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Contains fulltext : 291441.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access) Patients with more severe forms of tooth wear may require restorative rehabilitation. The decision to commence treatment must be taken carefully and there are a multitude of factors to consider. Alongside the clinical signs and symptoms typically associated with tooth wear, there is also the need to assess the impact of the condition on the patient's oral health-related quality of life. As part of the discussions relating to the attainment of informed consent for the restoration of the worn dentition, not only is it relevant to appropriately appraise the risks, benefits, costs, reasonable alternatives and likely prognosis of the proposed treatments, but to also elaborate on the expected impact of the intervention on the patient's oral health-related quality of life. The aim of this article is to review the evidence relating to the impact of the quality of life with the management of tooth wear, with the introduction of the concept of an evidence-based approach to decision-making when planning care.

In this work, we present a methodology and a corresponding code-base for constructing mock integral field spectrograph (IFS) observations of simulated galaxies in a consistent and reproducible way. Such methods are necessary to improve the collaboration and comparison of observation and theory results, and accelerate our understanding of how the kinematics of galaxies evolve over time. This code, SimSpin, is an open-source package written in R, but also with an API interface such that the code can be interacted with in any coding language. Documentation and individual examples can be found at the open-source website connected to the online repository. SimSpin is already being utilised by international IFS collaborations, including SAMI and MAGPI, for generating comparable data sets from a diverse suite of cosmological hydrodynamical simulations., 18 pages, 16 figures, 2 tables. Submitted to PASA. Comments welcome

PurposeThis investigation aimed to compare the protective role of saliva against erosion and attrition challenges.MethodPolished enamel and dentine samples (n = 160) were prepared and randomly assigned to either the saliva or saliva-free group (n = 40 enamel and n = 40 dentine/group). Within each subgroup, they were allocated to four subgroups: negative control (deionized water exposure 10 min), erosion (0.3% citric acid 10 min), attrition (120 S of 300 g force), or combined erosion/attrition (0.3% citric acid 10 min then 120 S of 300 g force). Experimental cycles were repeated three times. Data analysis was performed using SPSS.ResultsThe mean and standard deviation (SD) of step heights produced by the attrition and erosion/attrition groups in enamel in the saliva-free group were 5.6 µm (2.4) and 13.4 µm (2.8), respectively, while they were 2.4 µm (3.8) and 12.9 µm (3.5) in the saliva group, with no significant difference between the saliva and saliva-free groups. For dentine, the corresponding step heights were 25.2 µm (5.5) and 35.9 µm (7.9) for the saliva-free group, but 21.8 µm (5.3) and 27.3 µm (6.4) for the saliva group (p < 0.001).ConclusionThere was a trend that saliva decreased wear, but this was only statistically significant for erosion/attrition dentine wear.

The advent of immune-checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) in modern oncology has significantly improved survival in several cancer settings. A subgroup of women with breast cancer (BC) has immunogenic infiltration of lymphocytes with expression of programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1). These patients may potentially benefit from ICI targeting the programmed death 1 (PD-1)/PD-L1 signaling axis. The use of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) as predictive and prognostic biomarkers has been under intense examination. Emerging data suggest that TILs are associated with response to both cytotoxic treatments and immunotherapy, particularly for patients with triple-negative BC. In this review from The International Immuno-Oncology Biomarker Working Group, we discuss (a) the biological understanding of TILs, (b) their analytical and clinical validity and efforts toward the clinical utility in BC, and (c) the current status of PD-L1 and TIL testing across different continents, including experiences from low-to-middle-income countries, incorporating also the view of a patient advocate. This information will help set the stage for future approaches to optimize the understanding and clinical utilization of TIL analysis in patients with BC. ispartof: NPJ BREAST CANCER vol:7 issue:1 ispartof: location:United States status: published

