Emotional Theory of Mind: Bridging Fast Visual Processing with Slow Linguistic Reasoning

The emotional theory of mind problem in images is an emotion recognition task, specifically asking "How does the person in the bounding box feel?" Facial expressions, body pose, contextual information and implicit commonsense knowledge all contribute to the difficulty of the task, making this task currently one of the hardest problems in affective computing. The goal of this work is to evaluate the emotional commonsense knowledge embedded in recent large vision language models (CLIP, LLaVA) and large language models (GPT-3.5) on the Emotions in Context (EMOTIC) dataset. In order to evaluate a purely text-based language model on images, we construct "narrative captions" relevant to emotion perception, using a set of 872 physical social signal descriptions related to 26 emotional categories, along with 224 labels for emotionally salient environmental contexts, sourced from writer's guides for character expressions and settings. We evaluate the use of the resulting captions in an image-to-language-to-emotion task. Experiments using zero-shot vision-language models on EMOTIC show that combining "fast" and "slow" reasoning is a promising way forward to improve emotion recognition systems. Nevertheless, a gap remains in the zero-shot emotional theory of mind task compared to prior work trained on the EMOTIC dataset.Comment: 16 pages(including references and appendix), 8 Tables, 3 figure

Update on trials examining effects of night-time blood pressure lowering drug treatment on prevention of cardiovascular disease

Current evidence on benefits of night-time blood pressure (BP) lowering drug treatment on cardiovascular disease (CVD) prevention attributable to the Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitoring in the Prediction of Cardiovascular Events and Effects of Chronotherapy (MAPEC) trial and Bedtime hypertension treatment improves cardiovascular risk reduction (Hygia) trials has raised concern on their validity and methodology. In this commentary, the authors have updated the progress of the ongoing trials that were planned to examine the effect of night-time BP lowering drug treatment on CVD prevention. As compared to MAPEC and Hygia trials, three pragmatic trials the Blood Pressure Medication Timing (BPMedtime) trial (US), the Treatment In Morning versus Evening (TIME) trial (UK), Bedmed and Bedmed-frail (Canada) were planned without ambulatory BP monitoring. The BPMedtime trial was stopped after the pilot phase due to underestimated sample size and insufficient funds. TIME trial (UK) had a similar issue when changing the sample size from 10,269 to more than 20,000 participants. The TIME trial was completed and the initial results showing that protection against heart attack, stroke and vascular death is not affected by whether antihypertensive medications are taken in the morning or evening. The full study of the TIME trial is published in December 2022. Bedmed and Bedmed-frail trials are ongoing and will be completed in 2023. Time of taking BP lowering drug should be determined by patients at their convenience to improve the adherence. There was no difference in adverse effects of taking BP lowering drugs at night or morning. Evidence on the effect of night-time treatment on CVD events is inconsistent. The results from ongoing trials in Canada will contribute evidence to the use of BP lowering drug treatment for the prevention of CVD

Syntheses of calix[4]pyrrole functionalized extended molecular systems and applications for environmental concerns

Considerable efforts have been made to develop the supramolecular systems being capable of selectively binding and recognizing specific chemical species. Within this context, particular has been put towards nuclear waste remediation, environmental chemistry, and biology. Calix[4]pyrroles are non-conjugated tetrapyrrolic macrocycles capable of binding anions and neutral substrates via concerted and directional hydrogen bonding. Moreover, functionalization of the calix[4]pyrrole meso position allows the incorporation of additional binding sites for both cations and anions. Due to the ease of preparation and functionalization, elaborated calix[4]pyrroles have been employed as various anion and ion pair receptors as well as potential extractants for species present in high-level liquid waste (HLLW) and transporters for biological important ions in connection with therapeutic aims. These studies reported herein are primarily focused on the discovery in meso-substituted calix[4]pyrrole-functionalized extended molecular systems and applications for environmental concerns. Chapter 1 provides a brief overview regarding the historical perspective and inherent properties of calix[4]pyrroles, as well as outlines recent contributions for capturing, extracting and sequestering chemical species with environmental concerns. Chapter 2 describes the extraction of the sulfate anion via bipyrrole-strapped calix[4]pyrroles. Through these studies, we have discovered such cryptand-like receptors could extract the highly hydrophilic sulfate anion into an organic solvent from aqueous solutions when A336Cl was used as a coextractant. Chapter 3 depicts a novel meso-functionalized calix[4]pyrrole-based three dimensional networked molecular cage. Interestingly, upon treatment of fluoride, the resultant framework could be disassembled, which serves to release the inner molecules. Moreover, multiple lone pairs and hydrogen bonding donors provided by the calix[4]pyrrole building units allow for a highly selective adsorption for CO2 over other gaseous guest, such as N2, O2, H2 and CH4. Chapter 4 describes two novel calix[4]pyrrole-based uranyl complex cages, cage-1 and -2. The transformation from a tripodal cage (cage-1) to a tetrapodal system (cage-2) was achieved by a sunlight induced photochemical oxidation or via simple addition of hydrogen peroxide. Chapter 5 details the synthetic procedures and characterizations of all compounds used in these studies.Chemistr

