Validating the Radboud faces database from a child's perspective

Contains fulltext : 207293.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)Facial expressions play a central role in diverse areas of psychology. However, facial stimuli are often only validated by adults, and there are no face databases validated by school-aged children. Validation by children is important because children still develop emotion recognition skills and may have different perceptions than adults. Therefore, in this study, we validated the adult Caucasian faces of the Radboud Faces Database (RaFD) in 8- to 12-year-old children (N = 652). Additionally, children rated valence, clarity, and model attractiveness. Emotion recognition rates were relatively high (72%; compared to 82% in the original validation by adults). Recognition accuracy was highest for happiness, below average for fear and disgust, and lowest for contempt. Children showed roughly the same emotion recognition pattern as adults, but were less accurate in distinguishing similar emotions. As expected, in general, 10- to 12-year-old children had a higher emotion recognition accuracy than 8- and 9-year-olds. Overall, girls slightly outperformed boys. More nuanced differences in these gender and age effects on recognition rates were visible per emotion. The current study provides researchers with recommendation on how to use the RaFD adult pictures in child studies. Researchers can select appropriate stimuli for their research using the online available validation data.17 p

Social anxiety and perceptions of likeability by peers in children

The current study aimed to investigate the discrepancy between self-reported and peer-reported likeability among children, and the relation with social anxiety, depression, and social support. In total, 532 children between 7 and 12 years completed questionnaires about social anxiety symptoms, depressive symptoms, and social support, estimated their own likeability, and indicated how much they liked their classmates. Children with higher levels of social anxiety or depression overestimated their likeability less or even underestimated their likeability. Social anxiety symptoms, but not depressive symptoms, were significant predictors of the discrepancy. Social support was positively related to likeability and negatively related to social anxiety, but did not moderate the association between social anxiety symptoms and perception accuracy of likeability. These results are in line with cognitive theories of childhood social anxiety, and they stress the importance of using multi-informant measures when studying the relation between social anxiety and social functioning in children

Bifidobacterium longum counters the effects of obesity: Partial successful translation from rodent to human

peer-reviewedBackgroundThe human gut microbiota has emerged as a key factor in the development of obesity. Certain probiotic strains have shown anti-obesity effects. The objective of this study was to investigate whether Bifidobacterium longum APC1472 has anti-obesity effects in high-fat diet (HFD)-induced obese mice and whether B. longum APC1472 supplementation reduces body-mass index (BMI) in healthy overweight/obese individuals as the primary outcome. B. longum APC1472 effects on waist-to-hip ratio (W/H ratio) and on obesity-associated plasma biomarkers were analysed as secondary outcomes. MethodsB. longum APC1472 was administered to HFD-fed C57BL/6 mice in drinking water for 16 weeks. In the human intervention trial, participants received B. longum APC1472 or placebo supplementation for 12 weeks, during which primary and secondary outcomes were measured at the beginning and end of the intervention. FindingsB. longum APC1472 supplementation was associated with decreased bodyweight, fat depots accumulation and increased glucose tolerance in HFD-fed mice. While, in healthy overweight/obese adults, the supplementation of B. longum APC1472 strain did not change primary outcomes of BMI (0.03, 95% CI [-0.4, 0.3]) or W/H ratio (0.003, 95% CI [-0.01, 0.01]), a positive effect on the secondary outcome of fasting blood glucose levels was found (-0.299, 95% CI [-0.44, -0.09]). InterpretationThis study shows a positive translational effect of B. longum APC1472 on fasting blood glucose from a preclinical mouse model of obesity to a human intervention study in otherwise healthy overweight and obese individuals. This highlights the promising potential of B. longum APC1472 to be developed as a valuable supplement in reducing specific markers of obesity. FundingThis research was funded in part by Science Foundation Ireland in the form of a Research Centre grant (SFI/12/RC/2273) to APC Microbiome Ireland and by a research grant from Cremo S.A

Bifidobacterium longum counters the effects of obesity: partial successful translation from rodent to human

The human gut microbiota has emerged as a key factor in the development of obesity. Certain probiotic strains have shown anti-obesity effects. The objective of this study was to investigate whether Bifidobacterium longum APC1472 has anti-obesity effects in high-fat diet (HFD)-induced obese mice and whether B. longum APC1472 supplementation reduces body-mass index (BMI) in healthy overweight/obese individuals as the primary outcome. B. longum APC1472 effects on waist-to-hip ratio (W/H ratio) and on obesity-associated plasma biomarkers were analysed as secondary outcomes. B. longum APC1472 was administered to HFD-fed C57BL/6 mice in drinking water for 16 weeks. In the human intervention trial, participants received B. longum APC1472 or placebo supplementation for 12 weeks, during which primary and secondary outcomes were measured at the beginning and end of the intervention. B. longum APC1472 supplementation was associated with decreased bodyweight, fat depots accumulation and increased glucose tolerance in HFD-fed mice. While, in healthy overweight/obese adults, the supplementation of B. longum APC1472 strain did not change primary outcomes of BMI (0.03, 95% CI [-0.4, 0.3]) or W/H ratio (0.003, 95% CI [-0.01, 0.01]), a positive effect on the secondary outcome of fasting blood glucose levels was found (-0.299, 95% CI [-0.44, -0.09]). This study shows a positive translational effect of B. longum APC1472 on fasting blood glucose from a preclinical mouse model of obesity to a human intervention study in otherwise healthy overweight and obese individuals. This highlights the promising potential of B. longum APC1472 to be developed as a valuable supplement in reducing specific markers of obesity. This research was funded in part by Science Foundation Ireland in the form of a Research Centre grant (SFI/12/RC/2273) to APC Microbiome Ireland and by a research grant from Cremo S.A

