Dark Time Research Articles

Thinking Friendship With and Against Hannah Arendt

ABSTRACTThis essay interrogates Hannah Arendt’s different notions of friendship, their weaknesses and strengths, with a view to establishing the basis for a more adequate discussion. After examining her conception of friendship first among the ancients, and then in “dark times”, the essay asks how are we to understand friendship among the moderns when times are not particularly dark. This requires a critical reading of her conception of private intimacy and social association in order to construct a more plural understanding of friendship, and of the criteria by which it can be judged, as it is differentially instituted within, and traverses, the private, civil and political realms.

At 50 We Dare Not Give Up

At 50 We Dare Not Give Up

Seeking Fellow Invisibles

This piece is a creative non-fiction piece. The monologue is centered on a question that my mentor and HDEV 100 Professor, Myra Sabir, asked the whole class in the first couple weeks of the semester. "What is your enough?" The question goes deeper than most; it causes you to really look at your life, the world around you, and who you really are. If you were to die tomorrow what is your enough? What would allow you to die with the feeling of accomplishment and happiness? "Seeking Fellow Invisibles" is about what this question made me realize, how it opened my eyes. I compare myself to others and society and what their enough would be. I dig into my past and portions of the dark times in my life. It's a painfully personal piece but the whole point is to give clarity and inspiration to those whose visions are still blurred by what others want from them. It goes beyond materialism and challenges the readers to search deeper and look inside themselves. The whole point is to understand who you really are and what you really want.

An Efficient Traffic Control System and License Plate Detection Using Image Processing

Automatic license plate recognition is extracted from license plate of the vehicle. It is taken as an image or a continuous image taken in sequence. The extracted information can be with or without a database in many applications like electronic payment systems and freeway and arterial monitoring devices for traffic surveillance. ALPR employs CC camera, advanced camera or black and white, color camera to capture the image. ALPR is fruitful if the captured images are of good quality. ALPR is a real time application that processes the images of license plates in various conditions like dark or bright times in a day. A general technique should be identified to process images in many different countries or states. We should know that the license plate generally consists of various colors, languages, fonts and others have images in the background. Also, these plates are obstructed by mud, light, some accessories especially on a car. Here, we discuss about methods for ALPR. We classify ALPR based on the features they are used in each method and knowing their advantages, disadvantages, recognition accuracy and processing speed. Managing the timing in traffic controlling by calculating the density of an image.

Zbuntowana filozofia – subwersyjnej pedagogice. Hannah Arendt i Henry A. Giroux

The aim of the article is to elucidate the reasons why the critical pedagogue Henry A. Giroux, in his recent works, was inspired by the thought (in many aspects completely different) of Hannah Arendt, particularly by her analyses concerning the role of public spaces and the power of judgement in the modern world. The article develops three contact points in which the two distinct paradigms meet. They are: the metaphor of the “dark times”, adopted by Giroux, public spaces and the university.

A mongol buddhizmus egy fő imája Öndör gegēn Janabajar, az első mongol egyházfő tollából, és az általa írt egyéb szertartásszövegek

