Reassessing Public Meetings As Participation in Risk Management Decisions

Using a U.S. case study, Ms. McComas and Dr. Scherer discuss how reliance on public meetings as tools for risk communication in public policy decisions affects relationships between stakeholders and risk managers

Can Streamer Blobs prevent the Buildup of the Interplanetetary Magnetic Field?

Coronal Mass Ejections continuously drag closed magnetic field lines away from the Sun, adding new flux to the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF). We propose that the outward-moving blobs that have been observed in helmet streamers are evidence of ongoing, small-scale reconnection in streamer current sheets, which may play an important role in the prevention of an indefinite buildup of the IMF. Reconnection between two open field lines from both sides of a streamer current sheet creates a new closed field line, which becomes part of the helmet, and a disconnected field line, which moves outward. The blobs are formed by plasma from the streamer that is swept up in the trough of the outward moving field line. We show that this mechanism is supported by observations from SOHO/LASCO. Additionally, we propose a thorough statistical study to quantify the contribution of blob formation to the reduction of the IMF, and indicate how this mechanism may be verified by observations with SOHO/UVCS and the proposed NASA STEREO and ESA Polar Orbiter missions.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures; accepted by The Astrophysical Journal Letters; uses AASTe

Similarities and Differences in Eyewitness Testimonies of Children Who Directly Versus Vicariously Experience Stress

This study tested questions of ecological validity by comparing the eyewitness testimonies of children directly experiencing a painful inoculation experience with those of children in a yoked-control group who vicariously experienced the inoculation on videotape. The study involved 86 5-year-olds, divided between 2 groups: the experiential and yoked control. The experiential group was followed through a health department with a video camera as they received diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus (DFT), and oral polio inoculations. They were tested immediately, 20 min later, and I month later. Each child in the yoked-control group merely watched the videotape of his or her counterpart in the expenential group, made similar ratings of pain, and was given the same tests and suggestions. Stress and personal experience affected items congruent with the stressor to produce flashbulb-like memories, with slower rates of forgetting for some items, such as nurse identifications, and greater suggestibility for other items, such as estimates of needle size. These and the apparently conflicting results in the literature were said to make sense when personally experienced stress was viewed from S.-A. Christianson’s (1992) interactive perspective rather than as a single ubiquitous variable

Structure and Dynamics of the Sun's Open Magnetic Field

The solar magnetic field is the primary agent that drives solar activity and couples the Sun to the Heliosphere. Although the details of this coupling depend on the quantitative properties of the field, many important aspects of the corona - solar wind connection can be understood by considering only the general topological properties of those regions on the Sun where the field extends from the photosphere out to interplanetary space, the so-called open field regions that are usually observed as coronal holes. From the simple assumptions that underlie the standard quasi-steady corona-wind theoretical models, and that are likely to hold for the Sun, as well, we derive two conjectures on the possible structure and dynamics of coronal holes: (1) Coronal holes are unique in that every unipolar region on the photosphere can contain at most one coronal hole. (2) Coronal holes of nested polarity regions must themselves be nested. Magnetic reconnection plays the central role in enforcing these constraints on the field topology. From these conjectures we derive additional properties for the topology of open field regions, and propose several observational predictions for both the slowly varying and transient corona/solar wind.Comment: 26 pages, 6 figure

Interstellar neutral helium in the heliosphere from IBEX observations. III. Mach number of the flow, velocity vector, and temperature from the first six years of measurements

