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This chapter reviews fundamental properties and recent advances of diffuse and pulsating aurora. Diffuse and pulsating aurora often occurs on closed field lines and involves energetic electron precipitation by wave-particle interaction. After summarizing the definition, large-scale morphology, types of pulsation, and driving processes, we review observation techniques, occurrence, duration, altitude, evolution, small-scale structures, fast modulation, relation to high-energy precipitation, the role of ECH waves, reflected and secondary electrons, ionosphere dynamics, and simulation of wave-particle interaction. Finally we discuss open questions of diffuse and pulsating aurora.

Dayside aurora is related to processes in the dayside magnetosphere and especially at the dayside magnetopause. A number of dayside aurora phenomena are driven by reconnection between the solar wind interplanetary magnetic field and the Earth’s internal magnetic field at the magnetopause. We summarize the properties and origin of aurora at the cusp foot point, High Latitude Dayside Aurora (HiLDA), Poleward Moving Auroral Forms (PMAFs), aurora related to traveling convection vortices (TCV), and throat aurora. Furthermore we discuss dayside diffuse aurora, morning side diffuse aurora spots, and shock aurora.

Spacecraft traveling through the cusp at a variety of altitudes have consistently found the cusp to be filled with intense, often irregular power in the upper ULF frequency range. Some ground‐based studies have observed narrowband waves in this same frequency range in the vicinity of the cusp foot point, but it has not been possible with magnetometers alone to either confirm or deny a cusp source for these waves. We report here on the first simultaneous, collocated observations of a set of induction magnetometers installed at three near‐cusp sites on Svalbard and an all‐sky auroral imager located at Longyearbyen. Data during northern winters of 2006–2007 and 2007–2008, when the cusp foot point was in darkness, showed occasional broadband noise when energetic particle precipitation occurred overhead, but on most days no broadband ULF power was observed above the noise level near noon when only soft cusp precipitation or poleward moving auroral forms occurred overhead. However, on 3 days, including 15 January 2007, several bursts of band‐limited Pc 1‐2 waves were observed in association with regions of intense soft precipitation that peaked near the poleward edge of the cusp. Their properties are consistent with an origin in the plasma mantle, as observed in a recent satellite‐ground study by Engebretson et al. (2005). These observations confirm that even intense cusp precipitation is not effective in generating ion cyclotron waves that penetrate to the ground, if it is embedded within the central regions of the cusp, whereas regions of enhanced precipitation at the poleward edge of the cusp are associated with observed waves.

A study of magnetospheric pulsations is presented in three parts. The first consists of a statistical survey using data from the AMPTE/IRM satellite. A number of conclusions are drawn from the study. Evidence is provided that supports the theory that a Kelvin-Helmholtz instability magnetopause is responsible for exciting field line resonances within the magnetosphere. Bursty bulk compressional magnetic field to signature. A process is described that would explain this signature but that would also exclude a proposal that fast flows are partly responsible for substorm dipolarization. The second part of the thesis addresses the question of why discretely driven field line resonances are commonly observed on the ground but rarely by satellites. Data from the CRRES satellite is analyzed when the satellite is located in a region where these resonances are observed on the ground. The ground based observations are first used to verify the presence of the resonances. CRRES electric and magnetic field data are then used to verify that the same resonance is detected at the satellite, demonstrating that such observations may only be possible with a satellite whose trajectory is similar to that of CRRES. Finally, evidence is provided that shows the presence of a previously unreported global scale disturbance. The disturbance manifests itself in a number of energetic electron bunching geosynchronous orbit. Monochromatic, radially polarized pulsations with a longitudinal structure are associated with the disturbance, although the azimuthal wave number of these pulsations is very low, suggesting that no longitudinal structure should be present. Because of the low geomagnetic and solar wind activity associated with one of the events studied, the suggestion is made that the global event may be triggered by activity at the plasmapause.

Accumulation of the tau protein in fibrillar intracellular aggregates is a defining feature of multiple neurodegenerative diseases collectively referred to as tauopathies. Despite intensive study of tau, there is limited information on the formation and clearance dynamics of tau inclusions. Using rAAV vectors to mediate expression of Dendra2-tagged human wild-type, P301L and pro-aggregant P301L/S320F tau proteins, with and without the addition of exogenous tau fibrillar seeds, we evaluated tau inclusion dynamics in organotypic brain slice culture (BSC) models using long-term optical pulse labeling methodology. Our studies reveal that tau inclusions typically form in 12–96 h in tauopathy BSC models. Unexpectedly, we demonstrate appreciable turnover of tau within inclusions with an average half-life of ~ 1 week when inclusions are newly formed. When BSCs with inclusions are aged in culture for extended periods, tau inclusions continue to turnover, but their half-lives increase to ~ 2 weeks and ~ 3 weeks after 1 and 2 months in culture, respectively. Individual tau inclusions can be long-lived structures that can persist for months in these BSC models and for even longer in the human brain. However, our data indicate that tau inclusions, are not ‘tombstones’, but dynamic structures with appreciable turnover. Understanding the cellular processes mediating this inclusion turnover may lead to new therapeutic strategies that could reverse pathological tau inclusion formation.

