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Playing With Differences: Social-Emotional Learning to Reduce Bullying and Promote Inclusivity
Inclusivity is a key indicator for the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. At the school level, bullying mars the appreciation of individual differences and acts as a barrier to inclusivity. The use of social-emotional learning is recommended to promote inclusivity and reduce bullying. Play is an enjoyable form of learning social-emotional skills for all age groups. It is also known to promote positive peer relationships and enable learners to develop a wide range of skills. Hence, educators can incorporate play through digital pedagogical tools and grade-wise play activities to engage students. Resultantly, learners can become emotionally intelligent individuals, sensitive to and respectful of differences. 2023 by IGI Global. All rights reserved. -
AI and Real-Time Business Intelligence
Timely and accurate knowledge that can be provided to different stakeholders in an enterprise improves the performance and decision-making capabilities with better insight. The information, be it qualitative or quantitative, when made available to decision makers becomes the basis of the business intelligence (BI) that improves functionality, scalability and reliability. The knowledge is managed by application of various data warehousing techniques, and artificial intelligence comes into play by providing an ample number of data mining and machine learning techniques. The chapter aims at analyzing the origin, evolution and development of BI systems and their relationship with artificial intelligence (AI). The chapter also aims to provide new research horizons in the scientific activities and advancements in BI, knowledge management and analysis. 2024 selection and editorial matter, Hemachandran K., Raul V. Rodriguez, Umashankar Subramaniam, and Valentina Emilia Balas; individual chapters, the contributors. -
Thermomechanical and viscoelastic properties of biodegradable and biocompatible polymer nanocomposites
Due to the ongoing depletion of fossil fuels, which have been the primary sources of monomers from which the vast majority of synthetic polymers are derived, biodegradable and biocompatible polymeric composites (BBPCs) have received a great deal of attention in recent years. The use of biodegradable and biocompatible polymers is expanding due to their ability to reduce toxic and nondegradable waste materials. Traditional polymers such as polypropylene, polyethylene, and polystyrene are nonbiodegradable, making reuse and recycling difficult. As a result, massive amounts of nonbiodegradable waste are generated all over the world. Biodegradable polymers have been widely used in medical and packaging applications because they are typically made from renewable materials that biodegrade when discarded. Producing biodegradable composites with the addition of environmentally friendly nanofillers is increasingly being regarded as the next-generation materials for improving some of the properties and performance of biodegradable polymers. Despite growing interest in biodegradable and biocompatible polymer research, most studies focus on their preparation methodologies and characterization, with little attention paid to their thermo-mechanical and viscoelastic behavior. Thus, the potential of biodegradable and biocompatible polymer nanocomposites under various thermo-mechanical conditions, as well as their viscoelastic behavior, is reviewed in this chapter. 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. -
Patents and Innovations for Digital Sustainability
With technology growing at a rapid pace, a major issue which is being faced is the problem of effective energy usage and sustainability such that the future generation does not have to bear the brunt of our actions. Through the course of the chapter, the various innovations and patents in the field of digital sustainability are explored which are vital for the preservation of the planet. Patents play a crucial role in promoting innovations and development, as well as protecting the rights of inventors. The varied recent developments in the field of energy sustainability and explaining their work while assessing their contribution to the field are the focus of this chapter. The chapter also provides a comprehensive overview of the relationship between patents and innovations in digital sustainability, offering insights and guidance for researchers, practitioners, and policymakers working in this field. 2024 selection and editorial matter, Vandana Sharma, Balamurugan Balusamy, Munish Sabharwal, and Mariya Ouaissa. -
Pilot Study on Adoption and Usage of AI in Food Processing Industry by UTAUT2
Artificial intelligence (AI) improves the efficiency of work and effectiveness in the output. Currently, food processing industries have started using AI in their business operations. It is crucial to have an in-depth understanding of the adoption and usage of AI systems in food processing industries. Therefore, this paper validates the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT2) in the context of the food processing industry. This study applied AI to the food processing industries in the Bengaluru region. The study's objective is to build a clear vision of the factors that affect the user acceptance and behaviour intention of the user by pilot test. The pilot survey collected 62 responses through the questionnaire. The respondents were employees from the food processing industries in Bengaluru. The reliability test of the questionnaire was done by using Jamovi 2.3.16 software. The questionnaire was tested in three ways: Cronbach Alpha, McDonalds Omega, and Inter-rater reliability. The results of the entire test were reliable since overall Cronbach Alpha of 0.874, which is within the range of 0.800.90, and considered good internal consistency. Similarly, McDonalds Omega is within the range of 0.800.90, which is excellent consistency, and Inter-rater reliability is within the range of moderately acceptable scores from 50 to 75%. 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG. -
Using Analytics to Measure the Impact of Pollution Parameters in Major Cities of India
