Single Afternoon Research Articles

On the poverty of academic imagination: a response to Bentley & O'Brien

Many years ago, I taught a course at the University of Aberdeen on the ‘4As’ of anthropology, archaeology, art and architecture (Ingold 2013). As we had been discussing flint-knapping, I invited the master-knapper, John Lord, to give a demonstration. We watched in awe as he skilfully detached flakes from a flint nodule of irregular shape to reveal the classical, bifacial form of an Acheulean handaxe. Then it was our turn to use wooden or antler hammers to detach flakes from fragments of flint. After an hour or two, none of us had made any headway. What looked simple in practised hands would have required years to learn, not a single afternoon! Nevertheless, the workshop taught us an important lesson. As Bentley and O'Brien (2024) remind us, mastering the skills to make an Acheulean biface requires hundreds of hours of practice. The question is, why does it need so long? What is going on during these many hours?

Sub-daily scale variations and trends in southwest monsoon rainfall over the West coasts of India and Myanmar

The West Coast of India (WCI) and the West Coast of Myanmar (WCM) receive a good amount of monsoon rainfall due to the orographic lifting and moisture transport from the neighbouring sea. Here, diurnal variation in rainfall amount, frequency, intensity, and contribution during the summer monsoon period was studied using TRMM 3 hourly precipitation data. The analysis was carried out over lowland, midland and highland regions of both the coasts. The subregions exhibit a similar diurnal pattern even though the intensity and frequency of rainfall vary from region to region. Generally, bimodal variations with late afternoon and early morning peaks are found over lowland and midland regions of both WCI and WCM in rainfall frequency, amount and contribution. However, highland regions exhibit unimodal variation with a single late afternoon peak. Over WCI, lowland regions exhibit primary peak during early morning, whereas lowlands of WCM exhibit primary peak during afternoon hours. Rainfall intensity exhibits a different pattern compared to other parameters. Rainfall intensity increases from south to north over both the coasts. Among the subregions, maximum rainfall intensity is found over midlands and minimum over highlands. In general, more rainfall is observed over subregions of WCM than subregions of WCI. Most of the lowland and midland regions, exhibit a significant increasing trend in rainfall frequency and contribution at morning hours and a significant decreasing trend at afternoon hours. Rainfall frequency exhibit different periodicities during different time indicating interannual heterogeneity in rainfall. The diurnal pattern of summer monsoon rainfall over the Indian and Myanmar West coasts shows remarkable latitudinal and topographical variations.

Variations of olfactory function with circadian timing and chronotype.

Cumulative animal studies have suggested that olfaction can be regulated by circadian clock. However, human studies on the topic are relatively limited. The present study thus aimed to investigate diurnal variation in olfaction in healthy adults while examining potential modulating factors. We conducted four rounds of testing on 56 healthy adults (32 women) aged 31 ± 12 years, throughout a single day, during morning (8:00-10:00 h), noon (12:00-14:00 h), afternoon (16:00-18:00 h), and evening (20:00-22:00 h). At the first appointment, participants completed full olfactory function testing using the Sniffin’ Sticks, questionnaires on medical history, nasal symptoms, sleep quality, and chronotype, and were assessed for blood pressure, heart rate, peak nasal inspiratory flow (PNIF), attention level, and rated their smell ability, nasal patency, wakefulness, and concentration level using visual analog scale (VAS) ratings. Subsequent appointments measured olfactory threshold, attentional level, PNIF, blood pressure, heart rate and VAS ratings repeatedly. Olfactory threshold (OT) scores varied significantly between different times of the day, with the highest score in the evening and the lowest in the morning. Similar differences were also observed in PNIF, with the highest value in the evening and the lowest in the morning. However, there were no significant correlations between OT score and PNIF across all four-time testing, as well as between differences in [OT evening â€" OT morning] and [PNIF evening â€" PNIF morning]. Furthermore, a generalized linear mixed model indicated that the testing time of the morning, evening chronotype, self-reported body mass index (BMI), rated smell ability, and rated nasal patency significantly predicted the Sniffin' Sticks OT score. Olfactory function fluctuates throughout the waking hours of the day, with the highest olfactory sensitivity observed in the evening and the lowest in the morning. This pattern is also seen in nasal patency. However, it appears that the circadian changes of nasal airflow may not significantly depend on the circadian changes of the olfactory sensitivity. In addition, chronotype and BMI may regulate such olfactory-circadian variation. These findings provide important insights for future research on the accurate diagnosis and treatment of olfactory dysfunction.

