Call for papers: Ultrafine Particle Kinetics and Characterization

Call for papers: Ultrafine Particle Kinetics and Characterization

A special issue of International Journal of Nanoparticles

In the past five years, significant strides have been made in the portable measurement of airborne ultrafine particles. In addition, during this time frame, major advances and efforts have been made in such potential ultrafine particle-producing activities as atomic force manipulation, soft lithography, self assembly processes, sintering, nanomachining, nanocasting, molding processes, hot embossing, injection molding, printing, stamping, imprint rolling, etching, plasma etching, ion milling, PVD and CVD deposition of nanostructures, to name but a few.

Thus, in order to minimise environmental and human exposures, it is imperative that an accurate characterization of particle concentrations, size, and morphology be accomplished using real-time, portable techniques. This information can then be used to determine the proper engineering controls to implement and the personal protective equipment to be donned by all impacted personnel.

The goal of this special issue is to publish the current state of research in the area of ultrafine particle kinetics and characterization.

The subject coverage of this special issue includes, but is not limited to, topics that address:

• Applications of fundamental and applied research in ultrafine particle kinetics and characterization
• Health and safety issues and employee protection
• Reduction, reuse, and recycling issues and environmental sustainability involving ultrafine particles
• Emerging fields and new technologies in ultrafine particle characterization and measurement
• Engineering controls and personal protective equipment
• Standards and quality issues

Research that spans several fields is particularly welcome.

Important Dates
Deadline for submission of manuscripts: 31 May 2008
Communication of peer reviews to authors: 30 June 2008
Deadline for revised manuscripts: 31 July 2008

Special issue:Sustainable deconstruction and recycle strategies

International Journal of Environmental Technology and Management 8(2/3) 2008

Some of these papers are derived from a University of the Pacific School of Engineering and Computer Science workshop and conference held in San Francisco, California, USA in April 2006.

• Solid waste sustainability related to building deconstruction
• A Knowledge Management approach to Environmental Legislation and Regulation Monitoring: the ELRAMP system
• Water quality monitoring following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita
• Solid waste management strategies and global sustainability of deconstruction
• Sustainable deconstruction and the role of knowledge-based systems
• Waste management policy revisions: lessons learned from the Katrina disaster
• Role of education and industry towards more sustainable construction

Call for papers: Aquatic Environment

Call for papers: Aquatic Environment

A special issue of International Journal of Environment and Waste Management

The aquatic environment can be defined as interacting system of resources such as water and biota. The world has a variety of lotic and lentic aquatic environments, which are a major source of food to millions of people across the earth. The abundance and distribution of fishes in the water are the products of interaction among fishes and their chemical, physical and biological surroundings. Hence, the dynamics of aquatic environment depends on the properties of water. Environmental forces such as temperature, light, dissolved oxygen, current, population density that impinge on the live of aquatic animal are complex and interrelated in their effects.

The unprecedented development on all fronts associated with fast growth of human and cattle population has caused rapid deterioration in the aquatic environment. The major effects of the industrial discharge on aquatic fauna and water quality are the mortality and contamination of water by toxic metals. Therefore, conservation and management of these resources with the environment are of paramount interest. The exponential growth of human population and progressive industrialisation are posing serious threats to aquatic environment and its resources potential. Consequently, environment is emerging as one of the top priorities, and the aquatic environment has gained new dimensions.

Original research paper or reviews that size up the format of the Journal are invited in the following and related areas:

• Limnology of ponds, lakes and reservoirs
• Planktonic organisms in aquatic bodies-taxonomic study and mass culture, biological indicators
• Impact of seasonal and annual rhythmic environmental changes on aquatic life, fish, crustaceans and molluscans
• Physio-chemical characteristics of ponds and rivers affecting plankton production; fish, crustacean's reproductive cycle and growth
• Aquatic productivity and strategy to enhance it in ponds; benthic fauna
• Nutrient status, cycling in aquatic bodies and possible role with respect to fish/prawn culture.
• Pollution in the aquatic environment and control measures.
• Water quality monitoring, aquatic biodiversity and wet land
• Management of reservoirs with respect to aquaculture and water quality
• Remote sensing applications in aquatic environment

Important Dates
Deadline for paper submission: 30 March 2008
First turn of papers review: 31 May 2008
Second turn of papers review: 30 July 2008
Final papers submission: 31 August 2008

Call for papers: Corporate Social Responsibility in the Global Economy

Call for papers: Corporate Social Responsibility in the Global Economy

A special issue of European Journal of International Management

The concept and practice of corporate social responsibility (CSR) at the international level has evolved in a relatively short period of time, yet a wide array of actors and organisations have emerged that have, in turn, brought about many issues and strategies. Cumulatively, the contemporary milieu of CSR holds significant promises but also considerable challenges.

Corporate stakeholders – established and new – have attempted to restructure corporate decision making and force more socially responsible business organisations. Shareholder activists have made efforts to influence corporate strategies in different ways. Non-governmental organisations have entered the business arena with multiple strategies to influence corporate behaviour. Consumers, who potentially hold powerful influence over corporate success, have played only occasional roles in CSR. The role of the state is seen as both facilitator and regulator with regard to international corporate behaviour.

Many strategies and issues have been posed in the broad area of corporate social responsibility and have now reached a kind of plateau in development. Numerous international standard-setting strategies, for example, have been advanced yet concurrence among participants seems distant. The nature and type of stakeholders important in decision-making is being challenged. While business has responded to many of the demands brought about by concerns over socially responsible business, the demand for more change is still sought and will likely not go away. Overall, the nature of business is being challenged, thus encouraging the development of new value-creation objectives for firms.

The aim of this special issue is to capture the current state of corporate social responsibility around the globe, applying unique perspectives and analyses. Qualitative and quantitative approaches are encouraged. Papers also should point to the future of corporate social responsibility with particular emphasis on how best to advance the arguments, methods, and effectiveness of CSR. Advancement of CSR effectiveness also includes linkages to other fields of business management research.

Examples of topics appropriate to the theme of corporate social responsibility include, but are not limited to:

• The language and rhetoric of corporate social responsibility
• The role of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in CSR, with implications for effective stakeholder involvement
• The role of consumers in CSR
• Multinational corporations and the recognition of human rights
• The role of CSR in the reduction of conflict and of overall uncertainty in the geopolitical business environment
• Corporate-state interface in CSR, with emphasis on roles and implications of roles
• Social responsibility as management and decision-making tools
• Corporate codes of conduct - their usefulness and effectiveness
• CSR as a marketing tool with implications for effectiveness
• Setting international standards of corporate behaviour - who sets them, how are they enforced?
• Corporate accountability - voluntary compliance or legal enforcement?
• Whither the role of SMEs in corporate social responsibility?
• CSR and organisational change - organisational behaviour, strategy and development
• The strategy and policy implications of corporate philanthropy
• Assessments of major regional and cultural entities in Europe, North America, Asia, Africa, South America
• Assessments of developed countries vis-a-vis developing countries regarding CSR
• Maintaining effective CSR strategies in supply chain management
• Integrating sustainability (social, environmental, economic) with profit- making

Important Dates
Draft submission deadline: 1 November, 2008
Final paper submission deadline: 15 February, 2009

Call for papers: Design for Six Sigma

Call for papers: Design for Six Sigma

A special issue of International Journal of Six Sigma and Competitive Advantage

This special issue aims to publish research that discusses Design for Six Sigma in production and service operations to confront and solve challenges within such systems. Given the use of process improvement methods such as Total Quality Management and Six Sigma, there is growing evidence to support the fact that these methods eventually reach a point of diminishing return because often, if unintentionally, defects or errors are designed into processes. The critical point of consideration with respect to quality improvement, therefore, has migrated upstream to the design process and now includes designing and redesigning both products and services. This special issue aims to attract research on Design for Six Sigma methodologies in order to share experiences amongst practitioners and researchers in this area.

Subject Coverage:

• Design for Six Sigma versus other quality initiatives
• Design for Six Sigma application (case studies)
• Integration of Design for Six Sigma with other strategies
• Selection and use of the tools and techniques of Design for Six Sigma
• Project selection in Design for Six Sigma
• Critical success factors of Design for Six Sigma
• Performance measurement for Design for Six Sigma
• Strategic aspects of Design for Six Sigma
• Role of leadership in Design for Six Sigma
• Best practice of Design for Six Sigma

Important Dates
Paper Submission (e-mail): 30 June 2008
Communication of Results (e-mail): 30 September 2008
Final Manuscript submission (e-mail): 30 November 2008

Special issue: Multi-agent systems and simulation

International Journal of Agent-Oriented Software Engineering 2(2) 2008

Three papers are extended and revised versions of papers presented at the first edition of the International Workshop on Multi-Agent Systems and Simulation (MAS&S), which took place at the 4th Annual Industrial Simulation Conference 2006 (ISC’06) in Palermo, Italy, in June 2006.

