26 April 2010

First issue: International Journal of Business Competition and Growth

Promoting academic discussion and strategic thrust for practitioners on managing global competition in products and services International Journal of Business Competition and Growth covers all sectors, including agricultural, industrial, pharmaceuticals and services. It publishes original research that contributes ground-breaking knowledge and understanding to the field of competitive dynamics and strategic marketing studies.

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

Special issue: Algebraic and combinatorial coding theory: in honour of the retirement of Vera Pless. Series 3

International Journal of Information and Coding Theory 1(4) 2010
  • Binary divisible codes of maximum dimension
  • Classes of permutation arrays in finite projective spaces
  • Self-dual bent functions
  • New results on s-extremal additive codes over GF(4)
  • A selection of divisible lexicographic codes
  • Anti-isomorphisms, character modules and self-dual codes over non-commutative rings

Special issue: Research and innovation evaluation: theory, practice and experience

International Journal of Technology, Policy and Management 10(1/2) 2010
  • Assessing the patenting activity in the Italian universities: the case of the biotechnology research
  • Science Parks contribution to scientific and technological local development: the case of AREA Science Park Trieste
  • Evaluation of an e-government project: which are the barriers to e-government integration?
  • Public and private R&D investments as complementary inputs for productivity growth
  • Searching for rational effect factors of R&D value within a real options framework
  • Supporting and evaluating emerging technologies: a review of approaches
  • Measuring value in the innovation processes of university-industry research centres
  • Measuring the outcomes and impacts of innovation interventions: assessing the role of additionality
  • Roadmapping future powertrain technologies: a case study of Ford Otosan
  • Knowledge and skills of professors at the campus of Social Sciences of the Autonomous University of Yucatan through distance education

Special issue: Behavioural corporate finance

International Journal of Behavioural Accounting and Finance 1(4) 2010
  • Behavioural corporate finance: existing research and future directions
  • Capital structure choice: the influence of sentiment in France
  • CFO resignations: their underlying performance and behavioural context
  • The impact of market sentiment on capital structures in the USA
  • CEO's locus of control, TQM implementation and financial performance

Special issue: Micromachining for biomedical and MEMS applications

International Journal of Abrasive Technology 3(2) 2010

Invited Papers
  • The solid particle erosion behaviour of dental enamel using a novel air abrasion system
  • Process design for reactive ion etching of silicones
Standard Papers
  • Bioaffinity limitations for anisotropically etched silicon microfluidics
  • Shear bond strength of adhesive to KrF excimer laser treated enamel
  • Numerical and experiment analysis of nanosecond pulsed laser drilling with dual frequency
  • Study on parametric influence, optimisation and modelling in micro-WEDM of Al alloy
  • A negative residual stress gradient based micro bridge mechanism for on-chip lifting of micro structures

Special issue: Evolutionary computing for engineering design

International Journal of Design Engineering 3(1) 2010
  • Evolutionary design using grammatical evolution and shape grammars: designing a shelter
  • A new optimal Arabic keyboard layout using genetic algorithm
  • Design and optimisation of microelectromechanical systems: a review of the state-of-the-art
  • Failure of infilled frames – a study using artificial neural network
  • An evolutionary creative design approach for optimising the broadcasting trees in MANET

Special issue: Methodologies and applications of modelling, identification, and computing in medical imaging

International Journal of Modelling, Identification and Control 9(3) 2010
  • Time-varying parametric modelling and time-dependent spectral characterisation with applications to EEG signals using multiwavelets
  • Formulation of 3D finite elements for hepatic radiofrequency ablation
  • Analysis of connectivity in the resting state of the default mode of brain function: a major role for the cerebellum?
  • Development, evaluation and application of reperfused liver infarction in rats as a practical model for studying ischemic diseases and screening new drugs
  • Tomography in frequency domain using wave equation
  • Methodologies for pharmacokinetic post-contrastographic dynamic contrast enhancement
  • Rodent models and magnetic resonance imaging: diagnostic and therapeutic utilities for stroke
  • Animal models of ischemic heart disease for in vivo cardiac MR imaging research
  • Investigation of multiwavelets and set partitioning algorithm on mammogram images
  • Choices for animal models of atherosclerosis in MR molecular imaging study

Call for papers: New Perspectives on Globalization and Development following the Financial Crisis

A special issue of International Journal of Business and Emerging Markets

The recent financial crisis suggests that private capital flows may not be a reliable source of financing development, partly because portfolio equity flows are very volatile and because financial liberalization has led to an increase in short-term speculative flows. On the other hand, long-term private capital flows, namely FDI, are concentrated in a small number of emerging-market economies, while most low-income and least developed countries, which have a greater demand for external financing, receive no or very small amounts of such flows. How best to explain such cross-country differences and to formulate policy strategies going beyond the crisis?

Several questions concern academics and policy makers alike in the aftermath of the recent global financial crisis:
  • What emerging market economies can learn from the experience of advanced economies with regard to greater degree of financial openness?
  • What are the strategic choices of emerging market economies in a competitive global economy?
  • What sorts of financial sector policies are helpful in assuring efficient allocation of resources?
This special issue aims to answer such questions, ranging from factors contributing to a crisis to policy strategies that can help prevent such imbalances and help address formulation of best business practices both in emerging and developing economies for smooth and steady functioning of the global economy. Both empirical and theoretical papers are invited.

The suggested subject coverage includes but is not limited to:
  • Analyzing the crisis and its aftermath
  • Globalization and transformation of financial systems
  • The global credit crunch and sources of business finance
  • Global imbalances and effects of fiscal stimulus
  • Government borrowing and its risk to world financial system
  • Financial globalization and monetary policy challenges
  • Sources of financing development
  • External finance, debt and FDI
Important Dates
Submission: 31 March, 2011
Notification: 30 September, 2011
First Revision: 31 March, 2012
Final Revision: 30 September, 2012

Call for papers: Increasing Revenue through Sport Marketing Management: Opportunities and Challenges

A special issue of International Journal of Sport Management and Marketing

Marketing is used to identify the consumer, keep the consumer, and satisfy the consumer. Because the consumer is the main focus of activities, marketing management is a significant component of business management. Due to the recession in the United States as well as globally, sport revenue production appears to be on the downturn. However, salaries and ticket prices continue to escalate. Although traditional methods of marketing are effective, new approaches in identifying, keeping and satisfying the consumer are being introduced.

Some of the more recent approaches include focusing on the consumer (relationship marketing), on the organization or institution (business marketing), or on societal issues (social marketing) (Andreasen, 2002; Mandják & Szántó, 2010; Schurr, 2007). Marketing strategies have incorporated the use of Internet or e-marketing, blogging, and tweeting to reach consumers in efforts to increase revenue production (Gill, 2009; Kaplan, Piskin, & Bol, 2010; Radin, Calkins, & Predmore, 2007). New applications of managing risks from finance considerations such as economic impact, sport facility investments, fundraising and sponsorships for sports organizations on a global basis may also be investigated. Finally, appropriate application of such legal issues such as intellectual property, trademark, and risk management may increase revenue as well.

The financial decline presently being experienced in the United States and throughout much of the world may significantly and negatively affect the revenue production capabilities in sport. This special issue invites manuscripts that address innovative ways to identify, keep, and/or satisfy the sport consumer from a multidisciplinary approach. In doing so, these manuscripts should illustrate areas of application for practitioner as well as future investigation for researchers. Qualitative, quantitative, and conceptual approaches are equally encouraged.

