title: Feature extractor stacking for cross-domain few-shot learning

authors: Wang, Hongyu

subjects: computer science

abstract: Cross-domain few-shot learning (CDFSL) addresses learning problems where knowledge needs to be transferred from one or more source domains into an instance-scarce target domain with an explicitly different distribution. Recently published CDFSL methods generally construct a universal model that combines knowledge of multiple source domains into one feature extractor. This enables efficient inference but necessitates re-computation of the extractor whenever a new source domain is added. Some of these methods are also incompatible with heterogeneous source domain extractor architectures. We propose feature extractor stacking (FES), a new CDFSL method for combining information from a collection of extractors, that can utilise heterogeneous pretrained extractors out of the box and does not maintain a universal model that needs to be re-computed when its extractor collection is updated. We present the basic FES algorithm, which is inspired by the classic stacked generalisation approach, and also introduce two variants: convolutional FES (ConFES) and regularised FES (ReFES). Given a target-domain task, these algorithms fine-tune each extractor independently, use cross-validation to extract training data for stacked generalisation from the support set, and learn a simple linear stacking classifier from this data. We evaluate our FES methods on the well-known Meta-Dataset benchmark, targeting image classification with convolutional neural networks, and show that they can achieve state-of-the-art performance.

text: Feature extractor stacking for cross-domain few-shot learning Cross-domain few-shot learning (CDFSL) addresses learning problems where knowledge needs to be transferred from one or more source domains into an instance-scarce target domain with an explicitly different distribution. Recently published CDFSL methods generally construct a universal model that combines knowledge of multiple source domains into one feature extractor. This enables efficient inference but necessitates re-computation of the extractor whenever a new source domain is added. Some of these methods are also incompatible with heterogeneous source domain extractor architectures. We propose feature extractor stacking (FES), a new CDFSL method for combining information from a collection of extractors, that can utilise heterogeneous pretrained extractors out of the box and does not maintain a universal model that needs to be re-computed when its extractor collection is updated. We present the basic FES algorithm, which is inspired by the classic stacked generalisation approach, and also introduce two variants: convolutional FES (ConFES) and regularised FES (ReFES). Given a target-domain task, these algorithms fine-tune each extractor independently, use cross-validation to extract training data for stacked generalisation from the support set, and learn a simple linear stacking classifier from this data. We evaluate our FES methods on the well-known Meta-Dataset benchmark, targeting image classification with convolutional neural networks, and show that they can achieve state-of-the-art performance.

year: 2023-11-30

title: The prosecution of environmental offences in New Zealand

authors: Daya-Winterbottom, Trevor

subjects: law

abstract: This paper will examine the background law regarding environmental offences under the Resource Management Act 1991 (NZ), prosecution trends, sentencing for RMA offences (including principles of sentencing, sentencing discretion, legislative guidance, appellate guidance, guideline judgments, and tariffs), the use of costs in conjunction with sentencing, recent appeal judgments, and finally draw conclusions regarding consistency and sentencing in relation to environmental offences. Where relevant comparisons will be made with the Australian jurisdictions.

text: The prosecution of environmental offences in New Zealand This paper will examine the background law regarding environmental offences under the Resource Management Act 1991 (NZ), prosecution trends, sentencing for RMA offences (including principles of sentencing, sentencing discretion, legislative guidance, appellate guidance, guideline judgments, and tariffs), the use of costs in conjunction with sentencing, recent appeal judgments, and finally draw conclusions regarding consistency and sentencing in relation to environmental offences. Where relevant comparisons will be made with the Australian jurisdictions.

year: 2008

title: Te Awa Atua, Te Awa Tapu, Te Awa Wahine: An examination of stories, ceremonies and practices regarding menstruation in the pre-colonial Māori world.

