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This paper aims to investigate the effects of virtual reality experiences (VREs) and emotions on holiday destination visit intentions by applying the stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) framework. It also examined the role of amateur photography as a moderator in the relationship between VREs, emotions and visit intentions.

Primary data were collected through a structured survey questionnaire administered in India, and structural equation modelling (SEM) was used to examine relationships among variables. The formal survey was preceded by a pilot study. The partial least squares-SEM product indicator technique was applied to measure the moderation effect of amateur photography.

When people have high levels of positive emotions in the pre-travel stage with VRE participation, their intentions to visit destinations are stronger. Amateur photography moderated the relationships between user interactivity, memorable experiences, mental imagery and visit intentions. No significant moderating effect was found between emotional experiences and visit intentions.

The results indicate that creators of virtual reality (VR) communications should concentrate on producing interactive and visually striking VR content, as the research found that VR experiences with tourism-related activities have a significant impact on potential visitor emotions. Therefore, VR producers should incorporate authentic and distinctive elements into contents, giving viewers realistic and trustworthy VR tourism experiences. Destination marketers should evoke emotions in people to increase motivations to visit the VR-presented places. Destination marketers should create VR content with hedonic elements, fostering a connection and desire to visit the destination presented in the VR. For example, destination marketers can enhance the sensory aspects of VR content with audio, video, haptics and artificial intelligence, encouraging people to be emotionally captivated and fully immersed. The findings indicate that amateur photography has a significant moderating effect on prospective tourists’ intentions to visit a place presented in VR. Thus, destination marketers are advised to provide photogenic and relevant content to users. By using amateur photography, destinations can market their attractions to potential visitors in a more interactive and relatable manner. Showcasing images taken by amateur photographers presents a genuine perspective of the offerings, thereby increasing visit intentions among prospective visitors. Additionally, amateur photography helps promote the destination in a positive light, emphasizing the attractions and other offerings, and this encourages potential visitors to consider the destination as a travel option, thereby increasing visit intentions. Encouraging amateur photographers to take and share images also increases their engagement with the destination, creating a sense of community and connection and ultimately driving visit intentions. Destination marketers should embrace VR tourism content as a means of promoting their destinations to potential customers by considering the three crucial elements of memorable experiences, emotional experiences and mental imagery. In essence, destination management organizations and other decision makers should develop complete VR communication plans that incorporate interactive and visually striking activities. This can be done by creating VR experiences for prospective tourists, which will enable them to pick their preferred destinations at the pre-travel stage. Through this approach, an effective destination marketing strategy can be established.

This research has value in making several potential contributions to the tourism applications of VR. It is the first study to use and test the S-O-R framework to analyse tourist behaviour from the perspective of emotions generated by VR applications. The analysis focuses on India’s tourism market, which has not been explored much in the context of VR and from the perspective of a developing country. The research emphasizes the use of VR as a tool to understand tourist behaviour rather than just focusing on visit intentions. The findings provide valuable insights into the importance of VR in tourism. The knowledge generated will contribute to the understanding of the impact of VR experiences on emotions and visit intentions and the moderating effect of amateur photography. It has practical implications for destination marketers in developing effective marketing strategies that enhance tourists’ emotions and motivate visit intentions.

本研究运用刺激-机体-反应(S-O-R)框架, 探讨虚拟现实体验（VREs）和情绪对度假目的地旅游意向的影响。还研究了业余摄影在VREs、情感和访问意图之间的关系中的调节作用。

通过在印度进行的结构化调查问卷收集原始数据, 并使用结构方程模型(SEM)来检查变量之间的关系。在正式调查之前进行了一项试点研究。采用PLS-SEM结果指标方法测量业余摄影的调节效果。

当人们在旅行前的VRE参与阶段拥有高水平的积极情绪时, 他们访问目的地的意愿会更强。业余摄影调节了用户交互性、纪念体验、心理意象和访问意图之间的关系。情绪体验与访问意向之间无显著调节作用。

