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Socially responsible universities and student satisfaction: Case analysis
Universities play the dual role of providing new knowledge and inculcating a sense of social responsibility in student citizens to contribute to community development. Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) are often expected to be socially responsible. The principal focus of this chapter is to determine the dimensions of University Social Responsibility (USR) and examine its impact on student satisfaction. A case study research was conducted with 299 students from a private university in India. Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analysis were used to identify the dimensions of USR. A structural equation model was used to analyze the impact of USR on student satisfaction, with gender and volunteerism in USR activities as moderators. The results show that student satisfaction is influenced by their perception of USR activities undertaken by the university. Findings indicate that the degree of influence of USR on satisfaction is more among female than male students. Contrastingly, the degree of influence of USR on satisfaction remained the same for volunteers and non-volunteers, indicating that the university is transparent in its USR activities. The findings highlight the importance of USR actions and how these activities lead to increased student satisfaction. The study also discusses the model adopted by the university to achieve higher standards of USR that other HEIs can adapt. 2024 Nova Science Publishers, Inc. -
Exploring student perspectives on service learning: Their expectations, challenges, and perceived benef
Many students foresee that a service-learning course would help them to participate in the development of the community, addressing its real concerns. On the other hand, students anticipate individual growth in terms of personal, interpersonal, and societal skills. However, service-learning also throws up some concerns and challenges. Thus, it is very important for educational institutions to understand the challenges in the planning and execution phase and reap a positive impact from the service-learning course. A qualitative research technique is adopted and the responses are grouped into themes for better evaluation of the factors. The current research surveyed 290 respondents to understand students' expectations and benefits from service learning. It throws light on the challenges that need attention to harness its benefits. Addressing these issues and expectations would enhance students' engagement and elevate the benefits for all the stakeholders. 2024, IGI Global. All rights reserved. -
Implementation of Morphological Gradient Algorithm for Edge Detection
This paper shows the implementation of a morphological gradient in MATLAB and colab platforms to analyze the time consumed on different sizes of grayscale images and structuring elements. A morphological gradient is an edge detecting technique that can be derived from the difference of two morphological operations called dilation and erosion. In order to apply the morphological operations to an image, padding is carried out which involves inserting 0 for dilation operation and 225 for erosion. Padding for the number of rows or columns is based on the size of the structuring element. Further, dilation and erosion are implemented on the image to obtain morphological gradient. Since central processing unit (CPU) implementation follows sequential computing, with the increase in the image size, the time consumption also increases significantly. To analyze the time consumption and to verify the performance across various platforms, the morphological gradient algorithm is implemented in MATLAB and colab. The results demonstrate that colab implementation is ten times faster when constant structuring element with varying image size is used and five times faster when constant image size with varying structuring element size is used than the MATLAB implementation. 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. -
Digitization and smart tourism: Technological opportunities for luxury tourism and destination image
Commitment to technology, sustainability, innovation, and accessibility has not only improved the quality of life but has also created a niche for luxury tourism with smart tourism eco-space. Smart tourism destinations (STD) need vigorous, well-connected stakeholders with the help of a technological platform for data exchange. Instant data exchange creates extremely large data sets known as big data. This chapter aims to contribute to the understanding on how smart tourism destinations could potentially enhance luxury tourism that is more personalized to meet visitors' unique needs and preferences. Developing smart tourism destinations can be an effective mode to engage all the stakeholders and tourists. In improving destination performance, smart tourism ecosystem applies social media analytics and smart tourism technologies. This chapter aims to relate local area as smart tourism local service systems (S-TLSS) and luxury tourism. 2021 by IGI Global. All rights reserved. -
Modeling destination competitiveness: The unfamiliar shift for destination rebranding, restructuring, and repositioning with DMOs
Tourism is a tactical economic practice across the globe, but the urban and provincial transformations in the industry are strongly contemplated in the light of an unfamiliar shift in tourism business. This chapter discusses an integrated concept with a framework relating systematic approach of managing the destination and its competitiveness. An investigation on the impact on tourism and the recent narrative of national, regional, and local planning approach directs towards efficient destination management organizations (DMO) in practice for future development. This has proceeded by the formation of a competitive approach, emphasizing on the DMO roles and responsibilities helpful for a destination management during an unfamiliar business trend. Modeling destination competitiveness demands an absolute mechanism through destination rebranding, restructuring, and repositioning with DMOs for enabling competency. 2018, IGI Global. -
Community Resilience and Crisis Management: Stakeholders Perspective of the Tourism Industry
