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Dr Soumyajyoti Biswas, Assistant Professor, Department of Physics, had two lucky breaks as he got his article “Kinetic Exchange Models of Societies and Economies” featured in the prestigious journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A, the theme issue co-edited by Dr Biswas himself, along with Dr Guiseppe Toscani from the University of Pavia, and Dr Parongama Sen from the University of Calcutta. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society has the prestige of being the world’s longest-running science journal launched in 1665. Publishing high-quality theme issues on topics of current importance and general interest within the physical, mathematical, and engineering sciences, the journal continues its history of influential scientific publishing.

A kinetic model of binary interaction, with conserving or non-conserving exchange, has been an elegant and powerful tool to explain collective phenomena in myriad human interaction-based problems, where an energy consideration for dynamics is generally inaccessible. Nonetheless, in this age of Big Data, seeking empirical regularities emerging out of collective responses is a prominent and essential approach, much like the empirical thermodynamic principles preceding quantitative foundations of statistical mechanics.

Through this theme issue, the authors intend to bring together the current progress in the applications of kinetic exchange models in various applications of societies (opinion formations, rating, social networks, fake news, etc.) and economies (inequality measures, taxation, trade models, behavioral economics, etc.) using numerical simulations, machine learning techniques, analytical methods, and data analysis, reported by physicists, social scientists, mathematicians and economists through some of the original and reviewed articles.

In human interactions, such as a trade (exchange of money) or, discussions or debates (exchange of opinions), following simple dynamical rules, a collection of agents (a society) shows emergent properties that are widely seen in real data (distributions of wealth, formation of consensus, etc.). Without knowing the complexities that are involved at the individual levels, it is, therefore, possible to understand the average properties of the society as a whole. This is reminiscent of simple elastic collisions of ideal gas molecules that give average thermodynamic properties, such as temperature, pressure, etc. without knowing the complexities of the individual atoms. This has been a widely followed route to formulate statistical physical models of societies and economies.

The kinetic exchange models have been a very successful set of tools to understand the socio-economic emergent properties from simple models. Among other things, these models helped understand the growth of economic inequalities, the effects of taxes as well as the spread of opinions. A close quantitative resemblance with real data from various countries of the world demonstrates its usefulness.

The future prospects of the kinetic exchange models for societies and economies include possible predictions of extreme fluctuations in average measurable quantities by looking at the inequality of time series data. The models can help us in identifying the features of the real data that can mirror the underlying extreme fluctuations.

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Employee wellbeing and productivity of the organisation are closely interlinked concepts mutually impacting each other in the long run. The idea of workspace wellness and health promotion has been making rounds in recent times, and the outset of the coronavirus pandemic has given added importance to the topic. Having conducted intense study in this regard, Prof AVS Kamesh and his PhD scholar Ms Ashrafunnisa Mohammed from the Department of Management have authored a chapter titled ‘’Evaluating the Role of Workplace Well-Being in Enhancing Employee Productivity in the 21st Century’’, in book Transforming Lives through Mindfulness published by IIM Bodh Gaya AND Excel India Publishers.

Their study tries to evaluate the unique role of workplace well-being in enhancing employee productivity in the 21st century. The contemporary business world is characterised by organisations competing against each other. In a dynamic and complex business environment, the main aim of modern corporate organisations is to retain talented employees by ensuring mindfulness and workplace well-being because these employees are the main sources of competitive advantage from a strategic point of view. Thus, an enhanced level of workplace wellbeing is an effort to create happy and productive workers so that they work optimally and happily. Work is a key social determinant of population health and well-being.

Workplace well-being in India is often focused on changing individual health behaviours through employer wellness programs. The Covid-19 health crisis brought into focus, some of the limitations of present approaches revealing structural conditions that intensify the physical and psychosocial problems of employees and their family members. The onset of the Covid-19 pandemic augured the new dimension of workplace well-being by converting home into a happy place to work. This perspective leads management experts and human resource managers to think about a combined model of work and home as a place of well-being.

This chapter is significant in the times of Post Covid-19 with new perspectives evolving to discuss work-life balance and well-being at workplace which are significantly related to the productivity of the employees. The article mainly targets management educators, corporate managers and personnel managers from public sector companies in India, calling for a comprehensive renovation in the workplace environment.

