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Strategic Convergences: Philippines’ Emerging Ties Amid Power Rivalries in the Indo-Pacific Region
No full textResearch Article Purpose—To examine how the Philippines leverages relationships with the United States, China, and India, while engaging middle powers like Japan and South Korea, to ensure maritime security and promote national interests in the Indo-Pacific.
Methodology—This study employs discourse analysis of joint statements, defense agreements, and maritime dialogues, combined with thematic analysis of elite narratives, to situate Manila’s decisions within the evolving security landscape of the Indo-Pacific.
Findings—The Philippines employs a layered approach—strengthening defense ties with the United States as its primary security partner, maintaining pragmatic economic relations with China despite maritime disputes, and cooperating with India to boost naval capacity and technological resilience. Engagements with Japan and South Korea diversify security and financial options, forming a broad support network.
Practical Implications—The study demonstrates how smaller states can mitigate vulnerability and maintain strategic autonomy by diversifying their alliances and institutionalizing multipolar engagements. These insights are valuable for policymakers exploring middle-power strategies amid great-power rivalry.
Originality/Value—This article adds to the Indo-Pacific security diplomacy literature by highlighting the Philippines’ active role in balancing major and middle powers, offering insights into maritime security practices among smaller states
From Feedback to Insights: Analyzing User Reviews of BRPL Power Utility App
No full textMobile applications have become essential interfaces between consumers and service providers, and the energy sector is rapidly adopting these digital platforms. User reviews in app stores provide valuable insights into consumer experiences, yet they remain underutilized in the context of power utilities. This study examines user feedback on the BSES Rajdhani Power Limited (BRPL) app, one of Delhi's largest electricity distribution companies. By analyzing thousands of reviews from Android and iOS platforms, we identify dominant themes in user perceptions, ranging from frustrations with login and billing to appreciation of convenience features. The findings reveal highly polarized sentiment, with strong clusters of both praise and criticism, highlighting the opportunities and challenges of digital service delivery in the utility sector. To our knowledge, this is the first systematic analysis of user reviews for an Indian power app, offering insights that can guide service design, customer engagement, and the digital transformation of electricity distribution
AI-Driven Terrain Segmentation and Material Interaction Modeling for Extraterrestrial Landings
No full textRocket landings on extraterrestrial landscapes face major challenges since the terrains are heterogeneous material surfaces, composed of regolith, rocks, and craters with complex multiscale behavior. Such variability undermines the stability of a rocket’s structure, making accurate landing essential. Artificial Intelligence presents favourable approaches that can enhance safety and effectiveness during these tasks. From a materials science perspective, these methods also represent data-driven multiscale modeling techniques, where terrain is treated as a responsive material system whose phases must be segmented and characterized. Prior studies demonstrate that AI can improve spacecraft navigation, surface characterization, and trajectory control. Semantic segmentation with Deeplab v3+, Bayesian deep learning for hazard detection, and reinforcement learning for trajectory optimization have all contributed to progress, but current approaches fail to fuse accurate terrain segmentation with predictive evaluation of optimal landing sites. This limitation parallels the gap in smart material research where micro- and macro-scale modeling often remain siloed. The proposed methodology addresses this by integrating U-Net with VGG-16 for extraterrestrial surface segmentation and an Extraterrestrial Landscape and Terrain Analysis (ELATA) model, a modified CNN for evaluating landing suitability. Collectively, these models function as a multiscale data fusion pipeline: segmentation provides micro-level material differentiation, while ELATA predicts macro-level structural interaction stability. Both models achieve high accuracy and demonstrate cross-surface generalization. This framework not only ensures that the optimal landing spot is identified for rockets but also illustrates a generalizable AI approach for smart materials modeling. By treating extraterrestrial terrain as a complex material system, the study highlights how AI-driven segmentation and predictive modeling can advance not only aerospace safety but also broader domains such as nanomaterials, biomaterials, and adaptive composites in Industry 4.0
I don’t want to miss a thing: Psychometric properties of the FoMO Scale and its mental health correlates in Indian Adolescents
No full textThis study aims to analyse the psychometric properties of the FoMO scale among Indian adolescents and explore its mental health correlates. The study confirms the three-factor model of the FoMO scale among Indian adolescents, emphasising cultural differences in the experience and measurement approaches towards FoMO. This research reiterates the need for culturally sensitive adaptations of psychometric tools and provides preliminary insights into the psychological correlates of FoMO. Further, there is a need for interventions that address the social-emotional dimensions of digital engagement among youth
The Practice of Visual Ethnography: Examining Identity and Lived Experiences of Marginalised Communities
