Observations of red-giant variable stars by Aboriginal Australians

Aboriginal Australians carefully observe the properties and positions of stars, including both overt and subtle changes in their brightness, for subsistence and social application. These observations are encoded in oral tradition. I examine two Aboriginal oral traditions from South Australia that describe the periodic changing brightness in three pulsating, red-giant variable stars: Betelgeuse (Alpha Orionis), Aldebaran (Alpha Tauri), and Antares (Alpha Scorpii). The Australian Aboriginal accounts stand as the only known descriptions of pulsating variable stars in any Indigenous oral tradition in the world. Researchers examining these oral traditions over the last century, including anthropologists and astronomers, missed the description of these stars as being variable in nature as the ethnographic record contained several misidentifications of stars and celestial objects. Arguably, ethnographers working on Indigenous Knowledge Systems should have academic training in both the natural and social sciences.Comment: The Australian Journal of Anthropology (2018

Improving the Energy Performance Contracting Process using Building Performance Simulation: Lessons Learnt from Post Occupancy Investigation of a Case Study in the UK

There is a niche trend to use ‘Energy Performance Contracts’ (EPCs), for new buildings to ensure that minimum energy performance is achieved in practice. Building Performance Simulation (BPS) help to estimate performance and assess risks during design, construction and operational stages. This paper reports on an office building in the UK that has been procured under an EPC. The current performance shows that it will be challenging for the building to achieve the target. Being one of the first new buildings in the UK to be subjected to an EPC, analysis of the design, construction and operation process, provides insights into the specific issues related to building procurement and operation. It is suggested that scenario analysis, accounting for uncertainties and dynamic BPS should be used throughout the procurement process to quantify and manage the risks associated with performance targets. The paper also identifies that if performance targets are not defined comprehensively, there can be unintended consequences that lead to underperformance

Visual arguments in film

Nuestro objetivo es señalar algunas diferencias entre los argumentos verbales y visuales, y promover la perspectiva retórica de la argumentación, yendo más allá de la relevancia de la lógica y de la pragmática. En nuestra opinión, si ha de ser racional y aceptable como argumentación (visual), un film debe dirigirse a espectadores que tienen creencias informadas sobre el tema visto en la pantalla y sobre las limitaciones y las convenciones del medio. En nuestras reflexiones, aplicamos el análisis retórico al cine como un acto simbólico, humano y comunicativo que a veces puede entenderse como un argumento trazado visualmente. Como mezcla de estímulos visuales, auditivos y verbales, el film exige una interpretación y una (re)construcción activas y complejas. Nuestra sugerencia es concentrarse en cinco elementos diferentes, pero relacionados entre sí. La reconstrucción y la evaluación del argumento visual se basarán en esos elementos, y todo el proceso constituirá una argumentación visual.Our aim is to point out some differences between verbal and visual arguments, promoting the rhetorical perspective of argumentation beyond the relevance of logic and pragmatics. In our view, if it is to be rational and successful, film as (visual) argumentation must be addressed to spectators who hold informed beliefs about the theme watched on the screen and the medium’s constraints and conventions. In our reflections to follow, we apply rhetorical analysis to film as a symbolic, human, and communicative act that may sometimes be understood as a visually laid out argument. As a mixture of visual, auditory, and verbal stimuli, film demands active and complex interpretation and (re)construction. Our suggestion is to focus on five different but interrelated elements. The reconstruction and evaluation of the visual argument will be based on those elements, and the whole process will be one of visual argumentation

Australian Aboriginal Ethnometeorology and Seasonal Calendars

This paper uses a cultural anthropological approach to investigate an indigenous Australian perspective on atmospheric phenomena and seasons, using data gained from historical records and ethnographic fieldwork. Aboriginal people believe that the forces driving the weather are derived from Creation Ancestors and spirits, asserting that short term changes are produced through ritual. By recognizing signals such as wind direction, rainfall, temperature change, celestial movements, animal behaviour and the flowering of plants, Aboriginal people are able to divide the year into seasons. Indigenous calendars vary widely across Australia and reflect annual changes within Aboriginal lifestyles

