Evidence of a Plasmoid-Looptop Interaction and Magnetic Inflows During a Solar Flare/CME Eruptive Event

Observational evidence is presented for the merging of a downward-propagating plasmoid with a looptop kernel during an occulted limb event on 2007 January 25. RHESSI lightcurves in the 9-18 keV energy range, as well as that of the 245 MHz channel of the Learmonth Solar Observatory, show enhanced nonthermal emission in the corona at the time of the merging suggesting that additional particle acceleration took place. This was attributed to a secondary episode of reconnection in the current sheet that formed between the two merging sources. RHESSI images were used to establish a mean downward velocity of the plasmoid of 12 km/s. Complementary observations from the SECCHI suite of instruments onboard STEREO-Behind showed that this process occurred during the acceleration phase of the associated CME. From wavelet-enhanced EUVI, images evidence of inflowing magnetic field lines prior to the CME eruption is also presented. The derived inflow velocity was found to be 1.5 km/s. This combination of observations supports a recent numerical simulation of plasmoid formation, propagation and subsequent particle acceleration due to the tearing mode instability during current sheet formation.Comment: 8 pages, 9 figures, ApJ (Accepted

THE EFFECTS OF A DOUBLE BREAST MASTECTOMY ON UPPER BODY POSITION DURING SIMULATED HORSEBACK RIDING: A CASE STUDY

The aim of this case study was to investigate the effect of a prophylactic double breast mastectomy on upper body position during simulated horseback riding. One participant (age 41 years; height: 1.8 m; mass 90 kg), an advanced dressage rider, volunteered to be tested pre- and post-surgery (112 days apart). A digital camera (50 Hz) collected kinematic data from the upper body during simulated trotting and cantering. Trunk and elbow angles (°) and vertical displacement (mm) of the hip, shoulder, elbow and wrist were analysed over four stride cycles and compared between the pre- and post-surgery testing sessions. Results suggest that there was greater trunk and elbow extension and a decrease in vertical excursion of the upper body post-surgery, which could affect performance in dressage. This information may aid rehabilitation in horse riders who have undergone breast mastectomy surgery

Event-related potentials reveal differences between foveal and parafovealintegration of visual and contextual information during sentence processing

Electrical brain potentials in response to violation of expectations in language processing have revealed that people usesentence context to facilitate word recognition and integration. Less is known about the interaction between the qualityof visual information in reading and the use of contextual information. In the current study we manipulated the visualfield (foveal vs. parafoveal) in which a sentence-final expected word, orthographic neighbor of an expected word, orunexpected word is presented and recorded event-related potentials (ERPs) to investigate the role of visual clarity. We findevidence that earlier stages of semantic retrieval indexed by the N400 are resilient to visual information presented at greatereccentricity, but that later, integration-related processes indexed by a posterior late positive complex (LPC) may depend onunambiguous, foveally presented visual information. These findings have implications for parafoveal processing duringnatural reading

Health geography and the 'performative' turn:making space for the audio-visual in ethnographic health research

The purpose of this paper is to critically reflect on the added value of video in ethnographic research that seeks to understand peoples' lived experiences of health and place. Of particular interest is the potential for video to elicit the embodied, multisensory and relational nature of people's place experiences that are the focus of much recent health geography research. We draw on our experiences of using video in an ethnographic study that sought to explore the experiences of people with intellectual disabilities engaged in nature based (or 'green care') therapeutic interventions for health and wellbeing. We argue that video has the potential to capture aspects of people's wellbeing experiences that may be lost using other methods, such as observational field noting. Consideration is also given to how researchers using video methods should seek to (re)present people's wellbeing experiences, as well as the practical and ethical challenges that this approach has for those working in the field of health geography

Inequalities in the dental health needs and access to dental services among looked after children in Scotland: a population data linkage study

Background: There is limited evidence on the health needs and service access among children and young people who are looked after by the state. The aim of this study was to compare dental treatment needs and access to dental services (as an exemplar of wider health and well-being concerns) among children and young people who are looked after with the general child population. Methods: Population data linkage study utilising national datasets of social work referrals for ‘looked after’ placements, the Scottish census of children in local authority schools, and national health service’s dental health and service datasets. Results: 633 204 children in publicly funded schools in Scotland during the academic year 2011/2012, of whom 10 927 (1.7%) were known to be looked after during that or a previous year (from 2007–2008). The children in the looked after children (LAC) group were more likely to have urgent dental treatment need at 5 years of age: 23%vs10% (n=209/16533), adjusted (for age, sex and area socioeconomic deprivation) OR 2.65 (95% CI 2.30 to 3.05); were less likely to attend a dentist regularly: 51%vs63% (n=5519/388934), 0.55 (0.53 to 0.58) and more likely to have teeth extracted under general anaesthesia: 9%vs5% (n=967/30253), 1.91 (1.78 to 2.04). Conclusions: LAC are more likely to have dental treatment needs and less likely to access dental services even when accounting for sociodemographic factors. Greater efforts are required to integrate child social and healthcare for LAC and to develop preventive care pathways on entering and throughout their time in the care system

