Research pick: Tracking the spread of disease on social media - "Real-time disease detection and analysis system using social media contents"

For many years, researchers have turned to the public logs of search engine terms to help them track the spread of disease. They can analyse the keywords and phrases that people use and when they become interested in a disease or have symptoms. Much value has been recognised in this kind of disease tracking and it has been used to research influenza outbreaks, the spread of MERS and the Zika virus, and other health problems. At the time of writing, it is approximately three months since we first recognised the emergence of a new coronavirus in China that would ultimately become known as the pathogen to cause the novel pandemic disease, Covid-19.

Writing in the International Journal of Web and Grid Services, in rather prescient work undertaken long before the disease name Covid-19 had been coined, a team from Gachon University in Korea, was asking whether social media content might be harvested to allow researchers to spot the emergence of new diseases and to track them once they appear.

SoYeop Yoo, DaeHo Kim, SungMin Yang, and OkRan Jeong of the Department of Software at Gachon University, explain how social media has become as a sensor for a wide range of topics in almost every area of human endeavour. Mining the vast daily output of this realm is a daunting task, but it can be done and many trends in politics, finance, science, health, medicine, entertainment, celebrity, and beyond can be tracked.

The team has now built a workflow that allows them to carry out real-time processing of social media data and to develop a model that manages the data and can detect the emergence of disease accurately. “If we can detect information about an infectious disease in real time, we can cope with it more quickly,” the team suggests. Moreover, “We can obtain information about the symptoms of specific diseases and hospital information by analysing various opinions and information on the disease.”

Yoo, S., Kim, D., Yang, S. and Jeong, O. (2020) ‘Real-time disease detection and analysis system using social media contents’, Int. J. Web and Grid Services, Vol. 16, No. 1, pp.22-38.

Research pick: Voting on a blockchain - "Auditable blockchain voting system – the blockchain technology toward the electronic voting process"

The “blockchain” concept on which cryptocurrencies work might be extrapolated to many other areas of life, such as voting systems, where it’s incontrovertible chain of decisions and evidence could ensure validity in a political or other election.

Writing in the International Journal of Web and Grid Services, a team from Lodz University of Technology, in Łódź, Poland, explain how it was the cryptocurrency Bitcoin, introduced by an individual (or a group) under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto in 2008, that revealed the blockchain concept. The blockchain concept was invented to be used to give value to a cryptocurrency but its description shows that it might be used in other areas equally as well:

A blockchain is essentially an open and distributed ledger, a growing list of records (blocks) that are linked sequentially and encrypted. Each block contains a cryptographic hash of the previous block, a timestamp, and transaction data (generally represented as a mathematical Merkle tree). The nature of a blockchain means that previous entries cannot be modified without all users seeing the modification, which makes it tamperproof.

Aneta Poniszewska-Marańda, Michał Pawlak, and Jakub Guziur of the Institute of Information Technology at LUT, explain that current electronic voting systems have their pros and cons. However, a common problem with all of the approaches used so far is that they suffer from inadequate transparency and auditability. There are four main approaches to electronic voting – dedicated voting machines, voting with optical scanning voting machines, voting with electronic ballot printers, and voting through the internet. Each has benefits, each has drawbacks. Moreover, the field is very fragmented by diverse technology and solutions to each of those main four methods.

This, the team suggests, is where blockchain would come into its own. Blockchain could underpin an existing approach to electronic voting but add the requisite ability to supervise the process and make it auditable to preclude fraud. Not only might the blockchain approach be used to prevent fraud it opens up the voting system to independent inspection beyond those holding the ballot, whether government, company board or other organization. It opens it up to being audited and inspected without compromising voter anonymity or the integrity of the result.

In theory.

The team concedes that there are limitations to even the blockchain approach at the moment in that voter anonymity might be compromised to a limited degree by the proximity of given blocks in the system. However, they suggest this will be surmountable with additional research.

Poniszewska-Marańda, A., Pawlak, M. and Guziur, J. (2020) ‘Auditable blockchain voting system – the blockchain technology toward the electronic voting process’, Int. J. Web and Grid Services, Vol. 16, No. 1, pp.1–21.

