Electrical structure of the Himalaya of Central Nepal: high conductivity around the mid-crustal ramp along the MHT

Twelve broadband magnetotelluric (MT) soundings were performed across the Himalaya of Central Nepal in 1996 in order to determine the electrical structure of the crust and its relation to geological structures and active tectonics. The MT impedance tensors were obtained for frequencies between 0.001 and 500 Hz. The 2‐D section, derived from joint inversion of TE‐ and TM mode after RRI and Groom/Bailey decomposition, shows high conductivity in the foreland basin (∼30 Ω.m) that contrasts with the resistive Indian basement (>300 Ω.m) and Lesser Himalaya (>1000 Ω.m). In addition, our MT sounding reveals a major conductive feature beneath the front of the Higher Himalaya, also characterized by intense microseismic activity, and the position of a mid‐crustal ramp along the major active thrust fault (MHT). This high conductivity zone probably reflects metamorphic fluids, released during underthrusting of the Indian basement and pervading well connected microcracks induced by interseismic stress build‐up, or distributed brittle deformation around the ramp

How should we evaluate research on counselling and the treatment of depression? A case study on how NICE’s draft 2018 guideline considered what counts as best evidence

Background: Health guidelines are developed to improve patient care by ensuring the most recent and “best available evidence” is used to guide treatment recommendations (NICE Guidance, 2017). NICE’s revised guideline development methodology acknowledges that evidence needed to answer one question (treatment efficacy) may be different from evidence needed to answer another (cost effectiveness, treatment acceptability to patients; NICE, 2014/2017). This review uses counselling in the treatment of depression as a case study, and interrogates the constructs of ‘best’ evidence and ‘best’ guideline methodologies. Method: The review comprises six sections: (1) the implications of diverse definitions of counselling in research; (2) research findings from meta-analyses and randomised controlled trials (RCTs); (3) limitations to trials-based evidence; (4) findings from large routine outcome datasets; (5) the inclusion of qualitative research that emphasises service-user voices; and (6) conclusions and recommendations. Results: Research from meta-analyses and RCTs reviewed in the draft 2018 NICE guideline is limited but positive in relation to the effectiveness of counselling in the treatment for depression. The weight of evidence suggests little, if any, advantage to CBT over counselling once bias and researcher allegiance are taken into account. A growing body of evidence from large NHS datasets also evidences that counselling is both effective and cost-effective when delivered in NHS settings. Conclusion: Recommendations in NICE’s own updated procedures suggest that sole reliance on RCTs and meta-analyses as best methodologies is no longer adequate. There is a need to include large standardised collected datasets from routine practice as well as the voice of patients via high-quality qualitative research

Primary care evidence in clinical guidelines: a mixed methods study of practitioners' views

BACKGROUND: Clinical practice guidelines are widely used in primary care, yet are not always based on applicable research. AIM: To explore primary care practitioners’ views on the applicability to primary care patients of evidence underpinning National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guideline recommendations. DESIGN AND SETTING: Delphi survey and focus groups in primary care, England, UK. METHOD: Delphi survey of the perceived applicability of 14 guideline recommendations rated before and after a description of their evidence base, followed by two focus groups. RESULTS: GPs significantly reduced scores for their perceived likelihood of pursuing recommendations after finding these were based on studies with low applicability to primary care, but maintained their scores for recommendations based on highly applicable research. GPs reported they were more likely to use guidelines where evidence was applicable to primary care, and less likely if the evidence base came from a secondary care population. Practitioners in the focus groups accepted that guideline developers would use the most relevant evidence available, but wanted clearer signposting of those recommendations particularly relevant for primary care patients. Their main need was for brief, clear, and accessible guidelines. CONCLUSION: Guidelines should specify the extent to which the research evidence underpinning each recommendation is applicable to primary care. The relevance of guideline recommendations to primary care populations could be more explicitly considered at all three stages of guideline development: scoping and evidence synthesis, recommendation development, and publication. The relevant evidence base needs to be presented clearly and concisely, and in an easy to identify way

