[en] Introduction: As in any field, errors happen in radiation oncology despite our best efforts to prevent them. It is well known, and well documented, that appropriate, adequate training can reduce the likelihood of errors.. The World Health Organization (WHO) published the manual Radiotherapy Risk Profile in 2008 and in this manual it lists competency assessment as one of the top three interventions that is likely to be an effective safety barrier. But what is competence? Competence is the ability to do something successfully and efficiently. Hence, competency based education and training must offer comprehensive training as well as be able to determine whether an individual can successfully complete a task independently and do so in an efficient manner. Radiation oncology is a technology centered specialty that is continuously evolving and requires continued education and training to stay up to date with current technology, improved techniques, and/or to increase efficiency as well as improve overall safety. Methodology: An online system was setup in order to establish specific training modules and track users’ progress throughout their competency development. Various media was used to convey information to users such as text files, presentation slides, and videos. Additionally, certain modules included quizzes based on educational material as well as assigned clinical observations where an individual would be followed and assessed in the clinic for a particular procedure. To test which media was most effective at communicating information, members of the department of radiation oncology was randomly assigned to 1 of two groups. Each group was assigned a general radiation safety module, where one group’s assignment was text/slide based and the other group’s assignment was video based. Each group had the same quiz administered after the content was reviewed. Additionally, brachytherapy modules were given to new medical physics residents with no prior brachytherapy experience. Program compliance and overall assessment was measured and residents were surveyed about the program. Results: The online system was deployed in the department with various module assignments given to specific groups. Various metrics were measured including program compliance, individual assessment after the program (competence), and survey feedback from users and will also be discussed. Conclusion: An online competency based education system utilizing multimedia content, along with hands on assessment, is an efficient and effective tool to implement in radiation oncology. (author)

[en] Significant human and observational resources have been dedicated to electromagnetic follow-up of gravitational-wave events detected by Advanced LIGO and Virgo. As the sensitivity of LIGO and Virgo improves, the rate of sources detected will increase. Margalit & Metzger (2019) have suggested that it may be necessary to prioritize observations of future events. Optimal prioritization requires a rapid measurement of a gravitational-wave event’s masses and spins, as these can determine the nature of any electromagnetic emission. We extend the relative binning method of Cornish (2013) and Zackay et al. (2018) to a coherent detector-network statistic. We show that the method can be seeded from the output of a matched-filter search and used in a Bayesian parameter measurement framework to produce marginalized posterior probability densities for the source’s parameters within 20 minutes of detection on 32 CPU cores. We demonstrate that this algorithm produces unbiased estimates of the parameters with the same accuracy as running parameter estimation using the standard gravitational-wave likelihood. We encourage the adoption of this method in future LIGO–Virgo observing runs to allow fast dissemination of the parameters of detected events so that the observing community can make best use of its resources.

[en] We report on a detailed study of longitudinal strength in the nucleon resonance region, presenting new results from inclusive electron-proton cross sections measured at Jefferson Lab Hall C in the four-momentum transfer range 0.2 < Q² < 5.5 GeV². The data have been used to accurately perform over 170 Rosenbluth-type longitudinal/transverse separations. The precision R σ_L/σ_T data are presented here, along with the first separate values of the inelastic structure functions F₁ and F_L in this regime. The resonance longitudinal component is found to be significant. With the new data, quark-hadron duality is observed above Q² = 1 GeV² in the separated structure functions independently

[en] The ratio of the proton's elastic electromagnetic form factors, G_Ep/G_Mp, was obtained by measuring P_t and P_ell, the transverse and longitudinal recoil proton polarization components, respectively, for the elastic (rvec e)p → e(rvec p) reaction in the four-momentum transfer squared range of 0.5 to 3.5 GeV². In the single photon exchange approximation, the ratio G_Ep/G_Mp is directly proportional to the ratio P_t/P_ell. The simultaneous measurement of P_t and P_#ell# in a polarimeter reduces systematic uncertainties. The results for the ratio G_Ep/G_Mp show a systematic decrease with increasing Q², indicating for the first time a definite difference in the distribution of charge and magnetization in the proton. The data have been reanalyzed and systematic uncertainties have become significantly smaller than previously published results