Lunar Period Research Articles

Extensive clinical experience-Rational use of oral antidiabetic drugs during War Dwin, the Buddhist Lent

The Buddhist Lent (known as War Dwin in Myanmar) is a 3 lunar month long period of fasting observed by devout Buddhist during the monsoon each summer. Dietary patterns during the War Dwin pose a challenge for patients with diabetes who wish to fast, as well as for diabetes care providers who have to provide effective, yet safe therapeutic regimes. During the War Dwin, people take solid meals only from midnight to noon. Intake is limited to jaggery and from noon to midnight. This predisposes to hypoglycemia, which in turn encourages defensive snacking and leads to poor glycemic control. This article discusses rational oral drug therapeutic options during War Dwin. It draws from available pharmacological evidence, combined with clinical experience, to suggest possible antidiabetic regimes which combine efficacy with safety and tolerability. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4038/sjdem.v3i2.6380 Sri Lanka Journal of Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism 2013; 3 : 108-111

Lunar Periods and the Quest of Rebirth in the Mayan Hieroglyphic Inscriptions

The decipherment of the hieroglyphic script of the classic Maya society is hampered by our almost complete ignorance of their mythological-religious beliefs, of their thoughts on the after-life, on the underworld journey and fate of the deceased. Most of the inscriptions are based on a frame of historical (sometimes mythical) dates, usually life-cycle and period-ending dates (Proskouriakoff 1960). In the present paper and two companion ones (Dutting 1984 and n.d.) I explored whether accession dates of Maya lords and dates of other historical events were linked with similar dates of the past, with important dates in the life of parents and forefathers, by full multiples of time-periods with astronomical significance. It turned out that the Moon and the planet Venus played a particular role in the timing of such events. The corresponding deites are the divinities most deeply involved in the resurrection process, aspects of which are discussed.

Astronomical Implications of Maya Hieroglyphic Notations at Xultun

IntroductionRecently, we' reported on the existence of a group of numerically related texts painted on the walls of a room in an early ninth-century A.D. residential house (structure 10K-2) in the Classic Maya city of Xultun, Guatemala. The texts, carefully executed in fine black line over colourful underlying murals pertaining to royal rituals, with which they appear to have no apparent connection, consist of a 162-lunar synodic month semester table and a group of four relatively large day tallies, ranging in length between 935 and 6704 tropical years, used to calculate commensurations among important calendrical and astronomical cycles. Though executed in a different medium, the numbers resemble those found in the codices, or bark paper books, dated to the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries; therefore the major significance of the discovery is that it pushes back by several centuries the archaeological evidentiary baseline for sophisticated Maya astronomical computations.Here we analyse the aforementioned inscriptions in detail not permitted, for want of space, in our original report. We also describe and interpret additional texts discovered since the submission of that report. We refer to three text areas: Area A, near the middle of the East Wall of Structure 10K-2; Area B, immediately to the left of Area A; and Area C, on the northeast corner of the north wall2 (Figure 1).Area A: A Lunar Semester TableA neatly composed, but badly eroded, 5 cm wide by 48 cm long text located in the middle of the east wall, about 40 cm above the level of the raised floor, consists of 27 columns of black dot and bar numerals. Each column is topped by one of three alternating forms of a glyph (Glyph C) identifiable with that used on monumental inscriptions to record moon positions in a semester cycle.3 It has long been known from studies of the monumental inscriptions that the Maya grouped lunar synodic months in semesters, or lunar half-years, consisting of six lunar synodic months made up of combinations of 29 and 30 days, totaling 177 (or 178) days.As first recognized by one of the authors (Stuart), the readable portion of the text below each of the glyphs leaves little doubt of its lunar function. The last two (the 26th and 27th) columns read 4606 (12.14.6) and 4784 (13.5.4), respectively, the difference between the two being 178 days. Moreover, subtracting 177 (178) from the 26th entry, one arrives at 4429 (4428) or 12.5.9 (12.5.8), which is consistent with the readable portion, 12.5.(7), of entry 25. Fragments of the remainder of the text are consistent with its being a table of 27 lunar semesters, 22 consisting of 177 days and five (including the 26th) of 177, totaling 4784 days,4 or 162 lunar synodic months. The implied average value of the lunar synodic month is 4784 days, or 29d.530864. This is a remarkable 0d.000278 short of the value ofthat period for epoch 800 A.D. (29d.530586).5 Absent the five days added in the 178-day entry columns, the time averaged synodic period would have produced a much less accurate, though nevertheless still impressive, lunar synodic period of 29?500000, 0d.030586 short of the epoch 800 A.D. value.The restored version of the Xultun Lunar Semester Table (hereinafter LST) is given in Figure 2. This text, the only one of its kind, surely functioned as an instrument to calculate, either backward or forward, the position of a particular moon in a Lunar Series statement. Such statements are found on numerous monumental inscriptions. They consist (usually) of the name of the semester in a trimester system, Jaguar Lord Semester (columns A, D, G, ... of Figure 1), Death Skull Semester (columns B, E, H, . . .), and Female Moon semester (columns C, F, I, . . .), followed by the numbered moon (1-6) in that particular semester, along with the age (phase) ofthat particular moon, usually measured from new moon = 0d; e.g. in Column B: Skull semester, fourth moon, day 2 (a thin waxing crescent, visible low in the west after sunset). …