Stromal tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (sTILs) are important prognostic and predictive biomarkers in triple-negative (TNBC) and HER2-positive breast cancer. Incorporating sTILs into clinical practice necessitates reproducible assessment. Previously developed standardized scoring guidelines have been widely embraced by the clinical and research communities. We evaluated sources of variability in sTIL assessment by pathologists in three previous sTIL ring studies. We identify common challenges and evaluate impact of discrepancies on outcome estimates in early TNBC using a newly-developed prognostic tool. Discordant sTIL assessment is driven by heterogeneity in lymphocyte distribution. Additional factors include: technical slide-related issues; scoring outside the tumor boundary; tumors with minimal assessable stroma; including lymphocytes associated with other structures; and including other inflammatory cells. Small variations in sTIL assessment modestly alter risk estimation in early TNBC but have the potential to affect treatment selection if cutpoints are employed. Scoring and averaging multiple areas, as well as use of reference images, improve consistency of sTIL evaluation. Moreover, to assist in avoiding the pitfalls identified in this analysis, we developed an educational resource available at www.tilsinbreastcancer.org/pitfalls., info:eu-repo/semantics/published

The Partnership for Chemicals Risk Assessment (PARC) is currently under development as a joint research and innovation programme to strengthen the scientific basis for chemical risk assessment in the EU. The plan is to bring chemical risk assessors and managers together with scientists to accelerate method development and the production of necessary data and knowledge, and to facilitate the transition to next-generation evidence-based risk assessment, a non-toxic environment and the European Green Deal. The NORMAN Network is an independent, well-established and competent network of more than 80 organisations in the field of emerging substances and has enormous potential to contribute to the implementation of the PARC partnership. NORMAN stands ready to provide expert advice to PARC, drawing on its long experience in the development, harmonisation and testing of advanced tools in relation to chemicals of emerging concern and in support of a European Early Warning System to unravel the risks of contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) and close the gap between research and innovation and regulatory processes. In this commentary we highlight the tools developed by NORMAN that we consider most relevant to supporting the PARC initiative: (i) joint data space and cutting-edge research tools for risk assessment of contaminants of emerging concern; (ii) collaborative European framework to improve data quality and comparability; (iii) advanced data analysis tools for a European early warning system and (iv) support to national and European chemical risk assessment thanks to harnessing, combining and sharing evidence and expertise on CECs. By combining the extensive knowledge and experience of the NORMAN network with the financial and policy-related strengths of the PARC initiative, a large step towards the goal of a non-toxic environment can be taken. © 2020, The Author(s).

Stromal tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (sTILs) are a potential predictive biomarker for immunotherapy response in metastatic triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). To incorporate sTILs into clinical trials and diagnostics, reliable assessment is essential. In this review, we propose a new concept, namely the implementation of a risk-management framework that enables the use of sTILs as a stratification factor in clinical trials. We present the design of a biomarker risk-mitigation workflow that can be applied to any biomarker incorporation in clinical trials. We demonstrate the implementation of this concept using sTILs as an integral biomarker in a single-center phase II immunotherapy trial for metastatic TNBC (TONIC trial, NCT02499367), using this workflow to mitigate risks of suboptimal inclusion of sTILs in this specific trial. In this review, we demonstrate that a web-based scoring platform can mitigate potential risk factors when including sTILs in clinical trials, and we argue that this framework can be applied for any future biomarker-driven clinical trial setting., info:eu-repo/semantics/published

It is paramount that any child or adolescent with a suspected disorder of sex development (DSD) is assessed by an experienced clinician with adequate knowledge about the range of conditions associated with DSD. If there is any doubt, the case should be discussed with the regional team. In most cases, particularly in the case of the newborn, the paediatric endocrinologist within the regional DSD team acts as the first point of contact. The underlying pathophysiology of DSD and the strengths and weaknesses of the tests that can be performed should be discussed with the parents and affected young person and tests undertaken in a timely fashion. This clinician should be part of a multidisciplinary team experienced in management of DSD and should ensure that the affected person and parents are as fully informed as possible and have access to specialist psychological support. Finally, in the field of rare conditions, it is imperative that the clinician shares the experience with others through national and international clinical and research collaboration.

International audience; This paper, based on the outcome of discussions at a NORMAN Network-supported workshop in Lyon (France) in November 2014 aims to provide a common position of passive sampling community experts regarding concrete actions required to foster the use of passive sampling techniques in support of contaminant risk assessment and management and for routine monitoring of contaminants in aquatic systems. The brief roadmap presented here focusses on the identification of robust passive sampling methodology, technology that requires further development or that has yet to be developed, our current knowledge of the evaluation of uncertainties when calculating a freely dissolved concentration, the relationship between data from PS and that obtained through biomonitoring. A tiered approach to identifying areas of potential environmental quality standard (EQS) exceedances is also shown. Finally, we propose a list of recommended actions to improve the acceptance of passive sampling by policy-makers. These include the drafting of guidelines, quality assurance and control procedures, developing demonstration projects where biomonitoring and passive sampling are undertaken alongside, organising proficiency testing schemes and interlaboratory comparison and, finally, establishing passive sampler-based assessment criteria in relation to existing EQS.