本研究对虚拟现实的旅游应用有几个可能的贡献。这是第一个使用并测试刺激-生物-反应(S-O-R)框架的研究, 从VR应用产生的情感角度分析游客行为。分析集中于印度的旅游市场, 而在VR的背景下和从一个发展中国家的角度来看, 印度的旅游市场还没有得到太多的探索。该研究强调将VR作为一种了解游客行为的工具, 而不仅仅是关注游客的意图。这些发现为VR在旅游业中的重要性提供了有价值的见解。所产生的知识将有助于理解VR体验对情绪和访问意图的影响以及业余摄影的调节作用。这对目的地营销人员制定有效的营销策略, 增强游客的情绪和激发旅游意图具有实际启示。

Esta investigación analizó los efectos de las experiencias de realidad virtual (VREs) y las emociones en las intenciones de visita a destinos vacacionales aplicando el modelo estímulo-organismo-respuesta (S-O-R). También examinó el papel de la fotografía amateur como moderador en la relación entre las VREs, las emociones y las intenciones de visita.

Los datos primarios se recogieron mediante una encuesta con cuestionario estructurado administrado en la India, y se utilizó la modelización de ecuaciones estructurales (SEM) para examinar las relaciones entre las variables. La encuesta principal fue precedida de un estudio piloto. Se aplicó la técnica PLS-SEM para medir el efecto moderador de la fotografía amateur.

Cuando las personas poseen un alto nivel de emociones positivas en la etapa previa al viaje con participación en VRE, sus intenciones de visitar destinos son más fuertes. La fotografía amateur moderó las relaciones entre la interactividad del usuario, las experiencias memorables, las imágenes mentales y las intenciones de visita. No se encontró ningún efecto moderador significativo entre las experiencias emocionales y las intenciones de visita.

Esta investigación tiene el valor de hacer varias contribuciones potenciales a las aplicaciones turísticas de la realidad virtual. Es el primer estudio que utiliza y pone a prueba el marco estímulo-organismo-respuesta (S-O-R) para analizar el comportamiento de los turistas desde la perspectiva de las emociones generadas por las aplicaciones de RV. El análisis se centra en el mercado turístico de la India, poco explorado en el contexto de la RV y desde la perspectiva de un país en desarrollo. La investigación hace hincapié en el uso de la RV como herramienta para comprender el comportamiento de los turistas, en lugar de centrarse únicamente en las intenciones de visita. Las conclusiones aportan valiosas ideas sobre la importancia de la RV en el turismo. Los conocimientos generados contribuirán a comprender el impacto de las experiencias de RV en las emociones y las intenciones de visita, así como el efecto moderador de la fotografía amateur. Se presentan implicaciones prácticas para los responsables de marketing de los destinos turísticos a la hora de desarrollar estrategias de marketing eficaces que potencien las emociones de los turistas y motiven las intenciones de visita.

The study is done to investigate the factors that affect the intention of higher education students towards online education. The research also focuses on the importance of students' stability and students' resilience on perceived usefulness and perceived easiness of use that frame the attitude towards the intention to use online education.

Online survey method is employed using Google form link with a sample of 686 students of higher education. Excluding the outliers (univariate and multivariate), the final sample size (N = 679) considers the empirical results of the study. Partial least square structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) is applied to unearth the relationship in the proposed research model of the study.

The empirical results indicate that perceived usefulness and perceived easiness of use have a direct impact on students' intention to use online education platform. Moreover, perceived usefulness and perceived easiness of use also have a positive influence on the students' attitude, which has a strong influence on students' intention to use online mode of education system. Also, students' stability and students' resilience have mixed impact on the level of perceived usefulness and perceived easiness of use that are the most useful determinants of attitude towards the intention to use online education.

The study counts on the technology acceptance model (TAM) where constructs like behavioural controllability, past exposure and perceived accordance are not considered for measuring the intention of students in adapting to online education.

This paper employs the extended model of technology acceptance with additional determinants, namely, students' stability and students' resilience, to investigate the intention to use the online form of education as an alternative to the offline mode.

The aim of the study is to examine the intention of students toward the online education system with emphasis on online examination in higher education. The study investigated different constructs that have an influence on the use of the online platform for learning to the specific domain that mitigates the personal needs of the learners outside the physical class boundaries.

Data were collected through a self-administered structured questionnaire in a single cross-sectional survey from 430 students of higher educational institutions in India. The partial least square approach was used for path modeling to examine the relationships in the proposed research model using Smart PLS-3.3.2.

