As enterprises increasingly adopted multi-cloud strategies in 2022, the complexity of networking across heterogeneous cloud environments became a major architectural challenge. This research investigates the evolving landscape of multi-cloud networking, focusing on the optimization of traffic routing, policy enforcement, and service connectivity across providers like AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud. The paper analyzes the limitations of traditional VPNs and SD-WAN solutions, and evaluates emerging technologies such as cloud-native network fabrics, service mesh architectures, and network-as-a-service (NaaS) platforms. Security implications—including identity-based segmentation, (...) cross-cloud compliance, and encrypted traffic management—are explored. The study proposes a unified policy framework and automation toolkit to streamline networking in decentralized cloud ecosystems. (shrink)

In this paper, I aim to resolve the Frierson-Grenberg debate on the nature of Kant’s account of moral motivation that took place in the third issue of Con-textos Kantianos. In their respective interpretations, Frierson and Grenberg fail to accommodate the a priori status of moral feeling when incorporating it into Kant’s moral motivational structure. In response, I provide a novel transcendental interpretation – one that takes the a priori moral feeling both as an incentive of morality and as that which (...) conditions the possibility of morality in human agents. I argue that Kant developed the notion of moral feeling solely in order to resolve the problem of motivational skepticism concerning the moral law. Since this problem occurs as a part of Kant’s search for the supreme principle of morality, the notion of moral feeling becomes a part of both Kant’s moral motivational structure and his argument to justify the moral law. (shrink)

Purpose: The aim of this study is to examine how the integration of Emotional Intelligence (EI) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) in leadership can enhance leadership effectiveness and influence the development of future leaders. -/- Design / Method / Approach: The research employs a mixed-methods approach, combining qualitative and quantitative analyses. The study utilizes secondary data sources, including scholarly articles, industry reports, and empirical studies, to analyze the interaction between EI and AI in leadership settings. -/- Findings: The findings reveal that (...) the integration of EI and AI significantly improves decision-making, strategic planning, talent management, and communication within organizations. Leaders who leverage both EI and AI experience higher employee satisfaction, improved team performance, and enhanced organizational outcomes. -/- Theoretical Implications: This study contributes to leadership theory by introducing a novel framework that demonstrates the complementary roles of EI and AI in leadership. -/- Practical Implications: The research offers practical guidelines for leadership development, emphasizing the need for future leaders to integrate EI and AI skills in order to navigate complex business environments successfully. -/- Originality / Value: The paper provides an original framework for the integration of EI and AI in leadership, offering new insights into how these two elements can work together to improve leadership effectiveness. -/- Research Limitations / Future Research: Future research should further explore the empirical impact of EI and AI integration in various industries and leadership levels to generalize findings across broader contexts. -/- Paper Type: Conceptual -/- . (shrink)

For computer simulation models to usefully inform climate risk management, uncertainties in model projections must be explored and characterized. Because doing so requires running the model many times over, and because computing resources are finite, uncertainty assessment is more feasible using models that demand less computer processor time. Such models are generally simpler in the sense of being more idealized, or less realistic. So modelers face a trade-off between realism and uncertainty quantification. Seeing this trade-off for the important epistemic issue (...) that it is requires a shift in perspective from the established simplicity literature in philosophy of science. (shrink)

A challenge to Kant’s less known duty of self-knowledge comes from his own firm view that it is impossible to know oneself. This paper resolves this problem by considering the duty of self-knowledge as involving the pursuit of knowledge of oneself as one appears in the empirical world. First, I argue that, although Kant places severe restrictions on the possibility of knowing oneself as one is, he admits the possibility of knowing oneself as one appears using methods from empirical anthropology. (...) Second, I show that empirical knowledge of oneself is fairly reliable and is, in fact, considered as morally significant from Kant’s moral anthropological perspective. Taking these points together, I conclude that Kant’s duty of self-knowledge exclusively entails the pursuit of empirical self-knowledge. (shrink)

