Postdoctoral Research Project Research Articles

Tool Dichotomies in a Period of Inter-epochal Transition – Philosophical and Anthropological Reflections on Post-Neolithic Dual Technology

The presented publication is the end result of an authorial, post-doctoral research project devoted to the multi-aspect flint tool dichotomy at the turn of the Stone and Metal Ages. The results of use-wear analysis of archaeological materials from south-eastern Poland and the Moravia region of the Czech Republic, obtained by the author over the last decade, have been supplemented in this article with a philosophical component. By visualising the network of connections on the empirical-theory line, the explanatory value of the dichotomous lithic concept was raised. Moreover, the discourse on the period at the turn of the Stone and Metal Ages has been enriched with new interpretative solutions for economic and social issues of that time in prehistory. The author places his philosophical investigations within the hermeneutical approach. After the study of key terms (dichotomy, divergence, convergence), structuralist thought becomes the leading theme at the end of the article. The paper deals with the concepts of such thinkers as: Martin Heidegger, Hannah Arendt, and Claude Lévi-Strauss.

Modal Versus Creaky Filler Particles in Romanian Connected Speech

This paper represents a preliminary acoustic analysis of filler particles in terms of voice quality (i.e., modal vs. creaky phonation). The main research questions addressed in this study revolve around which particular voice parameters are indicative of (non)modal phonation of fillers used by healthy speakers of Standard Romanian, and whether the function of the filler particle varies with different voice qualities. The analysis is carried out on Romanian connected speech data extracted from the Ro-Phon corpus (non-pathological speech), an open-access linguistic resource developed during our postdoctoral research project financed by UEFISCDI (2020 – 2022).

Sleep duration and testosterone levels in community older men: results from the West China Health and Aging Trend study.

Sleep duration and testosterone levels in community older men: results from the West China Health and Aging Trend study.

Documentation of Historic Buildings For Their 3D Reconstruction In A Digital Cultural Heritage Management System

Being at the crossway of trade routes, Ioannina, in northwestern Greece, has known overtime an economic and spiritual flourishment reflected in the city's urban web, which has, unfortunately, undergone major alterations. Focusing on the city's Post-Byzantine period, starting in 1430, for tracing its pluralistic physiognomy, studying the osmosis of its three cultures, Christian, Jewish and Muslim, and figuring out the related cultural palimpsest, still surviv-ing in the collective memory of the city, has been the great challenge of IASIS Postdoctoral Research Project.1 Extensive documentation of various origin, dynamic and combined interpreta-tion and processing of multiple data, cross-checking of the detected infor-mation, have formed the basic principles of IASIS project development. The specific paper forms the first part of Hagia Paraskevi Christian Byzantine Monastery-Namaz Giyah Muslim Mosque-Perifereia Hellenic State Adminis-trative Building cultural landmarks’ integrated management, i.e., the part on the landmarks’ integrated documentation in the framework of IASIS Postdoctoral Research Project. [35, 36]

Prototype of Project AI4Math: Interdisciplinary and Innovative Technology for Accelerated Learning of Mathematics

As the demand for sustainable education increases, teaching and learning strategies also change and evolve. They are becoming more innovative, creative and technology-based. It is mathematics that is one of the most important subjects with horizontal influence on other sectors, which poses the greatest challenges to educators with the question "How to teach students in such a way that they become interested in mathematics?" As an answer to the question, a new product was created. Using a carefully developed methodology and taking into account the needs of students, the post-doctoral research project "Artificial Intelligence (AI) Support for Approach of Accelerated Learning of Mathematics (AI4Math)”, through the cooperation of an interdisciplinary team in the fields of information technology, mathematics, mechatronics, sports and artificial intelligence, a prototype was developed for an innovative technology that arouses emotions in students of different ages, creates a competitive spirit and promotes accelerated learning of mathematics. The AI4Math prototype combines 3 components: 1) a pressure-sensitive floor platform for jumping out the solutions of mathematical expressions, 2) application for calculation of math expressions, evaluation of answers, accumulation and processing of Big Data, 3) an AI solution for emotion control. The study makes a valuable contribution to researchers, entrepreneurs and the education industry, as it reveals the conditions necessary for modern and sustainable accelerated learning of mathematics. Given that the AI4Math prototype provides an innovative approach to learning mathematics through physical activity, the survey data indicated support and future development prospects for the interdisciplinary technology.