• PASSIM: a simulation-based process for the development of multi-agent systems
• Designing self-organising environments with agents and artefacts: a simulation-driven approach
• Modelling and simulation of social systems with INGENIAS
• A&A for modelling and engineering simulations in Systems Biology
• Formal driven prototyping approach for multiagent systems

Special issue: Interdisciplinary aspects of mobile networks design and innovation

International Journal of Mobile Network Design and Innovation 2(3/4) 2007

• Interdisciplinary issues for the management of next generation autonomic wireless systems: nature-inspired techniques and organic computing
• Fast-fading, an additional mistaken axiom of wireless-network research
• Automatic identification of informal social groups and places for geo-social recommendations
• A cross layer analysis for voice over WiFi communications in multihop wireless networks
• Wireless network design: a space-filling curve approach
• Modelling and analysis of bandwidth competition in 802.11 wireless networks
• Self-similar simulation of IP traffic for wireless networks
• Optimisation of the antenna placement for an airport surveillance system
• Rain attenuation time series synthesis with combined Markov models for microwave terrestrial links
• Soft boundary frequency assignment methods
• A model for optimisation of signal level thresholds in GSM networks

Call for papers: Northern Dimension of European Logistics

Call for papers: Northern Dimension of European Logistics

A special issue of World Review of Intermodal Transportation Research

Northern Europe covers the countries on the rim of Baltic Sea: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Denmark, Sweden and Finland. Norway is often included in the BSR as well as northwestern parts of Russian and the northern part of Germany. It is an area of high economic growth, e.g. economic growth of such countries as Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Russia have been well above double compared to European average.

In this special issue we are interested in these named countries, which form the main part of European Northern Dimension. This region is not only interesting because of its economic growth, but due to reason that this part of the Europe is the main border crossing point to Russia, and other eastern economies. The increase in Russian consumer demand is so strong, however, that the country's own ports will not be able to deal with the increasing imports. Also, trade flows are rather mixed: in some of the countries mentioned, a strong industrial base exists, while others rely on raw material trade and transports. For example, in the Baltic Sea nowadays, more than 200 million tons of oil is being transported by sea vessels. Currently, the amount of container transports is estimated to be above 4 million TEU. Also, in all of these countries, the railway and short sea transport market share from total transports is significantly higher than in the average European country.

We are interested in research works concerning the organisation of logistics in this region, investment issues, intermodality support, maritime, road and railway transport, information technology applications, and company case studies (e.g. third party logistics). Our prime focus, however, is on freight transport. Safety, security and environmental aspects may be addressed as well. Focus, in any paper, should be at least on one of the countries named above. Proposed research works should be forward looking, since transportation growth, e.g. concerning oil and containers, is estimated to continue showing high growth in the forthcoming decade.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following areas:

• Intermodal freight transports
• Infrastructure requirements and readiness in the region
• Container transports
• Warehousing solutions
• Information technology to support logistics flows
• Border-crossing issues
• Employment issues and transportation economics in the region
• Harbour development
• Privatisation issues
• Transportation corridors to the East
• Safety and security issues
• Environmental aspects of transport

Important Dates
Full paper due: 30 June, 2008
Notification of acceptance: 31 September, 2008

Call for papers: Immersive Virtual, Mixed, or Augmented Reality Art

Call for papers: Immersive Virtual, Mixed, or Augmented Reality Art

A special issue of International Journal of Arts and Technology

For the past fifteen years, virtual reality (VR) and, more recently, mixed reality (MR) and augmented reality (AR) environments that immerse their participants in imaginary space, have emerged to define an area that blurs the lines between the seemingly different worlds of research, creativity, and technological practice, while exploring the interdependencies between the virtual and the physical. From the immersive, yet more esoteric, CAVE®-based projects of the mid-nineties to the contemporary open experiences spread out in virtual as well as physical space, creative VR/MR/AR applications are challenging the ways we perceive both digital art and the science and engineering behind them.

Early enthusiasm with the use of projection-based display structures and the development of authoring solutions for application-building has brought a level of maturity, characterized by the emergence of new technical and conceptual forms. It is this particular moment in the evolution of immersive VR/MR/AR art practice that this special issue seeks to capture. Hence, in this special issue, we aim to bring forth the topic of immersive art in its current maturity, present the newest developments and explore its evolving forms, aspiring to shape a framework that will help us to develop the next generation of environments.

Therefore, this special issue will not include contributions that deal solely with describing a narrow and specific piece of art or research without reference to a conceptual framework or a critical analysis; rather we encourage contributions that take a broad and integrative view of relevant topics, encompassing both theoretical and empirical perspectives of digitally-generated creative spaces.

Subject Coverage

Submissions are invited that touch on but are not limited to the following themes:

• Theoretical discourse on immersive virtual, mixed or augmented reality art environments.
• Novel design concepts, applications, implementations and experiences from the actual deployment of immersive VR/MR/AR art applications
• Research or empirical work addressing some of the open questions in the design of immersive art environments. For example:

1. Issues concerning creativity and aesthetics, visual depiction, storytelling and narrative, triggering other senses, embodiment, etc.
2. The fine line between designing for entertainment or for artistic pleasure
3. Issues in the design of interactivity, interfaces, and interaction methodologies, such as navigation by and tracking of multiple users, meaningful group interaction, the integration of multi-modal interfaces (e.g. tactile and haptic displays, sensing technologies), etc.
4. Issues concerning the design and development process of immersive artwork, such as the conceptualisation and collaboration challenges presented by multitalented interdisciplinary teams working together, the unavailability of resources and work environments, etc.
5. Issues in the deployment of different display configurations, sizes, and installations, as well as challenges in the practical use with diverse audiences (e.g., the need to guide people in experiencing the artwork)

Contributions are encouraged from different disciplinary perspectives, including fine arts, computer science, performance art, theatre, design, architecture, communications and social sciences, philosophy, cognitive psychology, and enabling technologies.

Contributions should take a broad and integrative view of relevant topics, rather than merely describing a narrow and specific piece of art or research.

Important Dates
Submission intent (title and 300-word abstract): 1 September, 2008
Deadline for full paper submission: 31 October, 2008
Review results returned to authors: February 29, 2009
Deadline for camera-ready papers: June 30, 2009

Call for papers: Nanoparticles: State-of-the Art in Scientific Research

Call for papers: Nanoparticles: State-of-the Art in Scientific Research

A special issue of International Journal of Nanoparticles

In recent years, nanoparticle research has been established as an area of intense and active scientific research. It has a wide variety of potential applications in biomedical, optical, and electronic fields. Although nanoparticles are considered as an invention of modern science, in fact they have a very long history. Initially, nanoparticles were used by artisans as far back as in the 9th century Mesopotamia for generating a glittering effect on the surface of pottery. Nanoparticles are of great scientific interest as they are in-between bulk materials and atomic or molecular structures. Normally, bulk materials have physical properties independent of their size, whereas, at the nanoscale, this is often not the case.

The miracle of nanoparticle research is the size-dependent properties which are observed, such as quantum confinement in semiconductor particles, surface plasmon resonance in some metal particles and superparamagnetism in magnetic materials. Therefore, the goal of this special issue is to present the current state-of-the-art in nanoparticle research and to provide a forum for developing the possible applications of nanoparticles for next generation nanotechnology.

The subject coverage of this special issue includes, but is not limited to, topics that address:

• Fundamental research and developments on nanoparticles
• Physical properties of nanoparticles
• Applications of nanoparticles
• Emerging fields of nanoparticles.

Research that spans several fields is particularly welcome. In addition, papers presented to the ICON008 session on Nanoparticles will also be considered for this special issue. The International Conference on Nanotechnology (ICON008) is being held under the auspices of His Majesty King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz and organized by Center of Nanotechnology at King Abdul Aziz University, Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on 17-19 June 2008.


Important Dates
Deadline of abstract submission: 15 April, 2008
Abstract acceptance notice: 30 April, 2008
Deadline of full manuscript submission: 15 May, 2008

Call for papers: Nano and Biomaterials: the Building Blocks

Call for papers: Nano and Biomaterials: the Building Blocks

A special issue of International Journal of Nano and Biomaterials

Nanomaterials have fascinated scientists from their very inception as they have made their dream of tailoring materials according to their requirements much closer to reality. Their unique properties and promising applications in mesoscopic research, nanodevices, and optoelectronics devices are well understood. These materials are currently one of the most active frontiers in science and technology and the field of biomaterials is becoming one of the most intellectually exciting areas of materials science and engineering. Even though activity in this field is not new, there is currently fresh energy brought about by the remarkable advances in molecular and cell biology of the past two decades.

