Intersectionality and mediated cultural production in a globalized post-colonial world

Abstract

This paper aims to demonstrate how intersectionality provides an important conceptual tool to analyse practices of cultural production in ethnic minority media. In the context of the digital age, media are increasingly central as systems of representation of identity, culture and community. However, research examining how ethnic minority media become engaged in struggles of power is rare. Few works have paid attention to the ways in which race and gender operate in tandem to produce and maintain the unequal distribution of power in the mediascape of countries of post-colonial immigration. This paper juxtaposes gender studies and ethnic studies in order to analyse the representation of gender in ethnic media, with a particular focus on journalistic practices.     

Selling with the san: Representations of bushman people and artefacts in South African print advertisements

This paper examines the use of visual images of the Bushman peoples (San) and their cultural objects in contemporary South African advertising. As an image is a site of meaning, the relationship between the people represented in the advertisement and the culture for which the advertisement is produced demonstrates strategies of subjection and power. Within the context of the advertisement, I explore the extent to which San people are appropriated by the consumer society and their ritual objects reduced or altered to a Western aesthetic dimension. The contexts and ideas of the producing society determine production of the visual object.

The relationship between the San “artefact” and the advertisement as a work of “art” reflects a dimension of South African social and political processes. Representations of the two juxtaposed societies suggest that the value systems and cultural attitudes of the dominant group present contested domains which are explored. Bushmen represent a malleable signifier which is used to promote an apparently/ ostensibly applied vision of an emerging non‐racial country.     

Image quality assessment with dose reduction using high kVp and additional filtration for abdominal digital radiography

PurposeDose reduction using additional filters with high kilovoltage peak (kVp) for abdominal digital radiography has received much attention recently. We evaluated image quality with dose reduction in abdominal digital radiography by using high kVp and additional copper filters at a tertiary hospital.MethodsBetween June 2016 and July 2016, 82 patients underwent abdominal digital radiography using 80 kVp in X-ray room 1 and 82 were imaged using 92 kVp with 0.1-mm copper filtration in X-ray room 2. The effective dose was calculated using a PC-based Monte Carlo program. Image quality of the abdominal radiography acquired in the two rooms was evaluated using a five-point ordinal scale, as well as the signal-to-noise and contrast-to-noise ratios.ResultsThe mean effective dose decreased by 25.8% and 25.7% for the supine and standing positions, respectively, when abdominal digital radiography using 92 kVp with 0.1-mm copper filtration was performed. In the 20 patients who performed abdominal digital radiography twice in each room, visual grading scores for visualisation of psoas outlines and kidney outlines are higher in room 1. However, there was no statistical significant difference of visual grading scores among the 124 patients who underwent only one abdominal radiography in the room 1 or 2 (P > 0.05).ConclusionsDose reduction for abdominal digital radiography can be achieved with comparable image quality by performing abdominal digital radiography using 92 kVp with 0.1-mm copper filtration, despite the higher AEC dose.     

Digitized photographs in vegetation analysis ‐ a comparison of cover estimates

Abstract. The use of digital images in measuring plant species cover and species number in boreal forest vegetation was studied. Plant cover was estimated by manual delineation on photographs and subsequent digitized measurement of the areas. This value was regarded as the reference and compared with cover obtained by visual estimate, point frequency and automatic image analysis methods. The automatic image analysis was based on scanned photographs. Supervised image classification with ERDAS software was then used to distinguish between the covers of different plant species. When comparing the ability of the methods to detect species, the visual estimate method gave values similar to the reference. The study material was collected from three sites along a heavy‐metal pollution transect in western Finland. All four methods detected, in a similar manner, differences between the plant species abundances along the transect. Compared with the reference, the digital images underestimated the cover of the lichens Cladina spp. and Cetraria islandica, but gave similar estimates for the dwarf shrubs Empetrum nigrum and Vaccinium vitis‐idaea. The point frequency method overestimated the cover of all the species studied. The visual estimates of lichens were close to the reference, while the dwarf shrub covers were overestimated. The number of species detected using supervised image analysis and the point frequency method was lower than that with visual estimation. Visual estimation was faster, and the estimate closer to the reference cover values than the others. Digital images may be useful in detecting changes in some selected species in vegetation with a simple vertical structure but with taller, multilayered vegetation and a higher species number, the reliability of the cover estimates is lower.     

