This paper studies mathematical methods in the emerging new discipline of Computational Anatomy. Herein we formalize the Brown/Washington University model of anatomy following the global pattern theory introduced in [1, 2], in which anatomies are represented as deformable templates, collections of 0,1,2,3-dimensional manifolds. Typical structure is carried by the template with the variabilities accommodated via the application of random transformations to the background manifolds. The anatomical model is a quadruple (0,W, X,V), the background space f2 = \JaMa of 0,1,2,3-dimensional manifolds, the set of diffeomorphic transformations on the background space W : <-> O, the space of idealized medical imagery X, and V the family of probability measures on H. The group of diffeomorphic transformations H is chosen to be rich enough so that a large family of shapes may be generated with the topologies of the template maintained. For normal anatomy one deformable template is studied, with (f1,H,X) corresponding to a homogeneous space [3], in that it can be completely generated from one of its elements, X = Tiltemp-, hemp £ For disease, a family of templates Ua I"emp are introduced of perhaps varying dimensional transformation classes. The complete anatomy is a collection of homogeneous spaces Xtotai — UQ(^a> ~Ha )There are three principal components to computational anatomy studied herein. (1) Computation of large deformation maps: Given any two elements 1,1' £ X in the same homogeneous anatomy (fl,7i,X), compute diffeomorphisms h from one h anatomy to the other I1I'. This is the principal method by which anatomical Received May 5, 1998.

The Power of Maps

Computational anatomy: an emerging discipline

Two developments in cartography mark an epistemic break with the assumption that maps are unproblematic communication devices. These are 1) investigations of maps as practices of power-knowledge; and 2) 'geographic visualization' (GVis) which uses the map's power to explore, analyze and visualize spatial datasets to understand patterns better. These developments are key components of a 'maps as social constructions' approach, emphasizing the genealogy of power in mapping practices, and enabling multiple, contingent and exploratory perspectives of data. Furthermore, this approach is an opportunity for cartography to renew its relationship with a critical human geography.

background or methods

/pdf/maps-as-social-constructions-power-communication-and-5360d80tox.pdf

Maps as social constructions: power, communication and visualization

This paper contributes to a reappraisal of the sociological significance of the medical record. Building upon re-evaluations of the notion of ‘representation’ in ethnomethodological and science and technology studies, it attempts to portray the medical record as an artefact which mediates the social relations that act and work through it. Through practices of reading and writing, it is argued, the medical record figures as a fundamental, constitutive element of medical practice. To address some of the dimensions that are involved, three case fragments are discussed. The way the medical record enters into the process of ‘medical decision making’ in the doctor-patient interaction, and into that interaction itself, is discussed first. Subsequently, some aspects of how the record mediates medical work as it is performed in the wards of a hospital are outlined. A third instance of its prominent role demonstrates how practices of reading and writing tend to produce particular renderings of patients’ histories - including notions of how medical work is structured.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/1467-9566.ep10939100

Practices of reading and writing: the constitutive role of the patient record in medical work

In February 2000, twenty years after their victories brought Rhodesia's ruling white regime to the conference table, veterans of Zimbabwe's war of liberation began to occupy some of the large privately owned commercial farms that controlled Zimbabwe's most valuable land. During the next few weeks, thousands of people followed suit: by May, nearly a third of the country's large-scale commercial farms had been seized (New York Times, 27 May 2000; Moyo 1998). Armed with a court order, landowners demanded that the “squatters” be evicted, but the police demurred, and President Mugabe refused to order them to carry out the court's instructions. A few weeks earlier, voters had rejected a proposed constitutional amendment that would have strengthened the President's powers to seize white-owned land, without compensation, for redistribution to land-hungry blacks. Angry over the deteriorating economy, rising levels of corruption, and Zimbabwe's costly involvement in Congo's civil war, a majority of those who voted were unwilling to increase the President's powers, even if they supported the cause of land reform. When the veterans took matters into their own hands, Mugabe lost no time in associating with their cause. He, in turn, was accused by Western governments, the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, and the international press, of sacrificing the rule of law in order to save his own political skin.

background

Debating the land question in Africa

This article, and the collection of essays it introduces, discusses the development and use of participatory mapping (PM) in Latin America. The methodology, with roots in participant observation and collaborative research, represents the fullest involvement of local people who are trained to do research or applied work with the researcher, facilitator, or team. PM transforms cognitive spatial knowledge into map and descriptive forms. Two types exist: one type, including participatory action research mapping (PARM) and participatory rural appraisal mapping (PRAM), uses mapping for social action; the other, participatory research mapping (PRM), aims at research. The PM approach developed among geographers and anthropologists studying indigenous populations in Latin America. The articles in the collection detail five different PM projects working with about 20 different indigenous populations, living in some of the region’s most important conservation lands in Mosquitia, Veraguas, Darien, and western Amazonia. The projects show how PM has become a “keystone activity” in a wide range of research and development work. This novel methodology for collecting geographic information is helping to meet a variety of research and societal needs. Indeed, the superior results from some applications challenge even the most deeply rooted norms about the construction of cartographic knowledge.

The Power of Maps

Citations

Computational anatomy: an emerging discipline

Maps as social constructions: power, communication and visualization

Practices of reading and writing: the constitutive role of the patient record in medical work

Debating the land question in Africa

Maps of, by, and for the Peoples of Latin America

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