Adaptive Semi-supervised Learning for Cross-domain Sentiment Classification

We consider the cross-domain sentiment classification problem, where a sentiment classifier is to be learned from a source domain and to be generalized to a target domain. Our approach explicitly minimizes the distance between the source and the target instances in an embedded feature space. With the difference between source and target minimized, we then exploit additional information from the target domain by consolidating the idea of semi-supervised learning, for which, we jointly employ two regularizations -- entropy minimization and self-ensemble bootstrapping -- to incorporate the unlabeled target data for classifier refinement. Our experimental results demonstrate that the proposed approach can better leverage unlabeled data from the target domain and achieve substantial improvements over baseline methods in various experimental settings.Comment: Accepted to EMNLP201

Development of Pan-filovirus vaccine against Ebola and Marburg virus challenges

Filoviruses such as Ebola (EBOV) and Marburg (MARV) viruses cause deadly viral hemorrhagic fever in humans with high case fatality rates. To date, no licenced therapeutic or vaccine has been clinically approved to prevent infection. Several vaccine candidates are under development against the few most common filoviruses targeting the virus glycoprotein (GP). However, protective antibodies induced by such GP vaccines are usually limited to the same species. In contrast, T-cell vaccines offer an opportunity to design a single pan-filovirus vaccine protecting against all members of the Filoviridae family. In this study FILOcepX vaccines were constructed targeting the four most conserved regions among the viral proteomes with the aim to induce protective T-cell responses against different filoviruses. BALB/c mice were immunized with FILOcep 1 and 2 vaccines vectored by non-replicating engineered simian adenovirus and poxvirus MVA. Groups of 20 BALB/c mice were primed and boosted with either the FILOcep1 and FILOcep2 vaccines or control ChAdOx1- and MVA-vectored vaccines. Four animals in each group were sacrificed after 1 week of boosting to detect T-cell response for the FILOcepX antigen. High frequency T cells specific responses were detected in mice receiving the test vaccines by IFN-γ ELISPOT kits. Of the remaining 16 animals in each group, 8 were challenged with mouse-adapted EBOV and 8 were challenged with mouse adapted MARV in Containment Level 4 laboratory. All the mice in the control group either died or had to be euthanized between 4 and 6 days post challenge. On the other hand all the FILOcepX vaccinated mice maintained their normal body mass and survived till the end of the scheduled protocol on day 29 post challenge. These FILOcepX vaccines provided 100% protection against the lethal challenges with filoviruses of two different genera. Further evaluation the efficacy of this vaccine in non-human primates (NHPs) is warranted

Diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorders Using Temporally Distinct Resting-State Functional Connectivity Networks

Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (R-fMRI) is dynamic in nature since neural activities constantly change over the time and are dominated by repeating brief activations and deactivations involving many brain regions. Each region participates in multiple brain functions and is part of various functionally distinct but spatially overlapping networks. Functional connectivity computed as correlations over the entire time series always overlooks inter-region interactions that often occur repeatedly and dynamically in time, limiting its application to disease diagnosis

Coexisting Charge-Ordered States with Distinct Driving Mechanisms in Monolayer VSe₂

Thinning crystalline materials to two dimensions (2D) creates a rich playground for electronic phases, including charge, spin, superconducting, and topological order. Bulk materials hosting charge density waves (CDWs), when reduced to ultrathin films, have shown CDW enhancement and tunability. However, charge order confined to only 2D remains elusive. Here we report a distinct charge ordered state emerging in the monolayer limit of 1T-VSe2. Systematic scanning tunneling microscopy experiments reveal that bilayer VSe2 largely retains the bulk electronic structure, hosting a tridirectional CDW. However, monolayer VSe2 -consistently across distinct substrates-exhibits a dimensional crossover, hosting two CDWs with distinct wavelengths and transition temperatures. Electronic structure calculations reveal that while one CDW is bulk-like and arises from the well-known Peierls mechanism, the other is decidedly unconventional. The observed CDW-lattice decoupling and the emergence of a flat band suggest that the second CDW could arise from enhanced electron-electron interactions in the 2D limit. These findings establish monolayer-VSe2 as a host of coexisting charge orders with distinct origins, and enable the tailoring of electronic phenomena via emergent interactions in 2D materials

Photo-Attachment of Biomolecules for Miniaturization on Wicking Si-Nanowire Platform

We demonstrated the surface functionalization of a highly three-dimensional, superhydrophilic wicking substrate using light to immobilize functional biomolecules for sensor or microarray applications. We showed here that the three-dimensional substrate was compatible with photo-attachment and the performance of functionalization was greatly improved due to both increased surface capacity and reduced substrate reflectivity. In addition, photo-attachment circumvents the problems induced by wicking effect that was typically encountered on superhydrophilic three-dimensional substrates, thus reducing the difficulty of producing miniaturized sites on such substrate. We have investigated various aspects of photo-attachment process on the nanowire substrate, including the role of different buffers, the effect of wavelength as well as how changing probe structure may affect the functionalization process. We demonstrated that substrate fabrication and functionalization can be achieved with processes compatible with microelectronics processes, hence reducing the cost of array fabrication. Such functionalization method coupled with the high capacity surface makes the substrate an ideal candidate for sensor or microarray for sensitive detection of target analytes.National University of Singapore (Graduate School for Integrative Sciences and Engineering scholarship)GLOBALFOUNDRIES Singapore Pte. Ltd.Singapore-MIT Allianc

New interaction tools for preserving an old language

The Penan people of Malaysian Borneo were traditionally nomads of the rainforest. They would leave messages in the jungle for each other by shaping natural objects into language tokens and arranging these symbols in specific ways – much like words in a sentence. With settlement, the language is being lost as it is not being used by the younger generation. We report here, a tangible system designed to help the Penans preserve their unique object writing language. The key features of the system are that: the tangibles are made of real objects; it works in the wild; and new tangibles can be fabricated and added to the system by the users. Our evaluations show that the system is engaging and encourages intergenerational knowledge transfer, thus has the potential to help preserve this language

Combined intranasal and intramuscular parainfluenza 5-, simian adenovirus ChAdOx1- and poxvirus MVA-vectored vaccines induce synergistically HIV-1-specific T cells in the mucosa

IntroductionThe primary goal of this work is to broaden and enhance the options for induction of protective CD8+ T cells against HIV-1 and respiratory pathogens.MethodsWe explored the advantages of the parainfluenza virus 5 (PIV5) vector for delivery of pathogen-derived transgenes alone and in combination with the in-human potent regimen of simian adenovirus ChAdOx1 prime-poxvirus MVA boost delivering bi-valent mosaic of HIV-1 conserved regions designated HIVconsvX.ResultsWe showed in BALB/c mice that the PIV5 vector expressing the HIVconsvX immunogens could be readily incorporated with the other two vaccine modalities into a single regimen and that for specific vector combinations, mucosal CD8+ T-cell induction was enhanced synergistically by a combination of the intranasal and intramuscular routes of administration.DiscussionEncouraging safety and immunogenicity data from phase 1 human trials of ChAdOx1- and MVA-vectored vaccines for HIV-1, and PIV5-vectored vaccines for SARS-CoV-2 and respiratory syncytial virus pave the way for combining these vectors for HIV-1 and other indications in humans