Cross-Reactive CD8 T Cell Responses and Heterologous Immunity During Acute Epstein-Barr Virus Infection: a Dissertation

A person is exposed to many pathogens throughout their lifetime, and with the resolution of each infection, there remains a pool of pathogen-specific immune cells that protect that person from re-infection with the same pathogen. However, there is a great deal of evidence to suggest that the pool of pathogen-specific memory cells can also participate in the immune response to future infections with unrelated pathogens. Many believe T cells to be cross-reactive in nature because of their interaction with self antigens during development in the thymus and their interaction with foreign antigens once in the periphery. There are many features of the interaction between a T cell and its ligand that facilitate this cross-reactive nature. Based on solved crystal structures, relatively few contacts are required for a stable interaction, and that interaction is often mediated by the flexible CDR3 loops of the T cell receptor that accommodate ligands of various structure. There is also evidence in the murine and human systems that subsets of virus-specific memory CD8 T cells take on an activated phenotype upon infection with an unrelated virus. In murine models, these memory T cell subsets could kill target cells, secrete several cytokines, and proliferate in response to a cross-reactive stimulation, suggesting that a cross-reactive T cell response could impact the outcome of a viral infection. In fact, upon heterologous infection, mice immune to a previous virus were often protected, having lower titers of the second unrelated virus, their epitope-specific and T cell receptor repertoires were often skewed, and they were more prone to immune-mediated pathologies. All of these observations coincided with the presence of cross-reactive T cell responses. Thus, we define heterologous immunity as changes in viral replication and the disease pathology associated with that viral infection as a result of the host\u27s history of infection, and this can be mediated, in part, by cross-reactive CD8 T cell responses. Since many human viral infections are associated with a wide range of disease states, we questioned whether cross-reactive CD8 T cell responses occurred as commonly as they appeared to occur in the murine models and whether they influenced the outcome of such infections. Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infects over 90% of the U. S. population and has a large genome with the capacity to encode a multitude of T cell epitopes. The first part of this thesis research focuses on the identification of cross-reactive CD8 T cell responses with specificity for known epitopes derived from EBV, a common human virus. We directed our study to HLA-A2-restricted responses because of the common expression of this MHC Class I allele in the U. S. population. This study resulted in the detection of cross-reactive responses with five different specificities that involved either the immunodominant lytic EBV-BMLF1280 epitope or the latent EBNA 3A596epitope. Three of the cross-reactive responses had specificity for epitopes derived from another unrelated, but common, human virus, influenza A virus (IV). Each of these cross- reactive responses had the potential to participate in the collective immune response to acute EBV infection. EBV is also well-suited as a model system to study heterologous immunity in humans, as infection at an early age is frequently asymptomatic, while the same infection during adolescence often results in an immune-mediated syndrome, infectious mononucleosis (IM). Since older individuals have presumably been exposed to more pathogens in their lifetime and, therefore, would have memory CD8 T cell pools with more extensive specificities, we hypothesized that acute EBV infection activated cross-reactive memory CD8 T cell responses that promoted the development of IM. In order to determine if the cross-reactive responses we identified above contributed to the immune response to acute EBV infection, we first screened the blood of IM patients for cross-reactive T cells with specificity for EBV-BMLFl280 and IV-M158. The total number of M1-specific T cells of 5 of 8 patients was increased at presentation with IM, which was suggestive of their specific activation during the EBV infection since a bystander mechanism would have resulted in 8 out of 8 patients having increased numbers of M1-specific T cells. Our hypothesis was further supported by the fact that we clearly detected cross-reactive T cells capable of recognizing both BMLF1 and M1 epitopes in the blood of 2 of the 5 IM patients with an augmented M1-specific T cell frequency. Furthermore, the M1-specific TCR repertoires of those two patients were dramatically skewed, which was an indication of cross-reactive M1-specific T cell expansions and, therefore, participation in the lymphoproliferation characteristic of IM. In addition, T cell lines derived from 3 out of 8 healthy donors with previous exposure to both viruses contained a subset of T cells that responded to both BMLF1 and M1 epitopes, suggesting that these cross-reactive cells are often maintained in memory. These cross-reactive T cells were cytotoxic and produced MIP-1β, IFNγ, and TNFα, functions which could potentially promote the symptoms of IM and, indeed, may have been contributed to the severe case of IM noted in one patient. The final part of this thesis research focused on defining the structure of the cross-reactive TCR that recognized both BMLF1 and M1 epitopes, which have only 33% sequence similarity. In addition, we examined the cross-reactive TCR repertoire organization of multiple individuals to determine the breath and, therefore, the likelihood that this cross-reactive T cell response will occur. These studies revealed that a wide range of Vα and Vβ families can mediate interaction with both epitopes and that the cross-reactive TCR repertoire was unique to each individual, relying heavily on the T cell clones present in that individual\u27s private BMLF1- and M1-specific repertoires. We also observed an increased frequency of TCRs with longer CDR3 regions within the cross-reactive repertoire, which were often extended by non-bulky amino acid residues that could provide these TCRs with more flexibility in order. to accommodate the two different epitope structures. Given that we detected a cross-reactive T cell response with specificity for two immunodominant epitopes derived from two of the most common human viruses among people that share one of the most common MHC Class I alleles in the U. S. population, we predict that cross-reactive T cells are common components of human immune responses. The variability in the magnitude and specificity of each cross-reactive T cell response is dependent on each individual\u27s unique history of infection and th,eir unique TCR repertoire, and such responses likely represent one of many factors that could explain the individual variability in disease severity associated with EBV and many other human viral infections

