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

Vulvovaginal Trichosporonosis

Objective: Isolation of Trichosporon species from vaginal secretions is a rare event, and no data are available on its pathogenic role. A case series is presented to determine the pathogenic role of Trichosporon species in vulvovaginal infections. Methods: We performed a retrospective chart review of patients seen in the W.S.U. Vaginitis Clinic in order to identify patients from whom Trichosporon species were isolated. Results: Between 1986 and 2001, a total of 13 patients had a total of 18 positive vaginal cultures for Trichosporon species. All 18 vaginal isolates were T. inkin. In general, positive vaginal cultures were accompanied by low yeast colony counts. Four out of 18 positive T. inkin cultures were obtained from visits by asymptomatic patients. Of the remaining 14 positive T. inkin cultures from patients with symptoms, nine out of 14 cultures had other diagnoses (Candida albicans, six cases; bacterial vaginosis, two cases; Trichomonas, one case). Five positive T. inkin cultures were obtained from visits at which patients had symptoms and no associated diagnosis. In only one of the five episodes could we establish a clear pathogenic role for Trichosporon. In this case the patient was treated with boric acid and had resolution of symptoms and a negative culture at follow-up. In-vitro susceptibility tests revealed that T. inkin was resistant to flucytosine and susceptible to all topical and oral azoles. Conclusions: T. inkin is occasionally found in vulvovaginal cultures and is usually a non-pathogen. Transient colonization tended to occur in women, usually of African—American origin, with major perturbations in vaginal flora (bacterial vaginosis and trichomoniasis) and increased pH. Pathogenic consequences of Trichosporon colonization appear to be rare

A realistic assessment of methods for extracting gene/protein interactions from free text

Background: The automated extraction of gene and/or protein interactions from the literature is one of the most important targets of biomedical text mining research. In this paper we present a realistic evaluation of gene/protein interaction mining relevant to potential non-specialist users. Hence we have specifically avoided methods that are complex to install or require reimplementation, and we coupled our chosen extraction methods with a state-of-the-art biomedical named entity tagger. Results: Our results show: that performance across different evaluation corpora is extremely variable; that the use of tagged (as opposed to gold standard) gene and protein names has a significant impact on performance, with a drop in F-score of over 20 percentage points being commonplace; and that a simple keyword-based benchmark algorithm when coupled with a named entity tagger outperforms two of the tools most widely used to extract gene/protein interactions. Conclusion: In terms of availability, ease of use and performance, the potential non-specialist user community interested in automatically extracting gene and/or protein interactions from free text is poorly served by current tools and systems. The public release of extraction tools that are easy to install and use, and that achieve state-of-art levels of performance should be treated as a high priority by the biomedical text mining community

Identification of the Red Supergiant Progenitor of Supernova 2005cs: Do the Progenitors of Type II-P Supernovae Have Low Mass?

The stars that end their lives as supernovae (SNe) have been directly observed in only a handful of cases, due mainly to the extreme difficulty in identifying them in images obtained prior to the SN explosions. Here we report the identification of the progenitor for the recent Type II-plateau (core-collapse) SN 2005cs in pre-explosion archival images of the Whirlpool Galaxy (M51) obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS). From high-quality ground-based images of the SN from the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, we precisely determine the position of the SN and are able to isolate the SN progenitor to within 0".04 in the HST/ACS optical images. We further pinpoint the SN location to within 0".005 from HST/ACS ultraviolet images of the SN, confirming our progenitor identification. From photometry of the SN progenitor obtained with the pre-SN ACS images, and also limits to its brightness in pre-SN HST/NICMOS images, we infer that the progenitor is a red supergiant star of spectral type K0--M3, with initial mass 7--9 Msun. We also discuss the implications of the SN 2005cs progenitor identification and its mass estimate. There is an emerging trend that the most common Type II-plateau SNe originate from low-mass supergiants 8--15 Msun.Comment: Submitted to ApJ. A high resolution version can be found at http://astron.berkeley.edu/~weidong/sn05cs.p

The increasing importance of sustainability for building ownership

Purpose — This study seeks to investigate the degree to which energy efficiency is incorporated into office building refurbishment and capital expenditure with the emphasis placed on a cost-benefit analysis from the owner’s perspective. Design/methodology/approach – In order to develop a research framework, a thorough literature review was conducted of three disciplines being construction technology, building refurbishment and property management. The study identifies differences between varying levels of capital expenditure to ensure an existing building is more energy efficient, with the emphasis placed on the cost of implementation and the potential for tenants to acknowledge the increased energy efficiency via higher rents. Findings – Office buildings have been identified as a contributor to global warming during the construction phase, however during the building lifecycle there is a greater contribution to CO2 omissions. Whilst various building designs and construction techniques have evolved to improve energy efficiency, the focus has largely been placed on new buildings where it is easier to incorporate change and innovative approaches. However, the proportion of new buildings constructed each year is relatively small in comparison to existing building stock, which requires regular capital expenditure to maintain and attract new tenants within a competitive marketplace. Practical implications – The increasing importance of energy efficiency affects the office market in a variety of different ways. Originality/value – This paper identifies important links between the environment and the built environment, and the implications for office building owners