The tourism industry is very vulnerable and has been extensively impacted by varied types of crisis. An attempt is made to precipitate and reflect on the nature of tourism disasters indicating an imperative need for an integrated approach to deal with crisis with disaster planning and a response system. Destinations at crisis impacts humankind causing environmental impacts and economic downfall and largely impacts the local community to recover from the disaster. This chapter examines varied impacts affecting the tourism industry and addressed negative impacts like the Economic crisis and loss of brand image in the post-crisis situation. The conceptual framework indicates Community Resilience model towards destination development and Resilience Building. The role of key stakeholders supporting e-governance and financial resilience pertaining to tourism business is further examined. The chapter explores mechanisms to re-establish the brand image during the restoration phase and have indicated possible strategies and suggestions in the recovery phase of an affected region. Disaster risk reduction is a significant and major phenomenon in handling all kinds of crisis management, therefore this chapter will be an essential reading for tourism education and destination managers who are engaged in destination crisis planning and disaster management. The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022. -
Tourism business management and competitiveness: Intervention of inclusive practices and community based approach towards community empowerment
The travel, tourism, and hospitality industry is a rapidly evolving sector that contributes to the global economy effectively. Effective business management is crucial for success in this industry, as it requires a delicate balance of customer satisfaction, financial sustainability, and responsible practices. In this chapter, we delve into the key aspects of business management in the tourism industry and explore strategies for achieving sustainable growth and success. This chapter explores a multistakeholder perspective in examining the various facets of business engagement in an inclusive setting. The chapter is iterative, with a focus on the crisis management strategies adopted by the tourism business, to tackle the challenges that stakeholders face in a crisis situation. The study also examines case-lets from the hospitality operators. The chapter primarily endorses business management with coping strategies in a crisis management scenario to equip the stakeholders during disasterprone situations. Towards building a competitive and empowered community, a competency framework is proposed for speedy crisis management responses. The implications indicate the role of destinations, over internal strategies and strategy formulation. Paradoxical dilemmas towards inclusive engagement is clarified with dynamics to understand stakeholder engagement in the leisure industry with strategic and tactical perspectives adopted by a good destination governance. The allied and supplementary tourism industry practitioners in the hospitality sector portray business management and success in business through empowered communities with a tactical and strategic outlook. This indeed can reposition and rebrand tourism in the "New Normal" examined through case lets to address the success of inclusive engagement for community self-sufficiency and empowered teams. 2024 Nova Science Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. -
Analogy of Social Entrepreneurship and Community Empowerment: An Inclusive Tourism Approach with Technological Intervention
Destinations overall development is ascertained by its conscious measures toward inclusive engagement with responsible business practices. The social enterprises functioning in the tourism system engage the disadvantaged communities responsibly for economic prosperity and community empowerment. Tourism social entrepreneurship is an innovative mechanism toward social upliftment by enhancing the benefits and contemplating through the core issues of host communities. This chapter focuses on case lets on communities, particularly those located in less-developed regions of India, who encounter various social problems. A sustainable community development through tourism leads economic growth in developing marginalized communities and economically empowers the low-income localities. Technological intervention for community empowerment and better engagement is the need of the hour. It is instrumental to understand the ideology of social entrepreneurial opportunities for community empowerment. Tourism relies on multiple industries and it is challenging in delivering desired community development goals. Adaption of techno-enabled system toward community development can build the entrepreneurship capacity of marginalized communities. Technological interventions for empowering the community toward rural development is the thrust dealt in the proposed chapter. Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd 2024. -
Tools and technologies for the governance of knowledge management
Knowledge management is a consolidation of various endeavours and disciplines. This chapter assesses the space of knowledge management and examines the significance of running a successful business with an efficient management system. To have a smooth management in a company, all the employees in the company need to access all the required information, which may be comprised of documents, collaboration of teams, policies in various departments, etc. All of these require an efficient knowledge management system. A framework for characterising the various tools and techniques available to knowledge management practitioners are well explored in the chapter. 2022, IGI Global. All rights reserved. -
COVID-19 pandemic, risk-reduction strategies and crisis management in the travel insurance sector
Travel has always been considered to be a risky affair as there are multiple uncertainties associated with it. Though the tourism industry has developed sophisticated methods to manage these risks, there are still certain uncontrollable and unforeseen circumstances that might affect the physical, emotional, and mental state of travellers. The result would be a huge financial burden for the traveller and increased frustration towards the tour operator. The concept of travel insurance was introduced to relieve travellers of such unforeseen risks while travelling. Moreover, the Covid 19 pandemic has instilled a sense of fear and doubt among the minds of travellers which affects their travel decision-making to a large extent. Destinations and tourism suppliers have introduced various risk reduction strategies and methods to resolve this issue. This paper focuses on understanding the concept of risk associated with travel, the various dimensions of risk management, and the key strategies adopted by tour operators and suppliers to minimize such risks. 2023 Nova Science Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. -
