Long term time variability of cosmic rays and possible relevance to the development of life on Earth

An analysis is made of the manner in which the cosmic ray intensity at Earth has varied over its existence and its possible relevance to both the origin and the evolution of life. Much of the analysis relates to the 'high energy' cosmic rays ($E>10^{14}eV;=0.1PeV$) and their variability due to the changing proximity of the solar system to supernova remnants which are generally believed to be responsible for most cosmic rays up to PeV energies. It is pointed out that, on a statistical basis, there will have been considerable variations in the likely 100 My between the Earth's biosphere reaching reasonable stability and the onset of very elementary life. Interestingly, there is the increasingly strong possibility that PeV cosmic rays are responsible for the initiation of terrestrial lightning strokes and the possibility arises of considerable increases in the frequency of lightnings and thereby the formation of some of the complex molecules which are the 'building blocks of life'. Attention is also given to the well known generation of the oxides of nitrogen by lightning strokes which are poisonous to animal life but helpful to plant growth; here, too, the violent swings of cosmic ray intensities may have had relevance to evolutionary changes. A particular variant of the cosmic ray acceleration model, put forward by us, predicts an increase in lightning rate in the past and this has been sought in Korean historical records. Finally, the time dependence of the overall cosmic ray intensity, which manifests itself mainly at sub-10 GeV energies, has been examined. The relevance of cosmic rays to the 'global electrical circuit' points to the importance of this concept.Comment: 18 pages, 5 figures, accepted by 'Surveys in Geophysics

Toward an improved representation of middle atmospheric dynamics thanks to the ARISE project

This paper reviews recent progress toward understanding the dynamics of the middle atmosphere in the framework of the Atmospheric Dynamics Research InfraStructure in Europe (ARISE) initiative. The middle atmosphere, integrating the stratosphere and mesosphere, is a crucial region which influences tropospheric weather and climate. Enhancing the understanding of middle atmosphere dynamics requires improved measurement of the propagation and breaking of planetary and gravity waves originating in the lowest levels of the atmosphere. Inter-comparison studies have shown large discrepancies between observations and models, especially during unresolved disturbances such as sudden stratospheric warmings for which model accuracy is poorer due to a lack of observational constraints. Correctly predicting the variability of the middle atmosphere can lead to improvements in tropospheric weather forecasts on timescales of weeks to season. The ARISE project integrates different station networks providing observations from ground to the lower thermosphere, including the infrasound system developed for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty verification, the Lidar Network for the Detection of Atmospheric Composition Change, complementary meteor radars, wind radiometers, ionospheric sounders and satellites. This paper presents several examples which show how multi-instrument observations can provide a better description of the vertical dynamics structure of the middle atmosphere, especially during large disturbances such as gravity waves activity and stratospheric warming events. The paper then demonstrates the interest of ARISE data in data assimilation for weather forecasting and re-analyzes the determination of dynamics evolution with climate change and the monitoring of atmospheric extreme events which have an atmospheric signature, such as thunderstorms or volcanic eruptions

Psychological Ownership in Hoarding

This chapter examines hoarding behavior through the lens of consumer behavior as an extreme form of psychological ownership. The phenomenon of hoarding analyzed in context of psychological ownership theory reveals connections between the intense emotional attachment to possessions that characterizes hoarding and the motivations for psychological ownership. In addition, applying psychological ownership theory to existing knowledge of consumer disposition practices offers insights into encouraging disposition. An integrated framework emerges for understanding both difficulties with disposition and ways to encourage disposition.https://digitalcommons.chapman.edu/business_books/1011/thumbnail.jp

Information Problems in Bancassurance: Empirical Evidence Based on a Comparison Between Over-the-Counter and Telephone Marketing Customers

[[abstract]]We investigate the problem of asymmetric information among the different distribution channels of bancassurance, namely, over-the-counter (OTC) selling and telephone marketing (TM). We predict that the bank could bring an information advantage to insurance companies through telephone marketing by providing a customer list based on the customers’ records in the bank. Bancassurance can play a role of integrating the information that is transferred from the bank to the insurance company. Our empirical evidence shows that, in contrast to the over-the-counter customers, there is less evidence of adverse selection, and there is also less evidence of moral hazard or fraud among the telephone marketing customers that have been sorted by the bank. This phenomenon could be attributed to the valuable private information provided by the credit records of customers kept by the bank.[[notice]]補正完畢[[journaltype]]國外[[incitationindex]]SSCI[[ispeerreviewed]]