Special issue published: Social and Sustainable Enterprise: International Perspectives"

International Journal of Sustainable Society 9(1) 2017

• Vocational education training and graduate employability in South Africa: an interlinkage in need of exploration
• Arab women employment in the UAE: exploring opportunities, motivations and challenges
• Social entrepreneurship in the UAE: challenges and recommendations
• Self-transcendence: an alternative explanation for voluntourism in developing countries
• The role of expats, local residents and tourists in defining a destination: a branding case study for Abu Dhabi tourism
• A time comes when silence becomes betrayal: the Indian expatriate perspective of social marketing

Call for papers: "Decision Support Approaches in Finance and Insurance"

For a special issue of the International Journal of Financial Engineering and Risk Management.

This special issue seeks to present the contributions of decision support methodologies in the fields of finance and insurance. Such methodologies originate from areas such as operations research, management science, and machine learning, providing the required analytical tools for strategic and operational decision-making at all levels of financial and insurance institutions. The special issue is particularly interested in approaches that adopt a multidimensional perspective that takes into consideration the multi-faceted nature of the financial and insurance environment. Submissions presenting new methodological developments, empirical results, computational analyses, and cases studies are welcome.

The issue will carry revised and substantially extended versions of selected papers presented at of the 7th International Conference on Multidimensional Finance, Insurance and Investment (ICMFII'2018) but we also strongly encourage researchers unable to participate in the conference to submit articles for this call.

Suitable topics include, but are not limited, to the following:

• Algorithmic trading
• Bank performance and efficiency
• Behavioural decision models
• Capital budgeting and financial planning
• Decision support models in portfolio management
• Financial decision-making under uncertainty and fuzziness
• Fund management and performance appraisal
• Intelligent financial decision support systems
• Multiple-objective and multicriteria models in finance and insurance
• Social responsible investments
• Real options

Important Dates
Manuscripts due by: 31 July, 2018
Notification to authors: 15 October, 2018
Final versions due by: 31 December, 2018

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Sustainable Society

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

• Peripheral land conversion for land and housing development projects and its impacts upon the affected people: a study in Greater Dhaka
• Sustainable livelihood approach towards enhanced management of rural resources
• Valuing environmental management practices through contingent valuation. A review of recent applications
• Predicting behaviours related to marine litter prevention: an empirical case based on junior high school students in Italy

Special issue published: "Advanced Methodologies and Challenges in Multimedia Data and Services in The Internet Of Things"

International Journal of Internet Technology and Secured Transactions 7(1) 2017

• TolkArt: an IoT platform to create intelligent art exhibition of talking objects
• IoT application for the estimation of option price 
• A survey on the digital enhancement of the archaeological sites on Google and a multimedia pilot project in the Agrigento Valley of the Temples in Sicily (Italy)
• Data mining techniques for vestibular data classification
• Mapping the reliability of the additive log-ratio transformation

Research Picks Extra – August 2017

Birth rights

In many places, people conceived with artificial reproductive technology have a right to know their origins in terms of genetic and biological parents. In instances where someone other than a person who will take care of the child has been involved either as a surrogate mother for the gestation or in providing genetic material, then there are issues not only of biology, genetics but biography to consider too. Ludovica Poli of the Department of Law, at the University of Turin, Italy, explores the legal foundations of the right to genetic and biographic origins under international law and envisages possible principles to be applied in balancing it with other competing interests.

Poli, L. (2017) ‘Artificial reproductive technologies and the right to the truth about genetic and biographic origins’, Int. J. Technology Policy and Law, Vol. 3, No. 1, pp.56–67.

Aircraft emissions

Air pollution in and around airports is a critical issue. But, determining the effects on the local environment and the people live and work there is a complex problem in which meteorology plays a confounding role in any attempt to model the situation with a view to reducing detrimental effects on the environment. Oleksandr Zaporozhets and Kateryna Synylo of the Institute of Environmental Safety, at the National Aviation University, in Kyiv, Ukraine, have reviewed the way in which aircraft emissions and pollutions are analysed and suggest that the most apposite models take into account fuel flow rates, operational periods of engines, the age of the engines and their maintenance as well as ambient temperatures.

Zaporozhets, O. and Synylo, K. (2017) ‘Operational conditions influence on aircraft engine emission and pollution inside the airport’, Int. J. Sustainable Aviation, Vol. 3, No. 1, pp.1–17.

