The 22-Year Hale Cycle in Cosmic Ray Flux – Evidence for Direct Heliospheric Modulation

Abstract The ability to predict times of greater galactic cosmic ray (GCR) fluxes is important for reducing the hazards caused by these particles to satellite communications, aviation, or astronauts. The 11-year solar-cycle variation in cosmic rays is highly correlated with the strength of the heliospheric magnetic field. Differences in GCR flux during alternate solar cycles yield a 22-year cycle, known as the Hale Cycle, which is thought to be due to different particle drift patterns when the northern solar pole has predominantly positive (denoted as qA>0 cycle) or negative (qA0 cycles than for qA0 and more sharply peaked for qA0 solar cycles, when the difference in GCR flux is most apparent. This suggests that particle drifts may not be the sole mechanism responsible for the Hale Cycle in GCR flux at Earth. However, we also demonstrate that these polarity-dependent heliospheric differences are evident during the space-age but are much less clear in earlier data: using geomagnetic reconstructions, we show that for the period of 1905 – 1965, alternate polarities do not give as significant a difference during the declining phase of the solar cycle. Thus we suggest that the 22-year cycle in cosmic-ray flux is at least partly the result of direct modulation by the heliospheric magnetic field and that this effect may be primarily limited to the grand solar maximum of the space-age

Commensurators of thin normal subgroups

We give an affirmative answer to many cases of a question due to Shalom, which asks if the commensurator of a thin subgroup of a Lie group is discrete. In this paper, let $K<\Gamma<G$ be an infinite normal subgroup of an arithmetic lattice $\Gamma$ in a rank one Lie group $G$, such that the quotient $Q=\Gamma/K$ is infinite. We show that the commensurator of $K$ in $G$ is discrete whenever any one of the following holds: 1) $Q$ admits a linear representation with infinite image. 2) $Q$ acts semi-simply on a proper CAT(0) space and $\Gamma$ is not a non-uniform lattice in $G= \{\mathrm{SO}(2,1), \mathrm{SO}(3,1), \mathrm{SU}(2,1)\}$. This is satisfied, in particular, if for such $\Gamma$, $Q$ admits a semi-simple representation into ${\mathrm{SL_n}({\mathbb{Q}}_{(p)})}$.Comment: 32 page

Characteristics of ex-racing greyhounds in New Zealand and their impact on re-homing

A small proportion of greyhounds surplus to the racing industry are entered into specialist rehoming organisations to be re-purposed as pets. Records of 835 greyhounds, from New Zealand Greyhounds as Pets (GAP), were used to investigate whether pre-adoption characteristics (age, sex, racing record, reason entered) and management factors (temperament test result, foster and trainer effects) had a bearing on rehoming success, and comparisons were made with shelter studies. Rehoming greyhounds as pets is very successful with 85.5% ultimately successfully rehomed. Only 2.9% fail as a result of failed adoptions, 11.6% fail the initial temperament test. Greyhounds were more likely than shelter dogs to pass an initial temperament test and be adopted, and less likely to be returned after 1 month. However, adopted greyhounds were just as likely as shelter dogs to be returned after 6 months. Logistic regression revealed the youngest age group (< 24 months old) were more likely to pass the initial temperament test than older greyhounds. This age effect was not detectable when the adoption success of dogs subsequently available for rehoming was considered, but a sex effect was evident with females more likely to be successfully adopted than males. Whether or not a dog had raced had no significant effect on the likelihood of successful rehoming. Greyhounds passing the temperament test with a basic pass, were less likely to be successfully rehomed than greyhounds scoring a higher pass indicative of lower prey drive. Further investigation of the validity and reliablity of the temperament test is warranted

Defining acute flares in knee osteoarthritis: a systematic review.

