Dark Night Research Articles

Exposure to a nocturnal light pulse simultaneously and differentially affects stridulation and locomotion behaviors in crickets.

It is crucial for living organisms to be in synchrony with their environment and to anticipate circadian and annual changes. The circadian clock is responsible for entraining organisms' activity to the day-night rhythmicity. Artificial light at night (ALAN) was shown to obstruct the natural light cycle, leading to desynchronized behavioral patterns. Our knowledge of the mechanisms behind these adverse effects of ALAN, however, is far from complete. Here we monitored the stridulation and locomotion behavior of male field crickets (Gryllus bimaculatus), raised under light:dark conditions, before, during, and after exposure to a nocturnal 3-h pulse of different ALAN intensities. The experimental insects were then placed under a constant light regime (of different intensities); their behavior was continuously monitored; and the period of their daily activity rhythms was calculated. The light pulse treatment induced a simultaneous negative (suppressing stridulation) and positive (inducing locomotion) effect, manifested in significant changes in the average level of the specific activity on the night of the pulse compared to the preceding and the following nights. The transition to constant light conditions led to significant changes in the period of the circadian rhythms. Both effects were light-intensity-dependent, indicating the importance of dark nights for both individual and population synchronization.

Detecting Human Falls in Poor Lighting: Object Detection and Tracking Approach for Indoor Safety

Falls are one the leading causes of accidental death for all people, but the elderly are at particularly high risk. Falls are severe issue in the care of those elderly people who live alone and have limited access to health aides and skilled nursing care. Conventional vision-based systems for fall detection are prone to failure in conditions with low illumination. Therefore, an automated system that detects falls in low-light conditions has become an urgent need for protecting vulnerable people. This paper proposes a novel vision-based fall detection system that uses object tracking and image enhancement techniques. The proposed approach is divided into two parts. First, the captured frames are optimized using a dual illumination estimation algorithm. Next, a deep-learning-based tracking framework that includes detection by YOLOv7 and tracking by the Deep SORT algorithm is proposed to perform fall detection. On the Le2i fall and UR fall detection (URFD) datasets, we evaluate the proposed method and demonstrate the effectiveness of fall detection in dark night environments with obstacles.

Night-time light pollution makes flightless crickets more drought resistant

Since the turn of the 20th century, when human street lighting really took off, the nocturnal world has been bathed in light. While this is great for people, the illumination has proved a menace for some creatures, confusing body clocks and sending migratory species off course. And it wasn't clear how nocturnal light pollution might impact the ability of animals to cope with other threats, such as climate change. Knowing that some creatures are capable of adjusting their physiology to survive environmental conditions that would otherwise prove challenging, Alyssa Bonfoey and colleagues from the University of the Pacific, USA, had an ideal animal in mind – the variable field cricket (Gryllus lineaticeps) – to find out how light pollution affects an animal's ability to withstand heatwaves and drought. ‘The adult cricket exists in two forms – some can fly to disperse away from stressful environments while others are flightless, but instead focus on reproduction’, says Zach Stahlschmidt. Together with Bonfoey and Jessica Chen, Stahlschmidt decided to find out how nocturnal light pollution might affect the ability of these crickets to cope with a lack of water and higher temperatures.Illuminating developing crickets during the day with sunlight-simulating bulbs before turning the lights off at night, Bonfoey then switched some of the crickets to dimmer, more orangey lightbulbs at night, similar to dim street lighting, until the crickets developed into adults. Then, she transferred the crickets to individual homes for an additional 5 days as the newly emerged females spontaneously followed one of two different growth patterns: some crickets were unable to fly, ramping up their fertility instead, while other crickets were capable of flight but had poorer fertility. Bonfoey next checked how well both groups of crickets coped with drought when she removed their water supply, in addition to seeing how long the crickets could withstand a brief 45°C heatwave before they toppled over.Surprisingly, crickets that had grown up with nocturnal light pollution were larger and heavier than crickets that had grown up with completely dark nights. Yet, the crickets that had experienced light pollution struggled to deal with the heat, toppling over more swiftly than the crickets that developed in complete nocturnal darkness. However, the nocturnally illuminated flightless crickets were better prepared when drought set in, holding out for 10 days on average before succumbing to dehydration, in contrast to the flight-enabled crickets, some of which could only survive for 2 days without water.So, it seems that nocturnal light pollution is a problem for developing variable field crickets, making it harder for them to withstand heatwaves as adults. However, some of the crickets may be more resilient to other aspects of climate change, as nocturnal light pollution seems to improve the ability of the flightless insects to survive drought. The team suggests that nocturnal light could reduce the effects of hormones that regulate water use, allowing the flightless crickets that grew up with light pollution to better conserve their water stores, making them more able to withstand drought. However, they point out that the flight-enabled crickets have stronger body clocks, which probably makes them less susceptible to the effects of nocturnal light pollution in general.