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This Technical Guidance Document on Biota Monitoring (the Implementation of EQSbiota) aims to facilitate the implementation of environmental quality standards (EQS) in biota under the Water Framework Directive by addressing in particular the sampling strategies appropriate for monitoring programmes designed to assess compliance with biota EQS. It is Guidance Document No. 32 in the series of guidance documents prepared to support the Common Implementation Strategy (CIS) for the Water Framework Directive. It elaborates extensively on the content of Guidance Document No. 25 on Chemical Monitoring in Sediment and Biota under the Water Framework Directive, and is complemented by Guidance Document No. 33, the Technical Guidance Document on Analytical Methods for Biota Monitoring. Guidance Documents 32 and 33 together address the requirement for guidance on biota monitoring mentioned in Article 3(8a) of Directive 2008/105/EC as amended by Directive 2013/39/EU. The original Directive 2008/105/EC included biota standards for mercury, hexachlorobenzene and hexachlorobutadiene. In Directive 2013/39/EU, biota EQS were introduced for three other existing priority substances (fluoranthene, polyaromatic hydrocarbons and brominated diphenylethers), and set for four new priority substances (dicofol, perfluorooctane sulfonic acid and its derivatives, hexabromocyclododecane, and heptachlor/heptachlor epoxide). This guidance document takes into account the fact that trend monitoring in sediment and/or biota is required for several other priority substances as specified in Article 3(6), and indicates how trend monitoring data can be used to check compliance with biota EQS, but does not elaborate on trend monitoring as such. This document constitutes guidance and Member States are therefore not legally required to follow the recommendations contained in it. Member States are, however, required to use methods compliant with the requirements of the Environmental Quality Standards Directive 2008/105/EC and the Quality Assurance/Quality Control Directive 2009/90/EC.

We have carried out a re-analysis of polarimetric data of central stars of planetary nebulae, hot subdwarfs, and white dwarfs taken with FORS1 (FOcal Reducer and low dispersion Spectrograph) on the VLT (Very Large Telescope), and added a large number of new observations in order to increase the sample. A careful analysis of the observations using only one wavelength calibration for the polarimetrically analysed spectra and for all positions of the retarder plate of the spectrograph is crucial in order to avoid spurious signals. We find that the previous detections of magnetic fields in subdwarfs and central stars could not be confirmed while about 10% of the observed white dwarfs have magnetic fields at the kilogauss level., 6 pages, Proceedings of the 18th European White Dwarf Workshop, ASP Conference Series

We have used 605 days of photometric data from the Kepler spacecraft to study KIC 6614501, a close binary system with an orbital period of 0.15749747(25) days (3.779939 hours), that consists of a low-mass subdwarf B (sdB) star and a white dwarf. As seen in many other similar systems, the gravitational field of the white dwarf produces an ellipsoidal deformation of the sdB which appears in the light curve as a modulation at two times the orbital frequency. The ellipsoidal deformation of the sdB implies that the system has a maximum inclination of ~40 degrees, with i \approx 20 degrees being the most likely. The orbital radial velocity of the sdB star is high enough to produce a Doppler beaming effect with an amplitude of 432 \pm 5 ppm, clearly visible in the folded light curve. The photometric amplitude that we obtain, K1 = 85.8 km/s, is ~12 per cent less than the spectroscopic RV amplitude of 97.2 \pm 2.0 km/s. The discrepancy is due to the photometric contamination from a close object at about 5 arcsec North West of KIC 6614501, which is difficult to remove. The atmospheric parameters of the sdB star, Teff = 23 700 \pm 500 K and log g = 5.70 \pm 0.10, imply that it is a rare object below the Extreme Horizontal Branch (EHB), similar to HD 188112 (Heber et al. 2003). The comparison with different evolutionary tracks suggests a mass between ~0.18 and ~0.25 Msun, too low to sustain core helium burning. If the mass was close to 0.18-0.19 Msun, the star could be already on the final He-core WD cooling track. A higher mass, up to ~0.25 Msun, would be compatible with a He-core WD progenitor undergoing a cooling phase in a H-shell flash loop. A third possibility, with a mass between ~0.32 and ~0.40 Msun, can not be excluded and would imply that the sdB is a "normal" (but with an unusually low mass) EHB star burning He..., Comment: MNRAS in press (10 pages, 7 figures)