Using digital image analysis to quantify the architectural parameters of roots grown in thin rhizotrons

Abstract

Roots grown in small chambers or rhizotrons combined with image analysis could be effective for screening traits of root morphology and architecture prior to field experimentation. The objective of this study was to evaluate and compare digital images of root systems with conventional root scans (RSCN) for several sorghum varieties grown in rhizotrons. Plants were grown in duplicate in slim (1.5‐cm thick) rhizotrons angled 15° to the vertical, filled with sandy topsoil and subsoil at field capacity (FC) or 50% available water content (AWC) in a split‐plot design in a glasshouse (16/24°C). Root growth visible on the glass surface was recorded weekly, and roots were washed out 42 and 90 days after sowing for digital imaging of the root systems on pin boards (PBI). The roots were then sub‐sampled to quantify the baseline root parameters from digital RSCN using WinRhizo® software with a flat‐bed scanner. Rhizotron images revealed little of the root system (1–2%) but PBI “recovered” up to 70% of the total root length (TRL) measured by RSCN. A high a priori image contrast, increased image resolution (9.1–12 megapixels) and optimized contrast threshold between roots and background were the key parameters in quantifying the roots from digital images. PBI revealed significant differences in rooting patterns, especially distribution of root length density (RLD) in the profile, which is useful for selecting varieties with improved resource capture. However, the root diameters estimated in the PBI were significantly larger than those measured by RSCN due to lack of contrast, root clustering and overlay.     

Textualizing the san “past”: Dancing with development

The anthropology of conservation and the way that visual media, especially documentary film, contribute to mythical Tourist perceptions of the San, are discussed in relation to categories of conservancy, living museums, cultural ecology and the marketing of ecological legitimacy. The central metaphor of dance as a mythical tourist image of Africa is the vehicle through which the analysis is undertaken.     

Optimization of the exposure parameters in digital mammography using contrast-detail metrics

PurposeOptimization studies in digital mammography aid to assure the image quality and radiological protection of the patient. The aim of this work is to test effectiveness and applicability of a method based on a Figure of Merit (FOM = (IQF_inv)²/AGD) to improve all the exposure parameters (Target/Filter combination, kVp and mAs) in order to improve the image acquisition technique that will provide the best compromise between image quality and the average glandular dose (AGD).MethodsA contrast-detail analysis, employing the test object CDMAM, was carried out for the digital mammography unit manufactured by Lorad Hologic – model Selenia. We simulated two breast thicknesses using phantoms and a Figure of Merit as optimization tool, which includes an indicator of image quality, the IQF_inv and the average glandular dose. Images of the ACR and TORMAM phantoms were obtained with both, automatic and optimized exposure parameters. In order to compare the image quality, the SNR (Signal to Noise Ratio) was measured in each image.ResultsIn the two phantoms, for both 4.5 and 7.5 cm thicknesses, the AGDs obtained with the optimized parameters show a reduction. In addition, the images obtained with the optimized exposure parameters, had the same or a better image quality when compared to the images obtained using the automatic mode.ConclusionsThe proposed optimization methodology proved to be an effective tool to improve the digital mammography unit, due to the use of objective metrics for evaluation and validation of the results.     