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Web and Grid Services

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Web and Grid Services are now available here for free:

• Planning operators of concurrent RDF stream processing queries
• A semantic approach for generating government processes
• SAW-Q: a dynamic composition approach of REST services based on queue model
• Towards the optimality of QoS-aware web service composition with uncertainty

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Fuzzy Computation and Modelling

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Fuzzy Computation and Modelling are now available here for free:

• New decomposition method for solving dual fully fuzzy linear systems
• A fuzzy logic model to forecast momentum in stock markets
• Set of non-dominated fuzzy subsets and fuzzy set of non-dominated vertices in fuzzy graphs
• Fuzzy C-means load frequency controller in deregulated power environment
• Interactive intuitionistic fuzzy technique in multi-objective optimisation
• Construction of a fuzzy probability space with Gumbel function, Gaussian function, derivative of Gaussian function and Weibull function

New Editor for International Journal of Hydromechatronics

Prof. Yimin Shao from Chongqing University in China has been appointed to take over editorship of the International Journal of Hydromechatronics.

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Business Performance Management

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Business Performance Management are now available here for free:

• Measuring the lean readiness of Kuwaiti manufacturing industries
• New opportunities, challenges and realities for the media industry in Greece: an empirical examination of the effects of the financial crisis and digital technologies on media business performance
• Agency conflicts between business owners and managers: empirical evidence from Tunisia
• Inventory holding and UK SMEs' performance
• The implication of strategy improving employees training, compensation, motivation and organisational commitment as predictors of work performance in private commercial banks Indonesia

Research pick: Cashing on cryptocurrencies - "Can cryptocurrencies overtake the fiat money?"

Heed the words of their profits – In uncertain times, uncertain things can happen. Writing in the International Journal of Business Performance Management, a team in the United Arab Emirates asks whether cryptocurrencies, of which Bitcoin is perhaps the most infamous, might ultimately overtake conventional currencies, the fiat money.

Avaneesh Jumde and Boo Yun Cho of the Higher Colleges of Technology on Dubai Women’s Campus, Al Nahda, Dubai, point out how Bitcoin made the terms “cryptocurrency” and “blockchain” familiar to financiers and investors the world over. The technological roots of these terms quickly attracting those who live by the words of their profits. At first, there was a cryptocurrency bubble, which has waxed and waned, but always in the background and barely acknowledged by the bankers and financial regulators is the idea that such forms of money might somehow usurp hard cash.

The team has now used statistical analysis to hedge their bets as to which of the cryptocurrencies might eventually predominate following the proliferation of such forms of money and whether there might be a displacement of fiat money. There is, of course, the possibility that cryptocurrencies would exist in parallel with the fiat in a similar way to gold bullion existing alongside folding paper money, for instance. They have looked at the likes of Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ether, and Ripple and compared and contrasted their characteristics against the fiat money of different countries.

At the moment, fiat money remains the main contender in the battle for dominance in terms of accessibility, utility, the ability to convert to the currency of other nations, liquidity, volatility, and even financial speculation. Fiat money is more amenable to these requirements and remains preferable for the vast majority of people. However, major uncertainty about human behaviour driven by disease, climate change, and other uncontrollable factors, could lead to gradual or sudden change in our perception of money, its worth, and its utility.

Jumde, A. and Cho, B.Y. (2020) ‘Can cryptocurrencies overtake the fiat money?’, Int. J. Business Performance Management, Vol. 21, Nos. 1/2, pp.6–20.

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Digital Signals and Smart Systems

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Digital Signals and Smart Systems are now available here for free:

• Home energy management based on plug-in electric vehicle power control in a residential smart grid
• Delay dependent stability analysis of Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy time-delays system
• Optimal digital PID controller design for regulating blood glucose level of type-I diabetic patients
• MRAS speed observer for sensorless adaptive intelligent backstepping controller of induction machines
• Regrouping of acoustics microwaves in piezoelectric material (ZnO) by SVM classifier
• Pattern recognition-based fault detection of a PM synchronous motor under stator winding short circuit faults
• Diagnosis inverter-fed induction motor fault at low load conditions by using demodulation Teager-Kaiser energy operator based on stator current
• Direct torque control of induction machine drive based on sliding mode controller and a stator resistance compensator with a new hybrid observer
• Novel voltage-based PV MPPT controller
• PID controller compared with dynamic matrix control applied on disturbed complex system
• Effects of temperature on the electromagnetic shielding effectiveness under a plane wave excitation
• Intelligent SVM technique of a multi-level inverter for a DFIG-based wind turbine system

Special issue published: "Signal Processing and Communication"

