Wit[h]nesses of Time, A Note-Book of Hours on an Astrolabe: (A Partial Story Halfway Through)

How do we navigate in time? Astrolabes, described in general terms, are astronomical instruments that guide us to ‘read’, ‘extract’, ‘interpret’ and ‘reflect’ the hidden spatio-temporal cosmological and celestial knowledge. Though, they have been known to be adorned with the celestial knowledge with manifold uses from practical applications to intellectual, poetic, theoretical reflections, today, there is a wider historical interest in their precision in navigation and in calculating time. Relatedly, these instruments have been often associated with mathematical certainty and with “a uniform, measurable, geometrically structured space” (Aiken, 1994). Yet, our embodied engagement with astrolabes as drawings seems to have been repressed in time; and the entangled spatio-temporal relations that are set between the universe, the observer and the astrolabe, seem to fly under radar, as well as the spatio-temporal inconsistencies that come along with it. In this article, rather than taking drawing as a set of “reported” spatial databank, but as an embodied act that is internalized bodily, I would like to focus on our (repressed) embodied engagement with the astrolabe as a drawing, and unfold a discussion that does not necessarily rehearse the astrolabe as a ‘consistent’ spatio-temporal celestial map and that does not necessarily locate it historically within the origins of computerization. Akin to Aby Warburg’s ‘not-historical’ reading of images in his Bilderatlas Mnemosyne (1924-1929), I intend to track this historically repressed survival of embodiment of astrolabes, in the form of an analogical and anachronic reading mainly between two time-pieces: astrolabes (9th – 13th century) and John Hejduk’s The Collapse of Time (1984). Instead of panels of images, I will use my note-books as a denklage for such a historical imagination with the hope to set a historical imagination in motion, “located somewhere between fact and fiction.” (Rendell, 2007)

Volume CXVIII, Number 8, November 10, 2000

Objective: The aim of this study is to investigate the degree of variation of hydronephrosis by hydration in patients with ureteropelvic junction obstruction (UPJO). Material and Methods: Patients with antenatally diagnosed UPJO who admitted in a three months period were evaluated in terms of variation in sonographic findings for hydronephrosis. Serial renal ultrasounds were carried out before and after hydration considering parameters for hydronephrosis. Parameters evaluated on each ultrasound included degree of hydronephrosis, maximum anteroposterior diameter of the renal pelvis (mAPD) and anteroposterior pelvic diameter at hilum (hAPD), renal parenchymal thickness, dimensions of both kidneys, grade of hydronephrosis and the volume of the bladder. Results: Eleven children with unilateral hydronephrosis due to UPJO were evaluated. There were 10 males and 1 female at a mean age of 10.3 (3-30) months. The mean value of mAPD before hydration was 19.3±4.3 and increased to 21.3±4.6 mm (9.6% increase) after hydration showing a statistically significant difference (p=0.006). The corresponding measurements for hAPD before and after hydration were 14.5±3.6 mm and 14.6±3.4 mm respectively (p=0.846). Parenchymal thickness before and after hydration were 7.2±0.53 and 6.9±0.44 respectively which also showed no statistical significance (p=0.335). Hydration was found to have no significant effect on the parameters examined of contralateral kidney. Conclusion: The commonly used ultrasonographic parameters in the follow-up examination of hydronephrotic kidneys are prone to hydration effects. Among these parameters hAPD seems to be less affected. Copyright © 2013 by Türkiye Klinikleri

Analysis of the Relationship Between Multiple Leadership Orientations and Social Intelligence Levels of Students at Faculty of Sports Sciences

Total 950 students studying at the Faculty of Sport Sciences were selected for tyhe study and data were collected by scanning model, one of the quantitative research methods. As a data collection tool, the Multidimensional Leadership Orientations Scale and the Tromso Social Intelligence Scale were used. Descriptive statistics were made in the analysis of the data, and nonparametric analyzes were applied because the data did not see a normal distribution. Since the relationship was wanted to be looked at in the research, the Spearman test was used among correlation analysis. Finally we found there were significant relationships between the sub-dimensions of the scales. Significant relationships were found between leadership orientations and social skill levels in general sub-dimensions of family monthly income, department, mother education level and father education level

Prevalence of complications of male circumcision in Anglophone Africa: a systematic review