Therefore, the goal of this special issue is to present the current state-of-the-art in nano and biomaterials research and to provide a forum for developing the possible applications of nano and biomaterials for next generation nanobiotechnology.

The subject coverage of this special issue includes, but is not limited to, topics that address:

• Fundamental research and developments on nano and biomaterials
• Nanobiotechnology
• Applications of nano and biomaterials
• Emerging fields of nano and biomaterials

Research that spans several fields is particularly welcome. In addition, papers presented to the ICON008 session on Nano and Biomaterials will also be considered for this special issue. The International Conference on Nanotechnology (ICON008) is being held under the auspices of His Majesty King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz and organized by Center of Nanotechnology at King Abdul Aziz University, Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on 17-19 June 2008.

Important Dates
Deadline of abstract submission: 15 April, 2008
Abstract acceptance notice: 30 April, 2008
Deadline of full manuscript submission: 15 May, 2008

Call for papers: Nanomanufacturing: A Step Towards the Industrialisation of Nanotechnology

Call for papers: Nanomanufacturing: A Step Towards the Industrialisation of Nanotechnology

A special issue of International Journal of Nanomanufacturing

In the past five years, significant strides have been made in the development of nanomanufacturing techniques. Advances in nanomanufacturing in recent years include developments in atomic force manipulation, soft lithography, self assembly processes, sintering, moulding processes, hot embossing, injection moulding, printing, stamping, imprint rolling, etching, plasma etching, ion milling, PVD and CVD deposition of nanostructures, to name but a few.

Therefore, the goal of this special issue is to present the current state-of-the-art in nanomanufacturing and to provide a forum for developing next generation nanomanufacturing processes.

The subject coverage of this special issue includes, but is not limited to, topics that address:

• Fundamental research and developments on nanomanufacturing
• Applied research and developments on nanomanufacturing processes
• Applications of fundamental and applied research in nano engineering industries
• Emerging fields of nanomanufacturing
  

Research that spans several fields is particularly welcome. In addition, papers presented to the ICON008 session on Nanomanufacturing will also be considered for this special issue. The International Conference on Nanotechnology (ICON008) is being held under the auspices of His Majesty King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz and organized by Center of Nanotechnology at King Abdul Aziz University, Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on 17-19 June 2008.

Important Dates
Deadline of abstract submission: 15 April, 2008
Abstract acceptance notice: 30 April, 2008
Deadline of full manuscript submission: 15 May, 2008

Call for papers: Innovation and Entrepreneurship: Location and Context

Call for papers: Innovation and Entrepreneurship: Location and Context

A special issue of International Journal of Technology Management

In recent years, firms have recognized the key role played by innovation in the creation and success of businesses. In constantly changing, uncertain contexts such as those we are currently experiencing, the capacity and necessary attitude for creating new firms is fundamental and the probability of success is largely determined by innovation and management capabilities (Porter, 1998).

In this sense, location and context have a profound effect on business innovation, creation and development. Business agglomerations that are grouped in science parks and clusters or industrial districts constitute environments that enable the development of innovation and the creation of new firms. On the one hand, new venture creation becomes easier due to stable relationships and better information on business opportunities, less entry costs and lower exit barriers, access to physical, financial and commercial infrastructures, as well as reduced risks and uncertainty. On the other hand, the spill-overs that are generated have a positive influence on the increase in the innovative activity of the firms located there. A firm can therefore obtain what it needs from its suppliers or partners more quickly in order to introduce innovations and thus attend more effectively to client needs (Audretsch and Feldman, 1996).

Although literature exists that examines firm creation from a geographical perspective, it is necessary to take a closer look at aspects linked to location and the geographical and sectorial context, the generation and development of technology, research and development, different types of innovation and their effect on firm performance as well as their role in technological strategy, human resource management and the introduction of best practices.

The objective of this Special Issue is to provide theoretical and empirical evidence that relates innovation and technological development with entrepreneurship and the geographical context (clusters, science parks, incubators).

Audretsch, D.B., Feldman, M.P. (1996). R&D spillovers and the geography of innovation and production. American Economic Review, 86(3), 630-640.
Porter, M.E. (1998). Clusters and the new economics of competition. Harvard Business Review, 76(6), 77-90.

Empirical research that uses multiple methods, conceptual papers that look at different theoretical perspectives and in general any research with multiple levels of analysis are particularly welcome.

Recommended topics are as follows:

• The effect of location and the geographical context on entrepreneurial behaviour in firms.
• Innovation and entrepreneurship, sectorial and regional studies.
• Integrative and interdisciplinary models of innovation and entrepreneurship.
• Science parks, incubators and the growth of technology firms.
• New ventures based on open innovation.
• Clustering and the R&D management of high-technology small firms.
• Promoting innovation in business incubators.
• Transfer of "entrepreneurial knowledge" within the cluster
• Creation of dynamic technological competences in clusters/science parks /incubators.
• Managing alliance relationships for innovation in clusters/science parks/incubators.
• Interaction between incubators and industrial clusters.
• Governmental policies promoting innovative entrepreneurship.
• The tendency toward innovation of firms found clusters and science parks.
• Practices for managing human capital that enable/hinder an entrepreneurial attitude and innovation in clusters/science parks /incubators.

We are open to imaginative and interesting ideas that may not fit neatly within any of the above listed areas but that do fit within the spirit of this Call for Papers.

Important Dates
Submission of full paper: 30 June, 2008
Feedback from referees: 31 August, 2008
Submission of revised paper: 31 October, 2008
Second round from referees (if applicable): 30 November, 2008
Submission of final revised paper: 30 December, 2008

Call for papers: Modelling, Monitoring and Control of Durability of Concrete Structures

Call for papers: Modelling, Monitoring and Control of Durability of Concrete Structures

A special issue of International Journal of Modelling, Identification and Control

Durability of concrete structures has been the subject of academic debate since the early 1970s. Over past decades, a number of durability related problems have emerged and now the topic has become a major concern of infrastructure owners and operators. The purpose of this special issue is to highlight the key research progress in this important field and to present the original research related to modelling, monitoring and control of durability of concrete structures.

Suitable topics include, but are not limited to:

• Transport of ions in cement and/or concrete materials
• Material degradation
• Influence of environments on durability of concrete structures
• Design, monitoring and prediction for durability
• Technologies used for repairing and maintaining in concrete related structures

Papers in relation to developing models based on experimental observations and identification, validation and calibration are particularly welcomed.

Authors who are going to present a paper in ICDCS-2008 are encouraged to submit an extended full length paper.

Important Dates
Submission of full paper before: 1 October 2008
Notification of acceptance before: 1 December 2008
Submission of final and revised manuscripts before: 5 January 2009

Call for papers: Global Operations

Call for papers: Global Operations

A special issue of International Journal of Services and Operations Management

Globalisation has continued to re-shape the today’s business landscape by presenting countless operational challenges and opportunities. These challenges include the increased complexity and uncertainty created by varying organisational culture, socio-economic conditions, national policies, currency fluctuations, communication protocols, quality standards, technical ethical/legal practices, and business customs. For example, quality circles that worked well in Japan may not work at all in the UK due to differences in management styles and labour rules. Also, imposing high quality standards on the organisational setting in developing countries such as China can be the far more daunting task than doing so in developed countries such as Germany and France.

On the other hand, globalisation poses numerous business opportunities by expanding the multinational firm’s customer and supplier bases. For example, many U.S. firms have actively sought to source their materials, parts and components from overseas suppliers who have a better access to cheap labour, stronger government supports, and less stringent environmental standards. Also, a company’s increasing presence in the world-wide market would help it enhance its brand recognition and subsequently solidify its customer bases.

In recognition of these challenges and opportunities, this special issue aims to bring together the recent advances in research tools and their applications to various aspects of international operations and supply activities including global outsourcing, contract manufacturing, foreign supplier evaluation, international technology transfer, international plant location, strategic alliances with foreign firms, and overseas supplier development. Papers centered on building theory or based on actual case studies will be especially welcomed. Also, papers that synthesize the past evolution of international operations management and provide future research directions are strongly encouraged.

The topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following areas:

• International sourcing strategy
• Strategic alliances among overseas buyers and suppliers
• International manufacturing plant/warehouse location
• International supplier development
• International technology transfers
• International call center operations
• The application of six sigma principles to world-wide supply chain operations
• Supply risk assessment and management
• Bullwhip effects in the global supply chain
• Contract manufacturing in global business environments
• Change management from the global supply chain perspective
• Forecasting foreign exchange rates
• Supply chain talent development across the country
• Global quality standards including ISO9000/14000 guidelines
• Global supply chain leadership
• Comparisons of operations and supply management in different countries.