Applying Recent Argumentation Methods to Some Ancient Examples of Plausible Reasoning

Plausible (eikotic) reasoning known from ancient Greek (late Academic) skeptical philosophy is shown to be a clear notion that can be analyzed by argu- mentation methods, and that is important for argumentation studies. It is shown how there is a continuous thread running from the Sophists to the skeptical philosopher Carneades, through remarks of Locke and Bentham on the subject, to recent research in artificial intelligence. Eleven characteristics of plausible reasoning are specified by analyzing key examples of it recognized as important in ancient Greek skeptical philosophy using an artificial intelligence model called the Carneades Argumentation System (CAS). By applying CAS to ancient examples it is shown how plausible reasoning is especially useful for gaining a better understanding of evidential reasoning in law, and argued that it can also be applied to everyday argumentation. Our analysis of the snake and rope example of Carneades is also used to point out some ways CAS needs to be extended if it is to more fully model the views of this ancient philosopher on argumentation

On the Formation of Collective Memories: The Role of a Dominant Narrator.

To test our hypothesis that conversations can contribute to the formation of collective memory, we asked participants to study stories and to recall them individually (pregroup recollection), then as a group (group recounting), and then once again individually (postgroup recollection). One way that postgroup collective memories can be formed under these circumstances is if unshared pregroup recollections in the group recounting influences others\u27 postgroup recollections. In the present research, we explored (using tests of recall and recognition) whether the presence of a dominant narrator can facilitate the emergence of unshared pregroup recollections in a group recounting and whether this emergence is associated with changes in postgroup recollections. We argue that the formation of a collective memory through conversation is not inevitable but is limited by cognitive factors, such as conditions for social contagion, and by situational factors, such as the presence of a narrator

A rapid high-performance semi-automated tool to measure total kidney volume from MRI in autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease.

OBJECTIVES: To develop a high-performance, rapid semi-automated method (Sheffield TKV Tool) for measuring total kidney volume (TKV) from magnetic resonance images (MRI) in patients with autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD). METHODS: TKV was initially measured in 61 patients with ADPKD using the Sheffield TKV Tool and its performance compared to manual segmentation and other published methods (ellipsoidal, mid-slice, MIROS). It was then validated using an external dataset of MRI scans from 65 patients with ADPKD. RESULTS: Sixty-one patients (mean age 45 ± 14 years, baseline eGFR 76 ± 32 ml/min/1.73 m2) with ADPKD had a wide range of TKV (258-3680 ml) measured manually. The Sheffield TKV Tool was highly accurate (mean volume error 0.5 ± 5.3% for right kidney, - 0.7 ± 5.5% for left kidney), reproducible (intra-operator variability - 0.2 ± 1.3%; inter-operator variability 1.1 ± 2.9%) and outperformed published methods. It took less than 6 min to execute and performed consistently with high accuracy in an external MRI dataset of T2-weighted sequences with TKV acquired using three different scanners and measured using a different segmentation methodology (mean volume error was 3.45 ± 3.96%, n = 65). CONCLUSIONS: The Sheffield TKV Tool is operator friendly, requiring minimal user interaction to rapidly, accurately and reproducibly measure TKV in this, the largest reported unselected European patient cohort with ADPKD. It is more accurate than estimating equations and its accuracy is maintained at larger kidney volumes than previously reported with other semi-automated methods. It is free to use, can run as an independent executable and will accelerate the application of TKV as a prognostic biomarker for ADPKD into clinical practice. KEY POINTS: • This new semi-automated method (Sheffield TKV Tool) to measure total kidney volume (TKV) will facilitate the routine clinical assessment of patients with ADPKD. • Measuring TKV manually is time consuming and laborious. • TKV is a prognostic indicator in ADPKD and the only imaging biomarker approved by the FDA and EMA