Anatomy of a volcanic eruption undersea

In December 2021, an undersea volcano in the southern Pacific Ocean, the Hunga Tonga–Hunga Ha‘apai (hereafter called the Hunga volcano) began erupting. In January 2022 the eruption reached a powerful climax, triggering atmospheric waves that traveled around the globe and a tsunami that swept across the Pacific Ocean (1, 2). An estimated 75% of Earth's volcanoes are underwater, and 20% of all fatalities caused by volcanic eruptions since 1600 CE have been associated with underwater volcanism (3). Yet, explosive underwater eruptions are poorly understood. On page 1085 of this issue, Clare et al. (4) report that volcanic debris from the Hunga eruption traveled under the sea at an unprecedented distance and at record-breaking speed—more than 100 km, at velocities reaching 122 km/hour — and destroyed a vast network of seafloor telecommunication cables. Given that 95% of global communications are carried by seafloor cables, the findings highlight system vulnerabilities to underwater volcanism (5)

Media constructions of 'arthritis': a mixed methods qualitative study

Musculoskeletal conditions, including arthritis, have a global impact, causing increased disability and reduced quality of life. Previous research has demonstrated negative attitudes and beliefs about arthritis exist which means the condition is often undermanaged and deprioritised. One potential influence on such attitudes is the media. Understanding how the media constructs arthritis, and what impact media constructions have on perceptions of arthritis, will shed light on factors that influence attitudes and management of the condition in everyday life. This research aimed to investigate media constructions of arthritis. Mixed methods were used, including media analysis of highest circulating newspapers (n=11) and magazines (n=3), and focus groups (n=2) to explore reception of media messages. Results were analysed using a combination of thematic, discourse and imagery analyses. A total of 1014 newspaper and 18 magazine articles were analysed. Arthritis was conceptualised in three ways - as a disease, condition or ailment. As such, arthritis was not presented as a singular condition; instead the construction, enactment and reality of arthritis were multiple. These multiple conceptualisations were shaped by wider social issues, such as understandings of disability (saints or scroungers) and ageing (peril or promise), and their representation in the media was determined by factors of media production (audience targeting, commercial interests and ‘newsworthiness’). The focus group findings reflected these perceptions, as well as illustrating that media trust and credibility influence how media messages are received and interpreted by the general public. Recognising arthritis as multiple is important for health care professionals and patients, as the multiple conceptualisations can impact on how arthritis is enacted, and may affect perceptions of legitimacy and deservedness. Media representations of arthritis may lead to the condition being deprioritised and could present a barrier to the uptake of self-management strategies recommended in current guidelines

Bridging the Gap Between Engineering Design and PK-12 Curriculum Development Through the Use the STEM Education Quality Framework

This paper will describe a unique partnership among the Department of Teacher Education and School of Engineering at the University of Dayton (UD) and the Dayton Regional STEM Center (DRSC). This partnership resulted in the development of the STEM Education Quality Framework (SQF), a tool to guide educators in teaching, learning and refining STEM education. The SQF resulted in a variety of educational tools, including a STEM curriculum template, that was implemented in the DRSCs teacher professional development and curriculum development program entitled the STEM Fellow Program. The STEM Fellow program was later modeled in a unique, NSF sponsored six week program for K-12 STEM teachers and pre-service teachers entitled Engineering Innovation and Design for STEM Teachers. The objectives of this program were to enhance the knowledge of teachers about engineering innovation and design, to empower them to provide their students inspirational engineering and innovation experiences as well as better inform their students of potential career fields and societal needs. During the pilot year, ten teachers and five pre-service teachers were placed on teams with an engineering student, engineering faculty and industrial mentor. The teams participated in a variety of activities including an introductory engineering innovation and design project as well as a more in-depth design project provided by the industrial mentor. Results from both qualitative and quantitative assessment suggest that this program was successful at meeting the program objectives

Investigation of variable aeration of monodisperse mixtures: implications for pyroclastic density currents

