Pictorial Analysis Research Articles

The Codex Mexicanus: A Guide to Life in Late Sixteenth-Century New Spain

The Codex Mexicanus, a Nahua pictorial text from Mexico City produced in the 1570s and 1580s, has not received the kind of scholarly attention that other pictorials from central Mexico have. Lori Diel has finally given this document the attention it deserves and, in the process, added to our understanding of late sixteenth-century life for Nahuas in the viceregal capital. Her careful pictorial analysis should not be ignored by historians, who will find in this book a nuanced study of how Nahuas took a variety of information—calendrical, medicinal, historical—brought over from Europe, incorporated it into existing native systems of knowledge, and adapted it to their own purposes.Most of the pictorial content of the Codex Mexicanus was, according to Diel, painted all at once in 1578–79 by a group of painters working in San Pablo Teopan, in Mexico City. But there are many later additions. Nahuatl glosses were added in places, as were some supplementary Nahuatl texts. Later still, texts in Spanish and French were added. Work on the Codex Mexicanus appears to have stopped in 1583. The text is similar in function to certain coeval Spanish books called repertorios de los tiempos, which grew out of the medieval almanac tradition in Spain. These repertorios collected a variety of seemingly unrelated information—saints' calendars, astrology, and medicine, for example—that was all nonetheless connected to the theme of time.The Codex Mexicanus, too, has often been seen by scholars as a collection of seemingly unrelated information and, therefore, has been studied only piecemeal. But Diel looks at the codex as a complete work, letting the connection to the repertorios guide the organization of her book. Diel has divided her study into four thematic discussions, following the topics covered by the manuscript. In each of them, Diel marshals her impressive knowledge of myriad pictorial and alphabetic texts from the early colonial period to provide the definitive reading of the Codex Mexicanus's pictorial contents. Following an introductory chapter, chapter 2, which is devoted to time and religion, explores the calendrical portions of the manuscript. These include a perpetual calendar that correlates Christian holy days with pre-Hispanic festivals, two calendar wheels, and a tonalpohualli (pre-Hispanic sacred year) organized into trecenas. In chapter 3, devoted to astrology and medicine, Diel examines the parts of the Codex Mexicanus that explore connections between the stars and human health. Diel notes that the astrological information all comes from Europe; indigenous astrology is not included here. Diel suggests that the native authors may have been particularly interested in European astrology and medicine because foreign diseases were ravaging indigenous communities at precisely the same time that the codex was created.Chapters 4 and 5 deal with the historical texts contained in the Codex Mexicanus. Chapter 4 examines the codex's two-page genealogy of the Mexica ruling line. Diel concludes that this genealogy, far from a neutral depiction of past rulers, is in fact a carefully constructed narrative of unbroken Mexica imperial authority, its divine origins and unblemished nature. Chapter 5 treats the part of the Codex Mexicanus to which its native authors devoted the most space: a pictorial history of the Mexica. This history is structured as a precontact-style continuous year-count annals, or xiuhpohualli, in which each year is represented as a year glyph contained within a cartouche and historical events and information for the year are attached to or located in close proximity to the glyph. The Codex Mexicanus's year count begins with the year 1 Flint (1168 CE) and ends with 7 Rabbit (1590 CE). While most of this annals history deals with the pre-Hispanic past, Diel is careful to remind her readers that this is nonetheless a colonial document and must be interpreted as such. Its authors, she notes, “reconceptualized the historical past in order to make sense of how this past prepared them to live as Nahua Christians in late sixteenth-century New Spain” (p. 137). This reconciliation of a pagan past with a Christian present is, of course, not unique to Latin America, and Diel highlights the parallels between the Codex Mexicanus's attempts at reconciliation and early Christian texts from Europe, particularly Augustine's City of God, a work that wrestles with late antique Christianity's relationship with the pagan past of Rome.This work is yet more evidence that art historians are in the vanguard of colonial native history. Diel's study of the Codex Mexicanus is invaluable not just for its masterful reading of the codex's pictorial content but also for its contribution to our understanding of early colonial Nahuas. By placing the codex firmly in its colonial context, Diel adds fascinating detail to the ways in which Nahuas negotiated both native and European systems of knowledge—knowledge of time, of medicine, of the stars, of the past—to create a text that contained information useful in their own late sixteenth-century lives.

