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A structured approach to implementing Robotic Process Automation in HR
Technological innovations are changing the industrial landscape. As technology transforms the world, the HR function needs to focus on embracing automation and other technologies that promise efficiency, service effectiveness and cost savings. Deployment of robotic process automation (RPA) can help (a) to offer better service to employees and managers (b) ensure compliance of HR processes with standards and regulations (c) facilitate rapid initiation and completion of HR processes (d) enhance efficiencies by digitizing data and auditing process data (e) improve HR productivity and cost savings by automating manual and repetitive tasks. A robust and structured approach needs to be in place to identify HR processes that can be automated using the RPA approach. In this paper the authors (a) suggest a four step approach - validation, assessment, evaluation and classification - to analyze processes and verify their suitability for automation using RPA (b) identify HR processes that has relevance for the RPA approach within the broad areas of HR Strategy, Talent Acquisition, Talent Development & Performance Management, Compensation & Benefits, HR Operations and Employee Relations (c) recommend a process for mapping HR RPA propensity. A case study is also presented for greater clarity on adoption of RPA in HR processes. Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd. -
The 90-h workweek controversy at L&T: leadership, culture and the future of work in India
Learning outcomes Upon completion of this case, students will be able to understand the implications of psychological contract theory in organizational contexts. It will allow them to analyse how leadership communication affects internal trust and public perception and critically evaluate the reputational consequences of symbolic leadership behaviour. Case overview/synopsis S.N. Subrahmanyan, Chairman and Managing Director of Larsen & Toubro (L&T), Indias leading engineering conglomerate, made a public statement encouraging employees to work 90?h a week and use Sundays to achieve global excellence. Although intended as a motivational message, the statement triggered nationwide backlash. Employees, industry leaders and the public interpreted the comment as reflecting an outdated, unsustainable work culture, sparking debates around worklife balance and generational shifts in employee values. Internally, the comment created anxiety and ambiguity regarding the companys expectations, especially among younger professionals. The case will allow students to examine how leadership communication can reshape psychological contracts, explore generational tensions in the workplace and evaluate how organizations should respond to reputational challenges while preserving performance culture. The case dilemma centres on whether L&T should clarify, retract or reinforce the chairmans statement. Complexity academic level This case is appropriate for upper undergraduate- and graduate-level programs in organizational behaviour, strategic human resource management, business ethics and leadership studies. Potential programs include, BBA, MBA HR and industrial and organizational psychology. Supplementary Material Teaching notes are available for educators only. Subject code CSS 6: Human Resource Management. 2025 Emerald Publishing Limited -
A Review on Utilization of Construction and Demolition Waste (CDW) Toward Green and Circular Economy
Globally, policy makers have realized the significance of infrastructure development with respect to safety and environment-friendly approach. This has resulted in reuse and recycling initiatives in various industries including construction and building sector. Further, it is imperative to understand new techniques and methods to improve the effectiveness of recycling, keeping environment and carbon emissions in check. Recently, utilization of construction and demolition waste (CDW) as precursors in synthesizing alkali-activated and geopolymer binders have caught attention of researchers as green building material. This review paper discusses the findings of the latest research and promotes the use of CDW as a potential starting or precursor material in alkali-activated or geopolymer concrete toward green and circular economy. If processed appropriately, CDW can be used to produce environment-friendly binders that can reduce our dependence on conventional binders like Portland cement, thus promoting recycling in sustainable and eco-friendly manner. 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. -
Development and validation of gaming disorder and hazardous gaming scale (GDHGS) based on the WHO framework (ICD-11 criteria) of disordered gaming