Starry Nights Are Disappearing

Stars dim as the sky gets brighter, a result of expanding cities and bright LEDs. Simple low-tech changes can help preserve dark night skies.

The Jim Croce Question

The Jim Croce Question

Commentary: For every dark night, there is a brighter day.

Commentary: For every dark night, there is a brighter day.

Robert J. Walker: The History and Archaeology of a U.S. Coast Survey Steamship

Robert J. Walker: The History and Archaeology of a U.S. Coast Survey Steamship

The Application of the Dynamic Atmosphere Energy Transport Climate Model (DAET) to Earth’s Semi-Opaque Troposphere

The objective of this work is to apply the Dynamic-Atmosphere Energy Transport (DAET) climate model to a study of the Earth’s semi-opaque troposphere. In this analysis the concept of previous authors has been followed and the Earth’s climate is treated as a single integrated structured system of solar energy collection, thermal energy retention and energy distribution across the Earth’s surface. Unlike previous authors the hemispheric duality of the Earth’s surface is modelled with two separate energy environments of a day lit hemisphere of net energy collection and a dark night surface of net energy loss as fundamental to the design. Using worked examples, it is shown how the Greenhouse Effect results from the summation of two separate physical atmospheric processes, both of which are mathematically equivalent and which together create an energy reservoir within the Earth’s troposphere. These processes are the thermal radiant opacity blocking of radiative physics, and the process of adiabatic convection and conserved energy delivery to far distance of mass-motion physics. Both these processes involve the mathematical infinite summation of halves-of-halves of energy flux and are completely saturated at a surface atmospheric pressure of 1 Bar. It is concluded that the two fundamental controls on terrestrial planetary climate for a given solar system orbit are the downwelling high frequency energy reflection filter of planetary Bond Albedo, and the upwelling low frequency energy bypass to space filter of the Atmospheric Window.

