Synchronization by low-amplitude light-dark cycles of 24-hour pineal and plasma melatonin rhythms of hatchling European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris)

In young European starlings, as in other avian species, high-amplitude 24-hr rhythms in plasma and pineal melatonin are already present around the time of hatching. In chickens this rhythmicity results at least partly from the light sensitivity of the melatonin-producing and -secreting system. In contrast to the chicken, the starling is a hole-nesting bird, and it seemed questionable whether the low light intensities in the nest are sufficient to synchronize perinatal melatonin rhythms. We therefore exposed starling eggs to light cycles roughly simulating those measured in nest-boxes, i.e., an 11-hr phase of complete darkness and a 13-hr phase consisting of 15 min of dim light (10 lux) alternating with 30 min of darkness. For one group the photophase lasted from 0600 to 1900 hr; for the other group the photophase lasted from 1800 to 0700 hr. In approximately 10-hr-old hatchlings of both groups, plasma and pineal melatonin concentrations were high during the dark phase and low during the light phase. We conclude that perinatal low-amplitude light intensity changes of the kind experienced by hatching starlings in the field are sufficient for synchronizing the melatonin-producing and -secreting system in the pineal and possibly other organs.

Sky high, skin deep: dark technologies of mediation

Media has become responsive architecture. Intelligent media artefacts are now embedded into the very fabric of our existence; they have become the structure of society itself. Ubiquitous computing creates informational environments in which material structures of communication become alive with agency. McLuhan's light bulb is now everyware: [1] technology that mediates by its mere presence. Pervasive mediation, a combination of mobile networks and systems of material translation such as 3D printers and programmable matter--is our current regime of mediation.

Constructive activism in the dark web: cryptomarkets and illicit drugs in the digital ‘demimonde’

This paper explores activism enacted through Silk Road, a nowdefunct cryptomarket where illicit drugs were sold in the darkweb. Drawing on a digital ethnography of Silk Road, we developthe notion of constructive activism to extend the lexicon ofconcepts available to discuss forms of online activism. Monitoringof the cryptomarket took place between June 2011 and its closurein October 2013. Just before and after the closure of themarketplace we conducted anonymous online interviews with 17people who reported buying drugs on Silk Road (1.0). Theseinterviews were conducted synchronously and interactivelythrough encrypted instant messaging. Participants discussedharnessing and developing the technological tools needed toaccess Silk Road and engage within the Silk Road community. Forparticipants Silk Road was not just a market for trading drugs: itfacilitated a shared experience of personal freedom within alibertarian philosophical framework, where open discussionsabout stigmatized behaviours were encouraged and supported.Tensions between public activism against drug prohibition andthe need to hide one’s identity as a drug user from public scrutinywere partially resolved through community actions thatinternalized these politics, rather than engaging in forms of onlineactivism that are intended to have real-world political effects.Most aptly described through van de Sande’s (2015) concept ofprefigurative politics, they sought to transform their values intobuilt environments that were designed to socially engineer amore permissive digital reality, which we refer to as constructiveactivism.

The dawn of the dark ride at the amusement park

Plotting the evolution of the dark amusement park ride is important in understanding the hybrid nature of the entertainment industry we see today. This paper looks specifically at two amusement park rides and shows how they form an important landmark in the evolution of immersive technology. The investigation focuses on Pittsburgh's Old Mill Ride (1905) in the USA and Blackpool's River Caves (1907) in the UK. Two rides which were the first of their kind and represent the solidification of technical and conceptual approaches being developed on both sides of the pacific. Whilst these rides are mentioned in isolation in a small number of academic texts, their connection and importance in the timeline of popular media has been overlooked. A combination of field and historical research examines how these rides were unique and influenced other media that preceded them.

A way through the dark and thorny thickets? The adjudication of ‘serious injury’ under the narrative tests in the Transport Accident Act 1986 (Vic) and the Workplace Injury Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2013 (Vic)

The so-called narrative test provides the means by which injured persons who satisfy the statutory and common law definition of serious injury may bring proceedings for common law damages under s 93 of the Transport Accident Act 1986 (Vic) and s 134AB of the Accident Compensation Act 1985 (Vic) (or, for injuries after 1 July 2014, under ss 324-347 of the Workplace Injury Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2013 (Vic)). These are among the most litigated provisions in Australia. This article outlines the legislative and political background to these provisions, the provisions themselves, and an account of the statutory and common law requirements needed to satisfy the provisions.

Problem gambling, familial violence and alcohol misuse: exploring the triad for treatment-seekers

Research into the co-occurrence of problem gambling, familial violence, and alcohol misuse is limited. While these issues have been considered in combination (i.e.violence and alcohol misuse, problem gambling and alcohol misuse, problem gambling and violence), within Australia, in particular, there has been an absence of exploration of this triad. The current research attempts to fill the gap in the literature, to establish whether there is any difference between problem gamblers with co-occurring violence and problem gamblers who had not experienced violence in terms of their alcohol misuse and gambling behaviours. Interviews were conducted with 81 treatment- seeking problem gamblers to explore how a history of victimization only, perpetration only, victimization and perpetration, or no history of family violence impacted on gambling behaviours (including baseline Victorian Gambling Screen), as well as alcohol misuse. Results indicated that in this treatment-seeking sample there were no significant differences for gambling behaviours or alcohol misuse between problem gamblers with issues of violence and those without. Males demonstrated (on average) a greater tendency toward hazardous drinking or disordered alcohol use. It would be prudent for treatment services to routinely examine problem gamblers’ history of violence and alcohol misuse until research verifies the nature of this triad