This study aimed to develop and validate a brief psychometric scale for gaming disorder and hazardous gaming based on the WHO framework as defined in the ICD-11. The study was carried out among college students using face to face interview. A panel of mental health experts examined the face validity of the new Gaming Disorder and Hazardous Gaming Scale (GDHGS). An Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) using the principle component analysis (PCA) method with direct oblimin rotation on the five items of GDHGS was used for assessment of construct validity. The results of Kaiser Meyer Olkin (KMO) measure used for sampling adequacy and Bartlett's test (BT) of sphericity used to show the appropriateness of using factor analysis, confirmed the appropriateness of EFA for the present study sample. The factor analysis extracted single component with an eigenvalue of greater than one, which was further supported by the examination of scree plot. To examine the criterion related validity of the GDHGS, correlation between GDHGS and IGDS-SF scores was assessed. Spearman correlational analysis showed strong positive correlation of GDGHS score with IGDS-SF score (rs = 0.878, p < 0.01). Further, the sum of first four item score of GDHGS among participants diagnosed with GD (median: 15.00; IQR: 15.0015.75) was significantly greater than those without GD (median: 4.00; IQR: 3.006.50) according to the diagnostic interview based on the ICD-11 criteria (U = 0.000, p < 0.001). The internal consistency of GDHGS as measured by the Cronbach's alpha was 0.914. Further, the GDHGS did not have its reliability increased by removal of any of the five items included in the scale. Also, the threshold for significant floor and ceiling effect was not reached. In conclusion, GDHGS is a valid measurement scale for disorders involving gaming behaviour based on the ICD- 11 construct. 2020 Elsevier B.V. -
Development and validation of screening tool for excessive and problematic use of internet and digital devices (STEPS-IDD) based on the WHO framework (ICD-11) for addictive behaviours
Background: The widespread use of internet and digital devices has been accompanied by growing concern regarding harms associated with their excessive or problematic use. The World Health Organization has also formally included some of these in its latest classificatory system (ICD-11) under the category of disorders due to addictive behaviours. However, a validated, comprehensive screening tool aligned with ICD-11 that screens for these potentially addictive behaviours is lacking. This study aimed to develop and validate the Screening Tool for Excessive and Problematic use of Internet and Digital Devices (STEPS-IDD), designed to assess multiple addictive behaviours based on ICD-11 criteria. Methods: STEPS-IDD was developed based on the ICD-11 framework for disorders due to addictive behaviours It was applied to assess well-established behavioural addictions like gaming and gambling disorder, as well as less-established but widely researched ones such as problematic use of social media, online shopping/buying, OTT content watching, and pornography watching. Face validity was established through expert review and feedback. Construct validity was evaluated through exploratory factor analysis (EFA), and Cronbach's alpha coefficients were estimated to assess internal consistency. To examine concurrent validity, correlations between scores obtained on the newly developed STEPS-IDD sub-sections and the previously validated Gaming Disorder and Hazardous Gaming Scale (GDHGS) and modified GDHGS for other behaviours were assessed. Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) analyses were conducted to determine optimal STEPS-IDD cut-off scores for different behaviours. Results: Data from a total of 112 college students (64.3% female) with a mean age of 20.5 years were analyzed. STEPS-IDD demonstrated good construct validity, with EFA revealing predominantly unidimensional factor structure for most behavioural domains. Internal consistency was excellent (Cronbach's ? = 0.860.91 across sub-sections). Concurrent validity was supported by moderate to strong positive correlations (r = 0.440.76) of STEPS-IDD sub-sections with corresponding GDHGS and modified GDHGS scores. ROC analyses yielded optimal cut-off scores with high sensitivity and acceptable specificity for different behaviours, and fair to excellent overall diagnostic accuracy. Conclusion: STEPS-IDD is a psychometrically robust, brief yet comprehensive screening tool grounded in the ICD-11 framework, for the risk stratification in the context of addictive behaviours related to the use of the internet and digital devices. 2026 Balhara, Singh, Majumdar, Ayoob and Singh. -
Emerging world of the metaverse: An Indian perspective
[No abstract available] -
Fake news and social media: Indian perspective
