The First Large Absorption Survey in H i (FLASH) is a large-area radio survey for neutral hydrogen in and around galaxies in the intermediate redshift range $0.4\lt z\lt1.0$, using the 21-cm H i absorption line as a probe of cold neutral gas. The survey uses the ASKAP radio telescope and will cover 24,000 deg$^2$ of sky over the next five years. FLASH breaks new ground in two ways – it is the first large H i absorption survey to be carried out without any optical preselection of targets, and we use an automated Bayesian line-finding tool to search through large datasets and assign a statistical significance to potential line detections. Two Pilot Surveys, covering around 3000 deg$^2$ of sky, were carried out in 2019-22 to test and verify the strategy for the full FLASH survey. The processed data products from these Pilot Surveys (spectral-line cubes, continuum images, and catalogues) are public and available online. In this paper, we describe the FLASH spectral-line and continuum data products and discuss the quality of the H i spectra and the completeness of our automated line search. Finally, we present a set of 30 new H i absorption lines that were robustly detected in the Pilot Surveys, almost doubling the number of known H i absorption systems at $0.4\lt z\lt1$. The detected lines span a wide range in H i optical depth, including three lines with a peak optical depth $\tau\gt1$, and appear to be a mixture of intervening and associated systems. Interestingly, around two-thirds of the lines found in this untargeted sample are detected against sources with a peaked-spectrum radio continuum, which are only a minor (5–20%) fraction of the overall radio-source population. The detection rate for H i absorption lines in the Pilot Surveys (0.3 to 0.5 lines per 40 deg$^2$ ASKAP field) is a factor of two below the expected value. One possible reason for this is the presence of a range of spectral-line artefacts in the Pilot Survey data that have now been mitigated and are not expected to recur in the full FLASH survey. A future paper in this series will discuss the host galaxies of the H i absorption systems identified here.

During the past 30 yr an impasse has developed in the discovery and commercialization of synthetic herbicides with new molecular targets and novel chemistries. Similarly, there has been little success with bioherbicides, both microbial and chemical. These bioherbicides are needed to combat fast-growing herbicide resistance and to fulfill the need for more environmentally and toxicologically safe herbicides. In response to this substantial and growing opportunity, numerous start-up companies are utilizing novel approaches to provide new tools for weed management. These diverse new tools broaden the scope of discovery, encompassing advanced computational, bioinformatic, and imaging platforms; plant genome–editing and targeted protein degradation technologies; and machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI)-based strategies. This review contains summaries of the presentations of 10 such companies that took part in a symposium held at the WSSA annual meeting in 2024. Four of the companies are developing microbial bioherbicides or natural product–based herbicides, and the other six are using advanced technologies, such as AI, to accelerate the discovery of herbicides with novel molecular target sites or to develop non-GMO, herbicide-resistant crops.

Background: Sex differences in treatment response to intravenous thrombolysis (IVT) are poorly characterized. We compared sex-disaggregated outcomes in patients receiving IVT for acute ischemic stroke in the Alteplase compared to Tenecteplase (AcT) trial, a Canadian multicentre, randomised trial. Methods: In this post-hoc analysis, the primary outcome was excellent functional outcome (modified Rankin Score [mRS] 0-1) at 90 days. Secondary and safety outcomes included return to baseline function, successful reperfusion (eTICI≥2b), death and symptomatic intracerebral hemorrhage. Results: Of 1577 patients, there were 755 women and 822 men (median age 77 [68-86]; 70 [59-79]). There were no differences in rates of mRS 0-1 (aRR 0.95 [0.86-1.06]), return to baseline function (aRR 0.94 [0.84-1.06]), reperfusion (aRR 0.98 [0.80-1.19]) and death (aRR 0.91 [0.79-1.18]). There was no effect modification by treatment type on the association between sex and outcomes. The probability of excellent functional outcome decreased with increasing onset-to-needle time. This relation did not vary by sex (pinteraction 0.42). Conclusions: The AcT trial demonstrated comparable functional, safety and angiographic outcomes by sex. This effect did not differ between alteplase and tenecteplase. The pragmatic enrolment and broad national participation in AcT provide reassurance that there do not appear to be sex differences in outcomes amongst Canadians receiving IVT.

In this paper, we describe the system design and capabilities of the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) radio telescope at the conclusion of its construction project and commencement of science operations. ASKAP is one of the first radio telescopes to deploy phased array feed (PAF) technology on a large scale, giving it an instantaneous field of view that covers $31\,\textrm{deg}^{2}$ at $800\,\textrm{MHz}$. As a two-dimensional array of 36$\times$12 m antennas, with baselines ranging from 22 m to 6 km, ASKAP also has excellent snapshot imaging capability and 10 arcsec resolution. This, combined with 288 MHz of instantaneous bandwidth and a unique third axis of rotation on each antenna, gives ASKAP the capability to create high dynamic range images of large sky areas very quickly. It is an excellent telescope for surveys between 700 and $1800\,\textrm{MHz}$ and is expected to facilitate great advances in our understanding of galaxy formation, cosmology, and radio transients while opening new parameter space for discovery of the unknown.

An overview of the Czech national R&D project HiLASE (High average power pulsed laser) is presented. The project focuses on the development of advanced high repetition rate, diode pumped solid state laser (DPSSL) systems with energies in the range from mJ to 100 J and repetition rates in the range from 10 Hz to 100 kHz. Some applications of these lasers in research and hi-tech industry are also presented.