This article deals with one of the most well-known prayers in the practice ofMongolian Buddhism. The text was composed by Luwsandambīǰalcan (T.blo-bzang dam-pa’i rgyal-mtshan), the main figure of Mongolian Buddhism,also known as Öndör gegēn Janabajar, the first bogdo or bogdo gegēn orǰewcündamba xutagt (1635–1723). In addition to his works of art and hisrole in creating the special characteristics of Mongolian Buddhism, including unique lama robes, special ways of recitation and melodies, as well asceremonial texts written by Mongolian lamas and a special ceremonial system, he had composed many important texts, several of which are still usedduring the ceremonies today. Of these, the prayer published here in translation is chanted every day, while other texts are used during certain annualceremonies in all Mongolian monasteries. The present article describes theceremonial texts composed by Öndör gegēn, but concentrates on the mainprayer composed by him, its background, and its use in the Mongolian ceremonial system, also providing a Hungarian translation.The text is entitled Jˇinlaw cogzol (T. byin-rlabs mchog-stsol), i.e. ‘(Giving)the greatest blessing’, which is the Tibetan title of the beginning of the text indistorted Mongolian pronunciation. In Mongolian it is abbreviated as Adistid,‘Blessing’, being the Mongolian translation of the beginning of the text; or, inits original Tibetan title in distorted Mongolian pronunciation, Düitünǰi soldew(T. dus-bstun-gyi gsol-’debs), ‘Prayer in accordance with the time’.The purpose of chanting it is harmonious life, to clear away obstacles, aswell as to put an end to or to calm down any kinds of crisis, disorder, conflict,or fighting, and to reach harmony and peace. This is clear from the text itself,and also obvious from the historical background described in the article. The‘bad times’ or crisis (T. dus ngan, in Mongolian translations cöwīn cag, ‘timeof decadence / decline’, mū cag, ‘bad times’, or munxag cag, ‘dark times / Abstracts 171times of ignorance’) mentioned in the text refers to the time when the prayerwas composed, as well as to our time, meaning a dark era when the Buddhistteachings are present only to a limited extent or not present at all. Therefore,due to ignorance the sins and transgressions of the beings multiply, leadingto more and more suffering. The prayer was written during the time of thewars between the western and eastern Mongols (Oyrad and Khalkha), involving much victims and sufferings. The aim of the composition was to showthe way out of the difficult wartimes, to stop it by means of the Buddhistteachings and the power of prayer, to unite the fighting Mongols, and to helpthem achieve peace in this way.The translation is from the Tibetan origin, using four modern Mongoliantranslations. Two translations into classical Mongolian are known, but theyhave rather literary value as they are not used in the ceremonial life – nor arethey used Mongolian translations during the ceremonies in general, since Tibetan remained the ceremonial language of Mongolian Buddhism. The modern Mongolian translations are either from the classical Mongolian translations or from the original Tibetan. The significance of the prayer is born outby the fact that it also has three commentaries (T. ’grel-ba) in Tibetan.

THE TRUTH HURTS: VERA SCHWARCZ'S HEARTFELT QUEST

ABSTRACTVera Schwarcz offers a penetrating examination of the concept and meaning of “truth” in China (antiquity to contemporary) and elsewhere (primarily in the Jewish tradition, from the Hebrew Bible to contemporary thinkers). Highly critical of the sharp turn toward cultural relativism which abandons the search for truth in the name of everyone having his or her own situated truths, she examines in particular how scholars, philosophers, and writers living in dark times have sought to cut through the enforced amnesia of oppressive regimes, especially that of post‐1949 China. This broad‐ranging search brings numerous great minds into a kind of transtemporal, transcultural conversation, voices rarely, if ever, discussed between the covers of the same book.

P.2.005 - GABAergic synapses at the axon initial segment of basolateral amygdala projection neuron modulate behavioral flexibility

It is well known that the hormone ghrelin affects learning and memory in different experimental models of learning. Though, the effect of antagonism of ghrelin receptor type 1a (GHS-R1a) in various regions of the brain and on different stages of learning has not been examined. In this study the effect of injection of a GHS-R1a selective antagonist (d-Lys-3-GHRP-6) into the basolateral amygdala, dentate gyrus or ventral tegmental area was examined on memory consolidation in the passive avoidance task. Adult male Wistar rats weighing 230–280 g were used. Animals underwent stereotaxic surgery and cannulated in their amygdala, dentate gyrus or ventral tegmental area. One week after surgery, the rats received different doses of d-Lys-3-GHRP-6 (0.08, 0.8, and 8 nM), immediately after training. The control groups received solvent of the drug. Twenty four hours later in the test day, memory retrieval was assessed. In all groups, post-training injection of d-Lys-3-GHRP-6 decreased step-through latency and increased entries into the dark compartment and time spent in the dark compartment, significantly and in a dose-dependent manner. The results indicate that antagonism of the GHS-R1a in the rat amygdala, dentate gyrus or ventral tegmental area impairs memory consolidation and show that the ghrelin signaling has a widespread influence on cognitive performance.