We present our analyses of 15 months of Kepler data on KIC 10139564. We detected 57 periodicities with a variety of properties not previously observed all together in one pulsating subdwarf B star. Ten of the periodicities were found in the low-frequency region, and we associate them with nonradial g-modes. The other periodicities were found in the high-frequency region, which are likely p-modes. We discovered that most of the periodicities are components of multiplets with a common spacing. Assuming that multiplets are caused by rotation, we derive a rotation period of 25.6(1.8) days. The multiplets also allow us to identify the pulsations to an unprecedented extent for this class of pulsator. We also detect l, 16 pages, 23 figures, MNRAS accepted

The project Massive Unseen Companions to Hot Faint Underluminous Stars from SDSS (MUCHFUSS) aims at finding hot subdwarf stars with massive compact companions (white dwarfs with masses $M>1.0 {\rm M_{\odot}}$, neutron stars or black holes). The existence of such systems is predicted by binary evolution calculations and some candidate systems have been found. We identified $\simeq1100$ hot subdwarf stars from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). Stars with high velocities have been reobserved and individual SDSS spectra have been analysed. About 70 radial velocity variable subdwarfs have been selected as good candidates for follow-up time resolved spectroscopy to derive orbital parameters and photometric follow-up to search for features like eclipses in the light curves. Up to now we found nine close binary sdBs with short orbital periods ranging from $\simeq0.07 {\rm d}$ to $1.5 {\rm d}$. Two of them are eclipsing binaries with companions that are most likely of substellar nature., 6 pages, 4 figures, AN, in press

We present follow-up observations of the pulsating subdwarf B (sdB) star EC 01541–1409 as part of our efforts to resolve pulsation spectra for use in asteroseismological analyses. This paper reports on data obtained from a single-site campaign, during 2008, and a multisite campaign, during 2009. From limited 2008 data, we were able to clearly resolve and pre-whiten 24 periods. A subsequent multisite campaign spanning nearly 2 months found over 30 individual periodicities most of which were unstable in amplitude and/or phase. Pulsation amplitudes were found to the detection limit, meaning that further observations would likely reveal more periodicities.

We present results from the final six months of a survey to search for pulsations in white dwarfs and hot subdwarf stars with the Kepler spacecraft. Spectroscopic observations are used to separate the objects into accurate classes, and we explore the physical parameters of the subdwarf B (sdB) stars and white dwarfs in the sample. From the Kepler photometry and our spectroscopic data, we find that the sample contains 5 new pulsators of the V1093 Her type, one AM CVn type cataclysmic variable, and a number of other binary systems. This completes the survey for compact pulsators with Kepler. No V361 Hya type of short-period pulsating sdB stars were found in this half, leaving us with a total of one single multiperiodic V361 Hya and 13 V1093 Her pulsators for the full survey. Except for the sdB pulsators, no other clearly pulsating hot subdwarfs or white dwarfs were found, although a few low-amplitude candidates still remain. The most interesting targets discovered in this survey will be observed throughout the remainder of the Kepler Mission, providing the most long-term photometric datasets ever made on such compact, evolved stars. Asteroseismic investigations of these datasets will be invaluable in revealing the interior structure of these stars, and will boost our understanding of their evolutionary history., Comment: 11 pages, accepted for publication in MNRAS

