Lies, Deep Fries, and Statistics!! The search for the truth between public attitudes and public behaviour towards genetically modified foods

Consumer/Household Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

Fan-duct development

Design and performance of acoustically lined fan discharge duct for noise level reduction during aircraft landin

The Challenges of Community Engagement

Lyons and Whelan provide a useful list of recommendations as to how community engagement on nanotechnology could be improved, which very few people working in community engagement could disagree with. However, as the conclusions of any study are dependent on the data obtained, if more data had been obtained and analysed then different conclusions might have been reached. Addressing the key issues in the paper and providing more data, also allows an opportunity to expand on current issues relating to community engagement on nanotechnology and the challenges it provides for practitioners

Generation of two-mode entangled states by quantum reservoir engineering

A method for generating entangled cat states of two modes of a microwave cavity field is proposed. Entanglement results from the interaction of the field with a beam of atoms crossing the microwave resonator, giving rise to non-unitary dynamics of which the target entangled state is a fixed point. We analyse the robustness of the generated two-mode photonic "cat state" against dephasing and losses by means of numerical simulation. This proposal is an instance of quantum reservoir engineering of photonic systems.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figure

Structural transitions of ion strings in quantum potentials

We analyse the stability and dynamics of an ion chain confined inside a high-finesse optical resonator. When the dipolar transition of the ions strongly couples to one cavity mode, the mechanical effects of light modify the chain properties close to a structural transition. We focus on the linear chain close to the zigzag instability and show that linear and zigzag arrays are bistable for certain strengths of the laser pumping the cavity. For these regimes the chain is cooled into one of the configurations by cavity-enhanced photon scattering. The excitations of these structures mix photonic and vibrational fluctuations, which can be entangled at steady state. These features are signalled by Fano-like resonances in the spectrum of light at the cavity output.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figs - version to appear in PR

Merleau-Ponty and Foucault On the Problem of Knowledge as Conditione

Dialogando con el intento de Philippe Sabot (2013) de mostrar la cercanía de –por un lado– la reconstrucción foucaultiana sobre el “hombre” como “duplicado empí-rico-trascendental” y –por otro lado– el problema de la dualidad de visiones sobre la cuestión antropológica tal como fue planteado por Merleau-Ponty en su curso sobre Las ciencias humanas y la fenomenología, intentaremos sacar a la luz de manera más ajustada cuá-les son las preocupaciones epistemológicas específicas que guían la problematización merleaupontyana. Según señalaremos, el “problema del hombre” tal como aparece en este curso no es, como en Foucault, el que surge a partir de un conocimiento empírico susceptible de ser elevado al rol de reflexión trascendental sobre las condiciones del conocimiento, sino que, a la inversa, se suscita en virtud de que las investigaciones empí-ricas sobre el hombre lo presentan, de modo paradójico, como una conciencia causal-mente condicionada incapaz de nada que pudiéramos llamar “conocimiento”.A continuación, buscaremos reconstruir las premisas en las que se basa esta argumenta-ción merleaupontyana, lo que nos llevará a poner de manifiesto que su rechazo del “psi-cologismo”, el “sociologismo” y el “historicismo” se conecta con la exigencia de que la conciencia pueda ejercer algún tipo de control epistémico sobre sus tomas de posición. Sobre la base de este resultado, señalaremos, por último, que el problema “historicista” tal como aparece en Merleau-Ponty no es reductible a la forma de “relativismo históri-co” que, según Revel (2015), Foucault logra evitar.In a dialogue with the attempt by Philippe Sabot (2013) to show the nearness between, on the one hand, Foucault’s analysis of “man” as an “empirico-transcendental doublet” and, on the other hand, the problem of the duality of visions on the anthropo-logical problem as it was presented by Merleau-Ponty in his course on Human sciences and phenomenology, we will attempt to bring to light, in a more accurate way, what specific epistemological concerns guide the phenomenologist’s questioning. As we will point out, the “problem of man” as it appears in his course is not, as in Foucault, one which emer-ges on the basis of an empirical knowledge susceptible of being elevated to the role of transcendental reflection on the conditions of knowledge, but, on the contrary, it is a pro-blem posed by the fact that empirical research on man present it, in a paradoxical way, as a causally conditioned consciousness incapable of anything that could be called “kno-wledge”.We will later try to reconstruct the premises on which this Merleau-Pontyan argument is based, which will lead us to make explicit that his rejection of “psychologism”, “sociolo-gism” and “historicism” is connected with the requirement that consciousness be able to exert some kind of epistemic control on its theoretical stances. On the basis of this re-sult, we will finally point out that the “historicist” problem as it appears in Merleau-Ponty is not reducible to the form of “historical relativism” that, according to Revel (2015), Foucault manages to avoid

