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Fibre-reinforced foamed urethane (FFU) composite sleepers and bearers are safety-critical components installed in complex railway switches and crossings. Not only does they need to provide vertical track support, the composite sleepers and bearers must also endure longitudinal and lateral actions stemming from complex wheel and rail interactions. In reality, the railway bearers at crossing noses are susceptible to coupling torsional-flexural loading. The complex non-linear behaviours have never been investigated numerically nor experimentally. It is thus necessary to comprehend torsional-flexural behaviours of FFU composite sleepers and bearers through finite element and experimental approaches. 3D finite element modelling of FFU composite beams have been established to predict the non-linear coupling behaviours. Three specimens of FFU beams have been prepared for robust experiments under each load case. Our studies exhibit excellent agreement between numerical and experimental results. The ductile failure behaviours (post yield point) have been observed from the experiments. Considerable effects of load eccentricity on the flexure–torsion behaviours of the composite members can also be noted. In addition, the load-eccentricity curves have been identified to portray the non-linear behaviour of the railway components under coupling flexural and torsional loadings. The new insights considering their load–displacement relationships, modes of failure and damage, flexural and torsional interactions are the precursors for railway engineers to design and adopt FFU composite sleepers and bearers in practice where complex wheel/rail interface generally causes coupling torsional and vertical loading conditions.

The article "Exploring the Tourism Dynamics: Management, Innovation and Sustainability" discusses the importance of tourism as a major contributor to the global economy and its role in employment generation. It highlights the vulnerability of the tourism industry and the need for technological innovation and digital marketing. The article also emphasizes the importance of a skilled workforce and the responsibility of tourism professionals towards sustainable practices. It presents various studies on topics such as entrepreneurial intentions, employee loyalty, sustainable environment efforts, innovation in organizations, accessible tourism, tourism education, carrying capacity for sustainable tourism development, service quality and satisfaction in wellness tourism. The article concludes by emphasizing the need for inclusive and sustainable development in tourism. [Extracted from the article]

Copyright of Makara Human Behavior Studies in Asia is the property of DADPPRI UI and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Virtual Reality (VR) games have attracted the attention of customers lately since they have been offering the most immersive experience through amusement park rides such as VR roller coasters and VR games related to adventure, thrill, scare, etc. Bangalore being a gem of the tourist destination and an IT hub was chosen for the study as it has the greatest potential of offering various VR experiences to the customers. The top 6 of Bangalore's VR game centers were selected based on the popularity and review count from Trip Advisor and Google reviews websites. Analyzing user-generated content has become an intriguing part of business research to find valuable marketing insights for better decisionmaking. The empirical findings show that the majority of the customers are extremely satisfied with the VR experiences and illusion emerges to be the major influencing factors for experiential satisfaction and customers are ready to spend for VR when the VR experiential dimensions meet the expected standards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Makara Human Behavior Studies in Asia is the property of DADPPRI UI and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Aflatoxins (AFs) are the most potent and ubiquitously found mycotoxins, capable of causing contamination in agricultural products. Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) is the most toxic and primarily produced Aflatoxin and will be a real threat to the safety of food and feeds. The current study searched for the potential of Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) isolated from animal excreta for AFB1 mitigation. Three LAB out of 56 isolates were found to exhibit more than 50% sorbent action with AFB1 in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) and were identified as Lactococcuslactis strain CF_6 (OP183481) (65.38%), Lacticaseibacillus casei strain CW_3 (OP183482)(52.63%) and Lactobacillus acidophilus strain CE_4 (OP183483)(63.13%). More than 60% of the total AFB1 removal was observed in 2 hr of incubation, and maximum sorbent action was found at a pH 6-7 range at 37o C for 24 hours. In the Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) analysis, heat-killed cells showed a significant increase in cell surface binding area, which improved the surface binding for all isolates except L. casei strain CW_3; however, it proves that LAB surface binding is strain-specific rather than heat treatment. Moreover, the rise in AFB1 concentration improved the rate of the sorbent action but did not observe any substantial changes in total AFB1 detoxification. So, it is concluded that the animal excreta may be a versatile source of probiotic LAB for AFB1 detoxification by surface binding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to understand the decision making pattern of the Business Travellers in Delhi National Capital Region in India while booking their trips through Online Travel Portals. The study revolves around purchase decision pattern of Business Travellers by investigating their travel decision making style in selecting online travel portals for their trip booking. The authors have adopted the quantitative methodology to achieve the objective of the study. The study is confined purely to the Business Travellers who book their travel through online travel portals. The data was collected through a structured questionnaire. 