Forecasting the Impact of an 1859-calibre Superstorm on Satellite Resources

We have assembled a database of operational satellites in orbit as of 2004, and have developed a series of simple models to assess the economic impacts to this resource caused by various scenarios of superstorm events possible during the next sunspot cycle between 2010 and 2014. Despite the apparent robustness of our satellite assets against the kinds of storms we have encountered during the satellite era, our models suggest a potential economic loss exceeding $10(exp 11) for satellite replacement and lost profitability caused by a once a century single storm similar to the 1859 superstorm. From a combination of power system and attitude control system (the most vulnerable) failures, we estimate that 80 satellites (LEO, MEO, GEO) may be disabled as a consequence of a superstorm event. Additional consequences may include the failure of many of the GPS, GLONASS and Galileo satellite systems in MEO. Approximately 98 LEO satellites that normally would not have re-entered for many decades, may prematurely de-orbit in ca 2021 as a result of the temporarily increased atmospheric drag caused by the superstorm event occurring in 2012. The$10(exp 11) International Space Station may lose at least 15 kilometers of altitude, placing it in critical need for re-boosting by an amount that is potentially outside the range of typical Space Shuttle operations during the previous solar maximum in ca 2000, and at a time when NASA plans to decommission the Space Shuttle. Several LEO satellites will unexpectedly be placed on orbits that enter the ISS zone of avoidance, requiring some action by ground personnel and ISS astronauts to avoid close encounters. Radiation effects on astronauts have also been considered and could include a range of possibilities from acute radiation sickness for astronauts inside spacecraft, to near-lethal doses during EVAs. The specifics depends very sensitively on the spectral hardness of the accompanying SPE event. Currently, the ability to forecast extreme particle events and coronal mass ejections, or predict their fluences and geo-severity in the 24-hrs prior to the event, appears to be no better than 50/50. If the events of the 1859 superstorm serve as a guide, the scope of a contemporary superstorm will most certainly be an awesome event, but one that the vast majority of our other satellite resources may reasonably be expected to survive

Bridging the West Midlands’ Digital Skills Gap:A Roadmap Towards a Digital Skills Innovation District

Amid an escalating skills shortage that threatens the long-term socioeconomic prosperity of the UK, the West Midlands both epitomises the national challenge and, at the same time, offers myriad opportunities to enact lasting change. When it comes to skills, the regional characteristics are stark. The West Midlands is behind the UK average in qualification levels, with pupils typically averaging lower numbers of substantial Level 3 qualifications than the rest of England. The region is predicted to demonstrate the slowest rate of reduction in those with ‘no qualification’ status between 2017-2027, while the NEET (Not in Education, Employment or Training) rate continues to grow. The West Midlands is significantly behind the rest of the country in A-Level attainment, a statistic exacerbated by the underrepresentation of disadvantaged learners in higher-level apprenticeships. Those who do attain a higher education qualification in the West Midlands are less likely to stay in the region upon graduation than elsewhere in the UK.Of particular and growing importance are digital skills. Not only does the region’s tech sector have the potential to add £2.7bn in regional economic growth and 52,000 jobs over the next four years, digital skills are becoming increasingly critical to all sectors, from Business, Professional and Financial Services to health, advanced manufacturing to energy. And yet employers across the region today are reporting serious challenges in securing the levels of talent needed to ensure they remain at the cutting edge of technological delivery. It’s clear that business-as-usual will not be enough to resolve the region’s skills challenges. This project is the first step in tackling these mounting issues. While the challenges are clear, so too is the shared appetite across the region’s universities, private and public sectors to invest in new ways of turning the West Midlands’ skills outlook around. This report details the outputs of research carried out by the University of Birmingham to capture insights from cross-sectoral representatives in the West Midlands. We outline how regions across the UK and father afield are maximising collaborative R&D power to tackle regional challenges, and examine how the West Midlands can best tap into its established ecosystem of leading businesses, universities, further education providers, and civic bodies to realise a step change in how we solve the region’s skills problem. Our ultimate recommendation is to establish a dedicated Digital Skills Innovation District in Birmingham: an ambitious, long-term skills project that is developed by the region for the region. The district would be a thriving hub for industry, higher and further education, and civic organisations to develop and deliver new educational interventions which target the region’s most pressing skills challenges. It would seek to inspire learners young and old to explore new educational and professional pathways, and constantly learn from all regional stakeholders in order to grow and evolve over time. The innovation district would be sector agnostic, recognising the importance of digital skills to all employers, while at the same time mapping onto key regional sectors wherever possible to ensure continued contribution to economic stability and growth. And the district would also demonstrate the shared commitment and ambition across our organisational ecosystem to achieve the aims of devolution and the Levelling Up agenda, presenting a united front in tackling the regional skills challenges that would attract investment to achieve meaningful long-term success. This report details the steps needed to make this ambition a reality