Perspectives of data analysis of enzyme inhibition and activation,Part 1: Use of the three‐dimensional Km′ V′I coordinate system for data analysis of enzyme inhibition and activation

The possibility of construction of the three‐dimensional (unfolded and folded) K_m′ V′I rectangular coordinate systems convenient for vector representation of inhibited and activated enzymatic reactions as well as of a two‐dimensional K_m′ V′ scalar rectangular coordinate system convenient for diagrammatic representation of enzymatic reactions is considered. The perspectives of using the properties of the three‐dimensional L vectors and their scalar L projections for data analysis of enzyme inhibition and activation are analyzed. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biochem Mol Toxicol 23:97–100, 2009; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/jbt.20273     

Palestinians in film: Representing and being represented in the cinematic struggle for national identity

The Israeli‐Palestinian conflict has frequently been the focus of Western‐produced documentary films, which seek to explain the core of the problem. Claims to a truthful representation of reality have traditionally been linked to a parallel assumption of ethnographic authority over Palestinians who, unlike Israelis, had until recently little access to filmic means of representation. Through a number of documentaries, produced by both Palestinians and non‐Palestinians, the paper analyzes the crucial impact of the Intifadah on the development of local media in the Occupied Territories. The paper argues that by taking up film and ethnographic techniques as they had been developed in the West, documentaries produced by Palestinians have successfully generated alternative views of the conflict.     

Physiological mechanisms in the control of bioluminescent countershading in a midwater shrimp

In the oceanic midwater environment, most animals have evolved an extraordinary anti‐predation behavior using bioluminescent countershading (counterillumination) to help them remain cryptic to visual predators. For the midwater penaeid shrimp, Sergestes similis, the interaction of both hormonal and neural systems may be involved in the control of counterillumination. S. similis responds to downward‐directed illumination, detected by the eyes, with light emission from five hepatic light organs. Dark‐adapted specimens undergo a slow induction process prior to production of the conventional counterillumination response. The induction of bio‐luminescence may involve a hormonal pathway mediated by the light‐adapting retinal distal pigment dispersing hormone. Once induced, the rapid control of counterillumination may involve a neural pathway. Because counterilluminating animals directly respond to their optical environment, an understanding of the control of bioluminescence provides an insight into the poorly understood visual processing capabilities of deep‐sea animals.     

Automated Detection of B Cell and T Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia Using Deep Learning

PurposeLeukaemia is diagnosed conventionally by observing the peripheral blood and bone marrow smear using a microscope and with the help of advanced laboratory tests. Image processing-based methods, which are simple, fast, and cheap, can be used to detect and classify leukemic cells by processing and analysing images of microscopic smear. The proposed study aims to classify Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia (ALL) by Deep Learning (DL) based techniques.ProceduresThe study used Deep Convolutional Neural Networks (DNNs) to classify ALL according to WHO classification scheme without using any image segmentation and feature extraction that involves intense computations. Images from an online image bank of American Society of Haematology (ASH) were used for the classification.FindingsA classification accuracy of 94.12% is achieved by the study in isolating the B-cell and T-cell ALL images using a pretrained CNN AlexNet as well as LeukNet, a custom-made deep learning network designed by the proposed work. The study also compared the classification performances using three different training algorithms.ConclusionsThe paper detailed the use of DNNs to classify ALL, without using any image segmentation and feature extraction techniques. Classification of ALL into subtypes according to the WHO classification scheme using image processing techniques is not available in literature to the best of the knowledge of the authors. The present study considered the classification of ALL only, and detection of other types of leukemic images can be attempted in future research.     

Visual anthropology in a world of images

Culturally meaningfull icons are, under different forms and with different users and uses, at the forefront of social debates and confrontations everywhere, now more than ever. The scope of visual anthropology broadens with the expansion of restricted codes of visual communication in metropolitan areas, with the changing of meanings attributed to historical icons, with the invention of new intercultural visual codes. In this paper, the author advocates the study of what he calls a “cultural iconology” and offers a couple of examples of visually meaningful cultural forms worthy of anthropological analysis.     

