Body appreciation around the world: Measurement invariance of the Body Appreciation Scale-2 (BAS-2) across 65 nations, 40 languages, gender identities, and age.

The Body Appreciation Scale-2 (BAS-2) is a widely used measure of a core facet of the positive body image construct. However, extant research concerning measurement invariance of the BAS-2 across a large number of nations remains limited. Here, we utilised the Body Image in Nature (BINS) dataset - with data collected between 2020 and 2022 - to assess measurement invariance of the BAS-2 across 65 nations, 40 languages, gender identities, and age groups. Multi-group confirmatory factor analysis indicated that full scalar invariance was upheld across all nations, languages, gender identities, and age groups, suggesting that the unidimensional BAS-2 model has widespread applicability. There were large differences across nations and languages in latent body appreciation, while differences across gender identities and age groups were negligible-to-small. Additionally, greater body appreciation was significantly associated with higher life satisfaction, being single (versus being married or in a committed relationship), and greater rurality (versus urbanicity). Across a subset of nations where nation-level data were available, greater body appreciation was also significantly associated with greater cultural distance from the United States and greater relative income inequality. These findings suggest that the BAS-2 likely captures a near-universal conceptualisation of the body appreciation construct, which should facilitate further cross-cultural research. [Abstract copyright: Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Rheological properties of patatin gels compared with ß-lactoglobulin, ovalbumin, and glycinin

BACKGROUND: The thermal unfolding and rheological properties of patatin gels were compared with those of commonly used proteins (ß-lactoglobulin, ovalbumin, glycinin). RESULTS: A significant difference between these proteins was observed in both the denaturation temperature (59 °C for patatin; about 20 °C lower than the other proteins) and the onset temperature of gel formation (50–60 °C, compared to 70–85 °C for the other proteins). At low ionic strength the minimal concentration was only 6% (w/v) for patatin, compared to 8–11% for the other proteins. This effect was attributed to the relatively high exposed hydrophobicity of patatin as determined by hydrophobic interaction chromatography. For gels compared at ‘iso-strength’, the frequency dependence was found to be close to identical, while small differences were observed in the strain at fracture. CONCLUSIONS: Patatin was found to form gels with comparable small-deformational rheological properties as typical food proteins. In addition, at concentrations where the elastic modulus was similar for all proteins, the frequency and strain dependence were also comparable. From this it is concluded that patatin is a promising protein to be used in food applications as a gelling agent

LC block copolymers containing side-chain and main-chain blocks

The synthesis and some thermal properties of a new type of block copolymers comprising both main-chain and side-chain liquid-crystalline (LC) blocks in the same macromolecular structure are described. The former block is a semiflexible LC polyester (block A), and the latter is a LC polymethacrylate (block B). The two structurally different blocks were at least partly phase-separated within the glassy and LC states and underwent distinct phase transitions. Significant deviations of the thermodynamic parameters observed relative to those of the corresponding homopolymers suggest the occurrence of a more or less diffuse interphase

Hybrid Liquid-Crystalline Block Copolymers. I. Synthesis and Mesomorphic Behavior of Polyester-Polymethacrylate Block Copolymers

A new type of block copolymers comprising both main-chain and side-chain liquid-crystalline (LC) blocks in the same macromolecular structure was synthesized and studied. The former was a semiflexible LC polyester block, and the latter was an LC polymethacrylate block. Thermal, dynamic-mechanical, and X-ray diffraction data indicated that the two structurally different blocks were partly phase-separated in the glassy and LC states. Significant deviations of the transition temperatures and enthalpies were observed relative to those of the corresponding homopolymers

Mesophase Behavior of Polyesther-Polymethacrylate Liquid Crystal Block Copolymers

The synthesis and properties of two series of main chain and side chain LC block copolymers constituted by a side chain LC polymethacrylate block and a main chain LC polyester block were described. The two chemically different blocks are phase segregated. The trend of the thermodynamic phase transition parameters suggests that the smectic phase of the side chain blocks provides less favourable boundary conditions than the isotropic phase of the side chain blocks and decreases the stability of both the nematic and smectic mesophases of the main chain block

Hybrid Liquid-Crystalline Block Copolymers with Polystyrene and Polyester Blocks

The synthesis and some thermal and dynamic mechanical properties of four series of liquid-crystalline block copolymers, comprising polystyrene and polyester blocks, are described. Within each series, the smectic C-nematic and nematic-isotropic transition temperatures of the polyester block were constant throughout the whole composition range, and the enthalpies of both phase transitions were directly proportional to the composition. The two blocks were incompatible in the glass and melt phases and underwent their individual phase transitions

Hybrid Liquid-Crystalline Block Copolymers II. X-Ray Diffraction Analysis of Polyester-Polymethacrylate Block Copolymers

The molecular organization in the smectic mesophases of a series of main-chain/side-chain block copolymers was studied by X-ray diffraction on oriented specimens. The main-chain and the side-chain blocks were phase-separated and gave rise to two coexisting smectic domains with different layer periodicities. The orientation of the smectic planes in the distinct domains with respect to the fiber axis was very different in the various samples and depended on the relative length of the blocks. In the presence of relatively short side-chain blocks, the orientation of the main-chain block dominated and the smectic planes of the side-chain block were forced to be parallel to those of the main-chain block and perpendicular to the fiber axis. In contrast, when the side-chain block was sufficiently long it imposed its own orientation to the main-chain block. In this case, the smectic planes of the main-chain block were oriented parallel to those of the side-chain block and to the fiber axis