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Road Roughness/Unevenness is an important parameter for the evaluation of the surface condition of a road. Roughness affects the vehicle operating cost, speed, riding comfort, safety, fuel consumption, and tire wear and tear. Every road user desires to have a smooth and comfortable riding. Roughness measurement is an important activity on highways based on which maintenance decisions are taken. IRC (Indian Road Congress) manual specifies roughness measurements to be taken at every 6 months on highways and based on the roughness index the functional overlay requirements are decided on highways. Roughness measurements using profilometers, namely Rod and Level, Dipstick, Merlin, Profiler, LiDAR, etc., give detailed surface profile measurements but are time-consuming. An alternative to profilometers is Response Type Road Roughness Measurement Systems (RTRRMS) which are installed on vehicles and measure how the vehicle responds to the pavement profile. A car-mounted fifth wheel Bump Integrator developed by CRRI in India is commonly used to measure roughness. The fifth wheel bump integrator system works through mechanical instruments producing 'bumps,' a binary, 'true or false' information, instead of 'range based' analog information produced by digital accelerometers commonly found in smartphones. Due to the difficulty in the calibration process, towing for longer distances, and complexity in recording, analyzing, and possible manual errors in recording the data, Cell Phone-based systems are becoming popular for their simplicity in measuring roughness using accelerometers embedded in the cell phone. RoadBounce is one such technology using Cell phone-based mobile Apps to measure roughness. This paper intends to present the findings of testing and evaluation of App-based roughness measurement technology for its accuracy and usability using different vehicles and mobile phones under different speeds, tire pressures, gradients, etc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Smartphones play an extensive position withinside most company investigations into cyber intrusions. Investigations from the Law Enforcement additionally contain cellular gadgets sporting crucial proof that could assist carry the case to its logical conclusion. Smartphones are utilized in several crook justice contexts. The company presents mobile telephones to lots of its personnel as a part of their task duties, and the BOYD (carry your very own tool) idea is broadly adopted, permitting customers to get admission to workplace applications (like Outlook, Skype, etc.) the usage of their very own transportable gadgets. Based on forensic proof from research starting from conventional crimes (homicide, robbery, kidnapping, etc.) to technological crimes like cybersecurity incidents on company-huge cellular facilities, unlawful get admission to or exchanges, or facts theft, the cybercrime inquiry unit can be required to capture the cellular gadgets and ship them to FLS for added analysis. The chain of custody high-quality practices for securing mobile telephones, iPads, company cellular telephones, and BYOD gadgets in a manner that protects the integrity of the proof and is consequently suited in courtroom docket are in short defined on this paper. This paper's chain of custody technique was created especially for cellular platforms which require specific application of mind and use of tools in the reconstruction of the scene of crime as well as management of the evidence due to the variety of operating systems and nature of dynamic evidence which mobile devices have. The necessities of the commercial enterprise and regulation enforcement agencies that might use the record for normal cellular tool investigations in India have been taken into consideration while it was being developed. This paper has been written retaining in view the necessities of each enterprise in addition to the Law Enforcement Agencies to apply it for his or her everyday cybersecurity investigations concerning cellular gadgets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Covid-induced lockdowns have increased the importance of technology in education. Though access to technology as well as availability of the internet remain a major concern for a lot of children in the global south, children with intellectual disabilities are disadvantaged even more as most of the e-content is developed keeping in mind the average learner. Unstructured interviews were conducted with children with intellectual disabilities studying in government schools in Haryana as well as their teachers and parents. Thematic analysis of the interviews was conducted to understand the use-patterns of mobile phones by children with intellectual disabilities. Findings suggest that these children are learning to use mobile phones on their own or with some support and are able to navigate the complexities of these smartphones quite well. They use these devices mostly for their entertainment. This paper then reflects on the need and strategies to develop these technologies in ways that they can be used as effective tools for teaching children with intellectual disabilities, especially in the inclusive education system in developing countries. The paper reflects on the need to develop technology and tools using flexible and exploratory designs to enhance the learning processes for children with intellectual disabilities from the lower income strata. This study highlights the importance of being able to use mobile phones by children with intellectual disabilities belonging to low income families. Following this, the article argues for designing of mobile phones suitable for use by children with intellectual disabilities using playfulness and explorations, and Building e-content keeping the elements of playfulness and exploration which can enhance the learnings of this group of students which is often ignored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Underserved communities face critical health challenges due to lack of access to timely and reliable information. Nongovernmental organizations are leveraging the widespread use of cellphones to combat these healthcare challenges and spread preventative awareness. The health workers at these organizations reach out individually to beneficiaries; however, such programs still suffer from declining engagement. We have deployed Saheli, a system to efficiently utilize the limited availability of health workers for improving maternal and child health in India. Saheli uses the Restless Multi‐armed Bandit (RMAB) framework to identify beneficiaries for outreach. It is the first deployed application for RMABs in public health, and is already in continuous use by our partner NGO, ARMMAN. We have already reached ∼130K beneficiaries with Saheli, and are on track to serve one million beneficiaries by the end of 2023. This scale and impact has been achieved through multiple innovations in the RMAB model and its development, in preparation of real world data, and in deployment practices; and through careful consideration of responsible AI practices. Specifically, in this paper, we describe our approach to learn from past data to improve the performance of Saheli's RMAB model, the real‐world challenges faced during deployment and adoption of Saheli, and the end‐to‐end pipeline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims at analysing the socio-economic characteristics, mobile phone ownership and banking behaviour as key determinants of digital financial inclusion in India. Design/methodology/approach: This study is based on the Global Findex Survey of the World Bank covering 3,000 adult individuals in India. Simple statistical tools such as descriptive statistics, chi-square test and regression analysis with a marginal effect have been used for the data analysis. Findings: About 35.2% of respondents have reported using digital financial services in the country. There is a significant association between the socio-economic profiles of individuals with the adoption of digital financial services in terms of gender, age, education, occupation and income. The marginal effect indicates that socio-economic factors, mobile phone ownership and banking behaviour of individuals towards borrowings and savings have indicated significant influence on digital financial inclusion. The analysis depicts that male with higher age, education, working status and higher income are more likely to adopt digital financial services. Further, individuals with mobile phone ownership and utilising banking in terms of borrowings and savings are more likely to adopt digital financial services. Practical implications: As digital banking services have emerged as a preferred channel for financial service delivery, this study provides timely insights on developing user driven-strategies for promoting digital financial services. Originality/value: Socio-economic characteristics, mobile phone ownership and banking behaviour are critical determinants of financial inclusion, so assessing its implications in the era of digitisation becomes imperative. Peer review: The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-10-2022-0673. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electronic banking is the wave of the future. It delivers huge assistances to consumers in terms of the comfort and cost of transactions. But it also gives new trials for country establishments in modifiable and overseeing the financial scheme and in scheming and applying macroeconomic policy.Online merchants and customers alike expect easy, safe and effective buying and selling processes. New technologies are making that simpler and smoother. But user demands for additional payment features and options lead growth in multiple directions.The focus of this paper is on barriers and challenges in e-banking service sector in India. This paper makes a descriptive study about barriers and challenges in e-banking and tries to identify the factor that causes the problems and challenges. Based on various literature reviews key factors which causes the barriers and challenges were analysed. A survey was done among 100 respondents in and around Chennai city. The paper concludes that major factor which has huge impact and the factors were security issues, internet connectivity issues, internet speed issues, lack of awareness about internet usage, taking too much time to speak with the Telebanker, too much time to resolve the transaction, recharge through mobile phone and not successful, credit card not supported by service provider, takes long time for receiving OTP, card payment not supported, card not deducted by the device, incorrect amount deducted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: A surveillance system is the foundation for disease prevention and control. Malaria surveillance is crucial for tracking regional and temporal patterns in disease incidence, assisting in recorded details, timely reporting, and frequency of analysis. Objective: In this study, we aim to develop an integrated surveillance graphical app called FeverTracker, which has been designed to assist the community and health care workers in digital surveillance and thereby contribute toward malaria control and elimination. Methods: FeverTracker uses a geographic information system and is linked to a web app with automated data digitization, SMS text messaging, and advisory instructions, thereby allowing immediate notification of individual cases to district and state health authorities in real time. Results: The use of FeverTracker for malaria surveillance is evident, given the archaic paper-based surveillance tools used currently. The use of the app in 19 tribal villages of the Dhalai district in Tripura, India, assisted in the surveillance of 1880 suspected malaria patients and confirmed malaria infection in 93.4% (114/122; Plasmodium falciparum), 4.9% (6/122; P vivax), and 1.6% (2/122; P falciparum/P vivax mixed infection) of cases. Digital tools such as FeverTracker will be critical in integrating disease surveillance, and they offer instant data digitization for downstream processing. Conclusions: The use of this technology in health care and research will strengthen the ongoing efforts to eliminate malaria. Moreover, FeverTracker provides a modifiable template for deployment in other disease systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: In India, about one third of tuberculosis (TB) patients diagnosed at tertiary hospitals are missed during a referral to peripheral health institutes for treatment. To address this, we assessed whether mobile voice call reminders to TB patients after diagnosis at a tertiary hospital decrease the proportion of "pretreatment loss to follow-up" (PTLFU), compared with the conventional paper-based referral. Design: A two-group parallel-arm randomized controlled trial was conducted. Setting: The study was conducted in a tertiary care hospital at Puducherry, South India. Participants: All newly diagnosed TB patients, both pulmonary and extrapulmonary, who were referred for treatment from the selected tertiary care hospital and possessed a mobile phone were eligible to participate. The participants were enrolled between March 2015 and June 2016 and were randomized to study groups using the block randomization with allocation concealment. Intervention: The participants in the intervention arm received standardized mobile voice calls reminding them to register for anti-TB treatment on the second and seventh day after referral in addition to the conventional paper-based referral received by the control group. Primary outcomes: Patients not started on anti-TB treatment within 14 days of referral were considered as PTLFU. The outcome of PTLFU was ascertained through phone calls made on the 14th day after referral. The intention-to-treat analysis was used, and the proportion of PTLFU in the study groups and the risk difference with 95% confidence interval (CI) were calculated. Results: Of the 393 patients assessed for eligibility, 310 were randomized to the intervention (n = 155) and control (n = 155) arms. In the intervention arm, 14 (9%) out of 155 were PTLFU compared with 28 (18%) of the 155 patients in the control arm. The absolute risk difference was 9% (95% CI [1.5, 16.6], P = 0.01). Conclusion: Mobile voice call reminder to patients is a feasible intervention and can reduce PTLFU among referred TB patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Communication establishment is crucial for rescue operations in disaster affected areas. A standard tool for communication is the use of cell phones. However, they can be useless in situations where the cellular network's base stations are damaged in a disaster. A contemporary approach to re-establishing a communication network is by hosting base stations in drones. However, low battery life and difficulty in calculating the number of drones needed in different terrains are limitations of the above approach. This paper introduces a novel terrain-aware algorithm that calculates the minimum number of drones needed to cover an area with no voids in the network coverage. Our method ensures that the drones are deployed at optimal heights to maximize the average leftover energy in the network. We apply the algorithm for an actual location in Pettimudi, India and find the optimal number and positions of the drones to cover the area effectively without voids. In addition, we provide a simulation of the the communication establishment using above drones, and our experiments yield an average network efficiency of 98%, showing the effectiveness of our method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We explore the digital gender gap through an examination of mobile phone ownership, usage, and perceptions within the unique regional context of Kerala, India. Our analysis provides an overview of similarities and differences between women and men in the use of the Internet, mobile phones, and social media based on pre-pandemic survey data collected in 2018 from 296 households in four impoverished areas of Thiruvananthapuram. We analyse perceived advantages and disadvantages of mobile and social media use as well as their relative impacts on both men and women. The paper concludes with a discussion of the gendered implications of technology within Kerala and suggest several areas of investigation for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New and emerging technologies have always been playing the vital role in shaping the different services of libraries. These technologies not only help the users to quick, quality and efficient services but also provide a chance to library and information professionals to think outside the box to make their services effective and responsive. Top trends will be familiar to some readers who will hopefully learn of new equipment to expand their knowledge. Other readers will be made aware of trends that are outside of their experience. This is the nature of trends in our current technological and educational environments. The change is constant, but it affects different libraries at different level. With the arrival of affordable smart mobile phones, libraries all over the world have been trying to utilise them for the betterment of their services. QR code is one of the technologies which can be used with smart phones. In India the use of QR Code and smart phones though started late but in these days emerging as basic element of their day to day life and accelerating technology adoption. In this paper author has discussed and highlighted on QR codes and their use in library. It discusses on how the QR Code technology can enhance the library services with Quick and Quality as prime role. This paper is limited to the library based use and services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Digital financial services (DFS) have substantial prospect to offer a number of reasonable, appropriate and secure banking services to the underprivileged in developing countries through pioneering technologies such as mobile phone based solutions, digital platforms and electronic money models. DFS allow unbanked people to obtain access to financial services