SubmilliJansky Transients in Archival Radio Observations

[ABRIDGED] We report the results of a 944-epoch survey for transient sources with archival data from the Very Large Array spanning 22 years with a typical epoch separation of 7 days. Observations were obtained at 5 or 8.4 GHz for a single field of view with a full-width at half-maximum of 8.6' and 5.1', respectively, and achieved a typical point-source detection threshold at the beam center of ~300 microJy per epoch. Ten transient sources were detected with a significance threshold such that only one false positive would be expected. Of these transients, eight were detected in only a single epoch. Two transients were too faint to be detected in individual epochs but were detected in two-month averages. None of the ten transients was detected in longer-term averages or associated with persistent emission in the deep image produced from the combination of all epochs. The cumulative rate for the short timescale radio transients above 370 microJy at 5 and 8.4 GHz is 0.07 < R < 40 deg^-2 yr^-1, where the uncertainty is due to the unknown duration of the transients, 20 min < t_char < 7 days. A two-epoch survey for transients will detect 1.5 +/- 0.4 transient per square degrees above a flux density of 370 microJy. Two transients are associated with galaxies at z=0.040 and z=0.249. These may be similar to the peculiar Type Ib/c radio supernova SN 1998bw associated with GRB 980428. Six transients have no counterparts in the optical or infrared (R=27, Ks=18). The hosts and progenitors of these transients are unknown.Comment: Accepted for ApJ; full quality figures available at http://astro.berkeley.edu/~gbower/ps/rt.pd

Detector dead-time effects and paralyzability in high-speed quantum key distribution

Recent advances in quantum key distribution (QKD) have given rise to systems that operate at transmission periods significantly shorter than the dead times of their component single-photon detectors. As systems continue to increase in transmission rate, security concerns associated with detector dead times can limit the production rate of sifted bits. We present a model of high-speed QKD in this limit that identifies an optimum transmission rate for a system with given link loss and detector response characteristics

Test-retest reliability for common tasks in vision science

Historically, research in cognitive psychology has sought to evaluate cognitive mechanisms according to the average response to a manipulation. Differences between individuals have been dismissed as “noise” with an aim toward characterising an overall effect and how it can inform human cognition. More recently, research has shifted toward appreciating the value of individual differences between participants and the insight gained by exploring the impacts of between-subject variation on human cognition. However, recent research has suggested that many robust, well-established cognitive tasks suffer from surprisingly low levels of test-retest reliability (Hedge, Powell, & Sumner, 2018). While the tasks may produce reliable effects at the group level (i.e., they are replicable), they may not produce a reliable measurement of a given individual. If individual performance on a task is not consistent from one time point to another, the task is therefore unfit for the assessment of individual differences. To evaluate the reliability of commonly used tasks in vision science, we tested a large sample of undergraduate students in two sessions (separated by 1-3 weeks). Our battery included tasks that spanned the range of visual processing from basic sensitivity (motion coherence) to transient spatial attention (useful field of view) to sustained attention (multiple-object tracking) to visual working memory (change detection). Reliabilities (intraclass correlations) ranged from 0.4 to 0.7, suggesting that most of these measures suffer from lower reliability than would be desired for research in individual differences. These results do not detract from the value of the tasks in an experimental setting; however, higher levels of test-retest reliability would be required for a meaningful assessment of individual differences. Implications for using tools from vision science to understand processing in both healthy and neuropsychological populations are discussed

DNA Damage Response and Repair: Insights into Strategies for Radiation Sensitization

The incorporation of radiotherapy into multimodality treatment plans has led to significant improvements in glioma patient survival. However, local recurrence from glioma resistance to ionizing radiation remains a therapeutic challenge. The tumoricidal effect of radiation therapy is largely attributed to the induction of dsDNA breaks (DSBs). In the past decade, there have been tremendous strides in understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying DSB repair. The identification of gene products required for DSB repair has provided novel therapeutic targets. Recent studies revealed that many US FDA-approved cancer agents inhibit DSB repair by interacting with repair proteins. This article will aim to provide discussion of DSB repair mechanisms to provide molecular targets for radiation sensitization of gliomas and a discussion of FDA-approved cancer therapies that modulate DSB repair to highlight opportunities for combination therapy with radiotherapy for glioma therapy

Advancing Telemedicine Adoption: Insights From Health Behavior Models With a Focus on the Multi-Theory Model

