Periodicities in sunspot activity during solar cycle 23

The data of sunspot numbers, sunspot areas and solar flare index during cycle 23 are analyzed to investigate the intermediate-term periodicities. Power spectral analysis has been performed separately for the data of the whole disk, northern and southern hemispheres of the Sun. Several significant midrange periodicities ($\sim$175, 133, 113, 104, 84, 63 days) are detected in sunspot activity. Most of the periodicities in sunspot numbers generally agree with those of sunspot areas during the solar cycle 23. The study reveals that the periodic variations in the northern and southern hemispheres of the Sun show a kind of asymmetrical behavior. Periodicities of $\sim$175 days and $\sim$133 days are highly significant in the sunspot data of northern hemisphere showing consistency with the findings of Lean (1990) during solar cycles 12-21. On the other hand, southern hemisphere shows a strong periodicity of about 85 days in terms of sunspot activity. The analysis of solar flare index data of the same time interval does not show any significant peak. The different periodic behavior of sunspot and flare activity can be understood in the light of hypothesis proposed by Ballester et al. (2002), which suggests that during cycle 23, the periodic emergence of magnetic flux partly takes place away from developed sunspot groups and hence may not necessarily increase the magnetic complexity of sunspot groups that leads to the generation of flares.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Loss of Prestin Does Not Alter the Development of Auditory Cortical Dendritic Spines

Disturbance of sensory input during development can have disastrous effects on the development of sensory cortical areas. To examine how moderate perturbations of hearing can impact the development of primary auditory cortex, we examined markers of excitatory synapses in mice who lacked prestin, a protein responsible for somatic electromotility of cochlear outer hair cells. While auditory brain stem responses of these mice show an approximately 40 dB increase in threshold, we found that loss of prestin produced no changes in spine density or morphological characteristics on apical dendrites of cortical layer 5 pyramidal neurons. PSD-95 immunostaining also showed no changes in overall excitatory synapse density. Surprisingly, behavioral assessments of auditory function using the acoustic startle response showed only modest changes in prestin KO animals. These results suggest that moderate developmental hearing deficits produce minor changes in the excitatory connectivity of layer 5 neurons of primary auditory cortex and surprisingly mild auditory behavioral deficits in the startle response

Curie: Constraining Solar System Bombardment Using In Situ Radiometric Dating

The Curie mission would constrain the existence of the putative cataclysm by determining the age of samples directly sourced from the impact melt sheet of a major pre-Imbrium lunar basin. The measurements would also enable further understanding of lunar evolution by characterizing new lunar lithologies far from the Apollo and Luna landing sites, including the very low-Ti basalts in Mare Crisium and potential olivine rich lithologies in the margins of both Mare Nectaris and Mars Crisium. Equipped with a mass spectrometer and a LIBS, Curie would also be well-placed to survey volatile components of the lunar regolith, including surface-bound hydrogen

The Virtual Solar Observatory: What Are We Up To Now?

In the nearly ten years of a functional Virtual Solar Observatory (VSO), http://virtualsolar.org/ we have made it possible to query and access sixty-seven distinct solar data products and several event lists from nine spacecraft and fifteen observatories or observing networks. We have used existing VSO technology, and developed new software, for a distributed network of sites caching and serving SDO HMI and/ or AlA data. We have also developed an application programming interface (API) that has enabled VSO search and data access capabilities in IDL, Python, and Java. We also have quite a bit of work yet to do, including completion of the implementation of access to SDO EVE data, and access to some nineteen other data sets from space- and ground-based observatories. In addition, we have been developing a new graphic user interface that will enable the saving of user interface and search preferences. We solicit advice from the community input prioritizing our task list, and adding to i

Formalization of Transform Methods using HOL Light

Transform methods, like Laplace and Fourier, are frequently used for analyzing the dynamical behaviour of engineering and physical systems, based on their transfer function, and frequency response or the solutions of their corresponding differential equations. In this paper, we present an ongoing project, which focuses on the higher-order logic formalization of transform methods using HOL Light theorem prover. In particular, we present the motivation of the formalization, which is followed by the related work. Next, we present the task completed so far while highlighting some of the challenges faced during the formalization. Finally, we present a roadmap to achieve our objectives, the current status and the future goals for this project.Comment: 15 Pages, CICM 201

