The capability to perform facial analysis from video sequences has significant potential to positively impact in many areas of life. One such area relates to the medical domain to specifically aid in the diagnosis and rehabilitation of patients with facial palsy. With this application in mind, this paper presents an end-to-end framework, named 3DPalsyNet, for the tasks of mouth motion recognition and facial palsy grading. 3DPalsyNet utilizes a 3D CNN architecture with a ResNet backbone for the prediction of these dynamic tasks. Leveraging transfer learning from a 3D CNNs pre-trained on the Kinetics data set for general action recognition, the model is modified to apply joint supervised learning using center and softmax loss concepts. 3DPalsyNet is evaluated on a test set consisting of individuals with varying ranges of facial palsy and mouth motions and the results have shown an attractive level of classification accuracy in these tasks of 82% and 86% respectively. The frame duration and the loss function affect was studied in terms of the predictive qualities of the proposed 3DPalsyNet, where it was found shorter frame duration's of 8 performed best for this specific task. Centre loss and softmax have shown improvements in spatio-temporal feature learning than softmax loss alone, this is in agreement with earlier work involving the spatial domain.

Abstract-An advance in technology unlocks new opportunities for organizations to increase their productivity, efficiency and process automation while reducing the cost of doing business as well. The emergence of cloud computing addresses these prospects through the provision of agile systems that are scalable, flexible and reliable as well as cost effective. Cloud computing has made hosting and deployment of computing resources cheaper and easier with no up-front charges but pay per-use flexible payment methods. However, there is lack of tools to aid decision makers in evaluating the much promised benefits of cloud computing particularly its cost benefit. To fill this gap in tools for evaluating the cost benefit of cloud services as an alternative to on premise computing, a cost modelling system for cloud computing (CCMS) is proposed. A prototype model was developed to simulate the cost incurred on maintaining an on premise IT infrastructure under various usage patterns with the purpose of determining the cost benefit of cloud alternatives. CCMS assists decision makers with insights on cost savings of adopting cloud alternatives and also demonstrate how the utilization capacity and cost of acquisition of an infrastructure can influence the cost savings from cloud alternatives.

Email communication is a type of virtual communication with specific characteristics:-it is a form of written communication; it is asynchronous, i.e. not occurring at the same time for the sender and recipients. Email does not include face to face communication and thus the capacity to develop a sense of connection, shared knowledge and trust are distorted due to the lack of interpersonal cues and may become a problem. Communication is a process where one mind affects another, and it is through the process of communication that individuals develop shared perceptions and coordinate their behaviours. This implies creating social worlds rather than disseminating information between people. The fact that communication is not a mere means of disseminating information but also a means of developing social entities for co-creation of understanding requires that individuals approach communication with a sense of awareness of themselves and others. Proposed solutions: In this article the theory of Mindsight is proposed as an approach of mindful observation of the act of communication resulting in deeper awareness, reflection and potential impact on behaviour. Although Mindsight has been extensively used in addressing self-awareness and communication in real spaces, there is a gap in the existing relevant literature about the application of Mindsight in virtual/email communication. Methods: A Mindsight Utility for Virtual Communication (MUVC) was developed for use in engaging with email. The MUVC is a set of exercises enabling users to identify and manage their email habits over a period of time. The utility was developed to engage users in experiencing self-awareness and awareness of others and provides an aid to formulate personal guidelines in email communication. It was implemented with nineteen participants as part of action research allowing each individual to develop their own guidelines grounded in the experience of using the observation practice. Data: Qualitative data was collected in the form of diaries for a period of 6 days from two group of participants:-university students;-employees of a social enterprise. Ethics approval was granted from Northumbria University prior to data collection. Thematic analysis was used. Results: The study uncovered potential problems and solution strategies, inhibitors and facilitators of communication. Problems with email were perceived as: not knowing one another, difficulties in connecting, lack of trust, lack of interpersonal clues, reduction in communication quality, emotional and psychological discomfort. Solution strategies included: open-mindedness, empathy, compassion, attention focus, clear language, awareness practice, addressing physical and emotional discomfort.

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