through digital technologies. However, DFS face tough challenges of adoption. Realising this, the purpose of this paper is to identify such challenges and develop a framework. Design/methodology/approach: The authors developed a framework of challenges by utilising interpretive structural modelling (ISM) and fuzzy MICMAC approach. The authors explored 18 such unique set of challenges culled from the literature and further gathered data from two sets of expert professionals. In the first phase, the authors gathered data from 29 professionals followed by 18 professionals in the second phase. All were pursuing Executive MBA programme from a metropolitan city in South India. The implementation of ISM and fuzzy MICMAC provided a precise set of driving, linkage and dependent variables that were used to derive a framework. Findings: ISM model is split in eight different levels. The bottom level consists of a key driving challenge V11 (i.e. high cost and low return related problem), whereas the topmost level consists of two highly dependent challenges namely V1 (i.e. risk of using digital services) and V14 (i.e. lack of trust). The prescribed ISM model shows the involvement of "high cost and low return related problem (V11)", which triggers further challenges of DFS. Originality/value: None of the existing research has explored key challenges to DFS in detail nor formulated a framework for such challenges. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first paper on DFS that attempts to collate its challenges and incorporate them in a hierarchical model using ISM and further divide them into four categories of factors using fuzzy MICMAC analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper will focus on the problems due to lifestyle in the health status of girl child in urban India. To access lifestyle changes among the girl child, different lifestyle diseases and their impact on health will be emphasized. Lifestyle is an individually constructed behaviour that determines the health and well-being of an individual. Health of the girl child is determined by a wide range of factors like family background, their socialization process, social class, peer group influence and their like. Girl child in urban India is more vulnerable to lifestyle diseases owing to lack of physical activities and improper food habits resulting due to transformation in consumption pattern. As a result, they are susceptible to obesity which leads to health problems in the long run. Besides obesity, lifestyle also develops the risk of other diseases like type-2 diabetics, cardiovascular disease, cancer, etc. In recent years, these diseases have developed a severe public health concern not only among adults but also for children. This study is based on an extensive literature review to identify the evolving problems and significant health risks associated with such diseases. It is observed that the role of media such as television, mobile phone, and access to a computer also play a prominent role in the lifestyle of the girl child. Therefore, this paper also delineates the effect of digital accessories that has changed the preferences and choices of the girl child in multiple ways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to lack of a central bureaucrat in mobile ad hoc networks, the security of the network becomes serious issue. During malicious attacks, according to the motivation of intruder the severity of the threat varies. It may lead to loss of data, energy or throughput. This paper proposes a lightweight Intruder Node Detection and Isolation Action mechanism (INDIA) using feature extraction, feature optimization and classification techniques. The indirect and direct trust features are extracted from each node and the total trust feature is computed by combining them. The trust features are extracted from each node of MANET and these features are optimized using Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm as feature optimization technique. These optimized feature sets are then classified using Neural Networks (NN) classifier which identifies the intruder node. The performance of the proposed methodology is studied in terms of various parameters such as success rate in packet delivery, delay in communication and the amount of energy consumption for identifying and isolating the intruder. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Road traffic accidents have emerged as the new public health challenge of the 21st century. There has been an unprecedented upsurge in the area of auto mobilization like never before in the post-liberalization era in India. With a population close to 1.37 billion people, India now faces the worst ever road congestion in most of the areas. Indian roads are the most vulnerable road in the world. Road traffic injuries are the sixth leading cause of death in India. It is imperative to comprehensively understand the underlying behavioural factors related to road traffic accidents. Literature related to traffic behaviour is sparse in India. The current paper intends to highlight behaviours & underlying determinants, which cause road traffic accidents (RTA). Drunken riding, cell phone usage & tailgating are some of the risky riding behaviour prominent among the young riders in India. The informed evidence from the current review can provide valuable leads to the policymakers at the local level to initiate targeted interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper seeks to analyze whether hold-up as a phenomenon exists in the IndianICT sector. An analysis with respect to the empirical evidence pertaining to presence of hold-up in the Indian ICT sector on the basis of certain factors which have been elucidated in a lotof scholarly works. It was found that there is a clear absence of hold-up in the Indian ICTsector. On an analysis of all the factors through empirical data, it was found that there is apresence of Indian manufacturers at around the years 2012-16, although they had perished interms of lower sales in the face of stiff competition from foreign manufacturers. If therewould be presence of hold-up, then one of the factors which would have shown-up wouldhave been lesser number of players entering the Indian ICT market. Statistics have shownthat till the year 2019 there were a considerable number of manufacturers entering the IndianICT sector (mobile manufacturing sector). These manufacturers have also brought along withthem a considerable range of newer products which have appealed the domestic consumers inIndia. This shows that the phenomenon of patent hold-up is absent in Indian ICT sector. Thestatistics show that from the year 2012-2019 onwards there has also been large increase in thesales of mobile phones which negatives the presence of hold-up. The data showcases that theall the major holders of the patents are non-Indian companies in the Indian ICT sector. Further thedata also shows that the average cost of mobile phones have been constant for a considerableperiod of time. This shows that despite large number of foreign companies having asubstantial number of patents, the average cost of handsets have not risen. Thus, the impact ofholdup as a phenomenon has not shown up in the Indian ICT sector. It was also found that domestic companies in India have negligible R&D investments whichcan be said to cause low or negligible patent portfolios which lead to poor indigenousinnovation on the part of domestic manufacturers which is also not attributable to thephenomenon of patent hold-up in India. Thus it can be clearly absent in the Indian ICT sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over two decades, telecommunication market has been continuing a huge growth in urban, semi-urban and rural regions of India. Investigating and choosing the desirable cellular mobile telephone service providers (TSPs) based on operative constraint can facilitate to obtain the ideal of TSPs selection. Here, the evaluation commonly encompasses different TSP options under various operational factors; thus, the assessment of TSPs can be considered as a rigorous multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) issue. This paper initiates a structure for the exploration of the TSPs in the Madhya Pradesh region, India. To do this, a framework associated with grey relational analysis (GRA) on intuitionistic fuzzy sets (IFSs) is planned to obtain the performance of various telecom participants. The developed approach is based on the conception of the best and worst solutions. To find the attribute weights, a divergence measure is developed and employed by relative comparisons. Additionally, to show the proficiency and practicality, a selection problem of TSPs options of Madhya Pradesh circle, India is presented within the IFSs context. By employing the developed model, an expert can enlarge tactics to enhance the performance by standard operational factors. Comparison and sensitivity analysis are considered to validate the developed approach in the prioritization of the TSPs options. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Covid-19 have put a great impact not only on the national and international economies but also greatly affected the education sector of the world particularly underdeveloped and developing countries. It is producing a negative impact on students mentally, professionally and academically. Before Covid-19 very few people in India were using virtual learning platforms for various projects, trainings, and delivery of other add on courses. But because of the present COVID situation across the world it has become inevitable demand of our society that we should use online mode of learning to fulfill our educational requirements. In this paper a comparative study is done on online versus offline mode of learning in India using different platforms. This study is done to understand the people perception on the most effective way of propagating knowledge to younger generations in India and presenting a clear picture to the world, that which mode, online or offline is more effective and more relevant, during these hard time. The online teaching is very fruitful for a distant learner, but at the same time classroom mode of teaching is beneficial for an average child. Strength of online classes is temporal and spatial flexibility. A learner can access the lecture at anytime and anywhere provided digital technology gadgets such as a laptop, a desktop or a smart mobile phone with internet facilities is available to them. This digitally driven learning also comes with certain health related issues such as eye irritation, anxiety, dullness, headache, sleep disorders, mood swings, restlessness, obesity and many more but Online propagation of education has become a virtue out of necessity in this pandemic even in India. But sometimes poor band width and unstable internet connectivity creates problems, as more than 85% people experienced that this is a major problem during the classes, meetings or attending seminars and webinars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cell phones have become an inherent part of human life and have grown rapidly in the last decade. In India, there are nearly 120 crore cell phone users which require setting up of cell phone tower at an appropriate location to transmit the signals. A signal strength that is measured in (dBm) keeps on varying from one location to another. Over the decades, there has been a great deal of concern about placing a cell phone tower to manage adequate signal strength for an area. During transmission, the signals get affected by the position of building, ground and the distances the signals need to travel before reaching any receiver or user location. Existing researches focus on the requirement of a suitable number of cell phone towers for a big area in a GIS environment. Depending on the building and other infrastructure present in an area an optimal location can be determined for setting up the cell phone tower. However, the detailed 3D data is required for it. In this paper, a LiDAR-based technique is attempted. Using the point cloud data of the RGIPT campus, features like building, ground, obstruction points, etc are extracted. To determine the transmission paths for the signal, building/object boundary(es), etc. coming in the path(s) between the cell phone tower and the receiver location are determined. Once the detailed paths for the signal transmission i.e, direct path, or path after diffraction (around the buildings), and/or reflection (from the wall and ground) are determined, terrain parameters (distance, path difference, attenuation, etc) are ascertained. These are then used to model and determine the relative signal strength for any receiver location. The position of cell phone tower is then tested for optimal XY, and Z position to ascertain the best location for setting up the cell phone tower. The method is verified against various path determination algorithms. A centroid and viewshed based approach is adopted here. The technique is generic, novel and essentially work with LiDAR point data without needing DEM and can be applied for any terrain condition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In India, Telecom sector has been enduring a massive growth for over two and half decades in the bandwidth, preference of services and depth of penetration in urban, semi-urban and rural areas. Exploring the service providers or selecting the best cellular mobile telephone service providers (CMTSPs/TSPs) according to operational performance parameter can help to achieve the goal of telecom service provider selection (TSPS). Here, this assessment generally comprises various TSPs alternatives and different operational performance criteria; therefore, TSPS could be considered as a multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) problem. The analytical data have been taken from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), Jan–Mar 2017. Most of the data vary from 1 month to another. Thus, these small ranges of variation in the data are incorporated with the intuitionistic fuzzy numbers (IFNs). In this paper, we develop an outranking method, intuitionistic fuzzy ELECTRE (IF-ELECTRE), for MCDM problems. Proposed method is based on divergence measure, operators of IFNs, some modifications of classical ELECTRE method. In the MCDM, the criterion weight determination is a vital issue for the accuracy of evaluation results. In the process of calculation of criterion weight, concordance and discordance values, we propose new Jensen–Shannon divergence (JS-divergence) for IFSs to overcome the shortcoming of the existing ones and demonstrate different elegant properties of the proposed one. Since the uncertainty is an inevitable feature of MCDM problems, the proposed method can be a valuable tool for decision-making in an uncertain atmosphere to determine the partial-preference outranking order. To express the strength and reasonableness of the proposed method in the real-world MCDM problems, a TSPS problem is implemented. Using the proposed framework, a decision expert can make a strategy to improve the performance by benchmarking operational parameters. Finally, a comparison is discussed between the results of the proposed method and the existing ones for validating the proposed method. This analysis shows that the proposed method is efficient and well consistent with the other methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of gender empowerment is a common concern all over the World. This issue has now acquired new dimensions with the advent of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in development countries like India. It has potential to empower women through by overcoming their physical boundaries and access to better economic & business opportunities and education & health services. This paper aims to study the impact of mobile phone access and usage by women from rural areas who are hitherto deprived and isolated due to various social and economic reasons. In total, 200 women (100 users and 100 non-users) were interviewed in two villages in backward or poor districts of Uttar Pradesh. The women interviewees described their experiences, their access & uses of mobile phone and its impact on their lives and barriers or obstacles of accessing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Poverty affects many people, but the ramifications and impacts affect all aspects of society. Information about the incidence of poverty is therefore an important parameter of the population for policy analysis and decision making. In order to provide specific, targeted solutions when addressing poverty disadvantage small area statistics are needed. Surveys are typically designed and planned to produce reliable estimates of population characteristics of interest mainly at higher geographic area such as national and state level. Sample sizes are usually not large enough to provide reliable estimates for disaggregated analysis. In many instances estimates are required for areas of the population for which the survey providing the data was unplanned. Then, for areas with small sample sizes, direct survey estimation of population characteristics based only on the data available from the particular area tends to be unreliable. This paper describes an application of small area estimation (SAE) approach to improve the precision of estimates of poverty incidence at district level in the State of Bihar in India by linking data from the Household Consumer Expenditure Survey 2011–12 of NSSO and the Population Census 2011. The results show that the district level estimates generated by SAE method are more precise and representative. In contrast, the direct survey estimates based on survey data alone are less stable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India’s telecommunication services have become one of the fastest growing businesses in the world (Forbes.com, 2011). As per TRAI (2021) data, India’s telecommunication network is the second largest in the world by number of telephone users (both fixed and mobile phones) with 1179.49 million subscribers as on 31 January 2021. India has the world’s second-largest Internet user-base with 747.41 million