In their own words: A qualitative study exploring influences on the food choices of university students

Issue addressed: University students generally make independent decisions regarding food choices. Current research about knowledge of Australian Dietary Guidelines (ADG), sources of nutrition information and influences on food choices for this group is scarce. Methods: Qualitative data were collected from gender‐separated focus groups comprising four female (n = 31) and four male (n = 18) to identify: knowledge of ADG; sources of nutrition information; factors that influence food choices; perceived relevant nutrition messages and how best to deliver them. Results: Gaps in knowledge were identified particularly regarding number of serves and serving size for food groups. Social media was the most commonly reported source of knowledge. Social media was also a major influence on food choice due to its impact on body ideals. Conclusion: Current health promotion nutrition messages were perceived irrelevant given the focus on long‐term health risks. Health and adhering to the ADG were not identified as important. The desire to look a particular way was the major influence on food choices. So what? While there is an awareness of ADG, our participants made a deliberate decision not to follow them. This provides a challenge for developing relevant preventive health messages for this target audience

Humphrey Center News: Spring 1990 v. 5, no. 1

Newsletter of the Hubert H. Humphrey Cancer Research Center at Boston University School of Medicine

Humphrey Center News: Spring 1991 v. 6, no. 1

Newsletter of the Hubert H. Humphrey Cancer Research Center at Boston University School of Medicine

Humphrey Center News: Fall 1989 v. 4, no. 2

Newsletter of the Hubert H. Humphrey Cancer Research Center at Boston University School of Medicine

Humphrey Center News: Winter 1990 v. 5, no. 2

Newsletter of the Hubert H. Humphrey Cancer Research Center at Boston University School of Medicine

The Boltzmann factor, DNA melting, and Brownian ratchets: Topics in an introductory physics sequence for biology and premedical students

Three, interrelated biologically-relevant examples of biased random walks are presented: (1) A model for DNA melting, modelled as DNA unzipping, which provides a way to illustrate the role of the Boltzmann factor in a venue well-known to biology and pre-medical students; (2) the activity of helicase motor proteins in unzipping double-stranded DNA, for example, at the replication fork, which is an example of a Brownian ratchet; (3) force generation by actin polymerization, which is another Brownian ratchet, and for which the force and actin-concentration dependence of the velocity of actin polymerization is determined

Reflections on Centaur Upper Stage Integration by the NASA Lewis (Glenn) Research Center

The NASA Glenn (then Lewis) Research Center (GRC) led several expendable launch vehicle (ELV) projects from 1963 to 1998, most notably the Centaur upper stage. These major, comprehensive projects included system management, system development, integration (both payload and stage), and launch operations. The integration role that GRC pioneered was truly unique and highly successful. Its philosophy, scope, and content were not just invaluable to the missions and vehicles it supported, but also had significant Agencywide benefits. An overview of the NASA Lewis Research Center (now the NASA Glenn Research Center) philosophy on ELV integration is provided, focusing on Atlas/Centaur, Titan/Centaur, and Shuttle/Centaur vehicles and programs. The necessity of having a stable, highly technically competent in-house staff is discussed. Significant depth of technical penetration of contractor work is another critical component. Functioning as a cohesive team was more than a concept: GRC senior management, NASA Headquarters, contractors, payload users, and all staff worked together. The scope, content, and history of launch vehicle integration at GRC are broadly discussed. Payload integration is compared to stage development integration in terms of engineering and organization. Finally, the transition from buying launch vehicles to buying launch services is discussed, and thoughts on future possibilities of employing the successful GRC experience in integrating ELV systems like Centaur are explored

An Airborne and Vehicular Gamma Survey of Greenham Common, Newbury District and Surrounding Areas