Determining the occurrence rate of terrestrial-mass planets (m_p < 10M_earth) is a critically important step on the path towards determining the frequency of Earth-like planets (eta-Earth), and hence the uniqueness of our Solar system. Current radial-velocity surveys, achieving precisions of 1 m/s, are able to detect terrestrial-mass planets and provide meaningful estimates of their occurrence rate. We present an analysis of 67 solar-type stars from the Anglo-Australian Planet Search specifically targeted for very high-precision observations. When corrected for incompleteness, we find that the planet occurrence rate increases sharply with decreasing planetary mass. Our results are consistent with those from other surveys: in periods shorter than 50 days, we find that 1.5% of stars host a giant (m_p > 100M_earth) planet, and that 18.5% of stars host a planet with m_p < 10M_earth. The preponderance of low-mass planets in short-period orbits is in conflict with formation simulations in which the majority of terrestrial-mass planets reside at larger orbital distances. This work gives a hint as to the size of eta-Earth, but to make meaningful predictions on the frequency of terrestrial planets in longer, potentially habitable orbits, low-mass terrestrial planet searches at periods of 100-200 days must be made an urgent priority for ground-based Doppler planet searches in the years ahead., Submitted to ApJ, 2011 March 16

We present five new pulsating subdwarf B (sdB) stars discovered by the Kepler spacecraft during the asteroseismology survey phase. We perform time-series analysis on the nearly continuous month-long Kepler datasets of these 5 objects; these datasets provide nearly alias-free time-series photometry at unprecedented precision. Following an iterative prewhitening process we derive the pulsational frequency spectra of these stars, separating out artefacts of known instrumental origin. We find that these new pulsating sdB stars are multiperiodic long-period pulsators of the V1093 Her type, with the number of periodicities ranging from 8 (KIC8302197) to 53 (KIC11558725). The frequencies and amplitudes are typical of g-mode pulsators of this type. We do not find any evidence for binarity in the five stars from their observed pulsation frequencies. As these are g-mode pulsators, we briefly looked for period spacings for mode identification, and found average spacings about 260s and 145s. This may indicate l=1 and 2 patterns. Some modes may show evidence of rotational splitting. These discoveries complete the list of compact pulsators found in the survey phase. Of the 13 compact pulsators, only one star was identified as a short-period (p-mode) V361Hya pulsator, while all other new pulsators turned out to be V1093 Her class objects. Among the latter objects, two of them seemed to be pure V1093 Her while the others show additional low amplitude peaks in the p-mode frequency range, suggesting their hybrid nature. Authenticity of these peaks will be tested with longer runs currently under analysis., accepted for publication in MNRAS

It has been suggested that besides stellar companions, substellar objects in close orbits may be able to trigger mass loss in a common envelope phase and form hot subdwarfs. In an ongoing project we search for close substellar companions combining time resolved high resolution spectroscopy with photometry. We determine the fraction of as yet undetected radial velocity variable systems from a sample of 27 apparently single sdB stars to be 16%. We discovered low-mass stellar companions to the He-sdB CPD-20 1123 and the pulsator KPD 0629-0016. The brown dwarf reported to orbit the eclipsing binary SDSS J0820+0008 could be confirmed by an analysis of high resolution spectra taken with UVES. Reflection effects have been detected in the light curves of the known sdB binaries CPD-64 481 and BPS CS 22169-0001. The inclinations of these systems must be much higher than expected and the most likely companion masses are in the substellar regime. Finally, we determined the orbit of the sdB binary PHL 457, which has a very small radial velocity amplitude and may host the lowest mass substellar companion known. The implications of these new results for the open question of sdB formation are discussed., Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures, To appear in ASP Conference Series; Proceedings of the fifth meeting on hot subdwarf stars and related objects (sdOB05), 25 - 29 July 2011, Stellenbosch, South Africa

We have identified a star in the WASP archive photometry with an unusual lightcurve due to the total eclipse of a small, hot star by an apparently normal A-type star and with an orbital period of only 0.668d. From an analysis of the WASP lightcurve together with V-band and I_C-band photometry of the eclipse and a spectroscopic orbit for the A-type star we estimate that the companion star has a mass of (0.23+-0.03)Msun and a radius of (0.33+-0.01)Rsun, assuming that the A-type star is a main-sequence star with the metalicity appropriate for a thick-disk star. The effective temperature of the companion is (13400+-1200)K from which we infer a luminosity of (3+-1)Lsun. From a comparison of these parameters to various models we conclude that the companion is most likely to be the remnant of a red giant star that has been very recently stripped of its outer layers by mass transfer onto the A-type star. In this scenario, the companion is currently in a shell hydrogen-burning phase of its evolution, evolving at nearly constant luminosity to hotter effective temperatures prior to ceasing hydrogen burning and fading to become a low-mass white dwarf composed of helium (He-WD). The system will then resemble the pre-He-WD/He-WD companions to A-type and B-type stars recently identified from their Kepler satellite lightcurves (KOI-74, KOI-81 and KIC10657664). This newly discovered binary offers the opportunity to study the evolution of a stripped red giant star through the pre-He-WD stage in great detail., Comment: Accepted (subject to minor revision) for publication in MNRAS. This is the re-submitted revised version