Although there is such a thing as Indian thought, it seems to play no role in the way social sciences and philosophy are practiced in India or elsewhere. The problem is not only that we no longer employ terms such as atman, avidya, dharma to reflect on our experience; the terms that we do indeed use—sovereignty, secularism, rights, civil society and political society, corruption—seem to insulate our experience from our reflection. This paper will outline Gandhi’s framing of our predicament in (...) Hind Swaraj. It will then discuss three very different examples taken from our peculiar life with concepts that will also serve to clarify and illustrate the framework I am outlining. It will then very briefly discuss how Gandhi saw the Gita as showing him a way out of the predicament. (shrink)

Bortolotti’s Delusions and Other Irrational Beliefs defends the view that delusions are beliefs on a continuum with other beliefs. A different view is that delusions are more like illusions, that is, they arise from faulty perception. This view, which is not targeted by the book, makes it easier to explain why delusions are so alien and disabling but needs to appeal to forensic aspects of functioning.

With the growth of data, data-intensive approaches for sustainability are becoming widespread and have been endorsed by various stakeholders. To understand their implications, in this paper data-intensive approaches for sustainability will be explored by conducting an extensive review. The current data-intensive approaches are defined as an amalgamation of traditional data-collection methods, like surveys and data from monitoring networks, with new data-collection methods that involve new information communication technology. Based on a comprehensive review of the current dataintensive approaches for sustainability, key (...) challenges are identified: the lack of data availability, diverse indicators developed from a narrowly viewed base, diverse definitions and values, skewed global representation, and the lack of social and economic information collected, especially among the business indicators. To clarify the implications of these trends, four major research assumptions regarding dataintensive approaches are elaborated: the methodology, epistemology, normativity, and ontology. Caution is required when data-intensive approaches are masked as “objective”. Overcoming this issue requires interdisciplinary and community-based approaches that can offer ways to address the subjectivities of data-intensive approaches. The current challenges to interdisciplinarity and community-based approaches are also identified, and possible solutions are explored, so that researchers can employ them to make the best use of data-intensive approaches. (shrink)

With the advent of the “Clean India” campaign in India, a renewed focus on cleanliness has started, with a special focus on sanitation. There have been efforts in the past to provide sanitation related services. However, there were several challenges in provisioning. Provision of sanitation is a public health imperative given increased instances of antimicrobial resistance in India. This paper focuses on sanitation provisioning in the city of Mumbai, especially in the slums of Mumbai. The paper compares and contrasts different (...) models of sanitation provision including supply-led provisioning of sanitation by the Indian government to demand-led provisioning of sanitation through a World Bank funded “Slum Sanitation Program” (SSP). The paper also outlines a comparative perspective on the implementation and usage of toilet blocks. The author presents the theory of social networks and positive peer pressure and argues that these will amplify the effect of other incentives. With the help of an illustration, this paper concludes that the sustainable sanitation policy should look at facilitating and creating the infrastructure as a network and not strictly at building toilet blocks. (shrink)

In this paper, a framework incorporating flexibility as a characteristic is proposed for designing complex, resilient socio-ecological systems. In an interconnected complex system, flexibility allows prompt deployment of resources where they are needed and is crucial for both innovation and robustness. A comparative analysis of flexible manufacturing systems, economics, evolutionary biology, and supply chain management is conducted to identify the most important characteristics of flexibility. Evolutionary biology emphasises overlapping functions and multi-functionality, which allow a system with structurally different elements to (...) perform the same function, enhancing resilience. In economics, marginal cost and marginal expected profit are factors that are considered to be important in incorporating flexibility while making changes to the system. In flexible manufacturing systems, the size of choice sets is important in creating flexibility, as initial actions preserve more options for future actions that will enhance resilience. Given the dynamic nature of flexibility, identifying the characteristics that can lead to flexibility will introduce a crucial dimension to designing resilient and sustainable socio-ecological systems with a long-term perspective in mind. (shrink)

