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This account demonstrates the key challenges faced in producing engaging educational content for information and communication technologies (ICT) deployed in rural India. The ‘Stills in Sync’ (SIS) project aims to enhance literacy through the revival and proliferation of popular regional folksongs with social awareness themes in rural India. This product entails the use of the Same Language Subtitling (SLS) karaoke feature that won the Worldbank Development Marketplace award in 2002 and the ‘Tech Laureate’ honor from the Technology Museum of Innovation in 2003. This case study highlights the struggles faced in the production process as we sought to negotiate localism with scalability. The paper is meant to stimulate discussion and further research on the process of digitalizing cultural and educational content in muliple languages for literacy gains and empowerment. I attempt to give three‐dimensionality to current buzzwords in education content creation using ICT: localism, relevance and engagement.

Foods rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids are vulnerable to oxidation during processing and storage. The intake of oxidized lipids (OLs) and their subsequent relation with chronic disease risk are unknown in the US population. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

The association between OL intake and markers of adiposity and glucose homeostasis was determined based on data collected from two cycles of National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys with a survey sample of 9,982 subjects between the ages of two to 85 years. Means or geometric means of markers of adiposity, glucose and lipid parameters were compared between the “low” and “high” consumers of OL using the t-test. Associations between OL intake and markers of adiposity, glucose and lipid parameters were determined by multivariate regression analysis.

Mean markers of adiposity were all significantly lower in subjects in the “high” OL group as compared to the “low” OL group. Fasting glucose concentrations were positively associated with OL intake unlike markers of adiposity which were negatively associated with OL intake.

Higher intake of OLs is associated with lower BMI and adiposity. However, the direct association between OL intake and fasting glucose levels suggests that lower markers of adiposity do not suggest a decreased risk of glucose intolerance.

This is the first study to estimate the consumption of OLs in the US population and its link to adiposity and glucose tolerance.

Bullying at the school or college level can have much more serious repercussions for students than educators may be aware of. Neuroscience research is suggesting more than ever that traumatic childhood is associated with the theory of vulnerability – in other words, a greater likelihood of psychiatric disorder spanning across a lifetime. This is the heart-wrenching story of the author’s younger sister, for whom racial school bullying at a school in England wreaked havoc. Almost four decades on she is marked by deep, indelible scars. Since the author’s life is inextricably intertwined with hers, this evocative autoethnographic account is the author’s story too.

Sustainable textiles have become imperative in mitigating the adverse environmental and social impacts of the textile industry. This paper aims to synthesize recent advancements and key considerations in sustainable textile development, emphasizing their role in promoting environmental stewardship, social responsibility and economic viability.

The literature search has been conducted by identifying and articulating the previous studies related to integrating the latest cutting-edge techniques with functional textiles.

Future-generation textiles (FGTs), which incorporate state-of-the-art developments in materials, technologies and functionalities, herald a paradigm-shifting period in the textile industry. FGTs mark a new era in this dynamic world by igniting conversations about their mechanisms, problems, progress to date and potential future applications. This investigation covers a wide range of topics, including wearable electronics, nanotechnology, 3D printing, recycling, machine learning and energy harvesting. Key components include sustainability, functionality, intelligent integration, advanced manufacturing processes and multifunctionality. The paper highlights the potential benefits of smart textiles, wearable technology, improved performance and sustainability through advances in customization and security.

It is an original review work. This paper will be helpful for manufacturers and researchers in the smart wearable textile sector in developing innovative techniques for multifunctional garments by integrating cutting-edge technology.

Technology 4.0 comes with a challenge to understand the degree of users’ willingness to adopt a digital transformation. Metaverse, being a digital transformation, enables real-world activities in the virtual environment, which attracts organizations to adopt the new fascinating technology. This paper thus explores the uses and gratification factors affecting user adoption and recommendation of metaverse from the management perspective.

The study adopts a mixed approach where structural topic modeling is used to analyze tweets about the metaverse, and the themes uncovered from structural topic modeling were further analyzed through data collection using structural equation modeling.

The analyses revealed that social interaction, escapism, convenient navigability, and telepresence significantly affect adoption intent and recommendation to use metaverse, while the trendiness showed insignificance. In the metaverse, users can embody avatars or digital representations, users can express themselves, communicate nonverbally, and interact with others in a more natural and intuitive manner.

This paper contributes to research as it is the first of its kind to explore the factors affecting adoption intent and recommendation to use metaverse using Uses and Gratification theory in a mixed approach. Moreover, the authors performed a two-step study involving both qualitative and quantitative techniques, giving a new perspective to the metaverse-related study.

Nowadays, the applications of metal matrix composites are tremendously increasing in engineering fields. Consequently, the demand for precise machining of composites has also grown enormously. The purpose of this paper is to reduce production cost and simultaneously improve desired product quality through optimal parameter setting using WASPAS and MOORA.

Metal matrix composites were fabricated using stir casting process, with aluminum 6063 as matrix and titanium carbide as reinforcement. Fabricated composite samples were machined on medium duty lathe using cemented carbide tool. All the experiments were carried out based on Box–Behnken design. Comparison of multi objective optimization based on ratio analysis and weighted aggregated sum product assessment in optimizing four parameters, namely, “cutting speed,” “feed rate,” “depth of cut” and “reinforcement weight percent of composite samples”; evaluating their influence on material removal rate, cutting force and surface roughness were carried out.

The output achieved by both MOORA and WASPAS are in similar MCDM) techniques in the selection of machining parameters.

The results obtained in the present paper will be helpful for decision makers in manufacturing industries, who work in metal cutting area, to select the suitable levels for the parameters by implementing the MCDM techniques.

The novelty of this paper is making an attempt to select better MCDM technique based on the comparison of results obtained for the individual technique.

The present study aims to probe into the determinants of mobile wallet adoption by millennials with the assistance of extended technology acceptance model.

The data was collected from the students studying professional courses in leading private universities in the north region of India. Keeping in view of the objective and hypotheses, the Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modeling (PLS -SEM) technique was used to test the proposed model.

The tested model brings into notice the imperative observation, which clearly outlines that there are all significant relationships, which can be observed herein. To explicitly state: perceived ease of use (PEOU) has a significant positive relationship with the perceived usefulness followed by PEOU also shares a significant positive relationship with the behavioral intention, and lastly trust as a variable under study establishes a significant positive relationship with actual use (AU).

Implications for the banking industry are to ensure the safety and privacy (financial information) confidential.

The present study contributes to the literature of mobile wallet in the developing nations.

The present exploratory study aimed (1) to explore the traditional dietary habits of local communities, (2) to analyze the shift in traditional eating practices and (3) to examine the changes observed in socio-cultural beliefs system due to climate change.

A cross-sectional study was conducted with purposive sampling of 210 households in the select ten villages of the western Himalayan region. Open-ended interview questionnaires and a close-ended survey on a 5-point Likert scale are used. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 24 is used for the exploratory factor analysis. Further, Atlas-ti version 8 is also employed for thematic analysis.

The exploratory and thematic analysis illustrated that socio-ecological beliefs are crucial in food choices, but cultural beliefs are also changing due to climate change. Thus, the shift in socio-cultural beliefs can significantly affect the nutritional security of the indigenous societies during climate-induced emergencies in the mountain regions.

Therefore, the findings of the study are significant for a comprehensive understanding of the traditional dietary practice of the indigenous community for an evidence-based inclusive food security and climate change adaptation policy.

The inclusion of cultural practices is evident for ensuring the nutritional security. But, the magnitude of the climate-induced impacts on customary societies is not yet fully understood. Thus, the current study was conducted.