Quantifying for Qualifying: A Framework for Assessing Gender Equality in Higher Education Institutions

The objective of this study is to present the development of a framework for assessing gender inequality in higher education institutions (HEIs) which reveals how this academic environment is progressing in terms of gender balance. It proposes a multi-dimension-based index comprised by five dimensions—Empowerment, Education, Health, Violence, and Time. The mathematical model used enables the user to assign a weight value to each dimension, customizing the results according to the institution addressed. The paper is based on a post-doctoral research project which analyzed six globally recognized indexes (Gender Inequality Index; Global Gender Gap Index; Women, Business, and Law Index; Gender Equality Index; Social Institutions Global Index; Women Empowerment Principles) to construct a new framework for gender inequality evaluation tailored for HEIs. It used a Laplace–Gauss-based scale. The research included an experiment of concrete application to two instiutions, one in Europe and the other in South America. While the first one had a Gender Equality Plan, the second had not. The analysis was successfully conducted in both institutions. The two institutions presented general results above 60%. These results need to be read in the specific context of each university. The Gender Equality in Higher Education Institutions Index (GEHEI) provides a user-friendly way of checking the existence of gender inequality, summarized into a single number but able to be detailed in several levels and to provide insight into progression over time. The handling of the GEHEI tool is also very straightforward. The proposal is designed to be used in different HEIs; it is recommended that researchers customize the weights of the dimensions according to their relevance in the specific organization. This paper provides a new methodological model to measure gender inequality in HEIs based on easy-to-obtain data, distinguishing itself from global indexes by its ease of application and interpretation.

QuarterlyMeet the Supervisors

Our Meet the Supervisors section is aimed at connecting postgraduate psychology students with potential supervisors and any corresponding opportunities for PhD, RA or postdoctoral research projects they may have in the future. We want to showcase some of the amazing supervisors and research positions out there. We also aim to humanise the PhD/RA/postdoctoral application process a little! Wouldn’t you like to know a few fun facts about a supervisor before applying to work with them? We hope that our readers find this a useful opportunity to learn more and reach out to one another, building more connections and collaborations across the UK.

BUSINESS INCUBATION SCENE IN THE PANDEMIC THROUGH AN OPEN INNOVATION APPROACH – LATVIA CASE STUDY

INTRODUCTION 
 The concept of Open Innovation (OI) is recognised by researchers and practitioners internationally, but research on business incubation and incubators as OI partners promoting co-creation, collaboration, co-petition is missing the explanation of how OI in a pandemic transforms business incubation. Business incubators (BIs) are defined as a tool “to help small start-ups overcome liabilities of newness and smallness” (Vanderstraeten et al.,2020). The research aims to investigate the actual business incubation situation in Latvia in the pandemic with the focus on the OI approach. What is the business incubation scene in a pandemic? This remains the research question, addressing the hypothesis - the pandemic facilitated changes in national incubation promoting online co-creation, co-petition and collaboration.
 MATERIALS AND METHODS
 The Latvian business incubation scene was the main research field of the postdoctoral research project “Open Innovation”. Descriptive analyses of various incubator types in Latvia were performed, identifying the types of incubators including the University, industry and state-run incubators, incubation services and requirements. The content analyses of the co-occurrence of key services were conducted by mapping the incubation service area. The research period was during the pandemic time of 2021, when several socialisation restrictions came into force in Latvia, thus, shifting incubation online.
 RESULTS 
 The pandemic facilitated changes in the national incubation system, promoting online co-creation, co-petition and collaboration in the business incubation field offering online nature services to tenants. External online expertise, as well as online mentoring support, were the OI outside-in strategy activities offered to tenants.
 DISCUSSION
 The incubation requirements regarding tenants’ recruitment still differ in Latvia, offering the incubation from the idea stage to real time performance, and work in business incubators was on-going even in the pandemic. The nature of services switched to on-line and distance incubation, addressing the basic needs of tenants. The future research could focus on the further elaboration of measurement between the impact of on-site and on-line services on tenants’ performance.
 CONCLUSION
 The description of the national incubation scene during the pandemic is both a theoretical and practical novelty of this research, as this was the first time in the Latvia business incubation field when on-site services were restricted due to the pandemic. This research proved the importance of the business incubation function in entrepreneurship support and the ability of incubators to provide this function on-line.