Fishing in the dark-local knowledge, night spearfishing and spawning aggregations in the Western Solomon Islands

Within the marine conservation community there is considerable interest in combining local knowledge and science to achieve management objectives. Yet there remain few studies which have examined the merits and caveats of local knowledge, or shown how combining both knowledge systems has resulted in better management outcomes. This study outlines collaborative efforts to conserve fish spawning aggregations (FSAs) in Roviana Lagoon, Western Solomon Islands. Baseline information on FSAs was obtained through local knowledge and spearfishing creel surveys. This information provided the starting point for establishing a 2-year community-based underwater monitoring program at the largest known FSA in Roviana Lagoon, where the brown-marbled grouper (Epinephelus fuscoguttatus), camouflage grouper (Epinephelus polyphekadion) and squaretail coralgrouper (Plectropomus areolatus) co-aggregate. This participatory research shows that local knowledge on FSAs is utilised to maximise returns from fishing, with spearfishermen targeting aggregations at night during the lunar periods when abundances peak. Because of its shallow distribution P. areolatus is the most vulnerable of the three groupers to nighttime spearfishing, with two fishermen capable of removing 15–30% of the total spawning biomass in two nights. Underwater monitoring demonstrates that while fishermen provided accurate information on many aspects of FSAs, their knowledge on spawning seasons was inaccurate for the FSA reported on here. Peak aggregations occurred from December to April each year, which differs from the traditionally recognised grouper season of October to January. A combination of local knowledge and science was used to develop appropriate management measures for this FSA, with the aggregation declared a community-based marine protected area (MPA) in 2006.

Lunar Rhythms in the Deep Sea: Evidence from the Reproductive Periodicity of Several Marine Invertebrates

While lunar rhythms are commonly documented in plants and animals living in terrestrial and shallow-water environments, deep-sea organisms have essentially been overlooked in that respect. This report describes evidence of lunar periodicity in the reproduction of 6 deep-sea species belonging to 2 phyla. Occurrences of gamete release in free spawners and larval release in brooders exhibited significant peaks around the new and full moons, respectively. The exact nature of this lunar period (endogenous or exogenous rhythm) and its adaptive significance in the deep sea remain elusive. Current knowledge suggests that proxies of moon phases at depth may include fluxes in particulate matter deposition, cyclic currents, and moonlight for species living in the disphotic zone.

Influence of the Lunar Phase of Tree Felling on Humidity, Weight Densities, and Shrinkage in Hardwoods (Quercus humilis)

The influence of the lunar phase of tree felling on the properties of wood has been debated for centuries, but it is only recently that it has been the subject of rigorous study. These scientific studies have essentially focused on softwoods, leaving unanswered the question of whether hardwoods follow the same pattern. This article presents the results of the analysis of the lunar influence of the felling date on the humidity, specific weights, and shrinkage of wood. The random sample analyzed consists of 60 oaks (Quercus humilis Mill.) felled during the four lunar phases (15 trees per phase) throughout one lunar period. No significant differences were detected in any of the cases.

Effect of food addition on the reproductive intensity and timing of both sexes of an intertidal crab

Males and females of most animals time reproduction and synchronize their reproduc- tive activity to maximize lifetime fitness. When food is abundant, however, the 2 sexes may time investments in reproduction differently due to sexual differences in how energy limits reproductive success. Many intertidal animals have reproductive cycles with semilunar or lunar periods timed to coincide with a certain phase of the tidal amplitude cycle when offspring survive best. Given an opti- mal time to breed, well-fed females may increase their investment in offspring but not change when they breed, while males may invest more both before and after the mating peak. We explored this possibility by feeding a mixed-sex population of the fiddler crab Uca terpsichores in field enclosures over 2 sequential trials of 1 mo each. Food addition increased male courtship intensity, particularly in the latter part of the semilunar reproductive cycles, but did not change the peak days of reproductive activity. Food addition had no consistent effects on female mate-searching intensity or reproductive timing during either month-long trial. These results suggest that female reproductive cycles and their timing do not result from semilunar variation in food. However, since females breed at most once a month, the trials may not have been of sufficient duration to reveal an effect of food on female repro- ductive investment. Previous studies suggest that semilunar variation in predation on larvae is the most important factor regulating reproductive timing by both sexes. Our results indicate that addi- tional food also influences the schedule of male reproductive investment.