authors: Murphy, Ngahuia Aroha Grace

subjects: mana wahine

abstract: This thesis examines Māori cosmological stories, ceremonies, and traditional practices regarding menstruation in pre-colonial Māori society. I use kaupapa Māori and mana wahine as a theoretical and methodological framework, contextualising these stories within Māori cultural paradigms.This is important because menstruation has been framed within deeply misogynist, colonial ideologies in some ethnographic accounts, distorting menstrual rites and practices beyond recognition. These interpretations have been used to inform colonialist narratives of female inferiority in traditional Māori society, attempting to change Native constructs of womanhood. Such narratives have been perpetuated in contemporary literature, reinforcing powerful discourses of menstrual pollution and female inferiority. This thesis is a challenge to such representations. By examining menstrual stories located in Māori cosmologies, and investigating tribal histories, oral literatures, ceremonies and rites, I argue that menstruation was seen as a medium of whakapapa (genealogy) that connected Māori women to our pantheon of atua (supernatural beings). A study of ancient menstrual rites, recorded in tribal songs and chants, reveal that menstrual blood was used for psychic and spiritual protection. These examples unveil striking Indigenous constructs of womanhood that transform colonialist interpretations and radically challenge notions of female inferiority and menstrual pollution. I maintain in this thesis that presenting menstruation and menstrual blood as putrid is a politically motivated act of colonial violence that specifically targets the source of our continuity as Indigenous People, the whare tangata (house of humanity – womb of women). I pose the question ‘if menstrual blood symbolises whakapapa, what does it mean to present it as ‘unclean’ and how do such representations cut across the politics of tino rangatiratanga (autonomy)?’ Through in-depth semi-structured interviews, kōrero (dialogue), and wānanga (series of conversations) with Māori women, including cultural experts, scholars, artists, and mana wahine exponents, I gather a collection of ceremonies, stories, and wisdoms that reclaim Māori spiritualities which celebrate menstruation as divine. Within the context of a colonial history of marginalisation, this work is an activist site of political resistance which takes a step towards re-threading the feminine strands in the spiritual fabric of our world, torn asunder by the ideological imposition of a colonial, Christian male god. I argue, that menstruation is a potent site of decolonisation, cultural reclamation, and resistance toward the perpetuation of colonial hegemony.

text: Te Awa Atua, Te Awa Tapu, Te Awa Wahine: An examination of stories, ceremonies and practices regarding menstruation in the pre-colonial Māori world. This thesis examines Māori cosmological stories, ceremonies, and traditional practices regarding menstruation in pre-colonial Māori society. I use kaupapa Māori and mana wahine as a theoretical and methodological framework, contextualising these stories within Māori cultural paradigms.This is important because menstruation has been framed within deeply misogynist, colonial ideologies in some ethnographic accounts, distorting menstrual rites and practices beyond recognition. These interpretations have been used to inform colonialist narratives of female inferiority in traditional Māori society, attempting to change Native constructs of womanhood. Such narratives have been perpetuated in contemporary literature, reinforcing powerful discourses of menstrual pollution and female inferiority. This thesis is a challenge to such representations. By examining menstrual stories located in Māori cosmologies, and investigating tribal histories, oral literatures, ceremonies and rites, I argue that menstruation was seen as a medium of whakapapa (genealogy) that connected Māori women to our pantheon of atua (supernatural beings). A study of ancient menstrual rites, recorded in tribal songs and chants, reveal that menstrual blood was used for psychic and spiritual protection. These examples unveil striking Indigenous constructs of womanhood that transform colonialist interpretations and radically challenge notions of female inferiority and menstrual pollution. I maintain in this thesis that presenting menstruation and menstrual blood as putrid is a politically motivated act of colonial violence that specifically targets the source of our continuity as Indigenous People, the whare tangata (house of humanity – womb of women). I pose the question ‘if menstrual blood symbolises whakapapa, what does it mean to present it as ‘unclean’ and how do such representations cut across the politics of tino rangatiratanga (autonomy)?’ Through in-depth semi-structured interviews, kōrero (dialogue), and wānanga (series of conversations) with Māori women, including cultural experts, scholars, artists, and mana wahine exponents, I gather a collection of ceremonies, stories, and wisdoms that reclaim Māori spiritualities which celebrate menstruation as divine. Within the context of a colonial history of marginalisation, this work is an activist site of political resistance which takes a step towards re-threading the feminine strands in the spiritual fabric of our world, torn asunder by the ideological imposition of a colonial, Christian male god. I argue, that menstruation is a potent site of decolonisation, cultural reclamation, and resistance toward the perpetuation of colonial hegemony.

year: 2011