Summary
Healthcare workers are at risk of infection during the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus‐2 pandemic. International guidance suggests direct droplet transmission is likely and ...airborne transmission occurs only with aerosol‐generating procedures. Recommendations determining infection control measures to ensure healthcare worker safety follow these presumptions. Three mechanisms have been described for the production of smaller sized respiratory particles (‘aerosols’) that, if inhaled, can deposit in the distal airways. These include: laryngeal activity such as talking and coughing; high velocity gas flow; and cyclical opening and closure of terminal airways. Sneezing and coughing are effective aerosol generators, but all forms of expiration produce particles across a range of sizes. The 5‐μm diameter threshold used to differentiate droplet from airborne is an over‐simplification of multiple complex, poorly understood biological and physical variables. The evidence defining aerosol‐generating procedures comes largely from low‐quality case and cohort studies where the exact mode of transmission is unknown as aerosol production was never quantified. We propose that transmission is associated with time in proximity to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus‐1 patients with respiratory symptoms, rather than the procedures per se. There is no proven relation between any aerosol‐generating procedure with airborne viral content with the exception of bronchoscopy and suctioning. The mechanism for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus‐2 transmission is unknown but the evidence suggestive of airborne spread is growing. We speculate that infected patients who cough, have high work of breathing, increased closing capacity and altered respiratory tract lining fluid will be significant producers of pathogenic aerosols. We suggest several aerosol‐generating procedures may in fact result in less pathogen aerosolisation than a dyspnoeic and coughing patient. Healthcare workers should appraise the current evidence regarding transmission and apply this to the local infection prevalence. Measures to mitigate airborne transmission should be employed at times of risk. However, the mechanisms and risk factors for transmission are largely unconfirmed. Whilst awaiting robust evidence, a precautionary approach should be considered to assure healthcare worker safety.
The Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) investigation will study the solar interior using helioseismic techniques as well as the magnetic field near the solar surface. The HMI instrument is part ...of the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) that was launched on 11 February 2010. The instrument is designed to measure the Doppler shift, intensity, and vector magnetic field at the solar photosphere using the 6173 Fe I absorption line. The instrument consists of a front-window filter, a telescope, a set of wave plates for polarimetry, an image-stabilization system, a blocking filter, a five-stage Lyot filter with one tunable element, two wide-field tunable Michelson interferometers, a pair of 4096(exo 2) pixel cameras with independent shutters, and associated electronics. Each camera takes a full-disk image roughly every 3.75 seconds giving an overall cadence of 45 seconds for the Doppler, intensity, and line-of-sight magnetic-field measurements and a slower cadence for the full vector magnetic field. This article describes the design of the HMI instrument and provides an overview of the pre-launch calibration efforts. Overviews of the investigation, details of the calibrations, data handling, and the science analysis are provided in accompanying articles.
Simulations of carbon fluxes with terrestrial biosphere models still exhibit significant uncertainties, in part due to the uncertainty in model parameter values. With the advent of satellite ...measurements of solar induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF), there exists a novel pathway for constraining simulated carbon fluxes and parameter values. We investigate the utility of SIF in constraining gross primary productivity (GPP). As a first test we assess whether SIF simulations are sensitive to important parameters in a biosphere model. SIF measurements at the wavelength of 755 nm are simulated by the Carbon-Cycle Data Assimilation System (CCDAS) which has been augmented by the fluorescence component of the Soil Canopy Observation, Photochemistry and Energy fluxes (SCOPE) model. Idealized sensitivity tests of the SCOPE model stand-alone indicate strong sensitivity of GPP to the carboxylation capacity (Vcmax) and of SIF to the chlorophyll AB content (Cab) and incoming short wave radiation. Low sensitivity is found for SIF to Vcmax, however the relationship is subtle, with increased sensitivity under high radiation conditions and lower Vcmax ranges. CCDAS simulates well the patterns of satellite-measured SIF suggesting the combined model is capable of ingesting the data. CCDAS supports the idealized sensitivity tests of SCOPE, with SIF exhibiting sensitivity to Cab and incoming radiation, both of which are treated as perfectly known in previous CCDAS versions. These results demonstrate the need for careful consideration of Cab and incoming radiation when interpreting SIF and the limitations of utilizing SIF to constrain Vcmax in the present set-up in the CCDAS system.
ABSTRACT The purpose of this Letter is to address a blindspot in our knowledge of solar active region (AR) statistics. To the best of our knowledge, there are no published results showing the ...variation of the Mount Wilson magnetic classifications as a function of solar cycle based on modern observations. We show statistics for all ARs reported in the daily Solar Region Summary from 1992 January 1 to 2015 December 31. We find that the and β class ARs (including all sub-groups, e.g., βγ, βδ) make up fractions of approximately 20% and 80% of the sample, respectively. This fraction is relatively constant during high levels of activity; however, an increase in the fraction to about 35% and and a decrease in the β fraction to about 65% can be seen near each solar minimum and are statistically significant at the 2 level. Over 30% of all ARs observed during the years of solar maxima were appended with the classifications γ and/or δ, while these classifications account for only a fraction of a percent during the years near the solar minima. This variation in the AR types indicates that the formation of complex ARs may be due to the pileup of frequent emergence of magnetic flux during solar maximum, rather than the emergence of complex, monolithic flux structures.
