scholarly journals Can irregularities of solar proxies help understand quasi-biennial solar variations?

2014 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 155-192 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Shapoval ◽  
J. L. Le Mouël ◽  
M. Shnirman ◽  
V. Courtillot

Abstract. We define, calculate and analyze irregularity indices λWN and λaa of daily series of sunspot number WN and geomagnetic index aa as a function of increasing smoothing from N = 162 to 648 days. The irregularity indices λ are computed within 4 year sliding windows, with embedding dimensions m = 1 and 2. λWN and λaa display Schwabe cycles with sharp peaks not only at cycle maxima but also at minima: we call the resulting ~5.5 year variations "half Schwabe variations" (HSV). The mean of λWN undergoes a downward step and the amplitude of its variations strongly decreases around 1930. We observe changes in the ratio R of the mean amplitude of λ peaks at solar cycle minima with respect to peaks at solar maxima as a function of date, embedding dimension and importantly smoothing parameter N. We identify two distinct regimes, called Q1 and Q2, defined mainly by the evolution of R as a function of N: Q1, with increasing HSV behavior and R value as N is increased, occurs before 1915–1930 and Q2, with decreasing HSV behavior and R value as N is increased, occurs after ~1975. We attempt to account for these observations with an autoregressive (order 1) model with Poissonian noise and a mean modulated by two sine waves of periods T1 and T2 (T1 = 11 years, and intermediate T2 is tuned to mimic quasi-biennial oscillations QBO). The model can generate both Q1 and Q2 regimes. When m = 1, HSV appears in the absence of T2 variations. When m = 2, Q1 occurs when T2 variations are present, whereas Q2 occurs when T2 variations are suppressed. We propose that the HSV behavior of the irregularity index of WN may be linked to the presence of strong QBO before 1915–1930, a transition and their disappearance around 1975, corresponding to a change in regime of solar activity.

2014 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 797-813 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Shapoval ◽  
J. L. Le Mouël ◽  
M. Shnirman ◽  
V. Courtillot

Abstract. We define, calculate and analyze irregularity indices λISSN of daily series of the International Sunspot Number ISSN as a function of increasing smoothing from N = 162 to 648 days. The irregularity indices λ are computed within 4-year sliding windows, with embedding dimensions m = 1 and 2. λISSN displays Schwabe cycles with ~5.5-year variations ("half Schwabe variations" HSV). The mean of λISSN undergoes a downward step and the amplitude of its variations strongly decreases around 1930. We observe changes in the ratio R of the mean amplitude of λ peaks at solar cycle minima with respect to peaks at solar maxima as a function of date, embedding dimension and, importantly, smoothing parameter N. We identify two distinct regimes, called Q1 and Q2, defined mainly by the evolution of R as a function of N: Q1, with increasing HSV behavior and R value as N is increased, occurs before 1915–1930; and Q2, with decreasing HSV behavior and R value as N is increased, occurs after ~1975. We attempt to account for these observations with an autoregressive (order 1) model with Poissonian noise and a mean modulated by two sine waves of periods T1 and T2 (T1 = 11 years, and intermediate T2 is tuned to mimic quasi-biennial oscillations QBO). The model can generate both Q1 and Q2 regimes. When m = 1, HSV appears in the absence of T2 variations. When m = 2, Q1 occurs when T2 variations are present, whereas Q2 occurs when T2 variations are suppressed. We propose that the HSV behavior of the irregularity index of ISSN may be linked to the presence of strong QBO before 1915–1930, a transition and their disappearance around 1975, corresponding to a change in regime of solar activity.


2002 ◽  
Vol 20 (11) ◽  
pp. 1843-1850 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Unnikrishnan ◽  
R. Balachandran Nair ◽  
C. Venugopal

Abstract. The main characteristics of night-time enhancements in TEC during magnetic storms are compared with those during quiet nights for different seasons and solar activity conditions at Palehua, a low latitude station during the period 1980–1989. We find that the mean amplitude has both a seasonal and solar activity dependence: in winter, the values are higher for weak storms as compared to those during quiet nights and increase with an increase in solar activity. In summer, the mean amplitude values during weak storms and quiet nights are almost equal. But during equinox, the mean amplitude values for quiet nights are greater than those during weak storms. The mean half-amplitude duration is higher during weak storms as compared to that during quiet nights in summer. However, during winter and equinox, the durations are almost equal for both quiet and weak storm nights. For the mean half-amplitude duration, the quiet night values for all the seasons and equinoctial weak storm values increase with an increase in solar activity. The occurrence frequency (in percent) of TEC enhancement during weak storms is greater than during quiet nights for all seasons. The mean amplitude, the mean half-amplitude duration and the occurrence frequency (in percent) of TEC enhancement values are higher during major storms as compared to those during quiet nights. The above parameters have their highest values during pre-midnight hours. From the data analysed, this behaviour is true in the case of major storms also.Key words. Ionosphere (ionospheric disturbances; plasma convection) Magnetospheric physics (storms and substorms)


