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Smart City Governance and Citizen Engagement
The smart city idea has been put into practice in numerous nations as a response to urban issues. With the ultimate goal of improving quality of life and well-being, smart cities are more and more eager to engage in fruitful dialogue with their residents, better understand their demands, and develop digital platforms for inciting collaborative initiatives between authorities and people. Prior researches have noted challenges with execution and the importance of smart citizens as key components of a smart city. Using an internet-based social platform, this project intends to learn more about how smart cities are implemented and how citizens are involved. Smart city development should be modified to account for local conditions. Local expertise, transformative leadership, sustainability, and political content are the key success criteria for the implementation. Through an online social network, city residents have been participating in the implementation of the smart city. In order to make sure that city citizens are motivated to address the citys challenges, a sort of incentive structure remains necessary. Previous research efforts were conducted in an effort to measure the projects effectiveness by achieving benefits. The people of that country are the end users of public infrastructure projects. Nevertheless, communities all throughout the world have struggled to achieve genuine citizen engagement. This component of citizen engagement has been highlighted as a crucial goal to be accomplished. This chapter examines the role of AI in citizen engagement and participation in the smart city implementation. The chapter also intends to analyse the relevant research works to examine the trends in smart city governance and AI. This study will provide also insights into emerging issues and challenges. 2025 selection and editorial matter Pawan Whig, Pavika Sharma, Nagender Aneja, Ahmed A. Elngar and Nuno Silva; individual chapters, the contributors. -
3Rs management: Advances and innovations in waste management and treatment
The increasing industrialisation and fast growth do not only pose problems related to the allocation of resources and powers, but also severely challenge the natural environment. Environmental degradation such as contaminated water, sinking groundwater levels, unhealthy soils, and polluted air has become a harsh reality in many parts of the world. One result of a rapid urbanisation, a slowly reducing gap between urban and rural, changing consumption patterns, and a growing population is the problem of waste. However, although it is the duty of the urban local bodies (ULBs) to address the issue of waste, tight budgets, inefficient organisation, has rendered a situation that has little hope for alleviation in the near future. This chapter aims to understand the concept of waste management through 3Rs. The focus is to identify the contemporary 3Rs practices and also develop advanced strategies for the same. 2024 by IGI Global. -
The changing role of marketing: Industry 5.0 - the game changer
The preceding revolution, Industry 4.0, surfaced by way of the influx of digital and automation technologies. Industry 5.0 followed the suit and the world is on the threshold of this new evolution. Industry 5.0 attempts to bring together the competency of smart machines and the exceptional ingenious potentials of the human workforce. Industry 5.0 is humanizing the digital and automated systems. It recognizes both automated technology and the human innovative skills on an equal platform. Marketing in its new role revolves on the axis of automation and cyber technology of Industry 5.0. This new makeover of marketing processes generates superior marketing actions, restructures marketing workflows, and assesses the results of marketing promotions. Industry 5.0 tools make available a fundamental marketing catalog for all marketing content and communications, thus assisting marketers to fashion a fragmented, customized, and favorable marketing experiences for prospective buyers. These systems and spaces offer automation attributes across numerous phases of marketing including videos, blogs, emails, social media, lead generation, direct mails, digital advertising, and more. This chapter aims to introduce the concept of Industry 5.0, where robots and machines are interweaved with the human intellect and labor as teammate instead of opponent. The objective of the chapter is to examine and explore the different facets of marketing in the face of Industry 5.0. The chapter describes the challenges and future trends and practices in marketing field in the wake of Industry 5.0 as the way forward for the companies for sustainability and resilience. 2023 by Sunanda Vincent Jaiwant. All rights reserved. -
Truth Twisters: Large Language Models Beating Humans at Fake News
Misinformation has become a serious global problem, affecting the process of referendum and decision-making in areas such as politics, healthcare, and social movements. With the rise of advanced artificial intelligence, especially large language models (LLM), the scenario of misinformation building has changed dramatically. These models, which are known to generate coherent and human reactions, can also be used to generate reliable but false or harmful materials. This study examines the dual nature of LLM and highlights its possible misuse to create misinformation that can evade the identity mechanism. The objective of this article is to explain how LLMs can be manipulated through prompt engineering and vocabulary attacks, where adversaries use obfuscated or subtly altered language to bypass content filters and safety guidelines. Despite being fine-tuned for ethical alignment, many LLMs can still be 'jailbroken' - a process by which users modify prompts to elicit inappropriate or restricted outputs. Through a series of controlled experiments, we demonstrate sensitivity to such adverse information of state -of -the -art LLM. These findings create serious concerns about the deployment of LLM in an open-wheel environment. Although these models offer immense possibilities of innovation and productivity, their sensitivity to manipulation outlines the immediate need for strong safety measures. We conclude by discussing moral implications and proposing strategies to reduce abuse, such as better adverse training, strict deployment protocols, and continuous monitoring to balance between safety and innovation in AI. 2025 IEEE. -
