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This study aims to investigate the connection between digital literacy and women’s empowerment in the rural Himachal Pradesh. It explores how improved digital skills contribute to increased empowerment among women with a specific focus on the role of education in enhancing digital literacy.

This study included 250 rural participants who completed structured questionnaires. Analytical tools, including independent-sample t-tests and partial least squares structural equation modeling, were applied to the data to gain insights into the relationship between digital literacy and women’s empowerment.

This study revealed a significant positive link between digital literacy and women’s empowerment in the rural Himachal Pradesh context. Education has emerged as a key factor that influences women’s digital skills and empowerment levels.

This research adds novelty by examining the digital literacy–women’s empowerment nexus in rural Himachal Pradesh and emphasizing the impact of education. The combination of statistical methods offers a robust approach to understanding this relationship and underscores the importance of digital inclusion and education for gender equality and women’s progress.

This paper aims to report an organizational development (OD) exercise carried out in a prominent non‐governmental organization (NGO) that works in the area of rights and advocacy in India.

The exercise was part of the first author's graduate program, which required the application of behavioral science theory to a live organization under the supervision of her advisor, the second author. The organizational development exercise spread over four months, involved entering an organization, interacting with key participants and stakeholders of the organization both formally and informally, diagnosing issues facing the organization and a mirroring exercise with the management at the end of the intervention to provide feedback.

Some of the issues and improvement areas that emerged through the exercise are discussed in the paper. It also offers reflections on some of the key lessons learnt during the process of intervention, with implications for OD in developmental organizations.

The paper offers insights into OD interventions in the developmental sector, posing a different set of challenges than conventional organizations, and also because the organization itself was in a state of flux at the time of the intervention.

As per the vision of promoting agricultural collectives, the government of India promoted the farmer producer organization (FPO). However, with the fast growth of FPOs, there is an issue with performance measurement. This study is aimed at the development of performance metrics for the FPOs.

In the first stage, we selected the measures from a secondary literature review and identified 11 parameters. Further, the Delphi round was conducted in the second stage with 26 experts working with FPOs and they were asked to rank these parameters. Based on the weightage of each parameter, the most important parameters were decided. The mean ranks and deviations of the performance parameters were analyzed. The hypothesis test and Kendall’s coefficient of concordance have been further used to validate the performance parameters. In the third stage, based on the inputs from the experts, a questionnaire was designed, and the data was collected from chief executive officers (CEOs) of the FPOs to identify the most important performance parameters.

The experts identified governance, financial support and professional management as important measures for FPOs. In the second round of the study, finance and governance were identified as the most important factors. It is important to note that finance and governance were the two most important factors in making an FPO successful. Finally, a 100-point metric was developed in seven major heads.

This study will be advantageous for all the stakeholders involved in the promotion of FPOs, including FPOs themselves, funding agencies providing funds to FPOs, skill-building organizations, etc.

This paper is one of its kind to develop a 100 points metrics for performance evaluation of FPOs.

This review aims to give an overview about zinc oxide (ZnO) based gas sensors and the role of doping in enhancing the gas sensing properties. Gas sensors based on ZnO thin film are preferred for sensing applications because of their modifiable surface morphology, very large surface-to-volume ratio and superior stability due to better crystallinity. The gas detection mechanism involves surface reaction, in which the adsorption of gas molecules on the ZnO thin film affects its conductivity and reduces its electrical properties. One way to enhance the gas sensing properties is by doping ZnO with other elements. A few of the common and previously used dopants include tin (Sn), nickel (Ni) and gallium (Ga).

In this brief review, previous works on doped-ZnO formaldehyde sensing devices are presented and discussed.

Most devices provided good sensing performance with low detection limits. The reported operating temperatures were within the range of 200̊C –400̊C. The performance of the gas sensors can be improved by modifying their nanostructures and/or adding dopants.

As of yet, a specific review on formaldehyde gas sensors based on ZnO metal semiconductors has not been done.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the musculoskeletal problems faced by the workers carrying out head lifting at the construction sites and to present a solution for the identified problems.

The methodology of the paper is framed in two phases. First, the identification of the problems faced by workers through interviews/questionnaire and second, designing and fabricating a mechanical system to safe guard workers against musculoskeletal disorders.

Based upon the interviews and questionnaires, it was ascertained that majority of the workers were subjected to neck pain and low back pain. This was mainly attributed to the lifting of heavy loads on head, sudden and jerky movements and bad postures.

