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In the UK, 'The requirements for School Food Regulations, 2014' specify the 'type' and 'frequency' of food and drinks that can be provided across the school day.(1) For example, there should be one or more portions of fruit per day. However, there is no monitoring and pupils can choose from a daily selection. Most studies have focused on pupil's lunch intake(2,3) and there are limited large-scale UK studies. Whilst interventions are needed in schools to improve pupil's dietary intake, identifying solutions is challenging. This study uses pupil-level purchase data to capture food and drink choices across the school day to identify potential opportunities for intervention development. One aim was to explore the food and drink purchases of UK secondary school pupils across the school day. Ethics was obtained from Newcastle University (ref: 2482/26614). DPIA agreements were obtained from schools. Secondary schools in Northeast England participated. Non-identifiable pupil-level purchase data from a four-week menu cycle were used that included: time, date, individual food and drink item, quantity, cost, and FSM status. Data were encrypted and transferred securely. Data were cleaned and manipulated in excel and Stata V18. Food and drink items were coded to 60 preliminary food and drink groups. Excel and Stata V18 were used for analyses; current analyses are descriptive. Pupil-level purchase data (n = 3466) from five secondary schools were included. FSM pupils accounted for 29% (n = 1015), Year 7 pupils 25% (n = 848) decreasing to Year 11 pupils 17% (n = 580) of the total sample. The two meal types most pupils purchased were 'Break & Lunch' combined (58%, n = 2017; FSM 26% n = 524) and 'Lunch only' (20%, n = 659; FSM 41%, n = 268). At break, the top five purchased items were: bacon/sausage bun (n = 7871; 21%) pizza snack (n = 5714; 15%), bagel/crumpet (n = 3697; 10%), fizzy fruit juice (n = 3344; 9%) and water (n = 3459; 9%). At lunch, the top five purchased items were: meal deal (n = 12,527; 16%), fizzy fruit juice (n = 7,895; 10%), hot meal (n = 6,963; 9%), biscuit (n = 5,803; 8%), and water (n = 5001; 6%). Food and drink purchases at break and lunch were similar by FSM status. Preliminary findings show most pupils purchase at least one food and/or drink item at both break and lunch. Similar pupil purchasing was found regardless of FSM status. Future interventions need to consider the food and drink choices available at break and lunch. One school had a water only policy, therefore, school context and variation in the food and drink offer may impact findings. More detailed analyses will consider the effect of school, school year, meal type (breakfast, break, lunch) and Free School Meal Status (FSM) on pupil's food and drink purchases using multi-level logistic regressions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Obtaining data on pupils' school food intakes often relies upon self-reported dietary assessment methods, which can be subject to reporting errors(1). Online tools offer an engaging, streamlined method, however reporting errors still exist. Furthermore, gaining access into schools to conduct research is challenging(2). School food purchase data may offer an alternative approach. Objective data on individual-level school food purchases can be obtained for the whole school day owing to cashless canteens. The use of school food purchase data as a method to assess dietary intakes in secondary school pupils warrants exploration. The aims of the study were to assess the information available in school food purchase data and explore its potential in assessing food group and nutrient intakes. Individual pupil-level purchase data was obtained from five secondary schools over a four-week period. Following data cleaning and manipulation in excel and Stata v18, the proportion of food and drink items that were assigned an Intake24 food group and linked to a UK Nutrient databank code(s) was calculated. Ethical approval was obtained from the Faculty of Medical Sciences Ethics Committee, Newcastle University (ref: 2482/26614). Data protection impact assessment was created to ensure efficient transfer of data. The data captured school food purchases in 3466 pupils; this equated to approximately 80% of total pupils purchasing at least one item at school across the four-week period. A total of 119125 purchases were made by pupils. There were 367 different food and drink item descriptions. Ninetytwo percent (n = 338) of these were able to be assigned to a food group, for example 'veg/salad' and 'hot meat baguette'. This accounted for 82% (n = 97821) of total purchases. Of these, 258 food and drink items (60% of total purchases) contained enough information for a nutrient code to be assigned, for example 'flapjack' and 'Radnor Fizz drink'. Eight percent (n = 29) did not have enough information to assign either a food group or nutrient code. These included items such as 'Main Dish' and 'Packed Lunch Deal'. These accounted for 18% (n = 20954) of total purchases across the four-week menu cycle. Pupil-level purchase data is a novel and feasible approach to obtaining objective food intake data on a large scale, maximising generalisability of findings. Obtaining intake data on >3000 pupils in a short time frame would be unachievable using traditional dietary assessment methods. There are some limitations in the use of pupil purchase data to assess pupils' nutrient intakes, for example, missing portion size information. However, the use of average portions warrants investigation. Future work to compare purchases with self-reported data to assess agreement with validated dietary assessment methods is required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The school food and drink environment offers opportunities to improve pupils' food and drink choices, with school food accounting for up to 30% of pupils' dietary intake(1). School canteens are often overcrowded and chaotic, which may lead to pupils choosing less healthy but quicker options. Interventions