The unlimited freedom made social media platforms are susceptible to misuse, misinformation, and thus, fake news. In the last few years, social media has turned out to be a massive player in shaping public discourse in a democratic space (Marda & Milan, 2018). Though there have been pressures from policymakers on service/platform providers, nothing concrete has built up towards accountability of the user or platform proprietors. In India, there has been a consistent increase of social media users and instances of the misuse of this medium. This paper seeks to examine how the propagation of fake news has disrupted the public sphere and possible policies that can be implemented to curb the plague of fake news. The relationship between various events of violence reported in India media and the role of fake news in instigating chaos are discussed in this paper. It also tries to review policies initiatives taken by various countries, especially in Europe and possible measures which India could take to restrict the flow of fake news. Media Watch. -
Feature films as pedagogy in higher education: A case study of Christ University, Bengaluru
Contemporary education system in India was initiated by the British for the maintenance of their imperial administration. After India became an independent country, conscious efforts were made to overhaul the educational system to produce proper administrators and contributors for Indian polity, economy and culture. To assess dynamics of Indian education, various committees and commissions were formed. It also meant change in education programs, curricula and syllabi to meet national needs and global challenges. Most universities in India have limited infrastructure, thus the role of private or deemed to be university becomes crucial. Christ University attending to the social structure, internationalization and employability demands, offers a number of quality educational programs to ensure employable graduates. This has led the way in devising pedagogy and curricula to align with the global higher education practices. Here we discuss the use of commercial feature film as a pedagogical tool in the classrooms within the Deanery of Humanities and Social Sciences and its implication. 2018, IGI Global. -
Comparison of Affine and DCGAN-based Data Augmentation Techniques for Chest X-Ray Classification
Data augmentation, also called implicit regularization, is one of the popular strategies to improve the generalization capability of deep neural networks. It is crucial in situations where there is a scarcity of high-quality ground-truth data. Also getting new samples is expensive and time consuming. This is a typical issue in the medical domain. Therefore, this study compares the performance of Affine and Generative Adversarial Networks (GAN)- based data augmentation techniques on the chest image X-Ray dataset. The Pneumonia dataset contains 5863 chest X-Ray images. The traditional Affine data augmentation technique is applied as a pre-processing technique to various deep learning-based CNN models like VGG16, Inception V3, InceptionResNetV2, DenseNet-169 and DenseNet-202 to compare their performance. On the other hand, DCGAN architecture is applied to the dataset for augmentation. Evaluation measures like accuracy, recall and AUC depict that DCGAN outperforms other traditional models. The most important advantage of DCGAN is that it is able to identify fake images with 100% accuracy. This is especially relevant for the medical domain as it deals with the life of individuals. Thus, it can be concluded that DCGAN has better performance as compared to affine transformations applied to traditional CNN models. 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. -
A Study of popular gujarati films using agenda setting
Indian cinema is an umbrella term used to refer to films made in different languages in India. Gujarati cinema is one of those lesser popular film industries which began in early twentieth century but today has lost its glory, popularity and grandeur. A dying film industry today, Gujarati films have been quiet popular among Gujaratis since its inception, yet there has been little or no study done to understand how these films have newlinerepresented and framed the culture of Gujarat. This thesis tries to investigate Gujarati cinema and explore some of the newlinedominant films of the golden era to see how it frames Gujarati culture through its history, folk lore, tales, and people in terms of their dress, dialect, celebrations, and other significant codes through select fifty films. The study makes an attempt to connect mise-en-scene of these films with newlineframing analysis to interrogate the way visuals have been prioritized in the films to accommodate/ideas depict any specific agenda/ideology. It is important to note that Gujarati cinema subtly but consistently shared the responsibility of restoring cultural symbols and stories within the film newlinenarrative especially post integration in 1960 to remind every Gujarati about his/her roots and work towards Gujarati asmita. -
