Variance in multi-blade induced lightning overvoltages among different wind farm topologies.

The impact of the topological formation of wind farms upon the lightning induced overvoltages injected into the grid was not covered earlier in literature. However, this topic is highly important to be investigated to allow the usage of the most reliable topology against lightning strikes. For such reason, the paper investigates this point with consideration of most damaging cases as lightning strikes to multi-blades. The testing used ATP software for four main topologies, radial, single-sided ring SSR, double sided ring and star topology. The features defining the similarities in response and the variance range between these topologies were recorded and analyzed. The multi-blade strikes gave an expected increase of 15% to 100% in the injected overvoltage to the grid for all topologies. The star topology showed the most reliable performance by allowing the least injected overvoltage to the grid. The percentage of reduction in the magnitude of the injected overvoltages reached 50.78%, 66.07% and 89.04% for SSR, DSR and star topology respectively with respect to radial topology. Recommendation was provided for design engineers to consider star topology during design phase in terms of more reliable lightning protection.

Effects of urbanization on cloud-to-ground lightning strike frequency: a global perspective.

Urbanization tends to increase local lightning frequency (i.e. the 'lightning enhancement' effect). Despite many urban areas showing lightning enhancement, the prevalence of these effects is unknown and the drivers underlying these patterns are poorly quantified. We conducted a global assessment of cloud-to-ground lightning flashes (lightning strikes) across 349 cities to evaluate how the likelihood and magnitude of lightning enhancement vary with geography, climate, air pollution, topography and urban development. The likelihood of exhibiting lightning enhancement increased with higher temperature and precipitation in urban areas relative to their natural surroundings (i.e. urban heat islands and elevated urban precipitation), higher regional lightning strike frequency, greater distance to water bodies and lower elevations. Lightning enhancement was stronger in cities with conspicuous heat islands and elevated urban precipitation effects, higher lightning strike frequency, larger urban areas and lower latitudes. The particularly strong effects of elevated urban temperature and precipitation indicate that these are dominant mechanisms by which cities cause local lightning enhancement.

Lightning Strike Injuries.

Lightning is a common environmental hazard, and is a significant cause of global injury and death. Care and evaluation should follow general trauma guidelines, but several unique aspects of lightning injuries necessitate deviations from standard care that can improve survival and overall outcomes. When evaluating lightning strike patients, some common injury patterns are pathognomonic for lightning strikes and easy to recognize, while others are subtle and require heightened awareness. While most lightning-related injuries resolve spontaneously, some may have significant long-term symptoms. Anticipatory guidance and specialty referral may be needed for appropriate follow-up, evaluation, and treatment.

Neurotrophic keratitis caused by lightning injury: a case report.

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to report a case of neurotrophic keratitis caused by lightning. CASE PRESENTATION: A 38-year-old man was hit by lightning and suffered eye injury. He eventually developed neurotrophic keratitis. RESULTS: The patient's injury history and burn site were analyzed, and it was judged that lightning directly damaged his cornea, eventually resulting in neurotrophic keratitis. Fortunately, the patient's vision improved after treatment. CONCLUSION: Lightning can cause eye damage, and the clinical manifestations are diverse. Lightning currents cause corneal nerve loss, resulting in neurotrophic keratitis. To maintain corneal integrity and prevent disease progression, early assessment and appropriate treatment are necessary.

Lightning deaths in three outdoor dogs: A case study.

This case report presents findings in three German Shepherd placed outdoor, dead after a night of thunderstorm.

Lightning strike­induced cauda equina syndrome: a case report.

Peripheral nerve injuries after being struck by lightning have been documented. Here, we report a case of cauda equina syndrome induced by lightning. A 27-year-old man presented with numbness, a burning sensation in the saddle region, and increased urinary urgency after being struck by lightning. He had absent Achilles reflexes and paresthesia in the saddle region upon neurological examination, and magnetic resonance imaging of the spine was normal. Electrophysiological studies indicated involvement of bilateral L5, S1, and S2 myotomes and revealed cauda equina lesions. 
Peripheral nerve injury induced by lightning is rare, and the evaluation of people with neurological complaints using electromyography will help determine the true incidence.

Seizure, A Shocking Effect of a Lightning Strike on Aerodrome: A Case Report.

