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The quantum spin liquid (QSL) state is an exotic state of matter where the spin of electrons, which generally exhibits order at low temperatures, remains disordered. Now, scientists have developed a new material where a two-dimensional QSL state can be experimentally observed, advancing our knowledge of spin behavior, and getting us closer to next-generation ”spintronic” devices. More
Cognitive behavioural therapy delivered electronically to treat people with depression is more effective than face to face, suggests an evidence review led by McMaster University.
Based on randomized control trials, the systematic review and analysis revealed that cognitive behavioural therapy that connected therapists and patients through such modes as web-based applications, video-conferencing, email and texting, improved patients’ symptoms better than face to face when measured using standardized mood symptoms scales. As well, there was no difference in the level of satisfaction or function between the two methods of delivery.
The details were published in EClinicalMedicine, published by The Lancet.
“Although this study started before the current COVID-19 pandemic, it is timely and assuring that treatment delivered electronically works as well if not better than face to face and there is no compromise on the quality of care that patients are receiving during this stressful time,” said corresponding author Zena Samaan, associate professor of psychiatry and behavioural neurosciences at McMaster and a psychiatrist at St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton.
Cognitive behavioural therapy is a type of psychotherapy widely used to treat depression. However, limited resource availability poses several barriers to patients seeking access to care, including lengthy wait times and geographical limitations.
In this evidence review, researchers identified 17 randomized control trials comparing therapist-supported cognitive behavioural therapy delivered electronically to face to face cognitive behavioural therapy. The studies were conducted between 2003 and 2018 in the United States, Australia, Netherlands, Switzerland, Sweden and the United Kingdom.
Samaan said the findings of the meta-analysis debunk widely-held perceptions about psychotherapy.
“The common understanding was that face to face psychotherapy has the advantage of the connection with the therapist and this connection is in part what makes the difference in treatment,” she said.
“However, it is not surprising that electronic interventions are helpful in that they offer flexibility, privacy and no travel time, time off work, transport or parking costs. It makes sense that people access care, especially mental health care, when they need it from their own comfort space.”
Samaan noted that the findings support advocacy and widespread implementation of electronic cognitive behavioural therapy.
“Electronic options should be considered to be implemented for delivering therapy to patients,” she said. “This can potentially vastly improve access for patients, especially those in rural or underserved areas, and during pandemics.”
This work did not receive any external funding.
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Materials provided by McMaster University. Note: Content may be edited for style and length. More
The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) near Geneva, Switzerland became famous around the world in 2012 with the detection of the Higgs boson. The observation marked a crucial confirmation of the Standard Model of particle physics, which organizes the subatomic particles into groups similar to elements in the periodic table from chemistry. The U.S. Department of […] More
Parents may worry that spending time on their smartphones has a negative impact on their relationships with their children. However, a new comprehensive analysis published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry found that this is unlikely to be the case. In the analysis of data from 3, 659 parent-based surveys, the authors tested […] More
A team of physicists and chemists has produced the first porous graphene ribbons in which specific carbon atoms in the crystal lattice are replaced with nitrogen atoms. These ribbons have semiconducting properties that make them attractive for applications in electronics and quantum computing. More
Researchers developed a new way to protect and safeguard quantum information, moving quantum networks a step closer to reality. More
Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have developed a novel machine learning approach to quickly enhance the resolution of wind velocity data by 50 times and solar irradiance data by 25 times — an enhancement that has never been achieved before with climate data.
The researchers took an alternative approach by using adversarial training, in which the model produces physically realistic details by observing entire fields at a time, providing high-resolution climate data at a much faster rate. This approach will enable scientists to complete renewable energy studies in future climate scenarios faster and with more accuracy.
“To be able to enhance the spatial and temporal resolution of climate forecasts hugely impacts not only energy planning, but agriculture, transportation, and so much more,” said Ryan King, a senior computational scientist at NREL who specializes in physics-informed deep learning.
King and NREL colleagues Karen Stengel, Andrew Glaws, and Dylan Hettinger authored a new article detailing their approach, titled “Adversarial super-resolution of climatological wind and solar data,” which appears in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.
Accurate, high-resolution climate forecasts are important for predicting variations in wind, clouds, rain, and sea currents that fuel renewable energies. Short-term forecasts drive operational decision-making; medium-term weather forecasts guide scheduling and resource allocations; and long-term climate forecasts inform infrastructure planning and policymaking.
However, it is very difficult to preserve temporal and spatial quality in climate forecasts, according to King. The lack of high-resolution data for different scenarios has been a major challenge in energy resilience planning. Various machine learning techniques have emerged to enhance the coarse data through super resolution — the classic imaging process of sharpening a fuzzy image by adding pixels. But until now, no one had used adversarial training to super-resolve climate data.
“Adversarial training is the key to this breakthrough,” said Glaws, an NREL postdoc who specializes in machine learning.
Adversarial training is a way of improving the performance of neural networks by having them compete with one another to generate new, more realistic data. The NREL researchers trained two types of neural networks in the model — one to recognize physical characteristics of high-resolution solar irradiance and wind velocity data and another to insert those characteristics into the coarse data. Over time, the networks produce more realistic data and improve at distinguishing between real and fake inputs. The NREL researchers were able to add 2,500 pixels for every original pixel.
“By using adversarial training — as opposed to the traditional numerical approach to climate forecasts, which can involve solving many physics equations — it saves computing time, data storage costs, and makes high-resolution climate data more accessible,” said Stengel, an NREL graduate intern who specializes in machine learning.
This approach can be applied to a wide range of climate scenarios from regional to global scales, changing the paradigm for climate model forecasting.
NREL is the U.S. Department of Energy’s primary national laboratory for renewable energy and energy efficiency research and development. NREL is operated for the Energy Department by the Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC. More
Researchers at CRANN and the School of Physics at Trinity College Dublin have created an innovative new device that will emit single particles of light, or photons, from quantum dots that are the key to practical quantum computers, quantum communications, and other quantum devices. The team has made a significant improvement on previous designs in […] More