John Ashbery’s “Meditations of a Parrot” and Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe

“Meditations of a Parrot” appears in Some Trees, Ashbery’s award-winning early collection. His biographer, Karin Roffman, reveals that he wrote the 1950 poem “in a single afternoon as soon as he re...

Revolution and Power in Puerto Rican Nonfiction

Revolution and Power in Puerto Rican Nonfiction

Communication Patterns During Routine Patient Care in a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit: The Behavioral Impact of In Situ Simulation.

Effective communication minimizes medical errors and leads to improved team performance while treating critically ill patients. Closed-loop communication is routinely applied in high-risk industries but remains underutilized in healthcare. Simulation serves as an educational tool to introduce, practice, and appreciate the efficacy of closed-loop communication. This observational before-and-after study investigates behavioral changes in communication among nurses brought on by simulation team training in a pediatric intensive care unit (PICU). The communication patterns of PICU nurses, who had no prior simulation experience, were observed during routine bedside care before and after undergoing in situ simulation.One month before and 1 and 3 months after simulation (intervention), 2 trained raters recorded nurse communications relative to callouts, uttered by the sender, and callbacks, reciprocated by the recipient. The impact of simulation on communication patterns was analyzed quantitatively. Among the 15 PICU nurses included in this study, significant changes in communication behavior were observed during patient care after communication-focused in situ simulation. The PICU nurses were significantly less likely to let a callout go unanswered during clinical routine. The effect prevailed both 1 month (P = 0.039) and 3 months (P = 0.033) after the educational exposure. This observational before-and-after study describes the prevalence and pattern of communication among PICU nurses during routine patient care and documents PICU nurses transferring simulation-acquired communication skills into their clinical environment after a single afternoon of in situ simulation. This successful transfer of simulation-acquired skills has the potential to improve patient safety and outcome.

On the Diurnal Cycle of GPS-Derived Precipitable Water Vapor over Sumatra

AbstractConvective processes in the atmosphere over the Maritime Continent and their diurnal cycles have important repercussions for the circulations in the tropics and beyond. In this work, we present a new dataset of precipitable water vapor (PWV) obtained from the Sumatran GPS Array (SuGAr), a dense network of GPS stations principally for examining seismic and tectonic activity along the western coast of Sumatra and several offshore islands. The data provide an opportunity to examine the characteristics of convection over the area in greater detail than before. In particular, our results show that the diurnal cycle of PWV on Sumatra has a single late afternoon peak, while that offshore has both a midday and a nocturnal peak. The SuGAr data are in good agreement with GPS radio occultation data from the Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere, and Climate (COSMIC) mission, as well as with imaging spectrometer data from the Ozone Measuring Instrument (OMI). A comparison between SuGAr and the NASA Water Vapor Project (NVAP), however, shows significant differences, most likely due to discrepancies in the temporal and spatial resolutions. To further understand the diurnal cycle contained in the SuGAr data, we explore the impact of the Madden–Julian oscillation (MJO) on the diurnal cycle with the aid of the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model. Results show that the daily mean and the amplitude of the diurnal cycle appear smaller during the suppressed phase relative to the developing/active MJO phase. Furthermore, the evening/nighttime peaks of PWV offshore appear later during the suppressed phase of the MJO compared to the active phase.

What role for the high representative post-2019?

ABSTRACTDavid O’Sullivan reminds us of the minor miracle of CFSP – the “Copernican Revolution” as he calls it. He notes that we have come from a point in the 1970s at which EC foreign Ministers would move en masse from one city to another in a single afternoon just to distinguish clearly their separate roles between European Community business and their foreign policy discussions within European Political Cooperation (EPC). Even the “association” of the European Commission with foreign policy deliberations, he reminds us, was deemed both sensitive and problematic for most member states well into the 1980s. It is also important, I think, to highlight – and indeed to challenge – some of the underlying assumptions that we too often make about what the EU is and what it can and should be doing. This, I think, builds usefully on David’s salient points about the stark and sometimes revolutionary change in the machinery of the Union’s foreign policy.