300 Business Travellers were interviewed at the departure lounge of Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi, India out of which 150 questionnaires were incomplete in many respects and could not be used and only 150 questionnaires were usable resulting in the response rate of 50%. The Analytical Hierarchy process method was adopted to analyze the relative weights assigned by Business Travellers. The present study identifies through literature review the nine fundamental values of internet purchase i.e. product quality, cost, time to receive the product, convenience, time spent, confidentiality, shopping enjoyment, security and environmental impact. The research findings indicate that business travellers value confidentiality, security and product quality the most while choosing the Online Travel Portal to book their trip. The study is primarily centered on the consumer typology approach to study the decision making patterns of business travellers whereas there are other variables such as lifestyle, personality, attitude which can also be investigated. The study is only restricted to Business Travellers decision making pattern pertaining to their travel booking whereas a study can also be undertaken on leisure travellers decision making pattern. The study is restricted to only Delhi National Capital Region. More studies can be carried out in other geographical areas. The findings of the study indicate that Business Travel is one of the emerging travel segments both in terms of numbers and revenue generation and to meet the changing needs of the business travellers the Online Travel Portals need to develop innovative and effective marketing strategies and tools. India is one of the fastest growing economies and has registered its presence in the global scenario. Business Travel segment is still unexplored. The study was conducted keeping in mind the burgeoning business travel segment. The study explores the factors that the business travellers considers while selecting online travel portals for travel product purchase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The exponential growth of the online purchases and a cyber war in the digital space among the service providers for grabbing the lion's share in the online space requires an understanding of the effect of demographic features on the online purchase behaviour of the travellers. Such valuable information will help the service providers to understand and eventually segment their markets and implement effective marketing instruments. The empirical study was carried out amongst 450 travelers who booked their travel online through Online Travel Portals in Delhi National Capital Region out of which 400 questionnaires were found to be complete in all respects and can be used for data analysis. The data was collected from the departure lounge of Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi. The study investigates the traveler's attitude towards online purchase of travel products and investigates the factors influencing the online purchase of travel products by the travelers. The findings denote that income and age group influence the online purchase attitude of travellers. It also identifies whether a gap existed between expectation and satisfaction of online purchase of travel products using Online Travel Portals in Delhi National Capital Region. The largest positive gap (positive disconfirmation) came from reliability in financial transactions, pertinent information, flexible packages and location while completeness in terms of services, integration on social media, usefulness, accuracy, flexible payment, information quality had a negative gap (negative disconfirmation) between the higher level of importance and lower levels of satisfaction. No significant mean differences were observed between expectations and experiences of proficient Grievance redressal system and timeliness in refund. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Global Code of Ethics for Tourism Article 5 states that tourism should be a beneficial activity for host countries and communities (UNWTO). The code also emphasises on equitable distribution (between host countries and communities) of the economic and sociocultural benefits generated by tourism activities. The tourism resorts and accommodation sector have to involve local communities in socio-economic activities and priority should be given to local manpower. A wildlife resort has vast opportunities to involve local communities in their day to day operation by purchasing local products, promoting local festivals, providing employment opportunities to locals, and involving local communities in decision-making. Wildlife resorts can also promote local culture, create environment awareness among local people, provide educational support to the local children, and support development of infrastructure and medical facilities for the locals. Though local communities can be involved in various activities of wildlife resorts, it is essential to address the issues and challenges that hinder wildlife resorts from doing so. This paper attempts to determine the issues and challenges faced by wildlife resorts in involving local communities in their day to day operations and suggests ways and means to overcome those challenges. The scope of the study covered selected wildlife resorts in Karnataka. The targeted respondents of the research survey were resort managers and data were collected using open-ended questions to understand real-time issues and challenges involving local communities in resort activities. The data were then analysed using thematic text analysis. The findings from the study will help explore means of providing a better framework which will help wildlife resorts overcome issues and challenges involving local communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Object-oriented database system is a superior model than relational database system, but as the database expands, even simple objects become complicated to handle. Although the more deep hierarchy B tree structure implies that we have good reuse of code but it has awful effects on memory and performance. In this paper we studied performance of B tree over retrieval of objects, effect on time and data sizes. Also we studied Hash partition provides different criteria to split the database and retrieval of the heavy objects using hash partition method in oracle object oriented database this is important for query performance and this paper emphasizes on performance of B-tree vs. Hash portioning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]