The Cat\u27s Whiskers

https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/mmb-vp/1204/thumbnail.jp

Trusted journalism in the age of generative AI

The transformation of news media by generative AI is not a distant possibility – it’s happening right now. This seismic shift is changing how journalism is reported, delivered and consumed, and is predicted to reshape the entire industry. At the same time, it creates new dependencies on the tech industry that media leaders need to manage. So how can news organizations leverage AI to enhance their reporting while maintaining trust and credibility? What are the implications of AI-generated content on the public’s perception of news? Led by Dr Alexandra Borchardt, this year’s EBU News Report draws on in-depth interviews with 40 media leaders and academic experts from different continents, providing a roadmap for the opportunities and challenges for journalism while emphasizing the need for maintaining integrity in an increasingly complex information ecosystem

Automated identification of insect vectors of Chagas disease in Brazil and Mexico: the Virtual Vector Lab

Identification of arthropods important in disease transmission is a crucial, yet difficult, task that can demand considerable training and experience. An important case in point is that of the 150+ species of Triatominae, vectors of Trypanosoma cruzi, causative agent of Chagas disease across the Americas. We present a fully automated system that is able to identify triatomine bugs from Mexico and Brazil with an accuracy consistently above 80%, and with considerable potential for further improvement. The system processes digital photographs from a photo apparatus into landmarks, and uses ratios of measurements among those landmarks, as well as (in a preliminary exploration) two measurements that approximate aspects of coloration, as the basis for classification. This project has thus produced a working prototype that achieves reasonably robust correct identification rates, although many more developments can and will be added, and—more broadly—the project illustrates the value of multidisciplinary collaborations in resolving difficult and complex challenges

GORAB scaffolds COPI at the trans-Golgi for efficient enzyme recycling and correct protein glycosylation

COPI is a key mediator of protein trafficking within the secretory pathway. COPI is recruited to the membrane primarily through binding to Arf GTPases, upon which it undergoes assembly to form coated transport intermediates responsible for trafficking numerous proteins, including Golgi-resident enzymes. Here, we identify GORAB, the protein mutated in the skin and bone disorder gerodermia osteodysplastica, as a component of the COPI machinery. GORAB forms stable domains at the trans-Golgi that, via interactions with the COPI-binding protein Scyl1, promote COPI recruitment to these domains. Pathogenic GORAB mutations perturb Scyl1 binding or GORAB assembly into domains, indicating the importance of these interactions. Loss of GORAB causes impairment of COPI-mediated retrieval of trans-Golgi enzymes, resulting in a deficit in glycosylation of secretory cargo proteins. Our results therefore identify GORAB as a COPI scaffolding factor, and support the view that defective protein glycosylation is a major disease mechanism in gerodermia osteodysplastica.Peer reviewe

Technical capacities needed to implement the WHO's primary eye care package for Africa: results of a Delphi process.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to establish the technical capacities needed to deliver the WHO African Region's primary eye care package in primary healthcare facilities. DESIGN: A two-round Delphi exercise was used to obtain expert consensus on the technical complexity of each component of the package and the technical capacities needed to deliver them using Gericke's framework of technical feasibility. The panel comprised nine eyecare experts in primary eyecare in sub-Saharan Africa. In each round panel members used a 4-point Likert scale to indicate their level of agreement. Consensus was predefined as ≥70% agreement on each statement. For round 1, statements on technical complexity were identified through a literature search of primary eyecare in sub-Saharan Africa from January 1980 to April 2018. Statements for which consensus was achieved were included in round 2, and the technical capacities were agreed. RESULTS: Technical complexity statements were classified into four broad categories: intervention characteristics, delivery characteristics, government capacity requirements and usage characteristics. 34 of the 38 (89%) statements on health promotion and 40 of the 43 (93%) statements on facility case management were considered necessary technical capacities for implementation. CONCLUSION: This study establishes the technical capacities needed to implement the WHO Africa Office primary eye care package, which may be generalisable to countries in sub-Saharan Africa

Integrating place-specific livelihood and equity outcomes into global assessments of bioenergy deployment

__Abstract__ Integrated assessment models suggest that the large-scale deployment of bioenergy could contribute to ambitious climate change mitigation efforts. However, such a shift would intensify the global competition for land, with possible consequences for 1.5 billion smallholder livelihoods that these models do not consider. Maintaining and enhancing robust livelihoods upon bioenergy deployment is an equally important sustainability goal that warrants greater attention. The social implications of biofuel production are complex, varied and place-specific, difficult to model, operationalize and quantify. However, a rapidly developing body of social science literature is advancing the understanding of these interactions. In this letter we link human geography research on the interaction between biofuel crops and livelihoods in developing countries to integrated assessments on biofuels. We review case-study research focused on first-generation biofuel crops to demonstrate that food, income, land and other assets such as health are key livelihood dimensions that can be impacted by such crops and we highlight how place-specific and global dynamics influence both aggregate and distributional outcomes across these livelihood dimensions. We argue that place-specific production models and land tenure regimes mediate livelihood outcomes, which are also in turn affected by global and regional markets and their resulting equilibrium dynamics. The place-specific perspective suggests that distributional consequences are a crucial complement to aggregate outcomes; this has not been given enough weight in comprehensive assessments to date. By narrowing the gap between place-specific case studies and global models, our discussion offers a route towards integrating livelihood and equity considerations into scenarios of future bioenergy deployment, thus contributing to a key challenge in sustainability sciences