The Recognition of the Faces Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The Recognition of the Faces - Article Example However, whether skin color is the major contributor for the ORE has not yet been experimentally determined. In this article, the skin color of African and Caucasian faces was manipulated without changing the facial features and face-recognition task was employed to determine whether own-race and other-race recognition depended on skin color or facial features. The research design involved the identification of a set of faces in the initial task and these faces where then manipulated and in the test phase the participants were presented with both the old and new faces and were required to press a key to identify an old and the new face. Recognition of the faces presented constitutes the dependent variable of the study while skin color and facial features are the independent variables. 48 Caucasian students participated in the task and in the initial task they were shown 16 faces in random order. This was followed by the test phase in which the 16 old faces and the 16 new faces were shown again in random order. The total faces presented were 64 chromatic pictures with 16 original African and 16 original Caucasian faces and 16 whitened African and 16 blackened Caucasian faces. All of the faces were obtained from the Tel Aviv face database with females constituting about half of the faces in each category. All the external features of the face s were cropped and the skin color conversion was carried out by extracting the red-green-blue values (RGB) taken from 16 coordinates on each face that was to be converted and they were matched at the same coordinates of the other-race face. This was followed by filtering and color-curve adjustment to complete the color conversion and all the procedures were carried out through Adobe Photoshop CS2 software. The four versions created were presented to each participant only once in the initial study and test phase of the task and each face was shown as either old or new.

Energy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Energy - Essay Example Fossil fuels are an example of nom-renewable sources of energy. Energy can be changed from one form to another. This is upheld by the first law of thermodynamics which puts forward the fact that â€Å"energy cannot be created nor destroyed, only converted from one form to another.† Different examples can be used to support this statement. Natural gas which is a form of energy is changed into heat and light upon burning. The burning of coal can be used for the production of light and heat. Visible light from the Sun can be changed into heat and electrical energy. The energy from wind can also be changed into electrical energy. These examples uphold the fact that energy conversion from one form to another takes place (Chrias 2006; Miller et al 2008). Fossil fuels are energy sources which are recovered from beneath the ground. They are basically hydrocarbons which are also referred to as mineral fuels. Coal, oil and natural gas are fossil fuels. These fossil fuels are formed by t he decomposition of plants and animals which become buried inside the earth. This process has been estimated to take around millions of years. The decomposed material is exposed to the heat and the pressure from the earth’s crust owing to which it undergoes many changes and eventually results in the formation of fossil fuels. Fossil fuels have become an essential source of energy in today’s world. ... They can be used as fuels for driving machineries. These benefits serve to provide for the attractions of fossil fuels (Miller et al 2008; Science Daily). Different alternatives to fossil fuels have been searched upon owing to the fact that the reserves of fossil fuels are starting to deplete. Nuclear power is an alternative source of energy. It can be used for the generation of heat, electricity as well as for making weapons. The advantage of nuclear power includes the fact that it can used for energy generation. It can also assist in preventing the quick depletion of the fossil fuels. It proves to be economically beneficial as well owing to the fact that it serves to create competition for other energy producers. This results in providing for a lower energy buying cost for consumers. Nuclear energy does not result in the release of greenhouse gases and thus it does not contribute to global warming as do fossil fuels. But this form of energy has its own disadvantages. The expenses r equired for the building of nuclear power plants are very high and therefore, it is an expensive form of energy. Nuclear energy can be used for building nuclear weapons which can prove to be very harmful for human beings. The waste of nuclear power plants is toxic and radioactive and there are no proper sites for disposing this harmful material. Furthermore, accidents in nuclear power plants can prove to be very harmful as they can create much havoc and destruction (In Foreman et al 1970; Miller et al 2011). Wind energy is another alternate source of energy to fossil fuels. Wind energy can be used for the generation of electricity. Wind turbines are built which utilize