Bridging the West Midlands’ Digital Skills Gap:A Roadmap Towards a Digital Skills Innovation District

Amid an escalating skills shortage that threatens the long-term socioeconomic prosperity of the UK, the West Midlands both epitomises the national challenge and, at the same time, offers myriad opportunities to enact lasting change. When it comes to skills, the regional characteristics are stark. The West Midlands is behind the UK average in qualification levels, with pupils typically averaging lower numbers of substantial Level 3 qualifications than the rest of England. The region is predicted to demonstrate the slowest rate of reduction in those with ‘no qualification’ status between 2017-2027, while the NEET (Not in Education, Employment or Training) rate continues to grow. The West Midlands is significantly behind the rest of the country in A-Level attainment, a statistic exacerbated by the underrepresentation of disadvantaged learners in higher-level apprenticeships. Those who do attain a higher education qualification in the West Midlands are less likely to stay in the region upon graduation than elsewhere in the UK.Of particular and growing importance are digital skills. Not only does the region’s tech sector have the potential to add £2.7bn in regional economic growth and 52,000 jobs over the next four years, digital skills are becoming increasingly critical to all sectors, from Business, Professional and Financial Services to health, advanced manufacturing to energy. And yet employers across the region today are reporting serious challenges in securing the levels of talent needed to ensure they remain at the cutting edge of technological delivery. It’s clear that business-as-usual will not be enough to resolve the region’s skills challenges. This project is the first step in tackling these mounting issues. While the challenges are clear, so too is the shared appetite across the region’s universities, private and public sectors to invest in new ways of turning the West Midlands’ skills outlook around. This report details the outputs of research carried out by the University of Birmingham to capture insights from cross-sectoral representatives in the West Midlands. We outline how regions across the UK and father afield are maximising collaborative R&D power to tackle regional challenges, and examine how the West Midlands can best tap into its established ecosystem of leading businesses, universities, further education providers, and civic bodies to realise a step change in how we solve the region’s skills problem. Our ultimate recommendation is to establish a dedicated Digital Skills Innovation District in Birmingham: an ambitious, long-term skills project that is developed by the region for the region. The district would be a thriving hub for industry, higher and further education, and civic organisations to develop and deliver new educational interventions which target the region’s most pressing skills challenges. It would seek to inspire learners young and old to explore new educational and professional pathways, and constantly learn from all regional stakeholders in order to grow and evolve over time. The innovation district would be sector agnostic, recognising the importance of digital skills to all employers, while at the same time mapping onto key regional sectors wherever possible to ensure continued contribution to economic stability and growth. And the district would also demonstrate the shared commitment and ambition across our organisational ecosystem to achieve the aims of devolution and the Levelling Up agenda, presenting a united front in tackling the regional skills challenges that would attract investment to achieve meaningful long-term success. This report details the steps needed to make this ambition a reality

An Experimental Investigation of the Hydraulics and Pollutant Dispersion Characteristics of a Model Beaver Dam

Beavers have influenced the world’s ecosystem for millions of years. Their dams create ponds and wetlands that provide a large range of hydraulic and ecological benefits to the natural world, including mitigation against flooding and improving water quality. As beavers are now being reintroduced to many parts of the world, it is important to fully understand the impact of their dams on the flow characteristics of the water-courses on which they are built. This paper investigates the relationship between the physical properties of a model beaver dam and its fundamental hydraulics and pollutant dispersion characteristics. The first objective of this paper was to develop a modelling framework to relate discharge to flow-depth for dams with a combination of porous and impermeable sections. The second objective was to utilize a similar framework to predict the down-stream concentration distribution of an up-stream pollution event passing through such systems. The ability to model these parameters for dams with variable lengths of porous and impermeable sections is important as the porosity of beaver dams can vary with depth, depending on which sections are constructed from branches, rocks, or compacted mud. The analysis and modelling developed in this paper show that a single, general relationship can be obtained between discharge and flow-depth regardless of the presence of sections that are both porous or impermeable, provided the relative depths of these sections are known and accounted for. It is also shown that the Nominal Residence Time and the Advection Dispersion Equation can be used to predict pollutant transport in such systems. These two equations have previously been shown to have limitations when applied to some complex systems, so demonstrating they can be applied to a porous dam with combinations of porous and impermeable sections at the relative discharges investigated is noteworthy

Interference of the T cell and antigen-presenting cell costimulatory pathway using CTLA4-Ig (abatacept) prevents Staphylococcal enterotoxin B pathology