NASA’s
Solar Dynamics Observatory
(SDO) spacecraft was launched 11 February 2010 with three instruments onboard, including the
Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager
(HMI). After commissioning, HMI began ...normal operations on 1 May 2010 and has subsequently observed the Sun’s entire visible disk almost continuously. HMI collects sequences of polarized filtergrams taken at a fixed cadence with two
4096
×
4096
cameras, from which are computed arcsecond-resolution maps of photospheric observables that include line-of-sight velocity and magnetic field, continuum intensity, line width, line depth, and the Stokes polarization parameters
I
,
Q
,
U
,
V
. Two processing pipelines have been implemented at the SDO Joint Science Operations Center (JSOC) at Stanford University to compute these observables from calibrated Level-1 filtergrams, one that computes line-of-sight quantities every 45 seconds and the other, primarily for the vector magnetic field, that computes averages on a 720-second cadence. Corrections are made for static and temporally changing CCD characteristics, bad pixels, image alignment and distortion, polarization irregularities, filter-element uncertainty and nonuniformity, as well as Sun–spacecraft velocity. We detail the functioning of these two pipelines, explain known issues affecting the measurements of the resulting physical quantities, and describe how regular updates to the instrument calibration impact them. We also describe how the scheme for computing the observables is optimized for actual HMI observations. Initial calibration of HMI was performed on the ground using a variety of light sources and calibration sequences. During the five years of the SDO prime mission, regular calibration sequences have been taken on orbit to improve and regularly update the instrument calibration, and to monitor changes in the HMI instrument. This has resulted in several changes in the observables processing that are detailed here. The instrument more than satisfies all of the original specifications for data quality and continuity. The procedures described here still have significant room for improvement. The most significant remaining systematic errors are associated with the spacecraft orbital velocity.
Sunspot groups and bipolar magnetic regions (BMRs) serve as an observational diagnostic of the solar cycle. We use Debrecen Photohelographic Data (DPD) from 1974-2014 that determined sunspot tilt ...angles from daily white light observations, and data provided by Li & Ulrich that determined sunspot magnetic tilt angle using Mount Wilson magnetograms from 1974-2012. The magnetograms allowed for BMR tilt angles that were anti-Hale in configuration, so tilt values ranged from 0 to 360degrees rather than the more common + or -90degrees. We explore the visual representation of magnetic tilt angles on a traditional butterfly diagram by plotting the mean area-weighted latitude of umbral activity in each bipolar sunspot group, including tilt information. The large scatter of tilt angles over the course of a single cycle and hemisphere prevents Joy's law from being visually identified in the tilt-butterfly diagram without further binning. The average latitude of anti-Hale regions does not differ from the average latitude of all regions in both hemispheres. The distribution of anti-Hale sunspot tilt angles are broadly distributed between 0 and 360degrees with a weak preference for east-west alignment 180degrees from their expected Joy's law angle. The anti-Hale sunspots display a log-normal size distribution similar to that of all sunspots, indicating no preferred size for anti-Hale sunspots. We report that 8.4% + or - 0.8% of all bipolar sunspot regions are misclassified as Hale in traditional catalogs. This percentage is slightly higher for groups within 5degrees of the equator due to the misalignment of the magnetic and heliographic equators.
Numerous population-based studies have documented high prevalence of scabies in overcrowded settings, particularly among children and in tropical regions. We provide an estimate of the global burden ...of scabies using data from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) Study 2015.
We identified scabies epidemiological data sources from an extensive literature search and hospital insurance data and analysed data sources with a Bayesian meta-regression modelling tool, DisMod-MR 2·1, to yield prevalence estimates. We combined prevalence estimates with a disability weight, measuring disfigurement, itch, and pain caused by scabies, to produce years lived with disability (YLDs). With an assumed zero mortality from scabies, YLDs were equivalent to disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs). We estimated DALYs for 195 countries divided into 21 world regions, in both sexes and 20 age groups, between 1990 and 2015.
Scabies was responsible for 0·21% of DALYs from all conditions studied by GBD 2015 worldwide. The world regions of east Asia (age-standardised DALYs 136·32), southeast Asia (134·57), Oceania (120·34), tropical Latin America (99·94), and south Asia (69·41) had the greatest burden of DALYs from scabies. Mean percent change of DALY rate from 1990 to 2015 was less than 8% in all world regions, except North America, which had a 23·9% increase. The five individual countries with greatest scabies burden were Indonesia (age-standardised DALYs 153·86), China (138·25), Timor-Leste (136·67), Vanuatu (131·59), and Fiji (130·91). The largest standard deviations of age-standardised DALYs between the 20 age groups were observed in southeast Asia (60·1), Oceania (58·3), and east Asia (56·5), with the greatest DALY burdens in children, adolescents, and the elderly.
The burden of scabies is greater in tropical regions, especially in children, adolescents, and elderly people. As a worldwide epidemiological assessment, GBD 2015 provides broad and frequently updated measures of scabies burden in terms of skin effects. These global data might help guide research protocols and prioritisation efforts and focus scabies treatment and control measures.
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
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