Tracing ancient solar cycles with tree rings and radiocarbon in the first millennium BCE.

The Sun drives Earth's energy systems, influencing weather, ocean currents, and agricultural productivity. Understanding solar variability is critical, but direct observations are limited to 400 years of sunspot records. To extend this timeline, cosmic ray-produced radionuclides like C in tree-rings provide invaluable insights.

When Institutions Harm Those Who Depend on Them: A Scoping Review of Institutional Betrayal.

The term institutional betrayal (Smith and Freyd, 2014) builds on the conceptual framework of betrayal trauma theory (see Freyd, 1996) to describe the ways that institutions (e.g., universities, workplaces) fail to take appropriate steps to prevent and/or respond appropriately to interpersonal trauma.

Simultaneous Determination of Transuranium Radionuclides for Nuclear Forensics by Compact Accelerator Mass Spectrometry.

Accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) is one of the most sensitive techniques used to measure the long-lived actinides. This is particularly of interest for determination of ultra-trace transuranium nuclides and their isotopic fingerprints for nuclear forensics. In this work, a new method was developed for simultaneous determination of transuranium nuclides (Np, Pu, Am, and Cm isotopes) by using 300 kV AMS after a sequential chemical separation of each group of actinides.

Time-Integrated Bioavailability Proxy for Actinides in a Contaminated Estuary.

Actinides accumulate within aquatic biota in concentrations several orders of magnitude higher than in the seawater [the concentration factor (CF)], presenting an elevated radiological and biotoxicological risk to human consumers. CFs currently vary widely for the same radionuclide and species, which limits the accuracy of the modeled radiation dose to the public through seafood consumption. We propose that CFs will show less dispersion if calculated using a time-integrated measure of the labile (bioavailable) fraction instead of a specific spot sample of bulk water.

Bioavailable actinide fluxes to the Irish Sea from Sellafield-labelled sediments.

Nuclear discharges to the oceans have given rise to significant accumulations of radionuclides in sediments which can later remobilise back into the water column. A continuing supply of radionuclides to aquatic organisms and the human food chain can therefore exist, despite the absence of ongoing nuclear discharges. Radionuclide remobilisation from sediment is consequently a critical component of the modelled radiation dose to the public.

Passive Sampling Tool for Actinides in Spent Nuclear Fuel Pools.

Spent nuclear fuel must be carefully managed to prevent pollution of the environment with radionuclides. Within the framework of correct radioactive waste management, spent fuel rods are stored in cooling pools to allow short-lived fission products to decay. If fuel rods leak, they liberate radionuclides into the cooling water; therefore, it is essential to determine radionuclide concentrations in the pool water for monitoring purposes and to plan the decommissioning process.

The role of short-time work and discretionary policy measures in mitigating the effects of the COVID-19 crisis in Germany.

In this paper, we investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on German household income in 2020 using a micro-level approach. We combine a microsimulation model with novel labour market transition techniques to simulate the COVID-19 shock on the German labour market. We find the consequences of the labour market shock to be highly regressive with a strong impact on the poorest households.

In-phase millennial-scale glacier changes in the tropics and North Atlantic regions during the Holocene.

Based on new and published cosmic-ray exposure chronologies, we show that glacier extent in the tropical Andes and the north Atlantic regions (TANAR) varied in-phase on millennial timescales during the Holocene, distinct from other regions. Glaciers experienced an early Holocene maximum extent, followed by a strong mid-Holocene retreat and a re-advance in the late Holocene. We further explore the potential forcing of TANAR glacier variations using transient climate simulations.

Tree-rings reveal two strong solar proton events in 7176 and 5259 BCE.

The Sun sporadically produces eruptive events leading to intense fluxes of solar energetic particles (SEPs) that dramatically disrupt the near-Earth radiation environment. Such events have been directly studied for the last decades but little is known about the occurrence and magnitude of rare, extreme SEP events. Presently, a few events that produced measurable signals in cosmogenic radionuclides such as C, Be and Cl have been found.

COVID-19 and (gender) inequality in income: the impact of discretionary policy measures in Austria.

This paper analyzes the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on household income in Austria, using detailed administrative labor market data, in combination with micro-simulation techniques that enable specific labor market transitions to be modeled. We find that discretionary fiscal policy measures in Austria are key to counteracting the inequality- and poverty-enhancing effect of COVID-19. Additionally, we find that females tend to experience a greater loss in terms of market income.

Cosmogenic radionuclides reveal an extreme solar particle storm near a solar minimum 9125 years BP.

During solar storms, the Sun expels large amounts of energetic particles (SEP) that can react with the Earth's atmospheric constituents and produce cosmogenic radionuclides such as C, Be and Cl. Here we present Be and Cl data measured in ice cores from Greenland and Antarctica. The data consistently show one of the largest Be and Cl production peaks detected so far, most likely produced by an extreme SEP event that hit Earth 9125 years BP (before present, i.

U/U Analysis of Femtograms of U by MC-ICPMS.

