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The Role of Mega-events In Promoting Sustainable Behaviour: A Multi-group Analysis Using Micom
This study investigates the influence of participation in mega events, like Dubai Expo 2020, on factors related to environmentally responsible behavior. Data from 361 UAE respondents were collected, examining environmental concern, social and personal norms, ethical obligations, and perceived behavioral control. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling and Multi-Group Analysis tested the hypotheses. The results showed that environmental concern, ethical ideologies, and perceived behavioral control had stronger impacts on the intention for responsible behavior in event attendees than in non-attendees. Attendees also demonstrated a stronger positive impact on sustainable consumer behavior. These findings offer valuable insights into environmental psychology, sustainability, consumer behavior, and event management, and can inform strategies for promoting sustainable behavior in industries such as travel, tourism, and hospitality. 2024 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. -
Expanding the Notion of Personal Well-Being During COVID-19 Campus Closure in India: Results from a Mixed-Methods Study with Members of Higher Education
The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged lives globally in unprecedented ways. While numerous studies have discussed the impact of this pandemic on human lives, this descriptive study examined how this pandemic affected personal well-being (PW) for members of Indian higher education in the early phase of the pandemic in 2020 when there were no vaccines and remedies available. Research participants (n = 551) were faculty members, graduate students, and non-teaching staff in Indian higher education. At the time of data collection, when all campuses were closed, all participants were functioning in their roles in the academic communities via virtual platforms. This descriptive study, based on a mixed-methods research design with concurrent triangulation strategies, collected data from all regions of India. Resulting data identified and discussed the impact of the pandemic on six domains of PW in the life of participants: (a) self-care; (b) professional growth; (c) quality of interrelationship within the family; (d) relationships with significant others outside of the family; (e) process of experiencing/facing and addressing challenges; and, (f) relationship with spirituality/transcendental dimensions. The relevance of the last domain may be unique to Indian participants socio-cultural context and ethos. The findings and discussion explain how PW is a composite of all these six domains, and the pandemic expanded the notion of PW for the members of Indian higher education. Further, the findings also provided a general orientation on how educational leadership teams and institutions can enhance at least three specific dimensions of their community members and thus increase the likelihood of improving the quality of their professional and personal life. The findings may also have relevance for academic communities worldwide and inform clinicians working with members of academic communities, educational institutions, and policymakers. Penerbit Universiti Sains Malaysia, 2024. -
An Examination of the Challenges Associated with Applying Artificial Intelligence Techniques to Specific Management Problems
Artificial intelligence (AI) holds immense promise in revolutionizing management practices across various sectors, offering solutions to complex problems and optimizing decision-making processes. However, the application of AI techniques to management problems is not without its challenges. This examination delves into the multifaceted hurdles encountered when integrating AI into management frameworks, highlighting key obstacles and potential avenues for overcoming them.AI algorithms heavily rely on large volumes of high-quality data for effective training and decision-making. Yet, many management domains grapple with disparate data sources, inconsistencies, and incomplete datasets, hindering the performance and reliability of AI systems. Furthermore, the dynamic nature of management problems poses a significant challenge to AI implementation. Management environments are characterized by evolving trends, uncertainties, and unforeseen disruptions, rendering static AI models inadequate in adapting to changing conditions. Hence, the development of agile AI systems capable of continuous learning and adaptation becomes essential for addressing the dynamic nature of management challenges. 2024, Collegium Basilea. All rights reserved. -
Jesuit school teachers opinions on incorporating critical consciousness into digital citizenship education
