 |
|
Testimonials | |
Read below what some of the users have to say about their experiences with Theme. You can | |
"Both T-pattern analysis with Theme and detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA) provide a mechanism for integrating and summarising the huge bulk of data obtained by detailed behavioural observations and have ‘‘added value’’ in terms of quantifying and describing the organisation of behaviour. In our analysis, conventional and T-pattern analysis complimented each other but the use of DFA did not provide any additional useful information. This focal sampling approach identified more treatment differences than simple scan sampling and is a more powerful approach to assessing welfare. In conclusion, we recommend using focal behavioural sampling and both conventional analysis and a technique to assess behavioural organisation such as Theme or DFA in future behavioural and welfare research. Publication of these studies will help in understanding the significance of treatment differences on behaviour and animal well-being." Paul Hocking, Kenneth Malcolm, Desmond Rutherford, Michel Picard (2007). Comparison of time-based frequencies, fractal analysis and T-patterns for assessing behavioural changes in broiler breeders fed on two diets at two levels of feed restriction: A case study. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 104, 37-48. | |
"I regard Theme as the program of choice when investigators are searching for patterns in qualitative sequential data. Theme has contributed to my own research since it was initially adapted for the PC. I used it on the first IBM machine; running at a screaming 4.7 MHz. Theme definitely tested the outer limits of that machine. Today Theme is a complex and deep program, capable of detecting highly complex patterns, and providing extensive information, including several different graphic views of both the input data and the detected patterns. For many areas of inquiry Theme provides a significantly more powerful and flexible mode of analysis than even the most highly developed time-series analyses. It will be interesting to many investigators that Theme detects patterns both for linear data and for non-linear dynamical systems. I firmly expect that Theme will continue to be discovered and used by investigators in many areas of science." Prof. Starkey Duncan, Department of Psychology, University of Chicago, USA. | |
The present study demonstrates that time-pattern analysis using the THEME method can provide a simple, yet very sensitive, measure of the cognitive and behavioral effects of some mental illnesses, especially schizophrenia and possibly mania. Time-related behavioral symptoms appear to have greater predictive accuracy than any other single symptom yet used to characterize these illnesses. This finding may provide an entirely new and more efficient approach to the detection and early treatment of these illnesses. Melvin Lyon and Aaron S. Kemp (2004). Increased temporal patterns in choice responding and altered cognitive processes in schizophrenia and mania. Psychopharmacology, 172, 211-219. | |
"While we continue to use our earlier methods, the Theme model and the software in its current form have allowed us to identify structures of interaction between interlocutors. The analysis of these structures, invisible to the naked eye, is in itself fascinating. But well beyond this, it is a powerful means to discover how the exchange evolves, to identify its most significant (crucial) points that determine the “superficial” result, the only thing visible before, that is, the points that determine the continuation or are the origin of the various behaviors, even when the interlocutors are unconscious of this. It also allows to identify the place and role of nonverbal behaviors that are combined with verbalizations, which before was not possible except in a crude [“artisanal”] fashion. Theme is thus already for us an indispensable tool that can still evolve in ways that will bring us more and more information." [Translated from French] | |
"My first use of Theme started back in 1988 - we started using it because everything else in time series analysis failed. Basically, we were very surprised about what Theme discovered. There were interactive patterns in behavior no one had seen before. In the meantime, we regularly use it, and in my opinion it is the only software package, which allows detecting patterns reliably in time series. It is an indispensable tool for anybody who wants to do serious work in behavior analysis." Prof. Karl Grammer, Ludwig Boltzman Institute for Urban Ethology, University of Vienna, Austria. | |