Tourist crime

Rob Mawby of the Rural Security Research Group, at Harper Adams University, in Newport, UK, suggests that it has long been recognised that tourism generates crime. There is considerable evidence, he says, that many tourist resorts suffer higher than average crime rates and that tourists are disproportionately victimised. Moreover, some touristsare themselves the criminals, especially when it comes to public disorder problems. Tourism is thus a double-edged sword for any town or city: it brings money and other benefits but it boosts crime. However, research data is not available to give policymakers are clear perspective of the pros and cons and he offers a way to remedy this problem. “Only by collecting data in a more rigorous and systematic way can appropriate policies be developed and successfully applied, with the aim of reducing crime and disorder in tourist destinations and crime against tourists. This, in turn, will benefit visitors, local residents and the tourist industry,” he concludes.

Mawby, R.I. (2017) ‘Crime and tourism: what the available statistics do or do not tell us’, Int. J. Tourism Policy, Vol. 7, No. 2, pp.81–92.

Childhood sound perception

A novel musical toy described by scientists in Italy could be used to study sound perception and auditory preferences in young children. The mechanical-electronic device generates sounds depending on how a child plays with the toy and at the same time measures and assesses through sensors and software, exactly how they are responding to those sounds. The device might help musicologists investigate childhood perception of music, but equally could be used in language development studies.

Taffoni, F., Di Perna, L., Formica, D., Focaroli, V., Keller, F. and Di Stefano, N. (2017) ‘A sensor-based approach to study sound perception in children’, Int. J. Computer Applications in Technology, Vol. 55, No. 3, pp.173–182.

Call for papers: "Developments in Tribology of Composite Materials"

For a special issue of the International Journal of Surface Science and Engineering.

In recent times, the use of composite materials has increased in several areas of science, technology and engineering due to their special properties, namely for their application in biomedical, aircraft, automotive, defence and aerospace, as well as other advanced industries. Tribology is defined as “the science and technology of interacting surfaces in relative motion” and embraces the study of friction, wear and lubrication. This special issue invites the submission of high quality research articles related to friction and wear of polymeric matrix composites (PMCs); metal matrix composites (MMCs); ceramic matrix composites (CMCs), hybrid composites, nanocomposites, biomedical composites, etc.

 

Suitable topics include, but are not limited, to the following:

• Nanocomposites
• Biocomposites
• Hybrid composites
• Natural fibre polymer composites
• Peek and other thermoplastics composites
• Thermosetting composites
• Si3N4 composites
• Superhard composites
• Alumina composites
• Aluminium matrix composites

 

Important Dates

Manuscripts due by: 31 December, 2017

Notification to authors: 31 March, 2018

Final versions due by: 31 May, 2018

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Internet Technology and Secured Transactions

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Internet Technology and Secured Transactions are now available here for free:

• Finding forensic evidence for several web attacks
• A secure and efficient user authentication scheme for the web
• Implementing the information access assistant service for an evaluation
• An experimental setup for practical differential electromagnetic and power analysis of AES cryptosystem
• Secure software engineering requirements in cloud environment by using anticipating learning classifier system

Copyleft, right, left, right…

Copyright is contentious…to say the least. It is at the centre of much debate in academia, in society, and certainly between corporate entities and consumers. Companies’ share price and profits often hinge on the protection of their intellectual property and copyrighted materials whether movies, TV shows, music, photographs, articles and much more. In the age of the Internet, of course, there are few barriers to individuals and organizations breaking copyright law, and in some countries copyright laws are permissive.

From fair use to creative commons to copyright theft and digital downloads, opinions diverge widely. Some see the notion that “sharing is caring” as vital to creativity and even democracy and copyright as nothing but an evil whereas others see all breaches of copyright law as morally, legally and commercially wrong.

Writing in the International Journal of Technology Policy and Law, Julian Hauser of the School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences at the University of Edinburgh, UK, puts forward a moral argument for limiting copyright protection. He argues that today’s expansive copyright laws not only hurt consumers and stifle creativity, but do little to protect content creators and authors.

Hauser puts forward a pared-down version of copyright that he defends as consisting of the right to attribution, the right to have one’s non-endorsement of modifications or uses of one’s work explicitly noted, and the right to a fair share of the profit resulting from the commercial uses of one’s work.

“The significance of copyright can hardly be understated as it shapes one of the defining aspects of our humanity: our culture,” Hauser asserts. “Given these stakes, I have no doubt that copyright will remain a domain of heated debates for many years to come. We need more than that however – we need honest efforts at mutual understanding and constructive criticism.”

Copyright has its roots in laws written three hundred years ago. Maybe it is time for a reboot.

Hauser, J. (2017) ‘Sharing is caring vs. stealing is wrong: a moral argument for limiting copyright protection‘, Int. J. Technology Policy and Law, Vol. 3, No. 1, pp.68-85.