Activity, sleep and ambient light have a different impact on circadian blood pressure, heart rate and body temperature rhythms

ABSTRACTThe aim of the present study was to investigate the impact of endogenous and exogenous factors for the expression of the daily rhythms of body temperature (BT), blood pressure (BP) and heart rate (HR). One hundred and seventy-three young adults (YA), 17–24 years old (y.o.), of both genders were studied under a modified constant-routine (CR) protocol for 26 h. Participants were assigned randomly to groups with different lighting regimens: CR-LD, n = 77, lights (>400 l×) on from 09:00 to 17:00 h and off (<10 l×) from 17:00 to 09:00 next morning; CR-LL, n = 81, lights on (>400 l×) during the whole experimental session; CR-DD, n = 15, constant dim light (<10 l×) during the whole experiment. Systolic (SBP) and diastolic (DBP) BP, HR and BT were measured every 2 h. For comparison, the results of the former studies performed under conditions of regular life with an activity period from 07:00 to 23:00 h and sleep from 23:00 till 07:00 h (Control) were reanalyzed. Seven-day Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitoring (ABPM) records from 27 YA (16–38 y.o.) and BT self-measurement data from 70 YA (17–30 y.o.) taken on ≥ 3 successive days at 08:00, 11:00, 14:00, 17:00, 20:00, 23:00 and 03:00 were available.The obtained daily patterns were different between Control and CR-DD groups, due to effects of activity, sleep and light. The comparison of Control and CR-LD groups allowed the effects of sleep and activity to be estimated since the lighting conditions were similar. The activity level substantially elevated SBP, but not DBP. Sleep, on the other hand, lowered the nighttime DBP, but has no effect on SBP. HR was affected both by activity and sleep. In accordance with previous studies, these results confirm that the steep BP increase in the morning is not driven by the circadian clock, but rather by sympathoadrenal factors related to awakening and corresponding anticipatory mechanisms. The effect on BT was not significant.To investigate the impact of light during the former dark time and darkness during the former light time, the CR-LL and CR-DD groups were each compared with the CR-LD group. Light delayed the evening decrease of BT, most likely via a suppression of the melatonin rise. Besides, it had a prominent arousal effect on SBP both in the former light and dark phases, a moderate effect on DBP and no effect on HR. Darkness induced decline in BT. BP values were decreased during the former light time. No effects on HR were found. Altogether, the results of the present paper show that BT, BP and HR are affected by exogenous factors differently. Moreover, the effect was gender-specific. Especially, the response of BT and BP to ambient light was evident only in females.We suppose that the distinct, gender-specific responses of SBP, DBP and HR to activity, sleep and ambient light do reflect fundamental differences in the circadian control of various cardiovascular functions. Furthermore, the presented data are important for the elaboration of updated reference standards, the interpretation of rhythm disorders and for personalized chronotherapeutic approaches to prevent adverse cardiovascular events more effectively.

Realización, lenguaje y elecciones narrativas de radioteatro: tres aproximaciones a la creación de espacios sonoros en el tiempo

Crear en el ámbito del tiempo un espacio que no existe en ningún otro lugar y hacer que en ese espacio actúen los personajes es lo que denominamos radioteatro. El radioteatro es un género de ficción que tuvo destacada presencia en las principales cadenas de radio españolas hasta finales de la década de los ochenta. Desde entonces, salvo excepciones como, entre 1994 y 2003, las celebradas Sobrenatural e Historias de Juan José Plans en Radio 1 y la apuesta de Radio 3 entre los años 1999 y 2003, con la emisión del serial de Carlos Faraco Cuando Juan y Tula fueron a Siritinga y otras muchas ficciones dramatizadas para radio, el formato ha tenido escaso protagonismo en la radio española. Sin embargo, a partir de la segunda década de este siglo, que ha asistido incluso a la convocatoria del Congreso Internacional de Radioteatro impulsado por la Escuela TEA FM de Zaragoza, ya por su IV edición, crece el interés entre profesionales y estudiantes por el radioteatro. Igualmente, las grandes cadenas empiezan a recuperar, aun tímidamente, este tipo de programas. Dos ejemplos: en la radio pública estatal espacios como su producción estelar serializada El Quijote del siglo XXI, además de otros contenidos de ficción con periodicidad semestral; y, desde la radio privada, en la Cadena SER, la serie de Mónica León Negra y Criminal o el Cuento de Navidad, con el que ha venido felicitando a los oyentes las tres últimas temporadas. En este artículo se aborda el concepto de radioteatro, otras expresiones de ficción radiofónica y el devenir de este género de programación por las parrillas de las principales cadenas de radio a lo largo de su historia. Finalmente, se ofrecen los resultados de tres aproximaciones a la ficción dramatizada para la radio, a través de diferentes maneras de abordar la narración, la acción y el lenguaje radiofónico en tres obras producidas por Radio Nacional de España: Cabeza de Vaca: Las vidas de Alvar Núñez, Herederos del tiempo y El corazón de las tinieblas