Ten Big Questions on Public Engagement on Science and Technology: Observation from a Rocky Boat in the Upstream and Downstream of Engagement

That good public engagement on contentious science and technology applications leads to better product and policy outcomes is fairly easy to get an agreement on. But as to what good engagement in this area actually looks like in practice - thatisn’t so clear. This paper offers an overview of observations that raise some question about science and technology engagements that need to be better addressed in both theories and practices

The effect of calcium intake on body weight in pregnant women from South Africa, Zimbabwe and Argentina participating in the Calcium and Pre-eclampsia trial

Introduction: The prevalence of overweight and obesity is increasing worldwide. It has been estimated that every kilogram of weight gain during adulthood represents a 3% to 6% risk increased of cardiovascular disease. There are some studies showing an inverse relationship between calcium intake and body weight. Overweight and obese women are advised to lose weight before conception, however the evidence on how to achieve this is scarce. No studies have investigated the effect of calcium supplementation on weight management before conception or during pregnancy. Aims and objectives: The overarching purpose of this project was to provide information and enrich the body of evidence of the effect of calcium intake on body weight. The first aim was to evaluate the effect of calcium intake on body weight of fertile or pregnant women; secondly to investigate the pre-pregnancy weight status, weight gain during pregnancy and adequacy of dietary intake of pregnant women participating in the Calcium and Pre-eclampsia (CAP) trial. The third aim was to perform a systematic review of studies evaluating the effect of calcium intake on body weight. I was part of the core research team throughout the CAP trial duration and also lead the nutritional component. The trial sample size included 540 pregnant women recruited between 2012 and 2017 in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Argentina. Women were randomized pre-pregnancy to receive 500 mg of elemental calcium or placebo until 20 weeks´ gestation, whereafter they received 1500 mg. Weight was measured pre-pregnancy and at 8, 20 and 32 weeks’ gestation. Diet was assessed at 20 weeks´ gestation. Ethical approval was obtained from appropriate national and institutional ethical review bodies as applicable for each study site. Results: There was a high proportion of women who started their pregnancy overweight or obese (73.7% in South Africa and 60.2% in Zimbabwe). Most women had an inadequate intake of micronutrients at 20 weeks pregnancy. For the most basic micronutrients like iron, calcium, folate and zinc, the percentage of women with intakes below requirements was above 90%. Although there was no effect of calcium supplementation on body weight in the sample of the CAP trial, the calcium group had a no statistically significant smaller increase in body weight during pregnancy especially in those who were obese at the start of the trial. The systematic review shows a small but statistical effect of calcium supplementation in body weight (Mean Difference (MD) -0.33 kg, 95% CI -0.57 to -0.09); (p=0.007); 819 participants; 15 studies) and in BMI (MD -0.17, 95% CI -0.21 to -0.13); p < 0.00001; 695 participants; 10 studies). Conclusion: We found a high prevalence of obesity found together with the micronutrient inadequacy which show a very poor nutritional status of women who have the possibility of getting pregnant again. This needs to be addressed so that maternal and perinatal outcomes are improved. There is a need to implement nutritional counselling preconceptionally to these women before they fall pregnant. The results of this thesis show a no statistically significant smaller increase in body weight in women supplemented with calcium, opening a promising area of research for weight management including the study of the mechanisms involved. Before making clinical recommendations further studies are needed with higher sample size to have the power to detect clinically significant effects