Master of Science

thesisTitanium dioxide nanotubes (TiO2-NTs) is such an attractive material because of photocatalysis, semiconductivity, biocompatibility, self-organization, and extremely large surface area. This thesis introduces several structural characteristics of TiO2-NTs synthesized by the electrochemical method. Although the research of biosensing platform using TiO2-NTs is not studied well, two types of biosensing platform systems will be discussed. At first, Tuberculosis (TB) detectable volatile biomarkers sensing platform using exhaled breath is studied. TB is easily cured at initial stage, thus the early diagnosis is a key point of fighting against TB. Breath analysis method is easier, faster, and cheaper while recent diagnosis methods require complicated conditions. Cobalt is functionalized on the nanotubes surface to detect the biomarker molecules in breath. The other application is the glutathione molecule detectable sensing platform. Glutathione protein is the scavenger of reactive oxygen species (ROS) which causes several diseases. The ratio of concentration of oxidized form and reduced form of glutathione molecules is served as a sign of the oxidative stress in body. Copper is loaded on the TiO2-NTs in order to hold glutathione molecules in liquid. From these experiments, the metal functionalized TiO2- NTs sensing platforms successfully detect their target biomarkers at vapor based and liquid based systems

Matrix Metalloproteinases : The Gene Expression Signatures of Head and Neck Cancer Progression

Extracellular matrix degradation by matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) plays a pivotal role in cancer progression by promoting motility, invasion and angiogenesis. Studies have shown that MMP expression is increased in head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCCs), one of the most common cancers in the world, and contributes to poor outcome. In this review, we examine the expression pattern of MMPs in HNSCC by microarray datasets and summarize the current knowledge of MMPs, specifically MMP-1, -3, -7 -10, -12, -13, 14 and -19, that are highly expressed in HNSCCs and involved cancer invasion and angiogenesis

Underwater radiated noise from marine vessels: A review of noise reduction methods and technology

Marine anthropogenic noise has increased significantly over the past few decades, and a growing body of research is highlighting the negative impacts this is having on marine eco-systems. With increasing pressure to reduce the noise generated by commercial and other shipping, there is a need to develop new technologies and look at how existing technology can be applied to reducing vessel noise. In this review, the sources of underwater noise from marine vessels are outlined and a range of devices and technologies are assessed to see how they can be applied to reducing it. Covering cavitation, propeller and flow noise, and machinery noise, a wide range of technologies are reviewed with differing levels of maturity. It is found that there already exists a wide range of technologies that could be readily applied to many vessels, and there are others in earlier stages of development that could provide substantial benefits in the medium-term. However, there is still a lack of quantitative data on the effectiveness of many noise-reducing technologies, particularly at full-scale. This makes legislation more difficult to enact and, together with the lack of economic incentives, is limiting the adoption of such technology by the marine industry