Editor's Note

Editor's Note Kamilah Marie Woodson, PhD The black women intimacy, sexuality and relationships special Issue was born out of an inspiring conversation between four phenomenal Black women during the Annual Association of Black Sexologists and Clinicians Spring Roundtable Series in St. Thomas, USVI. We attended the conference to present our research. I, myself, wanted to use the opportunity to advance my practice. However, I gained something far more special than what I planned prior to the trip. I acquired a roadmap that resulted from our conversation that would allow me to take bold first steps towards my growth and healing from past traumatic relationship experiences. There is power in numbers! My co-editors Karen, Stacey, Jannis, and I decided to draw from our talk to begin the process of framing this Special Issue and soliciting other voices. The response to our request was overwhelmingly positive and liberating. From what was an impromptu yet emotional exchange among four girlfriends sprang a wealth of scholarly knowledge about Black women empowerment. "Joy comes in the morning," says biblical scripture. Our professional and personal challenges and constraints were shared over a sunrise breakfast overlooking the bay. As a Black woman in the academy, I must say, laying your burdens by the proverbial riverside is a lonely proposition. However, St. Thomas allowed me to gather support from a group of solid sisters. This was our safe place and space to create our circle of protection to discuss and heal from the debilitating effects of estranged family relationships, divorce, single parenthood, being a female-headed household, weight gain, hair loss, cancer, aging, and so many other vulnerable matters like being viewed as the B-word in our workplaces we Black women oftentimes keep to ourselves in the darkness of night in silence. This special issue underscores these themes. For example, the Article on Choosing Singlehood, by Jonece Layne, Erika Simms, Amber Clunie, and Kamilah Marie Woodson highlights the importance of having Black women honor ourselves [End Page 3] in recognizing that we, as we are, are enough! Being vulnerable is a form of protest against darkness and silence while on the journey toward healing. Thus, in this compendium, the light and lives of Black women representing an array of cultural, economic, and political are presented as a compass. As "strong" Black women we tend to somaticize, which creates alopecia, hypertension, obesity, migraines, fibromyalgia, etc. while appearing to be flourishing and doing well. Shining light on our real and lived experiences shows the world that we in fact are human and that our needs and dispositions deserve attention. I, too, bought into the crippling and paralyzing trope going about my days and nights numb. However, pain was omnipresent despite my best efforts to move forward. No number of books I could edit or write, academic appointments I would accept, promotions I earn, or practices I open could ever diminish the hurt and disappointment I felt inside, if I were not healed from external threats and impacts or self-inflicted trauma. But thanks to our sister circle today, I see clearer, feel better, and think further now that the rain is gone. This Special Issues gives voice to the voiceless and those who may feel they're lone travelers while going through storms. While there is much to still consider on my journey, my sister circle reminded me to stop and smell the flowers. They also encouraged me to plant my own yet cautioned me to not dilly dally or waste time dwelling on the past. However, pulling weeds along and treating the soil are a necessity for healing and growing, but as we know, it takes time to bring forth triumph and a bountiful harvest. The work of our Special Issue contributors reflects that harvest. They give voice to our struggles. More importantly, however, they highlight our triumphs. As my garden has grown, their seeds of knowledge will advance healing journeys of those engaging with the literature. "Water your garden" was the mantra delivered to me by Thema Bryant, PhD, President of The American Psychological Association, when last we met this past summer. What reaffirming words that I share with you and those of my...

In the still dark night: The unsung pain of cancer patients

In the still dark night: The unsung pain of cancer patients

Вокруг книги «Посолонь»: сказка «Ночь темная» в контексте петербургских встреч А. М. Ремизова и М. В. Сабашниковой

Dealing with the mythmaking problem in Russian Symbolism, the article analyses transferring of the images and motifs of the novel The Dark Night from the book Posolon’ (1907) by A. M. Remizov into the realities of the most famous locus of Symbolist culture, Vyach. Ivanov’s The Tower. The author deciphers its latent meanings and offers a new reading of the Remizov’s tale as a work that attempts to replicate the mythological folk mentality. The additional meanings are derived from Remizov’s rare autographs, in the subtext of which there is an episode associated with M. V. Sabashnikova. The true story from the literary life of the Symbolist circle helps to fill the gaps in the biographies of the two personalities, and refl ects the signifi cant literary and cultural phenomena of the early 20th century.

Whites Only: Race and Mobility in Kym Ragusa's The Skin Between Us: A Memoir of Race, Beauty, and Belonging and Claudia Rankine's Citizen: An American Lyric

Whites Only: Race and Mobility in Kym Ragusa's <i>The Skin Between Us: A Memoir of Race, Beauty, and Belonging</i> and Claudia Rankine's <i>Citizen: An American Lyric</i>

Seemings, Virtue, and Acquired Contemplation

Sarah Coakley, drawing on the insights of John of the Cross, has recently argued that God may have redemptive moral and epistemic purposes in remaining hidden from people during a “dark night of the soul,” and that experiences of spiritual darkness can be taken as a mode of religious experience. In this paper, I explore what sort of epistemic model of religious experience is needed to underwrite Coakley’s argument. I argue that one influential externalist model—that of William Alston—is unsatisfactory, and advance in its place an internalist, phenomenal conservative approach bolstered by considerations from responsibilist virtue epistemology. I argue that such an approach can much more satisfactorily accommodate contemplative experiences than can that of Alston and thus can buttress Coakley’s response to the problem of divine hiddenness.