Important Dates
Full paper due: 15 May, 2008
Notification of acceptance: 31 July, 2008
Final version of the paper due: 30 September, 2008

Call for papers: Global Logistics

Call for papers: Global Logistics

A special issue of International Journal of Logistics Systems and Management

With the unprecedented growth of international trade, a growing number of multinational firms have coped with logistical challenges of shipping products to and from unfamiliar territories in foreign soils. These logistical challenges include cross-border transportation under different rules and regulations, selection of the optimal mode of transportation, backward movement of returned products, selection of ports of entry and departure, utilisation of foreign (free) trade zones and bonded warehouses, location of international warehouses/distribution centers, selection of international distribution/transportation hubs, establishment of global services standards, development of global transportation networks, design of global e-commerce, assurance of safe and secure transportation, assessment of potential supply chain risks in global environments, resolution of international contract disputes, and cross-cultural negotiations.

In recognition of these challenges, this special issue aims to bring together the recent advances in research tools and their applications to various aspects of global logistics activities including intermodal transportation, port selection, ocean carrier routing/scheduling, containerisation, packaging, bonded warehousing/shipment, e-fulfillment operations, logistics infrastructure development, country or region-specific distribution channel design, foreign logistics market penetration, and supply chain risk management in global business environments. Papers centred on building theory or based on actual case studies will be especially welcomed. Also, papers that synthesize the past evolution of global logistics and provide future research directions are strongly encouraged.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following areas:

• Intermodal/multi-modal transportation
• Country- or region-specific distribution channels
• Global trends of the third-party logistics markets
• Standardisation of global logistics services
• Green logistics in G-7 nations
• Global logistics strategy
• Container cargo booking and reservations
• Revenue management of international air-carriers and ocean-carriers
• Claims handling/contract dispute resolution
• Modern piracy
• Port management/selection
• World-wide return management/product recall
• The impact of free trade movement such as NAFTA on global logistics
• Cabotage
• Cross-border security
• Transportation rules and regulations in foreign countries such as China
• Cross-cultural freight-term negotiation
• Supply chain disruptions in a global scale.

Important Dates
Full paper due: 15 May, 2008
Notification of acceptance: 31 July, 2008
Final version of the paper due: 30 September, 2008

Call for papers: Customer Relationship Management and Information Technology Applications

Call for papers: Customer Relationship Management and Information Technology Applications

A special issue of International Journal of Business Innovation and Research

Many of the challenges in the business world today result from the innovations and advances in the global economy and the management strategies that are directly tied to the evolution of technology. Technology is changing the way we consume products and services through the Internet. All the different forms of business, including B2B (business-to-business), B2C (business-to-customer), and C2C (customer-to-customer), are processed faster, easier, and with more convenience through online transactions. These online transactions give the potential to attract customers easier, retain existing customers, produce higher profits, and increase revenues faster. The benefits of the Internet are many and evolve with the growth of technology designed to leverage that connective power to customers, especially for the average individual with routine needs and demands. Although businesses are reaping the benefits as well, with these opportunities comes many challenges and an enormous amount investment required in order to dealing with the increasing competition.

If a consumer makes a poor decision, or ends up with a deficient product, it can be very costly as customers seek alternatives that are sub-optimal. In terms of basic CRM (customer relationship management), one of the best ways to safeguard against making a poor decision in any purchasing process is to become an informed buyer, thus avoiding the costly error of lack of customer retention and resultant loyalty. The difficulty of attaining a satisfied and empowered customer is largely dependent on the number of alternatives that are available for a given purchase. The situation does work both ways, as the larger the alternative set, the longer it will take to make a well-informed decision, as in the case for the automotive consumer.

Specifically, we are interested in applications of CRM, innovation, and its applications through information technology, including, but not limited to:

• What is innovation and why innovate in the business to customer interface?
• CRM in a service industry and the opportunities and challenges of improving the customer interface.
• CRM product and service innovation, especially applications to emerging applications, such as fantasy sports, online dating, online financial services, automobile purchases online, retail online services, loyalty cards, to name a few.
• Strategic bundling of CRM software products and services into other propositions that require technological support and using best business practices to innovate the customer interface in such industries as music, film, pharmaceuticals, banking, and other service areas.
• Research, both empirical and theoretical, into customer-led innovations that involve retail services companies and how they use customer-related information and customer-segment innovation.
• Research, both empirical and theoretical, into technology-led innovation involving the customer interface, such as e-personalisation, services personally identified through mass channels of communication and commerce. It is assumed that descriptions of the channels that provide this interaction are sufficiently discussed.
• As these technologies and applications of CRM-embedded innovations have transformed the overall client experience, case studies and actual applications with measures of success or failure are especially encouraged.

Important Date
Submission of manuscripts: 30 September, 2008

Call for papers: Advanced Power Semiconductor Devices

Call for papers: Advanced Power Semiconductor Devices

A special issue of International Journal of Power Electronics

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

• Diodes
• MOSFETS
• BJTs
• IGBTs
• Thyristor
• High power devices
• Intelligent power modules
• Pulse power devices
• Novel device structures in Si, SiC, GaAs and diamond
• Programmable intelligent power modules

Important Dates
Paper due: 15 January, 2009
Acceptance notification: 15 February, 2009
Final paper version due: 15 March, 2009

Special issue: Gender and entrepreneurship

International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business 5(3/4) 2008

• Familiar strangers: reflections of an ethnic minority researcher
• Economic outcomes of female immigrant entrepreneurship
• Working ladies: Mennonite women in the enterprises of Spanish Lookout, Belize
• Singapore's female entrepreneurs – are they different?
• Successful women entrepreneurs: a six-country analysis of self-reported determinants of success – more than just dollars and cents
• The system of business financing in Russia: the gender aspect
• Loan delinquency among small business owners in Ghana: the importance of gender to the lending process
• Entrepreneurial and cultural dynamics: a gender kaleidoscope of Ugandan microenterprises
• Effectiveness of women entrepreneurs in the 21st century
• The influence of roles and identities on female entrepreneurial agency
• Social capital, collaborative exchange and microenterprise performance: the role of gender
• Are there differences in the perception of the importance of training for female and male entrepreneurs?
• From home to jua kali enterprise spaces: entrepreneurship and female gender identity

Special issue:Networks of SMEs and globalisation: Part 2

International Journal of Globalisation and Small Business 2(3) 2008

• Competing through cooperation in international supply networks: a case study from the clothing industry
• Understanding the role of virtual enterprises in supporting manufacturing SMEs' internationalisation process
• Governance and social aspects of internationalisation: SMEs in northeastern Italy
• Knowledge creation and transfer in local and global technology networks: a system dynamics perspective
• Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) in internationally operating R&D networks: recent findings and trends
• SME business models in global competition: a network perspective

Special issue: Intelligent decision support systems

International Journal of Intelligent Systems Technologies and Applications 4(3/4) 2008

• Exploring evidential reasoning in multicriteria decision making under uncertainty
• Mining in-depth patterns in stock market
• An integrated investment decision-support framework analysing and synthesising multidimensional market dynamics
• The three laws of robotics revisited
• An improved trust model in agent-mediated e-commerce
• Incorporating track records of agents into matchmaking in middle agents
• A comparison of reduced support vector machines
• An efficient algorithm for mining frequent closed itemsets in dynamic transaction databases
• The adoption and use of business intelligence solutions in Australia
• Supporting adaptive learning in hypertext environments: a high level timed Petri net-based approach
• Foundation of an affective tutoring system: learning how human tutors adapt to student emotion

Additional Papers

• Parallel robot design incorporating a direct end effector sensing system
• Design of an anti-overshoot Mamdani-type fuzzy-adaptive controller for yaw angle control of a model helicopter
• A Tutor Agent for supporting distributed knowledge modelling in interactive product design

Special issue: Risk perception and social trust

International Journal of Global Environmental Issues 8(1/2) 2008

• Risk communication and natural hazard mitigation: how trust influences its effectiveness
• Trust, Confidence and Cooperation model: a framework for understanding the relation between trust and Risk Perception
• Too much trust in (social) trust? The importance of epistemic concerns and perceived antagonism
• Building and breaking a bridge of trust in a Superfund site remediation
• Institutional trust, information processing and perception of environmental cancer risk
• Differences in global risk perceptions of biotechnology and the political economy of the media
• Monitoring environment, health and perception. An experimental survey on health and environment in Flanders, Belgium
• Factor analytic investigation of Canadians' population health risk perceptions: the role of locus of control over health risks
• Linking environmental risk assessment and communication: an experiment in co-evolving scientific and social knowledge
• Initial public perceptions of carbon geosequestration: implications for engagement and environmental risk communication strategies
• Psychosocial factors, perceived risk and driving in a hostile environment: driving through tunnels
• Social amplification of risk and environmental collective activism: a case study of Cobalt-60 contamination incident in Taiwan

