Quantification of waves in lidar observations of noctilucent clouds at scales from seconds to minutes

We present small-scale structures and waves observed in noctilucent clouds (NLC) by lidar at an unprecedented temporal resolution of 30 s or less. The measurements were taken with the Rayleigh/Mie/Raman lidar at the ALOMAR observatory in northern Norway (69 N) in the years 2008-2011. We find multiple layer NLC in 7.9% of the time for a brightness threshold of δ β 12 × 10-10 m-1 sr-1. In comparison to 10 min averaged data, the 30 s dataset shows considerably more structure. For limited periods, quasi-monochromatic waves in NLC altitude variations are common, in accord with ground-based NLC imagery. For the combined dataset, on the other hand, we do not find preferred periods but rather significant periods at all timescales observed (1 min to 1 h). Typical wave amplitudes in the layer vertical displacements are 0.2 km with maximum amplitudes up to 2.3 km. Average spectral slopes of temporal altitude and brightness variations are-2.01 ± 0.25 for centroid altitude,-1.41 ± 0.24 for peak brightness and-1.73 ± 0.25 for integrated brightness. Evaluating a new single-pulse detection system, we observe altitude variations of 70 s period and spectral slopes down to a scale of 10 s. We evaluate the suitability of NLC parameters as tracers for gravity waves

Love as a term of address in British English: micro-diachronic variation

This paper explores the pragmatic scope of the endearment ‘love’ in contemporary spoken British English. It will be suggested that the function of ‘love’ in interaction can be understood as a ritual framing expression that enables speakers to index certain interpersonal constellations and action contexts in which speakers claim rights and social authority by couching them in affective stance displays. The study is based on the 1994 and 2014 versions of the British National Corpus. The findings show that over the course of twenty years, the use of ‘love’ has become significantly less frequent and has undergone a functional profile shift to index, more centrally than before, other-deprecating evaluation, enacted through joking and performative use in storytelling. Those functions appear to feed off the core semantics and interpersonal constellations of ‘love’ as well as associations with social and linguistic stereotypes

Risks and complications associated with ovarian stimulation for fertility treatment

Almost all fertility treatment involves ovarian stimulation. This can be in the form of ovulation induction in women with anovulation or controlled ovarian stimulation for in vitro fertilisation treatment. The stepwise approach to fertility treatment in most cases it will be safe and successful. In certain cases, it might be however ineffective or related with adverse health outcomes for the woman causing significant distress for the couple and the treating clinicians. Fertility treatment could be perceived as a paradox, as healthy women undergo treatment ‘willingly’, with often no cause identified of their failed conceptions. Exposure to assisted reproduction can therefore result in these healthy women being admitted to hospital suffering from complications of fertility treatment. In this thesis of the genetic make-up of women, who had ovulation induction with or without success, is evaluated. Aiming for potential prediction of response for future patients. In order to gain more insight in the pathophysiology of ovarian overresponse, the ovarian renin angiotensin system was assessed during stimulation for IVF. The use of a dopamine agonist to alleviate or prevent OHSS was studied. And any assisted reproductive treatment adverse outcome rates after a salpingectomy prior to treatment were investigated. The studies presented in this thesis utilized various research modalities, including systematic literature reviews, three-dimensional ultrasound, single nucleotide polymorphism analysis and polymerase chain reactions. When OHSS develops dopamine agonists provide limited symptomatic relieve, but causes no harm. Salpingectomy prior to ovarian stimulation with potential harm to the ovarian blood supply does not influence the overall treatment outcome. Serum renin levels during ovarian stimulation might be able to differentiate which women become symptomatic of OHSS, but is a difficult test to implement in daily practice. For ovulation induction the use of genotyping of CYP450 might allow adjusting the dose needed to prevent unwanted response. We need to remain critical of our practise. Registration and evaluation of complications will allow achievement of safer and better fertility treatment in the future. The overall conclusion is that the next trial should focus on the patient group found to be at risk of overresponse and randomise them to an antagonist protocol with agonist trigger and modified luteal support. Controlled ovarian stimulation should be in conjunction with a national complication registration to have a real picture of the risks associated with fertility treatment

Characteristics and sources of gravity waves observed in noctilucent cloud over Norway

Four years of noctilucent cloud (NLC) images from an automated digital camera in Trondheim and results from a ray-tracing model are used to extend the climatology of gravity waves to higher latitudes and to identify their sources during summertime. The climatology of the summertime gravity waves detected in NLC between 64 and 74° N is similar to that observed between 60 and 64° N by Pautet et al. (2011). The direction of propagation of gravity waves observed in the NLC north of 64° N is a continuation of the north and northeast propagation as observed in south of 64° N. However, a unique population of fast, short wavelength waves propagating towards the SW is observed in the NLC, which is consistent with transverse instabilities generated in situ by breaking gravity waves (Fritts and Alexander, 2003). The relative amplitude of the waves observed in the NLC Mie scatter have been combined with ray-tracing results to show that waves propagating from near the tropopause, rather than those resulting from secondary generation in the stratosphere or mesosphere, are more likely to be the sources of the prominent wave structures observed in the NLC. The coastal region of Norway along the latitude of 70° N is identified as the primary source region of the waves generated near the tropopause