The contemporary global landscape is undergoing swift transformations accelerated by information and digital technologies, which have given rise to a plethora of innovations that enhance human convenience, novel business models, and emerging new professional paths. However, if these technologies are used improperly, they can become dangerous to humanity. So digital citizenship is a kind of way forward to bring awareness among students and educators to use digital technologies appropriately and responsibly. But in classical digital citizenship issues, such as justice, equity, and accessibility, are not addressed. This study explores Jesuit secondary school teachers opinions on incorporating critical consciousness into digital citizenship and how that affects students attitudes towards building an equitable digital society. The researcher highlights the need to integrate critical consciousness into digital citizenship education through qualitative research study. 2024 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. -
WOW Skin Science: strategic adaptation for responsible advertising
Learning outcomes: After completing this case study, students will be able to understand the issues firms, brands and influencers face due to sponsorship disclosure regulation and the impact of self-regulation on firms engaging in influencer marketing, explain the challenges regulators face in ensuring compliance in an emerging market, explain Advertising Standard Council of India (ASCI)s challenges in adopting influencer guidelines from emerged markets and recommend ethical theory (or theories) and strategies to firms engaged in influencer marketing. Case overview/synopsis: This case study centers on Mr Manish Chowdhary, co-founder of WOW Skin Science, who started the beauty and personal care business with his brother Karan Chowdhary in 2015 in Bangalore, India. The company successfully built its brand through influencer marketing but faced challenges after the ASCI implemented new influencer guidelines. On May 31, 2021, he expressed disagreement with ASCI guidelines during an interview with Akansha Nagar from Buzz in Content, particularly the requirement to label every product or service received by influencers as an advertisement. He expressed concern about certain rules, fearing they might harm organic content and reduce viewership and followers. Subsequently, ASCI registered noncompliance cases against the company and communicated with them about complaints regarding influencer guideline violations. In this situation, Manish needed to evaluate his decision on noncompliance with regulation and required an action plan to strategically manage its influencer marketing campaign by incorporating ASCIs guidelines. Overall, this case study highlights the journey of WOW Skin Science and its challenges with self-regulatory authorities over its influencer marketing strategy in an emerging market. Additionally, students can gain insight into the marketing communication ethics of a startup operating in an emerging market by embodying the protagonists role. Complexity academic level: This case study is suitable for postgraduate level students pursuing a Master of Business Administration program. The difficulty level ranges from moderate to complex. It fits well into integrated marketing communication and marketing strategy courses. This case study discusses marketing ethics, advertising and promotion regulation. Supplementary materials: Teaching notes are available for educators only. Subject code: CSS 8: Marketing. 2024, Emerald Publishing Limited. -
Optical characterization of oxadiazoles analogues doped PMMA film for photonic application
In the present study, newly synthesized nitrobenzene derivatives (PBT and PBF) doped poly(methyl methacrylate) films were prepared using spin coating techniques, and their optical properties were analyzed. The absorption spectra of various weight percentages (0.02%, 0.1%, 0.2%, and 0.3%) of nitrobenzene derivative-doped polymer films were recorded using a UVvisible spectrometer. From the absorption spectra, optical properties such as refractive index, band gap energy, extinction coefficient, and dielectric constant were calculated. The effect of doping on the optical properties of PMMA was investigated, with results revealing normal dispersive behavior from the refractive index and extinction coefficient. Atomic force microscopy and scanning electron microscopy images indicated that the synthesized films have a low degree of roughness and a smooth surface. Additionally, the nonlinear optical properties of the PBF-doped polymer film were investigated, and the ? value was determined to be 7.403cm/W. Overall, the findings suggest that PBF-doped polymer films are promising candidates for photonic applications. Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science 2024. -
DISCOURSE OF DISSENT: LANGUAGING RESISTANCE AND CONSCIOUSNESS IN SUBALTERN LITERATURES DALIT AND BLACK
The paper highlights the pivotal role of language in Afro-American and Dalit movements, emphasizing identity affirmation and resistance to dominant aesthetic structures. It examines languages dynamic role in shaping subaltern experiences and fuelling revolutionary movements. While there is some analysis of the significance of literary trends and intellectual current in these parallel movements, a few scholarly inquiriesintegratethelinguisticandstylisticaspectscomprehensively. Thestudyaddresses this critical gap by comparing and contrasting the selected study of these two movements to see their convergences and divergences. We employ the theoretical framework of Subaltern Studies and Distributed Language (DL) to understand socio-political motifs of pre- and post-production of a particular kind of language. The selected poems are closely read and analysed through Critical Discourse Analysis, with close reading as a key technique. It allows for an exploration of the intricate relationship between the linguistic structure, use of lexical items, emotive use of language, connotational significations, and compositional semantics. While selected Black literature poems experimented with internal morpho-syntax and everyday language, Dalit literature bluntly presented harsh facts using multilingualism, a unique Indian linguistic trait, and everyday vocabulary. Copyright 2024 Chandan Kumar, Nivea Thomas K. -