Lightning injuries have a high morbidity and mortality because of the electrical effects on the circulatory, respiratory, and central nervous systems. Most lightning-related deaths occur immediately after injury due to fatal arrhythmias or respiratory failure. We describe the case of a patient who experienced a seizure and respiratory distress secondary to a lightning strike and how our team was able to stabilize and transport the patient. Ultimately, in this particular case study, the patient survived with minimal residual neurologic and hemodynamic effects. Based on this clinical vignette, we review the pathophysiology of lightning injuries and the predictive factors of positive outcomes in such unusual accidents.

Catching lightning in a bottle: the STI and HIV 2023 World Congress Participatory Designathon.

The International Society for STD Research (ISSTDR) STI/HIV 2023 World Congress convened a participatory designathon to engage attendees in a problem-solving crowdsourcing event with the mission to design innovative solutions for improving sexually transmitted infection (STI) control. Designathons are three-phase crowdsourcing events consisting of a pre-planning phase, an active and intensive collaborative phase, and denouement phase for implementation and dissemination. Given escalating STI concerns, the Congress organisers recognised the opportunity to harness the collective expertise of the attendees by actively engaging them to generate innovative solutions for STI control by hosting a designathon during the scientific meeting. Designathon activities occurred during the Congress, and innovative solutions were presented during the closing plenary. Organisers prioritised participant diversity and engagement by creating four distinct groups based on lived experiences (Silver, Early Career, Traveller, and Community). Although competing priorities through the Congress were a challenge, participation from the attendees was high. Dedicated time and space for the event allowed for a successful designathon event, and the lack of restrictions, as might be encountered from funders or other stakeholder agencies, allowed participants to creatively develop innovative solutions for STI control. This designathon serves as an exemplar for successfully hosting a designathon at a large scientific meeting to engage attendees and contribute their intellect and voice to collectively solving significant problems.

Flexible nanohybrid substrates utilizing gold nanocubes/nano mica platelets with 3D lightning-rod effect for highly efficient bacterial biosensors based on surface-enhanced Raman scattering.

In this study, gold nanocubes (AuNCs) were quickly synthesized using the seed-mediated growth method and reduced onto the surface of two-dimensional (2D) delaminated nano mica platelets (NMPs), enabling the development of AuNCs/NMPs nanohybrids with a 3D lightning-rod effect. First, the growth-solution amount can be changed to easily adjust the AuNCs average-particle size within a range of 30-70 nm. The use of the cationic surfactant cetyltrimethylammonium chloride as a protective agent allowed the surface of AuNCs and nanohybrids to be positively charged. Positively charged nanohybrid surfaces presented a good adsorption effect for detecting molecules with negative charges on the surface. Additionally, the NMP surfaces were rich in ionic charges and provided a large specific surface area for stabilizing the growth of AuNCs. Delaminated AuNCs/NMPs nanohybrids can generate a 3D hotspot effect through self-assembly to enhance the Raman signal. Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) is highly sensitive in detecting adenine biomolecules. Its limit of detection (LOD) and Raman enhancement factor reached 10-9 M and 3.6 × 108, respectively. Excellent reproducibility was obtained owing to the relatively regular arrangement of AuNC particles, and the relative standard deviation (RSD) was 10.7%. Finally, the surface of NMPs was modified by adding the hydrophilic poly(oxyethylene)-diamine (POE2000) and amphiphilic PIB-POE-PIB copolymer at different weight ratios. The adjustment of the surface hydrophilicity and hydrophobicity of AuNCs/NMPs nanohybrids led to better adsorption and selectivity for bacteria. AuNCs/POE/NMPs and AuNCs/PIB-POE-PIB/NMPs were further applied to the SERS detection of hydrophilic Staphylococcus aureus and hydrophobic Escherichia coli, respectively. The SERS-detection results suggest that the LOD of hydrophilic Staphylococcus aureus and hydrophobic Escherichia coli reached 92 CFU mL-1 and 1.6 × 102 CFU mL-1, respectively. The AuNCs/POE/NMPs and AuNCs/PIB-POE-PIB/NMPs nanohybrids had different hydrophilic-hydrophobic affinities, which greatly improved the selectivity and sensitivity for detecting bacteria with different hydrophilicity and hydrophobicity. Therefore, fast, highly selective, and highly sensitive SERS biological-detection results were obtained.

Rain may improve survival from direct lightning strikes to the human head.

There is evidence that humans can survive a direct lightning strike to the head. Our question is: could water (rain) on the skin contribute to an increase in the survival rate? We measure the influence of rain during high-energy direct lightning strikes on a realistic three-compartment human head phantom. We find a lower number of perforations and eroded areas near the lightning strike impact points on the head phantom when rain was applied compared to no rain. Current amplitudes in the brain were lower with rain compared to no rain before a fully formed flashover. We conclude that rain on the scalp potentially contributes to the survival rate of 70-90% due to: (1) lower current exposition in the brain before a fully formed flashover, and (2) reduced mechanical and thermal damage.

