Publications by authors named "P D Hynds"

Food waste (FW) is a growing problem globally, with around 13% of food lost from harvest to retail, and another 17% wasted by retailers, households, and the food service sector. In high-income countries, consumer-level FW, primarily originates from private households and the food service sector, forming the largest waste stream in the food supply chain. Despite extensive research on FW, there is still a lack of knowledge about its geographic distribution, sources, spatial locations, and volume, impeding effective waste management strategies.

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Article Synopsis
  • In Ontario, well owners are responsible for monitoring and maintaining their private drinking water systems, which are linked to higher risks of fecal contamination and public health issues in rural areas.
  • The study focused on characterizing E. coli isolates from private groundwater wells, determining their phylogroups and potential host sources, while considering environmental factors like climate and hydrogeology.
  • Results indicated that subsurface and overland flows were likely contamination pathways, and distinct patterns emerged based on fecal sources, leading to the development of models aimed at understanding contamination mechanisms for better risk assessment and protective measures.
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Shiga toxin-producing (STEC) is an important waterborne pathogen capable of causing serious gastrointestinal infections with potentially fatal complications, including haemolytic-uremic syndrome. All STEC serogroups harbour genes that encode at least one Shiga toxin ( and/or ), which constitute the primary virulence factors of STEC. Loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) enables rapid real-time pathogen detection with a high degree of specificity and sensitivity.

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Big data have become increasingly important for policymakers and scientists but have yet to be employed for the development of spatially specific groundwater contamination indices or protecting human and environmental health. The current study sought to develop a series of indices via analyses of three variables: Non-E. coli coliform (NEC) concentration, E.

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Machine learning (ML) and deep learning (DL) models are being increasingly employed for medical imagery analyses, with both approaches used to enhance the accuracy of classification/prediction in the diagnoses of various cancers, tumors and bloodborne diseases. To date however, no review of these techniques and their application(s) within the domain of white blood cell (WBC) classification in blood smear images has been undertaken, representing a notable knowledge gap with respect to model selection and comparison. Accordingly, the current study sought to comprehensively identify, explore and contrast ML and DL methods for classifying WBCs.

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