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‘Energy Conversion & Management’ is a journal that belongs to the top 2% of the “Renewable Energy, Sustainability, and the Environment” subject category. Publishing a paper with an impact factor of 9.7 in such a journal is a considerable achievement. Assistant Professors Dr Sabyasachi Chakrabortty and Dr Mahesh Kumar Ravva and their PhD scholar Ms Mounika Sai Ambati from the Department of Chemistry have accomplished this by publishing a paper titled Photovoltaic/Photo-Electrocatalysis Integration for Green Hydrogen: A review in this Q1 journal.

Abstract of the research

Solar light-driven hydrogen generation via water splitting is essential to combat global warming and CO2 emission. The production of hydrogen from fossil fuels produces massive amounts of CO2. Developing a sustainable and eco-friendly approach to hydrogen production is the need of the hour. Photoelectrochemical water splitting is a clean way to produce hydrogen by using water. The hydrogen generated through water splitting is referred to as Green Hydrogen. Photoelectrochemical water splitting uses metal oxides as photocathode/anode. The challenges that occur here are stability, low efficiency, and large-scale development (reusable electrodes are essential). Hence, the primary goal is to demonstrate photoelectrodes using different metal oxides by in-situ doping of different metals to detect the challenges.

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The Department of Computer Science and Engineering is pleased to announce the publication of three different patent applications from the department. The patent applications were submitted by the BTech students; Mr Kandala Sree Rama Murthy, Ms Padmaja Buggaveeti, Ms Yadlapalli Sai Harshini, Mr Jagruth K, Ms Shikha Chauhan, and Ms Ravi Srihitha under the guidance of Assistant Professor Dr V M Manikandan. They are making the institution proud with their passion and enthusiasm for the research domain.

The invention of a new scheme that will help to retrieve relevant videos from a large pool based on the given keyword is an impressive concept with societal relevance. Dr V M Manikandan and BTech students; Ms Yadlapalli Sai Harshini, Mr Jagruth K, Ms Shikha Chauhan, and Ms Ravi Srihitha got their patent application titled A novel video retrieval system and method based on textual information (application number: 202241002653) published.

The conventional video retrieval system uses the metadata to retrieve the appropriate videos. The new scheme processes the video and identifies the text information within the video, which will be compared with the given keyword. They introduced a scene change detection technique to select the frames for further processing in the new system to reduce the overall processing time.

The new scheme will help to retrieve appropriate educational videos from a large video pool based on the given keyword. The processing time is a significant concern in the scheme proposed. The researchers’ future work will be focused on improving the time complexity of the scheme.

The other research team invented a prediction error histogram shifting-based approach to hide secret messages in a cover image. The patent application submitted by Dr V M Manikandan and Third-year BTech-CSE Student, Ms Padmaja Buggaveeti, is titled A reversible data hiding system and method for image transmission (application number: 202241002654). The method ensures the lossless recovery of the original image during data extraction. The researchers considered the overflow issues in the histogram shifting approach and proposed an efficient method to handle this.

Reversible Data Hiding (RDH) provides a way to embed some data in a selected image so that in the future, the hidden data can be extracted along with the recovery of the original image. The new RDH scheme  invented by the researchers can be used in the healthcare sector to embed patient reports in medical images, or cloud service providers can use it to embed metadata in the digital data. Their future work will focus on designing and implementing robust reversible data hiding schemes capable of resisting attacks.

A system to facilitate secure transmission of an image along with embedded text (application number: 202241005221) is the third patent application that got published and was submitted by Dr V M Manikandan and Final year B.Tech-CSE Student Mr Kandala Sree Rama Murthy. The researchers invented a method to embed a message into a selected image during the image encryption process, which provides secure transmission of messages. The receiver will be able to extract the hidden message during decryption. The presented method is useful in medical image transmission to store patient details in the medical image.