There is a need for enterprises to incorporate information on the environment into decision making and to take action on ecological restoration. Within academia, a comprehensive understanding of the impacts on how business can serve sustainability transformation is still lacking as diverging holistic approaches and reductive approaches cloud academic thinking. The authors take a science-policy interface perspective to cover the role of cognitive proximity, matching and coordination of scientific knowledge from diverse stakeholders for effective policy making and implementation. We show (...) through a literature review that temporal and spatial scales, soil and land degradation, institutions and ecosystem, and the role of human behavior and narrative are not adequately emphasized in sustainability research. A scale-based picture, focusing on landscapes, institutions and practices is proposed which can be used to align diverse fields by acting as “bridge” for improved science policy interface and decision making, facilitated through cognitive proximity, matching, and coordination. A case study on a business association from South India is used to demonstrate the scales based approach in practice. A scale-based approach can play a key role in connecting human behaviour, a social science thematic topic, with ecosystems, a natural science thematic topic. (shrink)

: In the realm of insurance, accurately predicting the charges or premiums that a policyholder will pay is a critical task. Traditional models may not fully capture the complexities involved due to the multifaceted nature of insurance data. This paper explores the use of machine learning (ML) techniques to predict insurance charges, providing a more data-driven and potentially more accurate method compared to conventional approaches. We will analyze various machine learning models, evaluate their performance, and discuss their potential for use (...) in insurance companies to enhance pricing accuracy and efficiency. (shrink)

The Indian healthcare landscape has seen a significant resurgence in traditional systems of medicine, collectively known as AYUSH – Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, and Homeopathy. With increasing global interest in alternative and holistic health practices, there is a growing need for efficient digital solutions that facilitate the operational requirements of startups within this sector. This paper presents the design and implementation of the AYUSH Startup Portal, a full-stack web application aimed at simplifying the registration and management processes for (...) entrepreneurs and innovators in the AYUSH domain. Developed using modern JavaScript frameworks like React.js and Node.js, with MongoDB as the backend database, this portal provides a centralized platform for startup registration, document submission, verification, and application tracking. The portal reduces administrative bottlenecks and increases transparency, contributing to a more inclusive and innovation-friendly environment for traditional healthcare ventures. The platform stands as a technological bridge between government regulatory bodies and startup ecosystems. It is designed to scale with increased usage and can integrate advanced features such as analytics dashboards, multilingual access, and investor matchmaking tools in the future. (shrink)

Today the whole world is facing a very difficult time due to corona virus which initially originated in Wuhan city of China. In China an unusual pneumonia was noticed earlier which later recognized as a pandemic. There have been two events in the past wherein crossover of animal corona viruses to humans has resulted in severe disease, one was SARS-CoV and the other was MERS-CoV. The genetic sequence of the COVID19 showed more than 80% similarities to SARS-CoV and 50% to (...) the MERSCoV. Corona viruses are enveloped positive sense single-stranded RNA virus belongs to a large family in which all strains of the family do not have virulent capacity. World Health Organisation has classified COVID-19 as a β CoV of group 2B. Structurally, SARS-CoV-2 has four main structural proteins and several accessory proteins through which it enters into the cell. This virus enters the through ACE2 receptors, which are found on various organs in human body. After entering into one body, it enters to another body via transmission through sneezing, coughing etc. People who have had diabetes, chronic respiratory disease, cardiovascular disease, or even high blood pressure and cancer are at higher risk of coronavirus. (shrink)

Accelerating global climate change drives new climate risks. People around the world are researching, designing, and implementing strategies to manage these risks. Identifying and implementing sound climate risk management strategies poses nontrivial challenges including (a) linking the required disciplines, (b) identifying relevant values and objectives, (c) identifying and quantifying important uncertainties, (d) resolving interactions between decision levers and the system dynamics, (e) quantifying the trade-offs between diverse values under deep and dynamic uncertainties, (f) communicating to inform decisions, and (g) learning (...) from the decision-making needs to inform research design. Here we review these challenges and avenues to overcome them. ▪ People and institutions are confronted with emerging and dynamic climate risks. ▪ Stakeholder values are central to defining the decision problem. ▪ Mission-oriented basic research helps to improve the design of climate risk management strategies. (shrink)