Special issue: Agent-mining interaction

International Journal of Intelligent Information and Database Systems 2(1) 2008

• MALEF: Framework for distributed machine learning and data mining
• Agent-based evolutionary optimisation of trading strategies
• Sketching a methodology for efficient Supply Chain Management agents enhanced through Data Mining
• A multi agent recommender system that utilises consumer reviews in its recommendations
• A human-centred intelligent system framework: meta-synthetic engineering
• Concepts, challenges, and prospects on Multiagent Data Warehousing (MADWH) and Multiagent Data Mining (MADM)
• Granule mining oriented data warehousing model for representations of multidimensional association rules

Special issue: Network forensics

International Journal of Security and Networks 3(2) 2008

Updated and enhanced edited papers presented at the Second Annual IFIP WG 11.9 International Conference on Digital Forensics, held in Orlando, Florida, USA on January 29–February 1, 2006.

• Using mobile ad hoc networks to acquire digital evidence from remote autonomous agents
• Forensic analysis of SCADA systems and networks
• On the (un)reliability of eavesdropping
• Using PLSI-U to detect insider threats by datamining e-mail

Additional Papers

• A novel localised authentication scheme in IEEE 802.11 based Wireless Mesh Networks
• Adaptive clustering for scalable key management in dynamic group communications

Special issue: Business decision making for sustainable development

International Journal of Management and Decision Making 9(2) 2008

• Integrated environment management in steel industries
• Behaviour validity of a simulation model for sustainable development
• Performance measurement for network DEA with undesirable factors
• The application of fuzzy analytic hierarchy process for supply chain decision making: a case study of original brand manufacturing of the sewing machine industry in Taiwan
• Analysis and selection of green suppliers using interpretative structural modelling and analytic hierarchy process
• On the design of an argumentation-based knowledge management system for logistics operations
• Logical approach for evaluation of supply chain alternatives

Special issue: Economics and business of sports

International Journal of Sport Management and Marketing 3(4) 2008

• The determinants of women's international soccer performances
• Striking out: estimating the economic impact of baseball's World Series
• Sport participation and migration
• Multiple groups confirmatory factor analysis of the motivational factors affecting individuals' decisions about participating in action sports and an inquiry into participant action sports participatory fandom
• The CEO – 'star athlete' analogy: the role of variable compensation in professional sport
• Is UEFA right? Measuring competitiveness of domestic football leagues
• Predicting the economic impact of the 2010 FIFA World Cup on South Africa

Special issue: Sport organisations and inter-organisational relationships

International Journal of Sport Management and Marketing 3(3) 2008

• Broadcasting technology and its influence on sport broadcaster inter-organisational relationship formation
• Value in a multiple perspective view of sports sponsorship
• Cluster theory and competitive advantage: the Torquay surfing experience
• Urban regimes and sport in North American cities: seeking status through franchises, events and facilities
• Image on the internet: inter-organisational isomorphism in image management by professional soccer clubs
• Avoiding separation: sport partner perspectives on a long-term inter-organisational relationship
• Managing inter-organisational relationships: the art of plate spinning

Special issue: Governing Europe

International Journal of Public Policy 3(1/2) 2008

• European economic governance: what is it, where are we and where do we go?
• Towards a European social model: preconditions, difficulties and prospects of a European social policy
• Perspectives on the European economic and social model: distributional and institutional conflicts
• EU – shield or booster in the globalisation process?
• The Lisbon strategy, macroeconomic stability and the dilemma of governance with governments; or why Europe is not becoming the world's most dynamic economy
• The Stability and Growth Pact – Germanising the Euro
• The EU and the governance of globalisation

Special issue: Sustainable mobility, vehicle design and development

International Journal of Vehicle Design 46(2) 2008

• Sustainable management of vehicle design
• Strategy-based approach to eco-design: application to an automotive component
• Volkswagen slimLCI: a procedure for streamlined inventory modelling within life cycle assessment of vehicles
• Life-cycle assessment of batteries in the context of the EU Directive on end-of-life vehicles
• Simultaneous optimisation of fuel consumption and emissions for a parallel hybrid electric SUV using fuzzy logic control
• Virtual design of efficient twin-screw superchargers for sustainable power management in engines
• Artificial technologies in sustainable braking system development
• Non-parametric linearised data driven modelling and force tracking control of a magnetorheological damper

Special issue: The changing face of process improvement: the saga continues

International Journal of Six Sigma and Competitive Advantage 3(4) 2007

• Getting better all the time: the future of business improvement methodology
• Six Sigma paradigm shift
• Critical success factors and hurdles to Six Sigma implementation: the case of a UK manufacturing SME
• Designing sustainable strategies for continuous improvement deployment programme: lessons from a steel plant in India
• First Time Right: a metric for failproof design

Special issue: The importance of the cultural dimension when doing business in China

International Journal of Chinese Culture and Management 1(2) 2008

• Comparative work values among future managers in China and the USA
• Business culture and management in China, Thailand and the USA: cultural values and business practice
• Chinese culture-related assumptions for mentoring practice
• Working with Chinese culture in luxury hotels in Shanghai: an expatriate manager's perspective on management challenges
• Connections between factors of readiness to change in Chinese organisations
• The environment: once a problem for the rich, now part of the marketing strategy? A case study on China's environmental communication

First issue: International Journal of Communication Networks and Distributed Systems

The first issue of International Journal of Communication Networks and Distributed Systems has just been published.

The journal intends to improve worldwide research in the areas of communication networks and distributed systems by publishing high-quality articles in this area, and by exposing the readers to various methodologies, tools, techniques, algorithms, results, and types of articles. Papers will not be limited to the telecommunication domain, but may consider network problems in other application domains such as biological networks, social networks, and chemical networks. This feature of this journal will also help in promoting interdisciplinary research in these areas.

There is a free download of papers from this first issue.

Call for papers: Technology Transfer within the post-Kyoto Protocol Policy Framework

Call for papers: Technology Transfer within the post-Kyoto Protocol Policy Framework

A special issue of International Journal of Technology Transfer and Commercialisation

As the Kyoto Protocol is edging toward its expiry in 2012, the academic and policymaking communities are already contemplating a replacement policy framework (or policy design architecture) to address unresolved problems and future challenges.

This special issue offers a platform for debates and discussions, while the process of searching for solutions to many questions relating to environmental changes and technology transfer is still in progress, questions such as:

• How do we encourage developing countries, which are also the major contributors to global greenhouse gas emission, to participate in environmental protection?
• What is the best way of fostering international collaborations in environment protection? How should research, development, demonstration and deployment (RDD&D) be promoted?
• Should policies of direct payment or subsidies be adopted to encourage countries to cut down greenhouse gas emission?
• What technologies should be transferred?
• How effective is the transfer of these technologies in assisting poorer countries and communities to cope with likely adverse outcome brought about by climate change, such as increases in sea-level?
• How do we protect the intellectual property and copyright arising from the international movements of technologies and information?

In the current Kyoto Protocol, the Clean Development Mechanism and Joint Implementation focus primarily on achieving emission reduction in a cost-effective manner. The transfer of clean technology to the developing nations is not strongly encouraged within this policy framework. This approach has drawn much criticism. Technology transfer, being an important discourse, should not be confined to interaction between the developed and developing countries. More policy studies on enhancing RDD&D within developed nations and accelerating the overall adoption of clean technologies are imperative.

The perspective of having sustainable development as the central theme for the post-Kyoto Protocol policy framework, under which climate change strategies are planned and executed, could be debated. How will this affect technology transfer strategies? What role should the non-governmental organizations play? More discussions on these subjects should be included.

This Special Issue aims to bring together these issues relating to climate change, sustainable development, the post-Kyoto Protocol era, stakeholder engagement and technology transfer to the table for a focused and timely discussion. We also hope to invite leading researchers, engineers and scientists from around the world to share their research works and findings.

