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Weiye Loh

Face to face | plus.maths.org - 0 views

plus.maths.org/face-face

Mathematics Content Analysis Gender

shared by Weiye Loh on 13 Jul 11 - No Cached
  • Despite the crisp clear details and blended colours, a photo is just a series of dots, called pixels, of different colours. Any photo, including one of your own lovely visage, is represented in a computer as a long string of numbers, each representing the colour at a particular pixel. Just as a string of three numbers marks a point in three-dimensional space (it gives its coordinates), so a string of N numbers sits in what mathematicians think of as N-dimensional space: so mathematically you can think of a photo as a point in an N-dimensional space, where N is the number of pixels in the photo.
  • First of all the researchers calculate the average face by simply averaging the values at each pixel over all the photos in the set. This new string of numbers represents the average face and the position of the points representing the other faces show how they differ from the average face.
  • Principal component analysis uses a statistical concept called variance to measure how the set of faces, viewed as points in N-dimensional space, is spread out. It calculates the first principal component to be the direction from the average face in which the set spreads out the most. Then it looks for the second principal component: the direction that is perpendicular to the first component, in which the set spreads out the most. Then for a third principal component, perpendicular to the first two, in which the set spreads out the most, and so on.
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  • Using PCA, McOwan and his colleagues produced a face space in which each face is represented by a string of 20, rather than N, numbers, giving a much more manageable 20 dimensions. These dimensions correspond to the first 20 principal components. Any face is represented by a point in the face space, with the coordinates describing just how that face differs from the average face with respect to each of these principal components.
Weiye Loh

Clothing firms 'sexualise' pre-teen girls: study -  Lifestyle on xinmsn - 0 views

lifestyle.xin.msn.com/...article.aspx

Sexuality Gender Stereotype Content Analysis

shared by Weiye Loh on 10 May 11 - No Cached

  • An example of a "childlike" characteristic would be a top with a butterfly print in pastel colours.

    In contrast, a bikini was coded as "revealing" because it exposed the waist and part of the chest. The bikini was considered "emphasising" if, for instance, it outlined each breast with triangular pieces of fabric.

    Similarly, highly-decorated back pockets on trousers -- adorned, for instance, with a bird or sequins -- were deemed "emphasising" because they drew attention to the buttocks.

    Material that was lingerie-like (such as in slinky red or black fabric) or in leopard or zebra prints was categorised as having characteristics associated with sexiness.

  • Sixty-nine percent of the clothing assessed in the study had only child-like characteristics.
  • Four percent had only sexualising characteristics, while 25 percent had both sexualising and childlike characteristics. One percent had neither sexualised nor child-like characteristics.
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  • Its authors say girls face escalating demands placed to meet the Western stereotype of slimness and sexiness. The pressures of "self-objectification" can lead to body dissatisfaction, depression, low confidence and poor self-esteem.

    "The co-occurrence of sexualising and child-like characteristics makes the sexualisation present in girl's clothing covert," it says.

    "Confused parents parents might be persuaded to buy the leopard-pink miniskirt if it's bright pink. Clearly, sexiness is still visible beneath the bows or tie-dye colours."

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