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The exponential rise of digital payments has underscored the critical importance of digital payment security, particularly in payment gateway systems. This chapter delves into the vulnerabilities within these systems and proposes a comprehensive security enhancement framework to address them. Recent security breaches, such as those at SONY and Ontario’s birth registry, have emphasised the urgent need for improved protective measures. The proposed framework integrates advanced technologies like data encryption, next-generation firewalls (NGFWs), unified threat management (UTM), network traffic analysis, and multi-factor authentication (MFA). It aims not only to defend against current cyber threats but also to remain adaptable to future vulnerabilities, ensuring the integrity, confidentiality, and availability of transactional data. Moreover, aligning with regulatory standards such as the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is crucial for building trust and ensuring security in the digital transaction ecosystem. This chapter also highlights the importance of balancing security measures with user experience and advocates for user education and user-centric security solutions. Emerging technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain are proposed for real-time fraud detection and maintaining immutable transaction records, offering innovative solutions to contemporary security challenges. Empirical analysis supports the efficacy of the proposed framework, showing improvements in data loss prevention, user satisfaction, and fraud mitigation. This framework, termed ‘Guardians of Trust’, represents a paradigm shift in payment gateway security, providing a scalable and forward-looking model that balances robust security protocols with user experience and compliance considerations. This chapter contributes significantly to the academic discourse on digital payment security.

When induction motors are considered, there is no specific cost model for net savings per year due to condition-based maintenance (CBM) covering various parameters such as downtime, energy, quality, etc. The purpose of this paper is to develop a cost model for the financial viability of the implementation of CBM for induction motors.

A literature review has been carried out to identify the existing failure modes of motor, available condition monitoring techniques, the usefulness of CBM and different maintenance models available. Then, a cost model considering all parameters has been proposed.

A cost model has been proposed for the maintenance of induction motors. Method for the economic evaluation of the model has also been suggested in the paper. The application of the model has been illustrated through a case study of a steel plant, which suggests that investment in the condition monitoring of induction motors increases the net profit of the organization.

The proposed model is specifically designed for induction motors. All the motors under consideration are assumed to be of the same specifications, and fault in any motor is supposed to have the same effect on quality, cost, criticality, etc., of the operation and end product.

This paper will help the maintenance manager in decision making when maintenance action has to be carried out for a given motor under CBM for the better utilization of the equipment and resources. This paper also shows how to compute ROI on CBM investment.

The paper provides a cost model for the economic evaluation of implementing CBM for induction motors which will be useful to researchers and maintenance managers in effective decision making and maintenance planning. The methodology and the cost models are the original contribution of the authors.

This chapter examines the significant transformations brought about by the incorporation of service robots in the ever-changing retail industry. In the retail industry, advanced technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI), co-bots, robotics, and automation, are transforming the experiences of customers and employees in response to the surge in human–robot collaboration (HRC) and worldwide investments in innovative projects. The primary goal of the research is to examine the impact of incorporating service robots on employees’ willingness to work in a retail sector that fosters collaboration between humans and robots while improving the performance. The research highlights the key factors influencing employee perspectives and inclinations for collaborating with service robots in retail environments, as determined by an in-depth review of academic research and industrial insights. The results demonstrate the positive influence of service robots on improving HRC, optimising inventory management, and enhancing overall operational efficiency in the retail sector. The conclusion emphasises the need to adopt a holistic approach to successfully use the potential of service robots, with the aim of establishing a retail ecosystem that is both sustainable and harmonious. The presence of service robots in the retail industry has significant implications, offering a competitive advantage. The research results reveal stakeholders’ perspectives on the crucial role of service robots in driving future development and maintaining long-term benefits. This chapter offers a comprehensive review of innovative technology in the retail marketplace, offering significant insights into the transformative potential of service robots.

The purpose of this paper is to examine and propose an extension of Lundman's theory. Lundman presented a theoretical framework that predicted the evolution of policing from an informal to a formal type. Essentially, he stated that the types of policing in society were determined by the patterns of solidarity, élite interests, and crimes rates/images of disorder. This research argued that the theory could be extended not only to predict the type of policing but also the quality and quantity of policing. Particularly, this research explored the relationships of the élite interest and the rates/images of criminality to policing practices by examining evidence from the research literature about India.

Research studies about Indian police practices were extracted from the major western criminology, criminal justice, and policing journals. Using content analyses, two propositions were analyzed. The first proposition was that the evidence from the literature would suggest that threats of the disadvantaged and marginalized groups against the dominant élite groups would influence the quality of policing. The second proposition was that the evidence from the literature would show that rates and images of criminality would influence the quantity of policing.

Very little quantitative literature exists to examine the propositions using meta‐analysis. The existing policing literature from India that was examined indicated support for the propositions.

As the literature was mostly anecdotal and normative, a more dynamic view of the relationships among the variables should be explored using the positivist approach.

Police characters are influenced by the social order. Systemic reforms often fail because of the obstacles presented by the social and political influences. Therefore, a larger social reform should be undertaken.

This study examines the ethical and social consequences of the accelerated adoption of new technologies. An empirical approach is employed to explore the impacts of rapid technological integration on societal norms, ethical considerations, and individual behaviours. Responses from 305 participants are analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM), focusing on perceived usefulness, ease of use, relative advantage, personal innovativeness, and fear of missing out (FOMO). The findings unveil intricate interactions between technological advancements and ethical–social dynamics, underscoring challenges and opportunities. This study offers critical insights for policymakers, technology developers, and society at large, aiming to encourage a more ethically informed and socially conscious approach to technology adoption.

