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The authors present four special cases of electric current action on the body, rarely encountered in medico-legal practice. The first case, a violent death caused by atmospheric electric current (lightning), presents the particularity of skin lesions typical for this rare form of electrocution. The second case presents a "hidden" electrical mark, produced by direct, bipolar (biphasic) contact with an electrical conductor, not initially evident by medico-legal and forensic investigation conducted at the crime scene, although there was a clear history of electrocution. The electrical mark was discovered at autopsy in an atypical, hidden area on the vestibular side of the lips. The third case, an electrocution by voltaic arc, also rarely seen in medico-legal and forensic practice, attracts attention due to the particularities of skin lesions (metalization). The fourth case is a suicide by electrocution with unisolated electrical conductors tied to the right hand and left leg and plugged into the electrical network. The improvised electrical installation was equipped with a switch that was operated by the suicidal person with his right hand. The conclusion is that, although electrocution is a common cause of violent death, it must be treated with great care both by the criminalist and the forensic pathologist, since some particular, atypical aspects can lead to confusion and diagnostic errors. In such cases, the close collaboration between forensics and legal medicine is essential, each of the specialists providing important information for the correct instrumentation of the case and for finding out the truth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article considers the role of thunder in the production of rain by gravitational processes. A previous numerical work has shown that a thunder event also numerically, the coalescence effects produced by both thunderclaps and gravity in a cumulus congestus cloud that had more than four times the liquid content of that lean cloud. Those effects are studied separately and in tandem, using the same set of assumptions. Therefore, the results presented here provide a basis for the comparison of the effectiveness of each type to produce droplet growth in thunderclouds. For thunder alone, these results show that a small number of thunderclaps can in less than 2 s produce mean size growths larger than 50%. For gravity alone, it is found that after 60 s, the longest time considered, gravitational coalescence increases the mean diameter of the original droplet size distribution by 20%. The tandem study considers the effects produced by gravitation on the droplet size distribution that resulted after the original distribution was modified by four or five thunderclaps. Significant increases are found in both cases. For four claps it was found that the mean size increased by 71% in 60 s. The corresponding growth for five claps was slightly larger than 100%. These substantial increases also show that the growths produced by the thunderclaps are not simply additive, but significantly accelerate those produced by gravitation. This acceleration implies that the droplet size growths produced by thunderclaps can substantially decrease the time required by gravitational coagulation to produce raindrops in rainclouds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lightning is a ubiquitous source of infrasound. To study lightning flashes, thunder measurement efficiently complements electromagnetic observation. Using acoustical arrays, time delays between sensors inform on the direction of sound arrival, while the difference between emission time and sound arrival provides the source distance. Combining the two allows a geometrical reconstruction of individual lightning flashes, each viewed as a set of sound point sources. The measured sound amplitude can also be back‐propagated, compensating for absorption and density stratification. This allows to evaluate the acoustical power of each detected source, and the total power of an individual flash. This methodology is carried out to analyze data from two campaigns in Southern continental France (HyMeX‐SOP1, 2012) and in Corsica (EXAEDRE, 2018). Acoustic reconstruction is compared with ground and altitude localizations provided respectively by electromagnetic low frequency range Lightning Location Systems (LLS), and very high frequency range Lightning Mapping Array (LMA). In Corsica, power from reconstructed sources is also forward‐propagated toward several isolated microphones, and compared to measured signal, giving an additional validation of the power evaluation. Seventy eight events from the two campaigns are analyzed, including negative and positive cloud‐to‐ground discharges and intracloud ones. The analysis outlines the method efficiency and the strong variability of lightning as sound sources in terms of both power spatial distribution and overall value. Lastly, the correlation of this later with electrical parameters is investigated, either peak current (provided by LLS) or Charge Moment Change, resulting from broadband Extremely Low Frequency (ELF) measurements. Plain Language Summary: Lightning is a very powerful event generated by the electric activity inside the clouds. The discharges can occur either inside thunder clouds or connect cloud to ground. The energy generated by a flash is quite difficult to measure or estimate, and its value is still very discussed. Most of the estimations are made by analyzing the optical and electric emissions of the flashes, and it appears that it spreads among a wide range of values. As lightning flashes heat up their surrounding air very quickly, they generate a sound that can be detected a few dozen kilometers around. This thunder can be measured by several microphones and processed numerically to reconstruct the 3D shape of the lightning that caused it. The method we use allows to obtain the total power of each detected flash, which seems also very variable. This method also describes the spatial distribution of the power inside each flash. Surprisingly, in most cases, the thunder is not emitted with the same intensity at all by every portions of the lightning. On the contrary, there can be a high variability of the sound power of the different parts of the same lighting flash. Key Points: Localization and quantification of the acoustical power of lightning flashes along the lightning channel in 3DStatistics of acoustical power and comparison between different storms and flash polarityComparison between acoustical and electromagnetic parameters [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Proceeding from the role of Art Education in preserving literary heritage, the current research aims to draw inspiration from the Egyptian Gnostic heritage, which is represented in the manuscript of Nag Hammadi VI, entitled (Thunder: Pure Mind), which includes non-Christian Gnostic texts, which contain poetic texts that express about the goddess Isis, as a woman in the absolute, which makes her a fertile material for creativity in the Art of Painting. The research followed an empirical methodology; Where the researcher conducted a Self-Artistic experiment through which she presented figurative works, in which she employed the capabilities and aesthetic dimensions of the elements and vocabulary of poetic verses that speak about the woman. The results of the research came to indicate that plastic Art and literature are a common area, as they are two different languages in rules and tools, but they share the way in which the process of substantive capture occurs between the linguistic and the visual. The research recommended preserving the written heritage. Opening new horizons for experimentation by benefiting from the openness of the arts to each other to create artistic works and directing students in specialized technical colleges to read literary texts and visually translate them into works of art, in a marriage between literature and plastic Art, through the curricula of art colleges, in addition to paying attention to teaching the ancient Egyptian reading heritage.