Fenomena Ritual Mandi 7 Sumur Keramat di Vihara Gayatri, Cilangkap, Depok, Jawa Barat

Cleansing ritual of bathing at the 7 Gayatri Vihara Wells wasperformes not only by Buddhists but also by communities of diverse culturalbackground. It is known that most who perform the cleansing ritual areBuddhist. This fact it is interesting to research in the meaning of the 7 SacredWell in the society especially buddhist who perform cleansing ritual. Purposeof this research is to know the meaning of the 7 Sacred Well in The GayatriVihara, Cilangkap, Depok, West Java.The research uses qualitative approach with phenomenon model.Informant in this research are the owners, the believer, and the visitor of 7Sacred Well at the Gayatri Vihara. Data collecting technique used isobservation, interview, and documentation. Data analyzed using Miles,Huberman, and Saldana. Data validity technique are done with credibilitytest, transferability, dependability, and confirmability.The research concluded (1) the process concist of the ritual at 7 Wellsincludes cleansing the body with seven dipper at each wells, going to amerta’spools, plunging eight times, then cleansing the body of eight dipper at themiddle well, one dipper was taken to rinse (something); three times; prostrateat the well, toss a coin, follow instruction for cleansing; pray according tointention and believe; pray first before cleansing; cleansing first then prays.The purpose of the visitor are to prays and perform cleansing ritual,recreation, and asking help in resolving mortal problem. The expectation ofvisitors to perform the cleansing ritual is to gain health, trouble-freeingprosperity, get married, be reassure and hopeless. The cleansing ritual wasalso performed on kliwon Tuesday night, kliwon Friday, first suro night,bakcang days, a light moon night, and a dark moon night. Where at nightcleansing there is keyholder who helps the cleansing ritual and there is aceremony that become socialating between believer, visitors, and community;(2) visitors take to mean the ritual to outward and inner cleansing, reliefer,trust and believe, and just to be clean. Then the visitors view of the ritualphenomena at 7 Wells Gayatri Vihara if it believes it is can get beneficial thewells, there is for good, and purification and cleansing; (3) impact in spiritualsense are nothing (only an object of hope) and serene and sincere in the courseof life’s sorrows. Later on the life lessons gained form cleansing ritual for visitors are they have no lessons, and easy to concentrate, and more ease tofacing with life’s problems.

Butterflies

Butterflies

Antennas Hunting Wolves [Editor’s Comments

On a dark and stormy night, only a few wolves dare to wander in the forest. What would they be looking for? The meaning of their lives? A new land to live in, with fewer storms and less rain? Just breakfast? What if I were to tell you that they are actually hunting for better antennas? This is exactly what happens in the excellent and intriguing article by Li and Guo, where the authors discuss the use of a Grey Wolf Optimizer for antenna optimization designs. After a comprehensive review of Grey Wolf Optimizer engines, the article focuses on antenna design applications, extensively treating several real case scenarios.

Responses in thermal tolerance and daily activity rhythm to urban stress in Drosophila suzukii.

Cities experience changes in abiotic factors, such as warming, increases in noise and light. These changes can lead to phenotypic changes. Several studies have revealed that altered environments change phenotypes in plants and animals in cities. However, limited studies have isolated evolutionary from nongenetic changes. Here, we analyzed the evolution of thermal tolerance and diurnal activity patterns in the urban population of the fruit pest, Drosophila suzukii. Urban and rural isofemale lines were reared under constant conditions. We compared the lower and upper thermal limits (CTmin and CTmax, respectively), and effects of temperature exposure on the thermal limits of urban and rural populations. Common garden experiments showed that urban populations exhibit a lower CTmin than rural populations, suggesting genetic difference in CTmin among populations. On the other hand, the difference in CTmax between urban and rural populations was not significant. Exposure to cold temperature did not affect CTmin in both urban and rural populations. In contrast, exposure to hot temperature increased CTmax especially in urban population, suggesting that urban populations evolved in response to urban heat. We also investigated the daily activity patterns of urban and rural populations and the effect of lifelong artificial light at night on daily activity. We found that night-time light (dim light) reduced the total amount of activity compared to dark night condition. In addition, dim light at night altered the daily rhythm of activity and increased the activity rate at night. The effect of night light on total activity was less in urban than that in rural populations, suggesting that populations in cities evolved to mitigate decreased activity under night light. Our results showed that environmental temperature and artificial light at night evolutionarily and plastically influence ecologically important traits, such as temperature tolerance and diurnal activity.

