The impact of the Minch palaeo-ice stream in NW Scotland: Constraining glacial erosion and landscape evolution through geomorphology and cosmogenic nuclide analysis.

The British-Irish Ice Sheet (BIIS) is predicted to have deglaciated rapidly from ~ 18 ka, in response to rising sea level and temperature, similar forcings experienced by modern polar ice sheets. As the main conduits of ice mass loss, the reaction of ice streams to these forcings is thought to have been central in determining the mode and timing of this deglaciation. However, lack of understanding of ice stream influence on the glaciology and deglaciation of ice sheets limits confidence in ice sheet model predictions. NW Scotland is an area of the last BIIS predicted to have been dominated by ice stream onset conditions. This thesis presents results from a geomorphological and terrestrial cosmogenic nuclide (TCN) analysis study which resulted in the production of a composite ice-sheet thermal regime map and retreat chronology for the last BIIS in this region. Mapping and surface exposure dating suggest that the regional glaciology and landscape evolution was dominated by the presence of ice-stream onset zones during Greenland Stadial-2 (GS-2). Mountain top erratics were uplifted and transported to high elevation during GS-2, before 16.5 ka BP. By inference, mountain summits were covered by ice during maximal ice sheet conditions. The existence of sharp thermo-mechanical contrasts, developed in response to ice streaming, are proposed as the main controls on bedrock erosion and terrestrial sediment deposition. The interpretation of ‘trimlines’ in NW Scotland as englacial thermo-mechanical boundaries, is verified by the identification of ‘rip-offs’, a newly recognised geomorphic feature in the UK, and by quantitative demonstration of the increase in glacial erosion in the vicinity of these boundaries. Geomorphic and TCN data supports a conceptual model of thermal inversion following ice-stream cessation. The first description of ‘till tails’ in the UK provides insight into the glaciological organisation and thermal evolution of the BIIS. A dated (17.6 ka BP) terrestrial glacial limit on the north Sutherland coast indicates early ice retreat from the shelf and provides a minimum ii constraint on ice-stream cessation. This indicates rapid loss of ice extent and volume following shutdown of the Minch palaeo-ice stream. Major ice sheet reorganisation c. 15-16 ka BP is suggested by the correlation of some lateral margin ages with high elevation erratic deposition ages implying significant ice thinning and margin retreat prior to this time. Additionally, thinning of ~300 m is predicted for some areas prior to 14 ka BP

The northern sector of the last British ice sheet : maximum extent and demise

Strongly divided opinion has led to competing, apparently contradictory, views on the timing, extent, flow configuration and decay mechanism of the last British Ice Sheet. We review the existing literature and reconcile some of these differences using remarkable new sea-bed imagery. This bathymetric data provides unprecedented empirical evidence of confluence and subsequent separation of the last British and Fennoscandian Ice Sheets. Critically, it also allows a viable pattern of ice-sheet disintegration to be proposed for the first time. Covering the continental shelf around the northern United Kingdom, extensive echosounder data reveals striking geomorphic evidence – in the form of tunnel valleys and moraines – relating to the former British and Fennoscandian Ice Sheets. The pattern of tunnel valleys in the northern North Sea Basin and the presence of large moraines on the West Shetland Shelf, coupled with stratigraphic evidence from the Witch Ground Basin, all suggest that at its maximum extent a grounded ice sheet flowed from SE to NW across the northern North Sea Basin, terminating at the continental-shelf edge. The zone of confluence between the British and much larger Fennoscandian Ice Sheets was probably across the northern Orkney Islands, with fast-flowing ice in the Fair Isle Channel focusing sediment delivery to the Rona and Foula Wedges. This period of maximum confluent glaciation (c. 30–25 ka BP) was followed by a remarkable period of large-scale ice-sheet re-organisation. We present evidence suggesting that as sea level rose, a large marine embayment opened in the northern North Sea Basin, as far south as the Witch Ground Basin, forcing the two ice sheets to decouple rapidly along a north–south axis east of Shetland. As a result, both ice sheets rapidly adjusted to new quasi-stable margin positions forming a second distinct set of moraines (c. 24–18 ka BP). The lobate overprinted morphology of these moraines on the mid-shelf west of Orkney and Shetland indicates that the re-organisation of the British Ice Sheet was extremely dynamic — probably dominated by a series of internally forced readvances. Critically, much of the ice in the low-lying North Sea Basin may have disintegrated catastrophically as decoupling progressed in response to rising sea levels. Final-stage deglaciation was marked by near-shore ice streaming and increasing topographic control on ice-flow direction. Punctuated retreat of the British Ice Sheet continued until c. 16 ka BP when, following the North Atlantic iceberg-discharge event (Heinrich-1), ice was situated at the present-day coastline in NW Scotlan