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Although Homer’s Odyssey is not a scientific or historical work, it reveals certain elements of Meteorology. Weather phenomena during Ulysses’ 10-year return journey reflect empirical observations from the Bronze Age up to the post-Mycenaean era, or even the early Geometric times, probably localized across the Mediterranean Sea. Seeking descriptive characteristics or other features in the Odyssey’s narration, this study is an attempt to build up a scientific approach in several items, e.g., wind fields considering related tests for comparison.

In The Renaissance of Lesbianism (2002), Valerie Traub calls readers to imagine "a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream in which Titania's complex and implicitly colonialist affections for her votaress are not minimized but explicitly motivate her resistance to Oberon," a production that "gives temporary life to Titania's beloved votaress" (76). About a decade later, in Julie Taymor's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream at Theatre for a New Audience (2013), the Indian votaress entered as a soft yellow light when Titania spoke the words: "His mother was a votaress of my order" (2.1.123). This light illuminated Titania's face against the "progeny of evils" born of her marital strife, and softened the sounds of storm and thunder that accompanied Oberon onstage. Taymor's production might not have made the colonialist intimacy between the Indian votaress and Titania as explicit as Traub imagined, but this particular staging of the Indian votaress's affective force in Shakespeare's play deviated from the production history of A Midsummer Night's Dream , in which the pregnant Indian votaress is rarely represented, although her son often appears onstage. In this chapter, I put the Indian votaress's ghost—this light—in conversation with contemporary performance and critical race theorists, to argue that Taymor's interpretation of A Midsummer Night's Dream underscored the Indian votaress's potential to offer audiences more than a vision of racist, European colonization. In the ominous world that Shakespeare and Taymor construct, the brightest light is the Indian votaress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lightning injury can also affect young child by indoor penetration of lightning strike and in spite of cardiac involvement good supportive intensive care may change the outcome. Herein we report one case of lightning with cardiac complication admitted in our pediatric intensive care unit.

Abstract Objective: This paper aims to conduct a study of the speed of sound in Colombia for heights below the troposphere, taking into account the temperature as a function of altitude for a tropical zone, in order to determine the distance of lightning strike. Methodology: A speed of sound profile for Colombia was determined by analyzing data on altitude, temperature, and relative humidity in the country. The temperature equation as a function of altitude presented by NASA and the International Standard Atmosphere was taken into account to compare with the data obtained from meteorological stations located in different parts of the country (this stations measure information of temperature and other physical variables). Additionally, a sound profile map of Colombia was obtained using the interpolation in ArcGIS software. Results: A map of the speed of sound in Colombia was obtained, thus finding the speed range in the country. Likewise, the temperature was determined as function of the altitude for Colombia (a country in the tropical zone), with which it is possible to have data closer to the real speed of sound in the place and determinate the distance of impact of a lighting in land. Conclusions: The study of variables such as temperature, relative humidity, and altitude helped determine the speed of sound for Colombia. It was also possible to define a temperature equation as a function of altitude for a tropical country; with the speed of sound, the radius of impact of a lightning can be found.

Lightning injury can also affect young child by indoor penetration of lightning strike and in spite of cardiac involvement good supportive intensive care may change the outcome. Herein we report one case of lightning with cardiac complication admitted in our pediatric intensive care unit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lightning generates sound waves across a wide range of frequencies, including infrasonic waves below 20 Hz. Source mechanism for these low frequency pulses is still area for debate. Infrasound pulses detected after rapid changes of electrostatic field during the thunderstorm activity were analyzed. The measurements were done by large aperture array of absolute microbarometers located in the Western part of the Czech Republic. Distances between four measuring sites are in the range of 4–10 km. The infrasound source position was calculated from time delays between the rapid change of electrostatic field and infrasound signal arrival to the individual microbarometers assuming propagation of spherical waves from the source. Only cases with a sufficient signal-to-noise ratio on all four microbarometers were analyzed. The variation of sound speed with height due to temperature height profile was taken into account. For most of the analyzed cases, the calculated infrasound source position corresponds to the lightning location determined by European lightning detection network (EUCLID). The calculated height of infrasound source is most often 3–5 km.

Peter Ahlwardt, an eighteenth-century professor at the University in Greifswald, is primarily remembered as the author of the Bronto-theology, in which he presented his thunder-theology – an idea which belongs to a very strong physico-theology movement at that time. This article situates this very small portion of physico-theology in the context of Ahlwardt’s philosophy and theology. In his epistemology, Ahlwardt stressed the need for reason in understanding and appreciating revelation. Conversely, he also required that reason should be illuminated by the Holy Spirit, thereby stating that the revelation is the final authority. Ahlwardt rejected the idea of an inborn concept of God – thus, the only way open to the knowledge of God is a posteriori from God’s creation. Ahlwardt proved the existence of God from self-awareness. Creation exists to show God’s infinite perfections, and humans, as rational creatures, should investigate nature to see these perfections and learn about the will of God. Like other physico-theologians, Ahlwardt used his investigation of thunder and lightning to show that they are manifestations of God’s attributes. Relying on the perfection and the unity of God’s attributes, Ahlwardt argued that these investigated atmospheric phenomena are as much the manifestations of God’s wrath as of His love; they make people see the greatness of God’s splendour and make them think about God’s perfections.