A High-Fidelity Open Embodied Avatar with Lip Syncing and Expression Capabilities

Embodied avatars as virtual agents have many applications and provide benefits over disembodied agents, allowing non-verbal social and interactional cues to be leveraged, in a similar manner to how humans interact with each other. We present an open embodied avatar built upon the Unreal Engine that can be controlled via a simple python programming interface. The avatar has lip syncing (phoneme control), head gesture and facial expression (using either facial action units or cardinal emotion categories) capabilities. We release code and models to illustrate how the avatar can be controlled like a puppet or used to create a simple conversational agent using public application programming interfaces (APIs). GITHUB link: https://github.com/danmcduff/AvatarSimComment: International Conference on Multimodal Interaction (ICMI 2019

Catálogo de la exposición "Arquitectura colonial brasileña"

Catálogo de la exposición "Arquitectura colonial brasileña", del fotógrafo brasileño Marcos Sanchez, correspondiente a la convocatoria de Residencia Artística de Fotografía de 2019, del Centro de Estudios Brasileños de la Universidad de Salamanca. Brasil posee muchas ciudades fundadas durante el periodo Colonial portugués (1500-1822), aunque no todas tienen un núcleo histórico tan bien preservado como las recogidas en esta exposición. Paraty (Río de Janeiro), Diamantina, Tiradentes (ambas en Minas Gerias) y Salvador (Bahía), son las ciudades seleccionadas por el fotógrafo Marcos Sanchez para mostrar al espectador la belleza y singularidad de un paisaje urbano distinto al habitual cuando se piensa en Brasil.Catálogo de la exposición "Arquitectura colonial brasileña", del fotógrafo brasileño Marcos Sanchez, correspondiente a la convocatoria de Residencia Artística de Fotografía de 2019, del Centro de Estudios Brasileños de la Universidad de Salamanca

Quantum authentication with unitary coding sets

A general class of authentication schemes for arbitrary quantum messages is proposed. The class is based on the use of sets of unitary quantum operations in both transmission and reception, and on appending a quantum tag to the quantum message used in transmission. The previous secret between partners required for any authentication is a classical key. We obtain the minimal requirements on the unitary operations that lead to a probability of failure of the scheme less than one. This failure may be caused by someone performing a unitary operation on the message in the channel between the communicating partners, or by a potential forger impersonating the transmitter.Comment: RevTeX4, 10 page

From Julius Caesar to Sustainable Composite Materials: A Passage through Port Caisson Technology

The breakwater construction technique using floating concrete caissons is well-known nowadays as a widespread system. Yet do we really know its origin? Since Julius Caesar used this technology in Brindisi (Italy) up to the Normandy landings in June 1944, not only has this technology been developed, but it has been a key item in several moments in history. Its development has almost always been driven by military requirements. The greatest changes have not been conceptual but point occurring, backed by the materials used. Parallelisms can be clearly seen in each new stage: timber, opus caementitium (Roman concrete), iron and concrete… However, nowadays, achieving a more sustainable world constitutes a major challenge, to which the construction of caissons breakwaters must contribute as a field of application of new eco-friendly materials. This research work provides a general overview from the origins of caissons until our time. It will make better known the changes that took place in the system and their adaptation to new materials, and will help in clarifying the future in developing technology towards composite sustainable materials and special concrete. If we understand the past, it will be easier to define the future.The research work included in the paper has been financially supported by the “Fundación Agustín de Betancourt” (Spain)

Participation in Everyday Activities of Children with and without Neurodevelopmental Disorders: A Cross-Sectional Study in Spain

[Abstract] Children with neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) often report significant difficulties performing activities of daily living (ADLs), which may restrict their daily participation. The aim of this study was to investigate the differences in ADLs participation between children with NDDs and typically developing (TD) children, and to explore the associations between different daily participation contexts. A cross-sectional study was conducted that included twenty children with a medical diagnosis of an NDD and 26 sex- and age-matched TD controls. The daily participation across home, community, school, and instrumental living activities was measured using the Child and Adolescent Scale of Participation (CASP). The results show that children with NDDs engaged in lower participation in all CASP contexts (Δ = 1.7–5.5, p < 0.001) and had a significantly higher prevalence of moderate or severe restricted participation than their TD peers (OR = 23.4, 95% CI = 3.6–154.2, p < 0.001). Additionally, a strong association was found between the different contexts of participation (r = 0.642–0.856). Overall, the children with NDDs experienced significant participation restrictions on their daily activities. This study adds to the growing evidence showing that intervention strategies in this population should adopt a participation-oriented approach

In depth analysis of the mechanism of action of metal-dependent sigma factors: characterization of CorE2 from Myxococcus xanthus

Extracytoplasmic function sigma factors represent the third pillar of signal-transduction mechanisms in bacteria. The variety of stimuli they recognize and mechanisms of action they use have allowed their classification into more than 50 groups. We have characterized CorE2 from Myxococcus xanthus, which belongs to group ECF44 and upregulates the expression of two genes when it is activated by cadmium and zinc. Sigma factors of this group contain a Cys-rich domain (CRD) at the C terminus which is essential for detecting metals. Point mutations at the six Cys residues of the CRD have revealed the contribution of each residue to CorE2 activity. Some of them are essential, while others are either dispensable or their mutations only slightly affect the activity of the protein. However, importantly, mutation of Cys174 completely shifts the specificity of CorE2 from cadmium to copper, indicating that the Cys arrangement of the CRD determines the metal specificity. Moreover, the conserved CxC motif located between the sigma2 domain and the sigma4.2 region has also been found to be essential for activity. The results presented here contribute to our understanding of the mechanism of action of metal-dependent sigma factors and help to define new common features of the members of this group of regulators.Spanish Government [CSD2009-00006, BFU2012-33248, 70% funded by FEDER]. Funding for open access charge: Grupo BIO318, Junta de Andalucía

Temperature-Frequency Converter Using a Liquid Crystal Cell as a Sensing Element

A new temperature-frequency converter based on the variation of the dielectric permittivity of the Liquid Crystal (LC) material with temperature has been demonstrated. Unlike other temperature sensors based on liquid crystal processing optical signals for determining the temperature, this work presents a system that is able to sense temperature by using only electrical signals. The variation of the dielectric permittivity with temperature is used to modify the capacitance of a plain capacitor using a LC material as non-ideal dielectric. An electric oscillator with an output frequency depending on variable capacitance made of a twisted-nematic (TN) liquid crystal (LC) cell has been built. The output frequency is related to the temperature of LC cell through the equations associated to the oscillator circuit. The experimental results show excellent temperature sensitivity, with a variation of 0.40% of the initial frequency per degree Celsius in the temperature range from −6 °C to 110 °C

A ‘click chemistry’ approach to the straightforward synthesis of new 4-aryl-1,2,3-triazolocarbanucleosides

The synthesis and biological evaluation as antiviral agents of a series of racemic 4-aryl-1,2,3- triazolyl carbanucleosides of type (±)-10/(±)-11 related to the broad spectrum antiviral agent ribavirin 1 are described. These compounds were produced using a “click chemistry” strategy starting from readily available protected alcohol 13b. The synthetic approach made use of olefinbased organic reactions for the stereoselective construction of the appropriately functionalized cyclopentane ring moiety followed by copper (I) catalyzed Huisgen 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition of azides and alkynes for the regioselective construction of the heterocyclic triazole moietyThe authors thank the Xunta de Galicia for financial support of this work under Project PGIDT02BTF20305PR. M.D.G. thanks the Xunta de Galicia for financial support under “Programa Isidro Parga Pondal”S