Here and now: Sociosexuality mediates the associations between Dark Triad and Time Perspectives (in females)

The present paper aims to answer the question about actual role of Life History Strategy (LHS) as a factor underpinning associations between the Dark Triad (DT) personality and Time Perspectives (TPs). Recently Birkás and Csathó (2015, Personality and Individual Differences, 86, 318–320) provided evidence for some robust associations between these two domains and interpreted them as a product of slow vs. fast LHS. However, their thesis regarding the mediating role of LHS in the associations between the DT and TPs was only speculative. In the present study we administered DT and TP measures (Dirty Dozen and ZTPI), as well as a sociosexuality inventory (SOI-R), which in our study served as an indicator of LHS, in a sample of 329 adults. We aimed to replicate Birkás and Csathó's results separately for each gender, and test for the hypothesized mediation effects. TPs proved related to DT traits, e.g., Future and Past-Positive were both negatively correlated with psychopathy and Machiavellianism. The associations were partly mediated by sociosexuality, but only in females. Our results suggest that LHS may indeed be responsible for the associations between TPs and Dark Triad, however other mechanisms underpinning these relationships need to be taken into account.

Interface Influence on the Long-Wave Auger Suppressed Multilayer N+ $\pi$ P+p+n+ HgCdTe HOT Detector Performance

This paper reports on N+- $\pi $ interface influence on the performance: dark current and response time of multilayer long-wave infrared mercury cadmium telluride (MCT - HgCdTe) N+ $\pi$ P+p+n+ detector under high operating temperature conditions, $T = 230$ K. A detailed analysis of the dark current and response time as a function of device architecture, i.e., N+- $\pi $ interface and applied bias was performed to optimize the working conditions. Dark current of the long-wave HgCdTe detector with 50% cutoff wavelength of $\lambda _{\mathbf {\textit {co}}} \approx 10.6~\mu \text{m}$ at $T = 230$ K was reduced from $\approx ~62$ to 12 A/cm $^{\mathrm {\mathbf {2}}}$ , while response time could be reduced to $\approx ~52$ ps for low-voltage operation, $V = 200$ mV.

Infantilization and Degeneration of the Politics in the Recent Times

Across the world, many democracies are in crisis and the civilization is crumbling. The crisis erupts because there is an impoverishment of political life where intolerance, greed, ignorance and rage are growing recklessly. The vibrancy of the democracies is diminishing as the public sphere of informed democratic dialogue is shrinking. Blatant lies, infantile emotionalism, absolute disrespect, open display of religious and other forms of discrimination, racism, misogyny, casteism and bigotry and other such evils are replacing the concept of the egalitarianism and consensus building. The substantive engagement with the ideas in the public life is being emptied of contents and as happening in the mainstream media, celebrity culture is being promoted in political and social life, which relies more on emotions rather than reasons or the rationalism. The spectacle of right wing fantasies is growing as the public sphere is increasingly occupied by the majoritarian Hindu, upper caste elite male club in India as compared to White male Christian club in the US or other parts of the West. The concept of respecting the diverse views is being collapsed in the cacophony of uninformed arguments, unintelligible jargon, esoteric theories and unsubstantiated opinions. Lawlessness is increasing and fanatics are getting louder and louder. Ignorance clubbed with the power, narcissism and megalomaniac attitude among ruling elite is giving rise to the dangerous state of affairs. The democratic secular ethos are being replaced by the culture of blood thirsty crony capitalism, cruelty and politics of uncivility. Anti-intellectualism and oligarchy is expanding while pushing for catastrophic human miseries because the totalitarian tyrannical and authoritarian state had failed. Militarization is expanding causing harm to the unarmed citizens while war mongers are consolidating their power. The language, the culture, the ethos, the civility, all are being infantilized and crippled leading to the decay of socio-political environment. The world is being pushed into the dark times by the newly emerged populous self-centered leaders. Democracies across the world are facing new kind of challenges but the critical question that is being raised here is that will these democracies be emerge out of this situation to imagine a different world while reclaiming democracies? When the politics is infantilized and its standards and norms are degraded, are there ways to revive and re-sustain mature democracies? Are these democracies in crisis, ready to contest the murky forces to bring desired transformations that would end the barbarism in politics? When human rights are curtailed by demagogues through strategies ranging from heavy militarization to the trolls of army on the internet, is there any way out to this global assault to imagine ways to cherish democracy, establish social justice and reaffirm human rights?