2014 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-87
Author(s):  
Maciej Rachwał ◽  
Justyna Drzał-Grabiec ◽  
Katarzyna Walicka-Cupryś ◽  
Aleksandra Truszczyńska

Abstract Background: The post-mastectomy changes to the locomotor system are related to the scar and adhesion or to the lymphatic edema after amputation which, in turn, lead to local and global distraction of the work of the muscles. These changes lead to body statics disturbance that changes the projection of the center of gravity and worsens motor response due to changing of the muscle sensitivity. Objective: The aim of the study was to evaluate the static balance of women after undergoing mastectomy. Methods: The study included 150 women, including 75 who underwent mastectomy (mean age: 60±7.6) years, mean body mass index (BMI): 26 (±3.6) kg/m2) and 75 who were placed in the control group with matched age and BMI. The study was conducted using a tensometric platform. Results: Statistically significant differences were found for almost all parameters between the post-mastectomy group and group of healthy women, regarding center of foot pressure (COP) path length in the Y and X axes and the mean amplitude of COP. Conclusions: First, the findings revealed that balance in post-mastectomy women is significantly better than in the control group. Second, physiotherapeutic treatment of post-mastectomy women may have improved their posture stability compared with their peers.


1969 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 477-495 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. A. Wooding

Waves at an unstable horizontal interface between two fluids moving vertically through a saturated porous medium are observed to grow rapidly to become fingers (i.e. the amplitude greatly exceeds the wavelength). For a diffusing interface, in experiments using a Hele-Shaw cell, the mean amplitude taken over many fingers grows approximately as (time)2, followed by a transition to a growth proportional to time. Correspondingly, the mean wave-number decreases approximately as (time)−½. Because of the rapid increase in amplitude, longitudinal dispersion ultimately becomes negligible relative to wave growth. To represent the observed quantities at large time, the transport equation is suitably weighted and averaged over the horizontal plane. Hyperbolic equations result, and the ascending and descending zones containing the fronts of the fingers are replaced by discontinuities. These averaged equations form an unclosed set, but closure is achieved by assuming a law for the mean wave-number based on similarity. It is found that the mean amplitude is fairly insensitive to changes in wave-number. Numerical solutions of the averaged equations give more detailed information about the growth behaviour, in excellent agreement with the similarity results and with the Hele-Shaw experiments.


2009 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 014006 ◽  
Author(s):  
A D Erlykin ◽  
T Sloan ◽  
A W Wolfendale

2000 ◽  
Vol 278 (3) ◽  
pp. E413-E420 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Simon ◽  
L. Weibel ◽  
G. Brandenberger

To determine whether the ultradian and circadian rhythms of glucose and insulin secretion rate (ISR) are adapted to their permanent nocturnal schedule, eight night workers were studied during their usual 24-h cycle with continuous enteral nutrition and a 10-min blood sampling procedure and were compared with 8 day-active subjects studied once with nocturnal sleep and once with an acute 8-h-shifted sleep. The mean 24-h glucose and ISR levels were similar in the three experiments. The duration and the number of the ultradian oscillations were influenced neither by the time of day nor by the sleep condition or its shift, but their mean amplitude increased during sleep whenever it occurred. In day-active subjects, glucose and ISR levels were high during nighttime sleep and then decreased to a minimum in the afternoon. After the acute sleep shift, the glucose and ISR rhythms were split in a biphasic pattern with a slight increase during the night of deprivation and another during daytime sleep. In night workers, the glucose and ISR peak levels exhibited an 8-h shift in accordance with the sleep shift, but the onset of the glucose rise underwent a shift of only 6 h and the sleep-related amplification of the glucose and ISR oscillations did not occur simultaneously. These results demonstrate that despite a predominant influence of sleep, the 24-h glucose and ISR rhythms are only partially adapted in permanent night workers.


1997 ◽  
Vol 77 (4) ◽  
pp. 1939-1949 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohamed Ouardouz ◽  
Jean-Claude Lacaille