The developed frame has been appreciated by the Physiotherapists also; however, it still has certain limitations which can be taken as a future scope for the further modification of the frame. The limitations are as follows: the weight of the frame is a limitation, as the worker has to bear this load in addition to the load which is to be lifted. However, this can be dealt with by replacing the material of the frame with lightweight materials such as aluminium alloys, carbon fibres, etc. The continuous wearing of the frame may result in discomfort, as the worker cannot freely roam around. Sweating and etching due to wearing of belt. Worker cannot place the load him/herself on the frame. Stability issues in lifting liquids overhead.

Findings revealed the bleak possibility of replacing head loading. However, there is an urgent need of developing a cost-effective system which could help workers while carrying out head lifting of loads.

This work presents an ergonomically designed mechanical frame which will help workers in carrying out head loading without effecting their skull, spine, etc. The system was tested on workers and the results were alarming and the working capacity of the workers was observed to increase with the fabricated frame.

This study aims to create the causal relationship between transportation behavior to Karimunjawa, the number of tourists and the amount of CO2 produced; calculate the reduction of CO2 emissions from the transportation to Karimunjawa based on several proposed policy scenarios; and formulate the managerial implication and recommendation to support the implementation of several proposed policy scenarios.

This study develops a system dynamics‐based model by using three sub-systems, i.e. “the number of tourist sub-system,” “the switching behavior of tourist travel sub-system” and “the CO2 emission sub-system.”

The simulation results have shown that, under the current situation, tourist travel behavior should be changed to maximum condition to get the minimum CO2 emission. Improvement of the behavior of tourist in selecting the mode of transportation and the departure point of mini-tour bus and ferry are an effective way to reduce the CO2 emission.

This study only considers limited variables as the driver of the level of change of the capacity of Karimunjawa and the road as well as the variables as the driver of tourism growth. This study only focuses on CO2 emission from the direct impacts of tourist travel; this study does not consider the indirect impact of tourism activity on CO2 emissions. International air travel is not included in the present study.

From a managerial perspective, this study demonstrates that change in the tourist travel behavior is generally not effective in triggering CO2 emission reduction, unless it is accompanied by the strict restriction policy related to the tourist route.

This study has the potential to raise societal awareness that the causality of tourist growth and CO2 emissions should be seen as the impact of tourist travel behavior. In this case, to modify the travel behavior, tourist needs to change their mode of transportation to more sustainable transportation.

This paper intends to fill the literature gap of the effect of tourism growth from two perspectives, namely, tourist travel behavior and environmental. The modeling of tourist transport and CO2 emission will provide an overview of the selection of the problem-solving mode for tourist transport that can give a significant contribution to the greenhouse gas emissions reduction to the environmental.

This study intends to find the industries that have leveraged Robotic Process Automation (RPA) technology and elucidate the extent of the adoption of RPA in various industry domains with benefits. The identification of tasks eligible for RPA itself is a challenge. Therefore, the study further brings out the challenges faced in various industry verticals and postulates the future direction of research and applications in RPA.

The study focuses on articles from popular databases such as SCOPUS, Web of Science and Google scholar. PRISMA methodology is used for systematic literature review and 113 papers are shortlisted for study. Three questions are framed to carry out the review and set the research direction.

It is evident from this study that RPA has been widely used in banking and related areas with moderate use in healthcare and manufacturing leading to operational efficiency and productivity. However, there are a lot more opportunities in other domains that need to be taped by leveraging technology advancements and a research agenda has been devised by postulating future directions.

The study brings out a new comprehensive perspective as regards RPA implementation across domains. There is no promising study found that gathers three-dimensional aspects of the meta-themes applications, benefits and challenges. The study summarizes the research agenda and projects the industry domains that have not yet explored, the benefits of RPA. This will be a good reference article for those who develop RPA techniques and organizations that have plans to go for RPA.

The paper adapts and applies a modified SERVQUAL approach compliant with the EN 13816, a European standard on service quality in public transport. The purpose of the study is to provide a quality evaluation tool readily usable by transport operators willing to certify the service offered.

Correspondence between the SERVQUAL and the standard is ensured by guaranteeing that the 15 attributes investigated encompass the eight macro‐areas of the norm. Primary data were collected by means of an on‐board survey conducted in Cagliari over a two week period.

The study shows the possibility to implement a SERVQUAL approach abiding by the requirements set by the EN 13816. The results illustrate a high degree of importance placed on attributes such as on‐board security, bus reliability, cleanliness and frequency, with these latter three characterized by the widest negative gaps between perceptions and expectations. The sole quantitative supply of transport does not seem to influence quality perceptions more than attributes such as staff courtesy and bus comfort.

The results are too specific to enable their generalization. Moreover, the SERVQUAL framework might be improved with the inclusion of additional attributes.

The study provides public transport operators with a tool characterized by a good degree of openness and flexibility, so to fit individual needs. It might also be of interest for practitioners wishing to explore the main drivers of satisfaction among transport users.