Glacial Ripping in Sedimentary Rocks: Loch Eriboll, NW Scotland

Glacial ripping is a newly recognized process sequence in which subglacial erosion is triggered by groundwater overpressure. Investigations in gneiss terrain in lowland Sweden indicate that ripping involves three stages of (i) hydraulic jacking, (ii) rock disruption under subglacial traction, and (iii) glacial transport of rock blocks. Evidence for each stage includes, respectively, dilated fractures with sediment fills, disintegrated roches moutonnées, and boulder spreads. Here, we ask: can glacial ripping also occur in sedimentary rocks, and, if so, what are its effects? The case study area is in hard, thinly bedded, gently dipping Cambrian quartz-arenites at Loch Eriboll, NW Scotland. Field surveys reveal dilated, sediment filled, bedding-parallel fractures, open joints, and brecciated zones, interpreted as markers for pervasive, shallow penetration of the quartz-arenite by water at overpressure. Other features, including disintegrated rock surfaces, boulder spreads, and monomict rubble tills, indicate glacial disruption and short distance subglacial transport. The field results together with cosmogenic isotope ages indicate that glacial ripping operated with high impact close to the former ice margin at Loch Eriboll at 17.6–16.5 ka. Glacial ripping thus can operate effectively in bedded, hard sedimentary rocks, and the accompanying brecciation is significant—if not dominant—in till formation. Candidate markers for glacial ripping are identified in other sedimentary terrains in former glaciated areas of the Northern Hemisphere

Cultivating Accessible Learning Communities: The Role of GTAs and Small Group Teaching

As highlighted by Muzaka (2009), the flexible approach of GTAs to delivering course material has great strengths in the small group setting, providing collaborative, adaptive and student-centred environments. The diversity of our GTA cohort in Geographical and Earth Sciences (GES) compliments this flexibility and is key in constructing and maintaining effective learning spaces. The GTA support and progression structure in GES is key to developing the confidence and independence that underpins our model for iterative teaching development which empowers student and GTA voices within the community of practice. We reflect on a positively-received year of online tutorial and lab-teaching, foregrounding the value of GTAs in achieving this. Utilising local examples from SGT contexts, we offer a framework to increase opportunities for student and GTA involvement in curriculum co-design, working towards an inclusive learning environment

Capturing health and eating status through a nutritional perception screening questionnaire (NPSQ9) in a randomised internet-based personalised nutrition intervention : the Food4Me study

BACKGROUND: National guidelines emphasize healthy eating to promote wellbeing and prevention of non-communicable diseases. The perceived healthiness of food is determined by many factors affecting food intake. A positive perception of healthy eating has been shown to be associated with greater diet quality. Internet-based methodologies allow contact with large populations. Our present study aims to design and evaluate a short nutritional perception questionnaire, to be used as a screening tool for assessing nutritional status, and to predict an optimal level of personalisation in nutritional advice delivered via the Internet. METHODS: Data from all participants who were screened and then enrolled into the Food4Me proof-of-principle study (n = 2369) were used to determine the optimal items for inclusion in a novel screening tool, the Nutritional Perception Screening Questionnaire-9 (NPSQ9). Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were performed on anthropometric and biochemical data and on dietary indices acquired from participants who had completed the Food4Me dietary intervention (n = 1153). Baseline and intervention data were analysed using linear regression and linear mixed regression, respectively. RESULTS: A final model with 9 NPSQ items was validated against the dietary intervention data. NPSQ9 scores were inversely associated with BMI (β = -0.181, p < 0.001) and waist circumference (Β = -0.155, p < 0.001), and positively associated with total carotenoids (β = 0.198, p < 0.001), omega-3 fatty acid index (β = 0.155, p < 0.001), Healthy Eating Index (HEI) (β = 0.299, p < 0.001) and Mediterranean Diet Score (MDS) (β = 0. 279, p < 0.001). Findings from the longitudinal intervention study showed a greater reduction in BMI and improved dietary indices among participants with lower NPSQ9 scores. CONCLUSIONS: Healthy eating perceptions and dietary habits captured by the NPSQ9 score, based on nine questionnaire items, were associated with reduced body weight and improved diet quality. Likewise, participants with a lower score achieved greater health improvements than those with higher scores, in response to personalised advice, suggesting that NPSQ9 may be used for early evaluation of nutritional status and to tailor nutritional advice. TRIAL REGISTRATION: NCT01530139 .Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

Personalized Nutrition Advice Reduces Intake of Discretionary Foods and Beverages: Findings From the Food4Me Randomized Controlled Trial