Ouardouz, Mohamed and Jean-Claude Lacaille. Properties of unitary IPSCs in hippocampal pyramidal cells originating from different types of interneurons in young rats. J. Neurophysiol. 77: 1939–1949, 1997. Whole cell recordings were used in hippocampal slices of young rats to examine unitary inhibitory postsynaptic currents (uIPSCs) evoked in CA1 pyramidal cells at room temperature. Loose cell-attached stimulation was applied to activate single interneurons of different subtypes located in stratum oriens (OR), near stratum pyramidale (PYR), and at the border of stratum radiatum and lacunosum-moleculare (LM). uIPSCs evoked by stimulation of PYR and OR interneurons had similar onset latency, rise time, peak amplitude, and decay. In contrast, uIPSCs elicited by activation of LM interneurons were significantly smaller in amplitude and had a slower time course. The mean reversal potential of uIPSCs was −53.1 ± 2.1 (SE) mV during recordings with intracellular solution containing potassium gluconate. With the use of recording solution containing the potassium channel blocker cesium, the reversal potential of uIPSCs was not significantly different (−58.5 ± 2.6 mV), suggesting that these synaptic currents were not mediated by potassium conductances. Bath application of the γ-aminobutyric acid-A (GABAA) receptor antagonist bicuculline (25 μM) reversibly blocked uIPSCs evoked by stimulation of all interneuron subtypes. In bicuculline, the mean peak amplitude of uIPSCs recorded with potassium gluconate was reduced to 3.5 ± 4.4% of control ( n = 7). Similarly, with cesium methanesulfonate, the mean amplitude in bicuculline was 2.9 ± 3.1% of control ( n = 13). Application of the GABAB receptor antagonist CGP 55845A (5 μM) resulted in a significant and reversible increase in the mean amplitude of uIPSCs recorded with cesium-containing intracellular solution. Thus uIPSCs from all cell types appeared under tonic presynaptic inhibition by GABAB receptors. Paired stimulation of individual interneurons at 100- to 200-ms intervals did not result in paired pulse depression of uIPSCs. For individual responses, a significant negative correlation was observed between the amplitude of the first and second uIPSCs. A significant paired pulse facilitation (154.0 ± 8.0%) was observed when the first uIPSC was smaller than the mean of all first uIPSCs. A small, but not significant, paired pulse depression (90.8 ± 4.0%) was found when the first uIPSC was larger than the mean of all first uIPSCs. Our results indicate that these different subtypes of hippocampal interneurons generate Cl−-mediated GABAA uIPSCs. uIPSCs originating from different types of interneurons may have heterogeneous properties and may be subject to tonic presynaptic inhibition via heterosynaptic GABAB receptors. These results suggest a specialization of function for inhibitory interneurons and point to complex presynaptic modulation of interneuron function.


1979 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 619-624 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jin Ong ◽  
Gene A. Harman

Three types of eye movements, saccadic, reading, and pursuit, were recorded from 6 college subjects, two in each by the electrooculographic and photoelectric methods simultaneously. A deviation index (DI), which is the standard deviation divided by the mean, was devised to compare the precision of recording amplitude deflection, and a proportion index (PI), which is M1 divided by M2, was devised to compare the mean amplitude indirectly between these two methods. Results showed that the proportion indexes of three types of eye movements were comparable, and the mean index of 0.54 indicated that the amplification in the electrooculographic method was about half as much as that in the photoelectric. The mean deviation index of 0.132 vs 0.135 was, again, comparable, meaning that these two methods of recording amplitude deflections are of about the same degree of magnitude and precision. Certain qualitative differences regarding the amplitude and velocity peak deflection between these two methods were also noted.


2013 ◽  
Vol 477-478 ◽  
pp. 217-220
Author(s):  
Wen Bo He ◽  
Yuan Wang ◽  
Xiao Yan Gong

A pulsatile circulation system has been built to simulate aortic blood flow. The system has both upstream and downstream compliances and resistances to simulate the elasticity and resistances of blood circulation system. Influences of the compliances and resistances on the pulsatile pressure waveforms have been systematically studied using this system. We found that in absence of the compliances and the downstream resistance, it results in an oversize negative pulsation to the pressure waveforms. The downstream resistance hardly affects the structure of the pressure waveforms, whereas the mean amplitude of pressure increases along with the downstream resistance. The compliance can reduce the peak value of the pressure, which is unrelated to the location of the compliance but related to the elasticity in the system. With fixed upstream system elasticity, the pressure waveform is more stable.


2002 ◽  
Vol 88 (3) ◽  
pp. 1177-1184 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. H. Westgaard ◽  
P. Bonato ◽  
K. A. Holte

The surface electromyographic (EMG) signal from right and left trapezius muscles and the heart rate were recorded over 24 h in 27 healthy female subjects. The root-mean-square (RMS) value of the surface EMG signals and the heartbeat interval time series were calculated with a time resolution of 0.2 s. The EMG activity during sleep showed long periods with stable mean amplitude, modulated by rhythmic components in the frequency range 0.05–0.2 Hz. The ratio between the amplitude of the oscillatory components and the mean amplitude of the EMG signal was approximately constant over the range within which the phenomenon was observed, corresponding to a peak-to-peak oscillatory amplitude of ∼10% of the mean amplitude. The duration of the periods with stable mean amplitude ranged from a few minutes to ∼1 h, usually interrupted by a sudden change in the activity level or by cessation of the muscle activity. Right and left trapezius muscles presented the same pattern of FM. In supplementary experiments, rhythmic muscle activity pattern was also demonstrated in the upper extremity muscles of deltoid, biceps, and forearm flexor muscles. There was no apparent association between the rhythmic components in the muscle activity pattern and the heart rate variability. To our knowledge, this is the first time that the above-described pattern of EMG activity during sleep is documented. On reanalysis of earlier recorded trapezius motor unit firing pattern in experiments on awake subjects in a situation with mental stress, low-FM of firing with similar frequency content was detected. Possible sources of rhythmic excitation of trapezius motoneurons include slow-wave cortical oscillations represented in descending cortico-spinal pathways, and/or activation by monoaminergic pathways originating in the brain stem reticular formation. The analysis of muscle activity patterns may provide an important new tool to study neural mechanisms in human sleep.


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