Convivencia Loading …: When People of the Way Read Authoritative Scriptures Together

This paper is a preliminary submission of the insights gained from the CIAS Conference (11-13 September 2019) pilot scriptural reading sessions. The empirical component of the CIAS postdoctoral research project includes observing and interacting with groups of active adherents of the three Abrahamic faiths, taking note of how people of faith appropriate meaning to their own authoritative scriptures and those of others. As a precursor to that exercise, a related protocol was rolled out at the event of the 2019 CIAS conference to pilot the exercise. This paper aims to offer a summative view of the notations from these sessions and to show how these are of value going forward. Three texts have been selected, one from each scriptural tradition of the three faiths, namely the Hebrew Bible, the Christian Bible, and the Qur’an. Keywords: Abrahamic faiths, Africa, Egypt, Diaspora, thematic topos

Diplomatic Wives, Cultures of Dress and Brita Kekkonen

In this article, I discuss the private dress collection of Brita Kekkonen (1927–2013), a diplomatic wife, who was a very well-known figure in Finland during the period of the Cold War. Brita Kekkonen was also a very talented dressmaker and a very fashionable figure in diplomatic circles. Some eighty outfits made by Brita Kekkonen have survived to this day, in addition to her voluminous pattern collection, containing more than 1,000 patterns from several decades. The aim of my new postdoctoral research project is to identify Brita Kekkonen’s dresses and examine their use, politico-cultural meanings and design in the context of the Cold War, diplomatic etiquette and Kekkonen’s own personal history.

Indigenous Identity as Country: The “Ing” within Connecting, Caring, and Belonging

Within the Australian Indigenous community, it is often said that Aboriginality is a verb. It is a “doing” word, not a noun. As such, identifying actively is at the heart of being Australian Aboriginal. Doing identification, rather than owning a label of identification, is critical to understanding the relationality that underpins Indigenous identity. It is the ‘Ing’ of relationality which acts as an interconnected web of presences (including people), places, and practices. When this web is ancestral, it marks our belonging. For Dharug, this is our “Country”, our Dharug Ngurra. It is physical and metaphysical. It is also known as most of the Sydney basin, Australia. The agency that connects us, strengthens our caring, and generates our belonging helps us co-become as a Country. This paper engages the author’s “Ing” as Ngurra through her connections to three sites, their presences, places and practices, that activate her belonging to/with the Dharug community: Brown’s Waterhole, Blacktown Native Institution, and Yallomundee. Using undergraduate teaching experiences and a current post-doctoral research project for specific context, questions around the ‘Ing’ of being Indigenous as Country-in-the-city are raised, while the significance of changing relationships for custodial caring in a climate challenging reality are discussed.

Towards institutionalization of communication as a strategic function in organizations of Argentina, Lithuania and Spain

This research paper discusses the degree of institutionalization of communication as a strategic managerial function to explore the different scopes and status achieved across countries and organizational sectors. Empirical work was conducted in Lithuania, Spain and Argentina, chosen as pioneers and regional leaders towards institutionalization through the establishment of the first university-level communication studies, national and worldwide networks of communication researchers and practitioners. Purposeful convenience sampling also ensured data collection through 61 semi-structured interviews with communication experts, senior managers and scholars from these countries, and a pilot survey with 20 Lithuanian communication specialists. The results suggest that CEOs in Argentina (70.6%) and Spain (65%) are more aware of the communication value, 60% communication specialists hold executive/senior positions. All this is 10-15% lower in post-communist countries. For 90% Lithuanian respondents, the CEO’s full understanding of communication is the number 1 factor affecting the institutionalization of communication, followed by the evolution of their profession in the country, which influences the perception of the communication function. Strengthening their role and status is the 4th priority for communication professionals in Europe and Argentina. This requires further education to fill a widening gap of data competencies and management skills, expressed by 69% of Spanish communicators, 75-87% in the former communist bloc, and 45% of seasoned Argentinean communicators. The empowerment of communication specialists remains highly dependent on the communicative competence and willingness of CEOs, who also need ad hoc executive education, which is more widely available in Spain and Argentina than in Lithuania. AcknowledgmentThis paper was written under the Lithuanian Research Council and European Investment Funds grant No. 09.3.3-LMT-K-712, as part of the post-doctoral research project “Towards an assessment model for mission-based strategic communication excellence”.