The transmission of medical images and health reports from one hospital to another is widespread in the healthcare sector. Hospitals may want to handle many medical images and health reports every day and ensuring the one-to-one correspondence between them is a tedious task. The invented method will help embed health reports in medical images during encryption. The encrypted medical images (embedded with health reports) can be transmitted securely. The receiver will be able to extract the hidden message after medical image decryption. The researchers’ future work will focus on improving the invented method’s embedding capacity so that lengthy reports can be embedded into the medical images.

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Fear of being in confined areas, fear of failure, fear of speaking out- anxiety manifests in a variety of ways. Don’t be anxious about your anxiety. SRM University-AP ensures our students’ mental well-being through the services of resident counsellors.

May is a month dedicated to raising awareness about mental and behavioural health disorders, as well as eliminating the stigma that many people face. This month, our student counsellor Ms Liza Hazarika interacts with students on the topic “Dear Anxiety, we need to talk!” on May 27, 2022

Time: 4.00 to 05.00 pm IST

Venue: ALC 4 – 4th Floor, Admin Block

Come, participate and learn the ways to hold on to hope.

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The Department of Corporate Relations & Career Services at SRM University-AP collaborates with Miraist Pvt. Ltd. for the Academic Alliance Program. Under this academic alliance program, the students of SRM University-AP will be offered training in Japanese language and an enviable opportunity to work in Japan.

Miraist is a leading HR recruitment firm in India catering to Japanese industries with end-to-end professional service. This is an excellent opportunity for our students to demonstrate the cutting-edge training they received here in Japanese Industries. Miraist and the Japanese clients will interview the aspiring candidates. Upon receiving the offer, all the successful candidates will be given Japanese training sessions.

Representatives from Miraist Pvt. Ltd. expressed their gratitude to Dr R Premkumar-Registrar, Mr M S Vivekanandan, Associate Director- Corporate Relations & Career Services and Mr P. Venkateswara Rao-Senior Manager, Internship, Corporate Relations & Career Services for making this collaboration possible.

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Dr Divya Chaturvedi from the Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering has been awarded the SERB-POWER research grant that amounts to a total of 29 lakhs for a period of three years. The grant was sanctioned for her research titled “Development of Breast Cancer Detecting System Based on Microwave Antenna-Array-Sensors and its Implementation to Internet of Medical Things (IoMT)”.

SERB- POWER (Promoting Opportunities for Women in Exploratory Research)  research grants is a scheme initiated by the Government of India with an aim to encourage emerging and eminent women researchers for individual-centric and competitive mode of research funding to undertake R&D activities in frontier areas of science and engineering.

Her study on developing a breast cancer detection system has gained immense attention due to the global increase of the malady in recent decades. It has become the most common cancer diagnosed in women across all age groups. Despite the different tests such as Mammograms, ultrasound, and MRI available to diagnose the disease, there has been little considerable improvement in bringing down the caseload.

Dr Divya’s research intends to develop an advanced detection technique based on Antenna-Array-Sensors and she is attempting to put it into implementation through the Internet of Medical Things (IoMT). Connecting the medical devices to healthcare IT systems through online computer networks will allow the easier and quicker detection of the defect. This may go down as a milestone achievement in the medical domain.

The research grant will help in building better- equipped research lab with the most modern amenities and hiring more manpower to fulfil the project objectives. In the words of Dr Divya, “Better research facilities will aid the faculty in performing various experiments. They will save their travelling time to other universities for accessing research infrastructure. The students can also avail the advantage to intensify their research initiatives”. Through the project she envisions to establish a collaborative dedicated research group that will help in fulfilling the various objectives of the project.

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Middle East countries are characterized by a growing burden of chronic diseases such as diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular diseases, and respiratory diseases in recent times. These are health conditions that require regular access to care in order to lower their morbidity and mortality burden. Hence, healthcare-focused research and development spending has the potential to uncover new methods for the diagnosis and treatment of different health conditions, lower their cost of care, along with reducing morbidity and mortality burden in the population.

Having conducted comprehensive research in this regard, an article titled “Predicting Key Drivers for Health Care Expenditure Growth in the Middle East Region: A Grossman-PLS Modeling Approach” has been published by Dr Shailender Singh and his PhD scholar Mr Muhammad Muazu Bala from the Department of Commerce. It was published in the Journal, ‘Expert Review of Pharmacoeconomics & Outcomes Research’ having an Impact Factor of 2.31. The research was led in collaboration with Dr Nishant Kumar from Amity University, Noida.