Attitude, ease of use and usefulness have a significant relationship with the behavioral intention to use the online education system. However, nature of residential status, use of devices and use of network have an insignificant impact on the intention to use the online educational system.

Though the study focused on the technology acceptance model (TAM) to examine the relationship in the proposed model, there is a need to consider the other constructs such as perceived behavioral control, past experience, etc. in future studies.

This paper identified the major determinants of students' intention to adapt to the online education system with special reference to the examination system and proposed a direction to encourage the higher education students to use online education as an alternate of physical classroom education.

India is the birthplace of four major religions which are Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, and Sikhism. It is a country where people of all religions live in peace and harmony. Many tourists experience different forms of harassment during their pilgrimage journey, for example, fleecing, extortion of money, harassment by beggars, persistence by vendors and priests, fraud, sexual harassment, and other unacceptable behaviors. In order to appreciate the extent of harassment encountered by tourists, an in-depth study was conducted on the reviews provided by tourists on TripAdvisor's (Indian) website. This study characterizes harassments through ethnographic research approach of published reviews. A total of 260 reviews of 28 top Hindu temples are considered for all the states and union territories where the top Hindu pilgrim centers are located, (excluding Nagaland) according to TripAdvisor. The concerned reviews are categorized and further investigated through a primary data collection in proportion with the reviews received in respective temple sites in the study. through structural equation modeling (SEM). Important factors have been identified for future policy issues and recommendations in these most crowded places with unique mass tourism practices.

Women empowerment is an aid against discrimination and exploitation. Empowerment to women helps minimize the gender gap, achieve equality and promote self-worth to make independent choices and to influence social change. It is seen that women empowerment and economic development are two sides of the same coin. According to sustainable development goals by World Development Indicator, by 2030 their aim is to empower all women and girls by achieving gender equality. Being the first teacher of a child and to ably run a household from front females are the pillars of a strong and thriving society. Educating and empowering women will usher us in a society where each member is contributing to the betterment of society; which gradually will uplift the economic condition. As stated by Mahatma Gandhi “If you educate a man you educate an individual, but if you educate a woman you educate an entire family.” Therefore, this study aims to investigate the status of women in the field of health, education, labor force participation and socioeconomic empowerment in selected South Asian countries, namely, India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Pakistan. Secondary data has been used which are collected from the website and data center of United Nations Development Programme and World Bank. The research focuses on the comparative study on the South Asian countries, namely Bangladesh, Nepal, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka regarding gender equality and women empowerment in the sectors like education, health, political and economic involvement and opportunity.

The literature reveals there is a limited knowledge regarding the extraction of long natural fibers, in particular those extracted from leaves. This investigation aims to present the extraction process and the characterization of long natural cellulose fibers from doum palm leaves (Hyphaene thebaica L.), with properties suitable for polymeric composite materials and textile applications.

The resulting H. thebaica L. fibers were identified using Attenuated total reflectance-Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The physical properties of the extracted fibers were measured to estimate the reliability of extraction conditions. Mechanical properties were evaluated to determine ultimate strength, Young’s modulus and strain-at-failure of the fibers of the doum leaves.

The following properties of the doum palm are listed in this paper: physical properties of doum palm fibers (H. thebaica L.), TGA, XRD of doum palm fibers, tensile properties of doum palm fibers and surface morphology of doum palm fibers.

Like synthetic fibers, the inclusion of short or long natural fibers into the polymer matrix can increase tensile, flexural and compressive strengths of these matrixes. Compared to the short-length natural fibers, longer-length fibers provide better reinforcements and therefore accord higher performances to the composites. Long fibers can also provide exceptional opportunities to develop a new class of advanced lightweight composites and have the potential to rival glass fiber in the manufacture of composite materials, using matrix materials, such as polypropylene, epoxy and phenolic resins.

The following values are presented in this paper: density of doum palm fibers = 1.14-1.40 g/cm², linear density (Tex) = 33.10 ±11.5, equivalent diameter (µm) = 178.72 ± 41.7, diameter (µm) = 137.02-220.42, tensile strength (MPa) = 124.84-448.10, Young’s modulus (GPa) = 8.06-19.59, strain-at-failure (%) = 0.81-2.86.