457 research outputs found
Cost-effectiveness requirements for implementing artificial intelligence technology in the Women’s UK Breast Cancer Screening service
The UK NHS Women’s National Breast Screening programme aims to detect breast cancer early. The reference standard approach requires mammograms to be independently double-read by qualified radiology staff. If two readers disagree, arbitration by an independent reader is undertaken. Whilst this process maximises accuracy and minimises recall rates, the procedure is labour-intensive, adding pressure to a system currently facing a workforce crisis. Artificial intelligence technology offers an alternative to human readers. While artificial intelligence has been shown to be non-inferior versus human second readers, the minimum requirements needed (effectiveness, set-up costs, maintenance, etc) for such technology to be cost-effective in the NHS have not been evaluated. We developed a simulation model replicating NHS screening services to evaluate the potential value of the technology. Our results indicate that if non-inferiority is maintained, the use of artificial intelligence technology as a second reader is a viable and potentially cost-effective use of NHS resources
A scoping review of market links between value chain actors and small-scale producers in developing regions
Sustainable Development Goal 2 aims to end hunger, achieve food and nutrition security and promote sustainable agriculture by 2030. This requires that small-scale producers be included in, and benefit from, the rapid growth and transformation under way in food systems. Small-scale producers interact with various actors when they link with markets, including product traders, logistics firms, processors and retailers. The literature has explored primarily how large firms interact with farmers through formal contracts and resource provision arrangements. Although important, contracts constitute a very small share of smallholder market interactions. There has been little exploration of whether non-contract interactions between small farmers and both small- and large-scale value chain actors have affected small farmers’ livelihoods. This scoping review covers 202 studies on that topic. We find that non-contract interactions, de facto mostly with small and medium enterprises, benefit small-scale producers via similar mechanisms that the literature has previously credited to large firms. Small and medium enterprises, not just large enterprises, address idiosyncratic market failures and asset shortfalls of small-scale producers by providing them, through informal arrangements, with complementary services such as input provision, credit, information and logistics. Providing these services directly supports Sustainable Development Goal 2 by improving farmer welfare through technology adoption and greater productivity
Field-scale assessment of the unsaturated hydraulic properties of residual soils in southeastern Brazil
Field tests were carried out to estimate effective unsaturated soil hydraulic properties of layered residual soils in Rio de Janeiro, southeastern Brazil. Data of this type are important for understanding the initiation of rainstorm-induced soil landslides, which often occur in the state of Rio de Janeiro as well as other areas having similar geologic settings and climate conditions. Tests were carried out using a simplified field approach, referred to as the Monitored Infiltration Test, which requires only a tensiometer to measure pressure heads below the wetting front, triggered by flow from a Mariotte bottle which maintains a constant pressure at the top edge of the soil profile. The data can then be analyzed by numerical inversion using the HYDRUS-2D software package. The test is relatively fast since no steady-state flow conditions are needed, and versatile since the test can be carried out quickly on steep slopes with the help of a manual auger. Soil water retention and the unsaturated hydraulic conductivity functions were obtained for a range of young, mature and saprolitic residual soils. The effective hydraulic properties of the distinct residual soil layers can be quite large, reflecting a need to provide a careful analysis of field-scale hydraulic heterogeneity in geotechnical analyses
Evaluation of the supplementation of a feed additive as a potential protector against the adverse effects of 2.5 ppm T-2 toxin on growing broiler chickens
Symbiotic and endophytic fungi as biocontrols against cocoa (Theobroma cacao L.) phytopathogens
Anisotropic flow of charged hadrons, pions and (anti-)protons measured at high transverse momentum in Pb-Pb collisions at TeV
The elliptic, , triangular, , and quadrangular, , azimuthal
anisotropic flow coefficients are measured for unidentified charged particles,
pions and (anti-)protons in Pb-Pb collisions at TeV
with the ALICE detector at the Large Hadron Collider. Results obtained with the
event plane and four-particle cumulant methods are reported for the
pseudo-rapidity range at different collision centralities and as a
function of transverse momentum, , out to GeV/.
The observed non-zero elliptic and triangular flow depends only weakly on
transverse momentum for GeV/. The small dependence
of the difference between elliptic flow results obtained from the event plane
and four-particle cumulant methods suggests a common origin of flow
fluctuations up to GeV/. The magnitude of the (anti-)proton
elliptic and triangular flow is larger than that of pions out to at least
GeV/ indicating that the particle type dependence persists out
to high .Comment: 16 pages, 5 captioned figures, authors from page 11, published
version, figures at http://aliceinfo.cern.ch/ArtSubmission/node/186
Centrality dependence of charged particle production at large transverse momentum in Pb-Pb collisions at TeV
The inclusive transverse momentum () distributions of primary
charged particles are measured in the pseudo-rapidity range as a
function of event centrality in Pb-Pb collisions at
TeV with ALICE at the LHC. The data are presented in the range
GeV/ for nine centrality intervals from 70-80% to 0-5%.
The Pb-Pb spectra are presented in terms of the nuclear modification factor
using a pp reference spectrum measured at the same collision
energy. We observe that the suppression of high- particles strongly
depends on event centrality. In central collisions (0-5%) the yield is most
suppressed with at -7 GeV/. Above
GeV/, there is a significant rise in the nuclear modification
factor, which reaches for GeV/. In
peripheral collisions (70-80%), the suppression is weaker with almost independently of . The measured nuclear
modification factors are compared to other measurements and model calculations.Comment: 17 pages, 4 captioned figures, 2 tables, authors from page 12,
published version, figures at
http://aliceinfo.cern.ch/ArtSubmission/node/284
Measurement of charm production at central rapidity in proton-proton collisions at TeV
The -differential production cross sections of the prompt (B
feed-down subtracted) charmed mesons D, D, and D in the rapidity
range , and for transverse momentum GeV/, were
measured in proton-proton collisions at TeV with the ALICE
detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The analysis exploited the hadronic
decays DK, DK, DD, and their charge conjugates, and was performed on a
nb event sample collected in 2011 with a
minimum-bias trigger. The total charm production cross section at TeV and at 7 TeV was evaluated by extrapolating to the full phase space
the -differential production cross sections at TeV
and our previous measurements at TeV. The results were compared
to existing measurements and to perturbative-QCD calculations. The fraction of
cdbar D mesons produced in a vector state was also determined.Comment: 20 pages, 5 captioned figures, 4 tables, authors from page 15,
published version, figures at
http://aliceinfo.cern.ch/ArtSubmission/node/307
Particle-yield modification in jet-like azimuthal di-hadron correlations in Pb-Pb collisions at = 2.76 TeV
The yield of charged particles associated with high- trigger
particles ( GeV/) is measured with the ALICE detector in
Pb-Pb collisions at = 2.76 TeV relative to proton-proton
collisions at the same energy. The conditional per-trigger yields are extracted
from the narrow jet-like correlation peaks in azimuthal di-hadron correlations.
In the 5% most central collisions, we observe that the yield of associated
charged particles with transverse momenta GeV/ on the
away-side drops to about 60% of that observed in pp collisions, while on the
near-side a moderate enhancement of 20-30% is found.Comment: 15 pages, 2 captioned figures, 1 table, authors from page 10,
published version, figures at
http://aliceinfo.cern.ch/ArtSubmission/node/350
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