Communication in cross-cultural consultations in primary care in Europe: the case for improvement. The rationale for the RESTORE FP 7 project

The purpose of this paper is to substantiate the importance of research about barriers and levers to the implementation of supports for cross-cultural communication in primary care settings in Europe. After an overview of migrant health issues, with the focus on communication in cross-cultural consultations in primary care and the importance of language barriers, we highlight the fact that there are serious problems in routine practice that persist over time and across different European settings. Language and cultural barriers hamper communication in consultations between doctors and migrants, with a range of negative effects including poorer compliance and a greater propensity to access emergency services. It is well established that there is a need for skilled interpreters and for professionals who are culturally competent to address this problem. A range of professional guidelines and training initiatives exist that support the communication in cross-cultural consultations in primary care. However, these are commonly not implemented in daily practice. It is as yet unknown why professionals do not accept or implement these guidelines and interventions, or under what circumstances they would do so. A new study involving six European countries, RESTORE (REsearch into implementation STrategies to support patients of different ORigins and language background in a variety of European primary care settings), aims to address these gaps in knowledge. It uses a unique combination of a contemporary social theory, normalisation process theory (NPT) and participatory learning and action (PLA) research. This should enhance understanding of the levers and barriers to implementation, as well as providing stakeholders, with the opportunity to generate creative solutions to problems experienced with the implementation of such interventions

NLC and the background atmosphere above ALOMAR

Noctilucent clouds (NLC) have been measured by the Rayleigh/Mie/Raman-lidar at the ALOMAR research facility in Northern Norway (69° N, 16° E). From 1997 to 2010 NLC were detected during more than 1850 h on 440 different days. Colocated MF-radar measurements and calculations with the Leibniz-Institute Middle Atmosphere (LIMA-) model are used to characterize the background atmosphere. Temperatures as well as horizontal winds at 83 km altitude show distinct differences during NLC observations compared to when NLC are absent. The seasonally averaged temperature is lower and the winds are stronger westward when NLC are detected. The wind separation is a robust feature as it shows up in measurements as well as in model results and it is consistent with the current understanding that lower temperatures support the existence of ice particles. For the whole 14-year data set there is no statistically significant relation between NLC occurrence and solar Lyman-α radiation. On the other hand NLC occurrence and temperatures at 83 km show a significant anti-correlation, which suggests that the thermal state plays a major role for the existence of ice particles and dominates the pure Lyman-α influence on water vapor during certain years. We find the seasonal mean NLC altitudes to be correlated to both Lyman-α radiation and temperature. NLC above ALOMAR are strongly influenced by atmospheric tides. The cloud water content varies by a factor of 2.8 over the diurnal cycle. Diurnal and semidiurnal amplitudes and phases show some pronounced year-to-year variations. In general, amplitudes as well as phases vary in a different manner. Amplitudes change by a factor of more than 3 and phases vary by up to 7 h. Such variability could impact long-term NLC observations which do not cover the full diurnal cycle

Coincident measurements of PMSE and NLC above ALOMAR (69° N, 16° E) by radar and lidar from 1999-2008

Polar Mesosphere Summer Echoes (PMSE) and Noctilucent Clouds (NLC) have been routinely measured at the ALOMAR research facility in Northern Norway (69° N, 16° E) by lidar and radar, respectively. 2900 h of lidar measurements by the ALOMAR Rayleigh/Mie/Raman lidar were combined with almost 18 000 h of radar measurements by the ALWIN VHF radar, all taken during the years 1999 to 2008, to study simultaneous and common-volume observations of both phenomena. PMSE and NLC are known from both theory and observations to be positively linked. We quantify the occurrences of PMSE and/or NLC and relations in altitude, especially with respect to the lower layer boundaries. The PMSE occurrence rate is with 75.3% considerably higher than the NLC occurrence rate of 19.5%. For overlapping PMSE and NLC observations, we confirm the coincidence of the lower boundaries and find a standard deviation of 1.26 km, hinting at very fast sublimation rates. However, 10.1% of all NLC measurements occur without accompanying PMSE. Comparison of occurrence rates with solar zenith angle reveals that NLC without PMSE mostly occur around midnight indicating that the ice particles were not detected by the radar due to the reduced electron density

Towards balance and boundaries in public discourse : expressing and perceiving online hate speech (XPEROHS)

This study presents an overview and preliminary findings from the XPEROHS-project on hate speech in online contexts. The data is extracted from large-scale Facebook and Twitter corpora, while comparing linguistic instantiations of hate speech in the Danish and German languages. Findings are based on four sub-projects involving the semantics and pragmatics of denigration, the covert dynamics of hate speech, perceptions of spoken and written hate speech, and rhetorical hate speech strategies employed in online interaction. The results demonstrate both overt and covert hate speech towards minority groups, especially Muslims, that are symptomatic of larger societal othering processes and stigmatization