In a large coordinated attempt to further our understanding of the $p$-mode pulsating sdB star PG1605+072, the Multi-Site Spectroscopic Telescope (MSST) collaboration has obtained simultaneous time-resolved spectroscopic and photometric observations. The photometry was extended by additional WET data which increased the time base. This contribution outlines the analysis of the MSST photometric light curve, including the four-colour BUSCA data from which chromatic amplitudes have been derived, as well as supplementary FUV spectra and light curves from two different epochs. These results have the potential to complement the interpretation of the published spectroscopic information., 6 pages, to be published in "Interpretation of asteroseismic data", proceedings of the HELAS NA5 Workshop, eds. W. Dziembowski, M. Breger and M. Thompson, Communications in Asteroseismology, 157

We present the results of quantitative spectral analysis of sdOs from the SDSS database. Fitting the Balmer, HeI and HeII lines to non-LTE model spectra, we derived their effective temperatures, surface gravities and helium abundances. We find the helium-enriched sdO stars to rally in a small intervall of Teff = 40,000K to 50,000K and log(g) = 5.5 to 6.0. We conclude, that the sdB stars are linked with the helium-deficient sdO stars, i.e. the sdBs are predecessors for the helium-deficient sdOs. To explain the helium-enriched sdO stars in their entirety, we regard two scenarios as most promising: The merging of two helium-core white dwarfs and the late hot flashers., to appear in "Hot Subdwarf Stars and Related Objects", ASPC Volume Nr. 392 p.175

We present our attempt to characterise the frequency spectrum of the bright V 361 Hya star PG1605$+$072 from atmospheric parameter and radial velocity variations through a spectroscopic approach. Therefore we used time resolved spectroscopy ($\approx$9000 spectra) to detect line profile variations from which variations of the effective temperature and gravity, together with their phases, are extracted by means of a quantitative spectral analysis. The theoretical modelling of adequate pulsation modes with the \textit{BRUCE} and \textit{KYLE} codes allows to derive constraints on the mode's degree and order from the observed frequencies., to appear in "Hot Subdwarf Stars and Related Objects", ASPC Volume Nr. 392 p.327

In this paper, we show that method of mode identification using combined multicolour photometry and spectroscopy can be successfully applied to the pulsating subdwarf B star Balloon 090100001. The method constrains the spherical degree, l.We confirm that the dominant mode is radial and we show that for some other modes the method provides values of l consistent with the observed rotationally split triplet. Moreover, we derive a radius variation of 1.7 per cent for the dominant mode. The identification opens the possibility for constraining the internal structure of the star by means of seismic methods., MNRAS, in press, already at the online-early stage

Stellar oscillations are an important tool to probe the interior of a star. Subdwarf B stars are core helium burning objects, but their formation is poorly understood as neither single star nor binary evolution can fully explain their observed properties. Since 1997 an increasing number of sdB stars has been found to pulsate forming two classes of stars (the V361 Hya and V1093 Her stars). We focus on the bright V 361 Hya star PG1605+072 to characterize its frequency spectrum. While most previous studies relied on light variations, we have measured radial velocity variations for as much as 20 modes. In this paper we aim at characterizing the modes from atmospheric parameter and radial velocity variations. Time resolved spectroscopy ($\approx$9000 spectra) has been carried out to detect line profile variations from which variations of the effective temperature and gravity are extracted by means of a quantitative spectral analysis. We measured variations of effective temperatures and gravities for eight modes with semi-amplitudes ranging from $\Delta T_{\rm{eff}}=880$ K to as small as 88 K and $\Delta\log{g}$ of 0.08 dex to as low as 0.008 dex. Gravity and temperature vary almost in phase, whereas phase lags are found between temperature and radial velocity. This profound analysis of a unique data set serves as sound basis for the next step towards an identification of pulsation modes. As rotation may play an important role the modelling of pulsation modes is challenging but feasible., Comment: 10 pages, 9 figures, Accepted for publication in A&A

