The First Ground Level Enhancement Event of Solar Cycle 24: Direct Observation of Shock Formation and Particle Release Heights

We report on the 2012 May 17 Ground Level Enhancement (GLE) event, which is the first of its kind in Solar Cycle 24. This is the first GLE event to be fully observed close to the surface by the Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) mission. We determine the coronal mass ejection (CME) height at the start of the associated metric type II radio burst (i.e., shock formation height) as 1.38 Rs (from the Sun center). The CME height at the time of GLE particle release was directly measured from a STEREO image as 2.32 Rs, which agrees well with the estimation from CME kinematics. These heights are consistent with those obtained for cycle-23 GLEs using back-extrapolation. By contrasting the 2012 May 17 GLE with six other non-GLE eruptions from well-connected regions with similar or larger flare size and CME speed, we find that the latitudinal distance from the ecliptic is rather large for the non-GLE events due to a combination of non-radial CME motion and unfavorable solar B0 angle, making the connectivity to Earth poorer. We also find that the coronal environment may play a role in deciding the shock strength.Comment: 16 pages, 4 figures, 1 tabl

Ground Level Enhancement in the 2014 January 6 Solar Energetic Particle Event

We present a study of the 2014 January 6 solar energetic particle (SEP) event, which produced a small ground level enhancement (GLE), making it the second GLE of this unusual solar cycle 24. This event was primarily observed by the South Pole neutron monitors (increase of ~2.5%) whereas a few other neutron monitors recorded smaller increases. The associated coronal mass ejection (CME) originated behind the western limb and had the speed of 1960 km/s. The height of the CME at the start of the associated metric type II radio burst, which indicates the formation of a strong shock, was measured to be 1.61 Rs using a direct image from STEREO-A/EUVI. The CME height at the time of GLE particle release (determined using the South Pole neutron monitor data) was directly measured as 2.96 Rs, from the STEREO-A/COR1 white-light observations. These CME heights are consistent with those obtained for the GLE71, the only other GLE of the current cycle as well as cycle-23 GLEs derived using back-extrapolation. GLE72 is of special interest because it is one of the only two GLEs of cycle 24, one of the two behind-the-limb GLEs and one of the two smallest GLEs of cycles 23 and 24

Using leisure as a coping tool: A feminist study of the recreational experiences of incarcerated women in a Puerto Rican prison

The purpose of this dissertation project was to study whether leisure activities and programs serve as coping tools to manage the stress of incarceration in the lives of incarcerated women in a women???s prison in Puerto Rico. The study took place in the Escuela Industrial de Mujeres at Vega Alta, Puerto Rico. The methods of this qualitative study consisted of individual interviews and focus groups to gather the opinions of a group of 45 incarcerated women about their experiences of life in prison and the methods used to cope with incarceration. The capability approach was employed as a diagnostic tool to assess the recreational opportunities at EIMVA towards enabling inmates to positively cope with imprisonment. Actual manifestations of the concept of social justice within society are evidenced through numerous processes. One such process is the way in which society deals with transgressors of the social order. Incarceration is one of the consequences of deviant behavior within much of the Western world. Usually, prisons have been regarded as institutions of criminal containment and not centers focused on human needs (Cushing & Williams, 1995). As a result, prisons are places of stress and tensions which can negatively affect a person???s well-being. As a society we must take into account that a great number of inmates will rejoin society. Thus, it is important to provide inmates with opportunities to achieve physical, emotional, and psychological well-being. Recreation and leisure participation can help serve this purpose. The findings showed that once the inmates have accepted the realities of dealing with the constraints and deprivations of prison, they encountered causes of stress which were specific to the context of incarceration. The incarcerated women experienced lack of freedom, and stress stemming from the difficult conditions of prison life including the loss of control over their environment as well as from interpersonal relationships with family members and other prisoners. In particular, the incarcerated women became preoccupied with the welfare of family members, particularly children. Additionally the need to reconcile the need for personal relationships while dealing with distrust or shame increased the internal tensions experienced by the female inmates. However, insofar as they acquired a perception of free will, they were better suited to employ the coping strategies available to them in prison. The women were able to engage in activities which helped them to mediate the negative feelings related to incarceration. Specifically, activities such as jobs or education which may be considered social commitments outside of prison became activities sought as opportunities for mental, physical and emotional refreshment, thus becoming recreational activities. Additionally, the women partook in religious activities and leisure activities in order to feel good. As a result of engaging in activities which the women feel have recreational value, they are able to engage in self- reflection and gain an increase sense of self- esteem, agency and empowerment, which provides them with a vision of the future that seems more positive than when they first entered the prison. Consequently, the incarcerated women???s perception of free will increased and they were better able to use the coping strategies available to them. This became a cycle of potential improvement for the female inmates. This study provided evidence of the utility of the capabilities approach in understanding the prison environment. It suggests that perceptions of freedom can be just as important as actual experiences of freedom when living as an incarcerated person. Additionally, this study suggests that the women who reside at EIMVA are able to fulfill many basic capabilities. Moreover, the study suggests that when opportunities for social connectivity and personal capacity are available to inmates, they are able to increase their capabilities and cope better with incarceration. The degree of coping reached by an individual was contingent upon the opportunities available to them. The more opportunities available to a woman, the better they were able to cope