Comparative analysis of Tata - JLR and Volkswagen - Skoda Merger /
This paper focuses on the strategies adopted by Volkswagen and Tata to rebuild the image of Skoda and Jaguar respectively. Through this paper, the researcher wants to find out how change in ownership and how change in PR strategies, can rebuild the image of a brand. Both Skoda and Jaguar were facing a downhill when it came to sales and were on the verge of shutting down. That is when the change in ownership took place. -
Teaching and learning practices initiated in department of management studies, Christ University, Bangalore to meet global standards /
European Journal of Business and Management, Vol.6, Issue 31, pp.329-334, ISSN No: 2222-1906 (Paper), 2222-2839 (Online) -
Machinability and surface integrity for Mg AZ61A alloy composite by employing Taguchi integrated grey relational analysis
The present experimental study seeking to identify the optimal processing parameters in WEDM of Mg AZ61A-ZrB2 composite using Taguchi integrated grey relational analysis (GRA). Wire-cut electric discharge machining (WEDM) is the most effective method of metal removing process which is utilized in a variety of industries, like defence, biomedical, automotive, and aerospace. It is widely used in the machining of conductive and hard materials like composites and super alloys. In this experiment, the Mg AZ61A alloy composite reinforced with 12 wt% ZrB2 particles was fabricated through stir casting method. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) mapping ensured the presence of matrix elements and reinforcement in the developed composite. The material removal rate (MRR) and surface roughness (Ra) were examined with relation to the processing factors such as pulse current (Ip), pulse on-time (Ton), and pulse off-time (Toff). The machining was conducted in compliance with Taguchi's L9 array. According to the GRA results, the optimal ranges of factors for achieving the better MRR and Ra were found at 4 amps of Ip, 15 ?s of Ton, and 45 ?s of Toff. The ANOVA results confirm that Ip was the most dominating factor that contributing to 37.58 %, next by Ton (30.96 %) and Toff (12.85 %), respectively. The confirmation test was demonstrated that the actual and predicted GRG values are fairly close to one another with 13.36 % improvement. The morphology of the machined surface was examined and it was shows the formation of a recast layer and the existence of flaws. 2025 The Authors -
Design control and management of intelligent and autonomous nanorobots with artificial intelligence for Prevention and monitoring of blood related diseases
The effective management of human bloodstream remains to be the prime focus for the clinicians over years and it impose greater challenges when it comes to real-time solution. In particular managing hypoxemia and detection of blood clots is most pertinent. One major challenge faced is the existence of limited training data generated from real-world scenarios. On the other hand, creating an efficient model is often time consuming and expensive. This paper focusses on effective convergence of artificial intelligence and nanorobotics technologies to design and implement autonomous intelligent nanorobots to deal with blood related diseases. The major contribution of the research is two-fold, first we define an efficient architecture of the nanorobotics system with appropriate design parameter. Next, we develop a novel semi-supervised learning model using stochastic gradient descent method and kernel space that efficiently control and manage the nanorobots and helps in earlier prognosis and treatment of blood related diseases. The proposed model is novel and efficient as it enables working at nanoscale, providing resourceful understanding on physical and chemical properties associated with human body. The use of artificial intelligence techniques further makes the system to work more intelligently and independently. COSMOL with integrated MATLAB environment is used for experimental setup and simulation. MNIST dataset is compared with online RP tree method and other conventional batch related techniques. The performance analysis is compared based on performance, error rates and risk related factors. The proposed approach provides significant improvement in terms of performance with minimal error rate and improved accuracy measures. 2023 -
Multifunctional SnO?-Chitosan-D-carvone Nanocomposite: A Promising Antimicrobial, Anticancer, and Antioxidant Agent for Biomedical Applications
