Exploring embedding vectors for emotion detection

Textual data nowadays is being generated in vast volumes. With the proliferation of social media and the prevalence of smartphones, short texts have become a prevalent form of information such as news headlines, tweets and text advertisements. Given the huge volume of short texts available, effective and efficient models to detect the emotions from short texts become highly desirable and in some cases fundamental to a range of applications that require emotion understanding of textual content, such as human computer interaction, marketing, e-learning and health. Emotion detection from text has been an important task in Natural Language Processing (NLP) for many years. Many approaches have been based on the emotional words or lexicons in order to detect emotions. While the word embedding vectors like Word2Vec have been successfully employed in many NLP approaches, the word mover’s distance (WMD) is a method introduced recently to calculate the distance between two documents based on the embedded words. This thesis is investigating the ability to detect or classify emotions in sentences using word vectorization and distance measures. Our results confirm the novelty of using Word2Vec and WMD in predicting the emotions in short text. We propose a new methodology based on identifying “idealised” vectors that cap- ture the essence of an emotion; we define these vectors as having the minimal distance (using some metric function) between a vector and the embeddings of the text that contains the relevant emotion (e.g. a tweet, a sentence). We look for these vectors through searching the space of word embeddings using the covariance matrix adap- tation evolution strategy (CMA-ES). Our method produces state of the art results, surpassing classic supervised learning methods

Effects of Sensory Cues on Product Acceptability and Consumer Perceptions, Emotions, and Behavior

Visual and cognitive cues can affect overall liking (OL) and consumer perceptions, emotions, and behavior. The first study explored the effect of product color difference on the liking, perception, and purchase intent (PI) of cheese-flavored-tortilla chips (CFTC) formulations (A and B) on serving plates (plastic, foam, and paper). Color differences between formulations influenced crunchiness and saltiness liking and perception, which together with overall flavor liking and formulation, mainly determined CFTC OL. Although having similar fracturability (N) and sodium content, formulation A had higher crunchiness and saltiness likings. PI was influenced by crunchiness, saltiness, and OF liking with 37, 49, and 60% increases in PI odds per liking-unit increase, respectively. Plate effect on product liking was minimal. The brighter and less-yellow color of CFTC possibly influenced crunchiness and saltiness liking, which significantly contributed to OL and PI. Sustainable and nutritious edible insects are unfamiliar to Westerners and often associated with negative sentiments. The second and third studies evaluated the effects of disclosing edible-cricket protein (ECP) presence and benefits on chocolate brownies (CB) expected and actual sensory acceptability, consumption intent (CI), PI, sentiments, and variables importance for PI prediction. ECP added to chocolate brownies [0% ECP=CBWO (without) vs 6% ECP=CBW (with) w/w], and disclosed information [no ECP added=(-) vs ECP with benefits=(+), ECP- and ECP+, respectively] yielded CB treatments (CBWO-, CBWO+, CBW-, and CBWO+). Subjects (N=112 female and N=98 male) rated expected and actual likings, selected emotions before- and after-tasting, and determined CI and PI after tasting. Likings were analyzed with mixed-effects ANOVA and post-hoc Tukey’s HSD test. Emotions were evaluated with Cochran’s-Q test and correspondence analysis. Emotions driving/inhibiting mean overall liking (OL) were assessed with penalty-lift analyses using two-sample T-tests. A random forest algorithm predicted PI and estimated variables\u27 importance. Female’s and male’s expected OL were higher for CBWO- than for CBWO+. Females’ actual OL was higher for CBWO than for CBW regardless of the disclosed information but males’ actual OL was identical across treatments. Females exhibited negative-liking disconfirmation for CBW-. In both tasting conditions, the disclosed information affected treatments’ emotional profiles more than formulation. After-tasting “happy” and “satisfied” were critical PI predictors

Self-disgust in personality disorders: the role of childhood abuse and trauma, emotional invalidation and shame

This thesis examines predictors of self-disgust among a sample who screened positive for personality disorders. It is a joint thesis with ‘The role of self-disgust in non-suicidal self-injury among individuals with personality disorder’ (Schwaiger, 2016). Part 1, the literature review, examines whether self-disgust is associated with psychopathology (as evidenced by a DSM-5 mental health disorder). Seventeen studies indicate that self-disgust is associated with a wide range of mental health disorders including Depression, Borderline Personality Disorder and Eating Disorders. The evidence is limited by the use of largely non-clinical samples, cross- sectional designs, and by theoretical and methodological limitations regarding the operationalisation and measurement of the self-disgust construct. Part 2, the empirical paper investigates predictors of self-disgust using a cross- sectional web-based survey. Self-disgust was elevated in those classified as PD according to a brief screening tool (n =188), relative to a non-PD sample (n=133). Childhood abuse and trauma and shame independently predicted self-disgust in those who screened positive for a probable PD. Self-disgust also mediated the relationship between childhood abuse and trauma and the likelihood of PD. Part 3, the critical appraisal considers outstanding issues regarding the psychometric measurement of self-disgust. Directions for further research are discussed, as are the strengths and limitations of utilising web-based research and social media to aid recruitment in psychological research. Personal reflections are finally offered on how the research has impacted me as a researcher and clinician