Structure and Rotation of the Solar Interior: Initial Results from the MDI Medium-L Program

The medium-l program of the Michelson Doppler Imager instrument on board SOHO provides continuous observations of oscillation modes of angular degree, l, from 0 to approximately 300. The data for the program are partly processed on board because only about 3% of MDI observations can be transmitted continuously to the ground. The on-board data processing, the main component of which is Gaussian-weighted binning, has been optimized to reduce the negative influence of spatial aliasing of the high-degree oscillation modes. The data processing is completed in a data analysis pipeline at the SOI Stanford Support Center to determine the mean multiplet frequencies and splitting coefficients. The initial results show that the noise in the medium-l oscillation power spectrum is substantially lower than in ground-based measurements. This enables us to detect lower amplitude modes and, thus, to extend the range of measured mode frequencies. This is important for inferring the Sun's internal structure and rotation. The MDI observations also reveal the asymmetry of oscillation spectral lines. The line asymmetries agree with the theory of mode excitation by acoustic sources localized in the upper convective boundary layer. The sound-speed profile inferred from the mean frequencies gives evidence for a sharp variation at the edge of the energy-generating core. The results also confirm the previous finding by the GONG (Gough et al., 1996) that, in a thin layer just beneath the convection zone, helium appears to be less abundant than predicted by theory. Inverting the multiplet frequency splittings from MDI, we detect significant rotational shear in this thin layer. This layer is likely to be the place where the solar dynamo operates. In order to understand how the Sun works, it is extremely important to observe the evolution of this transition layer throughout the 11-year activity cycle

Impairment experiences, identity and attitudes towards genetic screening : the views of people with Spinal Muscular Atrophy

Developments in genetics are rapidly changing the capacity and scope of screening practices. However, people with genetic conditions have been under-represented in the literature exploring their implications. This mixed methods study explores the attitudes of people with Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) towards three different population-level genetic screening programmes for SMA: pre-conception, prenatal and newborn. Drawing on qualitative interviews (n= 15) and a survey (n=82), this study demonstrates that more severely affected individuals with early-onset symptoms (Type II SMA), are less likely to support screening and more likely to view SMA positively than those with milder, later onset and/or fluctuating symptoms (Types III/ IV SMA). Indeed, this clinically milder group were more likely to support all forms of screening and view SMA negatively. This paper highlights that screening is a complex issue for people with genetic conditions, and the nature of impairment experiences plays a critical role in shaping attitudes

Active region formation through the negative effective magnetic pressure instability

The negative effective magnetic pressure instability operates on scales encompassing many turbulent eddies and is here discussed in connection with the formation of active regions near the surface layers of the Sun. This instability is related to the negative contribution of turbulence to the mean magnetic pressure that causes the formation of large-scale magnetic structures. For an isothermal layer, direct numerical simulations and mean-field simulations of this phenomenon are shown to agree in many details in that their onset occurs at the same depth. This depth increases with increasing field strength, such that the maximum growth rate of this instability is independent of the field strength, provided the magnetic structures are fully contained within the domain. A linear stability analysis is shown to support this finding. The instability also leads to a redistribution of turbulent intensity and gas pressure that could provide direct observational signatures.Comment: 19 pages, 10 figures, submitted to Solar Physic

Someone is pulling the strings: hypersensitive agency detection and belief in conspiracy theories

We hypothesized that belief in conspiracy theories would be predicted by the general tendency to attribute agency and intentionality where it is unlikely to exist. We further hypothesized that this tendency would explain the relationship between education level and belief in conspiracy theories, where lower levels of education have been found to be associated with higher conspiracy belief. In Study 1 (N=202) participants were more likely to agree with a range of conspiracy theories if they also tended to attribute intentionality and agency to inanimate objects. As predicted, this relationship accounted for the link between education level and belief in conspiracy theories. We replicated this finding in Study 2 (N=330), whilst taking into account beliefs in paranormal phenomena. These results suggest that education may undermine the reasoning processes and assumptions that are reflected in conspiracy belief