Tidal effect in the radon-due neutron flux from the Earth's crust

Baksan Neutrino Observatory's results on variations of thermal neutron flux below and above the ground surface measured with an unshielded scintillator detector are presented. Experimental evidences were obtained of the existence of seasonal wave in the long-term thermal neutron flux variations as well as correlation between this variations and lunar periods.

Statistical properties of the deviations of f 0 F 2 from monthly medians

The deviations of hourly f 0 F 2 from monthly medians for 20 stations in Europe during the period 1958-1998 are studied. Spectral analysis is used to show that, both for original data (for each hour) and for the deviations from monthly medians, the deterministic components are the harmonics of 11 years (solar cycle), 1 year and its harmonics, 27 days and 12 h 50.49 m (2nd harmonic of lunar rotation period L 2 ) periodicities. Using histograms for one year samples, it is shown that the deviations from monthly medians are nearly zero mean (mean < 0.5) and approximately Gaussian (relative difference range between %10 to %20) and their standard deviations are larger for daylight hours (in the range 5-7). It is shown that the amplitude distribution of the positive and negative deviations is nearly symmetrical at night hours, but asymmetrical for day hours. The positive and negative deviations are then studied separately and it is observed that the positive deviations are nearly independent of R12 except for high latitudes, but negative deviations are modulated by R12 . The 90% confidence interval for negative deviations for each station and each hour is computed as a linear model in terms of R12. After correction for local time, it is shown that for all hours the confidence intervals increase with latitude but decrease above 60N. Long-term trend analysis showed that there is an increase in the amplitude of positive deviations from monthly means irrespective of the solar conditions. Using spectral analysis it is also shown that the seasonal dependency of negative deviations is more accentuated than the seasonal dependency of positive deviations especially at low latitudes. In certain stations, it is also observed that the 4th harmonic of 1 year corresponding to a periodicity of 3 months, which is missing in f 0 F 2 data, appears in the spectra of negative variations.

Lunar Cycle and the Number of Births: A Spectral Analysis of 4,071,669 Births From South-Western Germany

Lunar Cycle and the Number of Births: A Spectral Analysis of 4,071,669 Births From South-Western Germany

Lunar cycle and the number of births: A spectral analysis of 4,071,669 births from South‐Western Germany

Lunar cycle and the number of births: A spectral analysis of 4,071,669 births from South‐Western Germany

Spatial and Temporal Analysis of Contact Rates in Female White‐Tailed Deer

Abstract: White‐tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) are important game mammals and potential reservoirs of diseases of domestic livestock; thus, diseases of deer are of great concern to wildlife managers. Contact, either direct or indirect, is necessary for disease transmission, but we know little about the ecological contexts that promote intrasexual contact among deer. Using pair‐wise direct contacts estimated from Global Positioning System collar locations and joint utilization distributions (JUDs), we assessed habitats in which contacts occur to test whether direct contact rates among female white‐tailed deer in different social groups differs among land‐cover types. We also tested whether contact rates differed among seasons, lunar phases, and times of day. We obtained locations from 27 female deer for periods of 0.5–17 months during 2002–2006. We designated any simultaneous pair of locations for 2 deer &lt;25 m apart as a direct contact. For each season, we used compositional analysis to compare land‐cover types where 2 deer had contact to available land‐cover weighted by their JUD. We used mixed‐model logistic regression to test for effects of season, lunar phase, and time of day on contact rates. Contact rates during the gestation season were greater than expected from random use in forest and grassland cover, whereas contact rates during the fawning period were greater in agricultural fields than in other land‐cover types. Contact rates were greatest during the rut and lowest in summer. Diel patterns of contact rates varied with season, and contact rates were elevated during full moon compared to other lunar periods. Both spatial and temporal analyses suggest that contact between female deer in different social groups occurs mainly during feeding, which highlights the potential impact of food distribution and habitat on contact rates among deer. By using methods to associate contacts and land‐cover, we have created beneficial tools for more elaborate and detailed studies of disease transmission. Our methods can offer information necessary to develop spatially realistic models of disease transmission in deer.

