Living in the shadow: Britain and the USSR’s nuclear weapon delivery systems 1949-62

This thesis examines British intelligence collection efforts against the Soviet Union’s nuclear bombers and long-range nuclear ballistic missiles during the period 1949 until 1962. It also analyses the serious intelligence collection problems that were encountered concerning this topic and how successful Britain’s intelligence efforts were in the light of what is now known. This period of Cold War history covers from the Soviet Union’s atomic bomb test through to the Cuban Missile Crisis. The thesis commences with an analysis of the Soviet Union’s nuclear bombers which posed the initial nuclear strike threat to the United Kingdom. It explores how German personnel returning from captivity in the Soviet Union were used by the West to provide information on Soviet military research and how British analysts struggled to gather intelligence on nuclear bombers in a secret police state. The issue of the Soviet ballistic missile threat to the UK is then considered, again by initially examining intelligence provided by German returnees, through to more sophisticated intelligence collection methods such as advanced radar. The papers of the British Joint Intelligence Committee and other government departments were used to examine collection problems and assessments. The role of secret intelligence assessments in the Macmillan government’s decision to cancel the British Blue Streak nuclear missile is also explored. Aerial reconnaissance was a particularly useful intelligence asset. Britain’s clandestine over-flights of the USSR and role in the U-2 programme have only been briefly discussed before. These missions and the UK’s role in covert balloon operations are explored for the first time in a detailed case study. The use of satellite reconnaissance in Britain’s intelligence collection efforts is also assessed. The Colonel Oleg Penkovsky spy case is then analysed as a case study of human intelligence collection and its problems when dealing with Soviet bombers and missiles from 1961-62. This chapter uses declassified American documents to examine the nuclear material he provided, his role in the Cuban Missile Crisis and his overall value to the British and American intelligence agencies. The conclusion is that intelligence collection and analysis evolved significantly from 1949 to 1962 from the use of basic human intelligence to the development of satellite reconnaissance. My thesis, written chronologically, demonstrates that analysts did well to overcome enormous problems when dealing with an extremely difficult intelligence target. At the end of the period they provided far better intelligence collection and analysis on Soviet nuclear weapon delivery systems to British policy makers during a critical period in the Cold War

Carbon flux and particle-associated microbial remineralization rates in the northern Bering and southern Chukchi seas

Thesis (M.S.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2019It has been hypothesized that climate change will reduce the strength and episodic nature of vernal phytoplankton blooms, increase heterotrophy of microbes and zooplankton, and weaken the tight coupling between pelagic and benthic production that is characteristic of Arctic continental shelves. As a part of the Arctic Shelf Growth, Advection, Respiration, and Deposition rates measurement (ASGARD) project, I quantified sinking particle fluxes and incubated sinking particles to measure the rate of microbial respiration associated with those particles. These measurements were used to characterize the strength of the pelagic-benthic connection. After a record-breaking year of warm temperatures and low-ice conditions in the northern Bering and southern Chukchi Seas, we observed massive vernal fluxes of sinking particulate organic carbon, ranking amongst the highest observed in the global oceans. Moreover, low rates of particle-associated microbial respiration indicate negligible recycling of sinking organic matter within the water column. These results suggest that the strength of the biological carbon pump may be maintained or enhanced in a warming Arctic, supporting strong benthic and upper trophic level productivity and carbon export.North Pacific Research Board, grant numbers G-11255 and G-1233

Intranasal insulin administration decreases cerebral blood flow in cortico‐limbic regions: A neuropharmacological imaging study in normal and overweight males