实时三维超声输卵管造影与X线造影诊断不孕症患者输卵管病变的价值比较

目的:比较实时三维超声输卵管造影与X线造影检查诊断女性不孕症患者输卵管病变的临床应用价值。方法:选择2014年3月至2016年12月我院诊治的不孕症患者60例作为研究对象,所有患者都于月经干净后3-7 d同时随机实施实时三维超声输卵管造影与X线造影检查,观察并记录造影图像质量与诊断结果,比较两种方法的诊断效果。结果:实时三维超声输卵管造影与X线造影的图像质量优良率分别为98.3%和86.7%,实时三维超声输卵管造影的图像质量明显高于X线造影(P0.05)。实时三维超声输卵管造影与X线造影诊断不孕症患者输卵管不通畅率分别为56.7%和46.7%,实时三维超声输卵管造影组显著高于X线造影组(P0.05)。输卵管通畅性评价金标准腹腔镜下通液术诊断发现输卵管不通畅35例,在此基础上实时三维超声输卵管造影与X线造影检查不孕症的敏感性分别为97.1%和80.0%,特异性均为100.0%,超声诊断的敏感性明显高于X线(P0.05)。结论:相对于X线造影,实时三维超声输卵管造影检查不孕症患者输卵管病变的图像质量更好,有利于疾病的判断,对输卵管通畅度判断更精确,利于后期治疗及疾病预防,还可提高诊断敏感性。     

Slam-Dunking and the Last Noble Savage

Prior to the 1970s few Westerners came into contact with the cattle and camel-herding pastoralists living in the then-closed Northern Frontier District of Kenya. The Maa-speaking Samburu were known to their allies and rivals, the Rendille, Turkana, Borana and Pokot, and by a few district administrators. Their recent representation in feature films and some of the ways the Samburu have learned through this experience to trade on their own objectification form two aspects of a complex story which are explored in this article. In addition Samburu perceptions of the films and their making were markedly different from those of the filmmakers. These contrasts in interpretation will be examined for what they reveal about cultural identity and its volatility.     

The Potential Use of Mechanism-Based Enzyme Inactivators in Medicine

Abstract

A new three dimensional representation of enzyme inhibition, applied to Lineweaver-Burk, Hanes and Eadie-Hofstee plots is presented. This type of representation has advantages for enzyme inhibition diagnosis, showing graphic characteristics that pass unnoticed in linear plots.     

An Efficient Object Tracking Method on Quad-/Oc-Trees

We introduce a fast error-free tracking method applicable to sequences of two and three dimensional images. The core idea is to use Quadtree (resp. Octree) data structures for representing the spatial discretization of an image in two (resp. three) spatial dimensions. This representation enables one to merge into large computational cells the regions that can be faithfully described with such a coarse representation, thus significantly reducing the total number of degrees of freedom that are processed, without compromising accuracy. This encoding is particularly effective in the case of algorithms based on moving fronts, since the adaptive refinement provides a natural means to focus the processing resources on information near the moving front. In this paper, we use an existing contour based tracker and reformulate it to the case of Quad-/Oc-tree data structures. Relevant mathematical assumptions and derivations are presented for this purpose. We then demonstrate that, on standard bio-medical image sequences, a speed up of 5X is easily achieved in 2D and about 10X in 3D.     

Mapping the floristic continuum: Ordination space position estimated from imaging spectroscopy

Objective: To present a non‐classificatory technique of map representation of compositional patterns of vegetation as no two plant species assemblages are completely alike and gradations often occur. Variation is depicted as continuous fields instead of classes. Location: Murnauer Moos, Bavaria. Methods: The study combined vegetation ecology and remote sensing methods. The gradual representation of compositional patterns was based on techniques of ordination and regression, instead of mapping class fractions. The floristic field data were collected in relevés and subjected to three‐dimensional non‐metric multidimensional scaling (NMS). The reflectance information corresponding to plots was gathered from remotely sensed imagery with a high spectral resolution. Reflectance values in numerous wavelengths were related to NMS axes scores by partial least squares regression analysis. The regression equations were applied to the imagery and yielded three grey‐scale images, one for each ordination axis. These three images were transformed into a red, green, and blue colour map with a specific colour for each position in the ordination space. Similar colours corresponded to similar species compositions. Results: Compositional variation was mapped accurately (R²= 0.79), using continuous fields. The results took account of various types of stand transitions and of heterogeneities within stands. The map representation featured relatively homogeneous stands and abrupt transitions between stands as well as within‐stand heterogeneity and gradual transitions. Conclusions: The use of NMS in combination with imaging spectroscopy proved to be an expedient approach for non‐classificatory map representations of compositional patterns. Ordination is efficiently extended into the geographic domain. The approach in abandoning pre‐defined plant communities is able to reconcile mapping practice and complex reality.     