Origin of itinerant ferromagnetism in two-dimensional Fe3GeTe2 * *Project supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, China (Grant No. XJS200503) and the Post-Doctoral Research Project of Shaanxi Province, China.

Magnetic order in two-dimensional systems was not supposed to exist at finite temperature. In recent years, the successful preparation of two-dimensional ferromagnetic materials such as CrI3, Cr2Ge2Te6, and Fe3GeTe2 opens up a new chapter in the remarkable field of two-dimensional materials. Here, we report on a theoretical analysis of the stability of ferromagnetism in Fe3GeTe2. We uncover the mechanism of holding long-range magnetic order and propose a model to estimate the Curie temperature of Fe3GeTe2. Our results reveal the essential role of magnetic anisotropy in maintaining the magnetic order of two-dimensional systems. The theoretical method used here can be generalized to future research of other magnetic two-dimensional systems.

Surgical GAN: Towards Real-Time Path Planning for Passive Flexible Tools in Soft Tissue Surgery

Background: As one of the most important preoperative steps, surgical path planning of passive flexible tool in soft tissue encounters a prohibitive challenge, typically in vascular interventional surgery(VIS). The key problem is that unstructured surgical environment and tools’ unpredictable motion is hard to be explicitly modeled. We propose a generative adversarial networks (GAN)-based framework (defined as surigcal GAN) towards automatic guide wire path planning in real time for VIS. Methods: A novel GAN architecture is proposed by combining convolutional neural networks (CNN) and long short term memory networks (LSTM), which extracts and fuses the spatial features in medical images and temporal features of historical tool path as the conditional information. It inputs the surgical state information and continously outputs local future path of guide wire tip. A training dataset (3.5*105 samples) is collected under laboratory conditions with 10 surgeons. Effects of different CNN architectures and path planning length on network performance are investigated. User experiments are conducted with 10 novice surgeons in an operating room. Findings: The results shows significant reduction of path planning accuracy with surgical GAN comparing with baseline networks (from 46.2%-69.78%) and non-rigid registration method (72.94%). Results of user experiments demonstrate overall better task performance with the guidance of planned surgical path. Interpretation: Collectively, surgical GAN can achieve real-time surgical path planning of passive flexible tools in soft tissue surgery, and holds great potential for novice training and robotic VIS autonomy. Funding Statement: The National High-tech R&D Program of China [No.2015AA043202], National Key Research and Development Program of China [No.2017YFB1304400, 2018YFB1306500], National Nature Science Foundation of China [No.62003128], Natural Science Foundation of Hebei Province of China [No.F2020202053], Natural Science Foundation of Tianjin City of China [No.S20YBE154] and Preferential funding for postdoctoral research projects of Hebei Province of China [No.B2020003020]. Declaration of Interests: The authors declare no potential conflicts of interest.

Emergent transition from face-to-face to online learning in a South African University in the context of the Coronavirus pandemic

South African universities have been forced to transit from face-to-face to online learning (e-learning) as a result of the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19). However, various challenges hinder disadvantaged students from realising the full potential of e-learning. Therefore, this study’s main objective is to propose alternative pathways to overcome such challenges for students, to enable them to have access to effective e-learning. This study draws on a two-year postdoctoral qualitative research project conducted at a South African university to explore students’ experiences of the transition from face-to-face to e-learning. Twenty-six students completing a curriculum studies programme were purposively and conveniently sampled to generate data using e-reflective activity, Zoom group meetings and a WhatsApp one-on-one semi-structured interview. Findings articulate the digital divide as a hindrance to students realising the full potential of e-learning, yet lecturers still want students to submit assessment tasks and engage with course activities on the Moodle learning management system. With universities using face-to-face learning becoming vulnerable to the COVID-19 pandemic and other challenges which result in a shutdown of university sites, alternatives need to be sought to allow students, particularly disadvantaged students, to realise e-learning.