The semiotics of visual perception and the autonomy of pictorial text: Toward a semiotic pedagogy of the image

How does a picture teach a viewer to look at it, understand it, and make meaning? (The theoretical basis of this article and elements of its expression have been drawn from Peter Pericles Trifonas. (1998). “Cross-mediality and narrative textual form: A semiotic snalysis of the lexical and visual signs and codes of the picture bnook.” Semiotica, 118 (1/2): 1–70 and Peter Pericles Trifonas. (2015). “Texts and images.” In International handbook of semiotics, Vols. 1&2, edited by Peter Pericles Trifonas. The Netherlands: Springer. Pp. 1139–1154.) The suggestion for a pictorial grammar has been derived from the fact that pictures have no unique visual metalanguage and therefore require recourse to language as an instrument for pictorial analysis. The lexical-visual relationship in a text is more complex than is suggested in the question. Proponents for the semiotic autonomy of pictures have objected that the commentaries of crossmedial contexts have not asserted the semiotic priority of the lexical over the visual message. ‘Is an autonomous semiotics of visual perception possible, or does the semiotic analysis of pictorial text always require recourse to the model of language?’

A Review of the Use of Aaker’s Methodology within the Brand Personality Construct: A Review of Extant Literature

Anthropomorphism is the belief that brands can possess human characteristics, which raises a tendency to assign human traits to inanimate objects. It is on this premise that Brand Personality takes its roots. Several studies in the measurement and influence of Brand Personality abound leading to increasing arguments on the most appropriate methods to be used to measure Brand Personality. However, Aaker’s methodology stands out prominently in the Brand Personality domain. This study attempts to review the Brand Personality literature to identify the extent that this methodology has been used. The objectives of this study are to identify the scope and limitation of Aaker’s (1997) Brand Personality construct, identify the literature on Brand Personality and identify the use of Aaker’s (1997) methodology in scale development. Using a qualitative design, consecutive sampling was used to analyze the identified literature on Brand Personality. The resulting data was analyzed using frequency and pictorial analysis and several tables presenting the review of the literature were developed.

Pictorial Data Analysis through Classification Techniques for Real World Sector: A survey

Pictorial Data Analysis through Classification Techniques for Real World Sector: A survey

Impulse Noise Detection and Removal Method Based on Modified Weighted Median

Impulse noise generally occurs because of bit errors in progression of image acquisition and transmission. It is well known that median filtering method is an impulse noise removal method. Lots of modified median filters have been proposed in the last decades to improve the methods for noise suppression and detail preservation, which have their own deficiencies while identifying and restoring noise pixels. In this article, after deeply analyzing the reasons, such as decreased noise detection and noise removal accuracy that forms the basis of the deficiencies, this article proposes a modified weighted median filter method for color images corrupted by salt-and-pepper noise. In this method, a pixel is classified into either “noise free pixel” or “noise pixel” by checking the center pixel in the current filtering window with the extreme values (0 or 255) for an 8-bit image using noise detection step. Directional differences and the number of “good” pixels in the current filtering window modify the detected noise pixels. Simulation effects on considered test images reveal the proposed method to be improved over state-of-the-art de-noising methods in terms of PSNR and SSIM with pictorial comparative analysis.

Coloring the destination: The role of color psychology on Instagram

Abstract Color psychology plays important roles in product packaging, the retail environment, and online marketing. This study analyzed current practices related to color composition in tourism-related photographs on Instagram. Data mining and pictorial content analysis were adopted to investigate how lightness, chroma, and hue may influence Instagram posts' popularity. Generally, individuals appeared more likely to respond to brighter and more saturated destination pictures. Orange, yellow, blue, and violet contributed significantly to post popularity based on different photographic typologies. Overall, color is a complex construct that functions within diverse dimensions and can enrich tourists’ destination-related perceptions. Based on brand post popularity and color theories, the study findings provide valuable implications for effective and efficient destination promotion via Instagram. Relevant limitations and future directions are also discussed.

