Factors affecting customer satisfaction of online travel agencies in India

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify the factors affecting customer satisfaction for online travel agencies in India. It will help guide existing online travel agencies and future entrants to have an in-depth understanding of customer satisfaction and customer loyalty in their domain. It will also help to improve their business operations and investment focus, which in turn will lead to greater customer satisfaction and loyalty. Design – This paper defines the concept of customer satisfaction. It helps to understand the antecedents and consequences of customer satisfaction with a focus on the online travel agencies and their correlation to each other. Methodology – Based on extensive literature review, the author proposes a model to identify the factors affecting customer satisfaction. This research follows an online survey method. The proposed hypotheses of the model are tested using structural equation modeling. The Cronbach Alpha approach is used to check the reliability of the data collected. Approach – The research sample consists of customers who have used online travel agencies in India, the number of respondents amounted to 384 customers. Findings – This research confirms six proposed hypotheses. Hence, this research clearly contributes to the development of the theory and concept of customer satisfaction for online travel agencies in India. It also helps managers to channelize their investments in a scientific manner to variables which are impacting the customer satisfaction the most. Originality – This is for the first time a researcher has considered identifying and analyzing the factors affecting customer satisfaction for the online travel agency industry. Additionally, no researcher has conducted any academic research for online travel agencies in Indi

PHARMACOVIGILANCE IN THE ERA OF COVID-19: A CONCISE REVIEW OF THE CURRENT SCENARIO, IMPLICATIONS, AND CHALLENGES

The pandemic of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has now affected the entire globe which was first surfaced in China in December 2019. In absence of effective therapy to manage COVID-19, repurposed therapies were being used to manage the condition. In view of an urgent need for definitive therapy, multiple repurposed drugs, and investigational drug candidates are being tried in clinical trials which may lead to the emergence of unknown short term and long term adverse drug reactions (ADRs), and hence it is crucial to assess the safety of the tried therapeutic interventions. The lag in the pharmacovigilance activities in the midst of this pandemic fosters under-reporting of ADRs. Difficulty in causality assessment due to factors like wide variations in clinical presentation, concomitant use of multiple drugs, associated comorbidities, drug-drug and drug-disease interaction which forestalls the appropriate causality assessment. Hydroxychloroquine, a repurposed antimalarial drug has been a part of hue and cry at present because of its in-question safety in patients with cardiac disorders. National and International Drug monitoring centers have stressed upon reporting of ADRs and to boost up the process and come up with various recommendations. We can overcome these issues by working cohesively, motivating HCPs and patients to report ADRs electronically, and by setting up dedicated pharmacovigilance rapid response team to tackle the issues at the earliest

Genetic divergence, path coefficient, principal component and cluster analyses of maize genotypes in the mid-altitudes of Meghalaya

A 2-year study was carried out on 84 maize genotypes to assess the genetic diversity for various morphological traits and their association with yield. There was a significant variation for all the traits studied among the genotypes. Moderate value of heritability and high genetic advance over mean were found for TLB infestation, average No of cobs per plant, average no of grains per plant and area under disease progress curve. Yield was found to be highly associated with other morphological traits. Average no of grains per plant have highest direct effect on yield (r = 0.831) followed by hundred grain weight (r = 0.386). Two major clusters comprising of 43 and 41 genotypes were formed. First 3 principal components having greater than one eigenvalues contributed 76.6% of total variation. FH-3358 and PRO-65 were found suitable for Meghalaya

FROM FORMULATION VARIABLES TO DRUG ENTRAPMENT EFFICIENCY OF MICROSPHERES: A TECHNICAL REVIEW

Purpose of writing this review on microspheres was to compile the recent literature with special focus on formulation variables which affect the drug entrapment efficiency of microspheres. There are various approaches in delivering a therapeutic substance to the target site in a controlled release fashion. One such approach is using microspheres as carriers for drugs.  Microencapsulation is used to modify and delayed drug release form pharmaceutical dosage forms. For success of microspheres as drug delivery system its necessary to obtained desired particle size, maximum drug entrapment, mucoadhesion, swelling index and drug release. This can be obtained by optimizing the formulation as well as process variables but before designing the microspheres formulation deep understanding the effect of various variables on characteristics of microspheres is necessary. The intent of the paper is to highlight the reported study on various formulation variables those are might be useful to encountered several problems which is reason for low drug entrapment efficienc

