Long-Term Changes in Ionospheric Climate in Terms of foF2

There is not only space weather; there is also space climate. Space climate includes the ionospheric climate, which is affected by long-term trends in the ionosphere. One of the most important ionospheric parameters is the critical frequency of the ionospheric F2 layer, foF2, which corresponds to the maximum ionospheric electron density, NmF2. Observational data series of foF2 have been collected at some stations for as long as over 60 years and continents are relatively well covered by a network of ionosondes, instruments that measure, among others, foF2. Trends in foF2 are relatively weak. The main global driver of long-term trends in foF2 is the increasing concentration of greenhouse gases, namely CO2, in the atmosphere. The impact of the other important trend driver, the secular change in the Earth’s main magnetic field, is very regional, being positive in some regions, negative in others, and neither in the rest. There are various sources of uncertainty in foF2 trends. One is the inhomogeneity of long foF2 data series. The main driver of year-to-year changes in foF2 is the quasi-eleven-year solar cycle. The removal of its effect is another source of uncertainty. Different methods might provide somewhat different strengths among trends in foF2. All this is briefly reviewed in the paper.

Biological Well-Being during the “Economic Miracle” in Spain: Height, Weight and Body Mass Index of Conscripts in the City of Madrid, 1955–1974

Typifying historical populations using anthropometric indicators such as height, BMI and weight allows for an analysis of the prevalence of obesity and malnutrition. This study evaluates secular changes in height, weight and body mass for men cohorts at 21 years old, born between 1934 and 1954 who were called up between 1955 and 1974, in the city of Madrid, Spain. In this study we prove the hypothesis that anthropometric variables increase thanks to improvement in diet and significant investments in hygiene and health infrastructure during the 1960s. The results of our analysis show a positive secular change in the trends for height (an increase of 4.67 cm), weight (6.400 kg) and BMI (0.90 Kg/m2), the result of a recovery in standards of living following the war and the autarchy of the 1940s. We also observed a slight trend towards obesity and a reduction in underweight categories at the end of the period is also observed. In conclusion, the secular trends of anthropometric variables in the city of Madrid reflect the recovery of living standards after the deterioration of the nutritional status suffered during the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) and the deprivation of the autarchic period.

Modernization and Culture in García Márquez’s Caribbean

Gabriel García Márquez offers rich accounts of the Colombian Caribbean’s experience with the historical forces of progress that test traditional societies and their predominant values and attitudes. Colombian historiography identifies various broad stages of secular change in the Caribbean since independence: (1) the emergence of enclave economies, (2) the arrival of people fleeing violence, (3) the foundation of new settlements in the hinterland, (4) the rapid industrialization of Barranquilla, and (5) the region’s full integration into the national project. García Márquez’s fictional towns and generations exist in phases 1–4, which roughly correspond with one hundred years of postindependence history. His Caribbean, like the real one, follows a messy path to modernity where traditional values are tested. It has fuzzy political, cultural, and economic borders and is governed by overlapping elites who, unintentionally, leave vacuums of power for the reproduction of morally loose, intercultural, and miscegenated societies. These societies see the dominant civilization and are familiar with its technologies and social projects. News of progress comes to them in leaf storms, books of knowledge brought by gypsies, trains arriving out of nowhere, or the speeches of shady politicians. This article argues that such broad changes shape values and attitudes as people adapt to new patterns of organization. In the standard modernization account, traditional values (i.e., survival/family orientation) give way to secular values (i.e., self-expression/trust in anonymous institutions). But this cultural transition is neither smooth nor complete. Rather, traditional and secular values coexist in constant tension, and García Márquez shows how.