Proposal for a lunar tunnel-boring machine

A need exists for obtaining a safe and habitable lunar base that is free from the hazards of radiation, temperature gradient, and micrometeorites. A device for excavating lunar material and simultaneously generating living space in the subselenian environment was studied at the conceptual level. Preliminary examinations indicate that a device using a mechanical head to shear its way through the lunar material while creating a rigid ceramic-like lining meets design constraints using existing technology. The Lunar Tunneler is totally automated and guided by a laser communication system. There exists the potential for the excavated lunar material to be used in conjunction with a surface mining process for the purpose of the extraction of oxygen and other elements. Experiments into lunar material excavation and further research into the concept of a mechanical Lunar Tunneler are suggested

Coexistence of Self-Organized Criticality and Intermittent Turbulence in the Solar Corona

An extended data set of extreme ultraviolet images of the solar corona provided by the SOHO spacecraft are analyzed using statistical methods common to studies of self-organized criticality (SOC) and intermittent turbulence (IT). The data exhibits simultaneous hallmarks of both regimes, namely power law avalanche statistics as well as multiscaling of structure functions for spatial activity. This implies that both SOC and IT may be manifestations of a single complex dynamical process entangling avalanches of magnetic energy dissipation with turbulent particle flows.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Heart Rate Variability as a Possible Predictive Marker for Acute Inflammatory Response in COVID-19 Patients

ABSTRACT Introduction Increases in C-reactive protein (CRP) are used to track the inflammatory process of COVID-19 and are associated with disease state progression. Decreases in heart rate variability (HRV) correlate with worsening of disease states. This observational study tracks changes in HRV relative to changes in CRP in COVID-19 patients. Materials and Methods In accordance with an Institutional Review Board-approved study, 17 patients were followed using the wearable, noninvasive Tiger Tech Warfighter Monitor (WFM) that records HRV from a single limb electrocardiogram. Intermittent, daily short-segment data sets of 5 to 7 minutes over a minimum of 7 days were analyzed. Changes in HRV were compared to changes in CRP. Results Decreases in HRV of greater than 40% preceded a 50% increase in CRP during the ensuing 72 hours in 10 of the 12 patients who experienced a dramatic rise in CRP. The effectiveness of HRV as a leading indicator of a rise in CRP was evaluated; the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value for 40% decreases in HRV preceding 50% increases in CRP were 83.3%, 75%, 90.9%, and 60%, respectively. Conclusion Substantial decreases in HRV preceded elevations in CRP in the ensuing 72 hours with a 90.9% positive predictive value. Early detection of increasing inflammation may prove vital in mitigating the deleterious effects of an abnormal inflammatory response, particularly in COVID-19 patients. This capability could have a major impact in triage and care of moderate to severe COVID-19 patients in major medical centers as well as field hospitals. This study demonstrates the potential value of short-segment, intermittent HRV analysis in COVID-19 patients

Organizing the innovation process : complementarities in innovation networking

This paper contributes to the developing literature on complementarities in organizational design. We test for the existence of complementarities in the use of external networking between stages of the innovation process in a sample of UK and German manufacturing plants. Our evidence suggests some differences between the UK and Germany in terms of the optimal combination of innovation activities in which to implement external networking. Broadly, there is more evidence of complementarities in the case of Germany, with the exception of the product engineering stage. By contrast, the UK exhibits generally strong evidence of substitutability in external networking in different stages, except between the identification of new products and product design and development stages. These findings suggest that previous studies indicating strong complementarity between internal and external knowledge sources have provided only part of the picture of the strategic dilemmas facing firms

Electro-optic response in isotropic media

A formal proof has recently been given to show that an electro-optic response of chiral molecules in isotropic media is forbidden by time reversal invariance. A claim to the contrary by Beljonne et al. for the occurrence of such an effect in second order, when dephasing terms are included, is examined critically using a quantum electrodynamics (QED) formulation

Calibrating assessment literacy through benchmarking tasks

© 2019, © 2019 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. In calibration tasks students assess exemplar texts using criteria against which their own work will be assessed. Typically, these tasks are used in the context of training for peer assessment. Little research has been conducted on the benefits of calibration tasks, such as benchmarking, as learning opportunities in their own right. This paper examines a dataset from a long-running benchmarking task (∼500 students per semester, for four semesters). We investigate the relationship of benchmarking performance to other student outcomes, including ability to self-assess accurately. We show that students who complete the benchmarking perform better, that there is a relationship between benchmarking performance and self-assessment performance, and that students appreciate the support for learning that benchmarking tasks provide. We discuss implications for teaching and learning flagging the potential of calibration tasks as an under-explored tool