Barriers to obesity communication - Power, habitus and hidden assumptions

Communication on health issues often founders on the avoidance or denial of key messages by intended recipients. This paper explores the development and application of a research methodology combining elements of Pierre Bourdieu’s work on the unconscious nature of practice with Gerhard Maletzke’s psychological model of communication. This combination was designed to elicit deeper responses than those often found in health communication research. This alternative methodological approach was used to evaluate a year-long, city-wide anti-obesity campaign in Sheffield, UK, which targeted key gatekeepers in the message chain; their responses generate useful insights into resistance to uncomfortable communication. The paper concludes with suggestions for addressing communication about obesity and potentially other uncomfortable health and social topics

Pictorial display of materials and processes aids in fabricating complex assemblies

Method uses assembly consisting of single pictorial display showing cutaway view of assembly, subassemblies identified by name and materials, and processes identified by both specification and commercial design. Display is used in engineering, manufacturing, and personnel training

An innovative portable detector for the live-monitoring of radionuclides in small terrestrial animals

Radionuclide measurements in wildlife are required to demonstrate that the environment is not significantly impacted by radioactivity. Determination of internal radionuclide activity concentrations often requires destructive sampling. Development of alternative (non-lethal) measurement methods is therefore desirable. This thesis presents the design, construction and testing of a new portable live-monitoring detector for measuring radionuclide activity concentrations in small terrestrial animals. The detector is unique in that it enables field-based measurement of both gamma and beta emitting radionuclides (caesium-137 and strontium-90 are tested in this work) in living small animals. Literature on detector characteristics and radionuclides in the environment informed a modelling approach that was used to optimise the detector design. The optimised design contains two caesium iodide scintillators and two plastic scintillators, which enable the measurement of 137Cs and 90Sr respectively; all four scintillators were shaped and positioned to maximise detection from the organism. Four photomultiplier tubes collect light from the scintillators and a single channel analyser provides signal processing. Surrounding the detection materials is a lead shield designed to give an optimal balance between portability and background reduction. The organism to be measured is put into a card restraint that is designed to humanely secure it during counting. The portable detector was tested in a laboratory using 137Cs and 90Sr sources to determine suitable operation and detection rates. The variation in detection rate caused by source movement within the restraint was determined to be minimal (standard deviation <5 % for 137Cs and <10% for 90Sr) provided the animal is placed in a restraint of similar size to its body. Field testing was then conducted on small rodent and bird species in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. Monitoring of internal activity concentrations for small rodents and birds showed a good correlation to results obtained using an alternative verified method (R2 > 0.9 for both 137Cs and 90Sr, N = 10 for each species). The field testing demonstrated the utility of this portable detector in a high radiation background environment for measuring radionuclide contamination within a range of different small animals. The results demonstrate the detector could be used for monitoring radionuclides in protected species and reduce the number of animals euthanised for the purposes of radioecological research. The design choices made provide a template for developing a broader range of detectors that could monitor different radionuclides, organism types and sizes

Between a rock and a hard place: publishing issues in public relations and communication management

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the pressures to publish facing European public relations (PR) and communication management scholars across career stages. Design/methodology/approach The Delphi method was used with PR and communication management scholars at associate professor level or higher across Europe. An online survey was then shared with the wider academic community to gather insights from scholars at different career stages. Findings The suitability and status of the journal and the language of the outputs are considered. Academics are caught between the rock of publishing inside the field to support its development and the hard place of being required to publish in high-ranking journals for funding and promotion. Scholars are evaluated regularly, with journal articles being the main unit of assessment. Academics, regardless of career stage, feel under pressure to publish. Research limitations/implications The wider survey enabled publishing insights to be gathered from academics across the career spectrum, but it was completed by a small sample. Nevertheless, similar concerns emerged from both methods of data gathering, suggesting a clear agenda for discussion and further research. Practical implications PR and communications management is an academic discipline without an accepted list of high-impact journals. This study provides an annotated journal list to aid institutional evaluations, aid scholarly journal publishing decisions and support early career researchers navigating the publishing process. Originality/value This adds to the somewhat limited discussion regarding how academics in PR and communication management decide where to publish and provides a resource that can be used by scholars, institutions and funders

Element and radionuclide concentrations in soils and wildlife from forests in north-eastern England with a focus on species representative of the ICRP's Reference Animals and Plants

There are international recommendations that the environment (i.e. wildlife) is assessed for the potential impact of releases of ionizing radiation. The transfer of radionuclides to wildlife from media (e.g. soil, water) is usually described using the whole-organism concentration ratio (CRwo-media), and a number of assessment models use these values to estimate radiation exposure and risk to wildlife; however, there are many gaps in knowledge. This paper describes a study conducted in 2015–2016 to sample terrestrial wildlife, soil and water from two forests in north-eastern England. Sampling was targeted towards species representative of the International Commission on Radiological Protection's (ICRP) terrestrial Reference Animals and Plants (RAPs): Wild Grass (Poaceae family), Pine Tree (Pinaceae family), Earthworm (Lumbricidae family), Bee (Apidae family), Rat (Muridae family), Deer (Cervidae family) and Frog (Ranidae family); opportunistic sampling of plant and fungi species was also conducted. The dataset comprises stable-element concentrations for 30 elements, radionuclide activity concentrations for K-40 and Cs-137, and radionuclide and stable-element concentration ratios. These data have significantly increased the number of CRwo-media values available for the ICRP RAPs and will contribute to the development of the databases underpinning the ICRP's environmental protection framework. Data will be included in the international database of wildlife transfer parameters for radioecological models and hence are likely to contribute to model developments in the future

Longitudinal dynamics of clonal hematopoiesis identifies gene-specific fitness effects

Clonal hematopoiesis of indeterminate potential (CHIP) increases rapidly in prevalence beyond age 60 and has been associated with increased risk for malignancy, heart disease and ischemic stroke. CHIP is driven by somatic mutations in hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs). Because mutations in HSPCs often drive leukemia, we hypothesized that HSPC fitness substantially contributes to transformation from CHIP to leukemia. HSPC fitness is defined as the proliferative advantage over cells carrying no or only neutral mutations. If mutations in different genes lead to distinct fitness advantages, this could enable patient stratification. We quantified the fitness effects of mutations over 12 years in older age using longitudinal sequencing and developed a filtering method that considers individual mutational context alongside mutation co-occurrence to quantify the growth potential of variants within individuals. We found that gene-specific fitness differences can outweigh inter-individual variation and, therefore, could form the basis for personalized clinical management

Integrity and its counterfeits: Shakespeare’s Henriad

Abstract. The article will briefly and critically review philosophical views on integrity, focusing on integration, identity, standing up for moral principles and ethical decision making practice. It will explore integrity as Aristotle’s virtue of truthfulness, noting how this leads to engagement with the self and the social network. This demands the practice of responsibility, involving: critical agency (developing authorship of the ethical narrative), accountability (involving plural and mutual dialogue), and creative (positive) responsibility (involving both narrative and dialogue around action) In light of this dynamic and social view of integrity the second part the article explores counterfeit integrity. It distinguishes counterfeit integrity based in unexamined ideology and identity from counterfeit integrity based in intentional deception of others about beliefs, values and motives. Each of these are illustrated by figures from Shakespeare’s Henriad, and parallel cases in business and sport