An Evaluation of the Operations of Micro-credit Schemes in Poverty Alleviation of the Rural People in Northern Ghana - Case Study of Ghanaian-Danish Community Programme (GDCP)

The purpose of the study was to examine the sustainability of poverty alleviation activities, utilisation of the funds, the adequacy of credit given to the beneficiaries, level of savings and the degree of attention given to non-income-related issues. The study used questionnaires to capture responses of beneficiaries of the Ghanaian Danish Community Programme (GDCP) Micro-credit scheme as well as secondary data from the annual financial reports and statements of the scheme. The data were analysed with the ratios of the interest income to operational cost, operational cost to loans disbursement to arrive at operational sustainability and cost of money lent respectively. Tables and charts were used to provide the pictorial analysis of the interest income and the operational cost. The study revealed that the schemes were on course to sustainability but were characterized by high operational costs because of the nature of their activities. The study also revealed that the credit services provision had a positive impact on the beneficiaries overall lives, family nutrition and savings and there was evidence of proper utilisation of the funds. These merits were however, impeded by the inadequacy of the credits amount and limited attention given to non-income-related issues. Finally, the researcher made some recommendations and suggested steps for their implementation.
 Keywords: Sustainability; Beneficiaries; Poverty alleviation; Savings; Impact; Micro-credit scheme

Abstract No. 573 Appropriate imaging criteria for neurologic intervention in stroke: pearls and pitfalls of computed tomography perfusion

The use of CTP along with MRA, CTA, and angiography presents unique pearls and pitfalls in the community hospital setting. We hypothesize that this pictorial review and analysis will reveal trends and issues unique to the community setting that have not been exposed in prior research with implications relevant to practice. Six radiology residents reviewed all in-patient CT perfusion scans performed for stroke-like symptoms at two community hospital centers in Southeast Michigan over an 8-year period from January 1, 2010 to July 31, 2018. After additional imaging and chart review, cases that were equivocal or contained errors were selected. These cases were then analyzed for auxiliary findings that could explain the falsely positive or negative CTP studies. Exemplary studies that clearly showcased the advantages and limitations of CTP imaging were selected for pictorial review and discussion. Common extrinsic and intrinsic factors affecting the studies were compiled and communicated to the radiology staff to optimize stroke management. While CTP interpretation has been streamlined with the aid of computer-generated models, these models have also introduced new potential areas for misinterpretation. Any factor that affects vascular flow will also affect MTP, MTT. and CBF. This in turn may lead to unnecessary interventions which have high inherent risk. There have been multiple reports of seizure, tumor, or an infectious/inflammatory process mimicking stroke. Furthermore, variant anatomy, vasospasm, extracranial stenosis, steal phenomena, and other vascular abnormalities can falsely masquerade as ischemic penumbra. There are important advantages and limitations of CTP imaging. When there is disharmony between neurologic symptoms and the territory of ischemic penumbra, further clinical evaluation and, at times, further imaging should be acquired. In equivocal cases, technical aspects such as positioning and timing, clinical findings, and variant anatomy or other vascular/brain abnormalities apparent on imaging can help navigate complicated cases. Improved patient selection will lead to more appropriate and timely neurologic interventions.

Noninvasive Concept for Optical Ethanol Sensing on the Skin Surface with Camera-Based Quantification.

Law enforcement and the general public do not yet have adequate means of assessing and preventing drunk driving. Blood alcohol concentration (BAC) is unable to be determined on-site, as it typically requires the use of complex chromatographic methods. Breathalyzers have been well established in law enforcement for correlating breath alcohol concentrations (BrAC) to BAC estimations, as they involve portable equipment with rapid analysis times. Although these BrAC measurements allow police officers to determine probable cause and to arrest an intoxicated driver at the scene, the results are preliminary and are not often considered as evidence in court. A new, noninvasive method was developed to assess an individual's level of intoxication based on the presence of ethanol in sweat on the skin surface. This intuitive system uses two enzymes, alcohol oxidase and horseradish peroxidase, to correlate ethanol sweat concentrations to the production of a color that is visible to the naked eye. The results of the controlled drinking study demonstrate the ability of both the spectrophotometric and the visualization system to quantify the amount of ethanol within authentic sweat samples collected from individuals who had consumed an alcoholic beverage. The pictorial analysis allows for the system to be analyzed without the use of a UV-vis spectrophotometer. With this method, a smartphone application would be capable of documenting and evaluating the intoxication levels of an individual based on sweat ethanol levels. The developed alcohol sensing system has the potential to impact both the general public and law enforcement, as well as the fields of forensic and biomedical science.

