The effect of the nutri-score label on consumer’s attitudes,taste perception and purchase intention: An experimental pilot study

A large number of studies has emerged on the environmental impacts of diets, with most studies concluding that a diet rich in plant-based foods, that are low in salt, sugar, and fat, and score high in nutritional values, confers both improved health and environmental benefits. Currently, new interventions are being implemented to improve people’s eating behavior, because most people overconsume unhealthy snacks, containing high proportions of salt, sugar and fat. The purpose of the current pilot study was to investigate the effects of the Nutri-Score label on three different snack bars on consumers’ attitudes, taste perception, and purchase intention towards these food products. An experimental study was conducted with a between subject design (food packaging with Nutri-Score label versus without) among 192 participants (M_age 31.7 years, SD 14.3 years; 63% female). Results showed that there were no effects found for the effect of the Nutri- Score label on consumers’ attitudes, taste perception and purchase intention. Bayesian analyses support the conclusion that the null hypothesis is accepted. These findings show that integrating the Nutri-Score label on food packages did not modify cognitive responses of consumers towards these food products. Changing consumption behaviors is challenging and more empirical and theoretical understanding is needed.     

The color-tunable persistent luminescence of Pr3+-activated Ca2Sb2O7 with double anti-counterfeiting potentiality

The persistent luminescence (PersL) materials Ca₂Sb₂O₇:Pr³⁺ were prepared by traditional high-temperature solid-state method. We systematically investigated the crystal structure, band structure, photoluminescence, PersL performance by X-ray diffraction diagrams, Materials Studio calculation, photoluminescence (PL) spectra, PersL spectra and CIE coordinate analysis. The PL and PersL are attributed to the Sb⁵⁺ → O^2? transition of the matrix and the 4f-4f transition of Pr³⁺ ion. For the sake of explaining the impact of various traps on PersL performance, thermoluminescence (TL) tests were performed on the optimal sample after diverse charging and discharging times. It was concluded that shallow traps have priority over deep traps in capturing electrons, and the electrons in the shallow traps were preferentially released. The highlight of this work is that the PL and PersL color can be adjusted by regulating the Pr³⁺ doping concentration when these samples were excited by a single excitation wavelength, so as to achieve a double anti-counterfeiting effect. Furthermore, the color change of PersL is different from that of PL. The luminescent patterns can make a difference as the change of concentration and time, forming a dynamic anti-counterfeiting mark that distinguishes in color and time. Thus, Ca₂Sb₂O₇:Pr³⁺ has a bright application prospect in dynamic anti-counterfeiting field.     

我国预包装食品致敏原声称情况调查

目的 了解我国预包装食品标签中致敏原声称的使用情况,为修订《预包装食品标签通则》提供建议。方法 在全国各地大中型超市进行采样或拍照,收集预包装食品致敏原标签声称信息并录入Excel,对各类食品的致敏原声称使用情况进行统计。结果 共采集8 694份样品,致敏原标签的总体标识率为21.58%(1 876/8 694),其中焙烤食品含有致敏原声称的标识率最高(65.73%, 468/712)。各致敏原成分中,关于乳及乳制品致敏原的声称率最高(17.09%,1 486/8 694),使用“可能含有”“本生产线也生产”“本加工设备也生产”“本生产工厂也加工”等常用于表明存在交叉接触的预防性致敏原声称的频率较高,主要集中在焙烤食品、膨化食品、谷物及其制品等3类食品中。结论 我国预包装食品中使用食品致敏原声称的食品种类较多,致敏原声称的使用缺乏规范,个别食品类别使用预防性致敏原声称的频率较高。致敏原声称在食品产品中广泛使用,应将其作为我国致敏原标识管理的重点。     

Background and foreground interaction: Influence of complementary colors on the search task

Labels are indispensable visual (communication) elements that completely deliver the geospatial message of maps. The objective of this study is to investigate the impact of complementary colors between the map's background and text on the readability of cartographic texts and thus on the efficiency of the map user's search task. This is compared with the use of the “traditional” black labels on the corresponding colored backgrounds. Furthermore, a number of user characteristics, such as gender and expertise, are taken into account as well. The users' eye movements were registered to study their attentive behavior during the visual search task. In addition to the complement of the color's hue, the analyses were based on the difference in luminance, which could also affect the labels' readability. The difference between the black and colored label design was significantly different versus the eye‐tracking metrics. A correlation was found between the color difference and reaction time measurement and between the luminance difference and fixation duration. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Col Res Appl, 40, 437–445, 2015     

Automatic brain tissue segmentation in MR images using hybrid atlas forest based on confidence-weighted probability matrix

The segmentation of specific tissues in an MR brain image for quantitative analysis can assist the disease diagnosis and medical research. Therefore, a robust and accurate method for automatic segmentation is necessary. Atlas-based-method is a common and effective method of automatic segmentation where an atlas refers to a pair of image consist of an intensity image and its corresponding label image. Apart from the general multi-atlas-based methods, which propagate labels through the single atlas then fuse them, we proposed a hybrid atlas forest based on confidence-weighted probability matrix to consider the atlases set as a whole and treat each voxel differently. In the framework, we first register the atlas to the image space of target and calculate the confidence of voxels in the registered atlas. Then, a confidence-weighted probability matrix is generated and it augments to the intensity image of the atlas or target for providing spatial information of the target tissue. Third, a hybrid atlas forest is trained to gather the features and correlation information among the atlases in the dataset. Finally, the segmentation of the target tissues is predicted by the trained hybrid atlas forest. The segment performance and the components efficiency of the proposed method are evaluated on the two public datasets. Based on the experiment results and quantitative comparisons, our method can gather spatial information and correlation among the atlases to obtain an accurate segmentation.     

