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The 3,4-methylenedioxymetamphetamine (MDMA) content in ecstasy tablets has increased enormously throughout Europe across the past decade. This study aims to determine whether this is caused by the production of “stronger” tablets (more mg MDMA per mg of tablet), or if tablets have simply been getting larger and heavier (more mg of tablet in total).

A data set of 31,716 ecstasy tablets obtained in 2012–2021 by 10 members of the Trans European Drug Information (TEDI) network was analysed.

The MDMA mass fraction in ecstasy tablets has remained virtually unchanged over the past 10 years, with increased MDMA contents being attributed almost exclusively to increased tablet weight. These trends seem to be uniform across Europe, despite varying sampling and analytical techniques being used by the TEDI participants. The study also shows that while tablet weight correlates perfectly with MDMA content on a yearly basis, wide variations in the MDMA mass fraction make such relations irrelevant for determining the MDMA content of individual tablets.

These results provide new opportunities for harm reduction, given that size is a tangible and apparently accurate characteristic to emphasise that one tablet does not simply equate to one dose. This is particularly useful for harm reduction services without the resources for in-house quantification of large numbers of ecstasy tablets, although the results of this study also show that chemical analysis remains crucial for accurate personalised harm reduction.

The findings are both new and pertinent, providing a novel insight into the market dynamics of ecstasy tablet production at a transnational level.

Previous research provides evidence of a negative effect of body mass on women's economic outcomes. We extend this research by using a much older sample of individuals from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics and by using a body mass measure that is lagged by 15 years instead of the traditional 7 years. One of the main contributions of this paper is a replication of previous research findings given our differing samples and measures. We compare OLS estimates with sibling fixed effects estimates and find that obesity is associated with an 18% reduction in women's wages, a 25% reduction in women's family income, and a 16% reduction in women's probability of marriage. These effects are robust – they persist much longer than previously understood and they persist across the life course, affecting older women as well as younger women.

This paper investigates thermal mass performance (TMP) in hot climates. The impact of using precast concrete (PC) as a core envelope with different insulation materials has been studied. The aim is to find the effect of building mass with different weights on indoor energy consumption, specifically cooling load in hot climates.

This research adopted a case study and simulation methods to find out the efficiency of different mass performances in hot and humid climate conditions. Different scenarios of light, moderate and heavyweight mass using PC have been developed and simulated. The impact of these scenarios on indoor cooling load has been investigated using the integrated environment solution-virtual environment (IES-VE) software.

The results showed that adopting a moderate weight mass of two PC sheets and a cavity layer in between can reduce indoor air temperature by 1.17 °C; however, this type of mass may increase the cooling demand. On the other hand, it has been proven that adopting a heavyweight mass for building envelopes and increasing the insulation material has a significant impact on reducing the cooling load. Using a PC Sandwich panel and increasing the insulation material layers for external walls and thickness by 50 mm will reduce the cooling load by 15.8%. Therefore, the heavyweight mass is more efficient compared to lightweight and moderate mass in hot, humid climate areas such as the UAE, in spite of the positive indoor TMP that can be provided by the lightweight mass in reducing the indoor air temperature in the summer season.

This research contributes to the thermal mass concept as one of these strategies that have recently been adopted to optimize the thermal performance of buildings and developments. Efficient TMP can have a massive impact on reducing energy consumption. However, less work has investigated TMP in hot and humid climate conditions. Furthermore, the impact of the PC on indoor thermal performance within hot climate areas has not been studied yet. The findings of this study on TMP in the summer season can be generated in all hot climate zones, and investigating the TMP in other seasons can be extended in future studies.

THE importance of control surface mass balancing does not need to be emphasized, and it is well known that the faster aeroplanes fly, the greater is the care and attention which the designer must give to this question.