An evaluation of SH and anti-plane SH wave signals for nanosensor applications using two distinct models of piezoelectric materials lead zirconate titanate (PZT-2) and PZT-5H
Investigating how wave propagation affects the functionality of surface acoustics wave (SAW) macro- and nanosensors is the main objective of the current investigation. Consequently, the surface piezoelectricity theory is used to investigate shear horizontal waves (SH) in an orthotropic PQC layer that is layered on top of an elastic framework (Model I), a piezoelectric substrate, and an orthotropic PQC substrate (Model II). Approach: A variable-separable approach is used in the study. Based on the differential equations and matrix formulation, theoretical forms are created and utilized to display the wavenumber of surface waves in any direction of the piezoelectric medium. Two configurations are examined: an orthotropic piezoelectric material layer over an elastic framework and a piezoelectric material half-space with a nanosubstrate. Analytical expressions for frequency equations are derived for both symmetric and anti-symmetric waves. Study investigates the effects of surface elastic constants, surface density, anisotropic piezoelectric constant, and symmetric and anti-ssymmetric modes on phase velocity. The study is confined to only linear wave propagation. Additionally, the analysis is based on idealized material properties and surface properties of the material. Surface effect study is the novelty which is conducted in the piezoelectric model and their applications in sensors. The findings of this research may be useful in designing surface acoustic wave sensors (SAW) devices. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Austria, part of Springer Nature 2025. -
Synthesis, Characterization of Chromium Oxide Powders and Coatings
The chromium oxide powders are transformed into plasma sprayable particles by using synthetic polymers for agglomeration. In order to carry out the agglomeration process, spray drying technique was employed. This research work highlights the significance of the process variables that control the synthesis of plasma spray powder and consequently, the properties that were suited for plasma sprayoating. Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS) was used to characterize the elemental composition, while scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to analyse the morphology and powder grain sizes and X-ray diffraction (XRD) was used to identify the phase structure. And for the development of coatings on the substrates, Atmospheric plasma spray (APS) technique was used. The plasma sprayable powders were created with the intention of investigating for use as corrosion-resistant coatings. 2023 Trans Tech Publications Ltd, All Rights Reserved. -
Into the Dark World of User Experience: A Cognitive Walkthrough Study
In this age of AI, the unison of man and machine is going to be more prominent than ever, thus creating a need to understand the underlying framework that is adopted by app designers and developers from a psychological point of view. Research on the various benefits and harmful effects of user experience design and furthermore developing interventions and regulations to moderate the use of dark strategies in digital tools is the need of the hour. This paper calls for an ethical consideration of designing the experience of users by looking at the unethical practices that exist currently. The purpose of the study was to understand the cognitive, behavioural and affective experience of dark patterns in end users. There is a scarcity in the scientific literature with regard to dark patterns. This paper adopts the methodology of user cognitive walkthrough with 6 participants whose transcripts were analysed using thematic network analyses. The results are presented in the form of a thematic network. A few examples of the themes found are the experience of manipulation in users, rebellious attitudes, and automatic or habitual responses. These findings provide a basis for an in-depth understanding of dark patterns in user experience and provide themes that will help future researchers and designers develop ethical and more enriching user experiences for users. 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG. -
A modified approach for extraction and association of triplets
In this paper we present an enhanced algorithm with modified approach to extricate various Triplets i.e. subject-predicate-object from Natural language sentences. The Treebank Structure and the Typed Dependencies obtained from Stanford Parser are used to elicit multiple triplets from English Sentences. Typed Dependencies represents grammatical connections among the words of any sentence and represents how triplets are associated. The intended interpretation behind the extraction of Triplets is that the subject is acting on the object in a way described by the predicate. In graphical form it can be considered that subject and object will be acting as nodes i.e. entities and predicate as edges i.e. relationship. The resulting triplets and relations can be useful for building and analysis of a social network graph and for generating communication pattern and Information retrieval. 2015 IEEE. -
Exploring Conditional Generative Models for Sketch-to-Image Translation: cGAN, cVAE, and Conditional Diffusion Models
Creating realistic facial pictures from hand-drawn sketches is of significant utility in forensic investigations because eyewitness drawings are frequently the only visual leads for suspect identification. Turning a hand-drawn sketch into a realistic image is a difficult task. This is because sketches lack detailed information, they are abstracted, and ambiguous. Most of the conventional image creation and generation techniques tend to lose facial structure, identity, and realism. This makes it a great area for generative AI. This paper is a comparative analysis of three generative models: Conditional GANs, Conditional VAEs, and Conditional Diffusion Models. We evaluate these models on the sketch-to-image synthesis problem using the CUHK Face Sketch Dataset. We recognize and compare how every model handles the challenge of generating images from sketches of faces, with an emphasis on producing realistic images, maintaining identity and diversity. The paper demonstrates the advantages and disadvantages of each approach. It also offers insights into their usefulness for forensic applications and suggests directions for future improvements through combined or specialized generative structures. 2025 IEEE. -