Fluxgate magnetometers are important tools for geophysics and space physics, providing high-precision magnetic field measurements. Fluxgate magnetometer noise performance is typically limited by a ferromagnetic element that is periodically forced into magnetic saturation to modulate, or gate, the local magnetic field. The parameters that control the intrinsic magnetic noise of the ferromagnetic element remain poorly understood. Much of the basic research into producing low-noise fluxgate sensors was completed in the 1960s for military purposes and was never publicly released. Many modern fluxgates depend on legacy Infinetics S1000 ring cores that have been out of production since 1996 and for which there is no published manufacturing process. We present a manufacturing approach that can consistently produce fluxgate ring cores with a noise of ∼6–11 pT per square root hertz – comparable to many of the legacy Infinetics ring cores used worldwide today. As a result, we demonstrate that we have developed the capacity to produce the low-noise ring cores essential for high-quality, science-grade fluxgate instrumentation. This work has also revealed potential avenues for further improving performance, and further research into low-noise magnetic materials and fluxgate magnetometer sensors is underway.

Animals can be important in modulating ecosystem-level nutrient cycling, although their importance varies greatly among species and ecosystems. Nutrient cycling rates of individual animals represent valuable data for testing the predictions of important frameworks such as the Metabolic Theory of Ecology (MTE) and ecological stoichiometry (ES). They also represent an important set of functional traits that may reflect both environmental and phylogenetic influences. Over the past two decades, studies of animal-mediated nutrient cycling have increased dramatically, especially in aquatic ecosystems. Here we present a global compilation of aquatic animal nutrient excretion rates. The dataset includes 10,534 observations from freshwater and marine animals of N and/or P excretion rates. These observations represent 491 species, including most aquatic phyla. Coverage varies greatly among phyla and other taxonomic levels. The dataset includes information on animal body size, ambient temperature, taxonomic affiliations, and animal body N:P. This data set was used to test predictions of MTE and ES, as described in Vanni and Mclntyre (2016; Ecology DOI: 10.1002/ecy.1582).

Background: Panic disorder (PD) is a common, often unrecognized condition among patients presenting with chest pain to the emergency departments (ED). Nevertheless, psychological treatment is rarely initiated. We are unaware of studies that evaluated the efficacy of brief cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) for this population. Aim: Evaluate the efficacy of two brief CBT interventions in PD patients presenting to the ED with chest pain. Method: Fifty-eight PD patients were assigned to either a 1-session CBT-based panic management intervention (PMI) (n = 24), a 7-session CBT intervention (n = 19), or a usual-care control condition (n = 15). A structured diagnostic interview and self-reported questionnaires were administered at pre-test, post-test, 3- and 6-month follow-ups. Results: Statistical analysis showed significant reduction in PD severity following both interventions compared to usual care control condition, but with neither showing superiority compared to the other. Conclusions: CBT-based interventions as brief as a single session initiated within 2 weeks after an ED visit for chest pain appear to be effective for PD. Given the high prevalence of PD in emergency care settings, greater efforts should be made to implement these interventions in the ED and/or primary care setting.

This work presents a one-dimensional model of a moving bed bioreactor (MBBR) process designed for the removal of nitrogen from raw wastewaters. A comprehensive experimental strategy was deployed at a semi-industrial pilot-scale plant fed with a municipal wastewater operated at 10–12 °C, and surface loading rates of 1–2 g filtered COD/m2 d and 0.4–0.55 g NH4-N/m2 d. Data were collected on influent/effluent composition, and on measurement of key variables or parameters (biofilm mass and maximal thickness, thickness of the limit liquid layer, maximal nitrification rate, oxygen mass transfer coefficient). Based on time-course variations in these variables, the MBBR model was calibrated at two time-scales and magnitudes of dynamic conditions, i.e., short-term (4 days) calibration under dynamic conditions and long-term (33 days) calibration, and for three types of carriers. A set of parameters suitable for the conditions was proposed, and the calibrated parameter set is able to simulate the timecourse change of nitrogen forms in the effluent of the MBBR tanks, under the tested operated conditions. Parameters linked to diffusion had a strong influence on how robustly the model is able to accurately reproduce time-course changes in effluent quality. Then the model was used to optimize the operations of MBBR layout. It was shown that the main optimization track consists of the limitation of the aeration supply without changing the overall performance of the process. Further work would investigate the influence of the hydrodynamic conditions onto the thickness of the limit liquid layer and the ‘‘apparent’’ diffusion coefficient in the biofilm parameters.

The integrated fixed-film activated sludge (IFAS) process is being increasingly used to enhance nitrogen removal for former activated sludge systems. The aim of this work is to evaluate a numerical model of a new nitrifying/denitrifying IFAS configuration. It consists of two carrier-free reactors (anoxic and aerobic) and one IFAS reactor with a filling ratio of 43% of carriers, followed by a clarifier. Simulations were carried out with GPS-X involving the nitrification reaction combined with a 1D heterogeneous biofilm model, including attachment/detachment processes. An original iterative calibration protocol was created comprising four steps and nine actions. Experimental campaigns were carried out to collect data on the pilot in operation, specifically for modelling purpose. The model used was able to predict properly the variations of the activated sludge (bulk) and the biofilm masses, the nitrification rates of both the activated sludge and the biofilm, and the nitrogen concentration in the effluent for short (4–10 days) and long (300 days) simulation runs. A calibrated parameter set is proposed (biokinetics, detachment, diffusion) related to the activated sludge, the biofilm and the effluent variables to enhance the model prediction on hourly and daily data sets.