© 2021 American Society for Nutrition. Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/Objectives This study aimed to examine changes in intake of discretionary foods and beverages following a personalized nutrition intervention using two national classifications for discretionary foods. Methods Participants were recruited into a 6-month RCT across seven European countries (Food4Me) and were randomized to receive generalized dietary advice (Control) or one of three levels of personalized nutrition advice (based on dietary, phenotypic and genotypic information). Dietary intake from a FFQ was used to determine change between baseline and month 6 in (i) % energy, % contribution to total fat, SFA, total sugars and salt and (ii) contribution (%) made by sweets and snacks to intake of total fat, SFA, sugars and salt from discretionary foods and beverages, defined by Food Standards Scotland (FSS) and the Australian Dietary Guidelines (ADG). Results A total of 1270 adults (40.9 (SD 13.0) years; 57% female) completed the intervention. At month 6, percentage sugars from FSS discretionary items was lower in personalized nutrition vs control (19.0 ± 0.37 vs 21.1 ± 0.65; P = 0.005). Percentage energy (31.2 ± 0.59 vs 32.7 ± 0.59; P = 0.031), % total fat (31.5 ± 0.37 vs 33.3 ± 0.65; P = 0.021), SFA (36.0 ± 0.43 vs 37.8 ± 0.75; P = 0.034) and sugars (31.7 ± 0.44 vs 34.7 ± 0.78; P < 0.001) from ADG discretionary items were lower in personalized nutrition vs control. The % contribution of sugars from sweets and snacks was lower in personalized nutrition vs control (19.1 ± 0.36 vs 21.5 ± 0.63; P < 0.001). At 3 months, effects were consistent for ADG discretionary items, while there was no significant differences in personalized nutrition vs control for FSS discretionary items. Conclusions Compared with generalized dietary advice, personalized nutrition advice achieved greater reductions in intake of discretionary foods and beverages when the classification included all foods high in fat, added sugars and salt. Future personalized nutrition strategies may be used to target intake of discretionary foods and beverages. Funding Sources European Commission Food, Agriculture, Fisheries and Biotechnology Theme of the Seventh Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development [265494]. KML is supported by a NHMRC Emerging Leadership Fellowship (APP1173803).Peer reviewe

Online dietary intake estimation : Reproducibility and validity of the Food4Me food frequency questionnaire against a 4-day weighed food record

©Rosalind Fallaize, Hannah Forster, Anna L Macready, Marianne C Walsh, John C Mathers, Lorraine Brennan, Eileen R Gibney, Michael J Gibney, Julie A Lovegrove. Originally published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (http://www.jmir.org), 11.08.2014. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work, first published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research, is properly cited. The complete bibliographic information, a link to the original publication on http://www.jmir.org/, as well as this copyright and license information must be included.Background: Advances in nutritional assessment are continuing to embrace developments in computer technology. The online Food4Me food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) was created as an electronic system for the collection of nutrient intake data. To ensure its accuracy in assessing both nutrient and food group intake, further validation against data obtained using a reliable, but independent, instrument and assessment of its reproducibility are required. Objective: The aim was to assess the reproducibility and validity of the Food4Me FFQ against a 4-day weighed food record (WFR). Methods: Reproducibility of the Food4Me FFQ was assessed using test-retest methodology by asking participants to complete the FFQ on 2 occasions 4 weeks apart. To assess the validity of the Food4Me FFQ against the 4-day WFR, half the participants were also asked to complete a 4-day WFR 1 week after the first administration of the Food4Me FFQ. Level of agreement between nutrient and food group intakes estimated by the repeated Food4Me FFQ and the Food4Me FFQ and 4-day WFR were evaluated using Bland-Altman methodology and classification into quartiles of daily intake. Crude unadjusted correlation coefficients were also calculated for nutrient and food group intakes. Results: In total, 100 people participated in the assessment of reproducibility (mean age 32, SD 12 years), and 49 of these (mean age 27, SD 8 years) also took part in the assessment of validity. Crude unadjusted correlations for repeated Food4Me FFQ ranged from .65 (vitamin D) to .90 (alcohol). The mean cross-classification into "exact agreement plus adjacent" was 92% for both nutrient and food group intakes, and Bland-Altman plots showed good agreement for energy-adjusted macronutrient intakes. Agreement between the Food4Me FFQ and 4-day WFR varied, with crude unadjusted correlations ranging from .23 (vitamin D) to .65 (protein, % total energy) for nutrient intakes and .11 (soups, sauces and miscellaneous foods) to .73 (yogurts) for food group intake. The mean cross-classification into "exact agreement plus adjacent" was 80% and 78% for nutrient and food group intake, respectively. There were no significant differences between energy intakes estimated using the Food4Me FFQ and 4-day WFR, and Bland-Altman plots showed good agreement for both energy and energy-controlled nutrient intakes. Conclusions: The results demonstrate that the online Food4Me FFQ is reproducible for assessing nutrient and food group intake and has moderate agreement with the 4-day WFR for assessing energy and energy-adjusted nutrient intakes. The Food4Me FFQ is a suitable online tool for assessing dietary intake in healthy adults.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