Capsaicin changes the pattern of brain rhythms in sleeping rat

The heat and capsaicin sensor TRPV1 ion channels were originally discovered from sensory neurons in dorsal root ganglia, and later found in many other tissues and organs. However, whether TRPV1 channels are present in brain regions other than hypothalamus has been a subject of debate. Here we addressed this issue with an unbiased functional test, by recording electroencephalogram (EEG) to examine whether capsaicin injection directly into the rat lateral ventricle could alter brain electrical activity. We observed that EEG during the sleep stage could be significantly perturbed by capsaicin, whereas EEG during the awake stage did not show a detectable change. Our results are consistent with TRPV1 expression in selective brain regions whose activities are dominative during the sleep stage.Support or Funding InformationThis work is supported by funding from the Qingdao Postdoctoral Research Project to YHT.

A Sure Start?

Early childhood prevention programs, fueled by the idea of social investment, have been the focus of policy making for a few decades in Europe and the USA. Amongst these, the Sure Start program in Hungary has evolved into a nationwide service incorporated into the child welfare system. The program aims to combat social exclusion and compensate unequal opportunities related to socio-spatial inequalities through providing assistance, developmental intervention, and social activities to families. The article examines the socio-spatial consequences of the program by bringing together an analysis of the current regulatory and financial framework and the everyday working of several Sure Start houses in different parts of the country. The analysis relies on the findings of two post-doctoral research projects (NRDIO PD 112659 and Premium PD 3300405), combining sociological and anthropological fieldwork in three settlements. The study reveals that the current institutional structure is based on structural deficiencies and institutional asymmetries characterized by the disproportionate allocation of resources and obligations for Sure Start houses. This results in large differences regarding the implementation of the program in different localities, which are largely influenced by the positionality of the settlements, as well as the resources that the maintainers of the service can draw on. The article argues that in its current form the program appears to strengthen rather than alleviate socio-spatial inequalities, as it is exactly the most disadvantaged remote rural places that lack the resources that would be needed to compensate for their multiple disadvantages.

Clinical Characteristics of Pregnant Women with Coronavirus Disease 2019 in Wuhan, China

Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has become a pandemic. Despite of the growing number of patients with COVID-19 infection, data on the clinical characteristics of pregnant women is still unknown. Methods: In this retrospective case-control study, we included childbearing-age women patients with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 at Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University (Wuhan, China) from January 15 to February 23, 2020. Demographic, clinical, radiological, laboratory, and treatment data were reviewed and analyzed. Clinical characteristics and disease severity of pregnant and non-pregnant patients were compared. Findings: 111 childbearing-age women with COVID-19 were included, including severe or critical disease in 16 patients (14.4%). Compared with non-pregnant patients (n = 80), pregnant patients (n = 31) were younger (median age, 29.0 vs 33.0 years), less likely to have dyspnea (16.1%] vs 37.5%), asthenia (3.2% vs 33.8%), and symptoms number ≥ 3 (22.6% vs 45.0%), had significantly higher white blood cell count (6.9 vs 4.6 × 10 9 /L), neutrophil count (5.2 vs 2.5 × 10 9 /L), higher percentage of CD3+ cells (76.7% vs 73.7%) and CD8+ cells (32.3% vs 28.4%), and had dramatically lower percentage of lymphocyte (18.2% vs 31.8%), lower CD4+/CD8+ ratio (1.2 vs 1.4), lower level of IgG (9.8 vs 11.9 g/L). Notably, pregnant patients had significantly lower percentage of severe disease (3.2% vs. 18.8%) and substantially higher level of inflammation markers including neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (4.4 vs 1.9) and systematic inflammatory index (812.8 vs 354.7) than non-pregnant patients. Interpretation: Pregnant patients with COVID-19 had less level of severity together with enhanced inflammatory response and cell immunity when compared with non-pregnant patients. Funding Statement: This work was supported by the Scientific Research Projects from Health and Family Planning Commission in Hubei Province (grant WJ2017M026 to Dr B. Cheng), Wuhan University School of Medicine (grant TFZZ2018018 to Dr B. Cheng), Wuhan University postdoctoral research project (grant 169557 to Dr B. Cheng), Shanghai Pujiang Talent Plan (grant 2019PJD048 to Dr S. Ren), Shanghai Key disciplines of Respiratory (grant 2017ZZ02012 to Dr S. Ren), and Shanghai Major Diseases Multidisciplinary Cooperation Diagnosis and Treatment Construction Project. Declaration of Interests: The authors declare no competing interests. Ethics Approval Statement: This study was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University (approval number: WDRY2020-K076). Considering the urgent need for public health outbreak investigation, written informed consent was waived. All data were anonymously collected and analyzed.

