Automated measurement of infant and mother Duchenne facial expressions in the Face-to-Face/Still-Face

Although still-face effects are well-studied, little is known about the degree to which the Face-to-Face/Still-Face (FFSF) is associated with the production of intense affective displays. Duchenne smiling expresses more intense positive affect than non-Duchenne smiling, while Duchenne cry-faces express more intense negative affect than non-Duchenne cry-faces. Forty 4-month-old infants and their mothers completed the FFSF, and key affect-indexing facial Action Units (AUs) were coded by expert Facial Action Coding System coders for the first 30 s of each FFSF episode. Computer vision software, automated facial affect recognition (AFAR), identified AUs for the entire 2-min episodes. Expert coding and AFAR produced similar infant and mother Duchenne and non-Duchenne FFSF effects, highlighting the convergent validity of automated measurement. Substantive AFAR analyses indicated that both infant Duchenne and non-Duchenne smiling declined from the FF to the SF, but only Duchenne smiling increased from the SF to the RE. In similar fashion, the magnitude of mother Duchenne smiling changes over the FFSF were 2–4 times greater than non-Duchenne smiling changes. Duchenne expressions appear to be a sensitive index of intense infant and mother affective valence that are accessible to automated measurement and may be a target for future FFSF research.     

Feminization of refugee: Intersectionality,solidarity, resistance

This work aims to examine a possible change of feminist civil society pertaining to inclusivity with a particular interest in violence. It evaluates state-civil society relations, coping mechanisms with domestic violence and solidarity patterns with female refugees. It proposes a novel theoretical contribution, ‘feminization of refugee’ suggesting a positive shift in the empowerment of refugee women through bidirectional solidarity, intersectionality and resistance which consequently diversifies and invigorates the civil society itself. The findings suggest that the manifestation of a resistant civil society in Turkey inclined to withhold a strong feminist stance with a rights-based approach. The findings further manifest a growing need towards shelters in the pandemic experience which recalls capacity building requirements of civil society for refugee women against violence.     

Bringing “A Different Femininity”: Immigrant Women from Bulgaria and Local Co-workers on a Factory Floor in Turkey

Qualitative Sociology - This article draws on life-course interviews with a group of Turkish immigrant women from socialist Bulgaria and locals who shared the same factory floor for approximately...     

Restricted ridge estimator in generalized linear models: Monte Carlo simulation studies on Poisson and binomial distributed responses

It is known that collinearity among the explanatory variables in generalized linear models (GLMs) inflates the variance of maximum likelihood estimators. To overcome multicollinearity in GLMs, ordinary ridge estimator and restricted estimator were proposed. In this study, a restricted ridge estimator is introduced by unifying the ordinary ridge estimator and the restricted estimator in GLMs and its mean squared error (MSE) properties are discussed. The MSE comparisons are done in the context of first-order approximated estimators. The results are illustrated by a numerical example and two simulation studies are conducted with Poisson and binomial responses.     

Quantile estimation and comparing two independent groups with an approach based on percentile bootstrap

Although the most common approach for comparing two independent groups is on the basis of some measure of location, determination of the differences in the tails of the groups is often of interest. In this study, Harrell–Davis estimator, Sfakianakis–Verginis estimators and default quantile estimator of R are used in conjunction with a percentile bootstrap method with the aim of comparing two independent groups via the quantiles, and the relative efficiencies of Harrell–Davis and Sfakianakis–Verginis estimators are compared. General performance of Sfakianakis–Verginis estimators was much better than Harrell–Davis estimator in terms of both saving actual type I error and relative efficiency.     

Psychological stress and muscle activity during data entry at visual display units

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate whether psychological stress causes increased muscle activity, especially static muscle activity, in the trapezius muscles of the neck and shoulder. A pilot and a main study were carried out with 10 males and 20 females, respectively. The subjects performed a VDU data entry task under psychologically stressful and non-stressful conditions. Stress reactions were measured by different methods: heart rate and heart rate variability, hormonal excretion, and subjective ratings of mood and body symptoms. The stress condition caused an increase in heart rate. The low-frequency variability increased and the high-frequency variability decreased. Ratings of motivation and relaxation decreased, and subjects felt more activated. Pain and discomfort from the stomach increased. Adrenaline and noradrenaline in urine were unaffected. The majority of the subjects showed moderately increased static and median EMG levels during the stress condition. The interindividual variation in muscular reactions was large. Statistically significant increases were obtained for the myoelectric activity of the left (resting) trapezius muscle when pooling the two groups. It appears that the increase in muscle activity due to this type of mental stress is small, and factors other than ‘attention-related’ load may be more important. The results indicate that some individuals may be more prone to general muscle tension, making them more likely to develop symptoms and musculoskeletal pain.     

Computer integrated manufacturing applications in an automotive factory

Abstract

System integration is critical to development and implementation of CIM (computer integrated manufacture). This paper outlines the elements of the CIM system implementation strategy and deals with the representation of CIM implementation stages in TO FAS; which is a car manufacturing factory. In TOFA?, a pilot CIM project has been completed with success and other projects are in the development phase.