Automated computed tomography based parasitoid detection in mason bee rearings

In recent years, insect husbandry has seen an increased interest in order to supply in the production of raw materials, food, or as biological/environmental control. Unfortunately, large insect rearings are susceptible to pathogens, pests and parasitoids which can spread rapidly due to the confined nature of a rearing system. Thus, it is of interest to monitor the spread of such manifestations and the overall population size quickly and efficiently. Medical imaging techniques could be used for this purpose, as large volumes can be scanned non-invasively. Due to its 3D acquisition nature, computed tomography seems to be the most suitable for this task. This study presents an automated, computed tomography-based, counting method for bee rearings that performs comparable to identifying all Osmia cornuta cocoons manually. The proposed methodology achieves this in an average of 10 seconds per sample, compared to 90 minutes per sample for the manual count over a total of 12 samples collected around lake Zurich in 2020. Such an automated bee population evaluation tool is efficient and valuable in combating environmental influences on bee, and potentially other insect, rearings

Moon Prism Boys: The Magical Boy as Queering Device

Through a queer lens, this thesis examines the role that the magical boy character plays in the manga Magical Boy Majorian (2007-2008), and in season 15 of the popular magical girl genre anime franchise Pretty Cure, entitled Hugtto! PreCure (2018-2019). Using queer theory and gender studies research, this thesis argues that the magical boy figure challenges problematic forms of masculinity by performing what I call ‘shōjoness,’ a particular form of feminine aesthetic mainly found in shōjo (for girls) manga, and anime. The thesis contends that henshin (transformation) sequences allow a space for gender negotiation, which disrupts a heteronormative structure through the crossing, and blending, of gender expression and form. Acting as what Sedgwick calls a queer survival object (1993), the magical boy becomes a site for queer representation, but also what I call a queering device. In other words, this thesis argues that Majorian and Hugtto serve as escapes from the burden of heteronormativity, while also holding to some extent the power to inspire change in attitudes toward queerness within, and beyond the pages of the manga, or the screen of anime. Analyzing key scenes from both works mentioned above, this thesis explores how medium specificity (manga structure, and animation techniques) renders queerness by contrasting it with more standard ways of drawing, and animating, consequently challenging normative ways of being. Informed by Scott McCloud’s theorizing of the gutter, Thomas Lamarre’s work on the interval, and Sara Ahmed’s discussion on queer orientation, Moon Prism Boys frames particular forms of interstices as spaces that have the potential to positively disturb a monolithic form of masculinity when brought into contact with queerness

Virtual anthropology? Reliability of three-dimensional photogrammetry as a forensic anthropology measurement and documentation technique

Establishing the identity of unknown remains is a vital role of forensic anthropology. While establishing identity is generally straightforward due to conventional methods of identification like DNA analysis, sometimes these methods are not applicable in the case of remains that are heavily skeletonized, severely decomposed or severely charred. In such instances, a forensic anthropologist will be called upon. The role of the forensic anthropologist is to aid in the identification of remains when conventional methods such as DNA and fingerprinting are not applicable. They may also be required to collaborate with other experts like forensic odontologists in order to attain a positive identification. A number of methods are available to the anthropologist that can aid in achieving identification: comparative radiography, nonimaged records, craniofacial superimposition, dental comparison and craniofacial reconstruction. All the methods except nonimaged records require imaging, either in two dimensions or three dimensions. Three-dimensional imaging is quickly becoming a vital tool for reconstruction, comparison, and analysis in forensic science. It has found applications in road accident reconstruction, facial reconstruction, comparison of patterned injuries to the injury-inflicting instruments, and anthropometry. The main three-dimensional imaging methods utilized in the forensic field are photogrammetry, laser scanning and radiological scanning (computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)), with forensic three-dimensional/computer aided design (3D/CAD)-supported photogrammetry being the method that is primarily used due to its low cost, rapid results, does not need expertise to operate, has no radiation risks and, above all, the record is permanent. Regardless of this, CT and MRI are more established methods and are widely used in a variety of industries. The purpose of this paper is to compare and contrast the three-dimensional imaging methods currently employed in forensic science on the basis of reliability, reproducibility, and accuracy; with an ultimate aim of validating photogrammetry as an analytical and documentation method of forensic science

