Bethany College - West Virginia

Increased leukemia incidence or mortality is a well-known effect of acute radiation exposure. Less is known about the risks associated with protracted exposure, such as those arising in occupational exposure settings. We used excess relative risk models to investigate the strength of evidence for and the shape of the dose response for mortality from leukemia (excluding chronic lymphocytic leukemia, CLL) in the Russian Mayak Worker Cohort. The cohort includes 25,757 workers followed for cancer mortality from 1948 to 2015 who were subject to both external low-dose-rate gamma ray and internal exposures (from alpha particles emitted by inhaled plutonium). The red bone marrow external dose estimates were based on individual readings from film badges or TLD dosimeters. The mean external marrow dose was 584 mGy for workers hired before 1959 and 105 mGy for those hired between 1959 and 1982. Internal exposures were described using red bone marrow alpha-particle dose for workers who were subject to plutonium monitoring and potential plutonium exposure categories for unmonitored workers. The mean marrow dose from internal exposure for monitored workers was 2.1 mGy for those hired before 1959 and 0.16 mGy for those hired between 1959 and 1982. Radiation effects were described using both excess relative rate (ERR) and excess absolute rate (EAR) models. The excess relative rates for the 96 deaths from non-CLL leukemia were described using a time-since-exposure-dependent quadratic response in cumulative external low LET dose with effect modification by attained age. While the largest ERRs [2.45 at 1 Gy, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.33 to 11.9] were associated with external doses received between 2 and 5 years before death, there was also a significant increase in rates for doses received 5 or more years before death (ERR 0.28 at 1 Gy, 95% CI 0.06 to 0.72) and an indication of increased rates associated with doses within two years of death (ERR 1.47 at 1 Gy, 95% CI 0.06 to 10.6). Uncertainties in these excess relative rate estimates from the primary models were adjusted for dose uncertainty. Excess absolute rate (EAR) models were also used to describe the leukemia death rates. The pattern of the EAR variation with time-since-exposure was like that for the ERR Doses received 2 to 4 years before death had the largest EAR (ERR 4.78 per 10,000 person years per Gy2, 94% CI 1.75 to 10.7) with increased rates for doses received within two years of death (3.66, 95% CI 9.26 to 11.2), and for doses received 5 or more years before death (0.34, 95% CI 0.11 to 0.7). However, while the ERR decreased with increasing attained age, there was no indication of an attained age dependence in the EAR. The external-exposure radiation-associated leukemia risk appeared to be largely from acute myeloid leukemia. There was no evidence of external exposure effects on the risks of death from chronic lymphocytic leukemia, lymphoma, or multiple myeloma. There was no evidence of internal exposure effects on the rates of leukemia or other lymphohematopoietic malignancies. These analyses extend earlier studies of leukemia mortality in the Mayak worker cohort, with additional years of follow-up, utilize the latest bone marrow dose estimates, and include an assessment of the effect of shared dose uncertainty on risk uncertainty. Our results show significant excess risk for non-CLL leukemia mortality with a complex interaction between attained age, time since exposure, and age at exposure. The highest risk per unit dose was associated with exposures received 2-5 years before the time at risk. In addition, for a given total cumulative dose, the risk decreases rapidly with increasing attained age. We discuss the differences between the patterns of risk related to acute exposures in the Life Span Study of survivors of the atomic bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and chronic exposure in the Mayak Worker Cohort as well as differences between risk estimates in our study and others involving prolonged low-dose external gamma ray exposure.

Jones et al. (2020) showed that compared to non-abused others, sexually abused jurors are more likely to empathize with child sexual abuse (CSA) victims, perceive victims as credible, and convict defendants in CSA mock trials. We extend these findings by investigating effects of sexually abused mock jurors' abuse severity on CSA victim empathy and trial judgments. Data were derived from all known mock trial studies measuring mock juror abuse history (N = 7), including 361 undergraduate jurors. Meta-analyses examined effects of four separate abuse-severity indices: (a) emotional scarring from sexual abuse, (b) abuse frequency, (c) perpetrator relationship, and (d) age abuse began. Twenty separate meta-analyses revealed that the more severe mock jurors' victimization was, the more empathy they had for child victims of sexual abuse generally. Although Jones et al. (2020) showed that victims are more likely than non-victims to vote guilty in CSA cases, we found that, among victims, abuse severity has no additional effect on guilt. Thus, attorneys will not achieve a legitimate legal goal by questioning victims about intimate details of their abuse during jury selection. Moreover, because victimization is one of many unique experiences from which jurors can draw during deliberation, it is important not to disproportionately exclude these individuals as jurors.

