Search results for "talk"
showing 10 items of 241 documents
The dark side of social media: Stalking, online self‐disclosure and problematic sleep
2021
The proliferation of social media usage has led to the manifestation of certain negative behaviours that are now referred to as the ‘dark side’ of social media use. These behaviours are a matter of concern, as they are detrimental to people's well-being. The present study examines the empirical association among social media stalking, online self-disclosure, social media sleep hygiene, compulsive social media use and problematic sleep, most of which have been previously recognized as key dark side behaviours. While social media stalking is a relatively new and under-explored phenomenon, its predecessor, the much-castigated cyberstalking, has received sufficient scholarly attention. This stu…
A Scratch-based Graphical Policy Editor for XACML
2015
This paper proposes a policy-maker-friendly editor for the extensible Access Control Markup Language (XACML) based on the programming language Scratch. Scratch is a blocks-based programming language designed for teaching children programming, which allows users to build programs like a puzzle. We take this concept one step further with an XACML policy editor based on the graphic programming elements of Scratch implemented in Smalltalk. This allows for aiding the user on how to build policies by grouping blocks and operators that fit together and also indicating which blocks that will stick together. It simplifies building the XACML policies while still having an XACML “feel” of the graphic …
The Tsetse Fly Displays an Attenuated Immune Response to Its Secondary Symbiont, Sodalis glossinidius
2019
Sodalis glossinidius, a vertically transmitted facultative symbiont of the tsetse fly, is a bacterium in the early/intermediate state of its transition toward symbiosis, representing an important model for investigating how the insect host immune defense response is regulated to allow endosymbionts to establish a chronic infection within their hosts without being eliminated. In this study, we report on the establishment of a tsetse fly line devoid of S. glossinidius only, allowing us to experimentally investigate (i) the complex immunological interactions between a single bacterial species and its host, (ii) how the symbiont population is kept under control, and (iii) the impact of the symb…
2020
The assembly of human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) virions is an orchestrated process that requires, as an essential prerequisite, the complex crosstalk between viral structural proteins. Currently, however, the mechanisms governing the successive steps in the constitution of virion protein complexes remain elusive. Protein phosphorylation is a key regulator determining the sequential changes in the conformation, binding, dynamics, and stability of proteins in the course of multiprotein assembly. In this review, we present a comprehensive map of the HCMV virion proteome, including a refined view on the virion phosphoproteome, based on previous publications supplemented by new results. Thus, a nov…
The triad hsp60-mirnas-extracellular vesicles in brain tumors: Assessing its components for understanding tumorigenesis and monitoring patients
2021
Brain tumors have a poor prognosis and progress must be made for developing efficacious treatments, but for this to occur their biology and interaction with the host must be elucidated beyond current knowledge. What has been learned from other tumors may be applied to study brain tumors, for example, the role of Hsp60, miRNAs, and extracellular vesicles (EVs) in the mechanisms of cell proliferation and dissemination, and resistance to immune attack and anticancer drugs. It has been established that Hsp60 increases in cancer cells, in which it occurs not only in the mitochondria but also in the cytosol and plasma-cell membrane and it is released in EVs into the extracellular space and in cir…
Inter- and intracellular signaling in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: role of p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase.
2006
The pathogenetic processes underlying the selective motor neuron degeneration in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) are complex and still not completely understood even in the cases of inherited disease caused by mutations in the Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase-dependent (SOD1) gene. Recent evidence supports the view that ALS is not a cell-autonomous disease and that glial-neuron cross-talk, throughout cytokines and other toxic factors like the nitric oxide and superoxide, is a crucial determinant for the induction of motor neuron death. This cell-cell interaction may determine the progression of the disease through processes that are likely independent of the initial trigger and that may conve…
A Web-Oriented Java3D Talking Head
2009
Facial animation denotes all those systems performing speech synchro- nization with an animated face model. These kinds of systems are named Talking Heads or Talking Faces. At the same time simple dialogue systems called chatbots have been developed. Chatbots are software agents able to interact with users through pattern-matching based rules. In this paper a Talking Head oriented to the creation of a Chatbot is presented. An answer is generated in form of text trig- gered by an input query. The answer is converted into a facial animation using a 3D face model whose lips movements are synchronized with the sound produced by a speech synthesis module. Our Talking Head exploits the naturalnes…
A Java 3D Talking Head for a Chatbot
2008
Facial animation is referred to all those systems per- forming the speech synchronization with an animated face model. This kind of systems are called ”Talking Head” or ”Talking Face”. In this paper a Talking Head oriented to the creation of a Chatbot is presented. It requires an in- put query and an answer is generated in form of text. The answer is transduced into a facial animation using a 3D face model whose lips movements are synchronized with the sound produced by a speech synthesis module. Our ”Talk- ing Head” explores the naturalness of the facial animation and provides a real-time interactive interface to the user. The WEB infrastructure has been realized using the Client- Server m…
Virtual conversation with a real talking head
2008
A talking head is system performing an animated face model synchronized with a speech synthesis module. It is used as a presentation layer of a conversational Agent which provide an answer. It provides an answer when a query is written as an input by the user. The textual answer is converted into facial movements of a 3D face model whose lips and tongue movements are synchronized with the sound of the synthetic voice. The Client-Server paradigm has been used for the WEB infrastructure delegating the animation and synchronization to the client, so that the server can satisfy multiple requests from clients; while the Chatbot, the Digital Signal Processing and the Natural language Processing a…
What Can International Finance Add to International Strategy?
2011
This chapter focuses on the role of corporate financial strategies to improve firms’ market valuations, and thus lower their cost of capital. The identification of successful strategies is accomplished within an overall strategic framework and related to how the firm perceives the degree of international financial integration. Five strategies for how to break out of a segmented, thin domestic capital market are highlighted together with historical success cases. The chapter illustrates the linkages between business strategy, firm motivation, and various financial strategies. JEL: F21, F23, F36, G32, G34.