Review on Segmentation of Facial Bone Surface from Craniofacial CT Images
Three-dimensional (3D) representation of facial bone surface is needed in the virtual surgical planning for orthognathic surgery. Segmentation of facial bone surface from computed tomography images is first step in developing the 3D model. With the advent in the computer vision techniques, various automatic and semi-segmentation algorithms were developed in the recent years for segmentation of facial bone surface from craniofacial computed tomography images. In the proposed paper, the various segmentation techniques for extracting bone surface from 3D CT images for corrective jaw surgery available in the literature have been discussed. By reviewing all the methods available in the literature, it is found that each method has its own merits and demerits. 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. -
Family Caregiving in Dementia in India: Challenges and Emerging Issues
This chapter would provide an overview of the caregiving scenario in India with a focus on families as the mainstay of support and care for people with dementia. The various aspects of caregiving in dementia would be discussed in the light of the Indian sociocultural context. The impact of caregiving and challenges faced by the family and informal caregivers would be described in the light of the changing demographics and urbanization in India. The need for different kinds of caregiver education and training programmes tailored to the domiciliary and socioeconomic status of the family would be discussed. The resources available for family caregivers, like existing programmes for psychoeducation, family self-care, online and other resources for support would be described. We would discuss the challenges faced in developing culturally appropriate interventions for India that can be delivered within existing resources, such as supporting families in their role as caregivers and providing training and support for them. The chapter would discuss the emerging issues in the models of care for low- and middle-income countries like India, where the care is primarily home-based. The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021. -
Antibacterial Effect of Phosphorous-Doped Carbon Nanomaterial Derived from Alstonia Venenata
Antibiotics have been widely used as fundamental medicine for several decades to treat various bacterial infections. However, bacteria develop different mechanisms to defeat the action of antibiotics, which has become a significant issue that endangers infectious therapy. To reduce the consumption of antibiotics and thus combat the increasing antibiotic resistance, it is necessary to implement safe and effective alternatives to conventional antibiotics. Though nanomaterials have become an emerging hope in infectious treatments, they have limited application due to aggregation, toxicity issues, and problems related to their dispersibility. However, carbon nanomaterials (CNMs) offer high solubility, biocompatibility, and minimum toxicity with their inherent antibacterial properties. The selection of natural precursors as the carbon source is an eco-friendly and economical route for synthesizing antibacterial carbon nanomaterials. In the present work, fluorescent CNMs have been synthesized by the hydrothermal treatment of Alstonia venenata leaf extract. The antibacterial capability of the bare extract (AVE), hydrothermally treated extract (AVH), AVH doped with nitrogen (N-AVH), and AVH doped with phosphorous (P-AVH) are tested against gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) and gram-negative Escherichia coli (E. coli) bacteria. Except for P-AVH, all other samples showed nontoxicity towards the tested bacterial species. In contrast, P-AVH inhibited bacterial growth with minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values of 2.5 and 2mg/ml on S. aureus and E. coli, respectively. 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. -
Nanocomposites in Combating Antimicrobial Resistance
Extensive and improper usage of antibiotics has resulted in the outbreak of multidrugresistant microorganisms and increasing antimicrobial resistance (AMR), which has become a significant threat to global health and health care. Resistant microorganisms adapt various resistance mechanisms like modifying the structure of antibiotics, altering the target, inhibiting the internalization of antibiotics, ejection of antibiotics from bacterial cells, etc. By lowering or completely disabling the efficacy of antibiotics, AMR may become a primary cause of mortality if left unattended. Developing effective antiresistance strategies to combat AMR is an urgent need of time. Nanomaterials have great potential to inactivate pathogens, and their mechanism of antimicrobial activity is different from antibiotics. With these unique mechanisms of antimicrobial action, nanomaterials are less prone to develop AMR. Developing nanocomposites can provide synergistic effects to improve the properties and strengthen the antimicrobial capability of individual nanomaterials. In this chapter, contemporary developments in the application of antimicrobial composites such as carbon nanocomposites, metallic nanocomposites, nonmetallic nanocomposites, metalloid nanocomposites, polymer nanocomposites, ceramic nanocomposites, and their hybrid forms to prevent the evolution of AMR will be discussed. The current research direction, prospects, and possible strategies to explore nanocomposites as potent antimicrobial agents to conquer AMR will be highlighted. The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2024. -
Fluorescent carbon nanoparticle hybrids: synthesis, properties and applications