Representation of Gender in the Secondary School Sindhi Textbooks of Pakistan

Abstract Following a pictorial analysis of Sindhi primary textbooks used in Sindh province of Pakistan (Agha et al., 2018), we are interested in analysing the text and pictures used in secondary textbooks of Sindhi. The present study uses the previous study as a pilot and aims at exploring the representation of gender and citizenship in textbooks of Sindhi language used at the secondary level. This study uses Kabira and Masinjila’s (1997) framework of gender analysis. Data was taken from four textbooks and analysed through the thematic coding technique adopted from Braun and Clarke (2006). Findings of this study depict that women are represented much less in terms of being the main actors, involved in productive actions in society, or present in the public sphere. We argue that the textbooks are restrengthening the patriarchal norms of Pakistani society and treating women as secondary citizens who are incapable of being leaders of any kind.

New Sonographic Classification of Adenomyosis: Do Type and Degree of Adenomyosis Correlate to Severity of Symptoms?

To correlate the type and degree of adenomyosis, scored through a new system based on the features of transvaginal sonography, to patients' symptoms and fertility. This is a multicenter, observational, prospective study. Two endometriosis tertiary referral centers (University of Rome "Tor Vergata" and University of Siena). A total of 108 patients with ultrasonographic signs of adenomyosis. A new ultrasonographic scoring system designed to assess the severity and the extent of uterine adenomyosis was used to stage the disease in correlation with the clinical symptoms. Menstrual uterine bleeding was assessed by a pictorial blood loss analysis chart, painful symptoms were evaluated using a visual analog scale, and infertility factors were considered. A total of 108 patients with ultrasonographic signs of adenomyosis (mean age ± standard deviation, 37.7 ± 7.7 years) were classified according to the proposed scoring system. Women with ultrasound diagnosis of diffuse adenomyosis were older (p = .04) and had heavier menstrual bleeding (p = .04) than women with focal disease; however, no statistically significant differences were found regarding the presence and severity of dyspareunia and dysmenorrhea. Higher values of menstrual bleeding were found for severe diffuse adenomyosis, with the highest values being found in those with adenomyomas. In patients trying to conceive, the presence of ultrasound findings of focal disease was associated with a higher percentage of infertility than in those with diffuse disease, and the focal involvement of the junctional zone showed a higher percentage of at least 1 miscarriage than in those with diffuse adenomyosis. The ultrasonographic evaluation of the type and extension of adenomyosis in the myometrium seems to be important in correlation to the severity of symptoms and infertility.

Análisis de la expresión narrativa y pictórica de futuros docentes

Las creencias e ideas implícitas sobre la educación influyen en la práctica educativa del profesorado (Pontes Pedrajas, Poyato López y Oliva Martínez, 2017: 57). Por tanto, es esencial analizar desde una perspectiva psico-socio-educativa la percepción que, sobre la educación, tienen los futuros profesionales de la educación. El objetivo principal de este trabajo, es analizar (relatos escritos y expresiones pictóricas) cuáles son algunas de las creencias sobre la educación, que tienen los futuros maestros y maestras de educación infantil, al iniciar su formación. Este estudio parte de una metodología de investigación cualitativa, donde se tomaron como ejes del análisis, los relatos escritos y las representaciones pictóricas realizadas por alumnado universitario sobre su etapa educativa de educación infantil. La información fue registrada a lo largo de este curso académico 2018/2019, en el que participaron 78 estudiantes de la Universidad de Sevilla.Este trabajo analiza de forma exploratoria y descriptiva los contenidos narrativos y las representaciones pictóricas que expone este alumnado. Tomando como ejes fundamentales los siguientes:1. Concepto de educación y valores psico-socio-educativos que se realzan como importantes en la etapa de educación infantil.2. Actividades de educación infantil que se resaltan de forma escrita a partir de las experiencias educativas propias de cada alumna o alumno.3. Aspectos psico-socio-educativos de dibujos y representaciones de educación infantil.En los resultados se avanzan ideas que pueden ser de utilidad para explorarlas con docentes en formación, sobre la relación de las propias experiencias educativas y las proyecciones de los procesos educativos para el ejercicio de la actividad docente. Y en la discusión, se expone la importan- cia de poder hacer este trabajo de análisis narrativo y pictórico desde una perspectiva transdisciplinar.