aiming to improve adolescents' dietary behaviours have been conducted but usually lack adolescent involvement and can have limited impact on pupils' dietary choices(2). Pupil involvement in design and development may lead to more acceptable interventions(3). The aim was to explore potential interventions with secondary school-aged pupils focused on key areas of the school food and drink environment. A total of three North East England secondary schools were recruited based on pupil eligibility for free school meals and index of multiple deprivation. Approximately eight pupils (aged 12 – 13) were recruited per school to participate in three focus groups. Consent was collected from parents and pupils. In focus group one, pupils prioritised areas within the school food and drink environment for potential interventions. In focus group two, pupils explored what these interventions might comprise. Finally, pupils reviewed the acceptability, sustainability, and feasibility of their interventions. Thematic analysis using a coding framework was used to analyse data. Ethical approval was granted by Newcastle University Ethics Committee, reference number: 2402/24272/2021. Across the three schools, twenty-two (m = 9; f = 13) pupils participated in the focus groups. Preliminary analysis revealed the inability for pupils to eat their school lunch outside was a key area for improvement. Pupils felt that with dedicated areas to eat outside, they would have more time to eat and not rely on convenient options. Incorrect menus in the canteen also meant pupils did not know what they could select and instead chose the same, often less healthy options. Pupils wanted posters in the canteen to promote the available healthier options previously used in nudge-based interventions. School food and drink were usually considered poor value for money due to high prices and perceived poor quality of school food compared to what is available outside of school. Pupils felt that introducing meal deals or food-based rewards for healthier options would encourage higher consumption due to them being perceived as better value for money. Prioritised areas and interventions within the school food and drink environment were schoolspecific. Before interventions are conducted in schools, further understanding of the school context and whether interventions are appropriate are needed. Further work exploring continued project development, including further pupil and school staff input to explore intervention feasibility is required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report the preparation of exactly one 87Rb atom and one 133Cs atom in the same optical tweezer as the essential first step towards the construction of a tweezer array of individually trapped 87Rb133Cs molecules. Through careful selection of the tweezer wavelengths, we show how to engineer species-selective trapping potentials suitable for high-fidelity preparation of Rb + Cs atom pairs. Using a wavelength of 814 nm to trap Rb and 938 nm to trap Cs, we achieve loading probabilities of 0.508(6) for Rb and 0.547(6) for Cs using standard red-detuned molasses cooling. Loading the traps sequentially yields exactly one Rb and one Cs atom in 28.4(6)% of experimental runs. Using a combination of an acousto-optic deflector and a piezo-controlled mirror to control the relative position of the tweezers, we merge the two tweezers, retaining the atom pair with a probability of. We use this capability to study hyperfine-state-dependent collisions of Rb and Cs in the combined tweezer and compare the measured two-body loss rates with coupled-channel quantum scattering calculations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have recently been funded by the UK Prevention Research Partnership (UKPRP) to develop a UK school food network. The overarching aim is to build a community working towards a more health-promoting food and nutrition system in UK schools (primary and secondary). Here we describe the current status of school food research, including a review of the literature supporting the health-promoting schools approach and outline the opportunities for intervention and innovation establishment of the network present. Key potential school food research themes are described, and their prioritisation within the network, as well as network activities that have been planned, with the ultimate ambition of reducing socio-economic diet-related inequalities, and, consequently, non-communicable disease risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impact of varying the tip clearance of each rotor on the performance of a counter-rotating axial compressor has been investigated based on numerical simulations. The main purpose was to investigate the sensitivity to the tip clearance of each of the two individual rotors and the corresponding aerodynamic mechanisms associated with the performance variation in this compressor. The results indicated that both the total pressure ratio and the efficiency decreased as the tip clearance was increased, and the sensitivity curve for peak efficiency for both rotors was found to be an approximately linear negative relationship with increasing tip clearance. The variations of peak efficiency and stability margin of Rotor 2 were more sensitive to changing tip clearance than Rotor 1. An optimum combination of tip gaps existed for this compressor, i.e. 0.5t for Rotor 1 and 0.25x fcr Rotor 2 (where r represents the nominal tip clearance value). At this optimum configuration, the peak efficiency and stability margin were improved by 0.63% and 29.4%, respectively. The location of the onset of the tip leakage vortex was found to be shifted downstream when the tip clearance increased. The nature of the lip leakage flow for each rotor was found to be influenced by the variation of tip clearance in the other rotor, fotor 2 showed a more significant impact on Rotor 1. Additionally, varying the combination of tip clearances changed which of the two rotors was the first to stall. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]