“Excessive Drinking—An Inescapable Part of University Life?” A Focus Group Study of Australian Undergraduates

The university environment reinforces positive alcohol-related expectations and motivations for drinking among undergraduate students. High levels of hazardous consumption in this population lead to significant negative alcohol-related consequences, for individuals and those around them. This study sought to explore the contexts in which those who engage in hazardous drinking consume alcohol, their perceptions of safety and harm, and receptivity to health messages. Undergraduate university students (n = 69;aged 17 - 24 of both genders [57% female]) were purposively recruited into one of seven focus groups after screening with the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) to select for hazardous drinking (score, >8) or moderate drinking. A focus group interview schedule was developed, which was informed by theory and tested for validity by a panel of experts. Qualitative analysis of the data revealed four thematic clusters: positive expectations;inescapable culture;defining situations;and permissible drunkenness. Drinking was associated with various personal and social advantages that reinforced participants’ intentions and/or willingness to drink. Alcohol played a meaningful role in the way in which participants identified with youth and university culture. Economical drinking was prominent, with students constantly negotiating pathways to intoxication within the confines of their budgets. Heavy drinking was viewed as permissible when in the home environment and/or in the company of trusted friends. Most students were unreceptive to health messages, and advice on restricting alcohol consumption seemed to have limited impact on drinking behaviour. Our findings clarify why some university students maintain or increase drinking behaviour despite known negative outcomes and offer useful insights to inform further research and the development of alcohol interventions specifically targeted at students.

Pharyngeal gonorrhea presenting with isolated neck pain

We present a case of a 22-year-old man with isolated neck pain due to pharyngeal gonorrhea.

The spatial dynamics of Ukraine air quality impacted by the war and pandemic

In recent years,our world has experienced significant disruptions due to the COviD-19 pandemic,and Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine,impacting human activities and the global environment.This paper explored air quality changes in Ukraine due to COVID-19,and Russia's invasion of Ukraine using on-demand with a what-you-see-is-what-you-get approach.During the cOVID-19 pandemic,strict quarantine policies in Ukraine led to a 2%reduction in tropospheric NO_(2) concentration before the lockdown and 4%during the lockdown period.Cities like Kyiv,Donetsk,and Dnipro exhibited reductions of 5%,11%,and 16%,respectively.Total SO_(2) column concentration decreased by 6%before the lockdown and 2.5%during the lockdown period,except in high population density areas.Kyiv showed the highest reduction of 17%in SO_(2) concentration,while Donetsk and Dnipro exhibited an 11%reduction.However,during the Russian invasion,there was a significant increase in tropospheric NO_(2) concentration in heavily destroyed Kharkiv while most eastern regions experienced a reduction.The total SO_(2) column was 48%higher before the war but reduced throughout the country after the war,except for in Kyiv and a few central regions.These findings can contribute to analyzing air pollution and building digital twin simulations for future reconstruction scenarios.

Mapping ideas from cyberspace to realspace: visualizing the spatial context of keywords from web page search results

We introduce a new method for visualizing and analyzing information landscapes of ideas and events posted on public web pages through customized web-search engines and keywords.This research integrates GIScience and web-search engines to track and analyze public web pages and their web contents with associated spatial relationships.Web pages searched by clusters of keywords were mapped with real-world coordinates(by geolocating their Internet Protocol addresses).The resulting maps represent web information landscapes consisting of hundreds of populated web pages searched by selected keywords.By creating a Spatial Web Automatic Reasoning and Mapping System prototype,researchers can visualize the spread of web pages associated with specific keywords,concepts,ideas,or news over time and space.These maps may reveal important spatial relationships and spatial context associated with selected keywords.This approach may provide a new research direction for geographers to study the diffusion of human thought and ideas.A better understanding of the spatial and temporal dynamics of the‘collective thinking of human beings’over the Internet may help us understand various innovation diffusion processes,human behaviors,and social movements around the world.