title: Further examination of cross-modal association in canine (Canis familiaris) scent detection: Extending research on training dogs to identify multiple odours

authors: Lints, Jessica

subjects: conditional discrimination

abstract: Dogs' superior olfactory capabilities and trainability have led to widespread use of dogs for scent detection research and work. Previous research has largely focused on dogs' ability to detect and discriminate single odours, however more research is needed to understand dogs’ ability to use multiple sensory modalities to identify and discriminate odours. Continuing research started by Campbell- Smith (2024), the current study hypothesized, a) dogs are capable of using cross-modal association to match odours to images of shapes and b) the inclusion of an error correction procedure and physical screen border on the touch screen where the images are presented will increase dogs responding accuracy and decrease biases towards specific shapes and screen quadrants, previously observed by Campbell-Smith. Four dogs were trained using shaping and chaining to engage in a conditional discrimination task using an automated scent delivery carousel and touch screen. Challenges faced early on during the initial conditional discrimination sessions prompted the inclusion of a simple visual discrimination task and an errorless learning procedure. The findings were largely consistent with Campbell-Smith, in that all dogs had above chance (50%) accuracy rates overall, but none met the mastery criteria (80%) overall. The correction procedure and physical touch screen border did reduce overall biases in all dogs, but did not increase responding accuracy enough to meet the mastery criteria. This suggests that the procedures used in these experiments may not be optimal for training dogs to accurately match odours and visual stimuli. Alternative procedures should be investigated in the future. The current findings provide more information as to dog's cross-modal identification capabilities, as well as further understanding of dogs’ visual capabilities and a comparison of dogs’ accuracy on conditional discrimination with and without an errorless learning procedure.

text: Further examination of cross-modal association in canine (Canis familiaris) scent detection: Extending research on training dogs to identify multiple odours Dogs' superior olfactory capabilities and trainability have led to widespread use of dogs for scent detection research and work. Previous research has largely focused on dogs' ability to detect and discriminate single odours, however more research is needed to understand dogs’ ability to use multiple sensory modalities to identify and discriminate odours. Continuing research started by Campbell- Smith (2024), the current study hypothesized, a) dogs are capable of using cross-modal association to match odours to images of shapes and b) the inclusion of an error correction procedure and physical screen border on the touch screen where the images are presented will increase dogs responding accuracy and decrease biases towards specific shapes and screen quadrants, previously observed by Campbell-Smith. Four dogs were trained using shaping and chaining to engage in a conditional discrimination task using an automated scent delivery carousel and touch screen. Challenges faced early on during the initial conditional discrimination sessions prompted the inclusion of a simple visual discrimination task and an errorless learning procedure. The findings were largely consistent with Campbell-Smith, in that all dogs had above chance (50%) accuracy rates overall, but none met the mastery criteria (80%) overall. The correction procedure and physical touch screen border did reduce overall biases in all dogs, but did not increase responding accuracy enough to meet the mastery criteria. This suggests that the procedures used in these experiments may not be optimal for training dogs to accurately match odours and visual stimuli. Alternative procedures should be investigated in the future. The current findings provide more information as to dog's cross-modal identification capabilities, as well as further understanding of dogs’ visual capabilities and a comparison of dogs’ accuracy on conditional discrimination with and without an errorless learning procedure.

year: 2025

title: Combining strengths, emotions and polarities for boosting Twitter sentiment analysis

authors: Bravo-Marquez, Felipe

abstract: Twitter sentiment analysis or the task of automatically retrieving opinions from tweets has received an increasing interest from the web mining community. This is due to its importance in a wide range of fields such as business and politics. People express sentiments about specific topics or entities with different strengths and intensities, where these sentiments are strongly related to their personal feelings and emotions. A number of methods and lexical resources have been proposed to analyze sentiment from natural language texts, addressing different opinion dimensions. In this article, we propose an approach for boosting Twitter sentiment classification using different sentiment dimensions as meta-level features. We combine aspects such as opinion strength, emotion and polarity indicators, generated by existing sentiment analysis methods and resources. Our research shows that the combination of sentiment dimensions provides significant improvement in Twitter sentiment classification tasks such as polarity and subjectivity.

