non-participant observer attended 20 tutorials to observe five academics deliver four tutorials each. Academics were interviewed both individually and as a group following the completion of all tutorial observations. All observations, field notes, interviews and focus groups were coded separately and major themes identified. From this analysis two broad categories emerged: getting students involved; and engagement as a struggle. Academics used a wide variety of techniques to interest and involve students. Additionally, academics desired an equal relationship with students. They believed that both they and the students had some power to influence the dynamics of tutorials and that neither party had ultimate power. The findings of this study serve to re-emphasise past literature which suggests that to engage students, the academics must also engage.

Challenges for researchers investigating contraceptive use and pregnancy intentions of young women living in urban and rural Australia : face-to-face discussions to increase participation in a web-based survey

Background: It is imperative to understand how to engage young women in research about issues that are important to them. There is limited reliable data on how young women access contraception in Australia especially in rural areas where services may be less available. Objective: This paper identifies the challenges involved in engaging young Australian women aged 18-23 years to participate in a web-based survey on contraception and pregnancy and ensure their ongoing commitment to follow-up web-based surveys. Methods: A group of young women, aged 18-23 years and living in urban and rural New South Wales, Australia, were recruited to participate in face-to-face discussions using several methods of recruitment: direct contact (face-to-face, telephone or email)and snowball sampling by potential participants inviting their friends. All discussions were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using thematic analysis. Results: Twenty young women participated (urban, n=10: mean age 21.6 years; rural, n=10: 20.0 years) and all used computers or smart phones to access the internet on a daily basis. All participants were concerned about the cost of internet access and utilized free access to social media on their mobile phones. Their willingness to participate in a web-based survey was dependent on incentives with a preference for small financial rewards. Most participants were concerned about their personal details and survey responses remaining confidential and secure. The most appropriate survey would take up to 15 minutes to complete, be a mix of short and long questions and eye-catching with bright colours. Questions on the sensitive topics of sexual activity, contraception and pregnancy were acceptable if they could respond with “I prefer not to answer”. Conclusions: There are demographic, participation and survey design challenges in engaging young women in a web-based survey. Based on our findings, future research efforts are needed to understand the full extent of the role social media and incentives play in the decision of young women to participate in web-based research.

Effects of joint thickness, adhesion and web shells to the face shell bedded concrete masonry loaded in compression

The Australian masonry standard allows either prism tests or correction factors based on the block height and mortar thickness to evaluate masonry compressive strength. The correction factor helps the taller units with conventional 10 mm mortar being not disadvantaged due to size effect. In recent times, 2-4 mm thick, high-adhesive mortars and H blocks with only the mid-web shell are used in masonry construction. H blocks and thinner and higher adhesive mortars have renewed interest of the compression behaviour of hollow concrete masonry and hence is revisited in this paper. This paper presents an experimental study carried out to examine the effects of the thickness of mortar joints, the type of mortar adhesives and the presence of web shells in the hollow concrete masonry prisms under axial compression. A non-contact digital image correlation technique was used to measure the deformation of the prisms and was found adequate for the determination of strain fi eld of the loaded face shells subjected to axial compression. It is found that the absence of end web shells lowers the compressive strength and stiffness of the prisms and the thinner and higher adhesive mortars increase the compressive strength and stiffness, while lowering the Poisson's ratio. © Institution of Engineers Australia, 2013.

Lessons from a face-to-face meeting on embedding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives : ‘A contract of intimacy’

This paper presents the findings from a conversation between an Aboriginal educator and a non-Indigenous pre-service educator about the importance and complexities of building productive partnerships. Although the participants focused on the challenges and benefits of building relationships between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander educators and non-Indigenous educators in Australian early years settings, the more significant outcome of the meeting was the personal connection two young women were able to make when a friendship began to develop. The project was intended to enable an opportunity for the participants ‘to engage in reflexivity on their pedagogic work’, something Mills (2012) understands as crucial to the support of social justice and transformation in the classroom.

Time to face the fats : What can mass spectrometry reveal about the structure of lipids and their interactions with proteins?

Since the 1950s, X-ray crystallography has been the mainstay of structural biology, providing detailed atomic-level structures that continue to revolutionize our understanding of protein function. From recent advances in this discipline, a picture has emerged of intimate and specific interactions between lipids and proteins that has driven renewed interest in the structure of lipids themselves and raised intriguing questions as to the specificity and stoichiometry in lipid-protein complexes. Herein we demonstrate some of the limitations of crystallography in resolving critical structural features of ligated lipids and thus determining how these motifs impact protein binding. As a consequence, mass spectrometry must play an important and complementary role in unraveling the complexities of lipid-protein interactions. We evaluate recent advances and highlight ongoing challenges towards the twin goals of (1) complete structure elucidation of low, abundant, and structurally diverse lipids by mass spectrometry alone, and (2) assignment of stoichiometry and specificity of lipid interactions within protein complexes.