Within the Herschel key project “The Warm And Dense ISM” (WADI) we systematically observea number of prominent photon-dominated regions (PDRs) to measure the impact of varying UVfields on the energy balance, the chemical and dynamical structure of heated molecularclouds.

The Supernova Working Group was re-established at the IAU XXV General Assembly in Sydney, 21 July 2003, sponsored by Commissions 28 (Galaxies) and 47 (Cosmology). Here we report on some of its activities since 2005.

Observations using the HIFI and PACS instruments aboard the Herschelsatellite provide a unique way to study the chemical inventory,the dynamics, and the energy balance in dense interstellar clouds heated byUV radiation. We propose a comprehensive observing program to revealthe details of the interaction of massive young stars with theirparental molecular clouds.

This paper is concerned with the generation of short gravity waves and their radiation from the outer edge of the turbulent boundary layer and wake of a ship. They arise primarily near the ship's stern. The wave spectrum in the direction of wavenumber vector at an angle (90° – δ) to the ship's track is:\[\Phi_{\delta}(\omega) = \Psi\left(\frac{UT_d}{2l},\frac{U\sin\delta}{c_g},\frac{R}{UT_d}\right)\frac{1}{k_0R}\frac{2l\omega^2}{g^2}\gamma\left(0,\frac{\pi}{l};0,\omega \right),\]where Ψ is dimensionless and a function of three dimensionless parameters. γ is the spectrum of the oscillating motion at the boundary, U the ship speed, Td the decay timescale of the oscillating motion, 2l the lengthscale of the eddies, and R the distance away from the boundary along the wavenumber vector. Generally, Φδ has large values near δ = 0 and small values at large δ; it behaves as 1/R at distances not far from the ship, then may vary slower than 1/R at intermediate distances, and finally behaves as 1/R again at distances far from the ship. These are consistent with the pattern found in SAR images of narrow V-like ship wakes. The method developed here is also applicable to various problems of surface wave generation by turbulence in water.

Experiments of the type described by Phillips et al. (1986) were performed using different slopes with the aim of examining the slope dependence of the buoyancy and volume transports, particularly at small slopes. The new observations confirmed the general flow patterns described for experiments conducted at a fixed slope, but a reconsideration of the local balances suggest that the buoyancy flux at small slopes θ is proportional to $(\kappa N)^{\frac{3}{2}}\sin\theta $, where κ is the turbulent diffusivity. and the volume flux associated with the overall convergence flow is linear with depth and proportional to (κ3/2/N½h) sin θ, where h is the thickness of the pycnocline. These differ in their dependence on the slope suggested (but not tested) in Phillips et al., and are generally consistent with measurements over a range of slopes from 7.1° to 23.5°.

Fields of statistically steady wind-generated waves produced in the NASA-Wallops wind wave facility, were perturbed by the injection of groups of longer waves with various slopes, mechanically generated at the upwind end of the tank. The time histories of the surface displacements were measured at four fetches in ensembles consisting of 100 realizations of each set of experimental conditions, the data being stored and analysed digitally. The overall interaction was found to have four distinct phases. (i) When the longer waves overtake the pre-existing wind-generated waves, during the first half of the group where successive crests are increasing in amplitude, vigorous wave breaking near the crests reduces the energy density and $\overline{\zeta^2}$ in the wind waves while straining by the orbital velocities of the group reduces their wavelengths near the crests; the ‘significant slope’ $2\pi(\overline{\zeta^2})^{\frac{1}{2}}/\lambda $ at the crests is found to be very nearly constant and equal to the initial, undisturbed value. After the maximum wave of the group has passed, breaking appears to virtually cease but the earlier energy loss results in suppression of the short waves. The overall suppression by a group of waves is significantly less than that measured by Mitsuyasu (1966) and Phillips & Banner (1974) in a continuous train of waves whose slope is equal to the maximum in the group. A simple description of this phase of the interaction, involving constant significant slope of the breaking waves over the leading half of the group and conservation of action thereafter, gives suppression ratios close to those measured. (ii) Once the group has passed, the surface is much smoother and the waves begin to regenerate under the continued influence of the wind but at rates considerably slower than those suggested by Plant's formula, using the averaged value of u*. This is qualitatively consistent with a locally reduced surface stress as the wind blows from rougher water well behind the group to the smoother surface immediately behind it. (iii) The regeneration is interrupted by the arrival of a wave energy front moving down the tank, across which the energy density rises abruptly to values up to six times greater than in the undisturbed field. At the same time, the dominant frequencies just behind the wave energy front are lower than in the initial field, and the significant slope $(\overline{\zeta^2})^{\frac{1}{2}} \sigma^2/g $ is, within experimental uncertainty, again identical to that in the initial field. The front was found to propagate notably faster than the appropriate group velocity (g/2σ) and it is suggested that this is the combined result of dispersion, nonlinearity and wind amplification, together with wind-induced drift in the tank. Finally, (iv) the energy density gradually subsides and the dominant wave frequency increases as the wind waves relax towards their undisturbed state, the relaxation seeming to be essentially complete when energy packets arriving at a point have originated at the upwind end of the tank, rather than at the wave energy front.