MER 2023: Multi-label Learning, Modality Robustness, and Semi-Supervised Learning

Over the past few decades, multimodal emotion recognition has made remarkable progress with the development of deep learning. However, existing technologies are difficult to meet the demand for practical applications. To improve the robustness, we launch a Multimodal Emotion Recognition Challenge (MER 2023) to motivate global researchers to build innovative technologies that can further accelerate and foster research. For this year's challenge, we present three distinct sub-challenges: (1) MER-MULTI, in which participants recognize both discrete and dimensional emotions; (2) MER-NOISE, in which noise is added to test videos for modality robustness evaluation; (3) MER-SEMI, which provides large amounts of unlabeled samples for semi-supervised learning. In this paper, we test a variety of multimodal features and provide a competitive baseline for each sub-challenge. Our system achieves 77.57% on the F1 score and 0.82 on the mean squared error (MSE) for MER-MULTI, 69.82% on the F1 score and 1.12 on MSE for MER-NOISE, and 86.75% on the F1 score for MER-SEMI, respectively. Baseline code is available at https://github.com/zeroQiaoba/MER2023-Baseline

Upregulated PD-1 Expression Is Associated with the Development of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus, but Not the PD-1.1 Allele of the PDCD1 Gene

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a multisystem autoimmune disease with complicated genetic inheritance. Programmed death 1 (PD-1), a negative T cell regulator to maintain peripheral tolerance, induces negative signals to T cells during interaction with its ligands and is therefore a candidate gene in the development of SLE. In order to examine whether expression levels of PD-1 contribute to the pathogenesis of SLE, 30 patients with SLE and 30 controls were recruited and their PD-1 expression levels in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were measured via flow cytometry and quantitative real-time-reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Also, whether PD-1 expression levels are associated with the variant of the SNP rs36084323 and the SLE Disease Activity Index (SLEDAI) was studied in this work. The PD-1 expression levels of SLE patients were significantly increased compared with those of the healthy controls. The upregulated PD-1 expression levels in SLE patients were greatly associated with SLEDAI scores. No significant difference was found between PD-1 expression levels and SNP rs36084323. The results suggest that increased expression of PD-1 may correlate with the pathogenesis of SLE, upregulated PD-1 expression may be a biomarker for SLE diagnosis, and PD-1 inhibitor may be useful to SLE treatment

Gelatin-assisted synthesis of LiNi0.5Mn1.5O 4 cathode material for 5V lithium rechargeable batteries

In this work, gelatin is for the first time utilized to conduct polymer-assisted synthesis of LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4 as the cathode material for 5 V lithium rechargeable batteries. The effect of different amounts of gelatin on structural and morphological properties, electrochemical characterization of the obtained products are investigated by XRD, SEM, charge/discharge testing, cyclic voltammograms (CV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), respectively. It's found that with the addition of moderate amount of gelatin, the sample displays a higher degree of crystallinity and phase purity, more uniform shape and monodispersed nanometric size. As a result, electrochemical cycling stability and rate performance are significantly enhanced. CV and EIS measurements further demonstrate that using an optimal amount of gelatin can improve electrochemical performance due to the reversible reaction, faster insertion/extraction of Li ions in the spinel structure and decreased interface independence

MER 2023: Multi-label Learning, Modality Robustness, and Semi-Supervised Learning

Over the past few decades, multimodal emotion recognition has made remarkable progress with the development of deep&nbsp;learning. However, existing technologies are difficult to meet the demand for practical applications. To improve the robustness, we launch a Multimodal Emotion Recognition Challenge (MER&nbsp;2023)1&nbsp;to motivate global researchers to build innovative technologies that can further accelerate and foster research. For this year&rsquo;s challenge, we present three distinct sub-challenges: (1)&nbsp;MER-MULTI, in which participants recognize both discrete and dimensional emotions; (2)&nbsp;MER-NOISE, in which noise is added to test videos for&nbsp;modality&nbsp;robustness evaluation; (3)&nbsp;MER-SEMI, which provides large amounts of unlabeled samples for semi-supervised&nbsp;learning. In this paper, we test a variety of multimodal features and provide a competitive baseline for each sub-challenge. Our system achieves 77.57% on the F1 score and 0.82 on the mean squared error (MSE) for&nbsp;MER-MULTI, 69.82% on the F1 score and 1.12 on MSE for&nbsp;MER-NOISE, and 86.75% on the F1 score for&nbsp;MER-SEMI, respectively. Baseline code is available at https://github.com/zeroQiaoba/MER2023-Baseline.</p