The results obtained from the study show that the supply side of care (HSCI) has contributed more than the demand side (SDI) in determining the overall level of health care expenditure of the Middle East countries. This implied that massive investment targeted at achieving high-quality healthcare systems is more noticeable in determining the overall level of health care expenditure. Though progress towards a high-quality health system is a desirable health care goal, particularly for LMICs (Low- and middle-income countries), available evidence shows that expenditure on research and development is quite low.

The study recommends an expansion of health insurance coverage to induce greater utilization of health care services particularly among the aging cohort of the population. The promoters of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Bank have emphasized that obtaining health insurance coverage will induce greater access to health services without facing financial hardships. In line with the findings of this study, since real wage is statistically significant, mandatory employment-based health insurance may induce greater utilization of health services and provide financial risk protection for formal sector employees.

However, this alone will not suffice to achieve greater improvement in health outcomes, especially for LMICs characterized by the largest share of informal sector employment. Thus, other forms of health insurance such as community–based health insurance may help to cover the informal sector and the vast segment of the population that lives in rural areas. Moreover, other pro-poor publicly financed health care payment mechanisms could be a promising path for promoting access to health services and guaranteeing financial risk protection for the poor.

The research infers that health system stakeholders in the Middle East should prioritize exploiting the available resources for strengthening the capacity of their health systems. Also, available data shows that expenditure on research and development is quite low and thus should be considerably increased so that new inventions, innovations, and discoveries could be unleashed for better understanding, treatment, and diagnosis of different health conditions for improving health outcomes.

 

Abstract of the Research

Initially, this study provides empirical evidence to the Grossman theoretical model using macro-level panel data for 15 countries of the Middle East region from 2000 through 2016. During the second phase, contradistinction analysis is executed and a parallel model of the demand for care as a function of health system capacity indicators is estimated. Lastly, for robustness checks, a new predictive model is developed carrying forward the outcome from Grossman and the parallel models. A variance-based partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) is applied to analyse the interaction between health expenditure and the latent construct: socio-demographic factor and health system capacity. Results elucidate that the relative wage rate and the ageing variables are the only indicators that are statistically significant with theoretically consistent signs as postulated by Grossman’s theoretical model. The exact opposite is true with schooling and the proxy of the medical care relative prices. However, in the parallel model, all the four drivers of the demand for care are statistically significant with robust standard errors. Therefore, the Middle East’s data has comparatively a better fit in the parallel model than it does in the Grossman model. Also, the integrated estimation model supports the results of the separate models.

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Solving the problems existing in diverse domains through innovative ideas is something only certain people will be able to do. Earlier this year, the Department of Entrepreneurship and Innovation held a Pitch and Win contest, which invited ideas to solve problems across the six major domains. Sikindhar Jaladi, Pranathi Jayanthi, and Shreeyash made it to the top three with their excellent competitive skills and ideas.

The domains from which the applications were invited included Education, Deep-Tech, Social, Health, Alternate Energy, Retail, Fintech and so on. The top three winners were selected from hundreds of contestants. Also, top 10 applications are selected to be incubated at the Hatchlab Research Centre. They will be nurtured for a period of 18 months and transformed from an idea to a prototype. This will again be developed into a complete product with industrial exposure and corporate mentorship along with seed funding of Rs. 500000 (to the eligible ventures) from the university. A cubical will be allocated to each team to sit and build their products and work on the venture.

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Every university becomes an epicenter of learning when designed around the realms of education, aspiration, happiness, and well-being. SRM University-AP is one of the youngest institutions in the country, making headway with a distinct vision and an uncommon modus operandi. The university internalises its role as a prime agent in bringing innovation and regional development. SRM University-AP fosters a distinguished learning culture with a plethora of avenues for the students to dive into and transform themselves as new-age professionals. Every innovation is introduced with the purpose of shaping its students to embrace the future in its fullest sense.