The role of mesoscale convective systems in the diurnal cycle of rainfall and its seasonality over sub-Saharan Northern Africa

This study evaluates the role of MCSs in the total rainfall distribution as a function of season from a climatological perspective (1998–2014) over sub-Saharan northern Africa and examines how the diurnal cycle of rainfall changes with season. Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) 3B42V7 rainfall estimates and European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts ERA-Interim reanalysis are used to evaluate the climatology. The percentages of the full TRMM precipitation delivered by MCSs have meridional structures in spring, fall and winter, ranging from 0 to 80% across sub-Saharan northern Africa, while the percentages are homogenous in summer (> 80%). The diurnal cycles of MCS-associated precipitation coincide with the full TRMM rainfall. Attributes of MCSs, including size, count, and intensity, vary synchronously with the diurnal cycle of rainfall. The diurnal peaks are classified into three categories: single afternoon peak, continuous afternoon peak, and nocturnal peak. Single afternoon peaks dominate in spring and fall while continuous afternoon and nocturnal peaks are more common in summer, indicating the seasonality of the diurnal cycle. The continuous afternoon peak combines rainfall from two system types—one locally-generated and one propagating. The seasonality of the diurnal cycle is related to the seasonality of MCS lifetimes, and propagation speeds and directions. The moisture component of the MSE profile contributes to the instability most in summer when convection is more frequent. Low-level temperature, which is related to surface warming and sensible heat fluxes, influences the instability more during winter and spring.

Continuous-flow chemistry for the determination of comonomer reactivity ratios

Continuous-flow chemistry provides an operationally simple and reproducible method for the determination of comonomer reactivity ratios in a single afternoon.

Diurnal Course of Evaporation From the Dead Sea in Summer: A Distinct Double Peak Induced by Solar Radiation and Night Sea Breeze

AbstractPartitioning between the relative effects of the radiative and aerodynamic components of the atmospheric forcing on evaporation is challenging since diurnal distributions of wind speed and solar radiation typically overlap. The Dead Sea is located about a 100 km off the Eastern Mediterranean coast, where and the Mediterranean Sea breeze front reaches it after sunset. Therefore, in the Dead Sea the peaks of solar radiation and wind speed diurnal cycles in the Dead Sea are distinctly separated in time, offering a unique opportunity to distinguish between their relative impacts on evaporation. We present mid‐summer eddy covariance and meteorological measurements of evaporation rate and surface energy fluxes over the Dead Sea. The evaporation rate is characterized by a clear diurnal cycle with a daytime peak, few hours after solar radiation peak, and a nighttime peak coincident with wind speed peak. Evaporation rate is minimum during sunrise and sunset. Measurements of evaporation rate from two other water bodies that are closer to the Mediterranean coast, Eshkol Reservoir, and Lake Kinneret, present a single afternoon peak, synchronous with the sea breeze. The inland diurnal evaporation rate cycle varies with the distance from the Mediterranean coast, following the propagation of sea breeze front: near the coast, wind speed, and radiation peaks are close and consequently a single daily evaporation peak appears in the afternoon; at the Dead Sea, about a 100 km inland, the sea breeze front arrives at sunset, resulting in a diurnal evaporation cycle characterized by a distinct double peak.

Educational value of pocket-sized ultrasound devices to improve understanding of ultrasound examination principles and sonographic anatomy for medical student.

PurposeMedical students must understand the principles of ultrasonography (US), because US examinations are an important component of patient care in clinical practice. Pocket-sized ultrasound devices have the benefits of accessibility and ease of use. The primary objective of the present study was to evaluate the educational value of these devices in terms of improving medical student interest and understanding of US and sonographic anatomy.MethodsWe added a US training program comprised of a self-study learning module and a hands-on training session to a two-week block curriculum of medical imaging for first year medical students (n = 40). Multiple pocket-sized US devices were used on a small-group basis during a single afternoon. Students were asked to complete a questionnaire before and after the US training session; these two questionnaires contained 6 and 10 questions, respectively, which were rated by students using a five-point Likert scale. In addition, understanding of sonographic anatomy was tested before and after the training program.ResultsForty students completed the two questionnaires and the anatomy-related tests. Students found the program educationally valuable (4.37 ± 0.54 of 5) and reported that US practice was useful for improving their understanding of the principles of US examinations (4.23 ± 0.66 of 5) and sonographic anatomy (4.40 ± 0.55 of 5). Overall confidence at performing US examinations and understanding of sonographic anatomy were significantly increased after US training (increased overall confidence score, 1.87 ± 0.91 and improvement in sonographic anatomy score, 6.55 ± 1.55, p values < 0.001).ConclusionUS training using pocket-sized ultrasound devices was found to be educationally valuable for medical students in terms of improving understanding of US principles and familiarizing students with sonographic anatomy.