© 2018, The Author(s). The high mobility of dense pyroclastic density currents (PDCs) is commonly attributed to high gas pore pressures. However, the influence of spatial and temporal variations in pore pressure within PDCs has yet to be investigated. Theory suggests that variability in the fluidisation and aeration of a current will have a significant control on PDC flow and deposition. In this study, the effect of spatially heterogeneous gas pore pressures in experimental PDCs was investigated. Sustained, unsteady granular currents were released into a flume channel where the injection of gas through the channel base was controlled to create spatial variations in aeration. Maximum current front velocity results from high degrees of aeration proximal to the source, rather than lower sustained aeration along the whole flume channel. However, moderate aeration (i.e. ~ 0.5 minimum static fluidisation velocity (U mf_st )) sustained throughout the propagation length of a current results in greater runout distances than currents which are closer to fluidisation (i.e. 0.9 U mf_st ) near to source, then de-aerating distally. Additionally, although all aerated currents are sensitive to channel base slope angle, the runout distance of those currents where aeration is sustained throughout their lengths increases by up to 54% with an increase of slope from 2° to 4°. Deposit morphologies a primarily controlled by the spatial differences in aeration, where there is a large decrease in aeration the current forms a thick depositional wedge. Sustained gas-aerated granular currents are observed to be spontaneously unsteady, with internal sediment waves travelling at different velocities

Vehicle-to-grid feasibility: A techno-economic analysis of EV-based energy storage

© 2017 Elsevier LtdThe potential for electric vehicles to obtain income from energy supplied to a commercial building together with revenue accruing from specific ancillary service markets in the UK is evaluated in this work. A hybrid time-series/probabilistic simulation environment using real-world data is described, which is applied in the analysis of electricity trading with vehicle-to-grid to vehicles, buildings and markets. Key parameters are found to be the electric vehicle electricity sale price, battery degradation cost and infrastructure costs. Three vehicle-to-grid scenarios are evaluated using pool vehicle trip data, market pricing index data and half-hourly electricity demand for a commercial building. Results show that provision of energy to the wholesale electricity market with additional income from the capacity market results in the greatest projected return on investment, producing an individual vehicle net present value of ∼£8400. This is over 10 years for a vehicle supplying energy three times per week to the half-hour day-ahead market and includes the cost of installing the vehicle-to-grid infrastructure. The analysis also shows that net income generation is strongly dependent upon battery degradation costs associated with vehicle-to-grid cycling

Cohesional behaviours in pyroclastic material and the implications for deposit architecture

Pyroclastic density currents (PDCs) are hazardous, multiphase currents of heterogeneous volcanic material and gas. Moisture (as liquid or gas) can enter a PDC through external (e.g., interaction with bodies of water) or internal (e.g., initial eruptive activity style) processes, and the presence of moisture can be recorded within distinct deposit layers. We use analogue experiments to explore the behaviour of pyroclastic material with increasing addition of moisture from 0.00–10.00% wt. Our results show that (1) the cohesivity of pyroclastic material changes with the addition of small amounts of moisture, (2) small increases in moisture content change the material properties from a free-flowing material to a non-flowable material, (3) changes in moisture can affect the formation of gas escape structures and fluidisation profiles in pyroclastic material, (4) gas flow through a deposit can lead to a moisture profile and resulting mechanical heterogeneity within the deposit and (5) where gas escape structure growth is hindered by cohesivity driven by moisture, pressure can increase and release in an explosive fashion. This work highlights how a suite of varied gas escape morphologies can form within pyroclastic deposits resulting from moisture content heterogeneity, explaining variation in gas escape structures as well as providing a potential mechanism for secondary explosions

A bedform phase diagram for dense granular currents

Pyroclastic density currents (PDCs) are a life-threatening volcanic hazard. Our understanding and hazard assessments of these flows rely on interpretations of their deposits. The occurrence of stratified layers, cross-stratification, and bedforms in these deposits has been assumed as indicative of dilute, turbulent, supercritical flows causing traction-dominated deposition. Here we show, through analogue experiments, that a variety of bedforms can be produced by denser, aerated, granular currents, including backset bedforms that are formed in waning flows by an upstream-propagating granular bore. We are able to, for the first time, define phase fields for the formation of bedforms in PDC deposits. We examine how our findings impact the understanding of bedform features in outcrop, using the example of the Pozzolane Rosse ignimbrite of the Colli Albani volcano, Italy, and thus highlight that interpretations of the formative mechanisms of these features observed in the field must be reconsidered