Enhancing Stock Market Trend Prediction Using Explainable Artificial Intelligence and Multi-source Data
Determining the trend of the stock market is a complex task influenced by numerous factors like fundamental variables, company performance, investor behavior, sentiments expressed in social media, etc. Although machine learning models support predicting stock market trends using historical or social media data, reliance on a single data source poses a serious challenge. This study introduces a novel Explainable artificial intelligence (XAI) to address a binary classification problem wherein the objective is to predict the trend of the stock market, utilizing an integration of multiple data sources. The dataset includes trading data, news and Twitter sentiment, and technical indicators. Sentiment analysis and the Natural Language Toolkit are utilized to extract the qualitative information from social media data. Technical indicators, or quantitative characteristics, are therefore generated from trade data. The technical indicators are fused with the stock sentiment features to predict the future stock market trend. Finally, a machine learning model is employed for upward or downward stock trend predictions. The proposed model in this study incorporates XAI to interpret the results. The presented model is evaluated using five bank stocks, and the results are promising, outperforming other models by reporting a mean accuracy of 90.14%. Additionally, the proposed model is explainable, exposing the rationale behind the classifier and furnishing a complete set of interpretations for the attained outcomes. 2024, American Scientific Publishing Group (ASPG). All rights reserved. -
Why small business owners get demotivated? Modeling unwillingness to grow using ISM approach
Purpose: Even after establishing their business successfully, many business owners get demotivated, and it leads to unwillingness to grow. This study aims to propose a comprehensive model that represents interrelationships among various personal factors affecting unwillingness to grow. Design/methodology/approach: The personal factors for unwillingness to grow were identified by extant literature, and expert interviews were conducted to establish the contextual relationships among these factors. The interrelationships among the filtered variables have been done using interpretive structural modeling (ISM) and MICMAC analysis was done to determine the importance of each factor in influencing unwillingness to grow. Findings: In total, 30 personal attributes were identified from previous literature, out of which 15 were selected for the final study. The result identifies 7 variables having a strong impact on unwillingness to grow. These attributes are absence of strong network, lack of vision, lack of proactiveness, reluctance to involve external consultants, absence of/small founding team, lack of ambition and improper attitude. Originality/value: The research attempts to create a bricolage of all the important personal factors affecting unwillingness to grow. Previous researches have used few attributes, but with the help of ISM, a graphical modeling technique, it became possible to draw interrelationship between 15 attributes. Further, with the help of MICMAC, the importance of each attribute was determined. 2024, Emerald Publishing Limited. -
Cost-effective cryptographic architecture in quantum dot cellular automata for secured nano-communication
Quantum dot cellular automata (QCA) provide rapid computational efficiency, high density and low power consumption, which is an alternative for CMOS technology. In digital world, cryptography is an important feature to protect digital data. To ensure the data protection in nano-communication, a QCA-based cryptographic architecture is proposed in this article. In the proposed design, the encryption and decryption are done with the help of random keys which is produced by the pseudo random number generator (PRNG). In this paper, architectural component of cryptographic architecture includes XOR block, 1 to 4 de-multiplexer and PRNG, which are realised using QCA. Finally, an integration of the individual components through clock zone-based crossover, lead to the generation of a novel cryptographic architecture. This design achieves low cost compared to the existing literature, as it uses minimum number of majority gate and inverters with clock zone-based crossover. Copyright 2024 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd. -
A comprehensive examination of factors influencing intention to continue usage of health and fitness apps: a two-stage hybrid SEM-ML analysis
