Free healthy breakfasts in primary schools: A cluster randomised controlled trial of a policy intervention in Wales, UK

Objective: The present study evaluated the impact of a national school programme of universal free healthy breakfast provision in Wales, UK. Design: A cluster randomised controlled trial with repeated cross-sectional design and a 12-month follow-up. Primary outcomes were breakfast skipping, breakfast diet and episodic memory. Secondary outcomes were frequency of eating breakfast at home and at school, breakfast attitudes, rest-of-day diet and class behaviour. Setting: Primary schools in nine local education authority areas. Subjects: A total of 4350 students (aged 9–11 years) at baseline and 4472 at follow-up in 111 schools. Results: Students in intervention schools reported significantly higher numbers of healthy food items consumed at breakfast and more positive attitudes towards breakfast eating at 12 months. Parents in intervention schools reported significantly higher rates of consumption of breakfast at school and correspondingly lower rates of breakfast consumption at home. No other significant differences were found. Conclusions: The intervention did not reduce breakfast skipping; rather, pupils substituted breakfast at home for breakfast at school. However, there were improvements in children’s nutritional intake at breakfast time, if not the rest of the day, and more positive attitudes to breakfast, which may have implications for life-course dietary behaviours. There was no impact on episodic memory or classroom behaviour, which may require targeting breakfast skippers

Determination of Backscattering Sources in Various Targets

The objectives of this research are to identify the primary contributors to 10 GHz radar backscatter from various natural and man-made surfaces and objects, and to use this information in developing new and better models for the scatter. When the true sources are known for the scattering that leads to variation in intensity on radar images, the images (and sets of them) may be interpreted more meaningfully in terms of the variation of parameters of interest for science or application. For example, better interpretation of vegetation images may be possible for yield forecasting and stress detection

Dispersion management using betatron resonances in an ultracold-atom storage ring

Specific velocities of particles circulating in a storage ring can lead to betatron resonances at which static perturbations of the particles' orbit yield large transverse (betatron) oscillations. We have observed betatron resonances in an ultracold-atom storage ring by direct observation of betatron motion. These resonances caused a near-elimination of the longitudinal dispersion of atomic beams propagating at resonant velocities, an effect which can improve the performance of atom interferometric devices. Both the resonant velocities and the strength of the resonances were varied by deliberate modifications to the storage ring.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures. Also available at http://physics.berkeley.edu/research/ultracol

Facing up to the challenge of behavioural observation in infant hearing assessment

The ability to assess detection and discrimination of speech by infants has proved elusive. Dr Iain Jackson and colleagues discuss how new technologies and fresh approaches might offer valuable insight into young infants’ behavioural responses to sound