Suitable topics include but are not limited to:
  • Sociological issues
  • Trademark issues
  • Intellectual property issues
  • Risk management
  • Ethics
  • Economic impact
  • Internet marketing
  • Communication
  • Social Marketing
  • Fundraising
The focus of appropriate research may include (but is not limited to):
  • Tests of existing theoretical models within sport marketing management
  • Extensions of previous sport marketing management research
  • Level of analysis examinations
  • Content analysis
  • Agency-consumer relationships
  • Case studies
  • Managerial best-practices
Important Date
Submission deadline: 6 October, 2010

23 April 2010

Call for papers: Mobile Telecommunication/Internet Development and Change Management in China

A special issue of International Journal of Information Systems and Change Management

The advances in Internet and wireless communication technologies and the proliferation of mobile devices and location-based services have enabled the rapid development of electronic and mobile commerce, especially in emerging economies. Take China for example: retail Internet sites accounted for 49.5 % of the China’s e-commerce in 2004 with transaction volume of online shopping at 1 billion USD and it is also estimated the online sales could reach $10 billion this year according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China. Meanwhile, the domestic sales of cell phones made a breakthrough of 100 million in China in 2006. In 2007, sales volume of cell phone in China had reached about 23 billion USD, increased by 17% as compared with 2006.

In terms of mobile communication technologies, China is strategically leapfrogging to the ubiquitous third generation (3G) and beyond. The growth, evolution and adoption of Internet and wireless technological systems must be coordinated and negotiated through a community of stakeholders in emerging economies like China. Managing changes at both organizational and governmental levels in the dynamic electronic and mobile environment in China is becoming increasingly salient.

This special issue is interested in the development of theories and practices critical to the change management of electronic and mobile development in China. Of special interest are conceptual and empirical papers that identify crucial issues of today’s electronic and mobile and that attempt to resolve these issues by drawing upon theories and/or methodologies from IS, OM, and other disciplines. We promote a multidisciplinary approach to change management, welcoming submissions from fields of decision sciences, operations management, technology management, information systems, organizational theory and institutional theory, among others.

Research papers that are focusing on, but not limited to, the following topics are invited:
  • What are the theoretical foundations of electronic and mobile commerce in China?
  • What are the viable mobile applications and e-business models in China?
  • How to cope with strategies, policies, economics, and change management of electronic and mobile commerce in China?
  • What are unique characteristics of user behaviours in electronic and mobile commerce in China?
  • How to conduct mobile marketing, blog marketing, social network marketing, and other web-based marketing in China?
  • What are the crucial issues and developments of electronic and mobile commerce in China?
  • What are the major challenges of privacy, security, and trust issues in electronic and mobile commerce in China?
  • How to explore the current and future status of e-government, policy, and law in China?
  • What are the social, political, cultural, and legal implications of electronic and mobile commerce in China?
  • How organizations and government conduct change management in Internet and Mobile era?
Important Dates
Full paper deadline: 15 November, 2010
Notification of acceptance and review results: 15 December, 2010
Revised submission deadline: 15 January, 2011
Notification of acceptance: 15 February, 2011
Final manuscript due: 1 March, 2011

Call for papers: Evaluating the Effect of Public Policies on Corporate R&D and Innovation: Processes and Behaviours, Measurement Methods and Indicator

A special issue of World Review of Science, Technology and Sustainable Development

This special issue aims at collecting papers dealing with major advances on the analysis of the effect of public incentives on firm R&D and innovation (RDI). Although to date many studies have provided evidence-based analyses of public incentives’ effectiveness on company RDI, many aspects still needs to be deepened and unfolded, especially along these three different but interconnected streams of inquiry demanding:
  • further exploration of the subject in terms of even more precise statistical techniques, especially those incorporating non-linearity and other complexities and accounting for heterogeneity of supported units;
  • more in-depth investigation of the processes through which policies take place in specific institutional contexts, with a specific focus on the relation between funding public agencies' and firms' interactive behaviours and strategies;
  • better identification of the set of feasible and appropriate indicators required to perform sound evidence-based evaluation and policy guidance in an STI environment.
Papers dealing with these lines of research are greatly welcomed. Both theoretical and empirical works are appreciated. Open to different approaches and theoretical perspectives, this special issue aims at being a place for encouraging board-spectrum discussions and critical appraisals of the subject.

Papers suitable for this special issue should be focused on topics which include (note: all of them refer to “firm level”), but are not limited to:
  • Critical reviews of the state-of-the-art of the literature
  • New or improved applications of statistical and econometric techniques for RDI policy evaluation
  • Institutions and implementation processes of contextual RDI policies (including inter-temporal and cross-country comparative analyses)
  • Analysis of the effect of specific RDI policy measures (including case-studies)
  • New or improved modelling approaches for agency-firm funding relationships (including principal-agent and agent-based models)
  • Design and choice of indicators for ex-ante and ex-post RDI policy evaluation
Important Dates
Extended Abstract submission deadline: 20 June 2010
Full paper submission deadline: 15 October 2010
Author notification - review comments: 30 February 2011
Second review cycle: 30 April 2011 (if needed)
Final manuscript due: 20 June 2011

Special issue: ‘From Agent Theory to Agent Implementation 6’ – a selection of contributions

International Journal of Agent-Oriented Software Engineering 4(2) 2010

The sixth edition of the bi-annual workshop ‘From Agent Theory to Agent Implementation’(AT2AI)) was held at the 7th International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems (AAMAS 2008) in Estoril, Portugal, 13 May 2008.
  • Using event-driven lightweight DSC-based agents for MAS modelling
  • Implementing reactive BDI agents with user-given constraints and objectives
  • Enhanced collaboration in diabetic healthcare for children using multi-agent systems
Additional Paper
  • Automated analysis of compositional multi-agent systems

22 April 2010

Special issue: Emerging markets

International Journal of Technology and Globalisation 4(4) 2009
  • Research note: Global innovation and knowledge scenario: the stars, followers and laggards
  • Ownership and visibility: a pattern of industrial technology catching-up in transition economies
  • Systemic problems in technology transfer in emerging markets
  • Innovations in emerging countries: an institutional approach
  • How transfer of R&D to emerging markets nurtures global innovation performance
  • WiMAX diffusion in USA and Korea: a comparative study integrating scenario planning and Bass model
  • Academia–private sector collaborations in the Costa Rican Information and Communication Technology (ICT) cluster

Special issue: Creative urban design and development

International Journal of Sustainable Development 12(2-4) 2009
  • De-globalisation and creativity: a contribution towards sustainable and intercultural architectures and cities
  • Culture, communication and cooperation: the three Cs for a proactive creative city
  • Creatives, creative production and the creative market
  • Creative urban regeneration between innovation, identity and sustainability
  • Creativity and new architectural assets: the complex value of beauty
  • Creative and cultural industries and cities
  • The challenge of the e-Agora metrics: the social construction of meaningful measurements
  • Valuation of urban sustainability and building energy efficiency: a case study
  • Symbioses strategies for sustainable company management
  • Creativity as a strategy to recover: learning from Scampia
  • Urban cultural tourism: creative approaches for heritage-based sustainable development
  • Supply of and demand for e-services in the cultural sector: combining top-down and bottom-up perspectives
Submitted Papers
  • Quantifying public perceptions on socio-economic development – an example from the Aysen Watershed, Chile
  • City-level environmental pro-activeness in China and the European Union: differences and convergences

Special issue: Corporate governance and the financial crisis

International Journal of Corporate Governance 1(4) 2009
  • Process as currency with the courts: judicial scrutiny of directors' decisions
  • The credit crisis and corporate governance: excessive bonuses of TARP banks
  • Corporate governance and performance during normal and crisis periods: evidence from an emerging market perspective
  • The flaws of securitisation

