Priyadarshi Patnaik

The Indian Spontaneous Expression Database for Emotion Recognition

Automatic recognition of spontaneous facial expressions is a major challenge in the field of affective computing. Head rotation, face pose, illumination variation, occlusion etc. are the attributes that increase the complexity of recognition of spontaneous expressions in practical applications. Effective recognition of expressions depends significantly on the quality of the database used. Most well-known facial expression databases consist of posed expressions. However, currently there is a huge demand for spontaneous expression databases for the pragmatic implementation of the facial expression recognition algorithms. In this paper, we propose and establish a new facial expression database containing spontaneous expressions of both male and female participants of Indian origin. The database consists of 428 segmented video clips of the spontaneous facial expressions of 50 participants. In our experiment, emotions were induced among the participants by using emotional videos and simultaneously their self-ratings were collected for each experienced emotion. Facial expression clips were annotated carefully by four trained decoders, which were further validated by the nature of stimuli used and self-report of emotions. An extensive analysis was carried out on the database using several machine learning algorithms and the results are provided for future reference. Such a spontaneous database will help in the development and validation of algorithms for recognition of spontaneous expressions.

Discourses on aging and dying

Introduction PART 1 AGING AND DYING: SPIRITUAL PERSPECTIVES Aging and Dying - The Vedantic Perspective - Swami H H Bhaktisvarupa Damodaran (Dr T D Singh) The Art of Dying with Dignity - Swami Prabhananda Life and Immortality in Indian Thought - Swami Jitatmananda Death and Dying in Islam: Psychological and Spiritual Perspectives - Manisha Sen and Shafi Shaikh Death and Dying: A Buddhist Analysis - Madhumita Chattopadhay The Buddhist Way to Overcome Jara-Maranam - Aiswarya Biswas Death as Divine Wedding - The Sant-Mat Perspective - P Bhatnagar PART II AGING AND DYING: ISSUES IN THE CARE OF THE ELDERLY Socio-Ethical Issues in the Existing Paradigm of Care for the Older Persons: Emerging Challenges and Possible Responses - Anupama Datta Gender Issues in Care Giving - Amrita Bagga Views on Aging and Dying Among Middle Class Bengali Hindu Elderly Residents of Kolkata - Paromita Ghosh and Anindita Dey A Plea for a Holistic Approach to Aging PART III AGING AND DYING: END-OF-LIFE CARE - K R G Nair Old Age, Disease and Terminal Care: A Hindu Perspective - S K Jindal Paternalistic Decisions for the Comate and Dying Aged: A Neo-Vedantic Perspective - K J George Dying with Dignity - Chandralekha Duttagupta Culture Specific and Culture Sensitive End-of-Life Care: A Case Study Based on Kashi Labh Mukti Bhawan, Benaras - Umesh K Singh Index

Gesture-Based Affective and Cognitive States Recognition Using Kinect for Effective Feedback during e-Learning

With the growth of online education, there have been many attempts by educators to identify the learners emotions and attention so as to improve feedback during the learning process. Such systems have mostly used the learners interaction with the system, audio and video monitoring, and profiling to identify the users empathic state and provide feedback accordingly. Facial expressions, eye tracking as well as eye PERCLOS have been used to identify both alertness and emotions. However, identification of cognitive as well as affective states using gestures is a relatively neglected area, though in the field of gaming and pedagogy, gesture recognition is an important area of research for interaction with computers. In this paper, we report a work in progress where we have been able to determine some of the users empathic states through her gestures using Kinect, and have proposed to create an accurate system for cognitive state and affective gesture recognition by first developing a database of gestures signifying users emotional and affect states related to e-learning context, and then by calibrating the system for accurate detection of emotions and allied states through gestures. This can be used independently or with other multimedia inputs for accurate feedback in e-learning environments.

Audience Response to Gender Role Portrayals in Indian Advertisements

The study examines audiences’ reactions to Indian print advertisements portraying male and female models in traditional, neutral and non-traditional roles on dimensions of attractiveness, meaningfulness and vitality. The audience comprised of 100 male and 100 female students. They evaluated five categories of role portrayals—traditional male, traditional female, neutral, non-traditional male and non-traditional female portrayals—with each category represented by 10 advertisements. Results reveal that irrespective of gender of respondents neutral portrayals are perceived as most attractive, meaningful and vital. While male respondents rate traditional portrayals as most attractive, meaningful and vital, female respondents favour neutral portrayals on the above dimensions. Non-traditional male role portrayals are perceived as least attractive, meaningful and vital by both men and women. Findings support that the transition from traditional gender role attitudes has been more prominent in case of female than in case of male respondents. Differential responses to male and female role portrayals are also observed.

Voice Cues, Keyboard Entry and Mouse Click for Detection of Affective and Cognitive States: A Case for Use in Technology-Based Pedagogy

While significant work is being done in order to develop empathic agents which can identify emotions of the user through eye gaze and facial expressions, a neglected area, especially in the pedagogical context, is the use of voice for detection of alertness, fatigue and emotions. Some of the issues are lack of constant monitoring and visual feedback. However, such a system has advantages - the ability to work where visual monitoring is expensive, in darkness or where mobile devices cannot provide adequate visual feedback. We propose a model for a system capable of identifying emotions as well as alertness and fatigue based entirely on voice interaction, keyboard and mouse clicks, we also propose to develop an engine which can intelligently improve its prediction of emotions and cognitive states based on earlier interaction, and suggest appropriate measures to improve emotions, reduce distractions and mitigate fatigue.

