Reading the represented city and society: signs, theory, and the dynamic interpretativeness of Peircean semiotics

In the era of visual media, cities, and society are represented, experienced, and interpreted through images. The need for interdisciplinary visual approaches, therefore, is indisputable. By focusing on cinema, this paper aims to develop a conceptual, methodological framework through which theory helps a broad range of researchers in social sciences, humanities, and arts interpret the represented phenomenon. Based on Peirce’s model of signs, the framework provides the basis for a dynamic interpretation of the city and society. This paper shows that Peircean cinesemiotics takes advantage of theory in three ways: First, as the basis that provides scholars with clues necessary for identifying eligible “image-signs”; second, as the guiding framework that helps them reach a final interpretation; third, as ideas are being criticized from visual perspectives. As an example of its application, using Jane Jacobs’ “The Death and Life of Great American Cities,” the final part of the paper applies Peircean cinesemiotics to an image-sign from Death Wish (2018) and interprets it as the representation of safety/crime in a neighborhood.

Artifacts in MRI: Villain or Hero? Using Artifacts for Diagnosing Central Nervous System Diseases

An artifact is a feature present in an image which is not part of the original structure. It can occur as a consequence of several factors. It may be mistaken for pathologic conditions, leading to adverse consequences for the patients. The aim of the present study is to present a selection of the main artifacts described in brain and spinal magnetic resonance images to improve the ability of the physicians to recognize them and to reduce their interference on the final interpretation of a scan. The authors searched the scientific community for artifacts in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), which were selected to focus on central nervous system (CNS) findings. With the Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS) database from the center where this study was conducted, the authors designated brain and spine MRI scans with conspicuous artifacts to compose the present study. The artifacts were then classified as those that contribute to the diagnosis and those that must be distinguished from pathologic lesions. Considering the novel classification proposed by the present study, physicians might be stimulated to reevaluate their opinions regarding artifacts, perhaps considering them helpful to evaluate certain conditions even if they cannot be fully corrected, as shown by this distinct approach to artifacts with specific findings concerning differential diagnosis of CNS conditions.

Diagnostic pitfalls in effusion fluid cytology

Effusion fluid cytology has propensity for both false positives (in up to 0.5%) and false negatives (in up to 30%) results. Methodical approach from collection step to final interpretation stage could prevent both false positives and false negatives, if the interpreter is familiar with various factors responsible for diagnostic pitfalls in effusion fluid cytology. For this discussion, these factors are categorized as mentioned below: Surface tension-related alterations in cytomorphology Improper specimen processing Many faces of reactive mesothelial cells, overlapping with those of cancer cells Proliferation-related features Degenerative changes, such as nuclear hyperchromasia and cytoplasmic vacuolation Unexpected patterns and unusual entities.

Form, Content, and Space: Methodological Challenges in the Study of Medieval and Early Modern European Graffiti

Scholars of variousdisciplines have focused their attention on European Medieval and Early Modern graffitiduring the last decade, thus confirming and reinforcing the value of thispeculiar written evidence. Their contributions demonstrate that graffiti canoffer valuable information to different fields of study (e.g. shipbuilding,palaeography, history, social culture, and visual culture) through a glimpseinto past daily life. Due to their nature, graffiti present a completely freegraphic expression, which may appear in either textual or pictorial forms, orboth. This characteristic makes their study rather challenging due to the twodifferent mechanisms of communication they employ. In the case of textualgraffiti, the content is transmitted through linguistic codification, whilepictorial graffiti require a decoding process that is more complex andarticulated. The first challenge, though, is to find a way to record andcompare both evidence on the same graphic and verbal levels.  Furthermore, as for any other epigraphicevidence, the graffiti analysis must take into account the writing surfaces andthe context, two elements that are fundamental for the final interpretation ofthis source. This paper will address these methodological issues concerning thepreliminary phase of graffiti documentation and classification/cataloguing. Thestarting point has been the recent debate and application of FAIR dataprinciples in the field of Humanities, which aim to create quality data, easilyexchanged in a digital environment, fostering knowledge in the field. Sincethis approach has not yet been applied to graffiti studies, the paper aims tostimulate a dialogue on innovative and objective methodological approacheswithin the researchers’ community.