Reason in a dark time: Why the struggle against climate change failed – And what it means for our future

Reason in a dark time: Why the struggle against climate change failed – And what it means for our future

Offline: Turning fear into resistance

These are dark times for those who care about human rights. Such people are members of the global elites so reviled by today's populist politicians. They believe in international norms and standards that contradict the current rage against the global. And they see something inherently good about the interdependence of peoples—a view that runs counter to the growing public sentiment for exclusive nationalism. Last week, the High-Level Working Group on the Health and Human Rights of Women, Children, and Adolescents convened for the first time in Geneva, under the leadership of Tarja Halonen (former President of Finland) and Hina Jilani (a distinguished lawyer and human rights activist from Pakistan, and a member of the Elders). For the past decade, the path of progress for women and children has been broadly positive. Their mortality has fallen. Coverage with essential life-saving medicines has increased. And Ban Ki-moon's signature Every Woman Every Child initiative garnered considerable political support (and billions of dollars in new money). Advocates entered the era of sustainable development full of hope that the application of human rights principles, laws, and instruments to the health needs of women, children, and adolescents could be their next transformational step. And then the political winds began to chill. Brexit and Britain's cruel new culture of xenophobia and isolationism. Trump and the renewed global gag, refugee and Muslim ban, and aggressive America-first diplomacy. Le Pen and her party's history of racism and fascism. Rights for women, children, and adolescents are especially vulnerable in this new era. The family takes priority. Women and children exist to serve the family, and the family is typically defined by men. And yet, “The family”, Jilani noted, “has become the biggest locus of violence”. The High-Level Working Group, established in 2016 at a moment of expectation, found itself meeting at a time of crisis, even chaos. The human rights community faces a stark choice. Should it fight as ruthlessly as its opponents and be uncompromising in its advocacy? Or should it recognise that the coming years are going to be arid times and modify its language to accommodate a new reality? The case for accommodation was strongly made. Instead of provoking opponents, the human rights community should focus on safeguarding its achievements. It should strive to keep its nervous partners on side. It should not turn potential friends away by demanding the unattainable. It should be “smart”. It shouldn't antagonise. It shouldn't please itself. It had to be tactical. Others took a different view. They emphasised the urgent importance of drawing attention to the lived experiences of women, children, and young people, of underlining the epidemic of violence against women, of highlighting the seriousness of assaults on the sexual and reproductive health and rights of women (including safe abortion), and of refusing to accept a watered down minimum set of rights. They called for naming and shaming nations that failed to live up to their commitments. They sought a “rallying call” from the Working Group, one that demanded the “thought leadership of the world” to resist and respond to prevailing trends. Those who take human rights seriously now find themselves engaged in a war. As Flavia Bustreo, the Assistant Director-General of WHO, stated, we are living in a “different moment”, “entering a world that has seen dramatic changes.” It is a war against a political turn that has put the enemies of human rights into positions of great power. Kate Gilmore, the UN Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, explained how she faces a persistent “campaign of resistance” from countries that organise, galvanise, and obstruct efforts to strengthen the protection and promotion of human rights. The “intimacy of the toxicity” towards individuals—by which she meant the personalisation of attacks by member states—was a “machine” to undermine human rights. Her conclusion was that the health and human rights community had to get over its shock at recent events and start to “resist the tide of hate”. She reminded her audience that change can be sudden, “it can be vulgar and it can be very, very severe”. The conclusion of the meeting seemed to be that now was a moment when human rights activists had to take risks to defend their values, or else those values were little short of meaningless. President Halonen put it succinctly—“Why are some issues dangerous?”, she asked. “Because they are important.” The war has begun.

