The Profiling Potential of Computer Vision and the Challenge of Computational Empiricism

Computer vision and other biometrics data science applications have commenced a new project of profiling people. Rather than using 'transaction generated information', these systems measure the 'real world' and produce an assessment of the 'world state' - in this case an assessment of some individual trait. Instead of using proxies or scores to evaluate people, they increasingly deploy a logic of revealing the truth about reality and the people within it. While these profiling knowledge claims are sometimes tentative, they increasingly suggest that only through computation can these excesses of reality be captured and understood. This article explores the bases of those claims in the systems of measurement, representation, and classification deployed in computer vision. It asks if there is something new in this type of knowledge claim, sketches an account of a new form of computational empiricism being operationalised, and questions what kind of human subject is being constructed by these technological systems and practices. Finally, the article explores legal mechanisms for contesting the emergence of computational empiricism as the dominant knowledge platform for understanding the world and the people within it

Abdominal Tumor Characterization and Recognition Using Superior-Order Cooccurrence Matrices, Based on Ultrasound Images

The noninvasive diagnosis of the malignant tumors is an important issue in research nowadays. Our purpose is to elaborate computerized, texture-based methods for performing computer-aided characterization and automatic diagnosis of these tumors, using only the information from ultrasound images. In this paper, we considered some of the most frequent abdominal malignant tumors: the hepatocellular carcinoma and the colonic tumors. We compared these structures with the benign tumors and with other visually similar diseases. Besides the textural features that proved in our previous research to be useful in the characterization and recognition of the malignant tumors, we improved our method by using the grey level cooccurrence matrix and the edge orientation cooccurrence matrix of superior order. As resulted from our experiments, the new textural features increased the malignant tumor classification performance, also revealing visual and physical properties of these structures that emphasized the complex, chaotic structure of the corresponding tissue

Toward a new conception of conceptions: Interplay of talk, gestures, and structures in the setting

International audienceA major part of studies about students' conceptions and conceptual change exclusively is based on the analysis language, which is treated as a tool to make private contents of mind public to researchers. Following recent studies that focus (a) on language and discursive practice and (b) on the pragmatics of communication that draws on talk, gestures, and semiotic resources in the setting, we propose a redefinition of the nature of conception. Conceptions are understood as the simultaneously available speech, gestures, and contextual structures that cannot be reduced to verbal rendering because gestures and contextual structures constitute different modalities in the communication. Drawing on data collected during a physics unit about gas taught in French tenth-grade classrooms, we show why an appropriate account of conceptions requires (a) gestures simultaneously produced with talk and (b) identification of the relevant structures in the setting used by the participants as meaning-making (semiotic) resources. We propose to (a) reconceptualize the notion of conception by defining an "idea" as consisting of all relevant semiotic (meaning-making) resources publicly made available by a speaker (talk, gesture, context) and (b) consider conceptual change through the temporal evolution of ideas defined in this manner

Clinical Decision Support System Sonares

A decision support system SonaRes destined to guide and help the ultrasound operators is proposed and compared with the existing ones. The system is based on rules and images and can be used as a second opinion in the process of ultrasound examination

A Model of the Network Architecture of the Brain that Supports Natural Language Processing

For centuries, neuroscience has proposed models of the neurobiology of language processing that are static and localised to few temporal and inferior frontal regions. Although existing models have offered some insight into the processes underlying lower-level language features, they have largely overlooked how language operates in the real world. Here, we aimed at investigating the network organisation of the brain and how it supports language processing in a naturalistic setting. We hypothesised that the brain is organised in a multiple core-periphery and dynamic modular architecture, with canonical language regions forming high-connectivity hubs. Moreover, we predicted that language processing would be distributed to much of the rest of the brain, allowing it to perform more complex tasks and to share information with other cognitive domains. To test these hypotheses, we collected the Naturalistic Neuroimaging Database of people watching full length movies during functional magnetic resonance imaging. We computed network algorithms to capture the voxel-wise architecture of the brain in individual participants and inspected variations in activity distribution over different stimuli and over more complex language features. Our results confirmed the hypothesis that the brain is organised in a flexible multiple core-periphery architecture with large dynamic communities. Here, language processing was distributed to much of the rest of the brain, together forming multiple communities. Canonical language regions constituted hubs, explaining why they consistently appear in various other neurobiology of language models. Moreover, language processing was supported by other regions such as visual cortex and episodic memory regions, when processing more complex context-specific language features. Overall, our flexible and distributed model of language comprehension and the brain points to additional brain regions and pathways that could be exploited for novel and more individualised therapies for patients suffering from speech impairments

Mammography Techniques and Review

Mammography remains at the backbone of medical tools to examine the human breast. The early detection of breast cancer typically uses adjunct tests to mammogram such as ultrasound, positron emission mammography, electrical impedance, Computer-aided detection systems and others. In the present digital era it is even more important to use the best new techniques and systems available to improve the correct diagnosis and to prevent mortality from breast cancer. The first part of this book deals with the electrical impedance mammographic scheme, ultrasound axillary imaging, position emission mammography and digital mammogram enhancement. A detailed consideration of CBR CAD System and the availability of mammographs in Brazil forms the second part of this book. With the up-to-date papers from world experts, this book will be invaluable to anyone who studies the field of mammography

Ovarian cancer – where are we today?

Despite progress reported in terms of paraclinical tests and imagistic studies, ovarian cancer represents one of the most lethal malignancies affecting women worldwide. Therefore attention was focused on identifying new prognostic markers in order to better identify candidates for primary cytoreductive surgery versus interval debulking surgery. Moreover, the wide introduction of the concept of personalized medicine gave the opportunity to benefit from more targeted treatments according to each patient needs and particularities. This is a literature review of the current status of ovarian cancer worldwide

How Creative Arts Journaling Offers a Holistic and Humanizing Container for Chronic Pain Experiences: A Literature Review and Autoethnography

This expressive arts therapy capstone thesis explores the efficacy of using a creative arts journal in the exploration and management of chronic pain, as well as the correlative mental health issues that arise from chronic pain experiences. Using a biopsychosocial perspective with an awareness of racial health disparities related to chronic pain, I have provided information about chronic pain from medical and humanistic perspectives with a critical review of the literature that showcases the usefulness of the arts for reducing pain, hopelessness, and depression, and increasing mood, self–understanding, and hope. While research on visual journaling for chronic pain is in a nascent stage, much can be drawn from art journaling research with a variety of populations. In addition, an examination of both the efficacy and drawbacks of pain diaries offers some greater insight into the usefulness of chronicling pain experiences. While there is little discussion in the literature related to the specific utility of the art journal format, an examination of a journal’s purpose as a “container” offers some useful insights. Using an autoethnographic approach, I participated in a six–month visual journaling process to explore my own chronic pain experiences. The results of this self–study included a release of physical and emotional tension due to the externalization of pain, an awareness of coping strategies, and a greater sense of personal validity and visibility, among others