The ‘Verticals’, ‘Horizontals’, and ‘Diagonals’ in Organisational Communication: Developing Models to Mitigate Communication Barriers Through Social Media Applications

India’s workplace culture is distinctively multilingual and multi-dialectical, where English is often considered as the lingua franca. On many occasions, the choice of one official workplace language can automatically advantage or disadvantage different members of an organisation based on their competency and confidence with it. It can also impact their interpersonal relations, one of the markers of communication, between employees, who are the social capital for an organisation, and function through social groupings. This paper aims at proposing models for overcoming the communication barriers which have a three-tier structure—vertical, horizontal and diagonal—by engaging, motivating, exploring and broadening perspectives of the organisational workforce. It will include scope to build intrapersonal, interpersonal, leadership, persuasiveness, decision-making, problem-solving, and leadership skills. This can mitigate performance anxiety and boost the morale of the workforce which can ensure effective time-use and enhance productivity. The paper will examine, analyse, and propose a model for soft skills development within the framework of a three-tier communication structure for the millennials who constitute the soul of an organisational culture. An attempt will be made through the medium of social media applications like, WhatsApp, Twitter, and LinkedIn to promote, process and shape communication strategies for the workforce to make the workplace communication professionally communicative and competent.

Social Media Advertisement Outreach: Learning the Role of Aesthetics

Corporations spend millions of dollars on developing creative image based promotional content to advertise to their user-base on platforms like Twitter. Our paper is an initial study, where we propose a novel method to evaluate and improve outreach of promotional images from corporations on Twitter, based purely on their describable aesthetic attributes. Existing works in aesthetic based image analysis exclusively focus on the attributes of digital photographs, and are not applicable to advertisements due to the influences of inherent content and context based biases on outreach. Our paper identifies broad categories of biases affecting such images, describes a method for normalizing outreach scores to eliminate effects of those biases, which enables us to subsequently examine the effects of certain handcrafted describable aesthetic features on image outreach. Optimizing on the features resulting from this research is a simple method for corporations to complement their existing marketing strategy to gain significant improvement in user engagement on social media for promotional images.

The ‘Aesthetic in Everyday Life’: An Exploration Through the Buddhist Concept of Vikalpa

The ‘aesthetic in everyday life’ is about finding beauty and appreciation in things and experiences of day-to-day life. Can everyday objects be considered aesthetic objects? Can experiences related to everyday life be intrinsically aesthetic in nature? How is everyday aesthetics similar to and different from mainstream aesthetics? Contemporary explorations of the ‘aesthetics of everyday life’ (also known as ‘everyday aesthetics’) raise these fundamental questions. This chapter looks at such questions from a slightly different perspective by using the Buddhist concept of vikalpa (mental constructs) and by positing the notion of an ‘in-between space’ between living (the flow of life) and freezing (art/aesthetics). It then examines the nature of this ‘in-between space’ in relation to art and living. In doing so, it wishes to suggest that even ‘everyday aesthetics’ involves a certain amount of freezing whereas the ‘aesthetic in everyday life,’ as an integral part of the flow of living, defies rigid articulations.

A multimodal discourse analysis of glocalization and cultural identity in three Indian TV commercials

Improvising selected tools from Kress and Van Leeuwen’s inter-semiosis framework, this study explores how, between global and local, TV commercials in India often reframe a cultural third space producing new discursive forms and identities. Three commercials from the food and beverage category are selected on the basis of the country of origin of the endorsing company and the patterns of glocalization. Multimodal discourse analysis reveals that the commercials construct the glocal identity in several ways. In the Knorr Soups commercial, the melody of the title song is contemporary pop, whereas the delivery style and crooning are distinctively Western. The language is predominantly Hindi with deft use of selected English words. The Funda Mint commercial casts a rebel voice-support executive who rejects the pseudo-glocal identity and asserts his true identity. In the Cadbury Bournvita Folk commercial, the two boys represent the global and the local in the realm of creativity. The study advances the knowledge of product positioning and brand identity involving the intersemiosis of discursive elements from different cultural spaces within the contemporary Indian consumerist culture.

Relation of Modal Preference with Performance in Adaptive Hypermedia Context: An Exploration Using Visual, Verbal and Multimedia Learning Modules

Learning styles theories suggest that people learn differently, an important consideration for adaptive hypermedia learning platforms. Since on such platforms, mode of delivery of course material - visual, verbal or multimedia - plays an important role, this study considers learning styles in the context of adaptive hypermedia with the aim to identify if providing material according to ones learning style enhances performance. While some studies report positive results, others find no correlation between the two. Here, we examine the efficacy of learning styles, especially the visual-verbal dimension of Felder-Silverman model, in a controlled e-learning environment by testing the effectiveness of visual, verbal as well as multimedia modules for history and engineering on 268 engineering undergraduates identified on the basis of visual, verbal and mixed orientations. Contrary to expectations, results indicated no relation between learning styles and performance in modules based on different sensory preferences. However, students did show discipline-based better performance in multimedia and visual modes than in verbal mode. They also preferred multimedia and visual modes over verbal. This corroborates earlier findings - the efficacy of learning styles remains unconfirmed.