Similitudes and singularities of higher education systems in the Mediterranean countries: Historical construction, policy and evolution of key indicators

Higher education is one of the most important key values for changes in societies and exchanges among different societies. Analysing higher education systems in Europe, it is clear that Southern Europe has been determining many differences with the rest of the continent, despite the effort of the Bologna Process to ensure comparability in the standards and quality of higher education qualifications.
 Taking into account four Southern Europe countries – Portugal, Spain, Italy and Greece – and regarding their link to a certain Mediterranean culture, our proposal is to analyse these countries’ higher education systems, their growth, using indicators on educational stock, economic growth and development, supply and demand of higher education and economic indicators relating training and the economy such as graduated employment rates. Also education public policies will be considered in the analysis as they interfere in higher education systems’ trajectories. Comparing them we will be able to identify similitudes and singularities in these educational realities, leading us to conclude about the existence of a Southern European way of making higher education a specific value in Mediterranean culture.
 This topic is even more important as it may be related to the recent key focus of EU activities in Southern Mediterranean region. The Mediterranean Strategy for Sustainable Development (MSSD) recognises that education in the Mediterranean needs strengthening by introducing sustainable development, through a holistic approach, into educational curricula, from primary school right up to higher education. The search for synergies between higher education research and innovation in the Mediterranean area already started. With our post-doctoral research project focusing on higher education and its links to societies, educational policies and national economies, our goal is to share some questions and to contribute to the debate on higher education reinforcing and enriching sociological analysis on higher education between Mediterranean countries.

Talking Politics of Contact Improvisation with Steve Paxton

In the autumn of 2015, on the back of the publication of my monograph Akram Khan: Dancing New Interculturalism (Mitra 2015), I was settling into my Brunel University London-sponsored sabbatical to kick-start my postdoctoral research project, then titled “Historicizing and Mapping British Physical Theatre.” At that stage, this new field of study, methodology, and tone of enquiry felt significantly different from the decolonial spirit of my book, which examines the works of the British-Bangladeshi dance artist Akram Khan at the intersections of postcoloniality, race, gender, sexuality, mobility, interculturalism, and globalization, arguing for his choreographic choices as discerning political acts that decenter the whiteness of contemporary western dance from his position within this center. With this new project I was keen, instead, to investigate the development of “British physical theatre” as an interdisciplinary genre that emerged interstitially between and through its “double legacy in both avant-garde theatre and dance” (Sánchez-Colberg 2007, 21) with a particular emphasis on what the import of the choreographic vocabulary of partnering would have brought to these experiments. Very conscious that the now ubiquitous aesthetic of partnering in contemporary Euro-American theater dance derived its roots from the somatic explorations of contact improvisation, I was intrigued to examine how the genre of British physical theatre would have engaged with choreographic touch from its somatic beginnings in contact improvisation to its politicized and aestheticized manifestation in partnering. I was also conscious, of course, of the role that Steve Paxton, the artist whose name has become synonymous with contact improvisation's inception and development in 1970s United States, had to play in teaching contact improvisation in the dance program at Dartington College of Arts in the United Kingdom (UK) in the 1970s and 1980s. Driven by a need to examine the potential relationship between Dartington's 1970s movement experiments with Paxton and contact improvisation, and the emergence of partnering as a key aesthetic within British contemporary dance, specifically its manifestation in physical theatre, I wanted to interview Paxton himself. Needless to say, I was of course fully aware of the difficulty in making such an important research opportunity materialize. However, within months, the remarkable generosity of our dance studies network, in this instance embodied by Professors Susan Foster and Ann Cooper Albright, and the dance artist Lisa Nelson, led me to the inbox of Steve Paxton himself in November 2015. Paxton was instantly responsive to my e-mail communications, and deeply invested and committed to sharing his experiences and insights with me. We arranged our Skype interview for early 2016, agreeing that this would give me enough time to research existing interviews with Paxton, in print and on video, to ensure that I could delineate my own questions for him in productive ways. The more I researched, the more a feature of the extensive archive of interviews with Paxton revealed itself: the predominant absence of bodies and perspectives of color from the early days of contact improvisation's experiments. This absence, in turn, became more and more present in my thinking.