Telemedicine, the use of digital communication technologies to deliver clinical healthcare remotely, has emerged as a pivotal advancement in modern medicine. By providing virtual consultations, asynchronous data transmission, and remote patient monitoring (RPM), telemedicine enhances accessibility, particularly for underserved populations, while promoting efficiency and continuity of care. As telemedicine transforms healthcare delivery, its adoption hinges on understanding health behaviors—actions influenced by psychological, sociocultural, and environmental factors. These behaviors can be categorized into preventative, illness, and risk-related actions, with established models like the Health Belief Model (HBM), Social Cognitive Theory (SCT), and Transtheoretical Model (TTM) offering insights into behavior change mechanisms. The Multi-Theory Model (MTM), integrating constructs from various frameworks, is particularly well-suited to guide telemedicine adoption. MTM addresses both initiation and maintenance of behaviors through components such as participatory dialogue, behavioral confidence, and environmental modifications. Emotional transformation and social support further sustain long-term engagement with telemedicine. This comprehensive approach positions MTM as a valuable tool for overcoming barriers like privacy concerns, technological literacy, and infrastructure gaps. This review explores the application of health behavior models to telemedicine adoption, emphasizing the strengths of MTM in addressing the complexities of behavior change. By leveraging MTM, healthcare systems can enhance telemedicine utilization, ultimately improving health outcomes and equity in care delivery

The Astropy Problem

The Astropy Project (http://astropy.org) is, in its own words, "a community effort to develop a single core package for Astronomy in Python and foster interoperability between Python astronomy packages." For five years this project has been managed, written, and operated as a grassroots, self-organized, almost entirely volunteer effort while the software is used by the majority of the astronomical community. Despite this, the project has always been and remains to this day effectively unfunded. Further, contributors receive little or no formal recognition for creating and supporting what is now critical software. This paper explores the problem in detail, outlines possible solutions to correct this, and presents a few suggestions on how to address the sustainability of general purpose astronomical software

Towards three-dimensional underwater mapping without odometry

This paper presents a method for the creation of three-dimensional maps of underwater cisterns and wells using a submersible robot equipped with two scanning sonars and a compass. Previous work in this area utilized a particle filter to perform offline simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) in two dimensions using a single sonar [11]. This work utilizes scan matching and incorporates an additional sonar that scans in a perpendicular plane. Given a set of overlapping horizontal and vertical sonar scans, an algorithm was implemented to map underwater chambers by matching sets of scans using a weighted iterative closest point (ICP) method. This matching process has been augmented to align the features of the underwater cistern data without robot odometry. Results from a swimming pool and an archeological site trials indicate successful mapping is achieved

Knowledge, attitudes and perception of medical and nursing students towards telemedicine/telehealth

Introduction: Despite widespread use of advanced technology in a range of health applications, telemedicine is still in its infancy. Acceptance of telehealth/telemedicine strategies in health-care has increased significantly, in part due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Previous studies indicate a significant gap in preparation of healthcare providers in e-medicine concepts, despite some exposure to telemedicine during training. The purpose of this study was to explore knowledge, attitudes, and perception to gauge the readiness of medical and nursing students to engage in telemedicine. Methods: Using a cross-sectional research design, a 26-item questionnaire was administered electronically to nursing and medical students attending institutions in the Southern United States. Results: A total of 109 students completed the survey. The mean age of participants was 28.28 (SD=8.46). The majority of participants were nursing students (61.5%), female (82.6%), and white (74.3%). With regard to knowledge, only 23% feel the curriculum adequately prepared them for telemedicine/telehealth. Sixty percent of respondents said they agreed or strongly agreed that telemedicine lowers healthcare expenses, while 40% said it improves healthcare quality. Nearly a quarter (24%) reported that they are very/completely likely to use telemedicine in practice after graduation. Perceived obstacles in practicing telemedicine included technology that is difficult to use (31.2%), disinterest among clients (25.7%), and lack of adequate telemedicine training (20.2%). Discussion: This study demonstrated that health-care students have a perception that they are inadequately prepared for the challenges of telemedicine/telehealth, despite recognition of its potential value. Given the significant increase in the use of telemedicine/telehealth, additional studies are needed to design a more effective health-care curriculum to ensure proper preparation and instill confidence in the next generation of health-care providers

US Cosmic Visions: New Ideas in Dark Matter 2017: Community Report

This white paper summarizes the workshop "U.S. Cosmic Visions: New Ideas in Dark Matter" held at University of Maryland on March 23-25, 2017.Comment: 102 pages + reference

Genome modeling system: A knowledge management platform for genomics

In this work, we present the Genome Modeling System (GMS), an analysis information management system capable of executing automated genome analysis pipelines at a massive scale. The GMS framework provides detailed tracking of samples and data coupled with reliable and repeatable analysis pipelines. The GMS also serves as a platform for bioinformatics development, allowing a large team to collaborate on data analysis, or an individual researcher to leverage the work of others effectively within its data management system. Rather than separating ad-hoc analysis from rigorous, reproducible pipelines, the GMS promotes systematic integration between the two. As a demonstration of the GMS, we performed an integrated analysis of whole genome, exome and transcriptome sequencing data from a breast cancer cell line (HCC1395) and matched lymphoblastoid line (HCC1395BL). These data are available for users to test the software, complete tutorials and develop novel GMS pipeline configurations. The GMS is available at https://github.com/genome/gms