Topics of interest for submission include, but are not limited to:

• Intellectual property and copyright issues surrounding the transfer of clean technology
• Technology transfer within the existing or future Clean Development Mechanism and Joint Implementation
• Collaborations between NGOs and other stakeholders in technology transfer
• Case studies on RDD&D collaboration on clean technology - within and between countries (highlighting the lessons that are applicable to designing post-Kyoto policy framework)
• Clean technologies and/or typology of clean technologies that can be transferred
• Challenges posed by the nature of the technology on the process of transfer
• Sustainable development, climate change and technology

Important Date
Paper submission not later than: 31 January 2009

Call for papers: Power Electronics for Motion Control

Call for papers: Power Electronics for Motion Control

A special issue of International Journal of Power Electronics

This Special Issue deals with modeling, simulation, analysis, control techniques, real time implementations and testing on power electronics for motion control.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

• Conventional DC machines
• Induction machines
• Synchronous machines
• Permanent magnet brushless DC machines
• Switched reluctance machines
• Permanent magnet synchronous machines
• Stepper motors
• Flux switching machines
• PCB machines
• Linear motors
• Servo motors
• Universal motors

Important Dates
Paper due: 31 August, 2008
Acceptance notification: 15 October, 2008
Final paper version due: 15 December, 2008

Newly announced journal: International Journal of Economics and Business Research

International Journal of Economics and Business Research - to begin publication in 2009 - covers research findings in economics and business that are clearly applicable to private profit-making entities and/or to public policy institutions (governmental, cooperative and private non-profit organisations). The journal welcomes submissions of theoretical, empirical, policy-oriented, as well as experimental, papers in all fields of economics and business. Additionally, it considers contributions that combine business and economics with any other field of inquiry such as mathematics, behavioural, natural and social sciences.

The journal, unlike its sister title, Global Business and Economics Review, does not require that authors write papers about the impact of, or implications for, "globalisation". Instead, it publishes papers with local, national, regional and international implications where "international" ranges from bilateral to multilateral and global.

International Journal of Economics and Business Research is sponsored by the Business and Economics Society International.

First issue: International Journal of Virtual Technology and Multimedia

The first issue of International Journal of Virtual Technology and Multimedia has just been published.

The journal is devoted to original papers employing virtual technology and multimedia systems in science and engineering. It is positioned to publish high quality papers that reflect global information technology advances in different fields and will further address the implementation and management of the broad spectrum of innovations arising from these developments worldwide.

There is a free download of the papers from this first issue.

Special issue: Large-scale computations in environmental modelling

International Journal of Environment and Pollution 32(2) 2008

Most of these papers were presented at the Fifth International Conference on Large-Scale Scientific Computations, LSSC’05, held in Sozopol, Bulgaria on 5–10 June 2005.

• On the numerical asymmetry in calculating Coriolis terms through the splitting method in a mesoscale model
• Estimation of the exchange of sulphur pollution over the Balkan region in 1995–2000
• Modelling changes of aerosol compositions over Belgium and Europe
• Different splitting techniques with application to air pollution models
• Impact of future climate changes on high pollution levels
• On efficient numerical solution of one-dimensional convection–diffusion equations in modelling atmospheric processes
• An incinerator air quality impact assessment for metals, PAH, dioxins and furans by using the MM5-CMAQ-EMIMO atmospheric modelling system: Spain case study
• The LOTOS–EUROS model: description, validation and latest developments

Special issue: Leadership, learning and collective capacity building

International Journal of Learning and Change 2(3) 2007

• The impact of content and structure on a case-based approach to developing leadership skills
• Learning from experience: creating leadership capabilities through computer simulated leadership challenges
• The role of leadership in facilitating Organisational Learning and collective capacity building
• The change of paradigm as primer to Collective Capacity Building
• Collective capacity building of academic leaders: a university model of leadership and learning in context
• A multi-level examination of leadership practices in quality management: implications for organisational performance in healthcare

Call for papers: From Green Design to Eco-innovation and Sustainable Product Design

Call for papers: From Green Design to Eco-innovation and Sustainable Product Design

A special issue of International Journal of Design Engineering

In recent times, we have seen an increase in raw material costs, opposition to incinerators and discharges, stricter environmental legislation, increased urgency to reduce climate change, increased sensitivity to environmental issues from consumers, etc., all of which place a strong demand on environmentally-friendly product design.

Many research works have been developed worldwide in order to integrate environmental issues into the design process. Resulting from these developments, various tools and methods have been emerging, including design for disassembly, design for recycling, selection of materials for green design, quantitative life cycle related methods such as life cycle assessment, qualitative life cycle related methods such as material energy toxicity matrix and MIPS, environmental quality function deployment such as e-QFD and eco-QFD, and environmental effects analysis (EEA).

The evolution of product design is very positive and the tools and methods have become more complete and robust. However, the existing tools and methods have their weaknesses: they are product-centred rather than service-centred, multiple life cycles are rarely considered, they are generally oriented towards improvement rather than innovation, sustainability criteria are hardly taken into account, and so on.

To overcome these weaknesses, it is necessary to develop a new category of design methods. Many researchers have already started the work concerning more "service-centred", "sustainable" or "eco-innovative" design processes. The research has revealed new knowledge in models, heuristics, methods, tools, learning processes, software, etc.

The purpose of this Call is to get up-to-date knowledge and the most recent developments in this subject and to spread them within our community.

Topics of relevance include, but are not limited to:

• Design for environment, eco-design or eco-efficiency methods and tools
• Management and strategy of the end of life of products
• Eco-innovation process and factor X
• Environmental methods like e-QFD, eco-TRIZ or EEA
• Dematerialisation and product-service system (PSS) approach
• Design for sustainability
• Design for remanufacturing and reuse
• Life cycle design
• New life cycle analysis methods
• Industrial eco-system, eco-supply-chain and eco-packaging
• 3D concurrent engineering
• Cradle to cradle approach

Important Dates
Submission of papers: 1 July, 2008
First decision notification: 1 October 2008
Submission of revised papers: 15 December, 2008
Final decision notification: 15 February, 2009

Call for papers: Digital Art

Call for papers: Digital Art

A special issue of International Journal of Arts and Technology

We invite short and long submissions on Digital Art. This call coincides with the inaugural DigArt 2008 event in Denmark, but submissions are not limited to those attending this event. Work addressing digital art related practice, creation, design, and production are solicited. Performance issues, alternative interfaces for expression, multimodal contexts, philosophical perspectives, tools and technologies are all welcome, and in particular, interdisciplinary submissions across these themes.

With technological advances a new generation of art interpretation and expression has evolved. Traditional and contemporary artists are adopting, learning and exploring the latest trends in technology and, realising the potency, are presenting works that are not only advancing the genre, but also, like ripples from a stone thrown into a still pond, influencing across disciplines. Thus, repercussions are evident beyond what has traditionally been deemed the art field. The thinking and creative process has changed, the traditional aesthetic is addressed and questioned, one’s imagination can more than ever be realised through the opportunities that are embedded in the genus.

The computer programmer can increasingly be regarded as an artisan co-creator; interactive computer graphics and other modalities of stimuli are implemented more than ever to augment performance composition/design and often used as a virtual partner; and the advent of sensor technology into performance has helped to inspire a new manifold entity – the programmer/designer/performer/director/producer, etc., and any combination thereof. Thus, for example, the dancer, musician, or painter can undertake to develop digital competences to realise the dream of the articulated New. The Technical Revolution has arrived with an exhibited agency that is reflected through the genre of Digital Art and related topics.

Topics that are solicited include but are not limited to:

• Games and digital art
• Case studies and evaluations of deployments
• Analysis of key challenges, proposals of research agenda
• Relation of digital art and embedded interaction to other paradigms
• Programming tools, toolkits, software architectures
• Emergent methodologies of study, analysis and refinement
• Novel interactive uses of sensors + actuators, electronics + mechatronics
• Iterative production processes
• Associated neuroesthetics
• Digital art, the brain and languages
• Cybernetic associations
• Design guidelines, methods, and processes
• Novel application areas, innovative solutions/systems
• Theoretical foundations, frameworks, and concepts
• Philosophical, ethical and social implications
• Projecting performance
• Toys as digital art, digital art toys
• The embodied play
• Visual music
• Dance, music, interactive theatre and cinema
• Cross-modal representations in digital art
• Interfaces specific to particular genres
• Sonic synthesis, sound modelling
• Usability and enjoyment, aesthetics and design, issues of production
• Advantages and weaknesses of digital art
• Inherent learning
• New media and medialogy
• Emergent objects
• Performance art
• Articulating difference
• A critique of the adoption into the arts
• Digital art as playground, playground as digital art
• Societal potentials beyond art
• Embodied interaction, movement, and choreography of interaction
• Digital Art and related human perception, cognition and experience issues
• Teaching digital art, interaction design, and best practices

Important Dates
Abstract (optional): 2 May, 2008
Paper submission: 21 May, 2008
Acceptance notification: 11 July, 2008
Camera ready papers due: 9 August, 2008