Special issue: Aquatic environment

World Review of Science, Technology and Sustainable Development 7(4) 2010
  • Determination of trace amounts of mercury (II) by catalytic kinetic method in environmental samples
  • Determination of public health hazard potential of wastewater reuse in crop production
  • Gonadal developments in relation to the ecology in the shortneck clam Paphia malabarica in estuarine environment of Ratnagiri, west coast of India
  • Diatoms for assessing the ecological condition of inland freshwater bodies
  • Aquatic environment of the ponds in coastal India in relation to fish culture
  • Effect of parasitic isopods in the marine fish Carangids malabaricus off Parangipettai coastal waters
  • Pollution assessment of the impact of industrial effluents on the qualities of surface water and sediments of River Ona in Ibadan, Oyo state, Nigeria
  • Short- and Medium-Chain Chlorinated Paraffins in fish, water and soils from the Iqaluit, Nunavut (Canada), area

18 April 2010

Call or papers: Technology, Operations and Strategy in Entrepreneurship

A special issue of International Journal of Engineering Management and Economics

Shortening product life cycles, increasingly global competition, hyper-refined market segmentation, and dynamically changing industry value chains are creating a new competitive landscape for organizations today. Organizations are under pressure to compete with less profitable products, greater price competition often from developing economies, lower product persistency and a greater need to cut administrative costs. To survive in this environment, corporations need to include innovation and growth in their competitive and operations strategies. Businesses need to become proactive in creating new products and services, be willing to take constructive risks and seek out new opportunities. Due to rapid diffusion of information over the internet, businesses are able to create new products and services and launch them directly or through partners very rapidly. These entrepreneurial strategies by startups that involve partnering with the correct entities and doing it in hyper-speed on-line can be used as pathways by even the more mature enterprises to improve performance and competitive advantage.

However, ultimately, to create the most value, entrepreneurial firms will depend on various factors including decision making and strategy factors, the structure and operations of the organization and for technology firms, technical leadership.

This special issue invites papers from across disciplines including management science, decision science, technology management, entrepreneurship, organizational behavior, operations management and others. The issue will provide an international forum to investigate, exchange novel ideas and disseminate information covering the broad areas of entrepreneurship in new and existing firms related to technology, operations and/or strategy. Experts and professionals from academia, industry, government and the public sector are invited to submit papers on their recent research and professional experience on the subject. High quality papers reporting on relevant, review of existing literature, theoretical studies, case studies, surveys, experiences, success stories, real world examples and practice are all very welcome. Interdisciplinary research is also encouraged.

Papers dealing with (but not limited to) any of the following themes are appropriate for consideration:
  • Technology for entrepreneurship
  • Operations strategies for global competition
  • Innovation in startups
  • Strategic entrepreneurship
  • Survival using corporate entrepreneurship
  • Organizational changes with entrepreneurship
  • Technical leadership
  • Decision making and strategy for entrepreneurship
  • Entrepreneurial partnerships
  • Operations strategies in technology startups and existing entrepreneurial corporations
  • Costs and benefits of corporate entrepreneurship vs startup
  • New firm creation to exploit existing technology
  • Operations strategies in services and manufacturing for determining competitive performance
  • Alignment between management operational policies and business strategies
  • Relationship between technology strategic issues and operations strategy
  • E-commerce
  • Technology entrepreneurship
  • Organizational performance
  • Social entrepreneurship
  • Impacts of technology
  • Rural Entrepreneurship
  • Innovation and new product/service development
Important Dates
Submission of full paper: 5 September, 2010
Feed-back to authors: 5 January, 2011
Final version of paper due: 5 March, 2011

16 April 2010

Special issue: Globalization, competitiveness and innovation – European and international perspectives

International Journal of Business Environment 3(2) 2010

Papers from a workshop: Globalization, Competitiveness and Innovation held at the German Graduate School of Management and Law, Heilbronn, Germany.
  • Developing world market-leading companies – innovation governance in German small and medium-sized enterprises
  • Networks, knowledge flows and innovation in the Chilean meat sector
  • In search of innovation, creativity and entrepreneurial spirit: evidence from the pharmaceutical industry
  • Reframing the role of lead users in radical innovations: an open innovation perspective
  • Management of alliances: performance effects of project managers' participation
  • Global supply chain risk management: a socio-technical perspective

Special issue: Decision support in medicine

International Journal of Biomedical Engineering and Technology 3(3/4) 2010
  • Combination of multi-component and single-component based electrocardiogram beat detection algorithms
  • A real-time adaptive filtering approach to motion artefacts removal from ECG signals
  • Sleep staging from Heart Rate Variability: time-varying spectral features and Hidden Markov Models
  • Clinical decision support in physiological monitoring
  • Decision support based on genomics: integration of data- and knowledge-driven reasoning
  • Image classification of microscopic colonic images using textural properties and KSOM
  • Evaluation of short- and long-term response to treatment in GIMEMA protocol for Acute Myeloid Leukaemia
  • IVUS image processing and semantic analysis for Cardiovascular Diseases risk prediction
  • Decision support in large-scale healthcare information systems: the challenge of integrating ontologies
Additional paper
  • Designing infrastructure to exchange Electronic Medical Records with web services

Call for papers: Enacted Entrepreneurship in Education

A special issue of International Journal of Entrepreneurial Venturing

Entrepreneurship education seeks to provide different categories of students with the knowledge, skills and motivation to encourage entrepreneurial success in a variety of settings. What makes entrepreneurship education distinctive is its focus on realization of opportunity (action), which involves specific challenges for both educators and students. From an initial focus on business-related entrepreneurship, we today witness a growing interest in social (not-for-profit) entrepreneurship, which in turn broadens the arena (and the challenges involved) for the field of entrepreneurship education. This special issue aims to address challenges and emerging solutions in this context.

Linked to the special issue is also a conference on this specific theme. LuleÃ¥ University of Technology, Kemi-Tornio University of Applied Science and Bodø University College have arranged the 2nd Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Nordic Education conference to be held in LuleÃ¥, Sweden, June 15-17 2010. The conference has two tracks: “Entrepreneurship in Education” and “Enacting Entrepreneurship”. Parallel to inviting academic researchers, teachers and practitioners to this specific event, we encourage participants to submit [suitably re-written] papers presented at this conference to our special issue. Participation in the conference is however not a prerequisite for submitting to the special issue – all papers submitted directly to the special issue are hence welcome.

We invite papers addressing entrepreneurial learning and learning and education for entrepreneurship today and in the future. Areas of interest include, but are not limited to:
  • The aim of entrepreneurship education and learning
  • The future of entrepreneurship education and learning
  • The dynamics between entrepreneurial education and society
  • Influencers on the shaping of entrepreneurship education
  • Measures of success in entrepreneurship education and training
  • The outcomes of entrepreneurship education and learning
  • Entrepreneurial learning in networks
  • Coaching, guidance and supervision of entrepreneurial competences
  • Entrepreneurship education and learning in different countries or contexts
  • Definitions and expectations regarding entrepreneurship education compared
  • Didactics in entrepreneurship education and learning
  • Activity-based learning in entrepreneurship education and learning
  • Entrepreneurship approaches in different disciplines
  • Applied entrepreneurship in non-business educations
  • Renewal and consistency in entrepreneurship education methodology
  • Entrepreneurship education for educators in basic education
Important Dates
Full paper submission deadline: 1 June, 2010
Notification of acceptance for second review process: 1 September, 2010
Submission of reworked papers: 15 November, 2010
Notification of final acceptance: 1 February, 2011

Call for papers: Semantic Digital Library

A special issue of International Journal of Knowledge and Web Intelligence

Digital libraries focus on storing and organizing digital objects according to various scopes and facets. Intelligent access to these objects are provided through metadata/semantic-based or content-based search engine according to users’ requirements. Semantic services enhance the organization of digital objects to facilitate their access, the exploitation of their structure and meaning for both humans and machines. Semantic digital libraries require database management systems for the handling of structured data, taking into consideration the models used to represent semantics. To foster the realization of the semantic digital library, metadata models, ontology models, and query languages have been combined to realize digital library services.