The airborne gamma ray survey recorded more than 40,000 scintillation spectra and 20,000 spectra from semiconductor detectors. The vehicular survey produced a further 1346 and 763 spectral sets respectively. The installation, calibration, recording and analysis followed SURRC procedures which have been developed and validated over many years and are fully documented. Pre flight checks on detector performance for energy calibration, energy resolution and sensitivity were performed on a daily basis. Background readings over water were taken on a daily basis. All data were registered and backed up in duplicate to form a digital archive of the survey. Subsequent analysis and mapping has used a combination of standard procedures established over many years, and new techniques developed to analyse the low energy spectra. All results have been retained to facilitate traceability and further analysis in the future. The sensitivity of the aircraft and vehicle were also checked at Greenham Common by collecting a set of 31 core samples for independent laboratory analysis. The key points arising from the airborne survey of the entire area show that there has been sufficient sensitivity to record variations in the natural background. The levels of 137Cs are consistent with weapons' testing fallout, and are substantially lower than in other parts of the UK and Europe. The average levels of K (0.5%), U (1 ppm) and Th (3 ppm) are lower than national averages and show variations within the area which reflect local geology and landcover. The area as a whole therefore is one of low environmental radiation background compared with national averages. There is no evidence of signals at Greenham Common or in its vicinity which would present a local radiation hazard. However, signals were detected in the vicinity of Harwell and the Rutherford laboratory which would, at the time of the survey, represent radiation projected off-site as a result of materials stored on-site or on-site activities. Examination of the low energy gamma ray spectra recorded from the semiconductor detectors reveals no evidence, within the sensitivity limits of the method, for excess gamma ray signals at the energies associated with 235U around Greenham Common, Newbury and Thatcham. The low energy data are sufficiently sensitive to record variations in the distribution of natural activity in the area. There is tentative evidence for 241Am in the vicinity of AWE Aldermaston. The vehicular survey demonstrated that the grass areas in between the runway and taxi lanes, and around the hardstand associated with the 1958 fire have retained weapons' testing 137Cs. This supports the view that these represent authentic undisturbed areas for sampling. The built surfaces remaining at the time of the survey were of lower natural activity and 137Cs content than their surroundings. High resolution gamma ray spectra at selected sites were also consistent with the known sources of background radioactivity. On the basis of the results, Newbury District and surrounding areas represent an area with low environmental radioactivity compared with national and European averages. There is no evidence to substantiate fears about the quality of the radiation environment in the vicinity of Greenham Common

A Brief Aerial Survey in the Vicinity of Sellafield in September 1990

A two day survey exercise was conducted by SURRC from 25th-26th September 1990 with the joint aims of demonstrating the potential of helicopters for emergency response and beginning the definition of baseline levels in the immediate vicinity of Sellafield. The aircraft used for this work was a twin engined AS 355 "Squirrel" helicopter chartered from Dollar Helicopters. It was loaded with an 8 litre NaI gamma spectrometry system at SURRC in East Kilbride on the afternoon of 24th September and flown down to Sellafield the same day. Over the following two days roughly 1300 gamma ray spectra were recorded from an area ranging south from an EW line linking Ennerdale Fell and St. Bees Head to beyond Ravenglass. Operations were conducted from the Sellafield helipad, the aircraft being refuelled at Barrow in Furness. The flights were arranged to provide nominally 1km spaced parallel NS flight lines throughout the survey area, for the purpose of baseline mapping. Supplementary flights to improve spatial resolution are possible at a later stage. In addition a rapid response flight route was rehearsed involving definition of landward arcs at 10km, 5km and 2km radii from Sellafield plus the beachline from St. Bees Head to Ravenglass. The precise path was chosen to be navigable under most weather conditions and took roughly 40 minutes to fly. A survey aircraft arriving from East Kilbride could perform such a survey without pausing to refuel. The results have been stored archivally and used to map the naturally occurring nuclides 40K, 214Bi, 208Tl together with 137 Cs and total gamma ray flux. The maps presented are spatially smoothed, both by the inherent character of the aerial survey technique and by the colour contouring processes. This leads to a tendency to broaden spatial features, while slightly reducing maximum values, and should be taken into account when interpreting the maps. Greater spatial detail could be achieved with closer flight line spacing. Activity due to Sellafield was readily detected in the area and can be seen clearly in the maps. It is noted that the levels observed are generally comparable with those in BNFL annual reports and other research publications. Furthermore, with a few exceptions, naturally occurring radionuclides are the dominant radiation source in much of the survey area, and show considerable variations from place to place. 137Cs due to marine discharges was most pronounced in the Irt, Mite and Esk estuaries and on the beachline close to the plant. The same nuclide was detected at lower levels in terrestrial areas due to a combination of global fallout, aerial discharges from the plant and the Chernobyl accident. 41Ar and 16N activities were detected in the immediate vicinity of Calder Hall. A small feature was detected at Drigg, probably associated with current operations on the site, and equivalent to an enhancement of less than twice the local natural background. Radiation levels due to current activities on the Sellafield site fall off rapidly with distance from the perimeter, approaching natural levels within 0.5-1km at the time of the survey. Those from the marine, estuarine and tide washed environments are mostly attributed to past marine discharges, and can be expected to continue to receive attention in the future