Exploring Attitudes towards Genetically Modified Foods: Is there a Connection between People who are Concerned About the Environment and their Attitudes towards GM Foods

Genetically modified (GM) foods provide many advantages to modern agriculture, such as increased yields due to insect and pathogen resistance, productivity improvements, and offer a potential solution to address world hunger. However, GM foods have the potential to cause serious environmental harm, triggering public attitudes towards them to be divided. People are often suspicious of genetic modification, which may inhibit future development and adoption. This study considers GM foods, and aims to explore attitudes towards them, testing the hypotheses that people who are concerned about the environment are less likely to favour GM foods. Data collected through an online questionnaire, yielding 214 responses, is used to correlate environmental concern with attitudes towards GM foods, represented by a GM score. The data shows that total green score correlated against GM score showed a significant, but weak correlation. However, there were clear signs of heteroscedasticity in the data, showing that more environmentally concerned individuals show a greater variation in their attitude towards GM foods. Age also affected attitudes towards GM foods, with individuals between 46 and 60 being more likely to be against GM foods. The data shows that respondents’ main hesitations towards GM foods resulted from insufficient knowledge on the subject, concern over corporations using them for personal gain, and the uncertainty of the long-term effects on human and environmental health. If GM is to be used as part of the solution to sustainable food production, more emphasis is required on educating individuals on GM foods, their uses and future impacts

A Mesolithic settlement site at Howick, Northumberland: a preliminary report

Excavations at a coastal site at Howick during 2000 and 2002 have revealed evidence for a substantial Mesolithic settlement and a Bronze Age cist cemetery. Twenty one radiocarbon determinations of the earlier eighth millennium BP (Cal.) indicate that the Mesolithic site is one of the earliest known in northern Britain. An 8m core of sediment was recovered from stream deposits adjacent to the archaeological site which provides information on local environmental conditions. Howick offers a unique opportunity to understand aspects of hunter-gatherer colonisation and settlement during a period of rapid palaeogeographical change around the margins of the North Sea basin, at a time when it was being progressively inundated by the final stages of the postglacial marine transgression. The cist cemetery will add to the picture of Bronze Age occupation of the coastal strip and again reveals a correlation between the location of Bronze Age and Mesolithic sites which has been observed elsewhere in the region

Dual energy X-ray absorptiometry positioning protocols in assessing body composition: A systematic review of the literature:A systematic review of the literature

OBJECTIVES: To systematically identify and assess methods and protocols used to reduce technical and biological errors in published studies that have investigated reliability of dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) for assessing body composition. DESIGN: Systematic review. METHODS: Systematic searches of five databases were used to identify studies of DXA reliability. Two independent reviewers used a modified critical appraisal tool to assess their methodological quality. Data was extracted and synthesised using a level of evidence approach. Further analysis was then undertaken of methods used to decrease DXA errors (technical and biological) and so enhance DXA reliability. RESULTS: Twelve studies met eligibility criteria. Four of the articles were deemed high quality. Quality articles considered biological and technical errors when preparing participants for DXA scanning. The Nana positioning protocol was assessed to have a strong level of evidence. The studies providing this evidence indicated very high test–retest reliability (ICC 0.90–1.00 or less than 1% change in mean) of the Nana positioning protocol. The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) positioning protocol was deemed to have a moderate level of evidence due to lack of high quality studies. However, the available studies found the NHANES positioning protocol had very high test–retest reliability. Evidence is limited and reported reliability has varied in papers where no specific positioning protocol was used or reported. CONCLUSIONS: Due to the strong level of evidence of excellent test–retest reliability that supports use of the Nana positioning protocol, it is recommended as the first choice for clinicians when using DXA to assess body composition

Marketing a tourism industry in late stage decline: The case of the Isle of Man

Qualitative interviews in the Isle of Man uncovered local perceptions of a tourism industry in late stage decline. Social impacts of decline are pronounced including facilities loss, cultural changes and a heightening of perceived peripherality: which taken together undermine local identity. Tourists are welcomed as they help to affirm the pride residents have in their island in creating a more active atmosphere, provide social interaction opportunities and to combat negative stereotyping. Thus findings emphasise the diverse, unique and persistent benefits of tourism in the Isle of Man, despite its decline. Destination marketing recommendations are therefore made to better address the experiences and desires of communities experiencing decline

Epipodial tentacle gene expression and predetermined resilience to summer mortality in the commercially important greenlip abalone, Haliotis laevigata