Upregulated PD-1 Expression Is Associated with the Development of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus, but Not the PD-1.1 Allele of the PDCD1 Gene

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a multisystem autoimmune disease with complicated genetic inheritance. Programmed death 1 (PD-1), a negative T cell regulator to maintain peripheral tolerance, induces negative signals to T cells during interaction with its ligands and is therefore a candidate gene in the development of SLE. In order to examine whether expression levels of PD-1 contribute to the pathogenesis of SLE, 30 patients with SLE and 30 controls were recruited and their PD-1 expression levels in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were measured via flow cytometry and quantitative real-time-reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Also, whether PD-1 expression levels are associated with the variant of the SNP rs36084323 and the SLE Disease Activity Index (SLEDAI) was studied in this work. The PD-1 expression levels of SLE patients were significantly increased compared with those of the healthy controls. The upregulated PD-1 expression levels in SLE patients were greatly associated with SLEDAI scores. No significant difference was found between PD-1 expression levels and SNP rs36084323. The results suggest that increased expression of PD-1 may correlate with the pathogenesis of SLE, upregulated PD-1 expression may be a biomarker for SLE diagnosis, and PD-1 inhibitor may be useful to SLE treatment

MER 2023: Multi-label Learning, Modality Robustness, and Semi-Supervised Learning

The first Multimodal Emotion Recognition Challenge (MER 2023)1 was successfully held at ACM Multimedia. The challenge focuses on system robustness and consists of three distinct tracks: (1) MER-MULTI, where participants are required to recognize both discrete and dimensional emotions; (2) MER-NOISE, in which noise is added to test videos for modality robustness evaluation; (3) MER-SEMI, which provides a large amount of unlabeled samples for semi-supervised learning. In this paper, we introduce the motivation behind this challenge, describe the benchmark dataset, and provide some statistics about participants. To continue using this dataset after MER 2023, please sign a new End User License Agreement2 and send it to our official email address3. We believe this high-quality dataset can become a new benchmark in multimodal emotion recognition, especially for the Chinese research community.</p

Conventionally trapped natural gas accumulations in the Jurassic tight sandstone reservoirs: A case study from the Center of the Western Sichuan Basin, SW China

Tight gas accumulations, commonly characterized by low permeability, low porosity, and complicated pore structure, are widely distributed in the Sichuan Basin. Recent exploration in the Chengdu Sag, Western Sichuan Basin has proven that Jurassic tight-sandstone reservoirs attach significant gas potential. However, long distance migration between source and reservoir intervals entangles understanding of the tight-gas accumulation mechanism. It is unclear whether producible gas in Jurassic intervals is either from “simple sweet-spots in a continuous accumulation” or “conventionally trapped accumulations in low-permeability reservoir rocks”. To identify the regionally active gas system and characterize the charging pattern, a geochemical study was performed by interpreting the gas molecular and carbon isotope compositions in Jurassic and conducting gas–source correlations as well as gas migration distance calculation with the relationship among δ 13 C 1 vs. R o vs. H (burial depth). Research results indicate that the Jurassic tight gases in Majing-Shifang areas are coal-derived dry gases generated by the primary cracking of kerogen. Gas/source correlation and gas migration distance calculation reveal that gases are mainly sourced from the Upper Triassic humic source rocks (T 3 x 5 , the fifth member of the Xujiahe Formation). Gas accumulations in the Jurassic Penglaizhen Formation were formed with an original vertical migration of about 2–3 km and then a long-distance lateral migration within tight sand layers, which is verified by the decreasing δ 13 C 1 and the general increasing i C 4 / n C 4 in the Penglaizhen Formation. The Jurassic tight-sandstone reservoirs in Majing-Shifang areas occur in low-porosity and low-permeability reservoir rocks in conventional lithological traps, which are not continuous-type gas accumulations or basin-centered gas systems. The faults in Majing area serve as dominant vertical conducting pathway and the relatively permeable intervals within Jurassic and microfractures play an important role in the development of the conventionally trapped natural gas accumulations