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

Decolonizing climate change–heritage research

Climate change poses a threat to heritage globally. Decolonial approaches to climate change–heritage research and practice can begin to address systemic inequities, recognize the breadth of heritage and strengthen adaptation action globally.DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT: The underlying dataset for Fig. 1a is available open access from the supplemental material in ref. 5, and datasets for Fig. 1b,c from the UNESCO World Heritage List 2021 in ref. 32.The UK government’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office and the International Development Research Centre, Ottawa, Canada; the FLAIR Fellowship Programme: a partnership between the African Academy of Sciences and the Royal Society funded by the UK government’s Global Challenges Research Fund; the Mapping Africa’s Endangered Archaeological Sites and Monuments project funded by Arcadia — a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin; the Leverhulme Trust Doctoral Training Scheme, hosted by Southampton Marine and Maritime Institute at the University of Southampton.https://www.nature.com/nclimatehj2023Historical and Heritage Studie

The evolving SARS-CoV-2 epidemic in Africa: Insights from rapidly expanding genomic surveillance

INTRODUCTION Investment in Africa over the past year with regard to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) sequencing has led to a massive increase in the number of sequences, which, to date, exceeds 100,000 sequences generated to track the pandemic on the continent. These sequences have profoundly affected how public health officials in Africa have navigated the COVID-19 pandemic. RATIONALE We demonstrate how the first 100,000 SARS-CoV-2 sequences from Africa have helped monitor the epidemic on the continent, how genomic surveillance expanded over the course of the pandemic, and how we adapted our sequencing methods to deal with an evolving virus. Finally, we also examine how viral lineages have spread across the continent in a phylogeographic framework to gain insights into the underlying temporal and spatial transmission dynamics for several variants of concern (VOCs). RESULTS Our results indicate that the number of countries in Africa that can sequence the virus within their own borders is growing and that this is coupled with a shorter turnaround time from the time of sampling to sequence submission. Ongoing evolution necessitated the continual updating of primer sets, and, as a result, eight primer sets were designed in tandem with viral evolution and used to ensure effective sequencing of the virus. The pandemic unfolded through multiple waves of infection that were each driven by distinct genetic lineages, with B.1-like ancestral strains associated with the first pandemic wave of infections in 2020. Successive waves on the continent were fueled by different VOCs, with Alpha and Beta cocirculating in distinct spatial patterns during the second wave and Delta and Omicron affecting the whole continent during the third and fourth waves, respectively. Phylogeographic reconstruction points toward distinct differences in viral importation and exportation patterns associated with the Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Omicron variants and subvariants, when considering both Africa versus the rest of the world and viral dissemination within the continent. Our epidemiological and phylogenetic inferences therefore underscore the heterogeneous nature of the pandemic on the continent and highlight key insights and challenges, for instance, recognizing the limitations of low testing proportions. We also highlight the early warning capacity that genomic surveillance in Africa has had for the rest of the world with the detection of new lineages and variants, the most recent being the characterization of various Omicron subvariants. CONCLUSION Sustained investment for diagnostics and genomic surveillance in Africa is needed as the virus continues to evolve. This is important not only to help combat SARS-CoV-2 on the continent but also because it can be used as a platform to help address the many emerging and reemerging infectious disease threats in Africa. In particular, capacity building for local sequencing within countries or within the continent should be prioritized because this is generally associated with shorter turnaround times, providing the most benefit to local public health authorities tasked with pandemic response and mitigation and allowing for the fastest reaction to localized outbreaks. These investments are crucial for pandemic preparedness and response and will serve the health of the continent well into the 21st century

HIV subtype is not associated with dementia among individuals with moderate and advanced immunosuppression in Kampala, Uganda

BACKGROUND: HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND) are a common neurological manifestation of HIV infection. A previous study suggested that HIV dementia may be more common among patients with subtype D virus than among those with subtype A virus among HIV+ individuals with advanced immunosuppression. We conducted a study to evaluate the frequency of HIV dementia, and the association of HIV dementia with HIV subtype and compartmentalization among HIV+ individuals with moderate and advanced immunosuppression (CD4 lymphocyte count >150 cells/μL and < 250 cells/μL). METHODS: The study enrolled 117 antiretroviral naïve HIV+ individuals in Kampala, Uganda. HIV+ individuals received neurological, neuropsychological testing, and functional assessments, and gag and gp41 regions were subtyped. Subjects were considered infected with a specific subtype if both regions analyzed were from the same subtype. RESULTS: 41% of the HIV+ individuals had HIV dementia (mean CD4 lymphocyte count= 233 cells/μL). 67 individuals had subtype A, 25 individuals had subtype D, 24 individuals were classified as A/D recombinants, and one individual had subtype C. There was no difference in the frequency of HIV dementia when stratified by HIV subtype A and D and no association with compartmentalization between the cerebrospinal fluid and peripheral blood. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that HIV dementia is common in HIV+ individuals in Uganda. There was no association between HIV subtype and dementia among HIV+ individuals with moderate and advanced immunosuppression. Future studies should be performed to confirm these results