Nanocomposite made up of inorganic and biocompatible polymer have gained significant attention for biomedical applications due to their enhanced multifunctional properties, offering solutions to serious issues like antimicrobial resistance and cancer treatment. Nanocomposite composed of SnO?, chitosan and D-carvone (SnO2-Cs-Dcar) was prepared to ascertain its efficacy in application for antimicrobial, anticancer activities, and antioxidant effects. The synthesized nanocomposite was characterized by XRD, UV-Vis, FTIR, PL, SEM, TEM, and XPS techniques, confirming successful integration. XRD results confirmed the tetragonal rutile phase of SnO2. The band gap energy was calculated as 4.32eV for SnO2 nanoparticles and 3.11eV for SnO2-Cs-Dcar nanocomposite as observed from UV-Visible spectra. PL emission results showed that SnO2-Cs-Dcar nanocomposite exhibited green emission at 507nm corresponds to number oxygen vacancy site. SEM and TEM results showed that the SnO2-Cs-Dcar nanocomposite entities appear more compact, and the single SnO2 particles are less differentiated, possibly because they have been covered by chitosan and D-carvone. Antimicrobial activity against the pathogens Klebsiella pneumoniae, Candida albicans, Shigella dysenteriae, Bacillus subtilis, and Staphylococcus aureus demonstrated that SnO2-Cs-Dcar exhibited enhanced bacteriostatic effect when compared to bare SnO2. MTT assay on MOLT-4 cancer cells revealed that SnO2-Cs-Dcar nanocomposite exhibited enhanced anticancer activity upon compared to SnO? nanoparticles. The IC50 values were calculated as 13.6 for SnO2 and 12.1 for SnO2-Cs-Dcar nanocomposite. SnO?-Cs-Dcar nanocomposites exhibits high antioxidant activity evidenced by improved free radical scavenging action in comparison with a bare SnO?. Experimental result indicates that the SnO?-Cs-Dcar nanocomposites can be used as biocidal agent for antimicrobial and anticancer therapies. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2024. -
Multifunctional SnO?-Chitosan-D-carvone Nanocomposite: A Promising Antimicrobial, Anticancer, and Antioxidant Agent for Biomedical Applications
Nanocomposite made up of inorganic and biocompatible polymer have gained significant attention for biomedical applications due to their enhanced multifunctional properties, offering solutions to serious issues like antimicrobial resistance and cancer treatment. Nanocomposite composed of SnO?, chitosan and D-carvone (SnO2-Cs-Dcar) was prepared to ascertain its efficacy in application for antimicrobial, anticancer activities, and antioxidant effects. The synthesized nanocomposite was characterized by XRD, UV-Vis, FTIR, PL, SEM, TEM, and XPS techniques, confirming successful integration. XRD results confirmed the tetragonal rutile phase of SnO2. The band gap energy was calculated as 4.32eV for SnO2 nanoparticles and 3.11eV for SnO2-Cs-Dcar nanocomposite as observed from UV-Visible spectra. PL emission results showed that SnO2-Cs-Dcar nanocomposite exhibited green emission at 507nm corresponds to number oxygen vacancy site. SEM and TEM results showed that the SnO2-Cs-Dcar nanocomposite entities appear more compact, and the single SnO2 particles are less differentiated, possibly because they have been covered by chitosan and D-carvone. Antimicrobial activity against the pathogens Klebsiella pneumoniae, Candida albicans, Shigella dysenteriae, Bacillus subtilis, and Staphylococcus aureus demonstrated that SnO2-Cs-Dcar exhibited enhanced bacteriostatic effect when compared to bare SnO2. MTT assay on MOLT-4 cancer cells revealed that SnO2-Cs-Dcar nanocomposite exhibited enhanced anticancer activity upon compared to SnO? nanoparticles. The IC50 values were calculated as 13.6 for SnO2 and 12.1 for SnO2-Cs-Dcar nanocomposite. SnO?-Cs-Dcar nanocomposites exhibits high antioxidant activity evidenced by improved free radical scavenging action in comparison with a bare SnO?. Experimental result indicates that the SnO?-Cs-Dcar nanocomposites can be used as biocidal agent for antimicrobial and anticancer therapies. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2024. -
The reality of distribution faced by SMEs: A UK perspective
[No abstract available] -
Effect of heavy metals on germination, biochemical, antioxidant and withanolide content in Withania somnifera (L.) Dunal
