The Variables and Slow Transients Survey (VAST) on the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) is designed to detect highly variable and transient radio sources on timescales from 5 s to $\sim\!5$ yr. In this paper, we present the survey description, observation strategy and initial results from the VAST Phase I Pilot Survey. This pilot survey consists of $\sim\!162$ h of observations conducted at a central frequency of 888 MHz between 2019 August and 2020 August, with a typical rms sensitivity of $0.24\ \mathrm{mJy\ beam}^{-1}$ and angular resolution of $12-20$ arcseconds. There are 113 fields, each of which was observed for 12 min integration time, with between 5 and 13 repeats, with cadences between 1 day and 8 months. The total area of the pilot survey footprint is 5 131 square degrees, covering six distinct regions of the sky. An initial search of two of these regions, totalling 1 646 square degrees, revealed 28 highly variable and/or transient sources. Seven of these are known pulsars, including the millisecond pulsar J2039–5617. Another seven are stars, four of which have no previously reported radio detection (SCR J0533–4257, LEHPM 2-783, UCAC3 89–412162 and 2MASS J22414436–6119311). Of the remaining 14 sources, two are active galactic nuclei, six are associated with galaxies and the other six have no multi-wavelength counterparts and are yet to be identified.

The Rapid ASKAP Continuum Survey (RACS) is the first large-area survey to be conducted with the full 36-antenna Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) telescope. RACS will provide a shallow model of the ASKAP sky that will aid the calibration of future deep ASKAP surveys. RACS will cover the whole sky visible from the ASKAP site in Western Australia and will cover the full ASKAP band of 700–1800 MHz. The RACS images are generally deeper than the existing NRAO VLA Sky Survey and Sydney University Molonglo Sky Survey radio surveys and have better spatial resolution. All RACS survey products will be public, including radio images (with $\sim$ 15 arcsec resolution) and catalogues of about three million source components with spectral index and polarisation information. In this paper, we present a description of the RACS survey and the first data release of 903 images covering the sky south of declination $+41^\circ$ made over a 288-MHz band centred at 887.5 MHz.

Medical care in the United States traditionally has focused on the treatment of disease rather than on its prevention. Heart disease, cancer, hypertension, diabetes, and other chronic diseases are the primary drivers of American health care costs; compared to other high-income countries, U.S. health indices are lowest and costs are highest.

A “triple aim” — “improving the individual experience of care, improving the health of populations, and reducing the per capita costs of care for populations” — has gained traction, as the social determinants of health (non-genetic, non-clinical factors including health behaviors, social and economic factors, and the physical environment) are recognized as having significant effects on health outcomes.

Enclosed-space smoke inhalation is the fifth most common cause of all unintentional injury deaths in the United States. Increasingly, cyanide has been recognized as a significant toxicant in many cases of smoke inhalation. However, it cannot be emergently verified. Failure to recognize the possibility of cyanide toxicity may result in inadequate treatment. Findings suggestive cyanide toxicity include: (1) a history of an enclosed-space fire scene in which smoke inhalation was likely; (2) the presence of oropharyngeal soot or carbonaceous expectorations; (3) any alteration of the level of consciousness, and particularly, otherwise inexplicable hypotension (systolic blood pressure ≤90 mmHg in adults). Prehospital studies have demonstrated the feasibility and safety of empiric treatment with hydroxocobalamin for patients with suspected smoke inhalation cyanide toxicity. Although United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved since 2006, the lack of efficacy data has stymied the routine use of this potentially lifesaving antidote. Based on a literature review and on-site observation of the Paris Fire Brigade, emergency management protocols to guide empiric and early hydroxocobalamin administration in smoke inhalation victims with high-risk presentations are proposed.

Numerous examples exist of the benefits of the timely access to information in emergencies and disasters. Information technology (IT) is playing an increasingly important role in information-sharing during emergencies and disasters.

The effective use of IT in out-of-hospital (OOH) disaster response is accompanied by numerous challenges at the human, applications, communication, and security levels.Most reports of IT applications to emergencies or disasters to date, concern applications that are hospital-based or occur during non-response phases of events (i.e., mitigation, planning and preparedness, or recovery phases). Few reports address the application of IT to OOH disaster response.

Wireless peer networks that involve ad hoc wireless routing networks and peer-to-peer application architectures offer a promising solution to the many challenges of information-sharing in OOH disaster response. These networks offer several services that are likely to improve information-sharing in OOH emergency response, including needs and capacity assessment databases, victim tracking, event logging, information retrieval, and overall incident management system support.

Many U.S. Army systems, such as ground vehicles and fully equipped soldiers, are comprised of multiple subcomponents which each typically perform unique functions. Combining these functions into single, multifunctional components could reduce mass and improve overall system efficiency. In particular, creating structural materials that also provide power generating or energy storing capacity could provide significant weight savings over a range of platforms. In this study, structural composite batteries, fuel cells, and capacitors are proposed. To ensure performance benefits, these multifunctional composites are designed so that the materials involved in power and energy processes are also load bearing, rather than simply packaged within monofunctional structural materials. Fabrication and design details for these multifunctional systems, as well as structural and power/energy performance results, are reported. Critical material properties and fabrication considerations are highlighted, and important technical challenges are identified.

The growth of 2D quantum dot quantum well (QDQW) nanocrystals in which a shell of CdSe is grown onto cores of ZnS and capped with a further shell of ZnS is reported. The red shift in the interband absorption and photoluminescence spectrum of the quantum dots (QDs) indicates relocalization of carriers from confinement in the ZnS core to the CdSe shell. The change in interband absorption energy utilizing the effective mass approximation with spherical symmetry was modeled, enabling an estimate of the CdSe thicknesses grown. 1.8nm and 2.5nm ZnS cores were selected as the base on which to grow the CdSe shells. Despite the 12% lattice mismatch between ZnS and CdSe, our results indicate that we have successfully grown CdSe shells approximately three monolayers thick onto 2.5nm ZnS core. Anything beyond a single monolayer of CdSe could not be grown onto the 1.8nm core, although some success was observed by incorporating a CdS graded layer in-between the ZnS core and CdSe shell. The effect of ZnS shell thickness on photoluminescence efficiency has also been studied with optimum shell thicknesses showing quantum yields as high as 52%. Growth of these nanocrystals represents a significant step in the development of strained nanocrystalline heterostructures.