An early warning approach for the rapid identification of extreme weather disasters based on phased array dual polarization radar cooperative network data.

In recent years, X-band phase array dual polarization weather radar technology has matured. The cooperative networking data from X-band phase array dual polarization weather radar have many advantages compared with traditional methods, namely, high spatial and temporal resolution (approximately 70 seconds in one scan, 30 m in radial distance resolution), wide coverages that can compensate for the observation blind spots, and data fusion technology that is used in the observation overlap area to ensure that the observed precipitation data have spatial continuity. Based on the above radar systems, this study proposes an improved hail and lightning weather disaster rapid identification and early warning algorithm. The improved thunderstorm identification, tracking, analysis, and nowcasting (TITAN) algorithm is used to quickly identify three-dimensional strong convective storm cells. Large sample observation experiment data are used to invert the localized hail index (HDR) to identify the hail position. The fuzzy logic method is used to comprehensively determine the probability of lightning occurrence. The comparative analysis experiment shows that, compared with the live observation data from the ground-based automatic station, the hail and lightning disaster weather warning algorithm developed by this study can increase warning times by approximately 7 minutes over the traditional algorithm, and its critical success index (CSI), false alarm ratio (FAR) and omission alarm ratio (OAR) scores are better than those of the traditional method. The average root mean square error (ARMSE) for identifying hail and lightning locations by this improved method is also significantly better than that of traditional methods. We show that our method can provide probabilistic predictions that improve hail and lightning identification, improve the precision of early warning and support operational utility at higher resolutions and with greater lead times that traditional methods struggle to achieve.

A 15-year review of lightning deaths in Germany-with a focus on pathognomonic findings.

Lethal accidents caused by lightning are divided into observed and unobserved events. Pathognomonic or characteristic findings are often overlooked during external postmortem examination. Classical mistakes may be made which may often lead to an incorrect diagnosis. An analysis of 270 fatalities was performed on a historical collection of the Committee for Lightning Conductor Construction for the United Economic Area e. V. (ABBW) on lethal accidents due to lightning that occurred in Germany for the period 1951-1965. Furthermore, a selective literature research was carried out. The aim of the study was to analyze the death scene, the clothing, and the victim. The authors focused on chief findings which were relevant to the correct diagnosis of "death by lightning." Both Lichtenberg figures and singed body hair were considered pathognomonic for a lightning strike. The question arose as to whether Lichtenberg figures, for example, represented the finding that most often led to the correct diagnosis. Of the 270 lightning-struck victims from the case collection, 129 (47.8%) had singed body hair and 25 (9.3%) had Lichtenberg figures. A comparison of the frequency of the two reported findings, singed body hair versus Lichtenberg figures, has only been performed in the literature for case numbers below 40. This study is the first evaluation of a relatively large number of lethal accidents due to lightning. Singed body hair was reported more frequently in lightning-struck victims than Lichtenberg figures. This study showed that singed body hair is probably more diagnostically important than Lichtenberg figures.

Predictors of mortality following electrical and lightning injuries in Malawi: A decade of experience.

INTRODUCTION: Electrical injuries can be devastating, and data is lacking in low-resource settings. We aimed to identify predictors of mortality following electrical and lightning injuries (ELI) in Malawi. METHODS: We performed a retrospective observational study of patients presenting with ELI and burn injuries at a tertiary hospital in Malawi from 2011 to 2020. Outcomes were compared and predictors of mortality were modeled. RESULTS: A total of 382 ELI and 6371 burn patients were included. The mean ages for ELI and burn groups were 24 ± 14 and 11 ± 14 years, respectively (p < 0.01). Most patients were injured at home (91% in the burn group versus 51% in the ELI group, p < 0.01). The crude mortality rate in the ELI group was 28%, compared to 12% in the burn group (p < 0.01). On multivariate logistic regression, predictors of mortality included ELI (odds ratio [OR] 13.3, 95% confidence interval [CI] 7.2-24.5) and total body surface area burned (OR 1.1, 95% CI 1.1-1.1). Predicted mortality for ELI has increased over time (p = 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: ELI confers more than 13 times higher odds of mortality than burn injuries in Malawi, with mortality risk increasing over time. More efforts are needed to prevent electrical hazards and implement timely interventions for patients with ELI.