Students’ Epistemic Game according to SOLO Taxonomy in Completing Fluid Mechanics Problem

The purpose of this study is to describe the students’ epistemic game of high physics-capable. This study is qualitative. The participants are students taking fluid mechanics courses. The collect data of this study use fluid mechanics test, physics understanding test, and interview. The understanding test determines the students’ understanding level, while the determining students’ epistemic game by SOLO taxonomy uses the fluid mechanic's test. The students complete the first test by using mapping mathematics to meaning at a relational level and transliteration to mathematics at a multi structural level. Pictorial analysis in level extended abstract and transliteration to mathematics in level relational are used by the students in completing the problem of the second test. Meanwhile, this study result showed that mapping mathematics to the meaning and recursive plug and chug at a relational level is used by the students for completing the third test. Furthermore, the students completing the fourth test used transliteration to mathematics and recursive plug and chug at a relational level The students’ epistemic game by SOLO taxonomy of this study can be used to develop physics learning. Keywords: epistemic game, SOLO taxonomy, fluid mechanics

Costume on film: How the femme fatale’s wardrobe scripted the pictorial style of 1940s film noir

The character of the femme fatale and the visual style of film noir are vital elements in our understanding of that genre. Film costumes worn by the femme fatale are crucial, and are defining elements in genre recognition precisely because of their explicit cinematic visualization, rather than functioning as unequivocal signs. This article proposes a methodology for film costume researchers to conduct a pictorial analysis, without necessarily analysing film costume in terms of a meaning-making repertoire adhering to our understanding of film as a ‘language’. In the proposition of a framework for the close textual analysis of film costumes, the methodology is based on the triangulation of a shot-by-shot description, a wardrobe breakdown and an examination of production stills. This triangulation is crucial to understand the complexity of film costumes, which are defined by a wide-ranging set of factors such as: the film industry’s mode of production, the film costume’s relation to the fashion of its time, the body and star image of the actor, the work of the costume designer and his/her department, and the film-specificity. The ways in which a film costume functions in a specific shot will prove to be an important tool to analyse the pictorial characteristics of film noir and the femme fatale. To exemplify to methodology, this article proposes a close reading of an iconic film costume designed for one of the best-known performances of such a character, i.e. the white jumpsuit designed by Edith Head for Barbara Stanwyck in the closing scene of Billy Wilder’s Double Indemnity (1944).

Pictorial Analysis of the Projected Destination Image: Portugal on Instagram

Destination image (DI) has an important role in destination choice. DI is considered as one of the main factors in destination competitiveness. The main aim of this study was to explore the projected image of Portugal as a tourism destination. The projected image was obtained through an analysis of the pictures of the official page of destination management organization of Portugal on Instagram (@visitportugal). The research used a sample of 1,306 photos. Samples included photographic and textual data. Visual content analysis and content analysis were adopted to analysis data. Appling content analysis for images refers to break a picture into a number of categories. The results showed that the projected destination images of Portugal were dominated by attributes related to natural attractions. In addition, the geographical distribution of the DMO photos showed that 880 photos (67%) of all 1,306 DMO photos were associated with nine destinations. Food/drink category was the most engaging image for followers. Additionally, the findings indicated that the most common applied hashtags for describing Portugal as a tourism destination and inspire travelers to visit were related to nature-based activities (e.g., nature, river, beach, ocean, sea).

