This dissertation considers packet-switched wireless networks for transmission of variable-rate layered hybrid video streams. Target applications are video streaming and broadcasting services. The work can be divided into two main parts. In the first part, a novel quality-scalable scheme based on coefficient refinement and encoder quality constraints is developed as a possible extension to the video coding standard H.264. After a technical introduction to the coding tools of H.264 with the main focus on error resilience features, various quality scalability schemes in previous research are reviewed. Based on this discussion, an encoder decoder framework is designed for an arbitrary number of quality layers, hereby also enabling region-of-interest coding. After that, the performance of the new system is exhaustively tested, showing that the bit rate increase typically encountered with scalable hybrid coding schemes is, for certain coding parameters, only small to moderate. The double- and triple-layer constellations of the framework are shown to perform superior to other systems. The second part considers layered code streams as generated by the scheme of the first part. Various error propagation issues in hybrid streams are discussed, which leads to the definition of a decoder quality constraint and a segmentation of the code stream to transmit. A packetization scheme based on successive source rate consumption is drafted, followed by the formulation of the channel code rate optimization problem for an optimum assignment of available codes to the channel packets. Proper MSE-based error metrics are derived, incorporating the properties of the source signal, a terminate-on-error decoding strategy, error concealment, inter-packet dependencies, and the channel conditions. The Viterbi algorithm is presented as a low-complexity solution to the optimization problem, showing a great adaptivity of the joint source channel coding scheme to the channel conditions. An almost constant image qualiity is achieved, also in mismatch situations, while the overall channel code rate decreases only as little as necessary as the channel quality deteriorates. It is further shown that the variance of code distributions is only small, and that the codes are assigned irregularly to all channel packets. A double-layer constellation of the framework clearly outperforms other schemes with a substantial margin. Keywords — Digital lossy video compression, visual communication, variable bit rate (VBR), SNR scalability, layered image processing, quality layer, hybrid code stream, predictive coding, progressive bit stream, joint source channel coding, fidelity constraint, channel error robustness, resilience, concealment, packet-switched, mobile and wireless ATM, noisy transmission, packet loss, binary symmetric channel, streaming, broadcasting, satellite and radio links, H.264, MPEG-4 AVC, Viterbi, trellis, unequal error protection

Syftet med denna uppsats är att identifiera den mest effektiva egenskapen av en text eller sida för att uppnå visuell hierarki, som är ett verktyg för att få det önskade flödet av uppmärksamhet i en sida eller webbsida genom att ge vissa element en viss vikt i kontrast, storlek och placering. Vi vill ge en möjlighet för vidare forskning snarare än att ge en slutsats som ger ett slutgiltigt svar på frågeställningarna. Det finns fler sätt att manipulera text för att uppnå önskad visuell hierarki men vi valde de vanligaste. Detta arbete är baserat på ett experiment som görs på 50 deltagare med ett onlinefrågeformulär och tre självgjorda bilder där vi kan utvärdera resultaten, jämföra dem med andra teorier och beräkna den mest effektiva uppmärksamhetsgivaren. Vi har också utvecklat en hypotes om vad resultatet kommer att visa. Vår studie föreslår att kontrasten i färg kan vara den viktigaste faktorn för att uppnå och upprätthålla visuell hierarki. / The purpose of this paper is to identify the most effective property of a text or a page to achieve visual hierarchy, which is a tool for getting the desired flow of attention in a page or a web page by giving certain elements a degree of weight in contrast, size and positioning.We want to give an opportunity for further research rather than an absolute conclusion of how it really is. There are more ways to manipulate text to achieve the desired visual hierarchy but we choose the most common. This paper is based on an experiment involving 50 participants with an online questionnaire and three self-made pictures where we will evaluate the results, compare them with other theories and calculate the most effective enhancer of attention. We have also developed a hypothesis on what the results will show. Our study proposes that contrast in color might be the most important factor to achieve and maintain visual hierarchy.