"Summer mortality" is a phenomenon that occurs during warm water temperature spikes that results in the mass mortality of many ecologically and economically important mollusks such as abalone. This study aimed to determine whether the baseline gene expression of abalone before a laboratory-induced summer mortality event was associated with resilience to summer mortality. Tentacle transcriptomes of 35 greenlip abalone (Haliotis laevigata) were sequenced prior to the animals being exposed to an increase in water temperature — simulating conditions which have previously resulted in summer mortality. Abalone derived from three source locations with different environmental conditions were categorized as susceptible or resistant to summer mortality depending on whether they died or survived after the water temperature was increased. We detected two genes showing significantly higher expression in resilient abalone relative to susceptible abalone prior to the laboratory-induced summer mortality event. One of these genes was annotated through the NCBI non-redundant protein database using BLASTX to an anemone (Exaiptasia pallida) Transposon Ty3-G Gag Pol polyprotein. Distinct gene expression signatures were also found between resilient and susceptible abalone depending on the population origin, which may suggest divergence in local adaptation mechanisms for resilience. Many of these genes have been suggested to be involved in antioxidant and immune-related functions. The identification of these genes and their functional roles have enhanced our understanding of processes that may contribute to summer mortality in abalone. Our study supports the hypothesis that prestress gene expression signatures are indicative of the likelihood of summer mortality

Zooplankton Distribution and Species Diversity in Myponga Reservoir, South Australia

Myponga Reservoir is a water storage that supplies drinking water to the southern metropolitan area. It is a highly managed water body with prolonged artificial mixing and regular algicide dosing (CuSO4) to manage water quality problem. The total number of taxa in Myponga was 16 and Cladocera was the dominant taxonomic group in relation to the total number of taxa. In terms of total density, Copepoda were the numerically dominant group in both reservoirs. The most frequently occurring Cladocera were Ceriodaphnia cf. quadrangula, Ceriodaphnia cornuta and Bosmina meridionalis while Asplanchna priodonta was the predominant Rotifera throughout the study. Copepoda were dominated by Calamoecia ampulla and Microcyclops sp., making up the largest portion of total zooplankton density. Observations showed relatively consistent species diversity and density throughout the study in Myponga Reservoir except for low densities during summer for Cladocera and Copepoda groups. Shallow locations have greater zooplankton densities compared to deep locations in the reservoir. Biological factors including the occurrence of green algae and cyanobacteria may influence zooplankton abundance and the dynamics of the community

Investment in sensory structures, testis size, and wing coloration in males of a diurnal moth species: trade-offs or correlated growth?

For dioecious animals, reproductive success typically involves an exchange between the sexes of signals that provide information about mate location and quality. Typically, the elaborate, secondary sexual ornaments of males signal their quality, while females may signal their location and receptivity. In theory, the receptor structures that receive the latter signals may also become elaborate or enlarged in a way that ultimately functions to enhance mating success through improved mate location. The large, elaborate antennae of many male moths are one such sensory structure, and eye size may also be important in diurnal moths. Investment in these traits may be costly, resulting in trade-offs among different traits associated with mate location. For polyandrous species, such trade-offs may also include traits associated with paternity success, such as larger testes. Conversely, we would not expect this to be the case for monandrous species, where sperm competition is unlikely. We investigated these ideas by evaluating the relationship between investment in sensory structures (antennae, eye), testis, and a putative warning signal (orange hindwing patch) in field-caught males of the monandrous diurnal painted apple moth Teia anartoides (Lepidoptera: Lymantriidae) in southeastern Australia. As predicted for a monandrous species, we found no evidence that male moths with larger sensory structures had reduced investment in testis size. However, contrary to expectation, investment in sensory structures was correlated: males with relatively larger antennae also had relatively larger eyes. Intriguingly, also, the size of male orange hindwing patches was positively correlated with testis size

Introduction : screen Londons

Our aim, in editing the ‘London Issue’ of this journal, is to contribute to a conversation between scholars of British cinema and television, London historians and scholars of the cinematic city. In 2007, introducing the themed issue on ‘Space and Place in British Cinema and Television’, Steve Chibnall and Julian Petley observed that it would have been possible to fill the whole journal with essays about the representation of London. This issue does just that, responding to the increased interest in cinematic and, to a lesser extent, televisual, Londons, while also demonstrating the continuing fertility of the paradigms of ‘space and place’ for scholars of the moving image1. It includes a wide range of approaches to the topic of London on screen, with varying attention to British institutions of the moving image – such as Channel Four or the British Board of Film Classification – as well as to concepts such as genre, narration and memory. As a whole, the issue, through its juxtapositions of method and approach, shows something of the complexity of encounters between the terms ‘London’, ‘cinema’ and ‘television’ within British film and television studies