'A dark / Inscrutable workmanship:' Shining a ‘scientific’ light on emotion and poiesis

Max Nordau’s physiognomic study of criminality, Degeneration (1895), notably dedicated to the Italian pioneer of criminal anthropology Cesare Lombroso, labels poets and other artists—alongside criminals, prostitutes, anarchists, and lunatics—as ‘degenerates’. The Symbolist poets come under particular scrutiny in Nordau’s pseudo-scientific study. Paul Verlaine is described as ‘a repulsive degenerate subject with asymmetric skull and Mongolian face’ (1920 [1895]:128), while Stéphane Mallarmé is said to have ‘long, pointed, faun-like ears’ (131). The emotional and metaphorical intensity of their poetry, for Nordau, is another reflection of their alleged degeneracy. These poets write ‘twaddle’ (116), engaging in a ‘babbling and stammering’ (119) resonant of children and animals, which only ‘imbeciles and idiots’ profess to understand. While the Symbolists are viewed as avant-garde, Nordau is at pains to demonstrate that their irrational use of language actually exposes them as atavistic. Nordau proclaims: ‘clear speech serves the purpose of communication of the actual’ (118). By contrast, the Symbolists, ‘so far as they are honestly degenerate and imbecile, can think only in a mystical, that is, in a confused way… their emotions override their ideas.’

Identified by Nordau as one of the fin de siècle’s degenerates, Oscar Wilde evoked Nordau’s book in a petition for clemency when he was imprisoned in 1896, arguing that Nordau’s findings proved he required medical rather than punitive intervention. His plea was not successful, with Wilde later quipping: ‘I quite agree with Dr Nordau’s assertion that all men of genius are insane, but Dr Nordau forgets that all sane people are idiots’ (cited in Hitchens 2000: 18).

Shining the light on the dark side of medical leadership - a qualitative study in Australia

Purpose The paper aims to explore the beliefs of doctors in leadership roles of the concept of "the dark side", using data collected from interviews carried out with 45 doctors in medical leadership roles across Australia. The paper looks at the beliefs from the perspectives of doctors who are already in leadership roles themselves; to identify potential barriers they might have encountered and to arrive at better-informed strategies to engage more doctors in the leadership of the Australian health system. The research question is: "What are the beliefs of medical leaders that form the key themes or dimensions of the negative perception of the 'dark side'?". Design/methodology/approach The paper analysed data from two similar qualitative studies examining medical leadership and engagement in Australia by the same author, in collaboration with other researchers, which used in-depth semi-structured interviews with 45 purposively sampled senior medical leaders in leadership roles across Australia in health services, private and public hospitals, professional associations and health departments. The data were analysed using deductive and inductive approaches through a coding framework based on the interview data and literature review, with all sections of coded data grouped into themes. Findings Medical leaders had four key beliefs about the "dark side" as perceived through the eyes of their own past clinical experience and/or their clinical colleagues. These four beliefs or dimensions of the negative perception colloquially known as "the dark side" are the belief that they lack both managerial and clinical credibility, they have confused identities, they may be in conflict with clinicians, their clinical colleagues lack insight into the complexities of medical leadership and, as a result, doctors are actively discouraged from making the transition from clinical practice to medical leadership roles in the first place. Research limitations/implications This research was conducted within the Western developed-nation setting of Australia and only involved interviews with doctors in medical leadership roles. The findings are therefore limited to the doctors' own perceptions of themselves based on their past experiences and beliefs. Future research involving doctors who have not chosen to transition to leadership roles, or other health practitioners in other settings, may provide a broader perspective. Also, this research was exploratory and descriptive in nature using qualitative methods, and quantitative research can be carried out in the future to extend this research for statistical generalisation. Practical implications The paper includes implications for health organisations, training providers, medical employers and health departments and describes a multi-prong strategy to address this important issue. Originality/value This paper fulfils an identified need to study the concept of "moving to the dark side" as a negative perception of medical leadership and contributes to the evidence in this under-researched area. This paper has used data from two similar studies, combined together for the first time, with new analysis and coding, looking at the concept of the "dark side" to discover new emergent findings.

Experiences of insufficiency: "walking on a ledge in the dark"

During 2009 CARA announced the Iraqi Research Fellowship Programme aiming to enhance research capacity among Iraqi academics. The IRFP allows scholars to conduct and disseminate advanced and modern research projects connecting these to Iraq’s future academic development. This programme takes into consideration fostering and engaging the work of Iraqi academics in exile. One key expectation of the programme is for projects to have a positive impact on development of academia in Iraq in both the short and long term. It also facilitates international academic engagement fostering cooperation with Iraqi counterparts. This account is a reflection from a multidisciplinary team of researcher-practitioners facing these kinds of dilemmas the IRFP is intended to address. The context for the research involves paediatric training in Iraq and the potential extension of curriculum to involve psychosocial approaches to understanding human behaviour. Central to this account is an acknowledgement that in both research and practice, possibly one of the hardest decisions to make is not a choice of whether one possesses sufficient knowledge, but an acceptance that in not knowing we possibly find our way to get to where we want to be. This chapter discusses several challenges faced by an international research team as they embrace uncertainty together.

Playing in the dark of winter

This poem is an output of a collaborative improvisation session.

Melbourne Festival review: The Dark Chorus creates chilling interplay between light and darkness

DANCE THE DARK CHORUS ★★★½ Lucy Guerin Inc, Arts House ​Meat Market, North Melbourne ​Until October 12 The rustling sound should not be unexpected – and yet it is. It is the sound of heavy, brocade, floor-length skirts flapping against bare running legs as dancers dart en masse around a circle of light.