However, technologies for semantic digital libraries such as database engines, RDF data store, topic maps servers, SPARQL queries, and RDFS/OWL ontologies and folksonomies often appear to be immature. Solid semantic management layer concepts, architectures, and tools are important to everyone in the semantic digital library ecosystem, and creating them requires a strong community, with a critical mass of involvement. This special issue focuses on two main issues:
  • the evolution of semantic digital libraries as a knowledge environment with digital library services and
  • semantic digital libraries for improving user experiences.
The goal of the special issue is to bring out the best practices, current research and promising trends in the semantic digital library.

Papers may address issues along general themes, which include but are not limited to the following:
  • Semantic digital library information visualisation
  • Multilingual multimedia content management
  • Search, retrieval and browsing interfaces to all forms of multilingual digital content
  • Managing collaborative semantic digital library collections
  • Cultural heritage semantic preservation
  • Natural interaction of users with the semantic digital library
  • Case studies of user needs and behaviours, and user experiences
  • Novel semantic digital library content and use environments
  • Semantic digital library open access publishing and copyright management
  • Social networking and semantic digital library Systems
Important Dates
Manuscript due: 15 September, 2010
Notification of acceptance: 15 November, 2010
Revised paper due: 15 December, 2010
Submission of final revised paper: 30 December, 2010

Call for papers: Wine Business and Globalisation

A special issue of International Journal of Business and Globalisation

Wine production and consumption has traditionally been associated with Euro-Mediterranean countries. In the last decades, the global wine scenario has been undergoing a radical change due to the entrance of non-traditional producing and consuming countries. These changes have given rise to a renewed structure of the global wine business and new competition rules that challenges both Old and New producing countries.

This special issue is devoted to the wine business and globalisation and in particular focusing on issues that are arising in terms of strengths and weaknesses, threats and opportunities for new and existing companies. It seeks papers that will contribute to the understanding of developments in this area.

Topics of interest include, but not limited to, the following:
  • New trends of wine production and consumption in the global market
  • The impact of the "New World" wine producers in the global market share
  • Strategies of traditional wine producers
  • New key opportunity markets for wine
  • Investment in the wine industry
  • Entrepreneurship and business models in the wine industry
  • Governmental policies promoting internationalisation of the wine industry
  • Innovation in the wine industry- local, regional and global
  • Wine clusters
1 See for example: New World Wine Cluster Formation: Operation, Evolution & Impact in New Zealand, International Journal of Food Science and Technology 43 (12), December 2008, 2177–2190.

Important Date
Deadline for Submission: 30 August, 2010

Call for papers: Innovative Entrepreneurship: Sources of Innovation, Policies and Learning

A special issue of International Journal of Innovation and Regional Development

Innovative entrepreneurship is a growing area of research with an interdisciplinary reach. Modern conceptions about ‘innovating’ have led to a broadening of the term, reflected by the definitions in the latest Oslo manual (OECD 2005). Under a mandatory need for innovation to be “as radical as possible”, open innovation and virtual networks aim to exploit knowledge resources on a global scale so that firms can innovate adequately and in time. Current social problems also provoke the social component of innovation, with eco-innovation at the forefront of the terminology of relevant policies. In accordance with the overall landscape of innovation emergence, innovative entrepreneurship is just arriving in the higher education curricula across Europe, whilst it is already a mature topic in the USA.

Apparently, sources of innovation compounded with relevant polices and learning procedures constitute an underlying semantic triplex for innovative entrepreneurship investigation. For instance, an understanding of the dynamics and motives of innovative networks, of the necessity for innovation to ‘go open’ or of the capability of innovation to face social needs, can widen its scope and may reveal the routes to further research. Although the inherently social nature of innovative entrepreneurship renders the whole phenomenon susceptible to policy-making, a better understanding of such a bidirectional interaction has to be gained. Complementary to entrepreneurial innovation, entrepreneurial learning is an essential core-procedure to be studied and optimized for practitioners, organizations and would-be entrepreneurs. As this type of learning is primarily empirical, it confronts underlying beliefs, and thus, it lies beyond traditional teaching. Consequently, this call for papers seeks to focus on up to date research relevant to the aforementioned triplex.

This Special Issue aims to attract original research on the topic. Manuscripts are invited from both practitioners and researchers. In addition to submissions from outside, we welcome original, high quality studies presented at ECIE 2010: 5th European Conference on Innovation and Entrepreneurship to be held in Athens, Greece, 16-17 September 2010 that explain innovative entrepreneurship at either the regional or global level. Papers can be either purely theoretical, state of the art reviews, or based on empirical research.

Papers should address research questions in the areas, including but not limited to the following topics:
  • Features and dynamics of innovation networks
  • The open innovation concept and practice
  • Sources of innovation and regional development in a knowledge-intensive economy
  • Absorptive capacity and regional concentration of knowledge-intensive SMEs
  • Innovation, risk and sustainable development
  • Aspects of eco-innovation
  • Innovative entrepreneurship and regional policy-making
  • Entrepreneurial learning: environment, procedures and methods
  • Pedagogic approaches for innovative entrepreneurship
Important Dates
Manuscript due: 15 November 2010
First Notification: 17 January 2011
Second Notification: 14 March 2011
Final manuscript due: 16 May 2011

Call for papers: Sport Marketing and Emerging Technology

A special issue of International Journal of Sport Management and Marketing

In recent years, the development of technology and innovations in the general marketing field has grown at unprecedented rates. The strategies for marketing and promotion execution have been changing dramatically due to technological advances such as the internet, video gaming systems and personal communication devices. Communicating and maintaining relationships with current customers and new consumers is now interconnected with technology more than ever imagined.

There is little doubt that brands in all industries (de Chernatony, 2006) have changed significantly in the past two decades given the growth of interactive technologies. Not surprisingly, the adoption of these strategies has begun to percolate into aspects of sport marketing and management. However, in the context of sport as an experiential product, marketers now control less information, and are required to adapt to the role of an information facilitator. Sport organizations adopting technological based strategies such as online gaming, fantasy leagues and text message score updates are a testament to this adaptation. Yet despite the growth of various technologies and their use in sport marketing, research that examines the use and effectiveness of these tools has been slow to develop.

This special issue explores the intersection of emerging technologies and sport marketing. It is anticipated that it will act as a collective source for a variety of topics due to the interdisciplinary nature of emerging technologies in the sport industry. Specifically, the issue will examine how the field of sport marketing is utilizing, adopting, and developing technology to promote and market sport entities. The research to be published in this issue will provide insight into the use of various different technologies for both academicians and practitioners, and likely point towards areas for future investigation within this constantly evolving segment of the sport industry. Quantitative, qualitative and conceptual approaches are all encouraged.