Observation of night-time emissions of the Earth in the near UV range from the International Space Station with the Mini-EUSO detector

Mini-EUSO (Multiwavelength Imaging New Instrument for the Extreme Universe Space Observatory) is a telescope observing the Earth from the International Space Station since 2019. The instrument employs a Fresnel-lens optical system and a focal surface composed of 36 Multi-Anode Photomultiplier tubes, 64 channels each, for a total of 2304 channels with single photon counting sensitivity. Mini-EUSO also contains two ancillary cameras to complement measurements in the near infrared and visible ranges. The scientific objectives of the mission range from the search for Extensive Air Showers (EAS) generated by Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Rays (UHECRs) with energies above 1021eV, the search for nuclearites and Strange Quark Matter (SQM), up to the study of atmospheric phenomena such as Transient Luminous Events (TLEs), meteors and meteoroids. Mini-EUSO can map the night-time Earth in the near UV range (predominantly between 290–430 nm) with a spatial resolution of about 6.3 km (full field of view equal to 44°) and a maximum temporal resolution of 2.5μs, observing our planet through a nadir-facing UV-transparent window in the Russian Zvezda module. The detector saves triggered transient phenomena with a sampling rate of 2.5μs and 320μs, as well as continuous acquisition at 40.96 ms scale. In this paper we discuss the detector response and the flat-fielding and calibration procedures. Using the 40.96 ms data, we present ≃6.3 km resolution night-time Earth maps in the UV band, and report on various emissions of anthropogenic and natural origin. We measure ionospheric airglow emissions of dark moonless nights over the sea and ground, studying the effect of clouds, moonlight, and artificial (towns, boats) lights. In addition to paving the way forward for the study of long-term variations of light of natural and artificial origin, we also estimate the observation live-time of future UHECR detectors.

The Mystical Experience of Saint Teresa of Avila: The Voice of Silence in the Meditation of the Dark Night

This article explores the mystical experience of Sainte Therese of Avila, mainly the voice of silence as a metaphor for spiritual transformation, more known specifically as the dark night of the soul. Developing a simple and efficient literary language, the Saint has built the founding principles of a mystical discourse marked by its social and religious conditions, which have motivated the emergence of spiritual writing characterized by immediacy and efficiency, mostly in her own poetry. Our analysis is focused on the emergence of a specific language, both poetic and didactic, which places the mystical experience of Sainte Therese in the heart of the scriptural and spiritual enterprise of the Devotio Moderna.

The fear diet: Risk, refuge, and biological control by omnivorous weed seed predators

Weed seed biocontrol by omnivorous mice and insects can limit weed seedbanks, but this ecosystem service can be difficult to predict given the broad diet breadth of seed predators and their potential for intraguild predation. Seed foraging behavior is further modified by fluctuating cues of predation risk from higher trophic levels and the availability of refuge habitat. Uncertainty about whether co-occurring insects and mice additively contribute to weed biocontrol or interfere with each other via intraguild predation limits our ability to recommend habitat management strategies that reliably promote seed destruction. Using seed removal assays, fluorescent powder tracking, and stable isotope analyses, we assessed effects of a predation risk cue (moonlight) on mouse foraging patterns in a patchwork of vegetated and exposed plots in a cultivated field. Mouse foraging activity decreased on exposed ground during the full moon, compared to dark nights, yet foraging movements were unaffected by moon cycle within refuge patches. Weed seed consumption was more than three times higher in cover than exposed soil, and 78% of that difference was attributable to invertebrate granivores. Mice and invertebrate granivores both exhibited higher foraging activity in cover, indicating co-occurrence of intraguild predators and prey. However, stable isotope analyses of fecal samples revealed that mice captured in refuge habitats fed at slightly lower trophic levels than those in exposed habitats (suggesting minimal intraguild predation in refuge habitat), and mouse diet was unaffected by moonlight. Despite increased availability of invertebrate prey in cover patches, mice do not appear to preferentially exploit prey when avoiding their own predators or interfere with weed seed predation. Therefore, functional redundancy of mice and invertebrate seed predators in cover crops and other refuge habitats may strengthen and stabilize weed seed biocontrol.