BACKGROUND: There is growing evidence that male circumcision (MC) prevents heterosexual acquisition of HIV by males in sub-Saharan Africa, the region of the world heavily affected by the HIV pandemic. While there is growing support for wide-spread availability and accessibility of MC in Africa, there is limited discussion about the prevalence of physical complications of male circumcision on the continent. METHODS: A systematic literature search and review of articles in indexed journals and conference abstracts was conducted to collect and analyze prevalence of complications of MC in Anglophone sub-Saharan Africa. Information extracted included: indications for MC, complications reported, age of patients and category of circumcisers. RESULTS: There were 8 articles and 2 abstracts that were suitable for the analysis. The studies were not strictly comparable as some reported on a wide range of complications while others reported just a limited list of possible complications. Prevalence of reported complications of MC ranged from 0% to 50.1%. Excluding the study with 50.1%, which was on a series of haemophilia patients, the next highest prevalence of complications was 24.1%. Most of the complications were minor. There was no firm evidence to suggest that MCs performed by physician surgeons were associated with lower prevalence of complications when compared with non-physician health professionals. CONCLUSION: The available data are inadequate to obtain a reasonable assessment of the prevalence of complications of MC in sub-Saharan Africa. Some of the available studies however report potentially significant prevalence of complications, though of minor clinical significance. This should be considered as public health policy makers consider whether to scale-up MC as an HIV preventative measure. Decision for the scale-up will depend on a careful cost-benefit assessment of which physical complications are certainly an important aspect. There is need for standardized reporting of complications of male circumcision

Theories of undescended testes [Inmemiş testis teorileri]

Undescended Testis is an attractive subject, appealing the attention of both biologists and pediatric surgeons. Biologists mostly deal with the reason of descent; however, surgeons are interested in the mechanism of descent. Despite not proposing a new theory Ihsan Numanoglu published an interesting paper in 1969 which was well ahead of his time demonstrating the histological abnormalities of undescended testis. It is a precious paper revealing the scientific personality of Numanoglu. This brief review of undescended testis theories is dedicated to him. © 2017 Cocuk Cerrahisi Dergisi.All right reserved

The Clock(s) of A Drawing and the Hermetic Time-Reader/Teller: Dreaming of Drawingdials and the Enigmatic Hour(s) of A Drawing

The alluring thought of experiencing more than one sunset in a single day does not only refer to the curious wonders of the inconsistency of our unstable, mobile spatio-temporal situatedness within the universe, but perhaps also to the curious apparentness of the non-linearity of the perception of time. We encounter such a profound occasion in Roger Ackling’s Five Sunsets in One Hour (1978):[i] A gentle walk on a hill triggers the horizon to accompany and move along with the walker, thus multiplying the sunset that could be experienced in a single day. While the walker doubles herself/himself as the ‘time-reader’ and marks each sunset on the paper manifesting the plurality of the sunset, her/his relationally changing situatedness paradoxically renders each sunset ‘unique’.The historical trajectories of the act of ‘reading the time’ passes beyond looking at a ticking clock, thus also beyond a purely mathematical calculation and mechanical construct. It is also not a mere coordinational matter set between the world and the universe, but it also includes ‘us’ as ‘the hermetic reader/teller/writer’ as an inherent part of it. Sundials and astrolabes manifest the existence of this ‘hermetic time-reader’ primarily as an engraved ‘drawing’ on earth, paper or portable plates. These ‘time-telling drawing’(instrument)s are in fact the result of an embodied reading of the universe, which in turn become ‘projective’ reading machines; in Daniel Libeskind’s terms, one of the three lessons of architecture.[ii] Constantly compelling interpretive narratives from the ‘reader’, these sundials could be considered in a broader framework as ‘divination’ machines, calling for variegated horoscopic narratives.Does this contemplation not seduce us secretly to think of the possibility of ‘a clock of a drawing’? In order to explore the curious spatio-temporal, embodied practice of divination of a drawing through the act of drawing, and also in order to unfold ‘us’ - ‘the drawer’ as the integral ‘hermetic reader’ in the drawing, we decided to work on this question speculatively in our elective course in the fall semester 2021-2022. Our project of ‘the clock(s) of a drawing’ started firstly as an embodied reading of a selected drawing through variegated projective methods. In due course, the projective cast of drawing demonstrated itself not as a static construct, but as a ritualistic and poetic act – as drawingdials. These projective drawingdials, with the ‘hermetic drawers’ as a part of them, are constantly re-read and re-written, almost transforming themselves into enigmatic drawing-instruments.Is it not possible to speak of the enigmatic hours of a drawing? Perhaps, yes, it may be possible: the hours of a drawing are crystallized within the projective and embodied languages and constructions of drawing itself, as we can see quite poetically in John Hejduk’s The Collapse of Time (1984).[iii][i] https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/ackling-five-sunsets-in-one-hour-t03562[ii] https://libeskind.com/work/cranbrook-machines/[iii] Hejduk, J., The Collapse of Time: Diary Constructions, AA Publications, 1987