This research developed a theoretical framework based on the uses and gratification theory to investigate the intention to continue usage of Health and Fitness Apps (HFAs). In addition, this study explored how health valuation moderates the relationship between determinants and users intention to continue usage. A total of 447 HFA users data was collected from Delhi NCR, India through a purposive sampling technique. Partial least square-structure equation modeling was used to test the role of potential predictors influencing users behavioral intention to continue. The machine learning algorithms were employed to identify the features of importance. The results revealed that system quality, networkability, recordability, and task technology fit have a positive influence on hedonic motivation and utilitarian motivation. While information quality influences hedonic motivation but does not affect utilitarian motivation. Health valuation positively moderates the relationship between information quality, system quality, and networkability to intention to continue usage. We also observed that hedonic motivation emerged as a key predictor of users intention to continue usage of HFAs. The results would possibly offer useful recommendations for HFA developers, marketers, and health policymakers. The quality of fitness apps should be the primary concern of app developers. Furthermore, gamification can be incorporated into HFAs as it may influence the users hedonic motivations. The research contributes by developing a uses and gratification theory tailored for the HFAs. Additionally, this research incorporates hedonic and utilitarian motivation as mediating variables and health valuation as a moderator. 2024 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. -
Consumer Adoption Behaviour of Smart, Green, and Sustainable Building Materials for Future Cities and Environment: Extension of UTAUT 2 Model
This study explores various factors that influence the consumers intention to adopt smart, green, and sustainable building materials in Bangalore city, Karnataka, India. The purpose of this study is to evaluate how consumers actual adoption behaviour of smart, green, and sustainable building materials is influenced by their behavioural intentions. A standardized questionnaire was utilized to collect data from 382 homebuilders in Bangalore as part of a descriptive research study. A simple random sampling technique was used along with Structural equation modelling (SEM) was employed to test hypotheses framed. Findings indicate that availability and accessibility, awareness, epistemic values, and technology adoption propensity all positively affect subjective norms. Subjective norms positively impact behavioural intention and adoption behaviour. However, challenges in adoption influenced subjective norms negatively, thus hindering consumer adoption. Awareness had the greatest influence on subjective norms, emphasizing the need for increasing consumer awareness. Subjective norms successfully mediated the relationship between independent factors impacting behavioural intention and adoption behaviour. Significant indirect effects of awareness via subjective norms on Behavioural intention were observed. This study highlights the need of increasing social awareness and cultivating a positive view of social expectations in order to promote the widespread use of smart, green, and sustainable building materials, which will eventually result in long-term sustainable cities and surroundings. 2024 The Author(s). -
Whispered Speech Emotion Recognition with Gender Detection using BiLSTM and DCNN
Emotions are human mental states at a particular instance in time concerning ones circumstances, mood, and relationships with others. Identifying emotions from the whispered speech is complicated as the conversation might be confidential. The representation of the speech relies on the magnitude of its information. Whispered speech is intelligible, a low-intensity signal, and varies from normal speech. Emotion identification is quite tricky from whispered speech. Both prosodic and spectral speech features help to identify emotions. The emotion identification in a whispered speech happens using prosodic speech features such as zero-crossing rate (ZCR), pitch, and spectral features that include spectral centroid, chroma STFT, Mel scale spectrogram, Mel-frequency cepstral coefficient (MFCC), Shifted Delta Cepstrum (SDC), and Spectral Flux. There are two parts to the proposed implementation. Bidirectional Long Short-Term Memory (BiLSTM) helps to identify the gender from the speech sample in the first step with SDC and pitch. The Deep Convolutional Neural Network (DCNN) model helps to identify the emotions in the second step. This implementation is evaluated using the wTIMIT data corpus and gives 98.54% accuracy. Emotions have a dynamic effect on genders, so this implementation performs better than traditional approaches. This approach helps to design online learning management systems, different applications for mobile devices, checking cyber-criminal activities, emotion detection for older people, automatic speaker identification and authentication, forensics, and surveillance. (2023), (Iranian Academic Center for Education). All Rights Reserved. -
Were the recent air pollution and landfill fires in Brahmapuram at odds with Kerala's vision of sustainable development?