Kils slakteri är ett slakteri med stora anor i Värmland. De har sedan nystarten 2010 sakta men säkert vuxit sig större och levererar köttprodukter till olika butiker och inrättningar, men även till gemene man via deras egna charkuteri. Företaget har starka värderingar och arbetar för att skapa en lokal profil där de strävar efter en spårbarhet genom hela kedjan, från uppfödning till konsument vilket skiljer dem från de stora konkurrenterna.   Vi har fått i uppdrag av Kils slakteri att skapa en informationsfilm som ska uppfylla deras önskemål som innebär att öka medvetenheten hos konsumenterna, och att marknadsföra företagets värderingar och budskap till målgruppen på ett så tilltalande sätt som möjligt. Slutprodukten skall ligga uppe på Kils slakteris hemsida och kommer att vara ca 6 minuter lång.   Vi har gjort en kvantitativ enkätundersökning med 100 respondenter ur vår kunds egendefinerade målgrupp. Syftet med enkäten var inte att ta reda på målgrupp, utan snarare att ta reda på vad den existerande målgruppen trodde sig kunna om köttproduktion och konsumtion, samt vad de hade för åsikter och attityder gentemot köttindustrin. Detta gjordes för att vi skulle se vilka punkter som var viktigast att framhäva extra i infomationsfilmen.   Informationsfilmen är uppdelad i fyra olika scener som är sammankopplade i kronologisk ordning. Varje scen berör en av de fyra viktigaste huvudfrågorna för vår kund som är: Djuruppfödning, kötthantering, försäljning/kundkontakt och till sist tillagning av kött. Man får som betraktare följa med genom hela processen, som berättas med hjälp av en kvinnlig berättarröst. Denna röst har även en roll i att knyta ihop de olika scenerna i filmen. Två personer från slakteriet finns även med i filmen där de berättar närmare i detalj om de olika momenten. Den första scenen är på bondgården, den andra i styckeriet, den tredje i butiken och den fjärde och sista utspelar sig i en trädgård där tillagningen sker. / Kils slakteri is a slaughterhouse with great traditions in Värmland. They have grown slow and steady since the reopening in 2010 and they deliver meat products to an array of different supermarkets and institutions, as well as to regular households through their own charcuterie. The company possesses strong values and works towards maintaining a local profile, in which they strive to create transparency through the whole process from breeding of the animals to the finished product for the consumer, which differ from the competitors in the business.   We have been given the task to create an infomercial that will meet Kils slakteris wishes with the film, which is to increase the consumer’s awareness, promote the companies values and reach out with their message to their audiences in the most appealing way possible. The end product will be displayed on their homepage and will be approximately 6 minutes long.   We made a survey with 100 respondents from our clients target audience. The purpose with the survey was not to estimate which people who are a part of the target audience, but to gain knowledge about what the target audience thought they knew about meat production and consumption, as well as to get an insight to what attitudes they had towards the meat industry. We used the answers from the survey as an indicator to which factors that needed most attention in the film.   The infomercial is divided in to four different scenes that are linked together in a chronological order. Each scene concerns one of four main topics which are: breeding, tenderization of meat, sales/costumer contact and last the cooking of meat. As a viewer you get to tag along a journey through the whole process, which is narrated by a female voice who also fills the purpose of binding the scenes together. Two representatives from the slaughterhouse is also present in the film to act as themselves as they talk about the main topics in detail. The first scene takes place at the farm, the second in the slaughter house, the third in the charcuterie and the fourth and last is a cooking scene in a backyard.

This dissertation critically evaluates the intersections of tourism, heritage conservation, and visual communication by exploring the display materials and Museology within the Didima Rock Art Centre, at Cathedral Peak, southern Drakensberg, KwaZulu-Natal. The text consists of three chapters. The first chapter introduces rock art and current research and conservation concerns in relation to heritage and rock art. The second chapter serves as an introduction to the Didima Rock Art Centre. A discussion raises important issues about visual communication in regard to the representation of the Southern San and rock art as material culture both in this museum context. Chapter three investigates and analyses the museum practices that have been used as a visual communication within the Centre by discussing methods that have been used in the museum and its auditorium. A conclusion follows that summarizes the candidate's findings regarding museum display within the Centre, and its impact on tourism and heritage conservation in relation to the Southern San and rock art. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2006.

