Electromagnetic interactions of high energy cosmic my muons

Electromagnetic interactions of high energy muons incident in the nearly horizontal direction at Durham, I98 ft. above sea level, have been studied by detecting electron-photon bursts produced in iron absorbers. Over the measured burst size range, bremsstrahlung and knock-on electron production were the predominant energy transfer processes. No divergence from accepted theory has been observed for energy transfer in the range 3 - 240 GeV. A second burst experiment has been performed to measure the spectra of nuclear-active particles incident at Durham in the nearly vertical direction. The observed spectra of both charged and neutral nuclear-active particles show a discontinuity at energies >100 GeV, which can be taken as support for the SU(_3) prediction that a protonis a tightly bound system of three charged quarks. This interpretation would indicate a quark mass of 10 GeV, and that high energy protons dissociate into their constituent quarks in about l8^ of their collisions above threshold (18OO GeV). A further implication isthat quarks interact strongly in the atmosphere, otherwise telescope detectors would have recorded an abundance of quarks. A decrease-2in the nucleon attenuation length from 127 gm. cm to a value ofp117 gm. cm(^-2) for sea level nucleon energies > 100 GeV would also account for the observed discontinuity

A role for the equatorial undercurrent in the ocean dynamical thermostat

Author Posting. © American Meteorological Society, 2018. This article is posted here by permission of American Meteorological Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Climate 31 (2018): 6245-6261, doi:10.1175/JCLI-D-17-0513.1.Reconstructions of sea surface temperature (SST) based on instrumental observations suggest that the equatorial Pacific zonal SST gradient has increased over the twentieth century. While this increase is suggestive of the ocean dynamical thermostat mechanism of Clement et al., observations of a concurrent weakening of the zonal atmospheric (Walker) circulation are not. Here we show, using heat and momentum budget calculations on an ocean reanalysis dataset, that a seasonal weakening of the zonal atmospheric circulation is in fact consistent with cooling in the eastern equatorial Pacific (EEP) and thus an increase in the zonal SST gradient. This cooling is driven by a strengthening Equatorial Undercurrent (EUC) in response to decreased upper-ocean westward momentum associated with weakening equatorial zonal wind stress. This process can help to reconcile the seemingly contradictory twentieth-century trends in the tropical Pacific atmosphere and ocean. Moreover, it is shown that coupled general circulation models (CGCMs) do not correctly simulate this process; we identify a systematic bias in the relationship between changes in equatorial surface zonal wind stress in the EEP and EUC strength that may help to explain why observations and CGCMs have opposing trends in the zonal SST gradient over the twentieth century.2019-01-1

Ambulatory Care in Adult Congenital Heart Disease—Time for Change?

\ua9 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.Background: The adult congenital heart disease (ACHD) population is growing in size and complexity. This study evaluates whether present ambulatory care adequately detects problems and considers costs. Methods: A UK single-centre study of clinic attendances amongst 100 ACHD patients (40.4 years, median ACHD AP class 2B) between 2014 and 2019 and the COVID-19 restrictions period (March 2020–July 2021). Results: Between 2014 and 2019, there were 575 appointments. Nonatten-dance was 10%; 15 patients recurrently nonattended. Eighty percent of appointments resulted in no decision other than continued review. Electrocardiograms and echocardiograms were frequent, but new findings were rare (5.1%, 4.0%). Decision-making was more common with the higher ACHD AP class and symptoms. Emergency admissions (n = 40) exceeded elective (n = 25), with over half following unremarkable clinic appointments. Distance travelled to the ACHD clinic was 14.9 km (1.6–265), resulting in 433–564 workdays lost. During COVID 19, there were 127 appointments (56% in-person, 41% telephone and 5% video). Decisions were made at 37% in-person and 19% virtual consultations. Nonattendance was 3.9%; there were eight emergency admissions. Conclusion: The main purpose of the ACHD clinic is surveillance. Presently, the clinic does not sufficiently predict or prevent emergency hospital admissions and is costly to patient and provider. COVID-19 has enforced different methods for delivering care that require further evaluation

Physiological and clinical consequences of relief of right ventricular outflow tract obstruction late after repair of congenital heart defects.