Effects of Deforestation and Forest Degradation on Forest Carbon Stocks in Collaborative Forests, Nepal

There are some key drivers that favor deforestation and forest degradation. Consequently, levels of carbon stock are affected in different parts of same forest types. But the problem lies in exploring the extent of the effects on level of carbon stocking. This paper highlights the variations in levels of carbon stocks in three different collaborative forests of same forest type i.e. tropical sal (Shorea robusta) forest in Mahottari district of the central Terai in Nepal. Three collaborative forests namely Gadhanta-Bardibas Collaborative Forest (CFM), Tuteshwarnath CFM and Banke- Maraha CFM were selected for research site. Interview and workshops were organized with the key informants that include staffs, members and representatives of CFMs to collect the socio-economic data and stratified random sampling was applied to collect the bio-physical data to calculate the carbon stocks. Analysis was carried out using statistical tools. It was found five major drivers namely grazing, fire, logging, growth of invasive species and encroachment. It was found highest carbon 269.36 ton per ha in Gadhanta- Bardibash CFM. The findings showed that the levels of carbon stocks in the three studied CFMs are different depending on how the drivers of deforestation and forest degradation influence over them

VARIABLES INFLUENCING DRUG RELEASE PATTERN OF MICROSPHERES: A TECHNICAL REVIEW

Purpose of writing this review on microspheres was to compile the recent literature with special focus on the various variables which affect the drug release pattern of microspheres. There are various approaches in delivering a therapeutic substance to the target site in a controlled release fashion. One such approach is using microspheres as a carrier for drugs. For success of microspheres as drug delivery system, it’s necessary they release the drug in controlled release manner for longer duration. This can be made possible by optimizing the formulation as well as process variables. Therefore before designing the microspheres formulation, it’s necessary to understand the effect of various variables on the drug release pattern of these microspheres. The intent of the paper is providing the deep understanding of various variables those are useful during the development of microspheres system. This paper also summarize the various relevant aspects of microsphere

Designing a handwashing station for infrastructure-restricted communities in Bangladesh using the integrated behavioural model for water, sanitation and hygiene interventions (IBM-WASH).

BACKGROUND: In Bangladesh diarrhoeal disease and respiratory infections contribute significantly to morbidity and mortality. Handwashing with soap reduces the risk of infection; however, handwashing rates in infrastructure-restricted settings remain low. Handwashing stations--a dedicated, convenient location where both soap and water are available for handwashing--are associated with improved handwashing practices. Our aim was to identify a locally feasible and acceptable handwashing station that enabled frequent handwashing for two subsequent randomized trials testing the health effects of this behaviour. METHODS: We conducted formative research in the form of household trials of improved practices in urban and rural Bangladesh. Seven candidate handwashing technologies were tested by nine to ten households each during two iterative phases. We conducted interviews with participants during an introductory visit and two to five follow up visits over two to six weeks, depending on the phase. We used the Integrated Behavioural Model for Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (IBM-WASH) to guide selection of candidate handwashing stations and data analysis. Factors presented in the IBM-WASH informed thematic coding of interview transcripts and contextualized feasibility and acceptability of specific handwashing station designs. RESULTS: Factors that influenced selection of candidate designs were market availability of low cost, durable materials that were easy to replace or replenish in an infrastructure-restricted and shared environment. Water storage capacity, ease of use and maintenance, and quality of materials determined the acceptability and feasibility of specific handwashing station designs. After examining technology, psychosocial and contextual factors, we selected a handwashing system with two different water storage capacities, each with a tap, stand, basin, soapy water bottle and detergent powder for pilot testing in preparation for the subsequent randomized trials. CONCLUSIONS: A number of contextual, psychosocial and technological factors influence use of handwashing stations at five aggregate levels, from habitual to societal. In interventions that require a handwashing station to facilitate frequent handwashing with soap, elements of the technology, such as capacity, durability and location(s) within the household are key to high feasibility and acceptability. More than one handwashing station per household may be required. IBM-WASH helped guide the research and research in-turn helped validate the framework