Describes a novel system that simultaneously measures both force and acceleration, and hence deduces mass. The system has been in use on ships and at fish‐sorting plants in Japan for about 8 years. However, applications are far wider than the fishing industry and the system can be used for “weighing” moving objects. Strictly speaking, the systems deduce mass rather than weight, but for simplicity we talk about “weighing” when we really mean mass determination in order to determine weight due to gravity under static conditions.

The structure‐borne sound generated by power equipment can be isolated effectively through vibration absorber under hull base structures. The practical vibration isolation performance is limited due to the weight, size and cost. The dramatic attenuating wave propagation characteristic of hull base without adding weight is essential to the vessel acoustic stealth.

The characteristics of vibration wave propagated from typical shape base link structures have been investigated according to impedance mismatch and wave conversion in non‐homogeneous structure. The hull base is simplified to three degrees of freedom damped system through the mechanical impedance method. The influence of blocking mass weight, as well as location properties to the base vibration isolation performance have been discussed. Furthermore, the structure‐borne sound design of a typical hull base is carried out.

The impedance mismatch of the hull base is further increased by the comprehensive use of high transmission loss base link structures, blocking mass as well as damping layer. The effectiveness of structure‐borne sound design is verified through numerical calculation together with underwater model test. The test data show that the noise has been reduced larger than 3 dB.

The paper describes what is believed to be the first application of the high transmission loss base in hull structures based on the literature survey. The method of structure‐borne sound design of a typical hull base can be applied in different types of vessels.

This study aimed to assess the influence of the community-based campaign on weight loss and healthy lifestyle adoption among Bahrain's adult population.

A cross -sectional self-reported online questionnaire completed in February 2021. The survey evaluated the impact of the community-based campaign health program which includes (exercise, diet plan and psychological eating behavior) weight reduction using social media platforms. The authors employed data from young and middle-aged healthy adults (n = 842) between the ages of 18-55 years, of both sexes. The intervention group (n = 842) was made up of the supporters of the voluntary community initiative called Obesity does not Suit Me (n = 194), and the control group (n = 648) was made up of non-followers of the campaign.

The study showed a statistically significant difference among the followers of the community-based campaign health program in the following parameters: 3.90-4.23 kg less, 1.46-1.59 difference in BMI and 0.05-0.06 WHR. All changes were of low effect size.

Diet and exercise had significant impact on weight, BMI and WHR among the followers of the community campaign. However, more research is required for sponsorship to increase the motivation and rewards for the community campaign.

The purpose of this study was to provide the first report of weight and dieting behaviour of college students in Cyprus. A cross‐sectional survey was administered to a convenience sample of 451 students studying at the largest private college in Cyprus. The survey was used to determine the prevalence of inappropriate dieting practices that included use of diet pills, fasting, induced vomiting and laxative use to get rid of food eaten. Body mass index and accuracy of self‐perceived weight were also determined. A high rate of underweight among females and a low rate of obesity for all students were found. Students reported unhealthy dieting behaviours including use of diet pills, fasting, induced vomiting and laxative use. The results show that there are serious weight issues for students in Cyprus and indicate that disordered dieting behaviours exist in the Mediterranean.

This paper evaluates the Nutrition Intervention Project (NIP) implemented statewide in the State of Virginia to determine the effectiveness of nutritional intervention in decreasing pre‐term births and low birth weight (LBW) babies to at‐risk pregnant women in urban and rural areas. Sample size was 1,284. Majority of the respondents were white, primiparae, between 20‐29 years of age, and underweight (BMI < 19.8). Twenty‐one per cent of the of the births were pre‐term, and 13.3 per cent were in the LBW category. Regression analysis indicated that number of visits to the nutritionist was positively associated with birth weight and gestational age of the baby. Nutrition intervention (NI) decreased the smoking behaviour and improved the intake of iron supplements, both of which improved the weight gain and pregnancy outcomes. Effects analysis indicated that the causal effect operated both via intervening variables as well as directly between nutritional intervention and pregnancy outcomes. The path from NI to birth outcomes via weight gain was the strongest. Respondents in urban areas had a higher risk of pre‐term births than rural areas.