Special issue: Computer simulation in transportation research

World Review of Intermodal Transportation Research 1(4) 2007

• A simulation approach in estimating the impact of channel on port capacity
• Evaluating truck turn time in grounded operations using simulation
• A simulation approach for quantifying the cost-effectiveness of freeway service patrols programs
• Integration of mathematical and physical simulation to calibrate car-following behaviour of unimpaired and impaired drivers
• A data-driven waterway simulation model for inland waterway operation
• Evaluating the competitiveness of railways in timber transports with discrete-event simulation
• A multi-agent design for sense and respond logistics simulation

Special issue: Intellectual capital

International Journal of Accounting, Auditing and Performance Evaluation 4(4/5) 2007

• Positioning management accounting on the intellectual capital agenda
• The recent history of intellectual capital: the most significant topics and contexts in its development
• A review of existing methods to quantify intangible assets
• Qualitative approach of intellectual capital in a Spanish territory: special reference to the relation between degree of development and interest on intangibles
• Relationship between intellectual capital-oriented corporate performance management systems, intellectual capital and corporate performance: an exploratory study
• Intellectual capital disclosures and the association with first-day returns in initial public offerings
• Voluntary disclosure of intellectual capital in the Brazilian context: an investigation informed by the international context
• An IT capital performance indicator study: evidence from a Taiwan financial service industry case study
• Information needs of internal and external stakeholders and how to respond: reporting on operations and intellectual capital

Call for papers: Globalisation and Manufacturing Competitiveness in India

Call for papers: Globalisation and Manufacturing Competitiveness in India

A special issue of International Journal of Indian Culture and Business Management

This special issue will include original papers on real life cases and research studies dealing with investigations, diagnosis, modeling, solution methodologies and analysis addressing the theme of globalisation and manufacturing competitiveness in India. It aims to bring together the work of engineers, managers, researchers and academia interested in the management of Indian manufacturing companies.

The list of topics that would be considered for publication in the special issue includes but is not limited to:

• Best practices of manufacturing systems, including materials management, quality management, reliability management, logistics, outsourcing, collaboration, communication, information technology, human resource management and knowledge management
• The influence of government supports, policies, economy, culture, science, engineering and technology , international agreements on manufacturing
• Market opportunities, R&D, risks and rewards in India
• The political landscape, economic drivers, key Indian values, IPR, multi-cultural work teams business
• Social issues, corporate social reporting and empowerment
• Support services for manufacturing excellence
• Impact of Indian consumers, Indian business etiquette and culture on manufacturing systems.
• Multinationals in Indian manufacturing
• Management of creativity and innovation; building an Indian global brand
• Corporate governance and entrepreneurship in India

Important Dates
Full paper due: 15 May, 2008
Acceptance notification: 15 August, 2008
Final paper submission: 30 September, 2008

Call for papers: Community-based Entrepreneurship

Call for papers: Community-based Entrepreneurship

A special issue of International Journal of Innovation and Regional Development

Since Johannisson and Nilsson’s (1989) seminal paper on community-based entrepreneurship, the literature on how regional development is facilitated by community interaction has grown. The increasing sentiment of people and businesses worldwide to “act locally but think globally” has meant that community-based entrepreneurship is becoming more important in encouraging businesses and public policy practitioners to focus on the significance of people working together to facilitate regional development (Kapelus, 2002; Lyons, 2002).

In this special issue, we define community-based entrepreneurship as “a community acting corporately as both entrepreneur and enterprise in pursuit of the common good” (Peredo and Chrisman, 2006:310). Thus, community-based entrepreneurship involves a process through which new enterprises are created and operate in a communities existing social structure (Peredo and Chrisman, 2006). The economic and social role of community-based entrepreneurship has been recognised by a growing number of disciplines, including sociology, management and urban studies (e.g., Bull and Winter, 1991; Johannisson and Nilsson, 1989; Light and Karageorgis, 1994; Mezias and Kuperman, 2001; Selsky and Smith, 1994). Community-based entrepreneurship is encouraged through personal networking that influence local venturing processes and regional development (Johannisson and Nilsson, 1989).

The special issue takes a multi-disciplinary perspective to help examine the role of community-based entrepreneurship in the international context. Thus, its aim is to study how community-based entrepreneurship is encouraging regional development as people become part of a number of different communities worldwide. We are looking for new theoretical insights and empirical studies that will contribute to the literature on community-based entrepreneurship.

Papers should address research questions in the field, including but not limited to the following topics

• Market conditions for community-based entrepreneurship (openness of markets, regulations, transparency of market and resource mobilisation).
• The importance of cognitions and emotions in community-based entrepreneurship.
• The role of human resource management practices and in community-based entrepreneurship.
• Public perception of community-based entrepreneurship.
• The antecedents and consequences of family participation in various aspects of community-based entrepreneurship.
• How has community-based entrepreneurship influenced regional development in global contexts and will this change in the future?
• Comparative differences in community-based entrepreneurship by countries, city, ethnic/national subgroup, sector and periods.
• The role of social capital and social networks in community-based entrepreneurship.
• The role of technological innovation in community-based entrepreneurship.
• The importance of communities for the perception, evaluation and exploitation of entrepreneurial opportunities.

Important Dates
Manuscript due: 30 June 2008
Acceptance notification: 30 August 2008
Final manuscript due: 30 October 2008

Special issue: Hybrid cars and car recycling: steps towards the clean car and the closed-loop of materials

International Journal of Automotive Technology and Management 7(4) 2007

• Hybrid vehicles: a temporary step
• Evaluating alternative fuels in USA: a proposed forecasting framework using AHP and scenarios
• Range based model for technology requirements: hybrid vehicle technology assessment case study
• Consumer preferences for alternative fuel vehicles in South Korea
• A European model for the number of End-of-Life Vehicles
• Managing end-of-life vehicle networks: a longitudinal case of the UK

First issue: International Journal of Sustainable Design

The first issue of International Journal of Sustainable Design has just been published.

Design and innovation have the potential to regenerate the natural environment and community culture while enhancing the value of products and services to business, customers and society in general. In order to meet the emerging scientific and technological challenges associated with the concept of sustainability, new design thinking, methods and tools are required.

This journal is devoted to the development, promotion and coordination of the science and practice of sustainable design.

There is a free download of the papers from this issue.

First issue: International Journal of Applied Cryptography

The first issue of International Journal of Applied Cryptography has just been published.

Existing journals on information security mainly focus on either theory or specific areas of information and computer security. This one aims to introduce new ground between these two areas. It covers cryptographic algorithms and protocols that are directly applicable.

There is a free download of the papers from this issue.

Call for papers: Spoofing Issues and Anti-Spoofing

Call for papers: Spoofing Issues and Anti-Spoofing

A special issue of International Journal of Biometrics

Development of IT technology emphasises the importance of people’s identification and recognition. Over the last two decades, biometrics and human biometric characteristics have been studied greatly. On the other hand, biometric spoofing has been a serious growing problem. Therefore, this special issue focuses on the spoofing issues and anti-spoofing.

The subject coverage of this special issue includes, but is not limited to:

• Biometric spoofing issues
• Anti-spoofing techniques' new approaches
• Applications of fundamental and applied research on anti-spoofing
• Biometrics' new approaches

Research that spans several fields is particularly welcome.

Important Dates
Full paper submission: 15 April 2008
Acceptance Notification: 15 May 2008
Camera-ready version deadline: 1 June 2008

Call for papers: Open Source Intelligence and Web Mining (OSINT-WM)

Call for papers: Open Source Intelligence and Web Mining (OSINT-WM)

A special issue of International Journal of Networking and Virtual Organisations

Open source data is increasingly important to support the intelligence function. The increasing ability to successfully mine data from large, incoherent series of sources, allows analysts to build up detailed composite pictures of their area of interest. Open source analysis is not a substitute for traditional classified work; the analyst can use the open source view to be able to ascertain what addition information might be required on a particular subject and having identified the gaps in his knowledge, task the increasingly scarce resources to target those gaps with whatever tools may be appropriate. Essentially, open sources provide for the foundation for classified collection management, while also providing cover for classified sources and methods and often giving evidence as to where new classified studies might be best targeted.