Structural equation modeling on the post-flood regional public welfare in South Kalimantan

This research was conducted to know the structural equation model on public welfare in the post-flood region of South Kalimantan in early 2021. The method and analysis in this study used Structural Equation Model (SEM) with compared the Maximum Likelihood (ML) and Generalized Least Square (GLS) approach to test and estimate the suitability of the post-flood public welfare model in South Kalimantan. The data collection technique in this study used a questionnaire to the people in areas victims of floods in South Kalimantan. The result is GLS approach gave more fit data than MLE based on AGFI and GFI values. The validated models gave the structural equation model with the final interpretation is Economy condition gives the significant relationship to the post-flood public welfare in South Kalimantan.

Tempos do passado e tempos do futuro em confronto: diferenças e paralelismos

This paper deals with the main similarities and differences that arise between past and future tenses. In particular, we argue that, while the propositions associated with past tenses are completely settled and their truth-value can be evaluated at the speech time, the propositions described by future tenses cannot be seen as true or false at the utterance time since these linguistic forms are ramifying, in that they typically point to a variety of inertia histories or inertia worlds. Nevertheless, if we consider more closely some particular tenses in European Portuguese – namely the Pretérito Imperfeito (Imperfect) and the Pretérito Perfeito do Indicativo (simple past), as representatives of the past tenses, and the Futuro Simples (simple future) and the structure ir (‘go’) + Infinitive, as representatives of the future ones, we conclude that there are also some important parallels across the two temporal domains. We claim that both the Imperfeito and the Futuro Simples merely locate the situations in a past or future interval, respectively, and that the final interpretation of the sentences in which they occur is the result of the interaction of their temporal characteristics with aspectual and modal features. The Pretérito Perfeito and the structure ir (‘go’) + Infinitive, on the other hand, share the common property of imposing an additional temporal boundary beyond which the eventualities cannot take place; as a result, aspectual effects and modal readings are much more conditioned and pure temporal interpretations – both in the past and in the future – become greatly predominant.