International Journal of Digital Signals and Smart Systems 4(1/2/3) 2020

• Identifying the stabilising regions of PI controller based on frequency specifications for a lab scale distillation column
• Investigating customer satisfaction towards music website in Indonesia and India: a comparative study
• Performance enhancement of the triboelectric energy harvester by forming rough surface polymer film using poly-dimethyl-siloxane +25 wt% water solution
• A facial EMG data analysis for emotion classification based on spectral kurtogram and CNN
• Design and test music recommendation system for online music websites using collaborative filtering approach
• Power optimised hybrid sorting-based median filtering
• Age and gender related variations in human EEG signals
• A novel aggregation approach to reduce complexity of system
• A novel comparator - a cryptographic design in quantum dot cellular automata
• Photovoltaic grid-connected with transformer less renewable source system with multilevel NPC inverter
• Simulation of a model DC-DC converter with cascaded via improvement PFC with boost converter and THD using multiple loads
• Noise reducing performance of anisotropic diffusion filter and circular median filter in digital images
• Investigation of partial shading effect on PV array configuration
• Feature extraction for brain tumour analysis and classification: a review

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Internet Marketing and Advertising

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Internet Marketing and Advertising are now available here for free:

• Exploring the anteceding impact of personalised social media advertising on online impulse buying tendency 
• The effect of social media and advertising activities on affiliate marketing 
• Gamification in a servicescape context: a conceptual framework 
• The complementary role of advertising and electronic word-of-mouth for blockbusters and low-budget motion pictures

Scholarly publishing community has role to play in protecting U.S. healthcare workers from COVID-19: non-medical professionals asked to donate protective supplies to GetUsPPE.org

Critical PPE items such as facemasks, goggles, gloves, and protective gowns are stockpiled in offices and facilities that have been closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic: from labs in universities and corporations, to machine shops, cleanrooms and engineering and construction job sites.

The website GetUsPPE.org is coordinating the transfer of unused PPE from private organisations to the healthcare facilities requesting them in the same vicinity.

GetUsPPE.org is a grassroots organisation led by emergency medicine physicians, working to give all PPE proceeds to the frontline healthcare workers most in need.

GetUsPPE.org needs:

• Surgical masks
• Goggles
• Face shields
• Nitrile gloves
• Isolation gowns
• Disinfectant wipes
• Hand sanitiser
• Scrubs
• Disposable shoe covers
• Nasopharyngeal swabs
• Respirators

Please visit GetUsPPE.org for details of how you can help.

Special issue published: "Advances in Information Security, Privacy and Forensics of Multimedia Big Data in the Internet of Things"

International Journal of Advanced Intelligence Paradigms 15(4) 2020

• Botnet detection based on DNS traffic similarity
• Fingerprinting violating machines with in-memory protocol artefacts
• Enhancement of 3D-Playfair algorithm using dual key
• A knowledgebase insider threat mitigation model in the cloud: a proactive approach
• Digital video forensics: a comprehensive survey

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Nanoparticles

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Nanoparticles are now available here for free:

• The role of pH and effect of calcination temperature on polymorphs and properties of iron oxide nanoparticles
• Synthesis, characterisation and investigation of enhanced photocatalytic activity of Sm+3, Ni+2 co-doped TiO2 nanoparticles on the degradation of azo dyes in visible region
• Calculating current density and quantum efficiency of p-n junction solar cell with quasi-Fermi level approximation
• Methotrexate sodium loaded Tween 80 stabilised gold nanoparticles: synthesis and characterisation
• Application of aqueous phase CdSe quantum dots for formaldehyde sensing

New Editor for International Journal of Value Chain Management

Prof. Zbigniew Pastuszak from Maria Curie-Sklodowska University in Poland has been appointed to take over editorship of the International Journal of Value Chain Management.

Research pick: Decidedly deleting data - "Secure data deletion in cloud storage: a survey"

A survey of secure deletion of data held “in the cloud” has been undertaken by Minyao Hua, Yinyuan Zhao, and Tao Jiang of the School of Cyber Engineering at Xidian University in Xi’an, Shaanxi, China. The team reports details in the International Journal of Embedded Systems.

Cloud computing utilizing third-party computer systems, servers, processors, data storage equipment to allow uses to offload the resources they would otherwise require on their premises on to remote systems. There are many different levels of cloud service, some are free or freemium or paid and aimed at individual consumers all the way up to the demands of the corporate and enterprise level. Security and privacy of the data any user stores in the cloud is critical to their ongoing success and sustainability. Breaches occur.

There is a secondary, but just as important issue in that when a user deletes the data they have stored in the cloud, they need to be assured that the data is securely deleted and can no longer be retrieved either by the cloud service provider or malicious parties that might illicitly access those services. The team’s survey compares private and public cloud services and reports on the deletion security of the various services available.

