Anthropogenic Space Weather

Anthropogenic effects on the space environment started in the late 19th century and reached their peak in the 1960s when high-altitude nuclear explosions were carried out by the USA and the Soviet Union. These explosions created artificial radiation belts near Earth that resulted in major damages to several satellites. Another, unexpected impact of the high-altitude nuclear tests was the electromagnetic pulse (EMP) that can have devastating effects over a large geographic area (as large as the continental United States). Other anthropogenic impacts on the space environment include chemical release ex- periments, high-frequency wave heating of the ionosphere and the interaction of VLF waves with the radiation belts. This paper reviews the fundamental physical process behind these phenomena and discusses the observations of their impacts.Comment: 71 pages, 35 figure

Scaling anomaly in cosmic string background

We show that the classical scale symmetry of a particle moving in cosmic string background is broken upon inequivalent quantization of the classical system, leading to anomaly. The consequence of this anomaly is the formation of single bound state in the coupling interval \gamma\in(-1,1). The inequivalent quantization is characterized by a 1-parameter family of self-adjoint extension parameter \omega. It has been conjectured that the formation of loosely bound state in cosmic string background may lead to the so called anomalous scattering cross section for the particles, which is usually seen in molecular physics.Comment: 4 pages,1 figur

Understanding and responding to COVID-19 in Wales: protocol for a privacy-protecting data platform for enhanced epidemiology and evaluation of interventions

INTRODUCTION: The emergence of the novel respiratory SARS-CoV-2 and subsequent COVID-19 pandemic have required rapid assimilation of population-level data to understand and control the spread of infection in the general and vulnerable populations. Rapid analyses are needed to inform policy development and target interventions to at-risk groups to prevent serious health outcomes. We aim to provide an accessible research platform to determine demographic, socioeconomic and clinical risk factors for infection, morbidity and mortality of COVID-19, to measure the impact of COVID-19 on healthcare utilisation and long-term health, and to enable the evaluation of natural experiments of policy interventions. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: Two privacy-protecting population-level cohorts have been created and derived from multisourced demographic and healthcare data. The C20 cohort consists of 3.2 million people in Wales on the 1 January 2020 with follow-up until 31 May 2020. The complete cohort dataset will be updated monthly with some individual datasets available daily. The C16 cohort consists of 3 million people in Wales on the 1 January 2016 with follow-up to 31 December 2019. C16 is designed as a counterfactual cohort to provide contextual comparative population data on disease, health service utilisation and mortality. Study outcomes will: (a) characterise the epidemiology of COVID-19, (b) assess socioeconomic and demographic influences on infection and outcomes, (c) measure the impact of COVID-19 on short -term and longer-term population outcomes and (d) undertake studies on the transmission and spatial spread of infection. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: The Secure Anonymised Information Linkage-independent Information Governance Review Panel has approved this study. The study findings will be presented to policy groups, public meetings, national and international conferences, and published in peer-reviewed journals

Past acidification and recovery of surface waters, soils and ecology in the United Kingdom: prospects for the future under current deposition and land use protocols

