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Smith, R., & Bereitschaft, B. (2016). Sustainable Urban Development? Exploring the Locational Attributes of LEED-ND Projects in the United States through a GIS Analysis of Light Intensity and Land Use. Sustainability, 8(6), 547.
Abstract: LEED®-ND™ is the latest attempt to develop more sustainable urban environs in the
United States. The LEED®-ND™program was created to provide a green rating system that would improve the quality of life for all people through the inclusion of sustainable development practices. To achieve this, a premium is placed on the locational attributes of proposed projects under the “Smart Location and Linkages†credit category. The purpose of this paper is to explore the locational attributes of LEED®-ND™ projects in the United States to determine if projects are being located in areas that will result in achieving the program’s stated objectives. Specifically, this paper will examine two locational variables (i.e., night-time light intensity and land use cover) through the use of GIS to determine the effectiveness of these criteria.
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DuBose, J. R., & Hadi, K. (2016). Improving inpatient environments to support patient sleep. Int J Qual Health Care, 28(5), 540–553.
Abstract: PURPOSE: Although sleep is important for healing, sleep deprivation is a major concern for patients in hospitals. The purpose of this review is to consolidate the observational and interventional studies that have been done to understand exogenous, non-pharmacological strategies for improving sleep in hospitals. DATA SOURCES: We searched Medline, CINAHL, PsycINFO and the Web of Science databases for peer-reviewed articles published between 1970 and 2015 in English. STUDY SELECTION: A title review of 13,113 articles from four databases resulted in 783 articles that were further culled to 277 based on a review of the abstracts. The net result after reading the articles and a hand search was 42 articles. DATA EXTRACTION: From each article we recorded the independent variables, methods used for measuring sleep and specific sleep outcomes reported. RESULTS OF DATA SYNTHESIS: Noise is a modifiable cause of some sleep disruptions in hospitals, and when reduced can lead to more sleep. Earplugs and eye masks may help, but changing the sound and light environment is more effective. Calming music in the evening has been shown to be effective as well as daytime bright light exposure. Nursing care activities cause sleep disruption, but efforts at limiting interventions have not been demonstrated to improve sleep conditions. CONCLUSION: The research is hard to consolidate due to the multitude of independent variables and outcome metrics, but overall points to the potential for making meaningful improvements in the quality of patient sleep.
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Labuda, M., Pavličková, K., Števová, J. (2016). Dark Sky Parks – new impulse for nature tourism development in protected areas (National Park Muranska Planina, Slovakia). eRTR, 13(5/6), 536–549.
Abstract: Dark Sky Parks are one of important measures to support nature tourism in the protected
areas. In this paper, we introduce the concept of astro-tourism on the model area of National Park Muranska Planina (Slovakia), which should lead to the establishment of Dark Sky Park and the implementation of measures focused on dark sky protection, i.e. the elimination of light pollution over model area. The concept includes the measurement of night sky brightness, the selection of suitable observational sites and lighting plan. It is very important from the view of ecology, e.g. by the protection of night animal species. On the other hand, these characteristics can be fully used in new tourism concept in that protected area.
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Shafiei Sabet, S., Van Dooren, D., & Slabbekoorn, H. (2016). Son et lumiere: Sound and light effects on spatial distribution and swimming behavior in captive zebrafish. Environ Pollut, 212, 480–488.
Abstract: Aquatic and terrestrial habitats are heterogeneous by nature with respect to sound and light conditions. Fish may extract signals and exploit cues from both ambient modalities and they may also select their sound and light level of preference in free-ranging conditions. In recent decades, human activities in or near water have altered natural soundscapes and caused nocturnal light pollution to become more widespread. Artificial sound and light may cause anxiety, deterrence, disturbance or masking, but few studies have addressed in any detail how fishes respond to spatial variation in these two modalities. Here we investigated whether sound and light affected spatial distribution and swimming behavior of individual zebrafish that had a choice between two fish tanks: a treatment tank and a quiet and light escape tank. The treatments concerned a 2 x 2 design with noisy or quiet conditions and dim or bright light. Sound and light treatments did not induce spatial preferences for the treatment or escape tank, but caused various behavioral changes in both spatial distribution and swimming behavior within the treatment tank. Sound exposure led to more freezing and less time spent near the active speaker. Dim light conditions led to a lower number of crossings, more time spent in the upper layer and less time spent close to the tube for crossing. No interactions were found between sound and light conditions. This study highlights the potential relevance for studying multiple modalities when investigating fish behavior and further studies are needed to investigate whether similar patterns can be found for fish behavior in free-ranging conditions.
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Reinberg, A., Smolensky, M. H., & Touitou, Y. (2016). The full moon as a synchronizer of circa-monthly biological rhythms: Chronobiologic perspectives based on multidisciplinary naturalistic research. Chronobiol Int, 33(5), 465–479.
Abstract: Biological rhythmicity is presumed to be an advantageous genetic adaptation of fitness and survival value resulting from evolution of life forms in an environment that varies predictably-in-time during the 24 h, month, and year. The 24 h light/dark cycle is the prime synchronizer of circadian periodicities, and its modulation over the course of the year, in terms of daytime photoperiod length, is a prime synchronizer of circannual periodicities. Circadian and circannual rhythms have been the major research focus of most scientists. Circa-monthly rhythms triggered or synchronized by the 29.5 day lunar cycle of nighttime light intensity, or specifically the light of the full moon, although explored in waterborne and certain other species, have received far less study, perhaps because of associations with ancient mythology and/or an attitude naturalistic studies are of lesser merit than ones that entail molecular mechanisms. In this editorial, we cite our recent discovery through multidisciplinary naturalistic investigation of a highly integrated circadian, circa-monthly, and circannual time structure, synchronized by the natural ambient nyctohemeral, lunar, and annual light cycles, of the Peruvian apple cactus (C. peruvianus) flowering and reproductive processes that occur in close temporal coordination with like rhythms of the honey bee as its pollinator. This finding led us to explore the preservation of this integrated biological time structure, synchronized and/or triggered by environmental light cues and cycles, in the reproduction of other species, including Homo sapiens, and how the artificial light environment of today in which humans reside may be negatively affecting human reproduction efficiency.
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