Coronavirus is airborne and can spread easily. Air pollution may have an impact on breathing and also keep the virus airborne. The levels of air pollution were impacted by the lockdown measures, restricting the vehicular and industrial pollutants. Therefore, there is a need to understand the relation between air pollution levels and the Coronavirus infection rate. The study aims to find the effect of various pollutants across major cities of India on the R-value. The pollution data was collected from the Governments official portal. The major pollutants on which the data was collected are PM2.5, PM10, NO, NO2, NOx, SO2, CO, and Ozone. The data on air pollution levels were also collected for the selected cities from April 2020 to April 2021. The spread is measured as the reproduction number at time t (Rt), which is an estimate of infectious disease transmissibility throughout an outbreak, or it is the rating of Coronavirus or any diseases ability to spread. The data is analysed using MS Excel and R Programming. Descriptive statistics and regularisation are performed on the data. The study results reveal that some pollutants positively and negatively affect the infection rate. However, the effect is very low, and it concluded that the pollution might not directly affect infection rates. The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2023. -
Machine Learning and Signal Processing Methodologies to Diagnose Human Knee Joint Disorders: A Computational Analysis
Computer-aid diagnostic (CAD) has emerged as a highly innovative research topic in diverse fields which includes medical imaging systems, radiology diagnostics, and so on. These are the systems that majorly assist doctors by the way of interpretation of medical data or images. In the diagnosis of knee joint disorder technique, both time and frequency-based analysis can be done. These non-stationary and non-linear signals are processed into three important methods, namely VMD, TVF-EMD, and CEEMDAN. To analyze the vibroarthrographic (VAG) signal, the initial stage is to compute the mode strategies termed as intrinsic mode functions (IMFs) which can be attained only after performing the transformations. In our chapter, we analyzed Complete Ensemble Empirical Mode Decomposition with Adaptive Noise (CEEMDAN) for computing the mode signals. The CEEMDAN method utilized the time and frequency data for the available features. The feature extraction depends purely on pixel intensity and the statistical parameters. The classification of available data samples is done through the Least Square Support Vector Machine (LS-SVM) and SVM-Recursion of Feature Elimination (SVM-RFE) for the efficient analysis of healthy and unhealthy data samples. 2024 selection and editorial matter, Hemachandran K., Raul V. Rodriguez, Umashankar Subramaniam, and Valentina Emilia Balas; individual chapters, the contributors. -
Research Potentials and Future Trends of Digital Sustainability
A once-in-a-century pandemic has left scars on countries already roiled by the increasingly erratic weather patterns induced by the climate crisis, wreaking havoc on sectors as diverse as food security, industrial production, and defence. Countries are torn between ameliorating COVID-19's devastating impact on education, health, and livelihoods of citizens, and finding their footing in a new global order. But from this ferment are emerging technologies, ideas, and solutions that will drive the world of the future; innovation and big ideas are building a vision that is bold and transformative. As the digital technologies evolve, its comprehensive impact on the environment needs to be considered to harness its full potential. Technology is transforming our world, but at the same time it brings new opportunities as well as challenges for sustainability. The unintended negative environmental impacts emerging from technologies are likely to be outweighed by potential of technology to solving it. Advances in technology, coupled with artificial intelligence, innovation in analytics, and data generation, is likely to have positive sustainability impacts. This chapter highlights the research potential and future trends of digital technologies for sustainability purposes. We intend to evaluate the implications of digital technology such as cloud computing, blockchain, Internet of Things, big data analytics, and artificial intelligence on pollution reduction, sustainable farming practices, conservation of biodiversity, and natural disaster management. Using real-life cases, we will investigate how digital technologies can be both an obstacle and enabler to global sustainability, which will enable devising appropriate digitalization strategies geared towards the achievement of sustainability. 2024 selection and editorial matter, Vandana Sharma, Balamurugan Balusamy, Munish Sabharwal, and Mariya Ouaissa. -
Polymer-Based Nanomaterial as a Bacteriostatic Agent on Gram-Positive Bacteria
The colonization of surfaces by bacteria is a widespread phenomenon that affects environmental processes and human health. Bacterial growth can also be found in materials used in the textile industries, food packaging, and wearable electronics. Moreover, the necessity for replacing traditional antibiotics is relevant due to the increased health risks of antimicrobial resistance from the excessive use of antibiotics. Recently, research is focused more on developing polymer-based antibacterial materials critical to preventing bacterial proliferation. The use of some nanomaterials appears to be very promising in this regard. This work reports the synthesis of a polymer-based nanomaterial derived from polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) via the hydrothermal method and studies its structural and optical properties. It is also observed that these nanoparticles (NPs) display the highest antibacterial potency against gram-positive (Bacillus subtilis) bacteria than their bulk counterpart. 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. -
Adoption of Sustainable Digital Technologies in Industry 4.0
