Background Commonly heard statements such as “Christmas comes around more quickly each year” suggest that the passage of time between annual events can become distorted, leading to the sensation of time passing more quickly than normal. At present however, it is unclear how prevalent such beliefs are and, what factors are predictive of it. Aim To explore the prevalence of beliefs that annual events such as Christmas (Study 1 UK sample) and Ramadan (Study 2 Iraqi sample) feel like they come around more quickly each year. To establish the association between distortions to the passage of time between annual events and emotional wellbeing, event specific enjoyment, memory function and self-reported attention to time. Methods Participants completed an online questionnaire exploring their subjective experience of time in relation to Christmas and Ramadan. In addition, measures of attention to time, memory function, quality of life and event specific emotion were also taken. Findings There was widespread agreement that Christmas and Ramadan appeared to come around more quickly each year. In both countries, this belief was associated with greater prospective memory errors, greater attention to time and greater enjoyment of the event. Furthermore, in the UK greater belief that Christmas comes around more quickly was associated with lower social quality of life and in Iraq, greater belief that Ramadan comes around more quickly each year was associated with lower age and female gender. Conclusions Distortions to the passage of time for annual events are widespread, occur across multiple cultures and are consistently predicted by prospective function, event enjoyment and attention to time. The absence of an association between older age (above 55 years) and a faster passage of time suggests that caution should be taken when concluding that time passes more quickly with increasing age. Citation: Ogden R, Alatrany SSJ, Flaiyah AM, ALi Sayyid ALdrraji H, Musa H, Alatrany ASS, et al. (2024) Distortions to the passage of time for annual events: Exploring why Christmas and Ramadan feel like they come around more quickly each year. PLoS ONE 19(7): e0304660. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0304660 Editor: Ellen L. Idler, Emory University, School of Public Health, UNITED STATES Received: September 26, 2023; Accepted: May 15, 2024; Published: July 10, 2024 Copyright: © 2024 Ogden et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Data Availability: All relevant data are within the paper and its Supporting information files. Funding: The authors received no specific funding for this work. Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
Nitrogen dioxide NO2 is one of the most dangerous contaminant in the air, its toxic gas that cause disturbing respiratory effects, most of it emitted from industrial sources especially from the stack of power plants and oil refineries. In this study Gaussian equations modelled by Matlab program to state the effect of pollutant NO2 gas on area around Durra refinery, this program also evaluate some elements such as wind and stability and its effect on stacks height. Data used in this study is the amount of fuel oil and fuel gas burn inside refinery at a year 2017. Hourly April month data chosen as a case study because it’s unsteady month. After evaluate emission rate of the all fuel and calculate exit velocity from
... Show MoreExploration activities of the oil and gas industry generate loads of formation water called produced water (PW) up to thousands of tons each day. Depending on the geographic area, formation depth, oil production techniques, and age of oil supply wells, PW from different oil fields contain different chemical compositions. Currently, PW is also known as industrial waste water containing heavy metals that are toxic to humans and the environment, requiring special processing so that they can be disposed of in the environment. To determine the heavy metals content in PW from the Al-Ahdab oil field (AOF), the Ministry of Science and Technology/Agricultural Research Department determined som
This study used a continuous photo-Fenton-like method to remediate textile effluent containing azo dyes especially direct blue 15 dye (DB15). A Eucalyptus leaf extract was used to create iron/copper nanoparticles supported on bentonite for use as catalysts (E@B-Fe/Cu-NPs). Two fixed-bed configurations were studied and compared. The first one involved mixing granular bentonite with E@B-Fe/Cu-NPs (GB- E@B-Fe/Cu-NPs), and the other examined the mixing of E@B-Fe/Cu-NPs with glass beads (glass beads-E@B-Fe/Cu-NPs) and filled to the fixed-bed column. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), zeta potential, and atomic forces spectroscopy (AFM) techniques were used to characterize the obtained particles (NPs). The effect of flow rate and DB15 concent