peerReviewed

We carried out a quantitative spectral analysis of 73 hot subluminous O-stars selected from the SDSS spectral database. While the helium deficient sdOs are scattered over a wide range of effective temperature and gravity, the helium enriched sdO stars are concentrated in a small intervall of 40kK to 50kK and log g = 5.5 ... 6.0. Comparing the distribution in the T_eff-log g-diagram with evolutionary tracks, we find the helium deficient sdOs to be the progeny of the sdB stars. The results for the helium enriched ones are less conclusive. Both the merger of two white dwarfs and the delayed helium core flash scenarios are viable options to be explored further., 4 pages, 3 figures, proceedings of the 15th European Workshop on White Dwarfs, Leicester, UK, August 7-11, 2006

We present a detailed abundance analysis of high-resolution ultraviolet echelle spectra of five subdwarf B stars obtained with HST-STIS The goal of our observations was to test the hypothesis that pulsations in sdBs are correlated to the surface abundances of iron-group elements. We study two pulsators and three non-pulsators and determined abundances for 25 elements including the iron group and even heavier elements such as tin and lead using LTE spectrum synthesis techniques. We find strong enrichments of heavy elements up to 2.9dex with respect to solar which are probably caused by atomic diffusion processes. No clear-cut correlation between pulsations and metal abundances becomes apparent. Abundances for lead isotopes are derived from very high resolution spectra using an UV line of triply ionised lead. As Pb terminates the s-process sequence Pb isotopic abundance ratios yield important constraints. It is very difficult to measure them in hot stars. For the first time we were able to measure them in two subluminous B stars and conclude that the 207Pb/208Pb is solar., 4 pages, proceedings of the 15 European Workshop on White Dwarfs, Leicester, UK, August 7-11, 2006

This article critically analyses the practical effect of the Dangerous Prisoners (Sexual Offenders) Act 2003 (Qld) and argues that delay in producing originating applications under the Act not only undermines procedural fairness but also subverts the purpose of the legislation. The article analyses the cases in which the issue of delay has been raised as a basis for objecting to an application under the Act by the Attorney-General. It then proposes improvements to the practices of Queensland government departments that will help ensure proceedings under the Act reflect the principles of procedural fairness. While the article focuses on Queensland, some of these issues are likely to arise in the preventive detention regimes in New South Wales and Western Australia.

The discovery of a long-period g-mode oscillation in the previously known short-period p-mode sdB pulsator HS0702+6043 makes this star an extraordinary object, unique as a member of the family of sdB pulsators, and one of the very few known pulsating stars overall exhibiting excited modes along both the acoustic and gravity branches of the nonradial pulsation spectrum. Because p-modes and g-modes probe different regions of a pulsating star, HS0702+6043 holds a tremendous potential for asteroseismological investigations. We present preliminary results from the first extended campaign on this object., 2 pages, no figures, contribution to the proceedings of the conference "Stellar Pulsation and Evolution 2005" (held in Rome, 19 - 24 June 2005), to be published in "Memorie della Societa' Astronomica Italiana", Vol. 76/4,eds. A.R. Walker & G. Bono

VLBI is gradually moving to the point where Gbps data rates are becoming routine. A number of experiments have shown that the internet can be used at data rates of several hundred Mbps on production networks. However use of the network is accompanied by packet loss. The paper discusses the statistics of packet loss as found by recent tests and investigates the expected effect of packet loss on correlator performance and signal to noise ratio on eVLBI observations. The relative merits of UDP versus TCP are also discussed., Comment: 4 pages. 6 figures. Proceedings of the 7th European VLBI Network Symposium held in Toledo, Spain on October 12-15, 2004. Editors: R. Bachiller, F. Colomer, J.-F. Desmurs, P. de Vicente (Observatorio Astronomico Nacional), p. 261-264. Needs evn2004.cls

We report the discovery of a long-period g-mode oscillation in the previously known short-period p-mode sdB pulsator HS 0702+6043. This makes this star an extraordinary object, unique as a member of the family of sdB pulsators, and one of the very few known pulsating stars overall exhibiting excited modes along both the acoustic and gravity branches of the nonradial pulsation spectrum. Because p-modes and g-modes probe different regions of a pulsating star, HS 0702+6043 holds a tremendous potential for future detailed asteroseismological investigations., Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, 2 tables, to appear in the proceedings of the 14th European Workshop on White Dwarfs, eds. D. Koester and S. Moehler, ASP Conf. Series