Air pollution is a global issue, as is commercial, and industrial waste disposal. Industrialized cities have poor air quality. Emissions from fossil fuel, solid household resources and industry, uncontrolled construction, and human and natural activity pollution are the main sources. The purpose of the study is to investigate answers to the question: Were the recent air pollution and landfill fire in Brahmapuram at odds with Kerala's vision of sustainable development? The study consists of a content analysis of prominent newspaper reports on the Prisma model of sorting articles on Brahmapuram issues to investigate the issue and assess the acceptance of sustainable development in Kochi. The reports cover the period from March 3, 2023, to April 3, 2023. The content analysis revealed that the contractor's failure to meet their obligations was the immediate cause. However, the ineffectiveness of the State's solid waste management policies, from a general failure of waste segregation at source, posed a threat to sustainable development. The researcher classified the causes of the Kochi waste fire under the following reasons, namely, environmental, economic, social, and political. The researcher concluded that the recent landfill fire and air pollution at Brahmapuram were contrary to Keralas vision of sustainable development. 2024 by the authors. -
A study on comparisons of additive regression frailty models to counter heterogeneity: Bayesian strategies and case study
Historically, the primary goal of conventional survival study methods has been to reduce the frequency of failures over time. If the associated observed and unobserved variables are not known when studying such events, this can have detrimental effects. Frailty models offer a tempting solution for investigating the impact of unknown variables in such a case. In this article, we assume that frailty affects the hazard rate. We find that the weighted Lindley frailty models, which use general versions of the Weibull and log-logistic type II distributions as the baseline distributions, are a reliable method for ensuring the influence of endogenous variability. The parameters involved are estimated according to different loss functions using the Bayesian structure as the basis of Markov Chain Monte Carlo. Bayesian evaluation strategies are then implemented to evaluate the models. The results are demonstrated on known data of kidney infections. It is shown that the novel models outperform those based on the inverse Gaussian and gamma frailty distributions. 2024 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. -
Announcement effect of tender offer share buyback around turmoil period evidence from India
The announcement of a buyback informs the market about the companys decision to repurchase its own shares. This announcement highlights the companys price valuation and the inefficiencies that exist in the market. This study examines the share buyback announcement effect during the COVID-19 period. The study considered the stocks listed in the National Stock Exchange (NSE) that offered share buyback under tender offer mode during the pre-pandemic period between April 2016 and February 2020 and the post-pandemic period between March 2020 and March 2022. 75 firms in the pre-pandemic period and 43 in the post-pandemic period that announced share buyback under the tender offer method were analyzed. The event study methodology using a market model was employed to determine the presence of abnormal returns during the event period, which consisted of 21 days and +21 days. The findings of the study revealed the existence of abnormal returns in and around the announcement date. Besides, statistically significant cumulative abnormal average returns (CAAR) were also found on the event day, i.e., on Day 0. The study found that the impact of buyback announcements on stock returns significantly differed before and after COVID-19 for 10 and 21-day periods, with no significant differences for shorter periods. These insights can help traders and fund managers make informed portfolio adjustments during turbulent market periods surrounding buyback announcements. The author(s) 2024. -
THE MONOCHROME TAPESTRY OF SOLO EXISTENTIAL TRAVEL IN 21ST CENTURY HOLLYWOOD: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Solo existential travel films of Hollywood enjoyed their heyday in the first two decades of the 21st century with most of them emerging as cult classics that have inspired millions to venture out on backpacking trips. The solo travel beyond the margins of a materialistic society that promises the traveller some existential clarity, in theory, is a truly existential endeavour that lets the individual exercise their Sartrean freedom and responsibility. But a quick survey of the films produced by Hollywood over the decades reveals a rather stealthy racism within. Solo existential travellers in Hollywood films of the 21st century have predominantly been white Americans. Despite being a powerful tool to create ones meaning and authentic identity in society, solo travel is still an instrument of self-redemption that is kept away from people of colour, especially the black American community. The paper will look into the significance, relevance and consequences of this seemingly invisible omission. From an embodiment perspective, the paper will attempt to analyze the absence of racial diversity in the genre to shed light on why the coloured body is to find its space in Hollywoods tapestry of solo existential travel. Copyright 2024 Namitha Nandan. -