Recent Initiatives on Fossil Fuel Transition towards Renewable Energy for Combating Climate Change and a Net-Zero Energy Future

This study presents the recent trends in the transition from fossil fuels towards renewable energy for combating climate change and achieving a net-zero energy target by 2030 as per United Nations Sustainable Development Goal-7 (Energy for All). However, the Net Zero target is difficult to achieve unless effective energy conservation and energy efficiency policies, regulations, and financial investment, are not initiated along with the major energy transition to renewable energy. Therefore, the study's objective is to present the current status of initiatives by different countries including India to address this problem as per the recommendations of various Conference of Parties including COP-29. The case study of India shows that enhanced energy efficiency, energy conservation, effective solar energy policies, and regulations for high energy-consuming sectors like industry, agriculture, buildings, domestic and awareness among society are important for achieving realistic targets. The Chhattisgarh State study identifies the high energy-consuming sectors, leading to a 2.7 million kWh reduction in energy consumption in the past two decades through various initiatives. These measures are leading India towards an efficient Net-Zero energy transition in a realistic way. The study results are of importance for follow-up action in developing and least-developed countries worldwide

Mobile Cloud Computing: Implications and Challenges

During the last few years, there is a revolutionary development in the field of mobile computing, multimedia communication and wireless technology. Together with an explosive growth of the mobile computing and excellent promising technology of cloud computing concept, Mobile Cloud Computing (MCC) has been introduced to be a potential technology for mobile services. MCC integrates the cloud computing into the mobile environment and overcomes opportunities and its issues related to this environment (e.g., heterogeneity, scalability, and availability), performance (e.g., storage, battery life, and bandwidth), and security (e.g., reliability and privacy). This paper will explain how cloud computing and mobile devices can be combined for future opportunities, implications and legal issues for developing countries. Keywords: Cloud computing, SaaS, PaaS, IaaS, MCC

Resistance To Brand Switching: The Elderly Consumer

In this study, the authors examine one more aspect of the elderly consumer’s brand loyalty: resistance to brand switching. This study claims that elderly consumers are not only more likely to repurchase but also actively resist switching brands once they have established a favorite brand. This study looks at the unique cognitive psychology of elderly consumers likely to cause this behavior. A better understanding of such behavior can guide efforts of firms either trying to retain their existing consumers or attempting to convert customers of rival brands to their own brands

An Improved Differential Evolution Algorithm for Data Stream Clustering

A Few algorithms were actualized by the analysts for performing clustering of data streams. Most of these algorithms require that the number of clusters (K) has to be fixed by the customer based on input data and it can be kept settled all through the clustering process. Stream clustering has faced few difficulties in picking up K. In this paper, we propose an efficient approach for data stream clustering by embracing an Improved Differential Evolution (IDE) algorithm. The IDE algorithm is one of the quick, powerful and productive global optimization approach for programmed clustering. In our proposed approach, we additionally apply an entropy based method for distinguishing the concept drift in the data stream and in this way updating the clustering procedure online. We demonstrated that our proposed method is contrasted with Genetic Algorithm and identified as proficient optimization algorithm. The performance of our proposed technique is assessed and cr eates the accuracy of 92.29%, the precision is 86.96%, recall is 90.30% and F-measure estimate is 88.60%

The Gap Between Science and Practice: How Therapists Make Their Clinical Decisions