Достоевский, Аполлон Григорьев, Бахтин

Аполлон Григорьев и Бахтин затрагивали достаточно разные вопросы творчества Достоевского, но корреляция между их работами очевидна на уровне их металогики, их философии, их культур-философских оснований. Григорьев, вместе с Достоевским, находился у истоков почвенничества, хотя отзывы Григорьева о творчестве Достоевского эпизодичны и довольно инвективны. Григорьев, в основном, отказывал Достоевскому в том, что его искусство соответствует «правде жизни». Но и первый вариант книги Бахтина о Достоевском не был апологетическим. Григорьев и Бахтин реализуют свою философию через эстетику (философию искусства). Искус-ство, согласно Григорьеву, имеет истоки в самой жизни, а жизнь через искусство реализует себя и сама себя понимает; поэтому критик – также «художник». Бахтин также исходит из принципа корреляции искусства и жизни, выводя отсюда свое понятие «творческий хронотоп». У Григорьева, Бахтина, Достоевского дело идет об онтологии искусства, как и об искусстве онтологии. Искусство онтологии подразумевает самую широкую эстетизацию жизни: ее вдвижение в горизонт искусства. Данная установка – предмодернистская и модернистская. В генезисе понятия «органическая критика» отозвались уроки Канта как автора трех философ-ских «Критик». Идеи Канта были значимы также для Достоевского и Бахтина. Григорьева могло за-интересовать философское измерение, приданное Кантом понятию «критика». Поэтому «органиче-ская критика» относится преимущественно к философии, поднимая объемный перечень вопросов, превышающих собственно эстетические. Согласно Бахтину, полифония Достоевского заключается в том, что автор выступает «медиумом», «пропускающим» через себя различные идеи («голоса» персонажей, различные «точки зрения» и т. п.) Автор-медиум «проводит» «через себя» и «из себя» массу различных идей без сущностного отвержения какой-либо из них. «Автор-медиум» пытается говорить от лица жизни, но также и даже «вместо жизни», что ведет к логической и смысловой подмене «мира» – «картиной мира». Отвер-жение сущностное вовсе не означает отсутствия у автора отвержения формального, т. е. просто констатированного. Однако сущностное неотвержение означает гораздо больше, чем то или иное формальное отвержение. Жизнь, историческое бытие в таком случае оказывается для Достоевского практически «хаосом». В развитие идей Бахтина следует, что при внедрении в свой художественный мир карнавального начала Достоевский утверждает «связку» чувствительность / физиологизм. Ее истоки – в сентимен-тализме XVIII в. Данная «связка» находит религиозную проекцию в феномене юродства. Поэтому итоговой бахтинской трактовкой Достоевского (1963) движет пафос «оправдания» писателя, полно-та художественного мира которого в главном реализована через религиозно трактованную Досто-евским «картину мира» (все-таки «картину мира», но не сам «мир»). Apollon Grigoriev and Bakhtin touched upon quite different issues of Dostoevsky’s work but the correlation between their works is obvious at the level of their metalogic, their philosophy, and their cultural-philosophical foundations. Grigoriev, together with Dostoevsky, was at the origins of “pochvennichestvo” (a grassroots movement), although Grigoriev’s comments on Dostoevsky’s work are episodic and rather injective. Grigoriev basically denied Dostoevsky that his art corresponded to the “truth of life”. But even the first version of Bakhtin’s book about Dostoevsky was not apologetic. Grigoriev and Bakhtin realize their philosophy through aesthetics (philosophy of art). Art, according to Grigoriev, has its origins in life itself, and life through art realizes itself and understands itself; therefore the critic is also an “artist”. Bakhtin also proceeds from the principle of correlation between art and life, deriving from this his concept of “creative chronotope”. Grigoriev, Bakhtin, and Dostoevsky deal with the ontology of art as well as the art of ontology. The art of ontology implies the broadest aestheticization of life: its movement into the horizon of art. This attitude is pre-modern and modern. In the genesis of the concept of “organic criticism”, the lessons of Kant as the author of three philosophical “Critics” could be echoed. Kant’s ideas were also significant for Dostoevsky and Bakhtin. Grigoriev might have been interested in the philosophical dimension that Kant gave to the concept of “criticism”. Therefore, “organic criticism” refers primarily to philosophy, raising a voluminous list of issues that exceed the aesthetic ones themselves. According to Bakhtin, Dostoevsky’s polyphony consists in the fact that the author acts as a “medium”, “passing” various ideas through himself (“voices” of characters, different “points of view”, etc.). The author- medium “conducts” “through himself” and “out of myself” a lot of different ideas without the essential rejection of any of them. The “author-medium” tries to speak on behalf of life but also even “instead of life”, which leads to a logical and semantic substitution of “the world” – “an image of the world”. Essential rejection does not at all mean that the author has no formal rejection, i.e. just stated. Essential non-rejection, however, means much more than any formal rejection. Life, historical being in this case turns out to be practically “chaos” for Dostoevsky. In the development of Bakhtin’s ideas, it follows that, when introducing carnivalization into his artistic world, Dostoevsky affirms a “link” of sensitivity / physiology. The origins of this “link” are in the sentimentalism of the 18th century. This “link” finds a religious projection in the phenomenon of “yurodstvo” (foolishness). Therefore, Bakhtin’s final interpretation of Dostoevsky (1963) is driven by the pathos of the “justification” of the writer, whose integrity of the artistic world is mainly realized through the religious “image of the world” (aft er all, the “image of the world” and not the “world” itself).