text: Combining strengths, emotions and polarities for boosting Twitter sentiment analysis Twitter sentiment analysis or the task of automatically retrieving opinions from tweets has received an increasing interest from the web mining community. This is due to its importance in a wide range of fields such as business and politics. People express sentiments about specific topics or entities with different strengths and intensities, where these sentiments are strongly related to their personal feelings and emotions. A number of methods and lexical resources have been proposed to analyze sentiment from natural language texts, addressing different opinion dimensions. In this article, we propose an approach for boosting Twitter sentiment classification using different sentiment dimensions as meta-level features. We combine aspects such as opinion strength, emotion and polarity indicators, generated by existing sentiment analysis methods and resources. Our research shows that the combination of sentiment dimensions provides significant improvement in Twitter sentiment classification tasks such as polarity and subjectivity.

year: 2013-01-01

title: Indigenising the screen: Screenplay and critical analysis for The Prophet

authors: Bristowe, Joseph Curtis

subjects: indiginization

abstract: This thesis tests the hypothesis that it is possible to both decolonise and indigenise the New Zealand cinema screen. Secondary research reveals how those discourses that promoted roles and expectations for Māori within the New Zealand film industry were based principally upon historical colonial ideologies imposed by various means upon the native populous, and subsequently reproduced. These discourses of race, gender and religion perpetuate negative belief systems about Māori and contribute to the reproduction of stereotypical images of Māori, such as the irrational, naive, simpleminded and warlike Māori man, or the domesticated, lustful and sexually available Māori woman. 

Research by creative practice advances the project of decolonising the New Zealand screen through the writing of a feature length screenplay based on careful research and intimate cultural knowledge, and by working according to an appropriate kaupapa Māori framework. The resulting screenplay, The Prophet, brings to life the multitude of forces that coalesced to shape the life of 19th century Māori warrior and prophet, Te Kooti Arikirangi Te Tūruki. In his death, as in his life, he remains an enigmatic figure. In written accounts and in Pākehā memories he appears as a violent rebel, mass murderer and religious fanatic. This epic re-telling focuses on the character of Te Kooti, showing him to be a man who accomplished great feats in the face of injustice, adversity and hardship. 
A critical analysis of the screenplay reveals how I adopted a unique cross cultural writing approach drawing upon both the 'classic' western narrative structure as well as kaupapa Māori pūrākau oral tradition. I argue that this approach combines effectively to materialise strong anti-colonial perspectives aimed specifically at subverting long-held and dominant colonial discourses. Such an approach to scriptwriting rejects the tradition of being defined, constructed and represented through discourses that serve to promote the interests of the Pākehā majority and, in doing so, urges the utilisation of Māori philosophies, concepts and practices in the scriptwriting/film production process.

text: Indigenising the screen: Screenplay and critical analysis for The Prophet This thesis tests the hypothesis that it is possible to both decolonise and indigenise the New Zealand cinema screen. Secondary research reveals how those discourses that promoted roles and expectations for Māori within the New Zealand film industry were based principally upon historical colonial ideologies imposed by various means upon the native populous, and subsequently reproduced. These discourses of race, gender and religion perpetuate negative belief systems about Māori and contribute to the reproduction of stereotypical images of Māori, such as the irrational, naive, simpleminded and warlike Māori man, or the domesticated, lustful and sexually available Māori woman. 

Research by creative practice advances the project of decolonising the New Zealand screen through the writing of a feature length screenplay based on careful research and intimate cultural knowledge, and by working according to an appropriate kaupapa Māori framework. The resulting screenplay, The Prophet, brings to life the multitude of forces that coalesced to shape the life of 19th century Māori warrior and prophet, Te Kooti Arikirangi Te Tūruki. In his death, as in his life, he remains an enigmatic figure. In written accounts and in Pākehā memories he appears as a violent rebel, mass murderer and religious fanatic. This epic re-telling focuses on the character of Te Kooti, showing him to be a man who accomplished great feats in the face of injustice, adversity and hardship. 
A critical analysis of the screenplay reveals how I adopted a unique cross cultural writing approach drawing upon both the 'classic' western narrative structure as well as kaupapa Māori pūrākau oral tradition. I argue that this approach combines effectively to materialise strong anti-colonial perspectives aimed specifically at subverting long-held and dominant colonial discourses. Such an approach to scriptwriting rejects the tradition of being defined, constructed and represented through discourses that serve to promote the interests of the Pākehā majority and, in doing so, urges the utilisation of Māori philosophies, concepts and practices in the scriptwriting/film production process.

year: 2009