broadband internet subscribers (TRAI, 2020). Telecom sectors play a vital role in providing support for social and economic growth while transforming multiple sectors such as IT, insurance, education, health, etc. This study focusses on human resource management practices in the public and private telecom company. The main aim of this research is to compare the existing HRM practices in BSNL and Airtel. In order to achieve the objectives of the study, three hypotheses were developed and tested using independent t-test. A pre-structured questionnaire was designed to collect data of employees’ views on HRM practices in public and private companies. A total of 84 respondents (BSNL=62, Airtel=22) has been considered using convenient sampling method. The findings of the study reveals that human resource practices in private telecom company are well planned, adequate and effective for employees compared to the public sector company. The findings can be used by telecommunication sectors to improve the welfare and management of employees in their company. This study shows the importance of HRM in the achievement of organizational goals and objectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of information and communication technology leads to government of India move towards Electronic Governance (E-Governance). India is moving towards digital. Mobile Governance (M-Governance) is assumed as a part of Digital India. Since there is lot of enhance in the users of mobile device, this enforce the government of India to move from Electronic Governance (E-Governance) to Mobile Governance (M-Governance). Mobile Governance (M-Governance) enhances the quality of services which can be provided from Mobile Government to Citizen, Business, and Employees. Nowadays mobile devices have been a necessity item rather than being luxury item. Even a person, whose income is less, is afforded to buy Mobile and use internet facility. So mobile has been a necessity to their life. In the light of increased mobile penetration in India to take an opportunity to provide or render various government services to citizen through mobile device and internet facility, this helps to improve their interaction with citizen and increase the quality of their services towards the citizen. From this citizen will be able to access Electronic Governance (E-Governance) service by using mobile device, WiFi enabled devices and wireless network as a source to access the information. This paper presents a direction script of mobile employment and its penetration in India. The data presents the framework of mobile users and this framework of data shows an important opportunity to implement and development of Mobile Governance (M-Governance) to the citizens of India and this service leads to render their services to their door step. Mobile Governance (M-Governance) renders transformational capacity to draw out access to user of services, to draw out the delivery of new services, to increase active citizen participation in operation of government and to change the way of working. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Background: The DeWorm3 trial is a multi-country study testing the feasibility of interrupting transmission of soil-transmitted helminths by community-wide mass drug administration (cMDA). Treatment coverage during cMDA delivery was validated by in-person coverage evaluation surveys (CES) after each round of treatment. A mobile phone-based CES was carried out in India when access to households was restricted during the COVID-19 lockdown. Methods: Two focus group discussions were conducted with the survey implementers to document their experiences of conducting phone-based CES via mobile-phone voice calls. Principal findings: In the phone-based CES, only 56% of sampled households were reached compared to 89% during the in-person CES (89%). This was due to phone numbers being wrongly recorded, or calls being unanswered leading to a higher number of households that had to be sampled in order to achieve the sample size of 2,000 households in phone-based CES compared in-person CES (3,600 and 2,352 respectively). Although the phone-based CES took less time to complete than in person coverage evaluations, the surveyors highlighted the lack of gender representation among phone survey participants as it was mostly men who answered calls and were then interviewed. The surveyors also mentioned that eliciting responses to open-ended questions and confirming treatment compliance from every member of the household was challenging during phone based CES. These observations were confirmed by analysing the survey participation data which showed women's participation in CES was significantly lower in phone-based CES (66%) compared to in-person CES (94%) (Z = -22.38; p<0.01) and that a significantly higher proportion of households provided proxy responses in phone-based CES (51%) compared to in-person CES (21%) (Z = 20.23; p<0.01). Conclusions: The phone-based CES may be a viable option to evaluate treatment coverage but issues such as participation bias, gender inclusion, and quality of responses will need to be addressed to optimize this methodology. Author summary: The DeWorm3 Project is a community cluster-randomized trial being conducted in Benin, India, and Malawi to test the feasibility of interrupting STH transmission by six rounds of biannual community-wide MDA (cMDA). As recommended by the World Health Organization, coverage evaluation surveys (CES) among 2,000 households were carried out in the DeWorm3 Project to validate reported treatment coverage of cMDA. During the COVID-19 lockdown in April 2020, the fifth round of CES was conducted using mobile phones instead of in-person survey. In phone-based CES, only 56% of sampled households were reached compared to 89% during the in-person CES. This was due to phone numbers being wrongly recorded, or calls being unanswered leading to a higher number of households that had to be sampled in order to achieve the sample size of 2,000 households in phone-based CES compared in-person CES (3,600 and 2,352 respectively). Focus group discussions conducted with the interviewers showed that phone-based CES took less time to complete than in-person CES; mostly men responded to the interview call; and eliciting responses to open-ended questions and confirming treatment compliance from every member of the household was challenging. These observations were also confirmed by analysing the survey participation data that showed less participation by women and more proxy responses in the phone based CES. Collecting phone numbers of women and avoiding open-ended questions may improve the women's participation and quality of responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies have identified affect as constitutive of and woven into everyday life. Less work has focused on how affect is designed and produced through consumer services and goods to modulate human–technical assemblages for commercial and economic ends. In this paper, I draw on social geography, affect studies, and postcolonial media studies to analyse value creation in the Indian mobile phone market, specifically in the deployment of an Indian form of workaround called ‘jugaad’. Following nonrepresentational analyses of digital practices, I identify this market as a collection of human–technical assemblages that are marketed through a rhetoric of frugal innovation or jugaad. Moving through examples from fieldnotes, case studies, and reports, the analysis of the affective atmospheres of Indian mobile phone marketing communications appraises televised Bharti Airtel adverts. Findings of this analysis suggest affect has spatial, temporal, and economic dimensions, as well as being embedded in everyday experiences of a newly distributed subaltern agency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to understand the acceptance of mobile-money (m-money) among target populations, i.e. below-poverty-line citizens in India, using the technology acceptance model (TAM). The m-money service is a major initiative that can enable the provision of low-cost and speedy money transfer through mobile phones, especially in developing countries such as India. For a large section of the population in India, m-money can act as a way to achieve financial inclusion. However, for m-money to succeed, users should accept the initiative wholeheartedly. Design/methodology/approach – The survey data were collected from 225 actual and prospective m-money users and analysed using partial least square technique. Findings – The findings imply that the trust and the core constructs of TAM such as perceived usefulness, trust and attitude towards usage contribute in influencing the intention to accept m-money. Perceived ease of use neither impacts perceived usefulness nor attitude towards usage. Practical implications – This research also provides possible explanations for the significant relationships between the constructs and discusses how this information can be used to enhance the acceptance of m-money among poor Indians. Originality/value – This research is original