LARGE MIXED-SPECIES DISPERSAL FLIGHTS OF PREDATORY AND SCAVENGING AQUATIC HETEROPTERA AND COLEOPTERA, NORTHERN ARIZONA, USA

We report 4 incidents of large (hundreds to hundreds of thousands of individuals) mixed-species flights of predatory and scavenging aquatic Heteroptera and Coleoptera. The events occurred on normal (mostly clear, calm) autumn 2005 and spring 2006 late afternoons near Flagstaff, Arizona. Flight days were either near the full moon or in advanced waning lunar periods. At least 18 species were involved in the flights, with as many as 16 species (7 species of Heteroptera in 3 families, 9 species of Coleoptera in 2 families) in a single flight. Heteroptera (especially from the family Corixidae) were 2–4 orders of magnitude more numerous than Coleoptera. The diasporas plummeted, with much direct mortality, onto green metal roofs, and the largest event lasted more than 2 hours. Even after 2 days, uninjured individuals failed to resume their flights. The literature suggests that such flights occur for autumn movement to winter habitats or for location of springtime habitats for reproduction. The relative proportions of species in flocks were similar neither to the relative proportions in the region nor to those in nearby livestock watering tanks, indicating that the flights consisted of nonrandom assemblages of species. These events are rare or unique observations of coordinated movement of mixed predatory and scavenging invertebrate species.

Viète's Controversy with Clavius Over the Truly Gregorian Calendar

Some twenty years after the Gregorian calendar reform, towards the end of his life, Francois Viete published his own calendar proposal. This treatise contains a sharp attack against the Jesuit scholar Clavius, the mathematical mind behind the reform. Understandably enough, Clavius prepared a negative reply. Viete heard of it and exploded in a fit of rage, ``I demonstrated that you are a false mathematician [ . . . ], and a false theologian.'' Sadly, Clavius' rejection, added as a chapter to his monumental apology of the Gregorian reform, appeared when Viete had already passed away. Viete seriously believed that the true aim of the Gregorian reform has been betrayed and he was furious about some logical inconsistencies which he claimed to have found in Clavius' calendar. Clavius apparently confused solar day and epactal day (or ``tithi''), the thirtieth part of a lunar month. This is the very core of Viete's attack against Clavius whom he accused of having introduced a false lunar period (``falsa periodus lunaris''). But his own work has some logical inconsistencies too. For instance, he reproaches Clavius for having introduced lunar months of 31 days which, indeed, are unrealistic. Grievously, his own rules can likewise give rise to lunations of unnatural lengths. In order to understand these subtle twists reader and author must work largely through both Clavius and Viete's methods of Easter reckoning. The fruit of all those efforts might be an insight into Viete's clear mathematical thinking. His calendar, however, was never considered.

The reproductive biology of a new species of sea cucumber, Holothuria (Mertensiothuria) arenacava in a Kenyan marine protected area: the possible role of light and temperature on gametogenesis and spawning

The sea cucumber Holothuria arenacava was discovered in the Mombasa marine reserve in 1997 and described by Samyn et al. (2001). The reproductive biology of this holothurian was investigated in order to (1) characterize the reproductive pattern, (2) examine the relationship among environmental parameters including temperature, light and lunar period, and (3) examine the relationship between the reproductive pattern and feeding of this new species. The gonad index method and microscopic examination of gonads was used to analyze samples collected for a period of 13 months. H. arenacava displayed an annual reproductive cycle with gametogenesis commencing in July during the south-east monsoons, when temperature and light intensity are lowest along the Kenyan coast. Gonad growth peaked in February–March at the end of the north-east monsoons when temperatures and light reach their annual maxima along the Kenyan coast. The higher correlation between light intensity and gonad growth (r=93) than temperature (r=0.71), coupled with the fact that temperatures continued to drop for a month after gametogenesis had already commenced, suggests that light intensity and not temperature is the cue for the onset of gametogenesis in this species. Spawning was synchronized between females and males and occurred during a short period between March and May (inter-monsoonal period) when both temperature and light intensity decrease along the Kenyan coast. Male and female gonad indices showed significant variation with lunar day and no lunar periodicity was observed in this sea cucumber. The sex ratio of the population of H. arenacava was skewed towards significantly more females than males, and females were significantly larger and had larger gonads and gonad indices than males. These life history strategies including spawning during a short discrete period, more and larger females that have larger gonads (i.e., typically more fecund), and spawning just prior to the peak in phytoplankton concentrations, a time that is probably more favorable for larval development, may serve to increase the reproductive success of this sea cucumber.