Online dietary intake estimation : The food4me food frequency questionnaire

Copyright ©Hannah Forster, Rosalind Fallaize, Caroline Gallagher, Clare B O’Donovan, Clara Woolhead, Marianne C Walsh, Anna L Macready, Julie A Lovegrove, John C Mathers, Michael J Gibney, Lorraine Brennan, Eileen R Gibney. Originally published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (http://www.jmir.org), 09.06.2014. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work, first published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research, is properly cited. The complete bibliographic information, a link to the original publication on http://www.jmir.org/, as well as this copyright and license information must be included.Dietary assessment methods are important tools for nutrition research. Online dietary assessment tools have the potential to become invaluable methods of assessing dietary intake because, compared with traditional methods, they have many advantages including the automatic storage of input data and the immediate generation of nutritional outputs. Objective: The aim of this study was to develop an online food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) for dietary data collection in the Food4Me study and to compare this with the validated European Prospective Investigation of Cancer (EPIC) Norfolk printed FFQ. Methods: The Food4Me FFQ used in this analysis was developed to consist of 157 food items. Standardized color photographs were incorporated in the development of the Food4Me FFQ to facilitate accurate quantification of the portion size of each food item. Participants were recruited in two centers (Dublin, Ireland and Reading, United Kingdom) and each received the online Food4Me FFQ and the printed EPIC-Norfolk FFQ in random order. Participants completed the Food4Me FFQ online and, for most food items, participants were requested to choose their usual serving size among seven possibilities from a range of portion size pictures. The level of agreement between the two methods was evaluated for both nutrient and food group intakes using the Bland and Altman method and classification into quartiles of daily intake. Correlations were calculated for nutrient and food group intakes. Results: A total of 113 participants were recruited with a mean age of 30 (SD 10) years (40.7% male, 46/113; 59.3%, 67/113 female). Cross-classification into exact plus adjacent quartiles ranged from 77% to 97% at the nutrient level and 77% to 99% at the food group level. Agreement at the nutrient level was highest for alcohol (97%) and lowest for percent energy from polyunsaturated fatty acids (77%). Crude unadjusted correlations for nutrients ranged between .43 and .86. Agreement at the food group level was highest for other fruits (eg, apples, pears, oranges) and lowest for cakes, pastries, and buns. For food groups, correlations ranged between .41 and .90. Conclusions: The results demonstrate that the online Food4Me FFQ has good agreement with the validated printed EPIC-Norfolk FFQ for assessing both nutrient and food group intakes, rendering it a useful tool for ranking individuals based on nutrient and food group intakes.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

Historical trends in iodine and selenium in soil and herbage at the Park Grass experiment, Rothamsted Research, UK

Long term trends in iodine and selenium retention in soil, and uptake by herbage, were investigated in archived samples from the Park Grass Experiment, initiated in 1856 at Rothamsted, UK. Soil (0-23 cm) and herbage samples from plots receiving various mineral fertilisers and organic manures, with and without lime, were analysed for Se and iodine (I) to assess the effect of soil amendment, annual rainfall, crop yield and changes in soil chemistry from 1876 to 2008. Comparing soil from limed and un-limed control (unfertilized) plots, TMAH-extractable Se and I concentrations both diverged, with time, with greater retention in un-limed plots; differences in concentration amounted to 92 and 1660 µg kg-1 for Se and I respectively after 105 yr. These differences were broadly consistent with estimated additions from rainfall and dry deposition. Offtake of both elements in herbage was negligible compared to soil concentrations and annual inputs (<0.003% of total soil I and <0.006% of total soil Se). A positive correlation was observed between I and Se concentrations in herbage, suggesting some common factors controlling bioavailability. A growth-dilution effect for I and Se was suggested by the positive correlation between growing season rainfall (GSR) and herbage yield together with soil-to-plant transfer factors decreasing with yield. Phosphate and sulphate fertilizers reduced I and Se herbage concentrations, both through ion competition and increased herbage yield. Results suggest that in intensive agriculture with soil pH control, the I requirement of grazing animals is not likely to be met by herbage alone