Detection of anomalous patterns in water consumption: an overview of approaches

The water distribution system constantly aims at improving and efficiently distributing water to the city. Thus, understanding the nature of irregularities that may interrupt or exacerbate the service is at the core of their business model. The detection of technical and non-technical losses allows water companies to improve the sustainability and affordability of the service. Anomaly detection in water consumption is at present a challenging task. Manual inspection of data is tedious and requires a large workforce. Fortunately, the sector may benefit from automatized and intelligent workflows to reduce the amount of time required to identify abnormal water consumption. The aim of this research work is to develop a methodology to detect anomalies and irregular patterns of water consumption. We propose the use of algorithms of different nature that approach the problem of anomaly detection from different perspectives that go from searching deviations from typical behavior to identification of anomalous pattern changes in prolonged periods of time. The experiments reveal that different approaches to the problem of anomaly detection provide complementary clues to contextualize household water consumption. In addition, all the information extracted from each approach can be used in conjunction to provide insights for decision-makingThis research work is cofounded by the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER) under the FEDER Catalonia Operative Programme 2014–2020 as part of the R+D Project from RIS3CAT Utilities 4.0 Community with reference code COMRDI16-1-0057.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Assembly of embryonic and extraembryonic stem cells to mimic embryogenesis in vitro

Mammalian embryogenesis requires intricate interactions between embryonic and extraembryonic tissues to orchestrate and coordinate morphogenesis with changes in developmental potential. Here, we combined mouse embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and extraembryonic trophoblast stem cells (TSCs) in a three-dimensional scaffold to generate structures whose morphogenesis is markedly similar to that of natural embryos. By using genetically modified stem cells and specific inhibitors, we show that embryogenesis of ESC- and TSC-derived embryos—ETS-embryos—depends on cross-talk involving Nodal signaling. When ETS-embryos develop, they spontaneously initiate expression of mesoderm and primordial germ cell markers asymmetrically on the embryonic and extraembryonic border, in response to Wnt and BMP signaling. Our study demonstrates the ability of distinct stem cell types to self-assemble in vitro to generate embryos whose morphogenesis, architecture, and constituent cell types resemble those of natural embryos.We are grateful to the Wellcome Trust and ERC for supporting this work. S.E.H. and C.K. are both supported by Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council doctoral training partnership studentships. B.S. is supported by the International Research Fellowship Program 2214/A from Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey, and M.Z.-G. by the Wellcome Trust. S.E.H. served as an intern in the Cambridge, UK, office of Science/AAAS

Evaluation of dual energy quantitative CT for determining the spatial distributions of red marrow and bone for dosimetry in internal emitter radiation therapy

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/135113/1/mp0378.pd

Pressure-dependent EPANET extension

In water distribution systems (WDSs), the available flow at a demand node is dependent on the pressure at that node. When a network is lacking in pressure, not all consumer demands will be met in full. In this context, the assumption that all demands are fully satisfied regardless of the pressure in the system becomes unreasonable and represents the main limitation of the conventional demand driven analysis (DDA) approach to WDS modelling. A realistic depiction of the network performance can only be attained by considering demands to be pressure dependent. This paper presents an extension of the renowned DDA based hydraulic simulator EPANET 2 to incorporate pressure-dependent demands. This extension is termed “EPANET-PDX” (pressure-dependent extension) herein. The utilization of a continuous nodal pressure-flow function coupled with a line search and backtracking procedure greatly enhance the algorithm’s convergence rate and robustness. Simulations of real life networks consisting of multiple sources, pipes, valves and pumps were successfully executed and results are presented herein. Excellent modelling performance was achieved for analysing both normal and pressure deficient conditions of the WDSs. Detailed computational efficiency results of EPANET-PDX with reference to EPANET 2 are included as well

Instability of black hole formation under small pressure perturbations

We investigate here the spectrum of gravitational collapse endstates when arbitrarily small perfect fluid pressures are introduced in the classic black hole formation scenario as described by Oppenheimer, Snyder and Datt (OSD) [1]. This extends a previous result on tangential pressures [2] to the more physically realistic scenario of perfect fluid collapse. The existence of classes of pressure perturbations is shown explicitly, which has the property that injecting any smallest pressure changes the final fate of the dynamical collapse from a black hole to a naked singularity. It is therefore seen that any smallest neighborhood of the OSD model, in the space of initial data, contains collapse evolutions that go to a naked singularity outcome. This gives an intriguing insight on the nature of naked singularity formation in gravitational collapse.Comment: 7 pages, 1 figure, several modifications to match published version on GR

The role of retreatment in the management of recurrent/progressive brain metastases: a systematic review and evidence-based clinical practice guideline