Rising aggressive cyber threat development coupled with advanced threat methods demands a complete defense system transformation against cyber-attacks. This research examines Agentic Artificial Intelligence (AAI) as a cutting-edge cybersecurity defense. Practical evidence reveals that AAI systems enhance cybersecurity operations by learning independently as decision-making platforms. AI-based Agentic Algorithms identify and eliminate APTs 94% faster, decrease false alarms 78%, and respond 65% faster than traditional cybersecurity systems. Distributed collaborative agents allowed faster threat data exchange and coordinated responses than networks. Research implies AAI will shift cybersecurity models from defensive to predictive, prioritizing system integrity and morality.

ABSTRACT Through oral histories shared by early-generation scholars, we celebrate the narratives of Black political scientists. Such narratives illustrate the reluctance of the discipline to prioritize either the research concerning Black communities or the Black scholars doing the research. Among the trailblazers fighting against this disciplinary current, Thomas Ralph Solomon and Jewel Limar Prestage stand out. Analyses of Solomon’s and Prestage’s stories uncover not only the challenges these pioneers faced but also the powerful roles they played in transforming the field and advancing Black liberation. By amplifying their voices, we bridge historical and contemporary perspectives within political science while advocating for a more inclusive scholarly agenda. In addition to providing valuable insights, stories like these prompt a reevaluation of academic norms and inspire greater diversity within the field.

Objective: We conducted a project to manage a high volume of referrals to pediatric neuropsychology. We aimed to manage referrals for children and adolescents without known medical risk factors. We proposed that a clinical neurodevelopmental interview conducted via telehealth would reduce the number of patients on the waitlist and identify those who do not need neuropsychological evaluation. Method: We conducted clinical neurodevelopmental interviews via telehealth to assess patients’ need and urgency for neuropsychological testing. These patients had no or unclear risk factors and non-specific concerns with learning, attention, and/or behavior. We monitored our waitlist over a 2-year period to determine if this service could reduce our waitlist. We measured the time to initial consultation before and after this new service. We surveyed referring providers to assess their satisfaction of this service. Results: Using this new triage consultation service, we found that 1 in 4 children did not require a neuropsychological evaluation. This reduced our waitlist by about 5 months, even while we had an increase in referrals during the same period. After implementation, patients were seen for consultation within a month of the referral. Referring providers were generally satisfied with this service. Conclusions: Implementing telehealth clinical interviews was effective in triaging healthy children with non-specific learning, attention, and/or behavior concerns. This new service effectively reduced our waitlist and offered quick access to neuropsychological consultation and recommendations. Referring providers appreciated efforts to increase access to pediatric neuropsychology services for those who were anticipated to benefit the most from such services.

AI not only opens a whole new realm of possibilities but also a can of worms and opportunities for dark exploitation. For instance, AI systems exhibit vulnerabilities that stem from the algorithm configurations which are exploited by hackers to initiate either input or poisoning attacks. Such vulnerability exacerbates the susceptibility to prompt injection-based adversarial attacks that jeopardize the AI system and large language mechanisms (LLM) as in the example of ChatGPT shared in the results analysis section. AI has also exacerbated the intensity and effectiveness of social engineering and phishing attacks by enabling realistic deep fakes and cloning of human voices and audio. The irresponsible and malicious application of AI technologies has also aggravated unethical practices like breaching user data privacy rules for profit while foregoing user consent and autonomy. Hence, proactive, holistic and interdisciplinary efforts involving AI developers, users, researchers and regulators among others will be required to counter the evolving nature of AI security threats and attacks. Ultimately, by comprehensively exploring such aspects of Artificial intrusion and exploitation, this research will profoundly contribute to the comprehension of the risks affiliated with AI exploitation and how such risks can be proactively addressed to secure AI systems.

This systematic review aims to explore virtual reality (VR) applications for rehabilitation purposes among people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), identify their effects on rehabilitation outcomes, explore themes to consider in VR intervention design, and provide guidance for designers and researchers in creating therapeutic environments using VR technology. VR has gained increasing attention in healthcare settings to assist in achieving rehabilitation goals for people with IDD. VR is particularly advantageous since it simulates the real world while providing controllable, safe, and versatile environments. It is necessary to expand the current body of knowledge on VR intervention's outcomes by synthesizing further information on VR application characteristics as well as identifying design considerations regarding feasibility, usability, safety, and other aspects that will benefit future VR intervention design and research. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) framed the current review. Multiple databases were searched to identify studies published between 2001 and 2023. The review qualitatively organized VR environment design considerations according to three themes: feasibility, usability, and safety. This review included 27 articles and included 868 participants. The overall findings indicated that VR interventions are promising in enhancing rehabilitation outcomes among people with IDD, such as physical, cognitive, emotional, and functional independence domains. This review provides design recommendations to create effective, usable, and safe VR interventions for individuals with IDD. The suggested design implications should be applied with the awareness that VR is a relatively emerging technology with rapidly evolving features.