Food, and Its Relation to Domestic Science

Summary of the best approaches to food preparation, divisions, preservation and proper sanitation in the late nineteenth century

Forecast improvements from solar wind data assimilation

Accurate space weather forecasting requires knowledge of the solar wind conditions. Current forecasting methods are initialised with photospheric magnetic field observations but contain no information from observations of the solar wind. Data assimilation (DA) is a method that combines a model of a system with observations to find an optimum estimation of reality. DA has led to large forecast improvements in terrestrial weather forecasting but has been underused in space weather forecasting, especially in the solar wind. The first part of this thesis investigates the errors present in solar wind forecasts due to the latitudinal separation of spacecraft observations and the forecast location. It is important to understand how the observation locations affect the forecast accuracy to better inform the data assimilation scheme in the future. It was found that up to a separation of 6 degrees in latitude, there was no significant impact on forecast accuracy. Secondly, the impact of observational age and the presence of CMEs on solar wind speed forecasts produced using DA is examined. This allows us to understand how the forecast error is expected to change across the solar cycle and under different observing configurations. It was found that assimilating multiple sources of observations improves the forecast accuracy. Removing CMEs caused a marginal improvement in forecast accuracy, but it would be difficult to achieve in real time. The final part of this thesis considers the use of near-real-time (NRT) data in the DA scheme. This is in preparation for it to be used for operational forecasting. The DA still performed well when using NRT data, showing that it is suitable for operational use. Through simulations of similarly configured spacecraft, it was also shown that the future Vigil mission would be useful for solar wind DA

Attitudes to organ donation among some urban South African populations remain unchanged: A cross-sectional study (1993 - 2013)

Background. A 1993 paper in the SAMJ suggested that public attitudes to organ donation in South Africa were positive. However, statistics reveal a decline in the annual number of transplants in this country.Objective. To repeat the 1993 survey as far as possible and determine whether public attitudes to organ donation in some South African populations have changed over the past 20 years.Methods. The 1993 study was replicated in 2012 to generate a current data set. This was compared with the raw data from the 1993 study, and an analysis of percentages was used to determine variations.Results. Generally attitudes to organ donation have not changed since 1993, remaining positive among the study population. However, individuals are significantly more hesitant to consider donating the organs of a relative without being aware of that person’s donation preference. Individuals in the black African study population are currently more willing to donate kidneys than in 1993 (66% v. 81%; p<0.0001), but less willing to donate a heart (64% v. 38%; p<0.0001, a liver (40% v. 34%; p<0.036) and corneas (22% v. 15%, p<0.0059).Conclusions. Publicity campaigns aimed at raising awareness of organ donation should emphasise the importance of sharing donation preferences with one’s family in order to mitigate discomfort about making a decision on behalf of another. These campaigns should be culturally and linguistically sensitive. The study should be repeated in all populations over time to continually gauge attitudes

Sarcasm and emoticons: comprehension and emotional impact

Most theorists agree that sarcasm serves some communicative function that would not be achieved by speaking directly, such as eliciting a particular emotional response in the recipient. One debate concerns whether this kind of language serves to enhance or mute the positive or negative nature of a message. The role of textual devices commonly used to accompany written sarcastic remarks is also unclear. The current research uses a rating task to investigate the influence of textual devices (emoticons and punctuation marks) on the comprehension of, and emotional responses to, sarcastic versus literal criticism and praise, for both unambiguous (Experiment 1) and ambiguous (Experiment 2) materials. Results showed that sarcastic criticism was rated as less negative than literal criticism, and sarcastic praise was rated as less positive than literal praise, suggesting that sarcasm serves to mute the positive or negative nature of the message. In terms of textual devices, results showed that emoticons had a larger influence on both comprehension and emotional impact than punctuation marks

\u27\u27When we speak faculty listen:\u27\u27 Exploring potential spaces for students to support lecturer academic development

Lecturers’ engagement in professional development activities to enhance their academic practice is firmly embedded within the landscape of higher education. Although enhancing the student learning experience underpins teaching-related continuing professional development (CPD), interestingly the role of students in supporting such activities has been underexplored. Drawing on data captured from eight student representatives interviewed in the context of an international impact evaluation, we examine student awareness of, and attitudes towards, lecturers’ CPD. Participants recognised the value of lecturers engaging in CPD but believed it to be an activity they were removed from, and had little opportunity to engage with. We consider how this perspective could be changed in two ways. Firstly, we reflect on the experiences of students at one university where their contributions to lecturers’ development were legitimised and valued. Secondly, we discuss the potential of integrative approaches, such as students as consultants or reverse mentoring. We argue that these approaches may challenge existing hierarchies that limit students engaging in lectures and create spaces through which students can positively contribute to lecturers’ CPD

MIST reunited

Emma Woodfield, Andy Smith and colleagues outline the research presented and discussed at the Autumn MIST meeting in November 2022

Phase space density analysis of outer radiation belt electron energization and loss during geoeffective and nongeoeffective sheath regions

Coronal mass ejection driven sheath regions are one of the key drivers of drastic outer radiation belt responses. The response can however be significantly different based on the sheath properties and the associated inner magnetospheric wave activity. We performed two case studies on the effects of sheaths on outer belt electrons of various energies using data from the Van Allen Probes. One sheath caused a major geomagnetic disturbance and the other had only a minor impact. We especially investigated the phase space density (PSD) of seed, core, and ultrarelativistic electrons to determine the dominant energization and loss processes taking place during the events. Both sheaths produced substantial variation in the electron fluxes from tens of kiloelectronvolts up to ultrarelativistic energies. The responses were however the opposite: the geoeffective sheath mainly led to enhancement, while the nongeoeffective one caused a depletion throughout most of the outer belt. The case studies highlight that both inward and outward radial transport driven by ultra-low frequency waves played an important role in both electron energization and loss. Additionally, PSD radial profiles revealed a local peak that indicated significant acceleration to core energies by chorus waves during the geoeffective event. The distinct responses and different mechanisms in action during these events were related to the timing of the peaked solar wind dynamic pressure causing magnetopause compression, and the differing levels of substorm activity. The most remarkable changes in the radiation belt system occurred in key sheath sub-regions near the shock and the ejecta leading edge.Peer reviewe

The influence of spacecraft latitudinal offset on the accuracy of corotation forecasts

Knowledge of the ambient solar wind is important for accurate space-weather forecasting. A simple-but-effective method of forecasting near-Earth solar-wind speed is “corotation”, wherein solar-wind structure is assumed to be fixed in the reference frame rotating with the Sun. Under this approximation, observations at a source spacecraft can be rotated to a target location, such as Earth. Forecast accuracy depends upon the rate of solar-wind evolution, longitudinal and latitudinal separation between the source and target, and latitudinal structure in the solar wind itself. The time-evolution rate and latitudinal structure of the solar wind are both strongly influenced by the solar cycle, though in opposing ways. A latitudinal separation (offset) between source and target spacecraft is typically present, introducing an error to corotation forecasts. In this study, we use observations from the STEREO and near-Earth spacecraft to quantify the latitudinal error. Aliasing between the solar cycle and STEREO orbits means that individual contributions to the forecast error are difficult to isolate. However, by considering an 18-month interval near the end of solar minimum, we find that the latitudinal-offset contribution to corotation-forecast error cannot be directly detected for offsets < 6°, but is increasingly important as offsets increase. This result can be used to improve solar-wind data assimilation, allowing representivity errors in solar-wind observations to be correctly specified. Furthermore, as the maximum latitudinal offset between L5 and Earth is ≈ 5°, corotation forecasts from a future L5 spacecraft should not be greatly affected by latitudinal offset