Aim: To assess and compare the effects of 160 IU intranasal insulin (IN‐INS) administration on regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in healthy male individuals with normal weight and overweight phenotypes. / Methods: Thirty young male participants (mean age 25.9 years) were recruited and stratified into two cohorts based on body mass index: normal weight (18.5‐24.9 kg/m2) and overweight (25.0‐29.9 kg/m2). On separate mornings participants received 160 IU of IN‐INS using an intranasal protocol and intranasal placebo as part of a double‐blind crossover design. Thirty minutes following administration rCBF data were collected using a magnetic resonance imaging method called pseudocontinuous arterial spin labelling. Blood samples were collected to assess insulin sensitivity and changes over time in peripheral glucose, insulin and C‐peptide. / Results: Insulin sensitivity did not significantly differ between groups. Compared with placebo, IN‐INS administration reduced rCBF in parts of the hippocampus, insula, putamen, parahippocampal gyrus and fusiform gyrus in the overweight group. No effect was seen in the normal weight group. Insula rCBF was greater in the overweight group versus normal weight only under placebo conditions. Peripheral glucose and insulin levels were not affected by IN‐INS. C‐peptide levels in the normal weight group decreased significantly over time following IN‐INS administration but not placebo. / Conclusion: Insulin‐induced changes within key regions of the brain involved in gustation, memory and reward were observed in overweight healthy male individuals. Following placebo administration, differences in gustatory rCBF were observed between overweight and normal weight healthy individuals

Disrupted connectivity within visual, attentional and salience networks in the visual snow syndrome.

Here we investigate brain functional connectivity in patients with visual snow syndrome (VSS). Our main objective was to understand more about the underlying pathophysiology of this neurological syndrome. Twenty-four patients with VSS and an equal number of gender and age-matched healthy volunteers attended MRI sessions in which whole-brain maps of functional connectivity were acquired under two conditions: at rest while watching a blank screen and during a visual paradigm consisting of a visual-snow like stimulus. Eight unilateral seed regions were selected a priori based on previous observations and hypotheses; four seeds were placed in key anatomical areas of the visual pathways and the remaining were derived from a pre-existing functional analysis. The between-group analysis showed that patients with VSS had hyper and hypoconnectivity between key visual areas and the rest of the brain, both in the resting state and during a visual stimulation, compared with controls. We found altered connectivity internally within the visual network; between the thalamus/basal ganglia and the lingual gyrus; between the visual motion network and both the default mode and attentional networks. Further, patients with VSS presented decreased connectivity during external sensory input within the salience network, and between V5 and precuneus. Our results suggest that VSS is characterised by a widespread disturbance in the functional connectivity of several brain systems. This dysfunction involves the pre-cortical and cortical visual pathways, the visual motion network, the attentional networks and finally the salience network; further, it represents evidence of ongoing alterations both at rest and during visual stimulus processing

Perceptual Inference in Chronic Pain:An Investigation into the Economy of Action Hypothesis

Objective: The experience of chronic pain critically alters one's ability to interact with their environment. One fundamental issue that has received little attention, however, is whether chronic pain disrupts how one perceives their environment in the first place. The Economy of Action hypothesis purports that the environment is spatially scaled according to the ability of the observer. Under this hypothesis it has been proposed that the perception of the world is different between those with and without chronic pain. Such a possibility has profound implications for the investigation and treatment of pain. The present investigation tested the application of this hypothesis to a heterogenous chronic pain population. Methods: Individuals with chronic pain (36; 27F) and matched pain-free controls were recruited. Each participant was required to judge the distance to a series of target cones, to which they were to subsequently walk. In addition, at each distance, participants used Numerical Rating Scales to indicate their perceived effort and perceived pain associated with the distance presented. Results: Our findings do not support the Economy of Action hypothesis: there were no significant differences in distance estimates between the chronic pain and pain-free groups (F 1,60 =0.927; P=0.340). In addition, we found no predictive relationship in the chronic pain group between anticipated pain and estimated distance (F 1,154 =0.122, P=0.727), nor anticipated effort (1.171, P=0.281) and estimated distance (F 1,154 =1.171, P=0.281). Discussion: The application of the Economy of Action hypothesis and the notion of spatial perceptual scaling as a means to assess and treat the experience of chronic pain are not supported by the results of this study