Call for papers: "Advances in Materials Forming"

For a special issue of the International Journal of Machining and Machinability of Materials.

Currently, materials forming include a large group of manufacturing processes in which plastic deformation is used. Materials forming present numerous advantages in the manufacturing of components, from a wide range of materials. This special issue focused in metal forming invites the submission of high quality research articles related to theory, practice and applications.

Suitable topics include, but are not limited, to the following:

• Rolling
• Forging
• Extrusion
• Drawing
• Shearing, blanking and punching
• Bending
• Deep drawing
• Microforming
• Hydroforming
• Explosive forming
• Electromagnetic forming
• Spinning
• Powder forming
• Incremental forming
• Machining deformation

Important Dates
Manuscripts due by: 31 December, 2017
Notification to authors: 31 March, 2018
Final versions due by: 31 May, 2018

Call for papers: "Progress in Machining for Industry 4.0"

For a special issue of the International Journal of Machining and Machinability of Materials.

The word "Industry 4.0" was created from a high-tech project to encourage of the computerisation in manufacturing. Industry 4.0 aims to establish "smart manufacturing" with “modular structures, cyber-physical systems that monitor physical processes, create virtual copies of the physical world, and make decentralized decisions”. This special issue focused on machining for Industry 4.0 invites the submission of high quality research articles related to theory, practice and applications.

 

Suitable topics include, but are not limited, to the following:

• Intelligent machining
• Computational intelligence techniques
• Multiobjective optimisation
• Modelling and simulation
• e-manufacturing
• Cloud-based machining systems
• Environmentally friendly machining
• Quality control and machining
• Machining with robots
• Computer vision and machining

 

Important Dates

Manuscripts due by: 31 December, 2017

Notification to authors: 31 March, 2018

Final versions due by: 31 May, 2018

Second-hand opinions

Tracking the Twitter updates of a random sample of 300,000 active users over the course of a month reveals that this particular corner of social media and social networking is not quite as equitable and democratic as popular perception might have us believe. Indeed, the research published in the International Journal of Internet Marketing and Advertising reveals that there is a two-step flow of information through which a minority of users accounts for the majority of influence. Opinion leaders follow other opinion leaders and effectively form a community of influencers within the wider user base and the information they disseminate then follows a power-law distribution as everyday users share, retweet and reuse that information.

Harsha Gangadharbatla of the Department of Advertising, Public Relations and Media Design, College of Media, Communication and Information, at the University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, and Masoud Valafar a software engineer at Twitter, in San Francisco, California, USA, explain that there are numerous theories about how information is disseminated and how “word-of-mouth” works to influence popular opinion and consumer decision making. There have also been many studies into how the media and social media influencing individuals and groups.

One such theory is known as two-step flow theory. This says that most people form an opinion about a given subject when they are exposed to the views of opinion leaders. Those opinion leaders themselves are influenced by the mass media. This is in contrast to the one-step flow theory, colloquially known as the hypodermic needle, or magic bullet theory, in which people are directly influenced by mass media. Obviously, people are constantly exposed to the mass media at the individual level whether that is television, radio, newspapers or the web. But, the researchers suggest that opinions are actually more likely to be formed second hand in a two-step process. This is especially true of opinions shared on social media but might also apply to the influencers in traditional media – TV pundits, newspaper and magazine columnists, and the like.

It has been claimed that with the wave of new media in the form of Youtube, Twitter, Instagram, and other so-called Web 2.0 sites democratization of information and influence occurred. Gangadharbatla and Valafar suggest that this may not be the case, at least in the Twitter context. Social media is changing radically the way users and consumers receive information, news, opinion, but as with the old vanguard, there still exists the big influencers. These people or organizations, which might include information hubs and news outlets, pressure groups, and even celebrities, act as the primary source of information and opinion.

“Our study suggests that the way information propagates on social media is not all that different from that of traditional media. In other words, even on supposedly democratic and gatekeeper-less environments like Twitter and Instagram, information propagates mostly through opinion leaders, and, more so, these opinion leaders are all connected to other opinion leaders on the medium resulting in a virtual community of opinion leaders that yield a strong influence on how and how fast information spreads on social media,” the team reports. In the business context, the team adds that their, “results suggest that targeting this virtual community of opinion leaders will be a more effective use of advertising dollars than reaching the masses on Twitter.”

Gangadharbatla, H. and Valafar, M. (2017) ‘Propagation of user-generated content online’, Int. J. Internet Marketing and Advertising, Vol. 11, No. 3, pp.218–232.