Magnetotelluric investigations for imaging electrical structure of Garhwal Himalayan corridor, Uttarakhand, India

Magnetotelluric investigations have been carried out in the Garhwal Himalayan corridor to delineate the electrical structure of the crust along a profile extending from Indo-Gangetic Plain to Higher Himalayan region in Uttarakhand, India. The profile passing through major Himalayan thrusts: Himalayan Frontal Thrust (HFF), Main Boundary Thrust (MBT) and Main Central Thrust (MCT), is nearly perpendicular to the regional geological strike. Data processing and impedance analysis indicate that out of 44 stations MT data recorded, only 27 stations data show in general, the validity of 2D assumption. The average geoelectric strike, N700W, was estimated for the profile using tensor decomposition. 2D smooth geoelectrical model has been presented, which provides the electrical image of the shallow and deeper crustal structure. The major features of the model are (i) a low resistivity (<50Ωm), shallow feature interpreted as sediments of Siwalik and Indo-Gangetic Plain, (ii) highly resistive (> 1000Ωm) zone below the sediments at a depth of 6 km, interpreted as the top surface of the Indian plate, (iii) a low resistivity (< 10Ωm) below the depth of 6 km near MCT zone coincides with the intense micro-seismic activity in the region. The zone is interpreted as the partial melting or fluid phase at mid crustal depth. Sensitivity test indicates that the major features of the geoelectrical model are relevant and desired by the MT data

Brand preference in Islamic banking

Previous literature suggests that factors such as banks’ strong Islamic reputation as well as better financial and banking services are to be among the leading factors in the selection of the respective Islamic bank. The aim of this study would be to examine the bank selection criteria being employed by students in Malaysia. This empirical study will consists of approx. 300 respondents of the International Islamic University Malaysia, main campus will serve as a sample for the study. The choice of younger customer would reflect the future potential market for Islamic banking marketing services whose average age would be between 19 to 25 years. Our empirical study would be relied on 5 selection factors extracted from relevant literature, personal experience and interviews with some bank officials and college students. This study may be also designed to examine this young group of customers’ knowledge of Islamic banking and the factors to be considered in the process of selecting an Islamic bank would be by demographic group and socio-economic characteristics. The data so collected from the study will be analysed by SPSS Program, mean factor analysis and then factor analysis to enhance the quality of the empirical survey. The main implication of this study is to help marketing executives in the Islamic banks to plan better marketing strategies that would attract new customers as well as retain the existing ones, given the high competitive environment dominating the financial industry

The measurement model of social responsibility construct from an Islamic perspective: empirical analysis of Malaysian business organizations

The present study investigates the measurement model of the Islamic social responsibility (ISR) construct in business organizations in the Malaysian context. The study aims to contribute new knowledge to the existing literature of Social responsibility (SR) in general, and ISR in particular. Using disproportionate stratified random sampling, the survey data used for this empirical research was drawn from 405 Muslim employees in business organizations in Malaysia. After yielding an instrument to measure ISR, Principal Component Analysis (PCA) using SPSS version 18.0, and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) using AMOS version 18.0 were conducted. Good fit indices from CFA revealed that, the ISR measurement model in the Malaysian business organizational context is explained by five components; Integrity, Emotional Control, Fulfillment of Covenant, Justice and Truthfulness. Theoretical and practical implications from the study were further discussed. Human Resource Development professionals, organizational managers and government authorities may use the findings of this study to justify their efforts in designing appropriate learning and performance improvement interventions so that ISR of employees can be monitored and further enhanced

Enhancement in electron and ion temperatures due to solar flares as measured by SROSS-C2 satellite