Submissions are welcome from a broad range of topics which explore emerging technology applications in sport marketing, including, but not limited to:
  • Innovative technologies in sport marketing
  • Creative uses of hardware and software for promotions
  • Technology use in brand building
  • The use of social networking in sport marketing
  • Database marketing applications
  • Virtual advertising
  • Emergence of 3D TV and its potential applications in sport marketing
  • The cell phone as a marketing tool
  • Secondary ticketing and dynamic pricing web based applications
  • Event broadcasting solutions
  • Motivations for use of various technologies from a consumer focus
  • Impact of technology use on sport consumer behaviour
  • The use of technology in corporate sponsorship leveraging activities
Important Date
Deadline for Submission: December 31, 2010

13 April 2010

Special issue: Aeronautics and medium-technologies: clusters, proximities and international connections

International Journal of Technology Management 50(3/4) 2010
  • European medium-technology innovation networks: a multi-methodological multi-regional approach
  • Anchor tenants and regional innovation systems: the aircraft industry
  • Institutions and coordination: what is the contribution of a proximity-based analysis? The case of Airbus and its relations with the subcontracting network
  • Conceptualising aerospace outsourcing: Airbus UK and the lean supply approach
  • From agglomerations to technology- and knowledge-driven clusters: aeronautics cluster policies in Europe
  • Networking and innovation: lessons from the aeronautical clusters of Madrid
  • Proximities, knowledge and skills and the future of the Welsh aerospace industry
  • Path dependence as a political construct, the disruptive influence of technology and Japanese aerospace
  • Restructuring European aeronautics SMEs: the role of formal examination knowledge

12 April 2010

Special issue: Modelling and simulation methodologies, techniques and applications: a state of the art overview

International Journal of Simulation and Process Modelling 6(1) 2010

Papers from 2008 International Mediterranean and Latin American Multi-conference, held in Amantea, Italy, 17-19 September 2008 and including the 2008 European Modelling & Simulation Symposium (EMSS 2008), the 2008 International Workshop on Modelling and Applied Simulation (MAS 2008), and the International Workshop on Harbor, Maritime, Multimodal, Logistics Modelling & Simulation (HMS 2008).
  • Two-phase simulation optimisation algorithm with applications to multi-echelon cyclic planning
  • A sequential heuristic programming approach for a corrugated box factory: trade-off between set-up cost and trim waste
  • Effective allele preservation by offspring selection: an empirical study for the TSP
  • Simulation of trust in client-wealth management adviser relationships
  • Proxel-based simulation of queuing systems with attributed customers
  • SPS tools for capital project planning analysis
  • A solution for improved simulation efficiency of a multi-domain marine power system model
  • Modelling and simulation and ergonomic standards as support tools for a workstation design in manufacturing system
  • Virtual world and biometrics as strongholds for the development of innovative port interoperable simulators for supporting both training and R&D

Special issue: National foresight planning and national foresight implementation

International Journal of Foresight and Innovation Policy 6(1-3) 2010
  • National technology foresight research: a literature review from 1984 to 2005
  • Technology foresight: types and methods
  • Consensus building in participative foresight: empirical cases of UK, Sweden and Germany
  • Foresight mechanism for policy coordination: some explanations based on transaction-cost view within knowledge networks
  • Some recent advances in technology foresight
  • A foresight methodology for exploring prior R&D topics in software field: calculation and resolution of conflicts
  • Globalisation and risk management of science and technology
  • Assessing the impact of the UK's evolving national foresight programme
  • The impact of foresight studies on human healthcare in the post-genomic era
  • Korean Technology Foresight for national S&T planning
  • China's technology foresight: aiming to 2006-2020
  • Technology foresight in Taiwan: developing internet foresight system

Call for papers: Special Issue on Green Manufacturing

A special issue of International Journal of Manufacturing Research

Faced with growing concerns over the impact of human activity, policy-makers are faced with the problem of reconciling continued economic development and the need to reduce environmental harm. Manufacturing research and development must provide low carbon, low waste and energy efficient materials; and technologies and practices that support reuse, remanufacture and recycling of materials and products.

The objective of this special issue is to provide a forum for engineers and scientists in academia, industry and government to address the most innovative research and development including technical challenges, social and economic issues, and to present their ideas, results, work in progress and experience on all aspects of green manufacturing technology and applications. With the advent of distributed and parallel environments, processing particularly complex scientific applications and voluminous data is more affordable. We solicit original work in all areas of green manufacturing. In addition to “normal” submissions, authors whose papers have been accepted for the International Conference on Mechanical Engineering and Green Manufacturing 2010 (MEGM 2010)to be held in Xiangtan, China, November 2010 are invited to submit a rewritten (extended and fully revised) version of their papers to this special issue.

Specific topics include, but are not limited to, the following:
  • Internet-based manufacturing
  • Computer aided design
  • Virtual design
  • Design in collaborative and distributed environments
  • Computer aided engineering
  • Virtual manufacturing
  • Distributed manufacturing
  • Networked manufacturing
  • Computer aided manufacturing
  • Green manufacturing technology
  • Other applications
Important Dates
Manuscript due date: 1 December, 2010
Notification of acceptance: 1 March, 2011
Submission of final manuscript: 30 March, 2011

11 April 2010

First issue: International Journal of Knowledge-Based Development

Adopting a systems approach to the theory and practice of knowledge-based development activities and processes, International Journal of Knowledge-Based Development focuses on knowledge cities and societies, knowledge-based urban development, knowledge and innovation clusters, and knowledge-intensive service activities.

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

First issue: International Journal of Knowledge Engineering and Data Mining

Devoted to techniques and skills used for knowledgebase systems or intelligent applications development, International Journal of Knowledge Engineering and Data Mining covers all areas of data architecture, data integration and data exchange, data mining, knowledge acquisition, representation, dissemination, codification and discovery techniques, and their technologies. It also focuses on their applications and case studies in industrial, medical and business sectors.

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

Special issue: Change in the world auto industry and policy responses

International Journal of Automotive Technology and Management 10(2/3) 2010
  • Changing policies for the automotive industry in an 'old' industrial region: an open innovation model for the UK West Midlands?
  • Upgrading of TNC subsidiaries: the case of the Polish automotive industry
  • Local institutions, local networks and the upgrading challenge. Mobilising regional assets to supply the global auto industry in Northern Mexico
  • The involvement of Japanese MNEs in the Indonesian automotive cluster
  • The role of social dialogue in skills initiatives: a case study approach
  • Automotive industry and blurring systemic borders: the role of regional policy measures
  • The MG Rover closure and policy response: an evaluation of the Task Force model in the UK
  • Swing plants and punishments: a study of a Ford closure decision
  • Globalisation and the reorganisation of Japan's auto parts industry
  • Towards sustainable growth in the Chinese automotive industry: internal and external obstacles and comparative lessons
  • Sustainability and diversity in the global automotive industry
  • The role of public policy in stimulating radical environmental impact reduction in the automotive sector: the need to focus on product-service system innovation

Special issue: Mobile and ubiquitous technologies for language learning

International Journal of Mobile Learning and Organisation 4(2) 2010
  • Charting unknown territory: models of participation in mobile language learning
  • Modelling ubiquity for second language learning
  • Computational approaches to support image-based language learning within mobile environment
  • ALEX©: a mobile adult literacy experiential learning application
  • Computational models for mobile and ubiquitous second language learning
  • Supporting the acquisition of Japanese polite expressions in context-aware ubiquitous learning

Special issue: Recent advances in network security attacks and defences

International Journal of Internet Protocol Technology 5(1/2) 2010
  • Analysis of firewall policy rules using traffic mining techniques
  • Discovering last-matching rules in popular open-source and commercial firewalls
  • Evaluation of gatekeeper proxies for firewall traversal in secure videoconferencing systems
  • Detecting and blocking P2P botnets through contact tracing chains
  • Request diversion: a novel mechanism to counter P2P based DDoS attacks
  • Real-time behaviour profiling for network monitoring
  • A hybrid scheme using packet marking and logging for IP traceback
  • On investigating ARP spoofing security solutions
Additional paper
  • Simplified watermarking scheme for sensor networks