Using Objective Structured Teaching Encounters (OSTEs) to prepare chief residents to be emotionally intelligent leaders

ABSTRACTBackground: Chief Residents must lead, manage and mentor a diverse and often large group of residents, however there is a lack of formal leadership training throughout graduate medical education.Objective: Development of a 3-part Chief Resident (CR) Program focused on leading, managing and mentoring.Design: Each participant completes an Emotional Intelligence (EI) Inventory prior to the day-long event. Participants receive their EI scores at the beginning of the program, which features interactive sessions on leadership, management, and feedback skills. The program then reinforces the application of their new knowledge about EI through a four station OSTE (Observed Structured Teaching Encounter). CRs practice feedback and coaching skills in a simulated environment where they need to provide the context of formative feedback to a standardized resident.Results: The aggregated mean pre-session EI score for all participants was 76.9 (an ideal score is >85). An independent-samples t-test compared the CRs’ leadership and feedback performance on their first and second OSTE performance within a single afternoon session. There was a significant difference between the first OSTE performance (M = 47.92, SD = 7.8) and the second OSTE performance (M = 51.22, SD = 6.9); t (68) = 1.99, p = 0.006. These results suggest that participating in multiple OSTEs positively reinforces the core interpersonal and communication skills discussed in the didactic and practiced in the interactive portions of the program.Conclusion: The low mean pre-session EI score achieved by our participants supports the idea that CRs enter their new roles with a level of EI that can be enhanced. CRs had an overall positive reaction to EI and its application to the core skills addressed in the program, highlighting the fact that similar programs could be used to train early career physicians to be more skilled and comfortable with leading, managing and mentoring.Abbreviations: CR: Chief resident; EI: Emotional intelligence; GME: Graduate medical education; OSTE: Objective structured teaching encounter

The Use of an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle to Locate Alligator Nests

Abstract Coastal marshes of Louisiana provide nesting habitat for Alligator mississippiensis (American Alligator). Helicopters are typically used to locate Alligator nests in remote interior marshes. We tested the use of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to detect Alligator nests on Rockefeller Wildlife Refuge in Grand Chenier, LA. Three brief flights with a combined search time of approximately 25 minutes and 9 seconds were conducted in a single afternoon, covering 28.2 ha. While in the field, we observed 6 Alligator nests with the UAV, and later review of video imagery recorded allowed us to detect an additional 6 Alligator nests. The use of UAVs may be a useful tool for detecting Alligator nests.

The use of child actors to simulate paediatric patients in the MRCGP Clinical Skills Assessment (CSA): developing an effective model

Role-player consistency between candidates is a crucial component of the reliability of the Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) format used for clinical skills assessment (CSA). It is particularly important in a high-stakes licensing assessment such as the Membership of the Royal College of General Practitioners' (MRCGP's) CSA. The current organisation of the CSA examination poses particular challenges for child actors. The stringent licensing process for child actors limits the working hours of children aged under 13 years considerably, making it impossible for them to perform in both the morning and afternoon circuits on examination days. Children aged nine years or younger are not able to complete even a single morning or afternoon circuit. Younger children also appear disproportionately to become fatigued and less consistent with time. All children require significant support from their adult role-player parent. Careful piloting has allowed us to develop a solution which requires the use of natural pairs of adult and child role players in two teams for the morning and afternoon circuits. A new process for training and calibrating the children the day before their performance in addition to calibration on the day appears to improve the consistency of their performance. The aim of this paper is to describe the action research-based cycle through which we developed our training procedures for child actors for the MRCGP CSA. We believe, given the challenges we have outlined, our experience will be of interest to all educators involved in the CSA process.