An interactive framework for component-based morphing

Ph.DDOCTOR OF PHILOSOPH

The Body and Japanese Cinema

The dissertation The Body and Japanese Cinema examines the notion of body in context of Japanese culture, specifically in a film domain. Throughout this study converging the cultural and philosophical models of both East and West, the focus is on various aspects of the body perception generated and mediated in Japan. This dissertation is the first attempt in Serbian scholarship, on Japanese cinema, to explore the corporeal perspective of Japanese identity. The first part of the dissertation features an extended analysis of the Japanese cultural outlook dealing with the questions of body and language, silence and visual space. Even though this is a study on nationally determined culture, it opposes to drawing the conclusions on the Japanese uniqueness following the Nihonjinron discourses of homogeneity. Rather, the focus is on the issues of heterogeneous taxonomy that could provide a platform for better understanding of Japanese culture as well as to offer a standpoint from which it is possible to indicate the similarities and differences of other, not necessarily national, identities. Without any intention of cultural essentialism, I argue that due to distinctive attributes and specificity of Japanese language and in addition, firmly established communicative practices that indicate intuitive understanding that goes beyond spoken words, the visceral perception is the crucial point of the Japanese film viewing. Second part of this study is a close analysis of selected movies from the filmographies of well-known Japanese cineastes. In particularly, this work proposes the taxonomy that deals with invisible aspects of the body in Japanese cinema. Chosen filmmakers whose opuses have been here reinterpreted are familiar to the audience outside Japan but their work is located on the furthest edges of mainstream, rendering them a somewhat outsider position. Here, the prominence is found in perspective that these filmmakers' attitudes resist the "official" Japan imagology which fixates the corpus of what is intended for foreigners to understand. Their body of work contrives effective communicative strategies that allow kaleidoscopic and more diverse insights of Japan

Motifs, textures and folds: Japanese popular visual culture as transcultural and phenomenological flow

Since the 1980s, Japanese popular visual culture has known great popularity in Western Europe and North America, most strikingly in the form of manga, anime and Japanese video games. However, one is struck by how fragmented this cultural flow is: not only is it composed of three different media, but it also contains works that are wildly different from one another. Can something be said to connect these works together, other than their Japanese provenance? This dissertation proposes two avenues for answering this question and establishing a certain cohesiveness within the fabric of Japanese popular visual culture as it has been exported: on the one hand, this thesis explores recurrent content and themes (motifs) within a purposefully varied corpus of manga, anime and games; on the other, it establishes phenomenological consistencies (textures and folds) across the corpus, demonstrating that these works provide medium-based experiences that are similar in significant respects. Parallel to this demonstration, this dissertation examines the effects of this cohesion on the Western reception of these works. The author argues that, while cultural motifs evoking “Japaneseness” play an initial part in gathering these works into a perceived flow, it is their common phenomenology that cements their perceived cohesion and facilitates their integration into non-Japanese imaginaries. By analysing the transcultural travels of Japanese popular visual culture, this thesis examines a case where differentiated imaginaries meet and merge, and thereby develops a theory of the imaginary as phenomenological and processual space, as a fabric that surrounds us and which we collectively and continually weave and unravel. Ultimately, the author determines that this particular imaginary is regulated by two key notions: on the one hand, a dynamic of flux and stasis, and on the other, a series of interconnected and intermingled folds

Ultrasound Imaging

This book provides an overview of ultrafast ultrasound imaging, 3D high-quality ultrasonic imaging, correction of phase aberrations in medical ultrasound images, etc. Several interesting medical and clinical applications areas are also discussed in the book, like the use of three dimensional ultrasound imaging in evaluation of Asherman's syndrome, the role of 3D ultrasound in assessment of endometrial receptivity and follicular vascularity to predict the quality oocyte, ultrasound imaging in vascular diseases and the fetal palate, clinical application of ultrasound molecular imaging, Doppler abdominal ultrasound in small animals and so on