Seasonal controls on deposition of Late Devensian glaciolacustrine sediments, Central ireland: Implications for the construction of a varve chronology for the British-Irish ice sheet

Laminated pro-glacial glaciolacustrine sediments dating from the Late Devensian (22-10,000 bp) from central Ireland were examined using a combination of detailed logging and scanning electron microscope surface texture and fabric analyses. The sediments are rhythmically laminated and consist of coarser, pale silt layers which alternate with darker clay layers containing occasional thin laminae of fine sand and coarse silt. The pale silt layers contain grains with surface textures indicative of a combination of fluvial, glacial and aeolian transport and contain single or multiple normally graded laminae, erosional surfaces and soft sediment deformation structures, indicating deposition from multiple high density underflows, with occasional dumping of wind-blown sediment into the lake. The dark clay layers have sharp upper and lower contacts and an internal fabric consistent with deposition from a combination of flocculation and grain-by-grain deposition. The thin laminae of coarser material have surface textures consistent with subglacial and fluvial transport only and are interpreted as underflows from subglacial discharges. The sediments are interpreted as annually laminated (varved)

Scenario-based requirements elicitation for user-centric explainable AI

Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) develops technical explanation methods and enable interpretability for human stakeholders on why Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) models provide certain predictions. However, the trust of those stakeholders into AI models and explanations is still an issue, especially domain experts, who are knowledgeable about their domain but not AI inner workings. Social and user-centric XAI research states it is essential to understand the stakeholder’s requirements to provide explanations tailored to their needs, and enhance their trust in working with AI models. Scenario-based design and requirements elicitation can help bridge the gap between social and operational aspects of a stakeholder early before the adoption of information systems and identify its real problem and practices generating user requirements. Nevertheless, it is still rarely explored the adoption of scenarios in XAI, especially in the domain of fraud detection to supporting experts who are about to work with AI models. We demonstrate the usage of scenario-based requirements elicitation for XAI in a fraud detection context, and develop scenarios derived with experts in banking fraud. We discuss how those scenarios can be adopted to identify user or expert requirements for appropriate explanations in his daily operations and to make decisions on reviewing fraudulent cases in banking. The generalizability of the scenarios for further adoption is validated through a systematic literature review in domains of XAI and visual analytics for fraud detection

Guidelines for the use and interpretation of assays for monitoring autophagy (4th edition)1.

In 2008, we published the first set of guidelines for standardizing research in autophagy. Since then, this topic has received increasing attention, and many scientists have entered the field. Our knowledge base and relevant new technologies have also been expanding. Thus, it is important to formulate on a regular basis updated guidelines for monitoring autophagy in different organisms. Despite numerous reviews, there continues to be confusion regarding acceptable methods to evaluate autophagy, especially in multicellular eukaryotes. Here, we present a set of guidelines for investigators to select and interpret methods to examine autophagy and related processes, and for reviewers to provide realistic and reasonable critiques of reports that are focused on these processes. These guidelines are not meant to be a dogmatic set of rules, because the appropriateness of any assay largely depends on the question being asked and the system being used. Moreover, no individual assay is perfect for every situation, calling for the use of multiple techniques to properly monitor autophagy in each experimental setting. Finally, several core components of the autophagy machinery have been implicated in distinct autophagic processes (canonical and noncanonical autophagy), implying that genetic approaches to block autophagy should rely on targeting two or more autophagy-related genes that ideally participate in distinct steps of the pathway. Along similar lines, because multiple proteins involved in autophagy also regulate other cellular pathways including apoptosis, not all of them can be used as a specific marker for bona fide autophagic responses. Here, we critically discuss current methods of assessing autophagy and the information they can, or cannot, provide. Our ultimate goal is to encourage intellectual and technical innovation in the field

Optimal uptake rates for initial treatments for cervical cancer in concordance with guidelines in Australia and Canada: Results from two large cancer facilities

BACKGROUND: Prior work estimating optimal treatment utilisation rates for cervical cancer has focused on radiotherapy or chemotherapy, using proportions of patients with clinical indications for specific treatment strategies which were obtained from the published literature. OBJECTIVES: To estimate optimal uptake rates for surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy and chemo-radiotherapy for cervical cancer treatment in Australia and Canada, and to quantify the differences in the optimal and the observed treatment utilisation rates in a large cancer facility from each country. METHODS: A decision tree was constructed to reflect treatments according to guidelines and current practice (in 1999-2008) in each setting. Detailed patterns of care data from a large cancer facility in each country were obtained, and the observed stage distribution and proportions of patients with each clinical indication were used as inputs. RESULTS: The estimated overall optimal treatment rates for cervical cancer in Australia and Canada differed, largely due to the difference in the stage distribution at diagnosis in the two settings; 72% vs 54% with FIGO IA-IIA disease, respectively. The estimated optimal rates for surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy and chemo-radiotherapy in Australia were 63% (95% credible interval: 61-64%), 52% (53-56%), 36% (35-38%) and 36% (35-38%), respectively. The corresponding rates in Canada were 38% (36-39%), 68% (68-71%), 51% (49-52%) and 50% (49-51%), respectively. The absolute differences between the optimal and the observed rates were similar between the two settings; the absolute differences for chemotherapy and chemo-radiotherapy uptake were more pronounced (9-15% less than optimal) than those for surgery and radiotherapy uptake (within 5% of optimal). CONCLUSIONS: This is the first study to use detailed patterns of care data in multiple settings to compare optimal and observed rates for all cervical cancer treatment modalities. We found optimal treatment rates were largely dependent on the overall stage distribution. In Australia and Canada, observed surgery rates, as measured in the two large cancer facilities, were similar to the estimated optimal rates, whereas radiotherapy, chemotherapy and chemo-radiotherapy appeared to be under-utilised

Protein markers and seed size variation in common bean segregating populations

18 páginas, 7 tablas.Selection and random genetic drift are the two main forces affecting allele frequencies in common bean breeding programs. Therefore, knowledge on allele frequency changes attributable to these forces is of fundamental importance for breeders. The changes in frequencies of alleles of biochemical markers were examined in F2 to F7 populations derived from crosses between cultivated Mesoamerican and Andean common bean accessions (Phaseolus vulgaris L.). Biochemical markers included the seed proteins phaseolin, lectin and other seed polypeptides, and six isozymes. The Schaffer’s test detected a high significant linear trend of the 63% of the polymorphic loci studied, meaning that directional selection was acting on those loci. Associations between seed size traits, phaseolin seed-storage protein and isozyme markers were detected based on the comparisons of the progeny genotypic means. In the interracial populations the intermediate form PhaH/T, b6, and Rbcs 98 alleles had a positive effect on seed size. In the inter-gene pool populations, a higher transmission of Mesoamerican alleles in all loci was showed, although the Andean alleles PhaT, Skdh 100 , Rbcs 98 , and Diap 100 showed positive effects on seed weight. Our results suggest that phaseolin and other seed proteins markers are linked to loci affecting seed size. These markers have good potential for improving the results of the selection and should be considered as a strategy for germplasm enhancement and to avoid the reduced performance of the inter-gene pool populations.Research was supported by the projects AGF97-0324 and AGL2005-01268/AGR from the Spanish Government, PGIDIT02RAG40301PR from the Galician Government (Spain), and EU-FEDER Funds. A. M. González thanks her fellowship to Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports of Spain. M. De la Fuente is grateful to the Xunta de Galicia for awarding her a fellowship grant.Peer reviewe