Using digital images to reconstruct three‐dimensional biological forms: a new tool for morphological studies

We examined two image‐based methods, photogrammetry and stereo vision, used for reconstructing the three‐dimensional form of biological organisms under field conditions. We also developed and tested a third ‘hybrid’ method, which combines the other two techniques. We tested these three methodologies using two different cameras to obtain digital images of museum and field sampled specimens of giant tortoises. Both the precision and repeatability of the methods were assessed statistically on the same specimens by comparing geodesic and Euclidean measurements made on the digital models with linear measurements obtained with caliper and flexible tape. We found no substantial difference between the three methods in measuring the Euclidean distance between landmarks, but spatially denser models (stereo vision and ‘hybrid’) were more accurate for geodesic distances. The use of different digital cameras did not influence the results. Image‐based methods require only inexpensive instruments and appropriate software, and allow reconstruction of the three‐dimensional forms (including their curved surfaces) of organisms sampled in the field. © 2008 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2008, 95 , 425–436.     

Can digital image classification be used as a standardised method for surveying peatland vegetation cover?

The ability to carry out systematic, accurate and repeatable vegetation surveys is an essential part of long-term scientific studies into ecosystem biodiversity and functioning. However, current widely used traditional survey techniques such as destructive harvests, pin frame quadrats and visual cover estimates can be very time consuming and are prone to subjective variations. We investigated the use of digital image techniques as an alternative way of recording vegetation cover to plant functional type level on a peatland ecosystem. Using an established plant manipulation experimental site at Moor House NNR (an Environmental Change Network site), we compared visual cover estimates of peatland vegetation with cover estimates using digital image classification methods, from 0.5 m × 0.5 m field plots. Our results show that digital image classification of photographs taken with a standard digital camera can be used successfully to estimate dwarf-shrub and graminoid vegetation cover at a comparable level to field visual cover estimates, although the methods were less effective for lower plants such as mosses and lichens. Our study illustrates the novel application of digital image techniques to provide a new way of measuring and monitoring peatland vegetation to the plant functional group level, which is less vulnerable to surveyor bias than are visual field surveys. Furthermore, as such digital techniques are highly repeatable, we suggest that they have potential for use in long-term monitoring studies, at both plot and landscape scales.     

Registration and functional analysis of CT dynamic image sequences for the follow-up of patients with hepatic tumors undergoing antiangiogenic therapy

ObjectiveA new approach for evaluating tumor response to antiangiogenic treatment using dynamic contrast-enhanced perfusion computed tomography (CT) was provided.Patients and methodsFive patients, with hepatic tumors, were examined before and a few weeks after therapy. Following injection of a contrast agent, dynamic image acquisitions were obtained during two minutes, with eight axial sections by volume. To analyze these functional data, we proposed an image processing pipeline. We first applied a rigid registration, based on a blockmatching method, to correct for respiratory motion. We then calculated parametric image volumes, using adapted reference kinetics. These image volumes allowed us to differentiate between the various contrast enhancement kinetics (arterial/venous, healthy/pathological tissues), following the injection of contrast agent.ResultsThe registration was validated qualitatively (by visual inspection of registered image volumes) and quantitatively (using criteria based on the estimation of a respiratory motion component). Parametric image volumes allowed us to differentiate healthy tissues from tumor tissues, and to display necrotic regions, which occurred in four patients, after therapy.DiscussionThe proposed approach allows us to compensate for respiratory motion in a region localized around the tumor and could be further extended by a nonrigid registration.ConclusionThe robust computation of parametric image volumes enables a local and precise display of the tumor response to an antiangiogenic therapy.