Abstract: During the past decade, media researchers have intensified the study of media scandals and the role of journalism as an institution that holds social actors responsible for malfeasance and wrongdoings. On a micro level of analysis, the main attention has beendirected towards the journalistic interview and its use to promote the impression of guilt and journalistic neutrality. However, such studies have not been able to address the editing dimension of TV journalism that transforms conversation to another type of communicativepractice – that of communication through TV-flows composed of speech sequences, pictures,and sounds. This doctoral thesis develops a theoretical framework for analysis of the functions of editing inthe process of guilt attribution by journalistic TV-flows – e.g. investigative TV reporting. The purpose is also to contribute to an understanding of the relationship between the communicative competences of viewers and the contextualization of speech acts through the composition of TV-flows. The developed perspective consists of three parts: 1) A division of viewers’ reception of TV-flows in two types of interpersonal relations (to a speaker and to the composer) that involves six levels of cognitive activities. This division is based on the Habermasian notion of communicative rationality; 2) An intent-model, that lists communicative intentions expressed by the composer when speech sequences are merged and pictures are inserted; 3) A guilt-model, that encompasses guilt as a mental structure of ontologically separated elements (e.g. deed,intention, norm) and the associative relations that the viewer uses to create a meaningful whole– a fabula of guilt. The conveyed analysis of three cases of investigative reporting illustrates how the developed framework can be applied in the study of guilt attribution. The analyses also describe several compositional strategies by which the viewer is encouraged to make certain meaning, evaluate, and judge. The strategies concern the following areas: promotion of certain understanding of speech, promotion of certain evaluation of the validity claims, and promotion of certain understanding of the speaker’s intentions. Also strategies of positioning of the reporter in constructed discourses, that enhance the impression of her performances and argumentation, are explored. Furthermore, the composer’s strategies for masking intentions to interfere with the speech acts, by increasing intent ambiguity, are described. The guilt-model is used to understand the workings of the TV-flow on an overreaching level of meaning (the fabula level). Here, the analysis explains the interplay between portrayed intentions and acts, and the different ways in which condemning norms can be activated and highlighted. Furthermore, the model explores the possible employment of categorization in theprocess of guilt attribution (e.g. when properties of an individual are transferred to a group). In sum, this thesis contributes to a new way of understanding the reception of current affairs programs and TV journalism, as relation building between composer and viewer, by means of contextualization of speech acts.

The aim of this study was to critically analyse the visual and verbal language used on printed adverts by some selected banks in Zimbabwe. A semiotic theory was used to analyse the printed adverts. The study revealed that all the banks use stereotyped language in communicating their messages to potential customers. Some audiences identified with this stereotyped languages, though others were also critical of stereotyped adverts. This paradox is dependent on the uneven levels of social consciousness of the audiences. The study argues that communication between banks and the potential customers is a product of negotiation of meaning at the point of reception of the printed adverts. The study then recommended the use of gender, race and class neutral language in order to enhance the effectiveness of advertisements. Future research into the study of the language of advertisement should focus on the problem of copyright infringement in advertising. / African Languages / M.A. (African languages)

Unmasking the heroes: sources of power in Afrikaner mythologising is a personal, visual and theoretical exploration of the underlying sources of power which governed the development of Afrikaner nationalism, particularly the years spanning the late 1980s and the early 1990s. The practical work, a series of drawings and relief cut-outs, sets out to unmask the beliefs, customs, traditions and attitudes particular to Afrikaner culture. It does so through the processes of deconstruction and reconstruction of selected mass mediated images whereby different symbolic paradigms are juxtaposed through the devices of collage and allegory to uncover layers of meaning. This art-making approach was informed by theoretical and visual research into the tradition of Western mythology, including related topics such as linguistics, psychology and sociology, Afrikaner history and historiography, and the mechanisms of contemporary cultural reproduction, particularly the South African mass media and fine arts. / History of Art and Fine Arts / M.A. (History of Art and Fine Arts)