Optimised Extraction of Archaeological Features from Full 3-D GPR Data

The use of non-invasive methodologies is becoming essential for archaeological research, and ground penetrating radar is one of the most important techniques to obtain high resolution information. In this paper we present the analysis of a full 3-D GPR dataset integrated with a high-resolution photogrammetric survey acquired in a Roman archaeological site located in Aquileia (Northeast Italy) within the partially excavated area known as “Fondo Pasqualis”. We evaluated the importance of dense and accurate data collection and of processing of the GPR signal for characterization of the archaeological features. We further discuss the parametrization and the applicability of GPR attributes, in particular amplitude-based and coherence attributes, to better identify and characterise the archaeological buried targets. Furthermore, autopicking procedures for isosurfaces mapping were critically evaluated with the objective of detecting complex structures. The final interpretation of all the GPR features, with the support of digital terrain modelling and orthophotos from unmanned aerial vehicles, guided the archaeologists to open and excavate newly selected areas, which revealed interesting structures and contributed to the understanding of the historical events that characterized the Aquileia city.

What causes lingering misinterpretations of garden-path sentences: Incorrect syntactic representations or fallible memory processes?

A key question in research on sentence processing concerns how sentences that have been misanalyzed are reinterpreted, and to what extent the parser’s attempts at revision are successful. Past work has shown that misinterpretations associated with a syntactic misparse linger even after the entire sentence has been processed (Christianson, Hollingworth, Halliwell, & Ferreira, 2001; Slattery, Sturt, Christianson, Yoshida and Ferreira, 2013). In two reading experiments, we sought to evaluate the level of representation that is responsible for misinterpretations of garden-path sentences. We combined reading measures with an offline comprehension task, which enabled us to conditionalize reading time analyses on correct versus incorrect question-answering performance. Our results suggest that reanalysis does not always result in a correct interpretation, either because the final interpretation does not always reflect the global structure or because reanalysis processes result in the creation of licit local trees but fail to generate a complete global parse for the entire sentence.

Accuracy and other quality indicators of solid pancreatic mass endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine needle aspiration and biopsy in two academic endoscopy centers

Background and aims : Endoscopic ultrasound fine-needleaspiration/biopsy (EUS-FNA/FNB) is highly accurate, but dis-crepancies between cytological and surgical diagnoses are stillobserved. We aimed to determine its accuracy and monitor qualityindicators in our facilities. Patients and methods : We performed a retrospective review ofall cases of pancreatic solid lesions evaluated by EUS-FNA/FNB,between July 2015 and June 2018, in two centers. Cytologicaland surgical findings were categorized into five groups: benign,malignant, suspect of malignancy, undetermined and insufficientfor diagnosis. Final diagnosis was based on surgical diagnosis and,in patients who did not undergo surgery, on clinical outcome after6 months follow-up. Results : Altogether, 142 patients were included. FNA was thepreferred tissue acquisition method (88%), with a predilection forthe FNA 22G needle (57%). Cytology was insufficient for diagnosisin 2 cases, therefore a full diagnostic sample was available in 98.6%of the patients (>90%, ESGE target). Fifty-five (38.7%) patientsunderwent surgery. In term of cancer diagnosis, comparison withfinal surgical pathology (n=55) revealed 89% true positives, 5.5%true negatives, 3.6% false positives and 1.8% false negatives. Whencombining surgical diagnosis and clinical outcomes together, EUS-guided sampling sensitivity was 97.4% (92.5-99.5), specificity was92.3% (74.9-99.1), positive predictive value was 98.2% (93.6-99.5),negative predictive value was 88.9% (72.3-96.1) and accuracy was96.4% (91.9-98.8). Post-procedural acute pancreatitis was reportedin 2 patients (1.4%). Conclusions : These results reveal a performance for diagnostictissue sampling well above the ESGE proposed target standard.Also, the uncommon high specificity illustrates the determiningrole of the pathologist’s final interpretation and diagnosis.