Construction is a highly dynamic environment with numerous interacting factors that affect construction processes and decisions. Uncertainty is inherent in most aspects of construction engineering and management, and traditionally, it has been treated as a random phenomenon. However, there are many types of uncertainty that are not naturally modelled by probability theory, such as subjectivity, ambiguity and vagueness. Fuzzy logic provides an approach for handling such uncertainties. However, fuzzy logic alone has some limitations, including its inability to learn from data and its extensive reliance on expert knowledge. To address these limitations, fuzzy logic has been combined with other techniques to create fuzzy hybrid techniques, which have helped solve complex problems in construction. In this chapter, a background on fuzzy logic in the context of construction engineering and management applications is presented. The chapter provides an introduction to uncertainty in construction and illustrates how fuzzy logic can improve construction modelling and decision-making. The role of fuzzy logic in representing uncertainty is contrasted with that of probability theory. Introductory material is presented on key definitions, properties and methods of fuzzy logic, including the definition and representation of fuzzy sets and membership functions, basic operations on fuzzy sets, fuzzy relations and compositions, defuzzification methods, entropy for fuzzy sets, fuzzy numbers, methods for the specification of membership functions and fuzzy rule-based systems. Finally, a discussion on the need for fuzzy hybrid modelling in construction applications is presented, and future research directions are proposed.

The initiative from the world economic community to integrate different types of economies was globalization that ensured free flow of goods and services, it is popularly known as trade openness. The extension of this effort was to cover the flow of financial capital across the economies in terms of net foreign direct investment and foreign portfolio investment, the combination of these types of capital flow is called financial integration (FI). The primary objective of the policies of globalization and FI was to boost up the global as well as country-specific growth rates. Although a list of works is there in the literature on the related fields for different country or group levels, it is hardly to find such works in the highly emerging economies of the world. This study has strived to investigate whether globalization and FI at all influence the growth of incomes of the commonly accepted three top emerging economies, Brazil, China, and India. This study uses unit roots test, Johansen cointegration test, and causality test in a VAR setup for the period 1990–2016 to find long-run associations and short-run dynamics among the variables. It reveals that all the four indicators have long-run associations for the three countries but the errors are corrected for Brazil and China only. However, only for China, the FI and globalization factors have made a cause to PCGDP; no such causal relations are observed for Brazil and India.

Previous studies highlighted a shortage of scale to measure digital citizenship among Indians. Accordingly, this study examined the psychometric properties of Jones and Mitchell’s (2016) digital citizenship scale in the Indian context with the help of two independent studies.

In the first study, the factorial validity of the scale was determined using the exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). In the second study, Cronbach’s alpha (CA) and composite reliability (CR) values checked the internal consistency reliability of the scale. Also, convergent, discriminant and criterion validity were examined.

EFA recommended a two-factor structure explaining 58.219% of the total variance. The item loadings varied from 0.540 to 0.793. The Indian version of the scale showed one variation. In the original digital citizenship scale, the seventh statement (“I like to present myself online as someone was making positive choices”) was part of factor 1 (online respect); however, this study suggested that the seventh statement should be included in factor 2 (online civic engagement). In the second study, the acceptable (>0.70) values of CA and CR concluded the internal consistency reliability of the scale. The convergent validity was suggested by average variance explained values (>0.50). In addition, as expected, the Indian version of the digital citizenship scale reported a statistically significant positive correlation with Internet self-efficacy and a considerable negative relationship with cyberbullying. These findings concluded the criterion validity of the scale.

The Indian version of the digital citizenship scale showed appreciable psychometric properties among Indian students.

This study aims to analyse the following: first, the financial performance of General Insurance Re (GIC Re) using performance ratios (PRs); second, the uniformity of different financial performance indicators of GIC Re; third, the internal growth capacity of GIC Re; and finally, the likelihood of GIC Re going into financial distress.

As a sample, GIC Re, the lion shareholder in Indian Reinsurance Industry has been considered in the present study. All the necessary data have been extracted from the secondary sources over a time period of 16 years. The financial performance of GIC Re is assessed using five standard ratios, and the uniformity of different financial performance indicators of GIC Re has been examined using Kendall’s Coefficient of Concordance (W). To assess the internal growth capacity of GIC Re internal growth rate has been used, and the likelihood of GIC Re going into financial distress is analysed using multivariate discriminant approach, namely, modified Altman’s Z-score model and logit analysis technique, namely, Ohlson’s O-score model.

The results exhibit that financial performance of GIC Re is somewhat satisfactory over a few considerable areas. However, no notable degree of uniformity has been observed amongst the varied financial performance indicators, namely, performance ratio, expense ratio, return on assets, risk retention ratio and combined ratio of GIC Re. The results also reveal GIC Re is lacking ability of growing internally. Moreover, there remains a significant possibility of GIC Re going into financial distress in the near future and so.

This study is one of the first empirical research studies in India that examines the financial performance of GIC Re from different perspectives.

In a pandemic framework (COVID-19), this chapter explores the impact of the global economy and socio-cultures concerning three axes: recreational, tourism, and hospitality. Although we slowly see an economic revival, it is well known that this sector of study is very susceptible to being affected by the context of nations. Following restrictions and measures taken by governments around the world to reduce the number of cases of coronavirus infections, many nations closed their borders, affecting international travel and by 2020 tourism had been reduced to the near cessation of operations due to the imminent fear of this poorly studied disease, and the service sector was negatively affected. It should be added that, according to the World Tourism Organization's projections, a decrease of between 20 and 30% is forecast for 2020 compared to the previous year.