and is based on primary data collection and its interpretation. It provides thorough empirical insights on the acceptance of m-money among poor Indian citizens which is currently a weakly addressed and empirically less explored area of research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social innovations implemented by public libraries rarely alleviate poverty. Mobile payments (i.e., financial transactions over mobile phones) represent the most widely used solution to alleviate poverty in developing countries, provided that people living in poverty have mobile, financial, and information literacy. This article reports a 3-year-plus study of proposing, testing, customizing, and disseminating a practice-based, outcome-driven, and community-oriented social innovation in the form of a "unified mobile, financial, and information literacy toolkit" to public librarians in India, who can assess mobile, financial, and information literacy of the poor at once and enhance their mobile payment readiness. Public libraries can be a strategic partner of the United Nations and governments in developing countries for addressing the grand challenge of poverty in society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Designing an automatic vehicle detection (AVD) system from still images or videos would be a useful tool to cater to the requirements of the traffic management system. Over the past few years, numerous databases have been developed for the use of researchers in this field of AVD. However, most of them are not acceptable in the Indian scenarios due to certain practical constraints like the road infrastructure, nature of congestion, and vehicle types commonly found in India. The aim of this research is to develop a still image database, named as JUVDsi v1, which includes nine different types of vehicle classes collected through mobile phone cameras in various ways for designing an automated traffic management system. Identifying and analyzing the shortcomings of existing databases, the developed database presents an improvement to address such bottle-necks. Furthermore, the efficiency of this database is evaluated using an ensemble of three state-of-the-art deep learning architectures. At first, each vehicle in the scene images is localized and categorized. Five base object detection models, namely, YOLOv3, Faster-RCNN, RFCN, SSDv1 and SSDLitev2 are used. Finally, the Weighted Boxes Fusion technique is used as the ensemble method (ensemble of best three out of the five base learners), thereby enhancing the performance obtained by the individual object detection models. The database can be found at: https://github.com/JUVDsi/JUVD-Still-Image-database.git. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Media usage has become an important component of our everyday lives. The use of media has become omnipresent in today's Information Technology era. The adoption of various media is blurring geographical, social and economic barriers. Geographical and economic barriers have been overcome owing to advancement of affordable technology and social barriers have been relaxed owing to mixing of various cultures in a globalised world. But has this penetration of media reached the marginalised sections of the society? This paper tried to study the use of media among marginalised communities. It aimed to understand if the media has defied the barriers for those who are geographically isolated as well as socially and, economically backward. This study found that even now marginalised was not able to access much of media. Very few were able to access traditional media including newspaper, television and radio but the present study revealed that most of the marginalised households were having mobile phones. Mobile phone was found to have broken geographical, social and economic boundaries as compared to other media. Mobile phone can be a good agent of bringing about desired changes among marginalised communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The evolution of mobile phones from basic to smart phones has spread technology across age, gender, and region. Mobile phone addiction has become a behavioural addiction among students. Anxiety and Fear of Missing out cause university students to check their phones 150 times a day, a new study finds. People also use smartphones for non-calling purposes, such as accessing social networking sites, using Google, and watching YouTube videos. Aims & Objectives: The study is to assess the level of addiction to smart phone Usage, and its associated implication on youth from selected colleges in Chennai City. Materials and Methods: Over the period of six months the data pertaining to the study area was collected through a structured questionnaire. A total of 200+ samples were collected factors arrtibuting to usage of mobiles using the google forms from selected colleges at Chennai. Descriptive and inferential statistics would be calculated for the data set to draw meaningful inferences out the data and to draw conclusion. Preferably Correlation between - no. of hours spent on social media usage, gaming, OTT(Over-the-Top), change in lifestyle (Behavioural change among youths) due to smartphone usage addiction and Percentage Analysis, Correlation and Chi-square test would be carried out to know the exact relationship among the variables using SPSS v.21. Results: There is a negative correlation exists between time for study and time dedicated for study which means students are not concentrating and positive relationship exist between time for study to studies besides games which means playing games while study. Negative relationship exists between time for study to skipping meal and frequently checking mobile phone for notifications. Concentrate on studies besides games to obedient to parents is found to be positively correlated and avoiding social events, skipping meal and frequency of checking mobile for alters is negatively correlated, which means studies beside playing games is a new way of learning it goes side by side. Students are not ready to participate in social events, skip meal and not like to avoid frequently checking their mobile for alerts/ notifications. Conclusion and Suggestions: Gender and Time spent on social media, Attributes to check and use mobile frequently, Time Spent on Gaming apps, Time spent on favourite social media app, Time spent on OTT apps are associated with each other. Irrespective of gender the Time spent on the above things is same. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Effective on‐road safety requires proper maintenance of vehicles. In the trucking sector in India, there is a need for supporting predictive maintenance to decrease downtime and improve safety. Improving maintenance in this sector involves certain challenges. First, most trucks are owned by small‐scale fleet owners (trucks < 5). Second, maintenance is often handled by small‐scale mechanic workshops. The fault diagnosis is very often limited to recognition by the driver and later reassessed by the mechanic by relying on the feel or the sound of the vehicle. Third, a majority of stakeholders in this sector—drivers, mechanics, and owners—have low levels of education. Despite these challenges, with the increase in the rate of digitalization, in the future, it will be easier to monitor the health of the parts of a truck. In addition, there is a developing trend of mobile phone and internet penetration in India that has leapfrogged a majority of Indians into becoming "emergent users" of information technology. Therefore, this article shows that sociotechnical approaches such as ecological interface design can be used to develop mobile interfaces for supporting predictive maintenance through health and usage monitoring of trucks for small‐scale fleet owners in India. To develop the interface, a field study was conducted at several sites in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. The insights were used to develop scenarios and the abstraction hierarchy, which were later used creatively to develop the interface design for emergent users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India is divided into 22 Service Areas consisting of 19 Telecom Circle Service Areas and 3 Metro Service Areas for providing Cellular Mobile Telephone Service (CMTS). The country’s mobile Penetration 84% and Internet penetration 60%. The 22 LSAs were conceived in 1995 were based on revenue earning potential in 1995 but after the 5G Auctions 2022 we have to move a finer granulation of the market. This is because 22 LSAs are heterogeneous in its willingness to pay across the range of digital services. Indian Telecom is a 4-player market, R.Jio, Airtel, VI, and BSNL. Post 5G Auctions there has to be closer alignment with the market characteristics. Customizations according to LSA may not be practical. IoT, machine-to-machine communication Gaming, and Augmented reality will see a huge demand in the period leading from 2023. 