The increasing demand for sustainable agriculture and efficient water usage has driven the innovation of smart irrigation systems. This paper presents a Smart Irrigation System powered by Internet of Things (IoT) technology, aimed at automating the irrigation process using real-time soil moisture and weather data. The system leverages a combination of sensors, microcontrollers, cloud services, and mobile applications to monitor and control irrigation activities remotely. It ensures efficient water management, reduces manual intervention, and improves crop yield. The proposed system demonstrates (...) the potential of IoT in transforming traditional farming into a data-driven, eco-friendly process. (shrink)

Web attacks, such as SQL injection, cross-site scripting (XSS), and distributed denial-ofservice (DDoS), pose significant threats to the security and integrity of online systems. Traditional detection methods, relying on rulebased systems or shallow machine learning, often struggle to keep pace with the evolving sophistication of these attacks. This paper proposes an end-to-end deep learning framework for detecting web attacks, leveraging the power of neural networks to automatically learn complex patterns and features from raw web traffic data. Unlike conventional approaches that (...) require extensive manual feature engineering, our method processes unprocessed HTTP request logs and network traffic directly, enabling a fully automated detection pipeline. The proposed model employs a combination of convolutional neural networks (CNNs) and recurrent neural networks (RNNs) to capture both spatial and temporal dependencies in web traffic data. CNN layers extract local patterns, such as malicious payloads or anomalous headers, while RNN layers, enhanced with attention mechanisms, model sequential behaviors indicative of attacks. The framework is trained endto-end on a diverse dataset comprising benign traffic and real-world attack samples, ensuring robustness across various attack vectors. Preprocessing is minimized to tokenization and normalization, preserving the raw data's integrity and reducing human intervention. Evaluation results demonstrate that the model achieves superior performance compared to traditional methods, with an accuracy of over 95% and a low false-positive rate. It effectively identifies both known and zero-day attacks by generalizing learned representations. Additionally, the system scales efficiently, processing large volumes of traffic in real-time, making it suitable for deployment in production environments. This end-to-end deep learning approach not only enhances detection accuracy but also adapts to emerging threats, offering a proactive solution to the growing challenge of web security. Future work will focus on integrating explainability to improve trust and interpretability in security operations. (shrink)

The current paper critically reviews the most significant announcements in presenting the "Union Budget (2025-26)" by Hon'ble Finance Minister Mrs. Nirmala Sitharaman, specifically from the viewpoint of their tax policy and economic development implications. It emphasizes how the government seeks to meet the fiscal requirements of diverse socio-economic groups, including the middle class and lower-income communities. By analysing changes in tax slab rates and implementing new tax policies, the research will determine the problems and advantages that these measures have for (...) taxpayers and service sectors looking for relief and opportunities for growth. The paper also discusses how these fiscal policies are structured to spur economic activity, increase disposable income, and encourage investment in major sectors. It examines the likely effect of these changes on consumer expenditure, savings, and overall economic stability. The research also attempts to forecast future economic cycles and their probable implications for sustainable development and social well-being in India. Based on an examination of the allround approach adopted in the Union Budget, this study attempts to offer insights into how effective the proposed tax reforms are going to be and how they contribute towards creating a more inclusive and robust economy, leading to the prosperity of the nation. (shrink)

Here I reply to the main points raised by the commentators on the arguments put forward in my Delusions and Other Irrational Beliefs (OUP, 2009). My response is aimed at defending a modest doxastic account of clinical delusions, and is articulated in three sections. First, I consider the view that delusions are inbetween perceptual and doxastic states, defended by Jacob Hohwy and Vivek Rajan, and the view that delusions are failed attempts at believing or not-quitebeliefs, proposed by Eric Schwitzgebel (...) and Maura Tumulty. Then, I address the relationship between the doxastic account of delusions and the role, nature, and prospects of folk psychology, which is discussed by Dominic Murphy, Keith Frankish, and Maura Tumulty in their contributions. In the final remarks, I turn to the continuity thesis and suggest that, although there are important differences between clinical delusions and non-pathological beliefs, these differences cannot be characterised satisfactorily in epistemic terms. (shrink)