We are living in a society that has been engulfed with growing technology, and the integration of it has become such an important part of our lives that it is scary to think of our daily lives without mobile phones, internet, or smart gadgets. Industry 4.0, briefly, means using new age technologies such as cloud computing, artificial intelligence, machine learning, Internet of Things, and big data in the different real-world applications of manufacturing, processing, and distribution of goods and services. Industry 4.0 involves making use of smart factories and technologies to minimize waste and to gain an absolute advantage in the development process. We already know the different use cases of these technologies and how these things help in lessening our workload, so it seems logical to apply them to broader aspects of our daily lives. Technologies mitigate our workload and improve efficiency. We have seen that these technologies are proving useful in different spheres of economics, with the help of new decision-making processes, model predictions, and even to improve healthcare. Through the scope of this chapter, we would shed light on how these different technologies are being incorporated and how these would help in stabilizing industry by its constant integration. 2024 selection and editorial matter, Vandana Sharma, Balamurugan Balusamy, Munish Sabharwal, and Mariya Ouaissa. -
Analytics Enabled Decision Making Tracing the Journey from Data to Decisions
In the current business environment, which is greatly dynamic and competitive, business organizations are continually striving for expanding their competence and financial performance through improving almost every facet of their business--product/service quality, customer satisfaction, customer retention, productivity, line filling strategies, and others. In this sense, success and failure of organizations depend on the extent of precision of their decisions. Organizations are engaged with data to extract insights, identify trends and make decisions at different levels; and also, many of them learn how to utilize the power of data. Analytics can enable them to derive conclusions, make predictions, and ascertain actionable insights in a contextual and time-bound manner. It helps to examine data from multiple perspectives and gives visualizations by using different frameworks and platforms such as IBM Watson, Tableau, and R. The chapter presents the role of analytics in decision-making processes and assess the effectiveness of decisions upon their implementation, so the corrective measures can also be inserted. As decision making is a continuous business process, analytics accelerates it and gives organizations a pace to keep updated with changing business scenarios. Thus, this chapter presented a decision-making framework exhibiting how decision-making functions as an ongoing process. Different contexts and cases have been used to establish the relevance of each step of the framework. The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2023. -
The Role of Financial Analytics in Decision-Making for Better Firm Performance
The need to make informed decisions has become a matter of survival for every organisation in the current unprecedented and dynamic business environment. The exponential growth in technology along with the internet has brought in enormous volume and variety of data access to all organisations irrespective of their industry. Organisations should consider their resources and industry environment to build their analytics capabilities, as it involves a tremendous investment. In this context, it is essential to understand the role of financial analytics in decision-making for better firm performance. Hence, this chapter proposes to throw light on the evolution of big data analytics, theoretical linkages, dimensions and benefits of using financial analytics, technological support for financial analytics along with use cases, and Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Challenges (SWOC) analysis. The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2023. -
Strategies for Sustainable Practices in a Post-Pandemic World
We know from experience that possessions dont better themselves with time. In order to generate income, we must work. So, what do sustainability experts in the global business-school community recommend companies do when calamity begins to subside and some kind of reality is restored? Companies worldwide have suffered greatly from the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result of the epidemic, businesses are being forced to develop long-term strategies that are both profitable and sustainable in terms of society, the economy, and the environment. There is little doubt that businesses contribute significantly to the overall gross domestic product (GDP) of any nation. Because of the pandemic, businesses had to work even harder to reduce waste, adapt to changing demands from customers in record speed, and achieve peak performance alone. This has further raised the status of sustainability to one of moderate significance. Businesses must develop novel and cutting-edge approaches to ensure economic, environmental, and social longevity. Scholars have yet to settle on a single definition due to the business model's complexity. A study found that COVID-19 had both positive and negative impacts on educational technology (edtech) companies. As a result of the pandemic, businesses in the edtech sector no longer needed to make the case for the importance of their products in classrooms. Second, there was a rise in the acceptance of online education among educators. Also, edtech companies grew rapidly and benefited greatly from user feedback, and investors showed a lot of interest in the sector. However, due to the obstacles, sales discussions were either put on hold or cancelled. Edtech companies were unable to expand into new areas as a result of travel limitations. The purpose of this research is to investigate the link between the elements of sustainable development that contribute to the occurrence of enterprises and edtech enterprise employment and interest. 2024 selection and editorial matter, Vandana Sharma, Balamurugan Balusamy, Munish Sabharwal, and Mariya Ouaissa. -
Platform Business Model for Intelligent Supply Chain Operations