Exploring Conditional Generative Models for Sketch-to-Image Translation: cGAN, cVAE, and Conditional Diffusion Models
Creating realistic facial pictures from hand-drawn sketches is of significant utility in forensic investigations because eyewitness drawings are frequently the only visual leads for suspect identification. Turning a hand-drawn sketch into a realistic image is a difficult task. This is because sketches lack detailed information, they are abstracted, and ambiguous. Most of the conventional image creation and generation techniques tend to lose facial structure, identity, and realism. This makes it a great area for generative AI. This paper is a comparative analysis of three generative models: Conditional GANs, Conditional VAEs, and Conditional Diffusion Models. We evaluate these models on the sketch-to-image synthesis problem using the CUHK Face Sketch Dataset. We recognize and compare how every model handles the challenge of generating images from sketches of faces, with an emphasis on producing realistic images, maintaining identity and diversity. The paper demonstrates the advantages and disadvantages of each approach. It also offers insights into their usefulness for forensic applications and suggests directions for future improvements through combined or specialized generative structures. 2025 IEEE. -
Eco-friendly AgZnO Nanocomposites Synthesis and Their Role as Photocatalyst for Textile Dye Degradation
Recent research in the field of nanotechnology revealed that plant extract and their derivatives are good stabilizing and reducing agents. Artemisia stelleriana (Dusty Miller) is widely used as an ornamental plant. The current study, explores one-pot method to synthesise A. stelleriana-mediated silver/ zinc oxide nanocomposites (AS-Ag/ZnONCs). Using UV-visible spectrophotometer, scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray, Transmission Electron Microscope, X-ray diffraction, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy the characterisation of the synthesised AS-Ag/ZnONCs was examined. The crystalline size of the AS-Ag/ZnONCs was determined to be 45.39nm using the Williamson-hall equation. Irregular-shaped nanocomposites were observed from AS-Ag/ZnONCs, exhibiting an average size of 35.2nm. To check the activity of AS-Ag/ZnONCs as photocatalysts to degrade RY145, RY86, RB222A and RB220 dyes was determined. The order of photocatalytic activity of AS-Ag/ZnONCs was as follows: RY145 > RB220 > RB222A > RY86. Low toxicity was observed when Vigna radiata (Mung bean) and Artemia salina (Brine shrimp) were exposed to treated dye solutions using AS- Ag/ZnONCs when compared with untreated dye solutions. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2025. -
Empowering Democracy: A Comprehensive Analysis and Predictive Modelling of Voter Turnout in Indian General Elections
This study aims to break down the complex dynamics driving voter turnout in Indian general elections, providing a detailed examination of the various elements that influence voters to engage in the democratic process. It investigates how voter engagement is changing over years, looking at socio-economic factors, regional differences and historical patterns that have an impact on civic engagement. The research utilizes a detailed exploratory data analysis to examine voter data from 1952 to 2019. Key factors influencing voting turnout are identified through statistical methods and visualizations. In order to predict and comprehend voter behaviour based on various socio-demographic parameters, the study uses advanced machine learning algorithms, such as Random Forest, XGBoost, LSTM and other important models. This project contributes to the understanding of voter behaviour, providing actionable insights for improving democratic participation in the Indian electoral landscape by utilizing hyper-localized constituency-wise data. Previous studies mostly looked into the political landscape of other countries and did not use any hyper-localized data. The study reveals regional differences, socio-economic linkages and important drivers of voter turnout. It highlights the value of focused campaigns, interventions tailored to a certain region and the use of technology to increase political engagements. 2025 MDI. -
Artemisia stelleriana-mediated ZnO nanoparticles for textile dye treatment: a green and sustainable approach
Textile effluents being one of the major reasons for water pollution raises major concern for water bodies and the habitation surrounding them. The lack of biologically safer treatment solutions creates a major concern for the disposal of these effluents. The present study focuses on the degradation of textile dyes using leaf extract of Artemisia stelleriana-assisted nanoparticles of zinc oxide (ZnO-NPs). ZnO NPs synthesized were confirmed using spectroscopic, X-ray diffraction and microscopic analysis. The current research utilizes widely used major textile dyes, Reactive Yellow-145 (RY-145), Reactive Red-120 (RR-120), Reactive Blue-220 (RB-220) and Reactive Blue-222A (RB-222A), which are released accidentally or due to the non-availability of cost-effi-cient, dependable and environment-friendly degradation methods, making this work a much-needed one for preventing the discharge before treatment. The biosynthesized ZnO-NPs were top-notch catalysts for the reduction of these dyes, which is witnessed by a gradual decrease in absorbance maximum values. After 320 min, ZnO-NPs under UV light exposure showed 99, 95, 94 and 45% degradations of RY-145, RR-120, RB-220 and RB-222A dyes, respectively. The phytotoxicity study conducted at two trophic levels revealed that the A. stelleriana-mediated ZnO-NPs have great potential for the degradation of textile dyes, allowing them to be scaled up to large-scale treatments. 2023 The Authors. -
Bioactive Compounds and Biological Activities of Arrowroot (Maranta arundinacea L.)