BACKGROUND: Right ventricular outflow tract obstruction (RVOTO) is a common problem after repair of congenital heart disease. Percutaneous pulmonary valve implantation (PPVI) can treat this condition without consequent pulmonary regurgitation or cardiopulmonary bypass. Our aim was to investigate the clinical and physiological response to relieving RVOTO. METHODS AND RESULTS: We studied 18 patients who underwent PPVI for RVOTO (72% male, median age 20 years) from a total of 93 who had this procedure for various indications. All had a right ventricular outflow tract (RVOT) gradient >50 mm Hg on echocardiography without important pulmonary regurgitation (less than mild or regurgitant fraction <10% on magnetic resonance imaging [MRI]). Cardiopulmonary exercise testing, tissue Doppler echocardiography, and MRI were performed before and within 50 days of PPVI. PPVI reduced RVOT gradient (51.4 to 21.7 mm Hg, P<0.001) and right ventricular systolic pressure (72.8 to 47.3 mm Hg, P<0.001) at catheterization. Symptoms and aerobic (25.7 to 28.9 mL.kg(-1).min(-1), P=0.002) and anaerobic (14.4 to 16.2 mL.kg(-1).min(-1), P=0.002) exercise capacity improved. Myocardial systolic velocity improved acutely (tricuspid 4.8 to 5.3 cm/s, P=0.05; mitral 4.7 to 5.5 cm/s, P=0.01), whereas isovolumic acceleration was unchanged. The tricuspid annular velocity was not maintained on intermediate follow-up. Right ventricular end-diastolic volume (99.9 to 89.7 mL/m2, P<0.001) fell, whereas effective stroke volume (43.7 to 48.3 mL/m2, P=0.06) and ejection fraction (48.0% to 56.8%, P=0.01) increased. Left ventricular end-diastolic volume (72.5 to 77.4 mL/m2, P=0.145), stroke volume (45.3 to 50.6 mL/m2, P=0.02), and ejection fraction (62.6% to 65.8%, P=0.03) increased. CONCLUSIONS: PPVI relieves RVOTO, which leads to an early improvement in biventricular performance. Furthermore, it reduces symptoms and improves exercise tolerance. These findings have important implications for the management of this increasingly common condition

Hermetic on-farm storage for maize weevil control in East Africa

Maize (Zea mays L.) consumption makes up over half of daily caloric intake of persons in East Africa and adequate supply is necessary for food security for subsistence farmers, as well as for domestic stability. Hermetic post-harvest maize storage is an attractive non-chemical control strategy for maize weevil,Sitophilus zeamais (Motsch.), which is the principal cause of insect damage to stored maize grain. Laboratory experiments were conducted on instrumented hermetic and non-hermetic containers to measure effects of temperature (10 vs. 27°C) and maize moistures (6.3 to 16%) on maize weevil biology and mortality rate, and to quantify weevil oxygen consumption. Ten days weevil mortality was significantly higher in hermetic vs. non-hermetic storage, in 6.3% moisture maize vs. 16%, and at 27°C storage temperature vs. 10°C. Oxygen depletion results allow estimation of days to 100% adult weevil mortality as a function of weevil infestation level, storage temperature and maize moisture for East Africa conditions

Non-chemical on-farm hermetic maize storage in east Africa

Hermetic post-harvest maize storage can effectively control maize weevil, Sitophilus zeamais, which can be responsible for up to 50% damage to stored maize grain. Its use eliminates the need for toxic and expensive chemicals. Laboratory experiments were conducted on hermetic storage systems to evaluate the effects of temperature (10o vs. 27°C) and maize moistures (6.3 to 16%) on maize weevil biology and mortality rate, and to quantify weevil oxygen consumption. Ten-day weevil mortality was higher in hermetic vs. nonhermetic storage, in 6.3% moisture maize vs. 16%, and at a 27°C storage temperature vs. 10°C. Oxygen depletion results allow estimation of daily weevil oxygen consumption as a function of storage temperature and maize moisture for East Africa conditions. Keywords: Maize storage, Hermetic storage, Sitophilus zeamais, Maize weevil control, Maize deterioratio

The improbable but unexceptional occurrence of megadrought clustering in the American West during the Medieval Climate Anomaly

The five most severe and persistent droughts in the American West (AW) during the Common Era occurred during a 450 year period known as the Medieval Climate Anomaly (MCA—850–1299 C.E.). Herein we use timeseries modeling to estimate the probability of such a period of hydroclimate change occurring. Clustering of severe and persistent drought during an MCA-length period occurs in approximately 10% of surrogate timeseries that were constructed to have the same characteristics as a tree-ring derived estimate of AW hydroclimate variability between 850 and 2005 C.E. Periods of hydroclimate change like the MCA are thus expected to occur in the AW, although not frequently, with a recurrence interval of approximately 11 000 years. Importantly, a shift in mean hydroclimate conditions during the MCA is found to be necessary for drought to reach the severity and persistence of the actual MCA megadroughts. This result has consequences for our understanding of the atmosphere-ocean dynamics underlying the MCA and a persistently warm Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation is suggested to have played an important role in causing megadrought clustering during this period