Sex and dark times' strategy: The Dark Triad and time perspective.

We investigated the effect of sex on associations between dark traits and time perspective dimensions. Responses by participants (N = 338) to the Short Dark Triad Inventory and the Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory showed that while sex was involved in different time perspective associations of Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and narcissism, it did not moderate the dark times' strategy.

Ciborg-Ecología. La encíclinca Laudatio Si en tiempos de indigencia y oscuridad

“We live in times of darkness or indigence” is said for mourn the death of man. We live in the best of all possible worlds, because for the first time is really feasible freedom, is said for to celebrate the beginning of the “new era”, still in gestation. Pope Francis I, as expected, speaks of darkness and indigence. But, also predictably, he has hope, obviously, and he believes in the power of education. In fact, it seems, he believes more in the education than in God. And if it is more realistic to think in school, and not in the temple as a place of change and therefore of hope, the truth is that the better the education less reason does the Pope have to dream utopia of the ecological conversion. The man of the future, budding, will not be human. The school was born with modernity and the school is, since its inception, a cyborg matrix. In the second half of the nineteenth century, he was born his creature. A few decades ago, opened his eyes.

From remote-controlled to self-controlled citizens

The digital revolution will make data abundant and cheap. Moving from a time of darkness into a digital age with information overload, we will need suitable filters. However, those who build these filters will determine what we see. This creates possibilities to influence people's decisions such that they become remotely controlled rather than make their decisions on their own. Since omnibenevolent rule cannot be supposed and top-down control is flawed for several reasons, another approach is needed. It can be found with distributed control, collective intelligence and participation. “Nervousnet” will be presented as a feasible specimen of a Citizen Web.

Photo-Voltaic Array Fed Transformer-Less Inverter with Energy Storage System for Non-isolated Micro Inverter Applications

This paper proposes hybrid energy system which consists of renewable energy source i.e. solar powered transformer less inverter and battery powered bi-directional direct current (DC) converter. The objective of this paper is reduce common mode voltage, minimize mosfet failure from reverse diode recovery, minimize conduction loss and full magnetic utilization using transformer-less inverter which is different from normal phase-leg inverter, it has proposed phase leg with optimized inductor and diodes. Battery energy storage system is used to avoid power interruption from PV panel during dark time. Proportional-Integral (PI) controller is used to provide gate signals to the transistor switches used in the transformer-less inverter. Simulation results helps to demonstrate the merits of transformer-less inverter.

Effect of Zbtb33 gene knockout and bacterial lipopolysaccharide on home cage behavior in mice

The Zbtb33 gene encodes the bimodal transcriptional repressor Kaiso, which causes epigenetic repression of genes by binding to methylated mCpG islets in the promoters of the genes. Despite the fact that Kaiso is intensively expressed in the central nervous system, its participation in the regulation of behavior is still poorly understood. Only the participation of Kaiso in the regulation of the behavioral response to emotional stress in the open field and forced swimming tests has been shown. The aim of this study is to elucidate the role that Kaiso plays in regulating daily activity, as well as the behavioral response to stimulation of nonspecific immunity. Experiments were performed on adult male mice with Zbtb33 gene knockout (KO) and animals of the C57BL/6 line (wild type, WT). All animals were 11 weeks old, weighed 26 ± 1 g and had SPF (specific pathogen free) status throughout the experiment. The animals of each genotype were divided into three weighted groups of 8 animals each. Initially, the daily dynamics of motor activity, sleep, food and water intake of intact animals was measured using the PhenoMaster software-hardware complex. The animals of each group were then injected with saline (control), 0.1 or 1.0 mg/kg of bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) dissolved in saline, and again measured for their daily activity, food and water intake. Intact KO and WT mice did not differ in the average daily motor activity and sleep duration. However, intact KO mice were less active in the dark time, and also consumed less food and water as compared to intact WT animals. LPS at both doses suppressed motor activity, prolonged sleep duration and caused anorexia in mice of both genotypes. However, the effect of low dose of LPS (0.1 mg/kg) on the food and water intake was more pronounced in KO mice than in WT animals. The results shed light on the biological significance of the Kaiso gene and serve as a justification for the necessity of the normal functioning of this gene in natural populations.