5G implies short range data intensive communication. It came without surprise when the mm waves saw the maximum subscription in this auction. mm waves account for high data capacity with less penetration. Hence we will see a migration from to micro and Pico cells. LSA will have to model on micro cells for high intensity usage. Operators will need to focus on minimum viable area-Smallest area compatible with profitable operations. This will need redesign of the current LSAs and split circle to reduce barrier promote competition and innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We focus on aspects of the weather in India in two of our articles, beginning on p. 83 with Ancy Thomas and her co-authors' paper, which asks 'How accurate are the weather forecasts available to the public in India?' As in much of the world, services are now available from a range of providers, in particular through mobile phones and personal computers. As in Britain, there is much interest in the weather in India, where heat, drought, pollution, chill and torrential rainfall are common visitors, but on an irregular basis. As elsewhere in the world, orography plays an important part in the variability of the Indian climate and day-to-day weather. Compared with a range of weather parameters, observed at both manned and automatic weather stations of the India Meteorological Department, forecasts from the Real Time Weather System, AccuWeather and Weather Underground all verify relatively poorly, although performance varies in space and time, as well as by parameter. Sporadic rainfall is a characteristic of the weather of India, in the months preceding the arrival of the monsoon in June and July. Priya Narayanan and her co-authors look at changes in this precipitation in 'Trend analysis and forecast of pre-monsoon rainfall over India' on p. 94. They conclude that although changes in this rainfall can be seen in data, the variation is different by month and location. In addition, it seems likely that the trend towards change will persist in future years. On p. 88 James and Samuel Curran look at the record of atmospheric carbon dioxide from Mauna Loa observatory in Hawaii in order to examine the rate at which this atmospheric carbon is sequestered. 'Indications of positive feedback in climate change due to a reduction in Northern Hemisphere biomass uptake of atmospheric carbon dioxide' explains that, although there is not only an increase in year-on-year atmospheric carbon dioxide, the evidence of significant carbon sequestration in this record is changing. The intra-annual fall in concentrations between May and September shows that this may be reaching a limit, the oceans and biomass less able to absorb the CO2 we produce. Finally a viewpoint article 'Shakespeare's Tempest, witchcraft and the Little Ice Age' looks at the rather gruesome effects of the relatively cold climate between 1350 and 1850. Gerald Stanhill shows how crop failures, shipwrecks and more generally tough living conditions in Europe led to witchcraft trials and their portrayal in the works of William Shakespeare, starting on p. 100. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To explore ways in which social and economic interactions are changed by access to mobile telephony. Method: This is a mixed-methods study of mobile phone use among 52 urban professionals with vision impairments in Bangalore, India. Results: Interviews and survey results indicated that mobile devices, specifically those with adaptive technology software, play a vital role as multi-purpose devices that enable people with disabilities to navigate economically and socially in an environment where accessibility remains a significant challenge. Conclusions: We found that mobile devices play a central role in enabling and sustaining weak ties, but also that these weak ties have important gender-specific implications. We found that women have less access to weak ties than men, which impacts women's access to assistive technology (AT). This has potential implications for women's sense of safety and independence, both of which are strongly related to AT access. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Physicians who are primary care providers in rural communities form an essential stakeholder group in rural mobile health (mHealth) delivery. This study was exploratory in nature and was conducted in Udupi district of Karnataka, India. The purpose of this study is to examine the perceptions of rural medical officers (MOs) (rural physicians) regarding the benefits and challenges of mobile phone use by community health workers (CHWs). Design/methodology/approach: In-depth interviews were conducted among 15 MOs belonging to different primary health centers of the district. Only MOs with a minimum five years of experience were recruited in the study using purposive and snowball sampling. This was followed by thematic analysis of the data collected. Findings: The perceptions of MOs regarding the CHWs' use of mobile phones were largely positive. However, they reported the existence of some challenges that limits the potential of its full use. The findings were categorized under four themes namely, benefits of mobile phone use to CHWs, benefits of mobile phone-equipped CHWs, current mobile phone use by CHWs and barriers to CHWs' mobile phone use. The significant barriers reported in the CHWs' mobile phone use were poor mobile network coverage, technical illiteracy, lack of consistent technical training and call and data expense of the CHWs. The participants recommend an increased number of mobile towers, frequent training in mobile phone use and basic English language for the CHWs as possible solutions to the barriers. Originality/value: Studies examining the perceptions of doctors who are a primary stakeholder group in mHealth as well as in the public health system scenario are limited. To the authors' knowledge, this is one of the first studies to examine the perception of rural doctors regarding CHWs' mobile phone use for work in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Cell phones are an integral part of modern day life and have become companions for individuals irrespective of age, gender and socio-economic status. In this study, we assessed the factors affecting risk of cell phone addiction among teachers attending Life Skills Training and Counselling Services (LSTCS) program in Karnataka.Methods: This cross sectional secondary data analysis utilised data from baseline assessment of trainees attending a Life Skills Training and Counselling Services program (LSTCP). Various factors hypothesised to be affecting risk of cell phone addiction (outcome) was analysed using univariate and multivariable logistic regression analysis. All the analysis was done using STATA 12.0 software.Results: Multivariable logistic regression analysis was conducted with risk of cell phone addiction as outcome. A conceptual framework of hypothesized exposure variables was developed based on expert consultation and literature review. Overall, data of 1981 participants was utilized. Gender (AOR=1.91; 95% CI=1.27-2.77), number of peers (AOR=1.01; 95 CI=1-1.008) and social quality of life (AOR=1.01; 95% CI=1.00-1.03) were associated with increased risk of cell phone addiction. Age (AOR=0.98; 95%CI=0.96-1.00), empathy (AOR=0.96;95%;CI=0.93-0.99), communication skills(AOR=0.92, 95%;CI=0.88-0.96) and physical quality of life (AOR=0.96; 95% CI=0.95-0.98) were associated with reduced risk of cell phone addiction.Conclusions: This study on precursors of risk of cell phone addiction, conducted mostly among apparently healthy individuals, provide important insights into interventions to reduce risk of cell phone addiction. The complexity of associations between peers, gender, quality of life and risk of cell phone addiction needs further exploration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India is moving quickly towards its dream of ‘Digital India’ to transform India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy. As a result, mobile penetration in India is creating records every year in the global market. Simultaneously the social media platforms are pulling mobile users towards its attractive content to mint money. Is growing mobile usage a real indicator of digital India? Do these smartphones are really making their users smart enough? The growing market for smartphones is a positive indicator for growth in communication networks but it is also hard to ignore the impact of smartphones on mental health and cyber theft. Therefore, this study was designed to find out not only the usage of smartphones among youth but also their impact on their mental health and perceptions towards cyber security. A mixed methodology was adopted to meet the set objectives. The study reveals that there is a huge usage of smartphones among youth and they all are aware about its effects on their mental health and threats to cyber security, but they are not able to resist using mobile phones daily as it has become part of their life, and they lack cyber security knowledge though they are aware of cybercrimes in society. So, it is important to understand that digital India is not about smartphones and technology but it is about producing smart