A new analytical method has been developed to determine atomic U/U ratios in samples with only femtograms of U using a secondary electron multiplier (SEM) on a multicollector high-resolution inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (MC-ICPMS). The abundance sensitivity of the U tail at 236 atomic mass unit is reduced from 10 to 10 with the deployment of a retarding potential quadrupole lens. This method features the reduction of polyatomic interferences from hydride, nitride, lead, and plutonium and the evaluation of nonlinear SEM behavior.

The impact of COVID-19 on households´ income in the EU.

Unlabelled: This analysis makes use of economic forecasts for 2020 issued by the European Commission in Autumn 2019 and Spring 2020, and of a counterfactual under a no-policy change assumption, to analyse the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on EU households´ income. Additionally, our analysis assesses the cushioning effect of discretionary fiscal policy measures taken by the EU Member States. We find that the COVID-19 pandemic is likely to affect significantly households' disposable income in the EU, with lower income households being more severely hit.

Cosmogenic in situ C-Be reveals abrupt Late Holocene soil loss in the Andean Altiplano.

Soil sustainability is reflected in a long-term balance between soil production and erosion for a given climate and geology. Here we evaluate soil sustainability in the Andean Altiplano where accelerated erosion has been linked to wetter climate from 4.5 ka and the rise of Neolithic agropastoralism in the millennium that followed.

Local and global trace plutonium contributions in fast breeder legacy soils.

Trace-level plutonium in the environment often comprises local and global contributions, and is usually anthropogenic in origin. Here, we report estimates of local and global contributions to trace-level plutonium in soil from a former, fast-breeder reactor site. The measured Pu/Pu ratio is anomalously low, as per the reduced Pu yield expected in plutonium bred with fast neutrons.

Lagged atmospheric circulation response in the Black Sea region to Greenland Interstadial 10.

Northern Hemispheric high-latitude climate variations during the last glacial are expected to propagate globally in a complex way. Investigating the evolution of these variations requires a precise synchronization of the considered environmental archives. Aligning the globally common production rate variations of the cosmogenic radionuclide Be in different archives provides a tool for such synchronizations.

U, Np and Pu as complementary fingerprints of radioactiveeffluents in the western Mediterranean Sea and in the Canada Basin (Arctic Ocean).

The aim of this study was to assess the potential of combining the conservatively behaving anthropogenic radionuclides U and Np to gain information on the origin of water masses tagged with liquid effluents from Nuclear Reprocessing Plants. This work includes samples collected from three full-depth water columns in two areas: i) the Arctic Ocean, where Atlantic waters carry the signal of Sellafield (United Kingdom) and La Hague (France) nuclear reprocessing facilities; and ii) the western Mediterranean Sea, directly impacted by Marcoule reprocessing plant (France). This work is complemented by the study of the particle-reactive Pu isotopes as an additional fingerprint of the source region.

Impact of nuclear fuel reprocessing on the temporal evolution of marine radiocarbon.

Radiocarbon (C) is broadly used in oceanography to determine water ages, trace water circulation, and develop sediment- and sclerochronologies. These applications require an accurate knowledge of marine C levels, which have been largely perturbed by human activities. Globally during the last century the above-ground nuclear weapon testings have been the primary cause of the increased atmospheric and marine C.

Unravelling 5 decades of anthropogenic U discharge from nuclear reprocessing plants.

Marine biogenic materials such as corals, shells, or seaweed have long been recognized as recorders of environmental conditions. Here, the bivalve Cerastoderma edule is used for the first time as a recorder of past seawater contamination with anthropogenic uranium, specifically U. Several studies have employed the authorized radioactive releases, including U, from nuclear reprocessing plants in La Hague, France, into the English Channel, and Sellafield, England, into the Irish Sea, to trace Atlantic waters and to understand recent climate induced circulation changes in the Arctic Ocean.

Multiradionuclide evidence for an extreme solar proton event around 2,610 B.P. (∼660 BC).

Recently, it has been confirmed that extreme solar proton events can lead to significantly increased atmospheric production rates of cosmogenic radionuclides. Evidence of such events is recorded in annually resolved natural archives, such as tree rings [carbon-14 (C)] and ice cores [beryllium-10 (Be), chlorine-36 (Cl)]. Here, we show evidence for an extreme solar event around 2,610 years B.

Tree rings reveal globally coherent signature of cosmogenic radiocarbon events in 774 and 993 CE.

Though tree-ring chronologies are annually resolved, their dating has never been independently validated at the global scale. Moreover, it is unknown if atmospheric radiocarbon enrichment events of cosmogenic origin leave spatiotemporally consistent fingerprints. Here we measure the C content in 484 individual tree rings formed in the periods 770-780 and 990-1000 CE.

Presence of U and Pu in soils from Southern Hemisphere.

U, Pu and Pu are present in soils mainly as a result of the local- and global-fallout from the atmospheric nuclear weapons tests carried out mainly in the 1950's and 1960's. In this work we provide new data on the presence of U and Pu in surface soils (i.e.

Disentangling the Cycle: Potential Mediators and Moderators in the Intergenerational Transmission of Parent-Child Aggression.

Although a cycle of harsh and abusive parenting has been recognized for decades, this cycle is not inevitable. Indeed, the mechanisms underlying such patterns, and the resources parents may access to disrupt this cycle, require further study. Research investigating those processes has either relied on cross-sectional designs or largely assessed mediators or moderators at one time point.