Deciphering the Nature and Dynamics of Gig-Platform Jobs: Workers Hidden Precarity
The technology-driven gig-platform sector has emerged as a new source of employment generation both globally as well domestically. This recent transformation in the labour market is reshaping the nature of labour practices, labour relations, workers rights, and contracts. The sector has huge potential to generate millions of job opportunities by leveraging the use of digital technology. As this sector continues to generate more jobs, such jobs are portrayed as fostering economic growth, while creating meaningful jobs, which are mutually beneficial to workers and employers in terms of providing flexibility and freedom, better earning opportunity, and promoting social inclusion, by which it implies that women are increasingly equipped to find better jobs. This article critically examines the developmental roles of platform jobs which are being particularly highlighted within the policy circle, in academic literature, and tech companies through workers lens. It delves deeper into the discussion on those very aspects of platform jobs just listed, including the flexibility and freedom debate, workers income, and the gender aspect of jobs. In doing so, it carefully examines these aspects with respect to their implications on workers in terms of working conditions and regulatory aspects. The article brings out the workers precarity hidden within those developmental aspects of gig-platform jobs. 2024 CSD. -
Creating a Logic Divider Based on BCD and Utilizing the Vedic Direct Flag Method
Reversible logic has potential for a variety of applications demanding low energy usage since it prevents information loss and energy waste. The purpose of this work is to design a new Vedic divider circuit with reversible gates. Efficiency in quantum and ASIC parameters is demonstrated by the Reversible Direct Flag Vedic Division Method (RDFVDM), which has been devised. Block-level reversible gates are used in the RDFVDM to provide benefits including lower quantum costs and less trash outputs. The performance of Cadence EDA Tool is validated by simulation trials. Based on a comparative examination utilizing current methodologies, RDFVDM performs better than comparable designs. Interestingly, it improves energy usage by 26%. Moreover, RDFVDM performs exceptionally well in terms of quantum cost while employing the RSA cryptographic technique, efficiently managing 1276,293 constant inputs and 311 garbage outputs. 2024 by the Perumal B, Balamanikandan A, Arunraja A, Venkatachalam K, Shaik Rahamtula, Dhanalakshmi M. -
She Shores: A Study on the Lives, Challenges and Resilience of Women of the Koli Fishing Community in Mumbai
This study delves into the lives of women from the Koli fishing community in Mumbai, aiming to illuminate their unique life experiences and the daily struggles that often remain hidden beneath their prosperous facade. It endeavours to examine their agency and adaptive strategies employed to navigate these challenges. The research was conducted in Pachubandar, Vasai, located in the western suburbs of Mumbai, which stands as one of the prominent Koli settlements in the city. Employing a qualitative research approach coupled with an exploratory research design, the study engaged ten participants, comprising seven Koli women and three key informants from the community. Additionally, an observational analysis of four retail and wholesale fish markets in Mumbai was conducted to gain insight into the working conditions of Koli fisherwomen. This study adopts a gender-focused perspective to scrutinise the contextual vulnerabilities that shape the lives of Koli women. It underscores the paradox wherein, despite playing a pivotal role in sustaining both their families and the traditional fishing occupation, their contributions often go unnoticed. The Koli women face severe deprivation due to their limited access to property and decision-making authority. They find themselves entangled within traditional norms and patriarchal structures, which impede their access to essential assets and diverse livelihood resources. Although they significantly contribute to the fishery sector, their struggles, needs, and aspirations are frequently disregarded due to their lack of representation and involvement in decision-making bodies. The majority of these women work under precarious conditions, devoid of proper infrastructure, resources, and security. Furthermore, the evolving dynamics within the fishery sector, driven by rapid urbanisation and modernisation, have a profound impact on the lives and traditional livelihoods of Koli women. They now confront issues such as dwindling fish catches due to environmental degradation, heightened market competition, reduced livelihood spaces brought about by shifting urban and coastal landscapes, altered labour relations, and technological advancements. Consequently, they find themselves caught between the conflicting forces of tradition and modernity. The research also sheds light on the strategies devised by Koli women to resist and adapt to the uncertainties and challenges they encounter, ultimately safeguarding their livelihoods through self-organisation. The study emphasises the imperative to acknowledge their contributions as 'visible work' and advocates for the incorporation of gender considerations when formulating policies and development strategies within the fisheries sector. 2024 Meghna Roy.