A collection of papers edited by four experts in the field, this book sets out to describe the way solar activity is manifested in observations of the solar interior, the photosphere, the chromosphere, the corona and the heliosphere. The 11-year solar activity cycle, more generally known as the sunspot cycle, is a fundamental property of the Sun. This phenomenon is the generation and evolution of magnetic fields in the Sun's convection zone, the photosphere. It is only by the careful enumeration and description of the phenomena and their variations that one can clarify their interdependences. The sunspot cycle has been tracked back about four centuries, and it has been recognized that to make this data set a really useful tool in understanding how the activity cycle works and how it can be predicted, a very careful and detailed effort is needed to generate sunspot numbers. This book deals with this topic, together with several others that present related phenomena that all indicate the physical processes that take place in the Sun and its exterior environment. The reviews in the book also present the latest theoretical and modelling studies that attempt to explain the activity cycle. It remains true, as has been shown in the unexpected characteristics of the first two solar cycles in the 21st century, that predictability remains a serious challenge. Nevertheless, the highly expert and detailed reviews in this book, using the very best solar observations from both ground- and space based telescopes, provide the best possible report on what is known and what is yet to be discovered. Originally published in Space Science Reviews, Vol 186, Issues 1-4, 2014.

This edited volume describes many aspects of current research on solar flares, emphasizing recent progress in understanding their X-ray and gamma-ray emissions. Several of the chapters deal comprehensively with the problems of particle acceleration, conversion of particle energy into various forms of radiation, and the inference of physical processes from observations. Other chapters deal with the full breadth and richness of flare observations, including microflares and nanoflares.
This volume is aimed at graduate students and researchers in solar physics and space science.
Previously published in Space Science Reviews journal, Vol. 159/1-4, 2011.

This edited volume describes many aspects of current research on solar flares, emphasizing recent progress in understanding their X-ray and gamma-ray emissions. Several of the chapters deal comprehensively with the problems of particle acceleration, conversion of particle energy into various forms of radiation, and the inference of physical processes from observations. Other chapters deal with the full breadth and richness of flare observations, including microflares and nanoflares. This volume is aimed at graduate students and researchers in solar physics and space science. Previously published in Space Science Reviews journal, Vol. 159/1-4, 2011.

Hugh Hudson directs this nostalgic tribute to Cambridge University athletes Harold Abrahams and Eric Liddell, recounting the events of the 1924 Olympics. Abrahams (Ben Cross) is a Jew who experiences racial prejudice at Cambridge, while Liddell (Ian Charleson) is a Scot who runs for the glory of God. The two become rivals on the track, and both are chosen to represent Britain at the Paris Olympics. However, a problem arises when Lidell learns that he is expected to compete on the Sabbath; something that goes directly against his religious beliefs. The film won Oscars for Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, Best Original Score and Best Costume Design, and received a further three nominations.

Period action adventure set in the late 19th century, directed by Hugh Hudson ('Chariots of Fire'). Christopher Lambert stars as Tarzan of Greystoke, who as an infant was orphaned on the west coast of Africa following a shipwreck, and was rescued and brought up by a family of highly-evolved apes. Twenty years later, a Belgian hunter, Captaine Phillippe D'Arnot (Ian Holm), encounters the man who has now become Tarzan, Lord of the Apes when the ape-man rescues him from a terrible death. When the Captaine finds evidence to prove that Tarzan is the direct descendant of the Earl of Greystoke, he takes it upon himself to return the man to civilization. But Edwardian England is very different to the wilds of the African jungle, and Tarzan finds himself torn between two irreconcilable worlds...

Goran Visnjic and Dakota Goyo star in this action adventure from directors Roger Spottiswoode and Brando Quilici. When Luke (Goyo) discovers that a young polar bear has been separated from its mother, he sets out on an epic journey across the ice fields of Northern Canada to try and reunite the two. However, after a floating iceberg separates Luke from experienced Inuit tracker Muktuk (Visnjic), he is left to overcome the extreme conditions of the wild alone as he battles to complete his quest.