Special issue: Modelling and applied simulation in industry and industrial logistics

International Journal of Simulation and Process Modelling 5(4) 2009
  • Inventory and internal logistics management as critical factors affecting the supply chain performances
  • Business simulation game for teaching multi-echelon supply chain management
  • On the integrated production, inventory and preventive maintenance problem in manufacturing systems with backorder
  • Mathematical programming and simulation based layout planning of container terminals
  • A simulation-based method for the design of supply strategies to enter developing markets
  • Stochastic leadtimes in a one-warehouse, N-retailer inventory system with the warehouse actually carrying stock
  • Sequential ordering problems for crane scheduling in port terminals

Special issue: Current concerns of industrial design engineering

Journal of Design Research 8(3) 2010

Papers from the 7th International Symposium on Tools and Methods of Competitive Engineering (TMCE2008)
  • Exploring the viability of holographic displays for product visualisation
  • A methodology for sketch analysis to support maintaining the design intent in virtual prototyping
  • A method for the evaluation of meaning structures and its application in conceptual design
  • Design and assessment of a 3D visualisation system integrated with haptic interfaces
  • Aesthetic consequences of making car exteriors visually robust to geometrical variation
  • Automation of flexible components virtual prototyping: methodology, tools and validation

Call for papers: The Future of Social Entrepreneurship

A special issue of International Journal of Entrepreneurial Venturing

The concept of social entrepreneurship (SE) draws interest from all parts of the globe. Social entrepreneurs around the world address a wide range of societal challenges (Tracey and Phillips 2007) such as poverty, climate change, basic medical treatment, universal education, and women’s rights in an entrepreneurial spirit. In academia, SE is gaining ground as well. It is the central topic for a growing number of articles, books, business school courses and research centres.

Despite its relevance in practice and theory, the field is still in its infancy (Hoogendoorn et al. 2009). SE as a field of research lacks basic theoretical underpinnings (Austin et al. 2006) such as the conceptual understanding of its economic role (Santos 2009). Furthermore, it is limited by an often one-sided narrative approach of describing social entrepreneurs as heroes and SE as a universal remedy for humankind’s most pressing challenges (Dey and Steyaert 2010).

Although a number of authors have made valuable contributions to the conceptual and theoretical advancement of the field (Austin et al. 2006; Mair and Martí 2006; Peredo and McLean 2006) we believe that more theoretical contributions are urgently needed to move academic study of SE out of its “pre-paradigm stage” (Santos 2009: p.4). This special issue aims to focus on theoretical contributions with the potential to bring SE research to the next stage.

Relevant topics include but are not limited to the following:
  • Meta papers analyzing the status of the field and suggesting future directions for the advancement of SE research
  • Contributions borrowing promising theoretical concepts from other disciplines and applying them to the phenomenon of SE. This might include concepts used in economic, organizational, or behavioural theory
  • Papers describing the space, landscape, or boundaries of SE
  • The role of SE in our market economy
Even though the focus of the issue is on theoretical contributions we also welcome quantitative empirical papers. Interdisciplinary papers that deal with economics, sociology, psychology, etc. would also be appreciated. Papers can discuss the overall phenomenon of SE but can also focus on specific aspects of SE such as opportunity recognition, value creation, or growth. Contributions can also focus on an economic or company level.

Important Date
Submission deadline: 31 October 2010

Call for papers: Green Communications and Networks

A special issue of International Journal of Radio Frequency Identification Technology and Applications

Communications industry is not only a high-tech one, but also a high-energy-consuming one. With the continuous expansion of wireless networks scale, the numbers of core devices, power systems, engine rooms and base stations are increasing greatly, which leads to serious energy consumption. Thus, green communications and networks, with the aim of reducing energy costs and CO2 emissions and protecting the environment, have become a potential research focus for all the next-generation communications and network designers.

The objective of this special issue is to present a collection of high-quality research papers that report the latest research advances in the area of green communications and networks, which mainly includes the intelligent control, efficient management, or optimal design of access network infrastructures, home networks, terminal equipment, etc.

Specific topics include, but not limited to, the following:
  • The cross-layer design of energy-efficient network architectures
  • The optimal design of energy-efficient transmission protocols and frame structures
  • The optimal planning of energy-efficient network topologies
  • The energy-efficient handover in heterogeneous networks
  • Low-power circuit board design
  • PA-power intelligent control
  • Power efficient RFID networks
  • The efficient management of terminal equipment
  • Measurement and profiling of energy consumption
  • Test-bed and prototype implementation
  • Other and emerging new topics
Important Dates
Manuscript due date: 10 October, 2010
Notification of acceptance: 10 January, 2011
Submission of final manuscript: 10 February, 201

Call for papers: Advances in RFID Technology

A special issue of International Journal of Radio Frequency Identification Technology and Applications

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology is emerging as one of the most pervasive computing technologies due to its low cost and broad applicability. RFID systems consist of tiny integrated circuits equipped with antennas (RFID tags) that communicate with their reading devices (RFID readers) using radio-frequency waves without line of sight. This creates tremendous opportunities for linking various objects from real world.

While RFID provides promising benefits such as inventory visibility and business process automation, some significant challenges need to be overcome before these benefits can be realized. These include important issues such as how to process and manage RFID data, how to seamlessly integrate low-level RFID data into enterprise information infrastructures, and how to protect the privacy and security of businesses and consumers in RFID environments.

The objective of this special issue is to present a collection of high-quality papers that report the latest research advances in the area of RFID technology and applications. We seek original work identifying new R&D challenges and developing new techniques and algorithms in RFID technology and applications.

Specific topics include, but not limited to, the following:
  • RFID and physical user interfaces
  • RFID network management
  • Data management in RFID applications
  • Security/privacy and RFID
  • RFID and sensor networks
  • RFID standards
  • RFID middleware
  • COTS and Open Source RFID infrastructure
  • Commercial experience with RFID
  • Web services and RFID
  • Business process redesign and RFID
  • Others and emerging new topics
Important Dates
Manuscript due date: 1 November, 2010
Notification of acceptance: 1 February, 2011
Submission of final manuscript: 1 March, 2011

8 April 2010

Special issue: Sport event marketing: creating relationship value

International Journal of Sport Management and Marketing 7(3/4) 2010
  • Introduction: New perspectives in sport event marketing
  • Do boys and girls go out to play? Women's football and social marketing at Euro 2005
  • Permission to promote: a conjoint investigation of e-newsletter preferences
  • Distinguishing between amateur sport participants and spectators: the List of Values approach
  • Corporate support: a corporate social responsibility alternative to traditional event sponsorship
  • Sport events and public organisations: the case of Conseil General de la Sarthe and '24 hours' of Le Mans
  • Volunteer programme in mega sport events: the case of the Olympic Winter Games, Torino 2006
  • Exploring consumer schemata of destination and sports event brands: the case of Kaohsiung City and the 2009 World Games

Special issue: Art, brain and languages

International Journal of Arts and Technology 3(2/3) 2010

Papers from the 2nd International Conference on Art, Brain and Languages held in Porto, Portugal, 8-11 September 2008, in association with the 7th International Conference on Disability, Virtual Reality and Associated Technologies.
  • Plymouth brain-computer music interfacing project: from EEG audio mixers to composition informed by cognitive neuroscience
  • Music and dyslexia
  • What colour is it? Modal and amodal completion of colour in art, vision science and biology
  • Dance, language and the brain
  • Looking for the linguistic knowledge behind the curtains of contemporary dance: the case of Rui Horta's creative process
  • Literal visions
  • The moon illusion in children's drawings
  • 3D turtle geometry: artwork, theory, program equivalence and symmetry