Techniques to effectively buffer schedules in the face of uncertainties

Resource assignment and scheduling is a difficult task when job processing times are stochastic, and resources are to be used for both known and unknown demand. To operate effectively within such an environment, several novel strategies are investigated. The first focuses upon the creation of a robust schedule, and utilises the concept of strategically placed idle time (i.e. buffering). The second approach introduces the idea of maintaining a number of free resources at each time, and culminates in another form of strategically placed buffering. The attraction of these approaches is that they are easy to grasp conceptually, and mimic what practitioners already do in practice. Our extensive numerical testing has shown that these techniques ensure more prompt job processing, and reduced job cancellations and waiting time. They are effective in the considered setting and could easily be adapted for many real life problems, for instance those in health care. This article has more importantly demonstrated that integrating the two approaches is a better strategy and will provide an effective stochastic scheduling approach.

The modern day bystander: Online and face-to-face bystander actions of adolescents in traditional bullying and cyberbullying

This study investigated whether bystanders of traditional bullying and cyberbullying used face-to-face methods, online methods or both methods when reporting, discouraging and providing support to the victims of traditional bullying and cyberbullying. A questionnaire was completed by 348 high school students (Years 7 – 12) from seven independent schools in Australia. Overall, students predominantly utilized face-to-face methods when reporting to others for both types of bullying. Older students were more likely to use online methods to discourage the traditional bully (i.e., asking the bully to stop). Males and older students were more likely to use online methods to support victims of traditional bullying. Females were more likely to use face-to-face methods to support victims of cyberbullying. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.

Nucleophilic additions to 4-substituted snoutanones: getting a measure of long range electrostatic and orbital control of pi-face selectivity

Pentacyclic ketones 10a-e (snoutan-9-ones) undergo nucleophilic additions with the same facial preference as the corresponding norsnoutanones 9a-e, but with markedly reduced selectivity, revealing the involvement of electrostatic effects in the former and implying the importance of hyperconjugative orbital interactions in determining pi-face selectivity in the latter systems.

Lawyers linked to litigation funding face court censure: Bolitho v Banksia Securities Limited (No.4) [2014] VSC 582

In Bolitho v Banksia Securities Limited (No 4) [2014] VSC 582 the Supreme Court of Victoria concluded that the proper administration of justice, including the appearance of justice, required that the lawyers representing the plaintiff in the group proceeding should be restrained from continuing to act for the plaintiff. This Victorian case illustrates how courts are likely to respond when lawyers attempt to circumvent the prohibition on contingency fees through litigation funding in which they have a financial interest.

BIFF to BAPFF: considering 'festival memory' in the face of innovation and change

As an art form, film has arguably always functioned as a stronghold for memory. Memories unfold in the stories told on screen, and remain preserved in the experiences of the audience viewing the film, at a particular time and place. The environment of a film festival further alters the viewing experience and its relationship to memory. The Brisbane International Film Festival (BIFF) was founded in 1992. After considerable disruption due to economic and socio-political changes, it took place for the last time in 2013. The change in BIFF’s leadership and programming agenda significantly impacted the festival’s image and its position on the wider festival circuit. Through an examination of cinema and memory) it will be argued that film festivals operate as (temporary) sites of memory, through the programming and screening of films, engagement with local audiences, and promotion of film culture. This specific and unique ‘festival memory’ inextricably links to the audience and the venue, and is curated by the festival programmers and staff, who carry a wealth of knowledge (not necessarily recorded), of past festivals, successes, and failures. The people involved, the festival staff and audience, act as caretakers of this ‘festival memory.’ This essay will therefore examine how the BIFF and its home, the Regent Theatre, have functioned as crucial ‘sites of memory’ for film and film culture in Brisbane, Australia.

Temporality of the Face-to-Face in Levinas' Ethics

This thesis focuses on a connection between temporality and ethics in the philosophy of Emmanuel Levinas. I argue that Levinas understanding of temporality is rooted in the function of pra-impression which in its turn does not belong to the intentional consciousness but reveals a subject as being open to the Other. In the face-to-face situation with the Other the pra-impression is an essential and constitutive force: it fractures the moment of the present, questions subjectivity and generates a new meaning of temporality. As a result a responsible subject is revealed; responsibility for the Other marks a latent birth of the subject which is prior to any origin of subjectivity, it discloses a meaning of time that does not belong to the subject but is found in the Other. In this study I suggest that pra-impression finds its productive force in language, the function of the feminine, and what Levinas calls the other in the same .