The dynamic hydrogeochemical model MAGIC has been applied extensively throughout Europe and North America and has proven to be a valuable tool for predicting the chemical response of catchment soils and surface waters to future changes in atmospheric pollution and land use. Here we present an application of MAGIC to 22 sites in the UK Acid Waters Monitoring Network (UKAWMN) that incorporated uncertainty in model calibration (using 20 years of surface water observations) to evaluate past acidification and prospects for future recovery in surface waters, soils and key ecological indicators. Simulated ANC in 1860 indicated that prior to industrialisation, all UKAWMN surface waters were above the critical acid neutralising capacity (ANC) limit of 20 μeq l–1, with the exception of a naturally acid site, underlain by granite with large expanses of bare rock, scree and eroded peat in Northern Ireland (Blue Lough); this site had a baseline ANC value <20 μeq l–1. The significant increase in acidic deposition from 1860 to its peak during the 1970s resulted in surface water acidification at 14 of the study sites (ANC < 20 μeq l–1). The rate and magnitude of chemical recovery in soil is highly variable among sites owing to differences in factors such as soil mineral weathering and base saturation. Despite the significant reductions in sulphur and to a lesser extent nitrogen deposition since 1970, the simulated soil base saturation at all study sites either continued to decline or remained stable until the late 1980s, with marginal recovery detected at some sites in the past decade. Predictions were based on an emission reduction scenario (Gothenburg protocol) to 2020, and land use scenarios to 2050 based on approved Forestry Commission plans at the five afforested sites. Model predictions indicated that, in general, surface water acid status will continue to improve during the next decade and beyond under the Gothenburg protocol. Surface water recovery was primarily attributed to the significant decline in sulphate concentrations from a present day mean of 58.5 μeq l–1–43.8 μeq l–1 in 2020. The contribution of nitrate (NO3–) leaching to the total acid status of surface water was small and predicted to decrease from 10.9 μeq l–1 in 2007 to 9.6 μeq l–1 in 2020. By 2100, NO3– concentrations increased slightly to 11.8 μeq l–1 having a small confounding influence on the rate of chemical recovery at most sites in the network. The future response of soil base saturation to reductions in acid deposition and land use change was mixed and the difference in behaviour between sites is unclear. Whilst recent studies (Malcolm et al., 2014a, Malcolm et al., 2014b and Monteith et al., 2014) have demonstrated that forest practices have contributed to the acidification of surface waters, in this study, there was no evidence from the model predictions that forested sites will follow a different recovery trajectory to moorland sites. Planned reductions in coniferous forest cover amounting to approximately 13% across the five afforested sites resulted in a slight increase in ANC and pH. Ecological predictions highlighted the sensitivity of three indicator species (Baetis Rhodani, Achnanthes minutissima and salmonids) to changes in the acid status of surface water in the past and into the future. There was clear evidence of biological recovery by 2015 with some sites returning close to their pre-industrial biological status (Allt a’Mharcaidh) while at others (including Loch Grannoch and River Etherow) predicted recovery was incomplete for one or more of the studied indicator species

Prognostic impact of intra-field heterogeneity in oral squamous cell carcinoma

Genetic heterogeneity displayed by tumour cells (intratumoural heterogeneity, ITH) represents a diagnostic challenge when assessing tumour mutational profile. In oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), ITH may be found both in tumour cells and in adjacent mucosa. Genetic heterogeneity of the adjacent mucosa can be interpreted as evidence of the field cancerization (field heterogeneity, FH). The aim of the study was to investigate the impact of intratumoural and intrafield heterogeneity on locoregional control. Ten OSCC patients (5 recurrent and 5 nonrecurrent) were studied. Multiple areas were sampled from the bulk of the tumour and the adjacent nonneoplastic mucosa. A panel of 10 tumour-specific OSCC driver genes was analysed for each sample and was used to calculate heterogeneity. Values were compared among recurrent and nonrecurrent OSCC. Mutational analysis highlighted that a single tumour sample has limited accuracy in assessing the genetic profiles of tumours. High values of ITH considering shared mutations between specimens were found in both recurrent and non-recurrent OSCC (p = 0.095). On the contrary, the intrafield genetic heterogeneity was significantly less frequently in the non-recurrent OSCC group (p = 0.032). Heterogeneity within each specimen calculated with variant allele frequency confirmed that there was better discrimination between recurrent and nonrecurrent groups using nonneoplastic adjacent mucosa than tumour tissue (p value 0.0006 and 0.0048 respectively). In agreement with the theory of field cancerization, intrafield genetic heterogeneity correlates with a higher risk of developing loco-regional recurrences and second primaries. In order to reduce the ITH effects, analysis of multiple tumour areas should be encouraged