Application of a Technofunctional Caseinate Hydrolysate to Replace Surfactants in Ice Cream

There is a demand for a clean label of ice cream in the food industry. To meet this requirement, alternative surfactants and hydrocolloids without an additive number have to be found. Here, a caseinate hydrolysate with improved interfacial properties was investigated as such an additive. Replacing only the surfactant resulted in ice cream characteristics, comparable to using a commercial emulsifier (INS 472b). Thus, a clean labeling of the surfactant using this hydrolysate is possible. By contrast, replacing the hydrocolloid additionally led to an unfavorable ice cream texture and stability.     

Trans fatty acids in commercial cookies and biscuits: An update of Portuguese market

Cookies and biscuits are a recognized source of trans fatty acids (TFA). Aware of its consumption worldwide, an update on TFA content was taken in 2012, in a total of 50 samples commercialized in Portugal. Despite the absence of specific Portuguese legislation, TFA amounts in cookies and biscuits are generally low, with TFA amounts lower than 0.1 g per 100 g, and an average of 0.6% in the extracted fat in 49 of the 50 samples analyzed. Unfortunately, one sample presented 27% of TFA in the lipids, highlighting that the problem is still present. Also, a high prevalence of saturated fatty acids was observed, as high as 92.4% in the fat (53.0% on average). This fact is also a major health concern, particularly when the reformulation of these products in the last years (2006–2012) was effective regarding TFA reduction but seemed to have occurred at expenses of increasing SFA, thus reducing the potential beneficial effect achievable by replacing with cis-unsaturated fats, as generally recommended.     

常压室温等离子体诱变选育高产油脂皮状丝孢酵母的研究

研究了常压室温等离子体(ARTP)诱变时间对皮状丝孢酵母(Trichosporon cutaneum)致死率的影响,考察了不同质量浓度芝麻酚对皮状丝孢酵母生长的抑制程度,建立了一种快速高效选育高产油脂菌株的方法。结果表明:经过ARTP的40 s诱变后,接种到质量浓度为0. 15 mg/m L的芝麻酚培养基中28℃培养2 d,筛选出生长旺盛的菌株,然后接种到48孔液体培养基培养,并利用96孔板尼罗红荧光染色对培养菌株进行高通量筛选,选育出一株高产油脂菌株Trichosporon cutaneum A1。该菌株较原始菌株的生物量、油脂产量、油脂含量分别提高了41. 6%、123. 1%、57. 4%,且具有较好的遗传稳定性;通过气相色谱分析,其油脂脂肪酸组成与原始菌株相同,均为十六烷酸、硬脂酸、油酸、亚油酸。说明建立的芝麻酚抗性筛选和荧光标记高通量筛选相结合的ARTP选育方法是可行的,为其他产油脂菌株的筛选提供重要参考。     

融合语义标签和噪声先验的图像生成

针对现有生成模型难以直接从复杂语义标签生成高分辨率图像的问题,提出了融合语义标签和噪声先验的生成对抗网络(SLNP-GAN)。首先,直接输入语义标签(包含形状、位置和类别等信息),使用全局生成器对其进行编码,并结合噪声先验来学习粗粒度的全局属性,初步合成低分辨率图像;然后,基于注意力机制,使用局部细化生成器来查询低分辨率图像子区域对应的高分辨率子标签,获取细粒度信息,从而生成纹理清晰的复杂图像;最后,采用改进的引入动量的Adam算法(AMM)算法来优化对抗训练。实验结果表明,与现有方法text2img相比,所提方法的像素精确度(PA)在COCO_Stuff和ADE20K数据集上分别提高了23.73%和11.09%;相较于Adam算法,AMM算法收敛速度提升了约一倍,且损失值波幅较小。可见,SLNP-GAN能高效地获取全局特征和局部纹理,生成细粒度、高质量的图像。     

Preparation of NaYF4:Yb3+,Tm3+@NaGdF4:Ce3+,Eu3+ double-jacket microtubes for dual-mode fluorescent anti-counterfeiting

Novel hydrophilic NaYF₄:Yb³⁺,Tm³⁺@NaGdF₄:Ce³⁺,Eu³⁺ double-jacket microtubes (DJMTs) with upconversion/ downconversion dual-mode luminescence were designed and prepared through epitaxial growth of NaGdF₄:Ce³⁺, Eu³⁺ shell onto the NaYF₄:Yb³⁺,Tm³⁺ microtube via poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) mediated hydrothermal method. It is demonstrated that PAA ligand played an important role in guiding the direct growth of NaGdF₄:Ce³⁺,Eu³⁺ shell onto the surface of NaYF₄:Yb³⁺,Tm³⁺ parent microtubes. The growth of NaGdF₄:Ce³⁺,Eu³⁺ shell experienced a crystal phase transition from β-NaGdF₄ and β-NaYF₄ mixture to β-NaYF₄@NaGdF₄ composite crystal, and morphology evolution from mixture of β-NaGdF₄:Ce³⁺,Eu³⁺ nanorods and β-NaYF₄:Yb³⁺,Tm³⁺ microtubes to NaYF₄:Yb³⁺,Tm³⁺@NaGdF₄: Ce³⁺,Eu³⁺ DJMTs. The formation mechanism of DJMTs was the dissolution−renucleation of β-NaGdF₄:Ce³⁺,Eu³⁺ nanorods and the growth of β-NaGdF₄:Ce³⁺,Eu³⁺ shell via the classical Ostwald ripening mechanism. The as-prepared DJMTs could exhibit blue upconversion and red downconversion luminescence, which was further made into environmentally benign luminescent inks for creating highly secured and fluorescent-based anti-counterfeiting patterns via inkjet printing.