OBJECTIVE: To identify and critically synthesise definitions of acute flares in knee osteoarthritis (OA) reported in the medical literature. DESIGN: Systematic review and narrative synthesis. We searched Medline, EMBASE, Web of science and six other electronic databases (inception to July 2017) for original articles and conference abstracts reporting a definition of acute flare (or synonym) in humans with knee OA. There were no restrictions by language or study design (apart from iatrogenic-induced flare-ups, eg, injection-induced). Data extraction comprised: definition, pain scale used, flare duration or withdrawal period, associated symptoms, definition rationale, terminology (eg, exacerbation or flare), baseline OA severity, age, gender, sample size and study design. RESULTS: Sixty-nine articles were included (46 flare design trials, 17 observational studies, 6 other designs; sample sizes: 15-6085). Domains used to define flares included: worsening of signs and symptoms (61 studies, 27 different measurement tools), specifically increased pain intensity; minimum pain threshold at baseline (44 studies); minimum duration (7 studies, range 8-48 hours); speed of onset (2 studies, defined as 'sudden' or 'quick'); requirement for increased medication (2 studies). No definitions included activity interference. CONCLUSIONS: The concept of OA flare appears in the medical literature but most often in the context of flare design trials (pain increases observed after stopping usual treatment). Key domains, used to define acute events in other chronic conditions, appear relevant to OA flare and could provide the basis for consensus on a single, agreed definition of 'naturally occurring' OA flares for research and clinical application. PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER: CRD42014010169

Frequency of cannabis and illicit opioid use among people who use drugs and report chronic pain: A longitudinal analysis.

BACKGROUND:Ecological research suggests that increased access to cannabis may facilitate reductions in opioid use and harms, and medical cannabis patients describe the substitution of opioids with cannabis for pain management. However, there is a lack of research using individual-level data to explore this question. We aimed to investigate the longitudinal association between frequency of cannabis use and illicit opioid use among people who use drugs (PWUD) experiencing chronic pain. METHODS AND FINDINGS:This study included data from people in 2 prospective cohorts of PWUD in Vancouver, Canada, who reported major or persistent pain from June 1, 2014, to December 1, 2017 (n = 1,152). We used descriptive statistics to examine reasons for cannabis use and a multivariable generalized linear mixed-effects model to estimate the relationship between daily (once or more per day) cannabis use and daily illicit opioid use. There were 424 (36.8%) women in the study, and the median age at baseline was 49.3 years (IQR 42.3-54.9). In total, 455 (40%) reported daily illicit opioid use, and 410 (36%) reported daily cannabis use during at least one 6-month follow-up period. The most commonly reported therapeutic reasons for cannabis use were pain (36%), sleep (35%), stress (31%), and nausea (30%). After adjusting for demographic characteristics, substance use, and health-related factors, daily cannabis use was associated with significantly lower odds of daily illicit opioid use (adjusted odds ratio 0.50, 95% CI 0.34-0.74, p &lt; 0.001). Limitations of the study included self-reported measures of substance use and chronic pain, and a lack of data for cannabis preparations, dosages, and modes of administration. CONCLUSIONS:We observed an independent negative association between frequent cannabis use and frequent illicit opioid use among PWUD with chronic pain. These findings provide longitudinal observational evidence that cannabis may serve as an adjunct to or substitute for illicit opioid use among PWUD with chronic pain

Diode-side-pumped Alexandrite slab lasers

We present the investigation of diode-side-pumping of Alexandrite slab lasers in a range of designs using linear cavity and grazing-incidence bounce cavity configurations. An Alexandrite slab laser cavity with double-pass side pumping produces 23.4 mJ free-running energy at 100 Hz rate with slope efficiency ~40% with respect to absorbed pump energy. In a slab laser with single-bounce geometry output power of 12.2 W is produced, and in a double-bounce configuration 6.5 W multimode and 4.5 W output in TEM00 mode is produced. These first results of slab laser and amplifier designs in this paper highlight some of the potential strategies for power and energy scaling of Alexandrite using diode-side-pumped Alexandrite slab architectures with future availability of higher power red diode pumping

A systems approach to understanding the connection between farm systems resilience and pasture resilience

Farm systems resilience in New Zealand pasture-based farming is influenced by external drivers such as environmental regulation, and internal drivers such as existence, expressed as profitability. We examine ten published case studies of farm systems change to provide insight into management interventions to these drivers and their impacts on pasture resilience. Nutrient supply was key to increasing pasture longevity, water use efficiency and animal feed supply. Manipulating water use efficiency through irrigation and legume (predominantly lucerne) use increased nitrogen use efficiency and added pasture supply for animal consumption. Monitoring the pasture supply and animal response ensured both animal feed requirements and pasture conditions for future growth were met. The resilience of pastures was improved when monitoring guided adaptive management application to ensure whole-farm resilience