Individuals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In patients with chronic diseases condition, mobile health monitoring facility proves to play a significant role in providing significant assistance toward personal management. This research examined the use of smartphones by diabetes patients and their intentions to apply them for self-care and monitoring as well as management. This cross-sectional survey-based study was conducted in Jul-Aug 2021 with 200 diabetic patients (especially type 2) who were visiting specialized clinics and hospitals of Gujrat state, India. A validated questionnaire survey was designed to collect data, which included questions about demographics, information pertaining to other, use of cellphones, the Internet, and the intention to implement smartphones for diabetes monitoring, self-care, and self-management. A highest number of studied participants have mobile phone (97.5%) and smartphones (87%) and access the Internet on daily basis (83.5%). Younger participants were more inclined to use smartphone apps and have also shown more interest for continuous use in the future (p < 0.01). The majority of participants used apps for nutritional planning (85.5%), to monitor glucose control (76.5%), and for scheduling of diabetes appointments on the calendar (90.5%). Recommendations to use mobile app by doctors or healthcare profession were reported by 20.5% of the participants and attitude and future intention to use mobile apps were reported by the majority of participants. The majority of type 2 diabetes patients choose to use their cellphones and the internet or mobile phone reminder system for medication as well as to plan their diets, monitor their blood sugar levels, and communicate with their doctors. The findings of this research can be used to develop strategies and implement mHealth-based therapies to assist patients with type 2 diabetes to efficiently manage their health and might contribute to reducing patients' out-of-pocket expenditure as well as reducing disability-adjusted life years (DAILY) attributed by DM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Technological developments have a major impact on user behavior. The rapidly evolving communication system and technology have provided numerous choices for people. The ever-shifting changes in the generation of communication networks have posed challenges for mobile network service providers to attract and retain customers. This study aims to prioritize the determinants of the adoption of mobile network service providers using the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT-2). In this study, data were collected from 660 mobile phone users in Haryana, India. A fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (F-AHP) was applied to arrange the priority or rank the factors based on the significance of the factors in explaining the adoption of mobile network service providers. Results of the study reveal that efforts expectancy is the highest-ranked and prioritized factor for the adoption of mobile network service providers followed by performance expectancy and facilitating conditions. However, social influence emerged as the least important factor. The present study provides theoretical implications for future researchers by synthesizing and prioritizing the important factors affecting technology acceptance. The practical implications offer a clearer insight to marketers for developing focused pragmatic strategies to retain customer loyalty. The study has considered only UTAUT-2 model constructs and used the F-AHP technique. Other factors may be considered in future studies. Other priority analysis techniques can also be used such as ISM and MICMAC analysis for further study. The research has been conducted in Haryana, India, and therefore, it needs to be tested in other areas/countries for generalizability. JEL Classification: O1, O2, O4 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Today, in this era of globalization marketers have not only focused serving the needs of urban customers with value, but also have started giving importance to Indian rural market. The Indian mobile industry is growing fastest in the world and continues to add more mobile phone connections every month. This growth is noticed due to liberalization of telecommunication laws and policies. According to Gartner report, after China, India would be the fastest telephone market in Asia Pacific. The Indian rural market with its vast size and demand base offers great opportunities to many marketers. Rural India comprises around 840 million people; around 70% of population, with over 600,000 villages and 56 per cent of national income. The Indian rural market generates about 50 per cent of the country's gross domestic product. There is a slight improvement in the purchasing pattern of rural consumers as their discretionary income is increasing. If India is a huge market for mobile phone, it is also due to huge population based in rural part of India. Marketers have to work on strategies to capture the growing rural market by understanding the needs of rural consumers, which is different compared to urban consumers based on affordability and preferences, strive to provide those products and services to have a profitable exchange. The companies need to make proper assessment while marketing for the rural India. India has approximately 700 million mobile phone users, out of which 320 million are rural mobile users (How smartphones are penetrating deeper in rural India, 25th May 2015, The rural Marketing Journal). The penetration of mobile phone in rural market has increased from 22% to 38% in the last four years. This research is an attempt to fill the gap by considering an extensive work on mobile phone as a potential market due to its 'essential' need for rural market of India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In high-income countries, population health surveys often measure mental health. This is less common in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), including in India, where mental health is under-researched relative to its disease burden. The objective of this study is to assess the performance of two questionnaires for measuring population mental health in a mobile phone survey. We adapt the Kessler-6 screening questionnaire and the World Health Organization's Self-Reporting Questionnaire (SRQ) for a mobile phone survey in the Indian states of Bihar, Jharkhand and Maharashtra. The questionnaires differ in the symptoms they measure and in the number of response options offered. Questionnaires are randomly assigned to respondents. We consider a questionnaire to perform well if it identifies geographic and demographic disparities in mental health that are consistent with the literature and does not suffer from selective non-response. Both questionnaires measured less mental distress in Maharashtra than in Bihar and Jharkhand, which is consistent with Maharashtra's higher human development indicators. The adapted SRQ, but not the adapted Kessler-6, identified women as having worse mental health than men in all three states. Conclusions about population mental health based on the adapted Kessler-6 are likely to be influenced by low response rates (about 82% across the three samples). Respondents were different from non-respondents: non-respondents were less educated and more likely to be female. The SRQ's higher response rate (about 94% across the three states) may reflect the fact that it was developed for use in LMICs and that it focuses on physical, rather than emotional, symptoms, which may be less stigmatized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mobile telephony penetration has reached up to the remote location of globe enabling access to communication to each individual. This communication access and technology can also assist individuals to gain financial inclusion specifically in emerging economies like India. This study aims to address the issue of financial inclusion and inclusive economic growth through the development of mobile penetration in India. The study targets financially excluded Indian urban poor segment and aims to address the missing linkages between mobile telephone, digital transaction, and financial inclusion during demonetization. The study follows qualitative research design. Qualitative research design aims to address the nexus between financial inclusion and mobile telephony from the demand side. The study conducts 52 in‐depth interviews collected under naturalistic observations from the urban poor segment of society across major cities of India. Open coding method is followed to analyze the in‐depth interviews to assimilate information from various emerging themes. Qualitative data analysis identifies various themes to understand the usage of mobile telephony for any financial transaction, financial planning by the urban poor segment. The study explores various reasons behind financial exclusion of urban poor segment and how mobile telephony adoption can be utilized to attain financial inclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]