Recent surveys have found that many patients are not receiving empirically supported treatments and that therapists may not update their knowledge of research. Studies have found that therapists prefer to use their clinical experience rather than research findings to improve their practice, although cognitive behavioral (CB) practitioners have been found to use research more frequently than therapists of other theoretical orientations. The organization in which therapists work has been shown to impact attitudes toward working practices, but studies have not examined whether workplace requirements to use research affect therapists’ practice. Studies to date have mainly been conducted in North America. These findings may not be generalizable to the United Kingdom where there is a National Health Service (NHS), which requires the use of empirically supported treatments. The first part of this study aimed to investigate which factors were influential in therapists’ choice of theoretical orientation and to see whether CB practitioners differed from other therapists in the factors that influenced their choice of theoretical orientation. The second part tested whether therapists’ theoretical orientation or their workplace influenced the frequency with which they used research in their clinical decision-making. The final part investigated whether being a CB practitioner or working in the NHS was associated with having a favorable attitude toward research. An online survey was sent to 4,144 psychological therapists in England; 736 therapists responded (18.5%). Therapists reported that research had little influence over their choice of theoretical orientation and clinical decision-making compared to other factors, specifically clinical experience and supervision. CB practitioners and NHS therapists, regardless of their orientation, were significantly more likely to use research than other therapists and were more likely to have a positive attitude toward research

Philosophy of Sikhism.

It is the first attempt at the philosophisation of the Sikh religion on Western lines. The material from which this philosophy is constructed lay scattered in the Sikh scriptures written in Medieval Panjabi in the Gurmukhi script. The work containing about 85 thousand words is divided into four main parts. The introductory part begins with a brief review of different literary movements dealing with Sikhism from the days of its origin in the 16th. century down to our own times. Then follows a chapter on the founders of Sikhism with a description of the environments in which they conceived their ideals and a discussion of some traditions and biographical controversies. The third chapter of this part gives an account of the sources of the material for this work. The second part is devoted to a discussion of the sources of Sikhism. The alleged notion of Sikhism being a branch of Hinduism has been disputed, By means of comparison and on the basis of internal and external evidence an has been made to show that Sikhism Whilst presenting a new synthesis of ideas has as its background not Hinduism which, is a vague notion, but Vedantism, Saivism,Vaisnavism, Buddhism, Siddhism (the system of Gorakh), Islam, and perhaps Christianity and other systems of thought both of Indian and non-Indian origin. Then comes a critical survey of the philosophy of Sikhism both theoretical and practical. In part III after a careful analysis of the Franthic hymns the Guru's ideas have been systematised on the following subjects: God, His historical and attributive names and their implications; Cosmology; Man and his destiny. It has been shown that the distinctive contribution of the Guru towards the concept of God from the mddern critic's point of view is two fold: the socialised nature of God and and the aesthetic notion of the deity. These are new facts and have been overlooked by all writers. In the field of practical philosophy there is again a striking departure from the traditional three margas of India: Kama, Bhakti and Gyan. Here it is the Wismad marga of the Guru which is expounded in the fourth part. It is communion with God-not with Nature but through nature-by means of aesthetic intuition This is quite a new line of approach. Different stages and steps of the marga have been briefly described in the last few pages

Acoustic performance of soft elastic media embedded with periodic inclusions

Elastic media comprising periodic inclusions are rationally designed composite materials which exhibit acoustic properties that go qualitatively and quantitatively beyond those of their bulk ingredients. A practical application of periodic scatterers in a soft rubber-like medium is in the design of acoustic coatings for maritime vehicles. Acoustic coatings are employed to reduce underwater noise pollution as well as to absorb external sound waves for stealth purposes. The aim of this thesis is to investigate the physical mechanisms governing the performance of underwater acoustic coatings comprising voided and/or hard inclusions embedded in a soft elastic medium. Analytical and numerical models are developed to study the transmission, reflection and absorption properties of the coatings. The analytical models are based on effective medium approximation theory whereby an inhomogeneous medium is modelled as layers of homogeneous media with effective geometric and material properties. The acoustic properties of the layered composites are then obtained using the transfer matrix method. The numerical models are developed using the finite element method whereby the exact geometry and material properties of the acoustic coatings are simulated. The coatings are submerged in water and the effects of water backing and steel-air backing on their acoustic performance are examined. The effects of different material and geometric properties of the coatings on the acoustic performance are also investigated. Different combinations of layers of voids and/or layers of hard inclusions are studied in detail and found to have notably different impacts on the acoustic performance of the coating