The Capitanian Minimum: A Unique Sr Isotope Beacon of the Latest Paleozoic Seawater

The long-term trend in the Paleozoic seawater 87Sr/86Sr was punctuated by a unique episode called the “Capitanian minimum” at the end of the Guadalupian (Permian; ca. 260 Ma). This article reviews the nature and timing of this major turning point in seawater Sr isotope composition (87Sr/86Sr, δ88Sr) immediately before the Paleozoic-Mesozoic boundary (ca. 252 Ma). The lowest value of seawater 87Sr/86Sr (0.7068) in the Capitanian and the subsequent rapid increase at an unusually high rate likely originated from a significant change in continental flux with highly radiogenic Sr. The assembly of the supercontinent Pangea and its subsequent mantle plume-induced breakup were responsible for the overall secular change throughout the Phanerozoic; nonetheless, short-term fluctuations were superimposed by global climate changes. Regarding the unidirectional decrease in Sr isotope values during the early-middle Permian and the Capitanian minimum, the suppression of continental flux was driven by the assembly of Pangea and by climate change with glaciation. In contrast, the extremely rapid increase in Sr isotope values during the Lopingian-early Triassic was induced by global warming. The unique trend change in seawater Sr isotope signatures across the Guadalupian-Lopingian Boundary (GLB) needs to be explained in relation to the unusual climate change associated with a major extinction around the GLB.

Observed Auroral Ovals Secular Variation Inferred from Auroral Boundary Data

We analyze the auroral boundary corrected geomagnetic latitude provided by the Auroral Boundary Index (ABI) database to estimate long-term changes of core origin in the area enclosed by this boundary during 1983–2016. We design a four-step filtering process to minimize the solar contribution to the auroral boundary temporal variation for the northern and southern hemispheres. This process includes filtering geomagnetic and solar activity effects, removal of high-frequency signal, and additional removal of a ~20–30-year dominant solar periodicity. Comparison of our results with the secular change of auroral plus polar cap areas obtained using a simple model of the magnetosphere and a geomagnetic core field model reveals a decent agreement, with area increase/decrease in the southern/northern hemisphere respectively for both observations and model. This encouraging agreement provides observational evidence for the surprising recent decrease of the auroral zone area.

Secular Change in Body Size and Somatotype of Indonesian Children aged 7–15 Years (1999–2019)

BACKGROUND: Secular changes assessment can help identifying the quality of health, wealth, and nutrition among populations and provide suggestions for policymakers. AIM: To examine the secular changes in weight, height, body mass index, and somatotype in Indonesian children between 1999 and 2019. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted in 1999 and 2019 on 2021 children aged 7–15 years in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Anthropometric measurements including height, weight, humerus and femur breadths, circumferences of upper arm and calf; skinfold thickness of triceps, subscapular, suprailiac, and calf were measured. Body mass index (BMI) was calculated as kg/m2. Somatotype components were defined by the Carter-Heath method. Statistical analyses used were three-ways ANOVA and least significant difference post hoc tests. RESULTS: Significant differences for boys and girls were found for height, weight, BMI, and three components of somatotype across the 2-time points. The boys in period 2019 were the tallest and girls were the heaviest, and for BMI, the highest value was observed in 2019 (girls). The children in the 1999 period had somatotype values 3.3 - 3.3 - 3.7 (boys) and 3.9 - 3.0 - 3.5 (girls), while in the 2019 period the somatotype values for boys were 3.5 - 4.5 - 3.0 and 4.3 - 4.1 - 2.4 for girls. CONCLUSION: In general, based on the order of age, there is a similar pattern between children in the two periods. Among Indonesian children from 1999 to 2019, there were positive trends in weight, BMI, endomorph, and mesomorph components, whereas a negative trend for the ectomorph component.

Energy estimation of high-energy particles associated with the SS 433/W 50 system through radio observation at 1.4 GHz

The radio nebula W 50 is a unique object interacting with the jets of the microquasar SS 433. The SS 433/W 50 system is a good target for investigating the energy of cosmic-ray particles accelerated by galactic jets. We report observations of the radio nebula W 50 conducted with the National Science Foundation’s Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array in the L band (1.0–2.0 GHz). We investigate the secular change of W 50 on the basis of the observations in 1984, 1996, and 2017, and find that most of its structures were stable for 33 yr. We revise the upper-limit velocity of the eastern terminal filament by half to 0.023 c, assuming a distance of 5.5 kpc. We also analyze observational data from the Arecibo Observatory 305 m telescope and identify the H i cavity around W 50 in the velocity range 33.77–55.85 km s−1. From this result, we estimate the maximum energy of the cosmic-ray protons accelerated by the jet terminal region to be above 1015.5 eV. We also use the luminosity of the gamma-rays in the range 0.5–10 GeV to estimate the total energy of accelerated protons below 5.2 × 1048 erg.