Arrowroot is one of the most widely studied herbal species belonging to the family Marantaceae, which originated from South America and is mainly found in tropical areas. Species belonging to the Maranta genus attaining worldwide attention due to the bioactive compounds are present in their rhizomes. The nutritional values of the Maranta arundinacea plant parts were explored in traditional medicine and culinary practices. Maranta arundinacea flour is a good source of fiber, starch, and carbohydrate and is extensively utilized as a major ingredient in food products. It is also used as an alternative to wheat as the flour is gluten-free. Dietary fibers present in the Maranta arundinacea are beneficially used in the treatment of digestive disorders such as celiac disease and immune disorders. Its known to stimulate the production of IgM by immune cells. Maranta arundinacea is commonly used for weight management as it is protein-rich and has fewer calories. The rhizome contains substantial amounts of sodium, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, iron, and zinc. The processed starch from the Maranta arundinacea rhizomes is broadly used in nutritional food products as well as in pharmacological applications. The bioactive compounds present in the Maranta arundinacea rhizome make it the subject of novel pharmaceutical studies. The current chapter tries to emphasize the general morphology, nutritional benefits and processing, bioactive compounds, and biological activities of the Maranta arundinacea. Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024. -
Bioactive nanoparticles derived from marine brown seaweeds and their biological applications: a review
The biosynthesis of novel nanoparticles with varied morphologies, which has good implications for their biological capabilities, has attracted increasing attention in the field of nanotechnology. Bioactive compounds present in the extract of fungi, bacteria, plants and algae are responsible for nanoparticle synthesis. In comparison to other biological resources, brown seaweeds can also be useful to convert metal ions to metal nanoparticles because of the presence of richer bioactive chemicals. Carbohydrates, proteins, polysaccharides, vitamins, enzymes, pigments, and secondary metabolites in brown seaweeds act as natural reducing, capping, and stabilizing agents in the nanoparticles synthesis. There are around 2000 species of seaweed that dominate marine resources, but only a few have been reported for nanoparticle synthesis. The presence of bioactive chemicals in the biosynthesized metal nanoparticles confers biological activity. The biosynthesized metal and non-metal nanoparticles from brown seaweeds possess different biological activities because of their different physiochemical properties. Compared with terrestrial resources, marine resources are not much explored for nanoparticle synthesis. To confirm their morphology, characterization methods are used, such as absorption spectrophotometer, X-ray diffraction, Fourier transforms infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscope, and transmission electron microscopy. This review attempts to include the vital role of brown seaweed in the synthesis of metal and non-metal nanoparticles, as well as the method of synthesis and biological applications such as anticancer, antibacterial, antioxidant, anti-diabetic, and other functions. Graphical abstract: (Figure presented.). The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2024. -
Green Synthesis of Bioinspired Nanoparticles Mediated from Plant Extracts of Asteraceae Family for Potential Biological Applications
The Asteraceae family is one of the largest families in the plant kingdom with many of them extensively used for significant traditional and medicinal values. Being a rich source of various phytochemicals, they have found numerous applications in various biological fields and have been extensively used for therapeutic purposes. Owing to its potential phytochemicals present and biological activity, these plants have found their way into pharmaceutical industry as well as in various aspects of nanotechnology such as green synthesis of metal oxide nanoparticles. The nanoparticles developed from the plants of Asteraceae family are highly stable, less expensive, non-toxic, and eco-friendly. Synthesized Asteraceae-mediated nanoparticles have extensive applications in antibacterial, antifungal, antioxidant, anticancer, antidiabetic, and photocatalytic degradation activities. This current review provides an opportunity to understand the recent trend to design and develop strategies for advanced nanoparticles through green synthesis. Here, the review discussed about the plant parts, extraction methods, synthesis, solvents utilized, phytochemicals involved optimization conditions, characterization techniques, and toxicity of nanoparticles using species of Asteraceae and their potential applications for human welfare. Constraints and future prospects for green synthesis of nanoparticles from members of the Asteraceae family are summarized. 2023 by the authors. -