Abstract Staphylococcal enterotoxin B (SEB) is a bacterial superantigen that binds the receptors in the APC/T cell synapse and causes increased proliferation of T cells and a cytokine storm syndrome in vivo. Exposure to the toxin can be lethal and cause significant pathology in humans. The lack of effective therapies for SEB exposure remains an area of concern, particularly in scenarios of acute mass casualties. We hypothesized that blockade of the T cell costimulatory signal by the CTLA4-Ig synthetic protein (abatacept) could prevent SEB-dependent pathology. In this article, we demonstrate mice treated with a single dose of abatacept 8 h post SEB exposure had reduced pathology compared with control SEB-exposed mice. SEB-exposed mice showed significant reductions in body weight between days 4 and 9, whereas mice exposed to SEB and also treated with abatacept showed no weight loss for the duration of the study, suggesting therapeutic mitigation of SEB-induced morbidity. Histopathology and magnetic resonance imaging demonstrated that SEB mediated lung damage and edema, which were absent after treatment with abatacept. Analysis of plasma and lung tissues from SEB-exposed mice treated with abatacept demonstrated significantly lower levels of IL-6 and IFN-γ (p &amp;lt; 0.0001), which is likely to have resulted in less pathology. In addition, exposure of human and mouse PBMCs to SEB in vitro showed a significant reduction in levels of IL-2 (p &amp;lt; 0.0001) after treatment with abatacept, indicating that T cell proliferation is the main target for intervention. Our findings demonstrate that abatacept is a robust and potentially credible drug to prevent toxic effects from SEB exposure.</jats:p

Bostonia. Volume 4

Founded in 1900, Bostonia magazine is Boston University's main alumni publication, which covers alumni and student life, as well as university activities, events, and programs

Healthcare Professional and Patient Perceptions of Changes in Colorectal Cancer Care Delivery During the COVID-19 Pandemic and Impact on Health Inequalities

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic changed the way in which people were diagnosed and treated for cancer. We explored healthcare professional and patient perceptions of the main changes to colorectal cancer delivery during the COVID-19 pandemic and how they impacted on socioeconomic inequalities in care. METHODS: In 2020, using a qualitative approach, we interviewed patients (n = 15) who accessed primary care with colorectal cancer symptoms and were referred for further investigations. In 2021, we interviewed a wide range of healthcare professionals (n = 30) across the cancer care pathway and gathered national and local documents/guidelines regarding changes in colorectal cancer care. RESULTS: Changes with the potential to exacerbate inequalities in care, included: the move to remote consultations; changes in symptomatic triage, new COVID testing procedures/ways to access healthcare, changes in visitor policies and treatment (e.g., shorter course radiotherapy). Changes that improved patient access/convenience or the diagnostic process have the potential to reduce inequalities in care. DISCUSSION: Changes in healthcare delivery during the COVID-19 pandemic have the ongoing potential to exacerbate existing health inequalities due to changes in how patients are triaged, changes to diagnostic and disease management processes, reduced social support available to patients and potential over-reliance on digital first approaches. We provide several recommendations to help mitigate these harms, whilst harnessing the gains

Bodily crises in skilled performance: Considering the need for artistic habits

Empirical evidence demonstrates that performing artists are confronted by a variety of ‘bodily crises’ (e.g., injury, attrition of habits induced by ageing) over the course of their careers (Wainwright, Williams, & Turner, 2005). Such crises may present a serious threat to the embodied subject. Unfortunately, many prominent theories of skill acquisition (e.g., Fitts & Posner, 1967) appear to evacuate the body from performance by suggesting that any form of conscious processing (i.e., paying conscious attention to one's action during motor skill execution) will disrupt habitual behaviour. As a result, few researchers have considered how performers might tackle bodily anomalies. In the current paper, we seek to address this issue by discussing a variety of the ‘crises’ that confront the performing body. We start by discussing a number of disciplinary practices that may contribute to these crises. Next, we argue that habitual movements must be open to ‘acts of creativity’ in order to maintain a productive relationship between the performing body and the environment. Then we consider what this ‘creative action’ might involve and discuss a number of approaches (e.g., mindfulness, somaesthetic awareness) that could maintain and improve one's movement proficiency. Here, our argument draws on Dewey's (1922) pragmatist philosophy and his belief that ‘intelligent habit’ was required to help people to improve their movement functioning. Finally, we consider the implications of our argument for current conceptualisations of ‘habitual’ movement and recommend that researchers explore the adaptive and flexible capacity of the performing body

Influence of the initial chemical conditions on the rational design of silica particles

The influence of the water content in the initial composition on the size of silica particles produced using the Stöber process is well known. We have shown that there are three morphological regimes defined by compositional boundaries. At low water levels (below stoichiometric ratio of water:tetraethoxysilane), very high surface area and aggregated structures are formed; at high water content (>40 wt%) similar structures are also seen. Between these two boundary conditions, discrete particles are formed whose size are dictated by the water content. Within the compositional regime that enables the classical Stöber silica, the structural evolution shows a more rapid attainment of final particle size than the rate of formation of silica supporting the monomer addition hypothesis. The clearer understanding of the role of the initial composition on the output of this synthesis method will be of considerable use for the establishment of reliable reproducible silica production for future industrial adoption