7 April 2010

Special issue: Solid waste management: focusing on sustainability

International Journal of Environmental Technology and Management 13(1) 2010

Papers from a workshop/conference held in San Francisco, California, USA, 28-30 May 2008.
  • An optimisation model for transportation of hazardous wastes
  • Sustainable approaches to C&D waste management and global warming impacts
  • An overview of the sustainability of solid waste management at military installations
  • Salvage as a recession hedge: green jobs and other economic stimuli
  • Evaluation of resource recovery through a Waste-to-Energy plant operating with municipal solid waste

Special issue: Algebraic and combinatorial coding theory: in honour of the retirement of Vera Pless. Series 2

International Journal of Information and Coding Theory 1(3) 2010

See also International Journal of Information and Coding Theory 1(2) 2010
  • Cyclic double struck capital Fq-linear double struck capital Fqt-codes
  • Algebraic constructions of LDPC codes with no short cycles
  • Codes from Riemann-Roch spaces for y2 = xp - x over GF(p)
  • Minimum distance and pseudodistance lower bounds for generalised LDPC codes
  • Codes associated with triangular graphs and permutation decoding

Special issue: Solid waste management

World Review of Science, Technology and Sustainable Development 7(3) 2010
  • Land application and passive stabilisation of pulp and paper biosolids: a case study
  • Anaerobic digestion of vegetable market waste in India
  • Bioconversion of Food Industry Sludge into value-added product (vermicompost) using epigeic earthworm Eisenia fetida
  • Nutrient recycling from different solid organic wastes employing an epigeic earthworm Eisenia fetida
  • Relative efficacy of two species of earthworms in biodegradation of organic wastes under semi-arid subtropical conditions of North-West India
  • Hyperspectral imaging based recognition procedures in particulate solid waste recycling
  • Evaluation of waste recycling potential in Bandung Municipal Solid Waste
  • Effect of repeated leachate recycling on leachate characteristics

5 April 2010

Call for papers: Sacred Site Visitation: Policies, Experiences and Commercialisation

A special issue of International Journal of Tourism Anthropology

This Special Issue will focus on the hybrid nature of religious tourism and the tourism-pilgrimage dichotomy as well as on the intersecting journeys of tourists and pilgrims within the context of the same sacred site. It offers the opportunity to study sacred site visitation in an interdisciplinary way, bringing together researchers who share interest in religious tourism but come from different fields of study such as ethnography, anthropology, sociology, psychology, geography, as well as management sciences and economic related fields. The discussion is open to research from western and eastern cultures (Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism) and the aim is to combine research from a variety of sacred sites, of either well-known or less known places.

Papers presented at the International Conference of Tourism (ICOT 2011) will be considered for publication in this special issue, along with other papers submitted as below.

Topics appropriate for this special issue include, but are not limited to, the following subject areas:
  • Motivations and experience of tourists/pilgrims
  • The enchantment of sacred site experience
  • Religious tourism as an alternative form of tourism
  • Development policies of religious tourism
  • The economic impacts of religious tourism and pilgrimage
  • Local economic development of sacred sites
  • Economic impact of retailing of religious souvenirs
  • Sacred sites management: Regional, national and local aspects
  • Tourism-pilgrimage dichotomy and duality of space
  • Touristification of sacred sites
Important Dates
One-page abstract [no more than 350 words] due: 15 February 2011
Notification of acceptance/rejection to authors: 5 March 2011
Full paper due: 31 March 2011

4 April 2010

Special issue: Selected papers from 7th HFAA Annual Conference

International Journal of Managerial and Financial Accounting 2(1) 2010

The 7th Annual Conference of the Hellenic Finance and Accounting Association (HFAA) was held in Chania, Crete, Greece, 12-13 December 2008.
  • The transition from the Greek accounting system to IFRS: evidence from the manufacturing sector
  • Bank efficiency estimation and the change of the accounting standards: evidence from Greece
  • An empirical investigation of Greek firms' compliance to IFRS disclosure requirements
  • Firm visibility via group presentations
  • An empirical evaluation of four financial distress prediction models for Greek firms: is there a 'most appropriate' model?

Special issue: Environmental aspects of the oil industry

International Journal of Oil, Gas and Coal Technology 3(1) 2010
  • Oil production in Mexico's highly diverse ecosystems: the importance of environmental indicators
  • Environmental and health risk assessment of an oil contaminated site in the Mexican tropical southeast
  • The use of biostimulation and bioaugmentation to remove phenanthrene from soil
  • Plant physiology processes associated with the application of phytotechnologies in the removal of hydrocarbons
  • Catalyst characterisation of Fe-doped-titanium dioxide
  • On the effect of a global adoption of various fractions of biodiesel on key species in the troposphere

3 April 2010

Special issue: Data analytics techniques and heuristics for complex supply chain network problems

International Journal of Enterprise Network Management 3(3) 2009
  • Ergonomic risk incorporated schedules (ERIS) – scheduling using genetic algorithm to reduce operator fatigue in flow-shop based cells
  • Saving based algorithm for multi-depot version of vehicle routing problem with simultaneous pickup and delivery
  • A multi-criteria decision making model for outsourcing inbound logistics of an automotive industry using the AHP and TOPSIS
  • Partially centralised decisions and information synchronisation in supply chain
  • An analytic model for selection of and allocation among third party logistics service providers
  • A framework for business transformation through enterprise-wide, automated, profit-maximised planning

Special issue: Island brands and island branding

International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business 9(4) 2010
  • Island brands and 'the Island' as a brand: insights from immigrant entrepreneurs on Prince Edward Island
  • Branding: a Caribbean perspective on rum manufacturing competitiveness
  • Brand(ing) Kinmen: a tourism perspective
  • An image worth bottling: the branding of King Island Cloud Juice
  • Branding of Fiji's bottled water: edging into sustainable consumption
  • Exploitation versus exploration in island economies: a brand diagnostic perspective

Special issue: Techniques and protocols for merging wireless and mobility services

International Journal of Communication Networks and Distributed Systems 4(3) 2010
  • Optimisation of soft handoff margin in WCDMA cellular system
  • PUM applications and VMDFS file structure: amortised analysis and evaluation
  • LSD: link strength based discovery protocol for dynamic ad hoc networks
  • An integrated mobility framework for ad hoc distributed personal networks
  • The integration of telecommunication and dissemination networks

Special issue: Advances in reliability methods and probabilistic system identification techniques

International Journal of Reliability and Safety 4(2/3) 2010
  • Spherical subset simulation (S³) for solving non-linear dynamical reliability problems
  • Reliability-based synthesis of non-linear stochastic dynamical systems: a global approximation approach
  • Reliability estimation using univariate dimension reduction and extended generalised lambda distribution
  • Estimating system reliability with correlated component failures
  • A Bayesian methodology for crack identification in structures using strain measurements
  • Designing accelerated life tests for generalised exponential distribution with log-linear model
  • Experimental study and nonlinear modelling by artificial neural networks of a distillation column
  • Heuristic methods for solving redundancy allocation in complex systems
  • Reliability optimisation using harmony search algorithm under performance and budget constraints

Call for papers: Robust Design – Coping with Hazards Risk and Uncertainty

A special issue of International Journal of Reliability and Safety

This Special Issue is focused on robust design in a broad sense in the context of hazards, risk and uncertainty. It is based on the 4th International Workshop on Reliable Engineering Computing (REC2010), held in Singapore, March 3-5, 2010, but submissions from outside this Workshop are also welcome. Particular emphasis is on a multi-disciplinary character to form a unique symbiosis of various engineering and associated disciplines within the kernel areas of engineering, computer science, sciences, and mathematics.