No stain, no pain – A multidisciplinary review of factors underlying domestic laundering

Today\u27s washing appliances are much more efficient than those of a decade ago, but the environmental benefits of this efficiency are counteracted by shifts in consumer behavior. Initiatives to reverse these shifts have often proven futile, indicating a basic lack of clarity on why we clean our clothes. This article is an explorative review with the aim of identifying dominant factors that shape how we do our laundry. The results can be used both as an introduction to laundry research in general, as well as a baseline for future interdisciplinary research. Three guiding principles are presented that describe the most influential factors underlying laundering: (1) technology changes conventions, while social context dictates technology acceptance; (2) technological solutions are often suggested to influence consumers, but individual concerns seem to override the effect of such interventions; (3) consumers are guided by social conventions, rooted in underlying psychological dynamics (e.g. moral dimensions of cleanliness). Looking at these principles it is understandable why interventions for sustainability are failing. Many interventions address only a part of a principle while disregarding other parts. For example, consumers are often informed of the importance of sustainability (e.g. “washing at lower temperature is good for the environment”), while questions of social belonging are left out (e.g. “many of your neighbors and friends wash at lower temperature”). To increase the possibility of a lasting change, it would be beneficial if instead all of the three principles could be addressed given the specific consumer group of interest

The Biological Bases of Political Attachment: Neurobiological Correlates of Ideology and Partisanship

To fully understand the foundations of political attachments in an increasingly polarized environment, political scientists must reconcile traditional theories of political attitudes and behavior with insight gained from neurobiological approaches. The purpose of this research is to investigate the neurobiological correlates of strength of political ideology and partisanship, as well as the neurobiological correlates of ideological and partisan orientation. To do so, both structural and functional neuroimaging analyses were conducted on a diverse sample of patients at a Level 1 Trauma Center. Results indicate that strong ideological attachment is significantly associated with decreased volume in the left insula, though partisan attachment is not. Functional neuroimaging did not reveal any significant differences in neural activity during an emotion regulation task between strong and weak ideologues or partisans. In examining the neurobiological differences between liberals and conservatives or Democrats and Republicans, structural analyses revealed no significant differences, while functional analyses demonstrated a positive and significant relationship between Republicanism and neural activity in the right inferior parietal lobule in the reappraise condition of the task. Taken together with extant biopolitics literature, these studies indicate a need for additional neuroimaging work in the field of political science

The role of self-disgust in the relationship between childhood trauma and psychotic experience

Traumatic experiences have been shown to have a significant impact upon psychological wellbeing. However, this impact varies between individuals and it appears that certain trauma types and characteristics are more damaging than others. Therefore, developing a better understanding of the specific characteristics responsible for this differential impact would further the field of trauma research and improve interventions for traumagenic mental health difficulties. Moreover, particular negative emotional experiences have also been implicated in the development and maintenance of emotional and psychological distress following traumatic exposure. In particular, negative self-directed emotions, for example, disgust and shame have been shown to play a role across a range of mental health problems. The first section of this thesis describes a systematic literature review that employed narrative synthesis to examine quantitative evidence regarding the differential impact of betrayal trauma level on mental health outcomes. The review’s findings were mixed, however, there was preliminary evidence that high betrayal trauma events lead to more symptom severity than medium or low betrayal traumas. The second section of the thesis is an empirical research paper. The paper reports findings from a study that used mediation analyses to examine the role of self-disgust in the relationship between childhood trauma and psychosis. The analyses also controlled for other relevant self-directed emotions to establish whether there was evidence for the discrete impact of self-disgust over and above related constructs. The study found that self-disgust significantly mediated the relationship between exposure to trauma in childhood and later onset of psychosis. Furthermore, self-disgust mediated this relationship despite the inclusion of self-esteem, external shame and general disgust as covariates. The third section of the thesis is a critical appraisal of the systematic review and empirical study and provides reflections on my experience of the research process as a whole

Intelligent Biosignal Analysis Methods

This book describes recent efforts in improving intelligent systems for automatic biosignal analysis. It focuses on machine learning and deep learning methods used for classification of different organism states and disorders based on biomedical signals such as EEG, ECG, HRV, and others

Using Recycled Water For Potable Reuse In Santa Clara County, CA: High School Students\u27 Knowledge and Acceptance

The drought-prone State of California has an ever increasing demand for water. Potable reuse provides a viable alternative water supply, but public attitudes, knowledge, and acceptance have limited implementation. This study investigated the knowledge and acceptance that high school students have towards potable reuse. Previous research has identified four critical factors that influence acceptance of potable reuse: 1) knowledge of the wastewater treatment process, 2) knowledge of local water supplies, 3) trust in local water resource managers, and 4) belief in the need for a new water supply. This study uses both quantitative and qualitative methods through a Likert-style survey and open-ended questions on 174 students at three high schools to assess the knowledge, attitudes, and acceptance that they have towards potable reuse before and after an educational intervention. The results of this study showed that a short educational intervention had a significant impact on student knowledge and acceptance of potable reuse. The belief in the need for a new water supply had the largest impact on acceptance, and demographic variables were not significant. The results of this study will help local water managers better focus their efforts on outreach to improve attitudes toward acceptance of potable reuse