Summaries in Afrikaans and English / The transformative mission of the White Paper on Education (1995: 19) states that the South African education system is moving towards a single, national, non-racial system where all people are offered equil opportunities. Demographic and other changes make particular demands on the education system. The HSRC (1987:54) claim that distance edcation is increasingly viewed as a possible solution for educational problems. The literature study aims to motivate, from an andragogic-didactical perspective, the use of two-dimensional silent images in study material. A literature study was also undertaken on the perception of silent images and the elements involved in the perception of depth, movement, size, colour, etc., from which certain didactic guidelines were deducted with a view to the design of silent images. The ability of distance education students to identify the elements above, was emperically researched. The validity of the didactic guidelines were verified in this phase. / Die transformatiewe missie van die Witskrif vir Onderwys (1995: 19) stel dit dat die Suid-Afrikaanse onderwysstelsel oorgaan na 'n "enkele nasionale, nie-rassige stelsel" waar daar gelyke geleenthede vir aile mense gebied word. Demografiese en ander veranderinge stel besondere eise aan die onderwysstelsel. Die RGN (1987: 54) stel dit dat afstandsonderrig al meer as 'n moontlike oplossing gesien vir die onderwysprobleme. Die literatuurstudie het dit ten doe! om die gebruik van tweedimensionele stilbeelde in studiemateriaal in die Suid-Afrikaanse situasie andragogies-didakties te fundeer. 'n Literatuurstudie oor die persepsie van stilbeelde en die elemente wat betrokke is by die persepsie van diepte, beweging, grootte, kleur, ens. is gedoen waaruit sekere didaktiese riglyne met die oog op die ontwerp van stilbeelde gestel is. Die afstandsonderrigstudente se vermoe om bogenoemde elemente waar te neem, was empiries nagevors. Die geldigheid van die didaktiese riglyne is tydens hierdie fase geveri fireer. / Educational Studies / M. Ed. (Didaktiek)

The research aims at investigate the production process of the video |Mulheres Mangabeiras| (mangaba pickers women) in order to verify whether and how there was use of participatory methods. This is a qualitative and descriptive research, based on methodological procedures such as literature review and data collection through open interviews. Data analysis layed upon extracts from women speeches, which contains indicators about their involvement in ex tractive production, as well as their perceptions about public visibility and empowerment offered by the video production. The results show that mangabeiras were protagonists in a kind of participatory communication, pointing to the potential of participatory processes in audiovisual production as a reaffirmation of individual and collective identities, which also brings out critical mind, dialogue promotion and a conflict management tool. / A pesquisa tem como objeto a investigação do processo produção do vídeo "Mulheres Mangabeiras", visando verificar se e como houve emprego de métodos participativos. Trata-se de uma pesquisa qualitativa, de natureza descritiva, tendo como procedimentos metodológicos a revisão bibliográfica e a pesquisa de campo através de entrevistas abertas. A análise dos dados, realizada a partir de extratos de indicadores nas falas, buscou verificar o tipo de participação dessas extrativistas na produção, bem como suas percepções acerca da visibilidade pública e das ações de empoderamento proporcionadas pelo vídeo. Os resultados demonstram que as mangabeiras foram protagonistas de um tipo de comunicação participativa, apontando para as potencialidades dos processos participativos na produção audiovisual enquanto ferramenta de reafirmação de identidades individuais e coletivas, reflexão crítica, promoção de diálogo e administração de conflitos.

Este trabalho investiga elementos da narrativa jornalística contemporânea presentes na programação televisiva e discute o caráter híbrido das tecnologias da comunicação. A partir da análise de programas que retratam a tragédia acontecida na cidade de Santa Maria em janeiro de 2013,são utilizadas bases semióticas e analíticas no intuito de compreender referenciais comuns pelos quais esse tipo de comunicação opera na transmissão de suas mensagens e pontos de vista acerca do real. Traz como resultado a comprovação dos usos dessas estratégias de representação desses dentro do recorte analisado, o que serve como evidência da constante reafirmação de discursos generalistas a respeito dos fenômenos sociais, reeditados em novas bases tecnológicas. / This work investigates elements of contemporary journalistic narrative present in television programming and discusses the hybrid character of communication technologies . From the analysis of programs that depict the tragedy that took place in the city of Santa Maria in January 2013,semiotic and analytical bases are used in order to include common reference by which this type of communication operates in the transmission of messages on reality . It brings as a result the evidences of representation strategies within the analyzed cut. The conclusion serves as evidence of the constant reaffirmation of general discourse about social phenomena, reissued in new technological basis.