One Pot Hydrothermal Synthesis and Application of Bright-yellow-emissive Carbon Quantum Dots in Hg2+ Detection
Carbon quantum dots (CQD) have drawn great interest worldwide for their extensive application as sensors due to their extraordinary physical and chemical characteristics, good biocompatibility, and high fluorescence in nature. Here, we demonstrate a technique for detecting mercury (Hg2+) ion using a fluorescent CQD probe. Ecology is concerned about the accumulation of heavy metal ions in water samples due to their harmful effects on human health. Sensitive identification and removal of metal ions from water samples are required to reduce heavy metals risk. To find out Mercury in the water sample, carbon quantum dots were used and synthesized by 5-dimethyl amino methyl furfuryl alcohol and o-phenylene diamine through the hydrothermal technique. The synthesized CQD shows yellow emission when exposed to UV irradiation. Mercury ion was used to quench carbon quantum dots, and it was found that the detection limit was 5.2 nM with a linear range of 15100 M. The synthesized carbon quantum dots were demonstrated to efficiently detect Mercury ions in real water samples. 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature. -
Smart Metering System with Google Assistant
This paper presents a unique research problem in the area of automation system by using IoT. The mentioned approach utilizes Google assistant, which is incorporated within Google home which uses voice-controlled inputs and voice feedbacks. This paper discusses a new method to develop a smart energy meter at a distributor level and to make use of this technology to monitor the power consumption of each device individually which can help the user to monitor the electricity usage in real time and thus helps to save electricity and reduce cost on your electricity bill. 2020, Asian Research Association. All rights reserved. -
Effects of Mindfulness-based Intervention on Academic Anxiety: Enhancing Well-being of Rural Adolescents
Academic worry has been reported to be highly prevalent among adolescents, and it negatively affects their well-being. In comparison to urban adolescents, rural adolescents experience a lesser degree of academic anxiety. At the same time, very little attention is given to this problem of rural adolescents due to the lack of resources to provide such type of care. The poor resources-driven rural area requires a compact, more easily comprehensible and more inclusive intervention programme that can aid a group of students at a time and be more beneficial and effective. Therefore, in this study, mindfulness-based intervention (MBI) is used, which is indigenous, inclusive and compact, as an intervention to enable adolescents to deal with academic anxiety and improve their well-being. In this study, 47 rural school adolescents with academic anxiety underwent an 8-week MBI after the initial screening process and assessment with the Children and Adolescent Mindfulness Measure and WarwickEdinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale. Post and 2-month follow-up assessment after intervention showed a significant decline in academic anxiety and an increase in mindfulness and well-being. 2025 SAGE Publications. -
Effects of a Mindfulness-based Intervention on Well-being Among Rural Adolescents with Academic Anxiety
Background: Academic anxiety revolves around scholastic work and performance and can be detrimental to students health and overall subjective well-being. It has been found to be significantly high in adolescents, leading to consequences that prove to be detrimental to their academic performance, focus, and overall self-esteem. This phenomenon acts as a vicious cycle impacting all aspects of a students life. Method: The current study aimed to explore mindfulness-based intervention (MBI) as a possible option to deal with academic anxiety in rural adolescent students and improve their overall subjective well-being. A total of 600 students were screened for academic anxiety and a total of 47 students were subjected to an eight-week MBI. MBI aims to bring more present-moment awareness and cultivate overall well-being and thereby works against anxiety. Mixed repeated measures ANOVA was carried out to compare pre, post, and follow-up scores. Result: The results indicated a significant effect of MBI on adolescents, suggesting a significant decline in academic anxiety from pre-to-post and an increase in mindfulness and subjective well-being from pre-to-post and follow-up assessments. Conclusion: Academic anxiety and subjective well-being improved significantly with the MBI intervention, thereby implication that MBI is a feasible option for rural adolescents with academic anxiety. 2024 The Author(s).