User-centered development of a Virtual Research Environment to support collaborative research events

This paper discusses the user-centred development process within the Collaborative Research Events on the Web (CREW) project, funded under the JISC Virtual Research Environments (VRE) programme. After presenting the project, its aims and the functionality of the CREW VRE, we focus on the user engagement approach, grounded in the method of co-realisation. We describe the different research settings and requirements of our three embedded user groups and the respective activities conducted so far. Finally we elaborate on the main challenges of our user engagement approach and end with the project’s next steps

Evaluating associations between metabolic health, obesity and depressive symptoms : a prospective analysis of data from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) with a 2-year follow-up

OBJECTIVES: Conflicting results have been reported when the associations between metabolic health, obesity and depression were examined previously. The primary aim of this study was to determine whether metabolic health or obesity are independently associated with depressive symptoms, among a representative sample of older people living in England. Independent associations between covariates and depression were also examined. DESIGN: Prospective study with a 2-year follow-up. SETTING: The English Longitudinal Study of Ageing Wave 6 (2012-2013) and Wave 7 (2014-2015). PARTICIPANTS: 6804 participants aged older than 50 years. DATA ANALYSIS: Multivariate models were used to determine whether metabolic health or obesity are independently associated with depressive symptoms at 2-year follow-up. Unadjusted and adjusted ORs with corresponding 95% CI were calculated; the adjusted ORs took account of baseline depression, gender, age, wealth, obesity and poor metabolic health. RESULTS: Before adjusting for covariates, poor metabolic health was associated with depressive symptoms at 2-year follow-up (OR 1.24; 95% CI, 1.07 to 1.44, p<0.01). After adjusting for covariates, the association was no longer statistically significant (OR 1.17; 95% CI, 0.99 to 1.38, p=0.07). Similarly, obesity was associated with depressive symptoms at 2-year follow-up before adjusting for covariates (OR 1.54; 95% CI, 1.33 to 1.79, p<0.01). However, after adjusting for covariates the association between obesity and depressive symptoms at 2-year follow-up became statistically insignificant (OR 1.19; 95% CI, 1.00 to 1.41, p=0.06). The strongest predictors for future depression were baseline depression (OR 10.59; 95% CI, 8.90 to 12.53, p<0.01) and lower wealth (OR 3.23; 95% CI, 2.44 to 4.35, p<0.01). CONCLUSION: Neither poor metabolic health nor obesity were associated with a risk of depressive symptoms at 2-year follow-up, after adjusting for covariates. As wealth inequalities continue to rise across England, the risk of depressive symptoms at 2-year follow-up is likely to be elevated in individuals living in the lower wealth quintiles

Syphilis prevalence trends in adult women in 132 countries - estimations using the Spectrum Sexually Transmitted Infections model.

We estimated national-level trends in the prevalence of probable active syphilis in adult women using the Spectrum Sexually Transmitted Infections (STI) model to inform program planning, target-setting, and progress evaluation in STI control. The model fitted smoothed-splines polynomial regressions to data from antenatal clinic surveys and screening and representative household surveys, adjusted for diagnostic test performance and weighted by national coverage. Eligible countries had ≥1 data point from 2010 or later and ≥3 from 2000 or later from adult populations considered representative of the general female population (pregnant women or community-based studies). Between 2012 and 2016, the prevalence of probable active syphilis in women decreased in 54 (41%) of 132 eligible countries; this decrease was substantive (≥10% proportionally, ≥0.10% percentage-point absolute difference and non-overlapping 95% confidence intervals in 2012 and 2016) in 5 countries. Restricting eligible data to prevalence measurements of dual treponemal and non-treponemal testing limited estimates to 85 countries; of these, 45 countries (53%) showed a decrease. These standardized trend estimates highlight the need for increased investment in national syphilis surveillance and control efforts if the World Health Organization target of a 90% reduction in the incidence of syphilis between 2018 and 2030 is to be met