In the face of advancing technologies and growing digitisation, the university has set out on a mission to prepare its students with a future-oriented curriculum encompassing practical learning experiences. Having recognised as a broad-based multidisciplinary research-intensive university, the institution takes immense care in orienting its learning culture in line with the emerging demands of society. It also ensures that students are provided with challenging research opportunities having deeper social implications.

Rolling out a slew of innovative initiatives such as Inter-Disciplinary Experiential Active Learning (IDEAL) methodology, Semester Abroad Programmes and other international collaborations, Hatch Lab Research Centre, Next Tech Lab, Corporate relations and Career Services, and a dozen of activity clubs to pursue their interests across the arenas of arts, sports, literature, photography etc., SRM University-AP leaves no stone unturned to arm the students to make themselves a niche in a world surging ahead with unprecedented opportunities.

Inter-Disciplinary Active Learning (IDEA)

IDEA is a pedagogical practice introduced with the intention of giving students the liberty to curate the curriculum aligning with their interests. It offers flexibility in learning and allows them to explore their interests cutting across disciplines. Having done majors in one subject along with other minors/specialisations will give them an added edge and amplify their job prospects. This active learning practice, coupled with industry internship programmes, makes this an avant-garde learning technique.

Semester Abroad Programmes

The global collaborations and partnerships established by the university with world-class institutions, including the University of California, Harvard Business School Online, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, US, and other top organisations, will open the gateway for its students to acquire international exposure and get acquainted with cutting-edge developments in the global market. Semester Abroad Programme is a lucrative opportunity for students to upgrade themselves on par with international quality professionals. Moreover, the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between SRM University-AP and other universities will allow students to let out themselves to new cultures, mindsets, and work environments.

Hatch Lab Research Centre

The SRM Technology & Livelihood Business Incubator (SRMTBI) is a resourceful platform for students to embark on new ventures and business practices. With its vast network of domain experts, experienced professionals, and academicians, SRM TBI preserves a thriving ecosystem to motivate young researchers to promote the commercial research culture. SRM TBI essentially works intending to bring prosperity to socially backward places and train the students to make meaningful contributions toward nation-building. The entrepreneurship academy also organises exploratory competitions such as hackathons to unveil the entrepreneurial acumen of the students.

Next Tech Lab

Next Tech Lab is a student-led innovation that offers an exclusive platform for them to work on futuristic prototypes using cutting-edge technology. Forging ahead with a spectacular vision of making an immense contribution to future enterprises, Next Tech Lab is the only organisation from India to win the QS Reimagine Education 2018 award for its work in spearheading the student-led innovation lab model in India. It also holds an exemplary record of winning hackathons and publishing in high-impact journals. The venture was established with a fervent motive to reverse the brain-drain culture in the country, and it stays true to its intention by impelling students to learn, research, and develop their skills in tune with the industrial demands.

Corporate Relations and Career Services

The Department of Corporate Relations and Career Services works with the intent to ensure cent per cent campus placement for its students. The department provides hands-on training and internships for students to hone their skills and learn from experts in the field. Having established a strong tie-up with leading companies, including Infosys, ONGC, Electronics Corporations of India Limited, etc., the CR&CS department offers students abundant opportunities to walk into a career of their choice. It also provides a forum for the industry experts to share their experiences with the students and learn the skills needed to stay productive in today’s globalised Industry 4.0 world.

Clubs and Societies for Students

The university nurtures a learning environment beyond academics to encourage students to enhance their talents and passion. The student clubs and societies give them umpteen platforms to engage in extra-curricular activities and make learning a wholesome experience. To list a few, literary club, movie club, sports club, theatre club, photography club etc., are some of the highly engaging clubs sought-after by students. The Department of Student Affairs is doing a remarkable job by co-ordinating with the faculty and students and hosting such enriching activities on the campus.

SRM University-AP is a choice destination for the next generation of students to learn, explore and transform themselves into resourceful individuals. The university is stewarding an educational revolution in the country by taking a detour from the conventional pathway to walk students into a fathomless world of opportunities. As society evolves with unpredictable changes with each passing day, it is imperative to capacitate the students to remain flexible to such uncertainties. SRM University-AP fosters an academic culture to mould its students to be multi-talented individuals daring enough to embrace any challenge that comes their way.

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