This special issue invites contributions on all topics of OSINT-WM, including but not limited to those listed below:

• Open source intelligence
• Web dynamics
• Dark web
• Web content mining
• Web structure mining
• Web usage mining
• Web mining for blog analysis
• Web mining for online personalisation and recommendation system
• Web mining and intelligence
• News analysis and visualisation
• News monitoring
• Harvesting web
• Case studies
• Internet as a tool for command and control
• Information terrorism
• Social network analysis
• Visualising of social relationships
• Investigative data mining
• Privacy and legal issues

Important dates
Extended abstract of no more than 3 pages due: 10 June, 2008
Preliminary acceptance/rejection notification: 10 August, 2008
Full paper due: 30 September, 2008
Final acceptance notification by: 05 November, 2008
Camera-ready paper due: December 05, 2008

Special issue: Breaking the barriers: the role of the Internet in the international marketing of SMEs

International Journal of Internet Marketing and Advertising 4(2/3) 2008

• Product choice for international web-based SMEs
• Determinants of consumers' perceptions and attitudes towards assurance seals for internet marketing: an Asia Pacific marketing perspective
• 'From garage to global': the internet and international market growth, an SME perspective
• Conceptual and operative aspects of e-merchandising
• Guarding privacy on the internet: privacy policy, government regulations and technology solutions
• Internet marketing by SMEs: towards enhanced competitiveness and internationalisation of professional services
• E-marketing utilisation, endogenous situation and organisational performance in small Austrian software businesses

Special issue: Computational fluid dynamics simulations in energy technologies and processes

International Journal of Energy Technology and Policy 6(1/2) 2008

• NOx re-burn simulation in a double-jet counter-flow flame
• Vortex structure and heat transfer in a diffusion combustion field with circulating flow
• Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes-based numerical simulation of external heat convection and losses for transitional subsonic flows through a 2D turbine passage
• Numerical simulation of a large power steam turbine run-up
• The computation of the entropy generation rate for turbomachinery design applications: some theoretical remarks and practical examples
• Computational study of a diagonal channel Magnetohydrodynamic power generation
• A Finite Element Method analysis and optimisation of a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell with interdigitated flow field design
• Technology of Computational Fluid Dynamics in space engines and solar-gravity draught power plants
• Numerical simulation of fluid flow and heat transfer in a phase change thermal energy storage
• Application of Computational Fluid Dynamics to flow next to high-rise buildings in Hong Kong due to air-conditioner heat rejection

Special issue: Continuity and change in organic farming – philosophy, policy and practice

International Journal of Agricultural Resources, Governance and Ecology 7(1/2) 2008

Most of the papers were initially presented at the XXth Congress of the European Society of Rural Sociology, held in Keszthely (Hungary) in August 2005

• What makes organic agriculture move: protest, meaning or market? A polyocular approach to the dynamics and governance of organic agriculture
• Goals and standards in Swedish organic farming: trading off between desirables
• Organic policy in Austria: greening and greenwashing
• Policy instruments in support of organic farming in Austria
• Values of organic producers converting at different times: results of a focus group study in five European countries
• Factors influencing the conversion to organic farming in Norway
• Patterns of resource use on Danish organic farms: aspects of farm-based rural development
• The organic food market in Portugal: contested meanings, competing conventions
• Looking for alternatives: the construction of the organic beef chain in Mugello, Tuscany
• How embedded are organic fresh fruit and vegetables at Irish farmers' markets and what does the answer say about the organic movement? An exploration, using three models
• Ecocertification, differentiation in retailing and upstream market power
• Bottling water, greening farmers: the socio-technical and managerial construction of a 'dispositif' for underground water quality protection

Special issue: Solid waste management: Part one

International Journal of Environment and Waste Management 2(1/2) 2008

• Windrow co-composting of shredded office paper and Broiler Litter
• Mixed organic waste composting using rotary drum composter
• Evaluation of gamma irradiation for bio-solid waste management
• Leaching of inorganic pollutants from fresh and partially degraded Municipal Solid Waste: a lysimeter study under tropical conditions
• Forecasting of solid waste composition using fuzzy regression approach: a case of Delhi
• Bio hydrogen production from kitchen waste
• Development of a novel epigeic-anecic-based polyculture vermireactor for efficient treatment of municipal sewage water sludge
• Relative efficacy of two methods of vermicomposting for bio-degradation of organic wastes
• Recycling crushed glass in concrete mixes
• Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of PET bottles and comparative LCA of three disposal options in Mauritius
• A regulatory approach for e-waste management: a cross-national review of current practice and policy with an assessment and policy recommendation for the Indian perspective
• Evaluation of rational industrial solid waste abatement in China

Call for papers: Bio-inspired Wireless Networks

Call for papers: Bio-inspired Wireless Networks

A special issue of International Journal of Autonomous and Adaptive Communications Systems

With the increasing complexity of wireless networks, the task of network management is becoming more and more difficult to handle. Wireless networks are becoming too complex for even the most skilled system integrators to install, configure, and maintain. Therefore it is desirable that they should be fully autonomic - able to manage themselves following high level objectives defined by network administrators. This goal implies a need for distributed computational environments that would function with often very limited resources such as bandwidth, energy, or processing capability of wireless devices.

Nature has demonstrated itself to be efficient in dealing with many of these limitations, often in a more efficient way than the human-designed counterparts. Therefor, there has been significant interest in applying ideas based on natural systems in the wireless communications domain.

This special issue aims at bringing together contributions that apply ideas inspired by natural systems to wireless networks. It will address leading edge research ranging from theory to experimental evaluation and tools.

Topics of interest include (but are not limited to):

• Self-organising, self-adaptive and self-tuning wireless networks
• Bio-inspired autonomic networks
• Learning algorithms inspired by neuro-physiology
• Algorithms for securing wireless networks including approaches based on evolution or immunity
• Bio-inspired services
• Network epidemics
• Bio-inspired protocols design including bio-inspired routing or bio-inspired cognitive radio
• Experimental case studies, test beds and tools

Important Dates
Paper submission: 15 January, 2009
Acceptance notification: 15 April, 2009
Final papers due: 15 May, 2009

Special issue: Thermal process modelling and simulation

International Journal of Microstructure and Materials Properties 3(1) 2008

• Contact mechanics modelling of surface engineered systems
• Numerical modelling of hot forming processes
• Modelling of austenitising with non-constant heating rate in hypereutectoid steels
• Transformation plasticity at different phase transformation of a through hardening bearing steel
• Numerical simulation of the thermo-elastic behaviour for textile structured ceramic matrix composite bearings
• Thermodynamic description of the systems Cd-Te, Hg-Te and Cd-Hg-Te using the model of associated liquid solution
• Measurement and numerical analysis of surface residual stresses occurring under different quenching conditions
• Effects of viscous dissipation in flow-influenced tube hydroforming
• Numerical modelling of the laser-surface interaction during laser-induced modification processes of ceramic substrates
• Characterisation of the plasma shape of the TIG welding arc
• Real-time monitoring of the laser bending process

Call for papers: Innovations in Adsorption Technology

Call for papers: Innovations in Adsorption Technology

A special issue of International Journal of Environment and Waste Management

Although used as a physical-chemical process over a long period, it is only over the last few decades that adsorption has developed to a stage where it is now a major industrial separation process, being also included in the University curricula. Certainly, many conferences on relevant scientific fields have taken place and hundreds of papers published, confirming the significance of adsorption as a subject of study and research, particularly with relevance to wastewater treatment technology.

For this Call, submission is encouraged, for instance, for papers linking characterization results with sorbent performance, demonstrating the changes of the solution pH during the adsorption process, modelling (complexation, double layer retention, etc.) and the respective calculations, mostly for fixed bed operations, etc. Adsorption is addressed here in its general sense, i.e. all the related sorptive areas such as ion exchange, surface precipitation, etc. are included (for the liquid-solid interphase), as well as studies of the adsorbent synthesis.

Suitable topics include, but are not limited to:

• New adsorbents
• Novel processes
• Heavy metals
• Organic substances and dyes
• Biosorption

Important Dates
Deadline for paper submission: 31 May, 2008
First turn of papers review: 31 July, 2008
Second turn of papers review: 30 September, 2008
Final papers submission: 31 October, 2008

Call for papers: Grid-Connected Converters, including Voltage-Source, Current-Source, and Multilevel Converters

Call for papers: Grid-Connected Converters, including Voltage-Source, Current-Source, and Multilevel Converters

A special issue of International Journal of Power Electronics

This Special Issue deals with grid-connected converters, including voltage-source, current-source, and multilevel converters. Applications include, but are not limited to, HVDC, FACTS, back-to-back motor drives, wind-turbine generators, and distributed generation.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

• PWM techniques
• Grid interaction and stability
• Damping of sub synchronous resonance
• Power quality and EMC
• Current, voltage, and power control
• Disturbance mitigation
• Fault ride-through
• Active and passive filters
• Novel/unusual topologies

Important Dates
Paper due: 3 June, 2008
Acceptance notification: 15 August, 2008
Final paper version due: 15 September, 2008