Origins of the Ambient Solar Wind: Implications for Space Weather

The Sun's outer atmosphere is heated to temperatures of millions of degrees, and solar plasma flows out into interplanetary space at supersonic speeds. This paper reviews our current understanding of these interrelated problems: coronal heating and the acceleration of the ambient solar wind. We also discuss where the community stands in its ability to forecast how variations in the solar wind (i.e., fast and slow wind streams) impact the Earth. Although the last few decades have seen significant progress in observations and modeling, we still do not have a complete understanding of the relevant physical processes, nor do we have a quantitatively precise census of which coronal structures contribute to specific types of solar wind. Fast streams are known to be connected to the central regions of large coronal holes. Slow streams, however, appear to come from a wide range of sources, including streamers, pseudostreamers, coronal loops, active regions, and coronal hole boundaries. Complicating our understanding even more is the fact that processes such as turbulence, stream-stream interactions, and Coulomb collisions can make it difficult to unambiguously map a parcel measured at 1 AU back down to its coronal source. We also review recent progress -- in theoretical modeling, observational data analysis, and forecasting techniques that sit at the interface between data and theory -- that gives us hope that the above problems are indeed solvable.Comment: Accepted for publication in Space Science Reviews. Special issue connected with a 2016 ISSI workshop on "The Scientific Foundations of Space Weather." 44 pages, 9 figure

Genotoxic effect induced by hydrogen peroxide in human hepatoma cells using comet assay

Background: Hydrogen peroxide is a common reactive oxygen intermediate generated by variousforms of oxidative stress. Aims: The aim of this study was to investigate the DNA damage capacity ofH2O2 in HepG2 cells. Methods: Cells were treated with H2O2 at concentrations of 25 μM or 50 μM for5 min, 30 min, 40 min, 1 h or 24 h in parallel. The extent of DNA damage was assessed by the cometassay. Results: Compared to the control, DNA damage by 25 μM and 50 μM H2O2 increasedsignificantly with increasing incubation time up to 1 h, but it was not increased at 24 h. Conclusions:Our Findings confirm that H2O2 is a typical DNA damage inducing agent and thus is a good modelsystem to study the effects of oxidative stress. DNA damage in HepG2 cells increased significantlywith H2O2 concentration and time of incubation but later decreased likely due to DNA repairmechanisms and antioxidant enzyme

A Pre-Landing Assessment of Regolith Properties at the InSight Landing Site

This article discusses relevant physical properties of the regolith at the Mars InSight landing site as understood prior to landing of the spacecraft. InSight will land in the northern lowland plains of Mars, close to the equator, where the regolith is estimated to be ≥3--5 m thick. These investigations of physical properties have relied on data collected from Mars orbital measurements, previously collected lander and rover data, results of studies of data and samples from Apollo lunar missions, laboratory measurements on regolith simulants, and theoretical studies. The investigations include changes in properties with depth and temperature. Mechanical properties investigated include density, grain-size distribution, cohesion, and angle of internal friction. Thermophysical properties include thermal inertia, surface emissivity and albedo, thermal conductivity and diffusivity, and specific heat. Regolith elastic properties not only include parameters that control seismic wave velocities in the immediate vicinity of the Insight lander but also coupling of the lander and other potential noise sources to the InSight broadband seismometer. The related properties include Poisson’s ratio, P- and S-wave velocities, Young’s modulus, and seismic attenuation. Finally, mass diffusivity was investigated to estimate gas movements in the regolith driven by atmospheric pressure changes. Physical properties presented here are all to some degree speculative. However, they form a basis for interpretation of the early data to be returned from the InSight mission.Additional co-authors: Nick Teanby and Sharon Keda

Nova espécie de Zischkaita Bechyné e notas taxonômicas em Galerucini (Coleoptera, Chrysomelidae, Galerucinae) New species of Zischkaita (Bechyné) and taxonomic notes on Galerucini (Coleoptera, Chrysomelidae, Galerucinae)

<abstract language="eng">A new species of Zischkaita Bechyné, 1956, Z. serrana sp. nov. are described from São Francisco de Paula and Cambará do Sul, Rio Grande do Sul State, Brazil. Two new combinations are proposed: Zischkaita bucki (Bechyné & Bechyné, 1962), comb. nov., removed from Isotes and Cochabamba volxemi (Baly, 1889), comb. nov., transferred from Paranapiacaba

Teaching secondary RE at faith schools in England and Wales: listening to the teachers

The present study begins by distinguishing between three kinds of ‘faith schools’ (known as schools with a religious character) within England and Wales: faith schools that operate within the state-maintained sector and had their origin in voluntary church-related initiatives prior to the Education Act 1870; ‘traditional’ independent faith schools, many of which had their roots in or before the nineteenth century; and ‘new’ independent faith schools, particularly Christian and Muslim schools, following the Rochester initiative in 1969. Second, the present study draws attention to and summarises a quantitative research tradition established in 1982 concerned with identifying the attitudes and values of teachers working specifically within Anglican faith schools within the state-maintained sector, and with modelling the influence of personal and religious factors in shaping their attitudes. Third, the present study reanalyses a new database profiling the views of subject leaders in religious education (RE) across a broad range of secondary schools with a religious character in England. These new analyses demonstrate the different priorities given to different aims of RE by teachers in this sector, and illustrates the relative influence of personal factors (age, sex, and church attendance), professional factors (years teaching, qualifications, and continuing professional development) and contextual factors (type of school) in shaping these priorities. The main findings are that personal and professional factors are largely irrelevant compared with the type of school. The aims of RE promoted within the new independent faith schools are largely indistinguishable from those within Church of England schools within the state-maintained sector. Compared with state-maintained Church of England schools, state-maintained Roman Catholic schools gave less priority in RE to promoting personal and social values, to promoting religious and spiritual nurture, and to promoting community cohesion