橋脚を利用した潮流発電について

There are several kinds of energy resources in the ocean but the utilization of the ocean energy is far behind the other natural energies such as solar and wind. A feasibility study on the tidal current power generation by making use of a bridge pier in the narrow strait is introduced in this report. There are several advantages to making use of a bridge pier for the tidal power generation. Current velocity increases near the pier, therefore the tidal power generation becomes more efficient because the power is proportional to the cubic of the current velocity. Furthermore, the pier is convenient for the maintenance of the hydraulic turbine and the power unit. The project is now underway at the Ikitsuki Bridge in Tatsuno-Seto Strait of Nagasaki Prefecture, where the tidal current was measured by the bottom mount ADCP for one month. The numerical simulations of the tidal current were conducted by the MEC Ocean Model, and the results were compared with the measurements. A long term estimation of the tidal current power is presented and the variation of the power by the lunar period is discussed. Lastly, the in-situ measurement results of the waves are presented.

English

English

A temperature-dependent reproductive model for spotted seatrout (Cynoscion nebulosus) explaining spatio-temporal variations in reproduction and young-of-the-year recruitment in Florida estuaries

Abstract Spotted seatrout (Cynoscion nebulosus) exhibit various seasonal patterns of reproduction and juvenile recruitment in estuaries across their range. To explain this variability, data on the reproductive state of 1674 individual females from the Indian River Lagoon were used to develop a generalized additive model (GAM) describing the relationship between reproduction and local environmental conditions. The model predicted that optimum spawning conditions exist at a water temperature of 29°C, indicating that if this temperature was exceeded during the spawning season, spawning activity would be temporarily curtailed, which would lead to a bimodal recruitment curve. In contrast, daily mean water temperatures below the optimum condition would result in a single recruitment peak. The reproductive model was largely consistent with historical information on spotted seatrout spawning seasonality along the gulf and Atlantic coasts of the US. Factors other than temperature (i.e., hours after sunset, lunar period and size and condition factor of females) were also found to regulate reproductive activity. Model predictions of the number of recruits based on local temperature regimes during the spawning season were compared to actual catches of juvenile spotted seatrout in three Florida estuaries. The reproductive model was able to predict the timing and modality of recruitment, but the relative amplitude of the fluctuations in abundance was dampened considerably compared to the observed variation.

Modelling risk factors for injuries from dog bites in Greece: a case-only design and analysis

We conducted a study using a newly developed dataset based on Emergency Departments records of a network of hospitals from Greece on injuries from dog bites. Our goal is three-fold: (a) to investigate if surrogate factors of leisure time are associated with increased risk of injury from bites; (b) to address recently reported contradictory results on putative association of lunar periods and injuries from dog bites; and (c) to offer a general methodology for addressing similar case-only designs with combined factors of which some can exhibit cyclical patterns. To address these goals, we used a case-only design of our dataset, and conducted an analysis where we controlled simultaneously for weekday/weekend effects, season of year (winter, spring/fall, summer), and lunar periods, because any one of these factors can contribute to the degree of exposure to injuries from dog bites. We found that increased risk of injury from bites was associated with weekends versus weekdays (RR=1.19, 95% CI: 1.10–1.29), summer versus winter (RR=1.24, 95% CI: 1.11–1.39), and fall or spring versus winter (RR=1.31, 95% CI: 1.19–1.45). The results support the hypothesis that longer leisure time at these levels of factors does increase the risk of having a bite injury. Moreover, after controlling for these factors, risk of bite injury was not associated with moon periods, thereby also helping settle a longstanding argument.

Chandler wobble of the poles as part of the nutation of the atmosphere-ocean-Earth system

The paper presents calculated spectra of El Nino Southern oscillation (ENSO) indices. The ENSO spectra have components with periods that are multiples of the Earth’s free (1.2 years) and forced (18.6 years) nutation periods. Analysis of a 41-year series of exciting functions for the atmospheric angular momentum confirms the existence of such periodicity. Nutation waves responsible for the El Nino phenomena in the ocean, the Southern oscillation in the atmosphere, and the presence of subharmonics of the Chandler period (1.2 years) and superharmonics of the lunar period (18.6 years) in the ENSO spectra are described. A model for the nonlinear nutation of the Earth-ocean-atmosphere system is constructed. In this model, the ENSO, acting at frequencies of combinational resonances, excites the Chandler wobble of the Earth’s poles. At the same time, this wobble interacts with the nutation motions of the atmosphere and World Ocean.