Fotografia de poesia: devires da fabulação, durações em expansão e movimentos do instantâneo

A passagem do tempo nas fotografias de Alessandra Sanguinetti evoca a imagem em movimento se esta for entendida como mudança de qualidade. São imagens de um encontro entre o cinema e a fotografia que, contaminando-se mutuamente com seus processos, expandem-se um em direção ao outro. Uma duração real parte do referente (a vida quotidiana das personagens fotografadas) para a fabulação, fazendo surgir tantos outros seres, outros tempos, todos eles vivos na imagem. Trata-se de um género documental imaginário, onde as imagens evocam bifurcações, ganham corpo e movimento na medida em que não mais remetem a um real dado e objetivo, mas a um tempo alargado, de duração indeterminada. Os dez anos de feitura do ensaio The adventures of Guille and Belinda and The enigmatic meaning of their dreams aparecem então como se fotografados em uma única tarde. As durações e devires na passagem da infância à vida adulta ou do jogo superficial a um intenso encontro performativo fundam-se numa forma de discurso indireto livre. Por meio de uma noção ampla do dispositivo surge esta forma de subjetividade indireta livre própria à fotografia ocupando a fenda criada entre objetividade e subjetividade, privilegiando aspectos imateriais e temporais nas imagens.

Melatonin facilitates extinction, but not acquisition or expression, of conditional cued fear in rats.

BackgroundPrevious studies have shown that melatonin is involved in the processes that contribute to learning and memory. At present study, we tested the effects of exogenous melatonin (2.5 mg/kg) on the acquisition, expression and extinction of cued fear in rats.ResultsResults showed that a single afternoon administration 30 min before conditioning has no effect on the acquisition of cued fear. Compared to rats injected with vehicle, rats injected with melatonin 30 min before extinction training presented a significant lower freezing during both extinction training and extinction test phases, however, freezing response did not differ for the initial four trials during extinction training. Melatonin injected immediately after extinction training was ineffective on extinction learning.ConclusionsThese results suggest that melatonin, at the dose applied in this study, facilitates the extinction of conditional cued fear without affecting its acquisition or expression, and melatonin facilitates cued fear extinction only when it is present during extinction training. These findings extend previous research on the melatonin effects on learning and memory and suggest that melatonin may serve as an agent for the treatment of anxiety disorders such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Bringing Up CSD

Bringing Up CSD

A protocol and calibration method for accurate multi-camera field videography

Stereo videography is a powerful technique for quantifying the kinematics and behavior of animals, but it can be challenging to use in an outdoor field setting. We here present a workflow and associated software for performing calibration of cameras placed in a field setting and estimating the accuracy of the resulting stereoscopic reconstructions. We demonstrate the workflow through example stereoscopic reconstructions of bat and bird flight. We provide software tools for planning experiments and processing the resulting calibrations that other researchers may use to calibrate their own cameras. Our field protocol can be deployed in a single afternoon, requiring only short video clips of light, portable calibration objects.

A novel melatonin agonist Neu-P11 facilitates memory performance and improves cognitive impairment in a rat model of Alzheimer' disease

Previous studies have shown that melatonin is implicated in modulating learning and memory processing. Melatonin also exerts neuroprotective activities against Aβ-induced injury in vitro and in vivo. Neu-P11 (piromelatine, N-(2-(5-methoxy-1H-indol-3-yl)ethyl)-4-oxo-4H-pyran-2-carboxamide) is a novel melatonin (MT1/MT2) receptor agonist and a serotonin 5-HT1A/1D receptor agonist recently developed for the treatment of insomnia. In the present study we firstly investigated whether Neu-P11 and melatonin enhance memory performance in the novel object recognition (NOR) task in rats, and then assessed whether Neu-P11 and melatonin improve neuronal and cognitive impairment in a rat model of Alzheimer' disease (AD) induced by intrahippocampal Aβ(1–42) injection. The results showed that a single morning or afternoon administration of Neu-P11 enhanced object recognition memory measured at 4 or 24h after training. Melatonin was effective in the memory facilitating effects only when administered in the afternoon. Further results showed that intrahippocampal Aβ(1–42) injection resulted in hippocampal cellular loss, as well as decreased learning ability and memory in the Y maze and NOR tasks in rats. Neu-P11 but not melatonin attenuated cellular loss and cognitive impairment in the rat AD model. The current data suggest that Neu-P11 may serve as a novel agent for the treatment of AD.