title: Catnesses

authors: Legg, Catherine

subjects: philosophy

abstract: An introduction to cat metaphysics.

text: Catnesses An introduction to cat metaphysics.

year: 2008

title: Scaling up semi-supervised learning: An efficient and effective LLGC variant

authors: Pfahringer, Bernhard

subjects: computer science

abstract: Domains like text classification can easily supply large amounts of unlabeled data, but labeling itself is expensive. Semi- supervised learning tries to exploit this abundance of unlabeled training data to improve classification. Unfortunately most of the theoretically well-founded algorithms that have been described in recent years are cubic or worse in the total number of both labeled and unlabeled training examples. In this paper we apply modifications to the standard LLGC algorithm to improve efficiency to a point where we can handle datasets with hundreds of thousands of training data. The modifications are priming of the unlabeled data, and most importantly, sparsification of the similarity matrix. We report promising results on large text classification problems.

text: Scaling up semi-supervised learning: An efficient and effective LLGC variant Domains like text classification can easily supply large amounts of unlabeled data, but labeling itself is expensive. Semi- supervised learning tries to exploit this abundance of unlabeled training data to improve classification. Unfortunately most of the theoretically well-founded algorithms that have been described in recent years are cubic or worse in the total number of both labeled and unlabeled training examples. In this paper we apply modifications to the standard LLGC algorithm to improve efficiency to a point where we can handle datasets with hundreds of thousands of training data. The modifications are priming of the unlabeled data, and most importantly, sparsification of the similarity matrix. We report promising results on large text classification problems.

year: 2007

title: Contextualising Māori writing: a study of prose fiction written in English by Witi Ihimaera, Patricia Grace, Keri Hulme and Alan Duff

authors: Calvert, Julia Helen

abstract: All prose fiction written in English by Māori is political on one level or another. The authors considered in this thesis, Witi Ihimaera, Patricia Grace, Keri Hulme and Alan Duff, choose to identify as Māori, but for each writer exactly what this entails implies something different. The diverse range of Māori characters represented in their work illustrates the heterogeneity of contemporary Māori identity. Whilst bearing in mind that there is no fixed Māori identity, this thesis proposes that all fiction written in English by Māori is motivated by a belief that Māori are a disadvantaged group within New Zealand society. 

Three of the four writers, Ihimaera, Grace and Hulme, write against a background of colonisation. Their fiction confronts grievances based on perceived injustices committed against Māori in the past by European colonists and is concerned with the restoration of Māori rights pertaining to land, language, identity and political voice. While all three engage with these issues in their fiction, this thesis specifically considers the way in which Ihimaera treats the theme of land, Grace focuses on issues of education and Hulme explores Māori mythology.

Alan Duff stands apart from the other three writers in his belief that colonisation is not to blame for contemporary Māori disadvantage. Rather, Duff considers the situation to be the result of inherent flaws within Māori society. Through his often didactic writing he proposes that improved Māori socioeconomic levels can only be achieved through a radical structural and economic re-evaluation of Māori culture.

This thesis contextualises the work of the four authors and explores the ways in which their fiction engages with historical and contemporary issues of “race relations” and cultural identity in New Zealand. A sociological approach has been applied to the texts. This approach derives from the Māori writers’ own insistent reading of contemporary Māori identity as the product of historical encounter between Māori and Pākehā. The authors work in a dialectical relationship to previous Pākehā representations of Māori in literature, are historically revisionist, and are frequently adversarial. 

Despite the differences in personal and political perspectives held by the authors, their fictions share a common goal in their search for Māori pathways to empowerment. This thesis argues that prose fiction written in English by Māori writers contributes to the political activism of the Māori people and helps to foster an environment in which new perspectives on Māori culture and bicultural relations can be articulated.

text: Contextualising Māori writing: a study of prose fiction written in English by Witi Ihimaera, Patricia Grace, Keri Hulme and Alan Duff All prose fiction written in English by Māori is political on one level or another. The authors considered in this thesis, Witi Ihimaera, Patricia Grace, Keri Hulme and Alan Duff, choose to identify as Māori, but for each writer exactly what this entails implies something different. The diverse range of Māori characters represented in their work illustrates the heterogeneity of contemporary Māori identity. Whilst bearing in mind that there is no fixed Māori identity, this thesis proposes that all fiction written in English by Māori is motivated by a belief that Māori are a disadvantaged group within New Zealand society. 

Three of the four writers, Ihimaera, Grace and Hulme, write against a background of colonisation. Their fiction confronts grievances based on perceived injustices committed against Māori in the past by European colonists and is concerned with the restoration of Māori rights pertaining to land, language, identity and political voice. While all three engage with these issues in their fiction, this thesis specifically considers the way in which Ihimaera treats the theme of land, Grace focuses on issues of education and Hulme explores Māori mythology.

Alan Duff stands apart from the other three writers in his belief that colonisation is not to blame for contemporary Māori disadvantage. Rather, Duff considers the situation to be the result of inherent flaws within Māori society. Through his often didactic writing he proposes that improved Māori socioeconomic levels can only be achieved through a radical structural and economic re-evaluation of Māori culture.

This thesis contextualises the work of the four authors and explores the ways in which their fiction engages with historical and contemporary issues of “race relations” and cultural identity in New Zealand. A sociological approach has been applied to the texts. This approach derives from the Māori writers’ own insistent reading of contemporary Māori identity as the product of historical encounter between Māori and Pākehā. The authors work in a dialectical relationship to previous Pākehā representations of Māori in literature, are historically revisionist, and are frequently adversarial. 

Despite the differences in personal and political perspectives held by the authors, their fictions share a common goal in their search for Māori pathways to empowerment. This thesis argues that prose fiction written in English by Māori writers contributes to the political activism of the Māori people and helps to foster an environment in which new perspectives on Māori culture and bicultural relations can be articulated.

year: 2002