Bruno Zevi, the continental European emissary of Geoffrey Scott’s theories

In the late nineteenth century, Bernard Berenson revived the analytical methodologies employed in art history by proposing new methods of pictorial analysis, such as space-composition and life-enhancement. In the twentieth century, his pupil Geoffrey Scott transferred these new methodologies from their original context, Renaissance painting, to architecture. Though Scott was a recognised critic within English aesthetic circles, he was largely ignored in Continental European academic communities. The influence of his book The Architecture of Humanism (1914) was limited to the Anglo-American world before the 1940s. This essay depicts the key role that the Italian architect Bruno Zevi played after the Second World War, by becoming the primary architectural historian to introduce and diffuse Scott’s forgotten masterpiece in many non-English-speaking countries. Zevi defended a critical methodology based on spatial, empirical, and sensory analysis of architectural works, an attitude that is observed in his theoretical corpus written immediately after his return from the United States. This paper proposes an examination of Zevi’s reception of Scott’s theories and the debates that it propagated, and aims to contribute to the understanding of the methodological approach followed in the years after the Second World War on both sides of the Atlantic.

Forbidden Love in the Andes: Murúa and Guaman Poma Retell the Myth of Chuquillanto and Acoytapra

Forbidden Love in the Andes: Murúa and Guaman Poma Retell the Myth of Chuquillanto and Acoytapra

Diálogos entre a pintura e o cinema: análise de representações pictóricas do relato de Susana e os velhos e de sua aparição em Psicose, de Alfred Hitchcock

O artigo é resultado de investigação sobre o filme Psicose, de Alfred Hitchcock, de 1960. O tema do quadro que tapa o buraco pelo qual o protagonista Norman Bates observa Marion Crane despindo-se constitui o elemento de análise. Trata-se de uma representação do relato bíblico de Susana e os velhos que aborda o voyeurismo, o desejo incestuoso de dois juízes e a violação. O trabalho abrange a pesquisa semiótica em interface com a psicanálise, a antropologia e a comunicação na cultura. O método abordado é a análise do discurso fílmico e pictórico. Assinalam-se as ressonâncias formais, estéticas e estruturais entre as pinturas e o filme. As imagens analisadas em Psicose apresentam camadas extremamente profundas e arraigadas a elementos imagéticos, localizadas em várias pinturas do século XVII que abordam o tema de Susana e os velhos. Estas sobreviveram e transportaram-se através do tempo, do espaço e entre culturas..

Solid waste management practice in Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital Complex (OAUTHC), Ile-Ife, Nigeria

PurposeHospital solid waste may cause serious health hazards and impair the quality of life of the community through transmission of diseases and injury if not properly managed. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to examine solid waste management practice (SWMP) in Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital Complex.Design/methodology/approachPrimary data were collected for this study through interview and questionnaire administration. Systematic sampling technique was used to select 60 students, 13 staffs, 43 cleaners, 8 contractors, and a management staff for questionnaire administration. Data obtained were analyzed using frequency distribution, pictorial analysis, and factor analysis.FindingsFindings established that solid wastes components generated in the hospital were not segregated in line with the directive of the World Health Organization. The study further established that the factors influencing SWMP accounted for 79.9 percent variance in the following proportion: available storage and collection facilities (30.94 percent), number of patients’ factors (17.86 percent), transportation factor (15.39 percent), human and material resource factors (8.33 percent), and disposal (7.36 percent).Originality/valueThe study therefore concludes that the effectiveness of SWMPs depends on the facilities and equipment, human resources capacity, and frequency of waste collection and disposal.

Developing Guided Discovery Based Biology Teaching Material Supported by Pictorial Analysis

Most of students still consider the subject of classification to be the most difficult subject. 33.989% of the students chose the classification of living things subject as the most difficult subject. This study aims to determine the validity and impact of using learning material based on guided discovery with pictorial analysis on students' learning outcomes on the classification of living things subject. in junior high school. The research method used quasi experimental design with pre-test-post-test non equivalent control group design. Research development was done through 10 stages. This study was conducted at SMPN 1 Jati Kudus. The sample in this study was the students of grade 7th of academic year 2017/2018. Sampling was done by purposive sampling. The research revealed that learning material based on guided discovery with pictorial analysis has validation value with an average of 3.52 with the very valid criteria, but still needed revision on learning material. The learning material that is developed, it has a positive impact on student achievement. There are significant differences between the control class and the experimental class of the t test results obtained by the value of t arithmetic (5.041) > t table (1.988) indicates that there is the impact of using learning material based on guided discovery with pictorial analysis to the students achievement in the classification of living creatures subject. Guided discovery based teaching materials with pictorial analysis make students more active in learning with student activity level in experimental class 80,25% higher than control class that is equal to 70,36%.