Platform economy involves technology to connect the dispersed network of participants. The Platform Business Model denotes a triangular participation between; the platform itself, the supplier and the consumer. The global market is witnessing a rise of digital platforms with an increase in the power of algorithms and cloud-based computing, connecting millions of participants in the network. The technological advancement makes the digital platforms a formidable force that ushers in change and brings out economic revolution across the globe. Many entrepreneurs have been created by these platforms, the workforces have the freedom to choose their work time and job, leading to an economically vibrant society. Platform businesses exist across various verticals, even in manufacturing setup. A variety of goods can be produced in a flexible assembly line. Hence the concept of outsourcing may require new definition from low-cost labour-based countries to high technology low-cost countries. There may be a transformation of economies shifting towards service, as major manufacturers may reorient themselves into service operators. Overall, the platform business model would make the entire operation more transparent with real time data transfer between the participants, leading to efficiency across the entire chain of business activities. The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2023. -
Decolonizing the Mind: Invoking the Vernacular Experience in a Postcolonial Language Classroom
This chapter attempts to understand the teaching-learning practices, programmes, courses, and pedagogies of an English department that recently co-opted cultural studies as a means of decolonisation in a private university in India to understand how cultural diversity, learner diversity, teacher experiences, and learner interests became considered factors in language learning pedagogies and selection of learning content. The research will employ mixed methods of qualitative and quantitative techniques of course content analysis, student interviews to gauge the impact of the learning on the decolonisation process, teacher interviews to understand approaches to task design, and the intended outcome and the strategies and perception changes in material production and task development when the learning shifted to the online mode as a result of the pandemic disruption. 2023 by IGI Global. All rights reserved. -
Efficacy of Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) as a Tool for Predictive Analytics
Predictive analytics could also be defined as the application of statistical techniques and mathematical modeling to anticipate the future performance and expected return on investments. Predictive analytics examines the most recent and the historical data to see if the same pattern is likely to reoccur or not. This gives an opportunity to businessmen and financial investors to make an appropriate decision about their investments and expected returns. Ever since the development of ANN technique, researchers have tried to create a number of predictive models using ANN. The chapter is focused on defining predictive analytics and the tools used in predictive analytics, with a special orientation on Artificial Neural Networks. The objective of the chapter is to establish ANN as an effective technique for making appropriate predictions and thereby contributing toward the decision-making in various spheres using the outcomes from various researches. The chapter also aims to explain the step-by-step process of ANN in outcome prediction with the help of example. The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2023. -
Importance of Sustainable Marketing Initiatives for Supporting the Sustainable Development Goals
Businesses that engage in sustainable marketing can benefit both the world and their bottom line. Earlier, companies could satisfy many customers by simply providing low pricing and high-quality goods. However, peoples concern for the environment and other social concerns have grown, and so has their desire to support groups that share their beliefs. Because they often generate strong market returns and demonstrate durability during economic downturns, many investors want to support businesses that use sustainable business methods. Also, these businesses are more likely to comply with social and environmental laws. Several companies use sustainable marketing to succeed in todays ethical and ecologically sensitive marketplace. Organizations must finance sustainability programs in order to practice sustainable marketing. But, it can also improve employee engagement, promote regulatory compliance, raise revenues, and build brand loyalty. 2023 by IGI Global. -
Cybersecurity Disclosure and Corporate Reputation: Rising Popularity of Cybersecurity in the Business World
This chapter emphasizes the importance of cybersecurity for a corporation as todays organizations are more vulnerable than ever and their enemies are in the form of viruses and malware. The work provides evidence that cybersecurity can have an impact on brand value, market value, and overall corporate reputation. It focuses on depicting the global scenario with reference to cybersecurity disclosures by corporations and how it is important in todays digitized era where data is the most valuable and vulnerable asset. With rapid digitalization, cybersecurity has become a major concern for all businesses, especially when there is financial and reputational damage to cybersecurity breaches and incidents. Even in the absence of clear cybersecurity laws and regulations, corporations are opting for voluntary disclosure. Existing literature explains this as an attempt to mitigate any potential risk or occurred risk through increased transparency which will build the trust of all stakeholders. 2023 by IGI Global. All rights reserved. -
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. -
Digital Game Addiction and Children
Nowadays the usage of digital games has increased a lot. Console games, PC games, and online games are all examples of digital games. Aside from these, it has been observed that digital games are also played with portable technologies such as mobile phones and tablets. Childrens play equipment, play habits, and play perceptions have all changed as a result of these changes. As a result, digital games have a significant influence on children. This chapter focuses on the effects of digital games on children and how children became addicted to digital games. It also discusses how to avoid overusing digital games. It also explains the meaning of digital games and discusses their history and future. 2023, IGI Global.