In conclusion, the team recognises that there are problems facing users and have recognized two obvious, fundamental deletion methods that are used to purportedly ensure deletion security for users. The first is the extreme, physical destruction of storage media. The second usually involves software deletion that encrypts the data irretrievably if the key is discarded or lost. There is inevitably a trade-off between efficiency and security. The next challenge will be to ensure deleted data cannot be recovered by future quantum computing technology.

Hua, M., Zhao, Y. and Jiang, T. (2020) ‘Secure data deletion in cloud storage: a survey’, Int. J. Embedded Systems, Vol. 12, No. 2, pp.253–265.

Special issue published: "Recent Advances in Nano-Electronic Devices and Technology"

International Journal of Nanoparticles 12(1/2) 2020

• Systematic design strategy for DPL-based ternary logic circuit
• Modulation of millimetre-wave and THz properties of IMPATT sources via external magnetic field
• Hardware realisation of an intelligent medical image watermarking
• Comparative performance analysis of FPGA-based MAC unit using non-conventional number system in TVL domain for signal processing algorithm
• Development of a visible light communication system for reducing flicker in low data rate requirement
• Optoelectronic properties of multiple quantum barriers nano-scale avalanche photo diodes
• A comparative analysis of the short-channel effects of double-gate, tri-gate and gate-all-around MOSFETs
• A comparative study on the effects of technology nodes and logic styles for low power high speed VLSI applications
• A simple method for study of effect of Kerr nonlinearity on effective core area, index of refraction and fractional modal power through the core of monomode graded index fibre
• Development of a highway driving events identification and classification using smartphone
• Performance enhancement of double-gate tunnel FETs using dual-metal and graded-channel configuration
• Simple tuning of modified Smith predictor for unstable FOPTD processes

Research pick: Invertebrates indicators for compost - "Macro-invertebrate population changes during composting of organic waste at Alesinloye Market, Ibadan"

Researchers in Nigeria are investigating how organic composting of cow rumen and vegetable waste affects macro-invertebrate populations at a market composting site. Composting is an important way to deal with such waste and the changes in populations of flies (Diptera), beetles (Coleoptera), and mites and ticks (Acarina), can act as a useful proxy for how well the process is working. The shifting populations coupled with physical and chemical examination can then be used to fine-tune the composting process for best end results.

Oluwatobi Oni of the University of Ibadan and his colleagues point out that it is critical that waste generated by people is managed properly whether it is of animal or other origin. The team points out that improper management can lead to the formation of breeding sites for pathogen-carrying invertebrates, such as malaria-bearing mosquitoes. The presence of waste in a market might also lead to food poisoning and diarrhoea, surface and groundwater contamination, the emergence of diseases such as cholera, poor indoor and outdoor air quality, and even increase the risk of flooding. As such, better methods of waste management are high on the agenda in the developing world, for instance.

“It is certain that composting remains important in the management of organic waste, especially in this part of the world and extensive study is proposed as regards species biodiversity associated with the different composting stages and their impact on compost quality,” the team concludes.

Oni, O.D., Oloruntoba, E.O., Sridhar, M.K.C., Hammed, T.B., Ibrahim, K.T. and Popoola, K.O.K. (2020) ‘Macro-invertebrate population changes during composting of organic waste at Alesinloye Market, Ibadan’, Int. J. Agriculture Innovation, Technology and Globalisation, Vol. 1, No. 3, pp.266–284.

Research pick: Special educational needs - "Characteristics of psychological and pedagogical support of children with special needs"

New research published in the International Journal of Learning and Change discusses the psychological needs and educational support of children with special physical needs.
Sofia Usmanova and Regina Gazizova of the Bashkir State University in Sterlitamak, Russia, discuss the promotion of what they refer to as a “harmonised personality” in learners with physical disabilities and how the necessary support can ensure that these young people have the tools to grow to be important and valued members of society.

There is an increasing number of children with special educational needs that require complex support in their educational activities, socialisation, upbringing, and development. We need to accumulate all available experience and attract various specialists to increase the level of development and adaptation in children with special needs, the team writes. An important part of that, the researchers suggest is providing diagnostics of a child’s development based on several criteria, including verbal and non-verbal communication, motor skills, adaptation within the group, development of attention and concentration. Ultimately, training of educators based on improved knowledge is key.

Usmanova, S.G. and Gazizova, R.R. (2020) ‘Characteristics of psychological and pedagogical support of children with special needs’, Int. J. Learning and Change, Vol. 12, No. 1, pp.55–75.