QUESTION: What evidence is available regarding the use of whole brain radiation therapy (WBRT), stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS), surgical resection or chemotherapy for the treatment of recurrent/progressive brain metastases? TARGET POPULATION: This recommendation applies to adults with recurrent/progressive brain metastases who have previously been treated with WBRT, surgical resection and/or radiosurgery. Recurrent/progressive brain metastases are defined as metastases that recur/progress anywhere in the brain (original and/or non-original sites) after initial therapy. RECOMMENDATION: Level 3 Since there is insufficient evidence to make definitive treatment recommendations in patients with recurrent/progressive brain metastases, treatment should be individualized based on a patient\u27s functional status, extent of disease, volume/number of metastases, recurrence or progression at original versus non-original site, previous treatment and type of primary cancer, and enrollment in clinical trials is encouraged. In this context, the following can be recommended depending on a patient\u27s specific condition: no further treatment (supportive care), re-irradiation (either WBRT and/or SRS), surgical excision or, to a lesser extent, chemotherapy. Question If WBRT is used in the setting of recurrent/progressive brain metastases, what impact does tumor histopathology have on treatment outcomes? No studies were identified that met the eligibility criteria for this question

Atypical Balance between Occipital and Fronto-Parietal Activation for Visual Shape Extraction in Dyslexia

Reading requires the extraction of letter shapes from a complex background of text, and an impairment in visual shape extraction would cause difficulty in reading. To investigate the neural mechanisms of visual shape extraction in dyslexia, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine brain activation while adults with or without dyslexia responded to the change of an arrow’s direction in a complex, relative to a simple, visual background. In comparison to adults with typical reading ability, adults with dyslexia exhibited opposite patterns of atypical activation: decreased activation in occipital visual areas associated with visual perception, and increased activation in frontal and parietal regions associated with visual attention. These findings indicate that dyslexia involves atypical brain organization for fundamental processes of visual shape extraction even when reading is not involved. Overengagement in higher-order association cortices, required to compensate for underengagment in lower-order visual cortices, may result in competition for top-down attentional resources helpful for fluent reading.Ellison Medical FoundationMartin Richmond Memorial FundNational Institutes of Health (U.S.). (Grant UL1RR025758)National Institutes of Health (U.S.). (Grant F32EY014750-01)MIT Class of 1976 (Funds for Dyslexia Research

A Cross-Species Analysis of MicroRNAs in the Developing Avian Face

Higher vertebrates use similar genetic tools to derive very different facial features. This diversity is believed to occur through temporal, spatial and species-specific changes in gene expression within cranial neural crest (NC) cells. These contribute to the facial skeleton and contain species-specific information that drives morphological variation. A few signaling molecules and transcription factors are known to play important roles in these processes, but little is known regarding the role of micro-RNAs (miRNAs). We have identified and compared all miRNAs expressed in cranial NC cells from three avian species (chicken, duck, and quail) before and after species-specific facial distinctions occur. We identified 170 differentially expressed miRNAs. These include thirty-five novel chicken orthologs of previously described miRNAs, and six avian-specific miRNAs. Five of these avian-specific miRNAs are conserved over 120 million years of avian evolution, from ratites to galliforms, and their predicted target mRNAs include many components of Wnt signaling. Previous work indicates that mRNA gene expression in NC cells is relatively static during stages when the beak acquires species-specific morphologies. However, miRNA expression is remarkably dynamic within this timeframe, suggesting that the timing of specific developmental transitions is altered in birds with different beak shapes. We evaluated one miRNA:mRNA target pair and found that the cell cycle regulator p27KIP1 is a likely target of miR-222 in frontonasal NC cells, and that the timing of this interaction correlates with the onset of phenotypic variation. Our comparative genomic approach is the first comprehensive analysis of miRNAs in the developing facial primordial, and in species-specific facial development

Quantifying Sources of Variability in Infancy Research Using the Infant-Directed-Speech Preference

Psychological scientists have become increasingly concerned with issues related to methodology and replicability, and infancy researchers in particular face specific challenges related to replicability: For example, high-powered studies are difficult to conduct, testing conditions vary across labs, and different labs have access to different infant populations. Addressing these concerns, we report on a large-scale, multisite study aimed at (a) assessing the overall replicability of a single theoretically important phenomenon and (b) examining methodological, cultural, and developmental moderators. We focus on infants’ preference for infant-directed speech (IDS) over adult-directed speech (ADS). Stimuli of mothers speaking to their infants and to an adult in North American English were created using seminaturalistic laboratory-based audio recordings. Infants’ relative preference for IDS and ADS was assessed across 67 laboratories in North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia using the three common methods for measuring infants’ discrimination (head-turn preference, central fixation, and eye tracking). The overall meta-analytic effect size (Cohen’s d) was 0.35, 95% confidence interval = [0.29, 0.42], which was reliably above zero but smaller than the meta-analytic mean computed from previous literature (0.67). The IDS preference was significantly stronger in older children, in those children for whom the stimuli matched their native language and dialect, and in data from labs using the head-turn preference procedure. Together, these findings replicate the IDS preference but suggest that its magnitude is modulated by development, native-language experience, and testing procedure