No full textThis book presents visual ethnography as a transformative approach to understanding, documenting, and representing the layered realities of marginalized communities and often-overlooked institutional contexts. It demonstrates how visual storytelling tools ranging from photography and video to infographics and spatial mapping can uncover the subtle social, cultural, and economic dynamics that traditional textual research tends to miss. Drawing on diverse case studies, the volume shows how visual narratives not only illuminate lived experiences but also foster collaboration and challenge dominant representations
From Stakeholder Pressure to Strategic Advantage: A Framework of Achieving Environment Sustainability Through Pathway of Carbon Neutrality
Full text linkBusinesses are increasingly striving to reduce their carbon footprint, with carbon offsetting emerging as a viable pathway towards achieving carbon neutrality. Such efforts signify a demonstrated commitment to fostering environmental sustainability and contributing to a more sustainable future. Many countries have pledged to become carbon neutral in order to prevent climate change, but very little is understood about the micro‐level influences. Nevertheless, a critical question remains: To what extent can carbon neutrality be achieved without the active involvement of stakeholders? Current scholarly literature offers limited discussion on this issue, indicating a gap that warrants further exploration. Therefore, the study aims to investigate the key influence of stakeholders on businesses tending to achieve carbon neutrality via the use of green innovative practices in their pursuit of environmental sustainability. The semistructured interviews were conducted with the manufacturing industries' experts. Rigorously, a qualitative analysis was employed, and the five major drivers were identified based on 11 subthemes for carbon neutrality and green innovation, that is, ‘ customer enforcement ,’ ‘sustainable business value,’ ‘ potential benefits ,’ ‘ environmental legitimacy ’ and ‘ competitive pressure .’ Customers and competitors were the most influential external stakeholders. Shareholders and top management with intrinsic environmental values, being internal stakeholders, played pivotal roles in a proactive move to carbon neutrality and green innovation when there was limited regulatory pressure. The finding shows that the potential benefits of transitioning to carbon neutrality not only minimize waste and pollution but also lead to financial gains and a better image if implemented effectively, and the early movers/investors also believe in the long‐term economic benefits. Based on the research findings, a proposition‐based support framework was proposed by stakeholder and institutional theory to guide firms' managers in transitioning towards carbon neutrality goals or climate neutrality policies aligned with Sustainable Development Goal 13 (SDG 13)
Psychological Motives and Modus Operandi in Homicide Mutilation and Dismemberment: A Comparative Analysis of Five Indian Cases (1995–2024)
No full textHomicidal dismemberment and other postmortem body-handling practices are rare but create investigative and psychological dilemmas. We synthesise five Indian homicide cases (1995–2024) identified through a systematic review of forensic literature and reporting. Cases were coded for offender–victim relationship, motive (defensive/expressive), decision patterns, operational mode (disarticulation, transection, thermal destruction, concealment), toolmark/taphonomic indicators, and forensic modalities (anthropology, DNA, imaging, digital). Defensive practices predominated, reflecting efforts to obscure identity, waste investigative time, and reduce detection risk. Temporal patterns suggest a shift from pyrogenic destruction to joint-centred disarticulation and staggered disposal. We propose scene–motive comparison matrices to guide multidisciplinary prioritisation and strengthen evidential integrity
INDIA'S SHANTI BILL AND THE FUTURE OF NUCLEAR LIABILITY: CONVERGENCE, COMPROMISE, AND CONTINUING CONCERNS
No full textThe SHANTI Bill signals a conscious move towards a more conventional model, reflecting the realities of nuclear commerce while raising important questions about victim protection, state responsibility, and the future trajectory of nuclear governance.
The introduction of a tiered liability structure, under which operator liability caps vary depending on the size and nature of the nuclear installation, brings India closer to international trends seen in regimes influenced by the Vienna and Paris Conventions. In doing so, India enhances investor certainty and predictability in its nuclear energy sector.
Perhaps the most significant reform is the removal of the statutory right of recourse against suppliers. This shift reflects an acknowledgment that nuclear energy, cannot thrive under legal uncertainty that disproportionately burdens suppliers. The SHANTI Bill thus revives an enduring debate in nuclear liability law: should economic feasibility take precedence over broader notions of distributive justice and deterrence
US Imperial Overreach in Venezuela
No full textOn the orders of the United States (US) President Donald Trump, US special forces kidnapped Nicolás Maduro—President of Venezuela, a sovereign country—and his wife, Cilia Flores, on 3 January 2026. Hundred people were killed in this attack. This is a blatant violation of international law, the United Nations (UN) Charter, and an illegal show of force. This scripted warmongering by Trump establishes renewed no-limits US imperialism and brings uncertainty to a volatile world. This meticulously planned operation was built on a moral, but false, narrative that Maduro headed the “Cartel de los Soles” that supplied drugs to the US. Trump announced a bounty of $50 million for Maduro’s arrest, which was a precursor to military intervention. The US then bombed small boats, killing over 80 people, with little evidence that they carried drugs. Trump mobilised the US Navy around the Venezuelan coastline, enforcing a blockade on outgoing oil shipments. Then it abducted Maduro and his wife