Stimuli-Responsive Shape Changing Commodity Polymer Composites and Bilayers

Commodity polymers are produced in large volumes, providing robust mechanical properties at relatively low costs. The products made from these commodity polymers typically offer only static functionalities. Over the past decade, however, in the scientific literature, stimuli-responsive additives and/or polymer coatings have been introduced to commodity polymers, yielding composites and bilayers that change shape in response to light, temperature, and/or humidity. These stimuli responsive commodity polymers allow the marketing and sales of these otherwise bulk products as "high-end" smart materials for applications spanning from soft actuators to adaptive textiles. This Spotlight on Applications presents an overview of recent intriguing works on how shape changing commodity polymer composite and bilayer actuators based on polyamide 6, poly(ethylene terephthalate), polyethylene, and polypropylene have been fabricated that respond to environmental stimuli and discusses their potential applications

Validation of the child models of the Radboud Faces Database by children

To draw valid and reliable conclusions from child studies involving facial expressions, well-controlled and validated (child) facial stimuli are necessary. The current study is the first to validate the facial emotional expressions of child models in school-aged children. In this study, we validated the Radboud Faces Database child models in a large sample of children (N = 547; 256 boys) aged between 8 and 12. In addition, associated validation measures such as valence, clarity, and model attractiveness were examined. Overall, the results indicated that children were able to accurately identify the emotional expressions on the child faces in approximately 70% of the cases. The highest accuracy rates were found for “happiness,” whereas “contempt” received the lowest accuracy scores. Children confused the emotions “fear” and “surprise,” and the emotions “contempt” and “neutral” with one another. Ratings of all facial stimuli are available (https://osf.io/7srgw/) and can be used to select appropriate stimuli to investigate the processing of children’s facial emotional expressions

Liquid crystal networks on thermoplastics : reprogrammable photo-responsive actuators

Arbitrary shape (re)programming is appealing for fabricating, untethered shape‐morphing photo actuators with intricate configurations and features. We present re‐programmable light responsive thermoplastic actuators with arbitrary initial shapes through spray‐coating of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) with an azobenzene‐doped light responsive liquid crystal network (LCN). The initial geometry of the actuator is controlled by thermally shaping and fixing the thermoplastic PET, allowing arbitrary shapes, including origami‐like folds and left and right handed helicity within a single sample. The thermally fixed geometries can be reversibly actuated through light exposure, with fast, reversible area‐specific actuation, such as winding, unwinding and unfolding. By shape re‐programming, the same sample can be re‐designed and light actuated again. The strategy presented here demonstrates easy fabrication of mechanically robust, recyclable, photo‐responsive actuators with highly tuneable geometries and actuation modes

Validation of the child models of the Radboud Faces Database by children

Contains fulltext : 220290.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)To draw valid and reliable conclusions from child studies involving facial expressions, well-controlled and validated (child) facial stimuli are necessary. The current study is the first to validate the facial emotional expressions of child models in school-aged children. In this study, we validated the Radboud Faces Database child models in a large sample of children (N = 547; 256 boys) aged between 8 and 12. In addition, associated validation measures such as valence, clarity, and model attractiveness were examined. Overall, the results indicated that children were able to accurately identify the emotional expressions on the child faces in approximately 70% of the cases. The highest accuracy rates were found for "happiness," whereas "contempt" received the lowest accuracy scores. Children confused the emotions "fear" and "surprise," and the emotions "contempt" and "neutral" with one another. Ratings of all facial stimuli are available (https://osf.io/7srgw/) and can be used to select appropriate stimuli to investigate the processing of children’s facial emotional expressions.7 p

Unravelling humidity-gated, temperature responsive bilayer actuators

By spraying liquid crystal mixtures onto stretched polyamide 6 (PA6) substrates, dual-responsive heat/humidity bilayer actuators are generated. The oriented PA6 guides the self-organization of the liquid crystal monomers into well-aligned, anisotropic liquid crystal networks. The bilayer responds to changes in the environmental relative humidity, resulting in bending of the actuator with the liquid crystal network inside the curvature. In contrast, in conditions of constant high humidity (80%RH), increasing the temperature triggers the liquid crystal network coating to bend the bilayer in the opposing direction. The dual-responsivity to changes in environmental humidity and temperature is examined in detail and discussed theoretically to elucidate the humidity-gated, temperature responsive properties revealing guidelines for fabricating anisotropic bilayer actuators