The observations on the ionospheric electron and ion temperatures (T<sub>e</sub> and T<sub>i</sub>) measured by the RPA payload aboard the SROSS-C2 satellite have been used to study the effect of solar flares on ionospheric heating. The data on solar flare has been obtained from the National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC) Boulder, Colorado (USA). It has been found that the electron and ion temperatures have a consistent enhancement during the solar flares on the dayside Earth's ionosphere. The estimated enhancement for the average electron temperature is from 1.3 to 1.9 times whereas for ion temperature it is from 1.2 to 1.4 times to the normal days average temperature. The enhancement of ionospheric temperatures due to solar flares is correlated with the diurnal variation of normal days' ionospheric temperatures. The solar flare does not have any significant effect on the nightside ionosphere. A comparison with the temperature obtained from the IRI-95 model also shows a similar enhancement

Metal-to-Metal Distance Modulated Au(I)/Ru(II) Cyclophanyl Complexes : Cooperative Effects in Photoredox Catalysis

The modular synthesis of Au(I)/Ru(II) decorated mono- and heterobimetallic complexes with pi-conjugated [2.2]paracyclophane is described. [2.2]Paracyclophane serves as a rigid spacer which holds the metal centers in precise spatial orientations and allows metal-to-metal distance modulation. A broad set of architectural arrangements of pseudo -geminal, -ortho, -meta, and -para substitution patterns were employed. Metal-to-metal distance modulation of Au(I)/Ru(II) heterobimetallic complexes and the innate transannular pi-communication of the cyclophanyl scaffold provides a promising platform for the investigations of structure-activity relationship and cooperative effects. The Au(I)/Ru(II) heterobimetallic cyclophanyl complexes are stable, easily accessible, and exhibit promising catalytic activity in the visible-light promoted arylative Meyer-Schuster rearrangement.Peer reviewe

Impact of local recharge on arsenic concentrations in shallow aquifers inferred from the electromagnetic conductivity of soils in Araihazar, Bangladesh

The high-degree of spatial variability of dissolved As levels in shallow aquifers of the Bengal Basin has been well documented but the underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood. We compare here As concentrations measured in groundwater pumped from 4700 wells <22 m (75 ft) deep across a 25 km2 area of Bangladesh with variations in the nature of surface soils inferred from 18,500 measurements of frequency domain electromagnetic induction. A set of 14 hand auger cores recovered from the same area indicate that a combination of grain size and the conductivity of soil water dominate the electromagnetic signal. The relationship between pairs of individual EM conductivity and dissolved As measurements within a distance of 50 m is significant but highly scattered (r2 = 0.12; n = 614). Concentrations of As tend to be lower in shallow aquifers underlying sandy soils and higher below finer-grained and high conductivity soils. Variations in EM conductivity account for nearly half the variance of the rate of increase of As concentration with depth, however, when the data are averaged over a distance of 50 m (r2 = 0.50; n = 145). The association is interpreted as an indication that groundwater recharge through permeable sandy soils prevents As concentrations from rising in shallow reducing groundwater

Matrix method for the transformation of resistivity sounding data of one electrode configuration to that of another configuration

Matrix equations are derived to transform the resistivity sounding data obtained in one type of a four-electrode array to the corresponding resistivity sounding data that would be obtained using a different four-electrode array. These expressions are based primarily on recent work in which we have established a linear relation between the apparent resistivity and the kernel function by using a powerful exponential approximation for the kernel function. It is shown that the resistivity sounding data of two different four-electrode arrays have a linear relation through an essentially non-singular matrix operator and, as such, one is derivable from the other for a one-dimensional model and it can also be extended to two-dimensions. Some numerical examples considering synthetic data are presented which demonstrates the efficiency of the method in such transformations. Two published field examples are also considered for transformation giving a reliable interpretation

A simple method of interpreting dipole resistivity soundings

A computational method has been developed based on a linear relationship between apparent resistivity and the kernel function through a matrix operator. Forward modeling of dipole apparent resistivity values over a one-dimensional layered earth model as well as the inversion of electrical sounding data can be easily accomplished using this matrix operator. For a few two-layer, three-layer, and four-layer earth models, the apparent resistivity values can be calculated quickly and accurately. It is shown that the technique is adaptable to automatic interpretation in both the resistivity and the kernel domains