10 research outputs found
Use of interpretable evolved search query classifiers for sinhala documents
Document analysis is a well matured yet still active research field, partly as a result of the intricate nature of building computational tools but also due to the inherent problems arising from the variety and complexity of human languages. Breaking down language barriers is vital in enabling access to a number of recent technologies. This paper investigates the application of document classification methods to new Sinhalese datasets. This language is geographically isolated and rich with many of its own unique features. We will examine the interpretability of the classification models with a particular focus on the use of evolved Lucene search queries generated using a Genetic Algorithm (GA) as a method of document classification. We will compare the accuracy and interpretability of these search queries with other popular classifiers. The results are promising and are roughly in line with previous work on English language datasets
Evaluation of appendicitis risk prediction models in adults with suspected appendicitis
Background
Appendicitis is the most common general surgical emergency worldwide, but its diagnosis remains challenging. The aim of this study was to determine whether existing risk prediction models can reliably identify patients presenting to hospital in the UK with acute right iliac fossa (RIF) pain who are at low risk of appendicitis.
Methods
A systematic search was completed to identify all existing appendicitis risk prediction models. Models were validated using UK data from an international prospective cohort study that captured consecutive patients aged 16â45âyears presenting to hospital with acute RIF in March to June 2017. The main outcome was best achievable model specificity (proportion of patients who did not have appendicitis correctly classified as low risk) whilst maintaining a failure rate below 5 per cent (proportion of patients identified as low risk who actually had appendicitis).
Results
Some 5345 patients across 154 UK hospitals were identified, of which twoâthirds (3613 of 5345, 67·6 per cent) were women. Women were more than twice as likely to undergo surgery with removal of a histologically normal appendix (272 of 964, 28·2 per cent) than men (120 of 993, 12·1 per cent) (relative risk 2·33, 95 per cent c.i. 1·92 to 2·84; Pâ<â0·001). Of 15 validated risk prediction models, the Adult Appendicitis Score performed best (cutâoff score 8 or less, specificity 63·1 per cent, failure rate 3·7 per cent). The Appendicitis Inflammatory Response Score performed best for men (cutâoff score 2 or less, specificity 24·7 per cent, failure rate 2·4 per cent).
Conclusion
Women in the UK had a disproportionate risk of admission without surgical intervention and had high rates of normal appendicectomy. Risk prediction models to support shared decisionâmaking by identifying adults in the UK at low risk of appendicitis were identified
Effect of certain organic amendments and Trichoderma species on the root-knot nematode, Meloidogyne incognita, infecting pea (Pisum sativum L.) plants
Effects of nitrogen and phosphorus limitations on fatty acid methyl esters and fuel properties of Dunaliella salina
Soil solarization and sustainable agriculture
Pesticide treatments provide an effective control of soilborne pests in
vegetable and fruit crops, but their toxicity to animals and people and residual toxicity in
plants and soil, and high cost make their use hazardous and economically expensive.
Moreover, actual environmental legislation is imposing severe restrictions on the
use or the total withdrawal of most soil-applied pesticides. Therefore, an increasing
emphasis has been placed on the use of nonchemical or pesticide-reduced control
methods. Soil solarization is a nonpesticidal technique which kills a wide range
of soil pathogens, nematodes, and weed seeds and seedlings through the high soil
temperatures raised by placing plastic sheets on moist soil during periods of high
ambient temperature. Direct thermal inactivation of target organisms was found to be
the most important mechanism of solarization biocidal effect, contributed also by
a heat-induced release of toxic volatile compounds and a shift of soil microflora to
microorganisms antagonist of plant pathogens. Soil temperature and moisture are
critical variables in solarization thermal effect, though the role of plastic film is also
fundamental for the solarizing process, as it should increase soil temperature by
allowing the passage of solar radiation while reducing energetic radiative and convective
losses. Best solarizing properties were shown by low-density or vynilacetate-
coextruded polyethylene formulations, but a wide range of plastic materials
were documented as also suitable to soil solarization. Solar heating was normally
reported to improve soil structure and increase soil content of soluble nutrients, particularly
dissolved organic matter, inorganic nitrogen forms, and available cations,
and shift composition and richness of soil microbial communities, with a marked
increase of plant growth beneficial, plant pathogen antagonistic or root quick recolonizer
microorganisms. As a consequence of these effects, soil solarization was
largely documented to increase plant growth and crop yield and quality along more than two crop cycles. Most important fungal plant pathogenic species were found
strongly suppressed by the solarizing treatment, as several studies documented an
almost complete eradication of economically relevant pathogens, such as Fusarium
spp., Phytophthora spp., Pythium spp., Sclerotium spp., Verticillium spp., and their
related diseases in many vegetable and fruit crops and in different experimental
conditions. Beneficial effects on fungal pathogens were stated to commonly last
for about two growing seasons and also longer. Soil solarization demonstrated to
be effective for the control of bacterial diseases caused by Agrobacterium spp.,
Clavibacter michiganensis and Erwinia amylovora, but failed to reduce incidence
of tomato diseases caused by Pseudomonas solanacearum. Solarization was generally
found less effective on phytoparasitic nematodes than on other organisms, due
to their quicker soil recolonization compared to fungal pathogens and weeds, but
field and greenhouse studies documented consistant reductions of root-knot severity
and population densities of root-knot nematodes, Meloidogyne spp., as well as a
satisfactory control of cyst-nematode species, such as Globodera rostochiensis and
Heterodera carotae, and bulb nematode Ditylenchus dipsaci. Weeds were variously
affected by solar heating, as annual species were generally found almost completely
suppressed and perennial species more difficult to control, due to the occurrence
deep propagules not exposed to lethal temperature. Residual effect of solarization
on weeds was found much more pronounced than on nematodes and most fungal
pathogens. Soil solarization may be perfect fit for all situations in which use of
pesticides is restricted or completely banned, such as in organic production, or in
farms located next to urban areas, or specialty crops with few labeled pesticides.
Advantages of solarization also include economic convenience, as demonstrated
by many comparative benefit/cost analyses, ease of use by growers, adaptability
to many cropping systems, and a full integration with other control tools, which
makes this technique perfectly compatible with principles of integrated pest management
required by sustainable agriculture