We analyzed observations of interstellar neutral helium (ISN~He) obtained from the Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) satellite during its first six years of operation. We used a refined version of the ISN~He simulation model, presented in the companion paper by Sokol_et al. 2015, and a sophisticated data correlation and uncertainty system and parameter fitting method, described in the companion paper by Swaczyna et al 2015. We analyzed the entire data set together and the yearly subsets, and found the temperature and velocity vector of ISN~He in front of the heliosphere. As seen in the previous studies, the allowable parameters are highly correlated and form a four-dimensional tube in the parameter space. The inflow longitudes obtained from the yearly data subsets show a spread of ~6 degree, with the other parameters varying accordingly along the parameter tube, and the minimum chi-square value is larger than expected. We found, however, that the Mach number of the ISN~He flow shows very little scatter and is thus very tightly constrained. It is in excellent agreement with the original analysis of ISN~He observations from IBEX and recent reanalyses of observations from Ulysses. We identify a possible inaccuracy in the Warm Breeze parameters as the likely cause of the scatter in the ISN~He parameters obtained from the yearly subsets, and we suppose that another component may exist in the signal, or a process that is not accounted for in the current physical model of ISN~He in front of the heliosphere. From our analysis, the inflow velocity vector, temperature, and Mach number of the flow are equal to lambda_ISNHe = 255.8 +/- 0.5 degree, beta_ISNHe = 5.16 +/- 0.10 degree, T_ISNHe = 7440 +/- 260 K, v_ISNHe = 25.8 +/- 0.4$ km/s, and M_ISNHe = 5.079 +/- 0.028, with uncertainties strongly correlated along the parameter tube.Comment: Updated reference

The representation of scientific research in the national curriculum and secondary school pupils’ perceptions of research, its function, usefulness and value to their lives

Young people’s views on what research is, how it is conducted and whether it is important, influences the decisions they make about their further studies and career choices. In this paper we report the analysis of questionnaire data with a particular focus on pupil perceptions of research in the sciences and of the scientific method. The questionnaire was a 25-item Likert Scale (1-5) distributed to seven collaborating schools. We received 2634 returns from pupils across key stages 3, 4 and 5. We also asked teachers to complete the questionnaire in order to explore how they thought their pupils would respond. We received 54 teacher responses. Statistically significant differences in the responses were identified through a chi-square test on SPSS. As what is being taught influences secondary pupil views on research we also consider how the term ‘research’ appears in the national curriculum for England and Wales and the three main English exam boards. The main theoretical construct that informs our analysis of the questionnaire data and the national curriculum is Angela Brew’s 4-tier descriptor of perceptions of research (domino, trading, layer, journey). We use this framework in order to map what, when and how research is presented to school pupils in England and Wales. We also use this framework in order to highlight and discuss certain pupil views that emerged from the questionnaire data and which indicate areas where curriculum and pedagogy intervention may be necessary: pupils seem less confident in their understanding of research as involving the identification of a research question; and, they often see research as a means to confirm one’s own opinion. They do however understand research as involving the generation of new knowledge and the collection of new data, such as interviews and questionnaires as well as laboratory work, field trips and library searches and they appear relatively confident in their statements about their ability to do research, their school experiences of research and the importance of research in their future career choice

Plasma Depletion and Mirror Waves Ahead of Interplanetary Coronal Mass Ejections

We find that the sheath regions between fast interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs) and their preceding shocks are often characterized by plasma depletion and mirror wave structures, analogous to planetary magnetosheaths. A case study of these signatures in the sheath of a magnetic cloud (MC) shows that a plasma depletion layer (PDL) coincides with magnetic field draping around the MC. In the same event, we observe an enhanced thermal anisotropy and plasma beta as well as anti-correlated density and magnetic fluctuations which are signatures of mirror mode waves. We perform a superposed epoch analysis of ACE and Wind plasma and magnetic field data from different classes of ICMEs to illuminate the general properties of these regions. For MCs preceded by shocks, the sheaths have a PDL with an average duration of 6 hours (corresponding to a spatial span of about 0.07 AU) and a proton temperature anisotropy ${T_{\perp p}\over T_{\parallel p}}\simeq 1.2$ -1.3, and are marginally unstable to the mirror instability. For ICMEs with preceding shocks which are not MCs, plasma depletion and mirror waves are also present but at a reduced level. ICMEs without shocks are not associated with these features. The differences between the three ICME categories imply that these features depend on the ICME geometry and the extent of upstream solar wind compression by the ICMEs. We discuss the implications of these features for a variety of crucial physical processes including magnetic reconnection, formation of magnetic holes and energetic particle modulation in the solar wind.Comment: fully refereed, accepted for publication in J. Geophys. Re