We have analysed the three-colour photometry of 34 pulsating red giants that was published by Percy, Wilson and Henry (2001). As is common with semiregulars, many of these stars have long secondary periods (LSPs) of several years, in addition to the usual shorter-period pulsations. We measured pulsation amplitudes in VRI and found that both the V/R and V/I amplitude ratios in most stars are systematically lower for the LSPs that for the shorter periods. These results must be taken into account by any theory that attempts to explain LSPs., Comment: In "Asteroseismology Across the HR Diagram" (Porto, July 2002), Eds. Thompson M.J., Cunha M.S. and Monteiro M.J.P.F.G. (Kluwer)

The Multi-site Spectroscopic Telescope is a virtual instrument and the name of a collaboration that opens up a new observational window by combining continuous observations of spectroscopic variations and simultaneous photometric monitoring. This constitutes an enormous observational effort, but in return promises to finally provide access to a mode identification for and an asteroseismological analysis of the pulsating sdB star PG 1605+072. Multi-Site Spectroscopic Telescope observations for this object have been secured during a large coordinated campaign in May and June of the year 2002. The frequency resolution and coverage of the photometric time series has been noticeably enhanced by a significant contribution from the Whole Earth Telescope, which was used to observe PG 1605+072 as an alternate target during the WET XCov22 campaign, also conducted in May 2002. This paper briefly outlines the motivation for the MSST project and tries to give a first assessment of the overall quality of the data obtained, with a focus on the Whole Earth Telescope observations.

We present the latest results from our analysis of time resolved spectroscopy of PG 1605+072, a high amplitude pulsating sdB star. The star is believed to have evolved off the extreme horizontal branch, and it is uncertain whether it pulsates in p- or g-modes. Previous studies of PG 1605+072 have found amplitude variation and/or very closely spaced frequencies. We compare our velocity measurements with new simultaneous spectrophotometric measurements and analyse phase differences for the 8 frequencies found in velocity. Phase differences between velocity, spectrophotometry and equivalent width are discussed., Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, to appear in "Asteroseismology Across the HR Diagram" (Porto, July 2002), Eds. Thompson M.J., Cunha M.S. and Monteiro M.J.P.F.G. (Kluwer)

We report Doppler measurements of alpha Cen A from time-series spectroscopy made with UCLES at the 3.9-m AAT. Wavelength calibration using an iodine absorption cell produced high-precision velocity measurements, whose power spectrum shows the clear signature of solar-like oscillations, confirming the detection reported by Bouchy and Carrier (2001)., Comment: To appear in "Asteroseismology Across the HR Diagram" (Porto, July 2002), Eds. Thompson M.J., Cunha M.S. and Monteiro M.J.P.F.G. (Kluwer)

Velocity measurements of the G2 subgiant beta Hyi with both UCLES and CORALIE show a clear excess of power centred at 1.0 mHz. In the UCLES data we find evidence for a short-lived, high-amplitude oscillation event. If confirmed as a feature of subgiants, such `starquakes' would make it harder to measure accurate mode frequencies and perform asteroseismology., Comment: 4 pages, latex, eps figures, To appear in Proc. IAU Colloq. 185: "Radial and Nonradial Pulsations as Probes of Stellar Physics", edited by C. Aerts, T.R. Bedding and J. Christensen-Dalsgaard, ASP Conf. Series, Vol. 259, p. 464

A small fraction of subluminous B stars show short-period, multiperiodic light variations and form the new class of pulsating star known as EC 14026 variables, after the prototype. The Multi-Site Spectroscopic Telescope (MSST) is a virtual instrument and is also the name of a collaboration that aims to open up a new observational window to provide access to a mode identification for and an asteroseismological analysis of the pulsating sdB star PG 1605+072. Although the primary aim is to obtain time resolved spectroscopy it also includes the most extended photometric monitoring campaign for PG 1605+072., Comment: 4 pages, no figures, Proc. XIII Workshop on White Dwarfs, eds. D. de Martino, R. Kalytis, R. Silvotti, J.E. Solheim, Kluwer