Search

Indian banking sector act as a backbone of the Indian economy. Most of the banks are offering contemporary services to its customers. Every bank is trying to maximize its profit by offering superior online services. An empirical study has been conducted to check the perception and satisfaction level of the customers towards internet banking. Study concludes that some demographic features like age, occupation, qualification are having significant impact on the perception level of respondents towards online services. There is significant association between superior online banking services and customer satisfaction.

The work function (WF) of a material governs the back and forth movement of the charge carriers across the hetero-interface of two materials. Therefore, for optimum device performance, precise knowledge of the WF is prerequisite while employing any new material in electronic devices. In this work, using metal oxide semiconductor capacitors, we experimentally determine the WF of layered van der Waals topological semimetals (TSMs) 1T′-MoTe2, 1T-PtSe2, and Td-WTe2 as 4.87, 5.05, and 4.82 eV, respectively. The experimentally obtained results are corroborated with density functional theory calculations. Furthermore, by analyzing the vertical current transport across the metal oxide semiconductor stack using Fowler–Nordheim tunneling formalism, the barrier height between the TSMs and the gate insulator (SiO2) is experimentally calculated. The obtained barrier heights are also following the same trend as that of WF for three TSMs. These TSMs host unique topological nontrivial phases potentially useful for the development of emerging quantum technologies, and therefore, the findings of this study are significant for designing the future quantum devices.

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected more than 214 countries across the world, disrupting the supply of essential commodities. As the pandemic has spread, humanitarian activities (HAs) have attempted to manage the various situation but appear ineffective due to lack of collaboration and information sharing, inability to respond towards disruption, etc. This study aims to determine and provide insights into the critical factors that may enhance the effectiveness of HAs during the pandemic. A systematic literature review was undertaken to explore critical factors and validated by experts using the fuzzy–Delphi method. These were further assessed to identify the cause-and-effect relationship by means of the fuzzy decision-making trial and laboratory (DEMATEL) method. The results show that building a blockchain-enabled digital humanitarian network (BT-DHN) is the most significant factor during the pandemic. The use of digital platforms for sharing real-time information enhances the effectiveness of HAs. This study offers stakeholders, policymakers, and decision-makers the opportunity to consider these factors in strategic planning to deal with pandemic disruption.

The integration of non-conventional energy sources like wind energy for economical operation is not just increasing the size of the modern power system but also the complexity in meeting the load demand. Hence, a better control scheme and optimization technique is required to maintain the system equilibrium. In the current paper, a two interconnected area electrical power system (both the areas comprising of a hydro power plant, thermal power plant, gas power plant and doubly fed induction generator (DFIG)) has been analyzed. A Proportional-Integral-Derivative (PID) controller with a derivative filter has been used to manage the damping in the system. Further, a new meta-heuristic Hybrid Salp Swarm Differential Evolution Algorithm (HSSDEA) optimization technique has been used to optimize the controller gain.