The Thermal Properties of Solar Flares Over Three Solar Cycles Using GOES X-ray Observations

Solar flare X-ray emission results from rapidly increasing temperatures and emission measures in flaring active region loops. To date, observations from the X-Ray Sensor (XRS) onboard the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) have been used to derive these properties, but have been limited by a number of factors, including the lack of a consistent background subtraction method capable of being automatically applied to large numbers of flares. In this paper, we describe an automated temperature and emission measure-based background subtraction method (TEBBS), which builds on the methods of Bornmann (1990). Our algorithm ensures that the derived temperature is always greater than the instrumental limit and the pre-flare background temperature, and that the temperature and emission measure are increasing during the flare rise phase. Additionally, TEBBS utilizes the improved estimates of GOES temperatures and emission measures from White et al. (2005). TEBBS was successfully applied to over 50,000 solar flares occurring over nearly three solar cycles (1980-2007), and used to create an extensive catalog of the solar flare thermal properties. We confirm that the peak emission measure and total radiative losses scale with background subtracted GOES X-ray flux as power-laws, while the peak temperature scales logarithmically. As expected, the peak emission measure shows an increasing trend with peak temperature, although the total radiative losses do not. While these results are comparable to previous studies, we find that flares of a given GOES class have lower peak temperatures and higher peak emission measures than previously reported. The resulting TEBBS database of thermal flare plasma properties is publicly available on Solar Monitor (www.solarmonitor.org/TEBBS/) and will be available on Heliophysics Integrated Observatory (www.helio-vo.eu)

Northern Neck Regional Shallow Draft Channel Dredging Plan: Feasibility Phase

The Initial Phase of the project (Phase 1), used remote sensing and other data collection to develop a method for determining which waterbodies on the Northern Neck of Virginia need dredging. The analysis included most of the waterbodies in the counties of Lancaster, Northumberland, Richmond, and Westmoreland. From this analysis, 19 waterbodies emerged as potentially needing dredged based on physical parameters and residential and economic usage (Milligan et al., 2023). In this Feasibility Phase (Phase 2), more detailed site data were collected to provide data to the localities for consideration. These tasks were included in the analysis: 1. Historic shore evolution. 2. Bathymetric data were collected in the waterbody; 3. Sediment sampling of the upper 1-2 ft of the bottom was performed to determine surface sediment type; 4. Structures adjacent to the channel were assessed; 5. Channels were determined based on whether they were federal, non-federal, or non-federal with aids to navigation (ATONs). Eight federal channels were included in this Feasibility Phase, and the federally-defined channel was used for those waterbodies. However, two waterbodies, Cranes Creek and Monroe Bay, have a federal channel only at their mouth. For this Feasibility Phase, the channel was extended farther into the waterbodies. For non-federal channels, the bathymetric data was used to determine where the natural channel occurred and using aids to navigation (ATONs) where available. 6. Channel volume was calculated based on the maintenance depth plus 1 ft of overdepth. This determines the size of the project and how much area will be needed for disposal of material. 7. The potential disposal location (upland vs. shoreline) was determined for each channel based on sediment type. For shoreline placement, potential adjacent sites are shown. The goal of these data collections and analysis is to provide information to the localities regarding the waterbodies that may need to be dredged to maintain residential and economic usage. It can be used to prioritize dredge channel funding as it becomes available for design and construction. This is a scoping level analysis and should be used for planning purposes only. The parameters chosen for analysis such as proposed channel location and channel depth can be modified during the final design process to fit the needs of the community and to fit available costs. Additional data is needed for final dredge project design in Phase 3. The most crucial data are subbottom cores that are used to determine if the surficial sediments taken for this analysis represent the overall type of material that will be dredged. If the cores reveal sediment different from the surficial analysis, then the placement options may change

Data Collection at Fifteen Selected Creeks in Support of Shallow Water Dredging on Virginia’s Middle Peninsula - Methods & Data Report

Federal funding has been historically available for the Army Corps of Engineers for shallow draft navigation projects. However, past and recent subsidies have not provided ample funding at levels to sustain maintenance dredging for the 17 federal navigation channels on the Middle Peninsula. Further, funding for maintenance of non-federal channels has been historically neglected by the Commonwealth of Virginia until the Virginia General Assembly established the Virginia Waterway Maintenance Fund in 2018. For the past decade the Middle Peninsula Chesapeake Bay Public Access Authority, the Middle Peninsula Planning District Commission and its member jurisdictions, and the Virginia Institute of Marine Science Shoreline Studies Program have worked to advance local solutions and alternatives to address dredging needs in the Commonwealth