Withania somnifera (L.) Dunal., commonly referred to as Ashwagandha, is a medicinal plant from the solanaceae family with a wide range of pharmacological properties. W. somnifera is a rich source of withanolides, such as withanolide A, withanolide B, withanolide D, withaferin A and many others which are attributed for a large number of pharmacological activities. In the present study, the impact of heavy metals such as cadmium (Cd), mercury (Hg) and lead (Pb) has been assessed on the growth, biochemical parameters, antioxidant activity and withanolide A and withaferin A content of W. somnifera. The seeds of W. somnifera were germinated in cocopeat and treated with different concentrations of Cd (20-200 ppm), Hg (10-100 ppm) and Pb (200-2000 ppm) for 21 days. There have been substantial differences between the heavy metal-treated plants and the control plants with the lowest germination of 20% observed in the plants treated with 2000 ppm Pb. The selected metals inhibited vegetative growth with lowest length of 3.07cm and lowest biomass of 0.74g in 180 ppm Cd and 200 ppm Cd treated plants respectively. With the addition of heavy metals, biochemical parameters like protein, carbohydrate, chlorophyll, total phenol, flavonoid and proline content varied significantly and showed metal tolerance by exhibiting antioxidant activity at lower concentrations. The metal accumulation occurred in a dose-dependent manner with highest Cd accumulation of 14.30mg kg?1, Hg accumulation of 42.45mg kg?1, and Pb accumulation of 217.46mg kg?1 of dry biomass of the plants. The withanolide content increased up to a specific metal concentration and decreased with a further increase in heavy metal concentration. The seeds treated with 1200 ppm of Pb showed the highest withanolide A content of 1.7mg g?1 dry weight (DW), and the seeds treated with 80 ppm of Cd showed the highest withaferin A content of 3.2mg g?1 DW. 2023 Horizon e-Publishing Group. All rights reserved. -
Effect of heavy metals on germination, biochemical, and L-DOPA content in Mucuna pruriens (L.) DC.
Mucuna pruriens (L.) DC. is a medicinal plant with a wide range of pharmacological properties that have been used in various medicinal preparations for centuries. M. pruriens is a rich source of levodopa (L-DOPA), mainly used to treat Parkinsons disease. The present study investigates the impact of heavy metals such as cadmium (Cd), mercury (Hg), and lead (Pb) on the growth parameters and biochemical characteristics, including the L-DOPA content of M. pruriens. The seeds of M. pruriens were treated with different concentrations of Cd (0250 ppm), Hg (0250 ppm), and Pb (02000 ppm) for 21 days. On exposure to heavy metals, the germination %, the vegetative growth, and the biochemical characteristics such as the protein, carbohydrate, chlorophyll, total phenol, flavonoid, and proline content varied significantly in the heavy metal-treated plants when compared to control. It was also observed that the L-DOPA content increased with increased metal concentration and then decreased further with higher concentration of metals. The metal accumulation increased with the increase in the metal concentration. The seeds treated with 1000 ppm of Pb showed the highest L-DOPA content compared with control and other treatments. 2022 Banadka and Nagella. -
Biotechnological approaches for the production of camptothecin
Abstract: Camptothecin (CPT), an indole alkaloid popular for its anticancer property, is considered the third most promising drug after taxol and famous alkaloids from Vinca for the treatment of cancer in humans. Camptothecin was first identified in Camptotheca acuminata followed by several other plant species and endophytic fungi. Increased harvesting driven by rising global demand is depleting the availability of elite plant genotypes, such as Camptotheca acuminata and Nothapodytes nimmoniana, crucial for producing alkaloids used in treating diseases like cancer. Conservation of these genotypes for the future is imperative. Therefore, research on different plant tissue culture techniques such as cell suspension culture, hairy roots, adventitious root culture, elicitation strategies, and endophytic fungi has been adopted for the production of CPT to meet the increasing demand without affecting the source plants existence. Currently, another strategy to increase camptothecin yield by genetic manipulation is underway. The present review discusses the plants and endophytes that are employed for camptothecin production and throws light on the plant tissue culture techniques for the regeneration of plants, callus culture, and selection of cell lines for the highest camptothecin production. The review further explains the simple, accurate, and cost-effective extraction and quantification methods. There is enormous potential for the sustainable production of CPT which could be met by culturing of suitable endophytes or plant cell or organ culture in a bioreactor scale production. Also, different gene editing tools provide opportunities for engineering the biosynthetic pathway of CPT, and the overall CPT production can be improved. Key points: Camptothecin is a naturally occurring alkaloid with potent anticancer properties, primarily known for its ability to inhibit DNA topoisomerase I. Plants and endophytes offer a potential approach for camptothecin production. Biotechnology approaches like plant tissue culture techniques enhanced camptothecin production. The Author(s) 2024.