... Show MoreAn experiment was carried out to study the effects of Time Factor, potassium and Molybdenum on Rhizobium growth. The objective of the experiment, which conducted under laboratory conditions, was to investigate the interaction effects of using three levels of Molybdenum (0, 0.25, 2.50 mg Mo . Kg-1 sterile soil) and four levels of potassium (0, 25, 50, 100 mg K . Kg-1 sterile soil) on the viable counts of Rhizobium growth in the sterile soil after 3, 9, 15 and 21 days of incubation at 28°C. The results indicated that Molybdenum level 2.50 mg Mo . Kg-1 sterile soil and potassium level 50 mg K . Kg-1 sterile soil recorded the biggest significant increase in the viable counts of Rhizobium growth in the sterile soil especially after 15 da
... Show MoreBackground: Acne vulgaris is one of the top three most commonly encountered dermatological problems worldwide in both primary and secondary care. Human keratinocytes express functional TLR2 heterodimers. An increased expression of TLR2 was detected in the epidermis of inflammatory acne lesions, as observed in normal skin; the expression level increased with the degree of differentiation of the keratinocytes. TLR2 expression is upregulated in inflammatory acne lesions and induced by C. acnes. The current study conducted to assess the oral isotretinion treatment effect on the acne vulgaris patients by evaluated the Toll Like Receptor 2 as a major immune system marker in Acne vulgaris immune re
... Show MoreExperiment was conducted in Baghdad, three factor were used in this research included Two types of Plows included moldboard and disk plows which represented the main plot, Three forward speeds of the tillage was the second factor included 1.85, 3.75 and 5.62 km / h which represented sup plot , and Three levels of Soil Moisture was third factor included 21, 18 and 14 % in all of Vertical and Lateral Plowing Deviation, Practical and specific productivity, actual time for plowing one donam and appearance (goodness) of Tillage represented by the number of clods > 10 cm in silt clay loam soil with depth 22 cm were studied. the experiment was used Split – split plot design under randomized complete block design with three replications and Le
... Show MoreIntroduction/Aim. Seminal fluid analysis (SFA) plays a crucial role in helping infertility clinics diagnose the underlying reason of male infertility. The aim of the study was to investigate seminal fluid patterns of male partners of an infertile couple with apparently fertile female partners. Materials and methods. A cross-sectional study was conducted between January 2019 and December 2022. Patients were attending consultations for delayed conception for more than 12 months with apparently fertile female partner. Results. Four hundred fifty-three patients were included in the study. The distribution of patients according to age groups showed that 277 patients were young, aged 21 - 30 years (61%). Two hundred sixty-two (58%) patien
... Show MoreTwilight is that light appear on the horizon before sunrise and after sunset, Astronomically it is known that sunrise and sunset are effected by high above sea level, but the effect of high above sea level on the time of astronomical twilight still not decided and controversy among astronomers, in This research we studies the effect of high above sea level on the time of astronomical twilight, through adding the equation correct high above sea level to equation computation of twilight and then calculate of changing in the time of twilight for different highest (0-10000) meters above sea level , and the ratio of increase for time with high between (15.45-20.5) minutes. It was found that there was an increase in the time of the twilight along
... Show MoreThe current research aims to identify the effect of the note-taking strategy (CORNELL) on systematic thinking among second-grade female students in government daytime secondary and intermediate schools. Al-Fadhila School was intentionally chosen to be its student sample for the research affiliated with the First Karkh Directorate for the academic year (2024-2025). Then one of the two sections was randomly chosen to represent the experimental group that studies according to the note-taking strategy (CORNELL) and the other the control group that studies according to the usual method. The equivalence of the two research groups was verified by a set of variables, which were represented by chronological age in months, previous achievement in che
... Show MoreThe current research aims to identify the effect of the Cornell note-taking strategy on the achievement of chemistry among second-grade female students in government daytime middle schools. Al-Fadhila School was chosen intentionally as its student sample, affiliated with the First Karkh Directorate for the academic year (2024-2025). One of the two classes was then chosen to represent the experimental group, taught according to the Cornell note-taking strategy, and the other class, the control group, was taught according to the traditional method. The equivalence of the two research groups was verified using a set of variables, including chronological age calculated in months, the Raven Intelligence Test, previous achievement in chemistry, a
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