The development of materials in nanoscale morphologies with novel compositions is one of the major focuses of nanoscience and technology, as these materials are imbibed with unique properties that make them suitable for specific applications in a large variety of fields. Combining two or more chemically distinct constituents into a single nanostructure helps to attain desirable attributes of physical and chemical responses that can be efficiently utilized for specific applications. Hybrid nanomaterials constituted as a combination of multiple components into single nanostructures are known to showcase the properties of the individual components in tandem or synergy. Novel functionalities are also known to arise from integrating Fluorescent carbon nanoparticles (FCNPs) with other counterparts. FCNPs, when combined with other materials to form nanohybrids, provide copious functional attributes due to their inherent properties and the augmentation in properties due to the presence of the other materials. Integrating hybrid counterparts with FCNs improves the functional properties, which can be utilized for various applications such as photocatalysis, bioimaging, bio/chemo sensing, and many more. Herein we present an overview of recent and relevant works related to the synthesis, properties, and applications of fluorescent carbon nanoparticle (FCNP) hybrids. Various synthetic routes of FCNP hybrids via physical and chemical methods are summarized. The properties of the hybrid systems and the influence of hybridization on the properties are discussed. Applications of FCNP hybrids in various fields are also discussed in detail. 2025 Elsevier Inc. All rights are reserved including those for text and data mining AI training and similar technologies. -
Question-answering versus machine reading comprehension: Neural machine reading comprehension using transformer models
Teaching machines to read and learn natural language documents and seek answers to questions is an elusive task. Traditional question-answering systems were based on rule-based and keyword-searching algorithms without proper natural language understanding. Machine reading comprehension (MRC) belongs to reading comprehension models and facilitates the machines learning from context. MRC can infer the answer from the context through language understanding. Neural machine reading comprehension has built reading comprehension models by employing the advancements of deep neural networks that have shown unprecedented performance compared to other non-neural and feature-based models. The article comprises the MRC span extraction tasks using Transformer models and, in addition, the illustration of the MRC tasks, trends, modules, benchmarked datasets, implementation, and empirical results. 2024 selection and editorial matter, Muskan Garg, Sandeep Kumar and Abdul Khader Jilani Saudagar chapters. -
Unveiling the potential of large language models: Redefining learning in the age of generative AI
Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) and Large Language Models (LLMs) are transforming industries by fostering innovation, automating tasks, and enhancing creativity. By enabling personalized user interactions, sophisticated content creation, and advanced data analytics, they are revolutionizing industries such as healthcare, education, and customer service. As these technologies evolve, they can fundamentally change communication and decision-making processes and incorporate AI into everyday life. The objective of this book chapter is to examine the architecture and components, features, functionality, domain-specific applications, recent advances, and future developments of LLMs. Ongoing research aims to reduce biases, increase energy efficiency, and facilitate interpretation. As LLMs continue to evolve, they have the potential to transform many industries, including education, customer service, content creation, and more. As a result, they will be essential for the development of future AI-powered applications. 2024, IGI Global. All rights reserved. -
Negative consumer engagement via food delivery applications: A real concern for generation Z?
The traits of Generation Z are notable for how they define and reshape themselves in the 21st century. The current study investigates the factors that Generation Z users consider when deciding on a food application. The respondents in the current study were divided into working and nonworking groups, and the results imply that since college students are still supported financially by their parents or guardians, their main concerns are higher discounts, prices, and quantities. An in-depth and semistructured questionnaire was addressed to both groups of 15 respondents belonging to Generation Z. The stakeholders who would benefit from this research would primarily be online delivery restaurants, food application developers, academic researchers, and Generation Z cohorts. 2024, IGI Global. All rights reserved. -
Production of bioactive compounds from cell and organ cultures of Centella asiatica
Centella asiatica, commonly known as mandukaparni, has garnered recognition for its efficacy in addressing a spectrum of health concerns. Its diverse pharmacological properties encompass roles in treating neuro-related issues, gastrointestinal problems, and cardiovascular conditions. Furthermore, it exhibits multifaceted therapeutic effects, including antioxidant, antidiabetic, wound healing, skin protective, and anti-osteoporotic properties. This herbaceous plant is rich in bioactive compounds such as centellosides (triterpene saponins) including madecassoside, madecassic acid, asiatic acid, and asiaticoside. These compounds, crucial for their pharmacological potential, are biosynthetically produced through the mevalonate and methylerythritol phosphate pathways. However, the challenge lies in the production of these important secondary metabolites, given the adverse impact on the availability of mandukaparni due to increasing demand. To address this concern, this chapter emphasizes the biotechnological interventions for the production of bioactive phytochemicals. These include plant tissue culture techniques, such as cell and organ cultures, along with elicitation strategies, genetic engineering approaches, and bioreactor-scale production. These methods aim to enhance the sustainable production of centellosides, providing valuable insights for researchers and paving the way for future opportunities in the field of plant-based therapeutics. 2024 Elsevier Inc. All rights are reserved including those for text and data mining AI training and similar technologies.