The issue of robustness has attracted increasing attention. Societal and industrial interest has grown from both a safety point of view and an economic point of view. The development is driven by a series of accidents with natural and manmade sources including inappropriate design, as well as by changing economic and environmental requirements and conditions including effects from climate change. Robust design has to ensure that our engineering systems can cope with all hazards, risk and uncertainty over their entire lifetime from the construction to the controlled demolition.

The potential for applications ranges over all engineering fields. The developments in Robust Design are characterized by a remarkable diversity and high complexity, which concerns
  1. the definition of robustness,
  2. the mathematical framework, and
  3. the application field.
Included is the design of structures, systems, processes, operations, new materials and technologies, computational procedures, numerical models, hardware components, etc. The modeling of hazards, risk and uncertainty is frequently associated with subjective, rare and imprecise information. Appropriate mathematical models are required for the treatment of aleatory and epistemic uncertainty and for imprecision and indeterminacy. Proposals for solutions include well-developed and established traditional stochastic methods such as Reliability-Based Design and Performance-Based Design, as well as a variety of non-traditional methods based on Bayesian theory, interval analysis, fuzzy set theory, evidence theory, imprecise probabilities, p-box approach, fuzzy probability theory, etc. In this context it is aimed at reliable and efficient numerical models and methods for Robust Design and associated problems.

Topics include but are not limited to:
  • Robust design, reliability-based design, performance-based design
  • Risk analysis, hazard analysis, risk and hazard mitigation
  • Management and processing of uncertainties
Contributions are invited with emphasis on both theory and applications.

Important Date
Manuscript submission: May 31, 2010

2 April 2010

Special issue: Intelligent systems and their applications

International Journal of Modelling, Identification and Control 9(1/2) 2010
  • Dynamic zone modelling for HVAC system control
  • Mobile grid architecture and resource selection mechanism
  • Research on the non-linear characteristics of traffic flow system under different scalings
  • Experimental validation of feedback approaches for in-cylinder pressure balancing in SI engines
  • A composite sliding mode autopilot design
  • Find the maximum k-disjoint coverage sets in WSN using genetic algorithm
  • Application of the fuzzy neural network with inverse identification structure on neutralisation process
  • Stability of cellular neural networks with time varying delay
  • Modelling of phase separation in binary fluid under vibration with LBM
  • Formal modelling and analysis of HLA architectural style
  • The optimisation of bevel gear tooth in mesh with various types of profile modifications
  • UML-based modelling for information system of assembly lines
  • Development of virtual-labs based on complex Modelica models using VirtualLabBuilder
  • Multi-objective optimisation of steel frame of solid garage based on genetic algorithm
  • Research on traffic impact analysis and organisation design optimisation for logistics park
  • Observer-based robust model predictive control of singular systems
  • Boundary predictive control of second-order linear modulus-vary distributed parameter systems based on wavelets transformation
  • A study on bacterial colony chemotaxis algorithm and simulation based on differential strategy
  • A MOGA-based approach for optimal analogue test points selection
  • Research on structure dynamic neural networks
  • Overview of human-simulated intelligent control method and its application
  • A variable structure adaptive fuzzy logic stabiliser for a two-area load frequency control problem
  • The research of man-hour dynamic parameter modelling and visualisation
  • Modelling on conflict resolution of collaborative design
  • Study of fuzzy control for controllable suspension based on ADAMS and MATLAB co-simulation
  • Type-II T-S fuzzy modelling for SCR flue gas denitration
  • A new particle swarm optimisation based on MATLAB for portfolio selection problem

Call for papers: Resilient Servers and Data Centres

A special issue of International Journal of Critical Computer-Based Systems

Widespread deployment of heterogeneous virtualized systems in cloud computing and warehouse-scale data centres, often used for business-critical applications, introduces new challenges and opportunities for technological advances and innovation. This special issue seeks experimental, experiential, and theoretical papers dealing with a variety of questions concerning innovations for resilience in modern IT systems.

This issue will present questions which include but are not limited to:
  • In addition to the more traditional definitions of high availability and fault tolerance, the ability to respond robustly to a wide variety of changes has become extremely important in modern dynamic IT structures; is a new conception of resilience needed?
  • Economics of resilience: How much is enough and what is it worth? Do we have adequate specification of resilience objectives to facilitate a global economic ecosystem in which workload resilience goals can be specified, bid, purchased, and measured?
  • Disasters, DOS attacks, viral outbreaks, thermal issues, power outages, operator strikes, mass upgrades and maintenance actions are significant impairments to resilience; what new impairments to resilience arise in modern scale distributed data centres?
  • How do distributed and cloud computing exacerbate and/or mitigate some of these impairments?
  • How do we achieve economically viable (e.g., cost effective, green, efficient, easy-to-manage) geographical-scale resilience in computing?
  • Complex systems management challenges: How do multiple managers and domains of ownership interact in vast-scale IT systems?
  • What new techniques are needed for modelling, testing, validation of resilient systems and data centres?
  • What design, analysis, validation, problem prediction, and test technologies are applicable and might be transferable from the safety-critical, manufacturing, and industrial domains to the IT domain?
  • How can problem prediction and proactive avoidance be used to improve the resilience of these systems in light of the new classes of hazards that they face?
Important Dates
Paper submission deadline: 1 August, 2010
Author notification: 1 October, 2010

Call for papers: Entrepreneurial Finance

A special issue of International Journal of Entrepreneurial Venturing

Research in the field of corporate finance has a long tradition in economic theory. However, a lot of its findings are valid for big, established companies but not for small firms and start-ups. New and growing enterprises have to face several specific challenges in financial markets. Because of the difficulties in judging the business model, the lack of collaterals, and limited track records, loans are scarcely to get and equity is the major source of financing. This holds particularly for innovative and high-tech start-ups. Such equity investments are mainly conducted in the way of angel and venture financing, where investor and entrepreneur work closely together for a certain period of time. Therefore, research in entrepreneurial finance must pay attention to these characteristics and answer the questions they raise with regard to, for example, agency conflicts, business valuation, financial reporting, and exit strategies. Beyond that, the wide range of findings in this field of research still awaits the aggregation into a comprehensive theory of entrepreneurial finance which is to this day the missing counterpart of the theory of corporate finance.

This special issue is interested in a mix of papers spanning multiple disciplines, approaches, and levels of analysis. Truly innovative research is appreciated and international and global perspectives are highly encouraged.

Areas of interest include, but are not limited to:
  • History and evolution of entrepreneurial finance
  • Restrictions of mainstream financial economics towards entrepreneurial issues
  • Venture capital
  • Valuation of start-ups
  • Financial reporting
  • Capital structure of start-ups
  • Angel investments
  • Exit strategies of investors
  • Going public
  • Financing rapid growth
  • Incubators and their financing impact
  • Investor and creditor relations
  • Changes in capital structures over the business cycle
  • Credit availability and lending to entrepreneurial firms
  • Due diligence in entrepreneurial firms
  • Public policy issues: government programmes, tax policies, and other regulations
  • Cross-cultural differences in entrepreneurial finance
  • Contracting issues: types of securities, covenants, and control rights
  • Entrepreneurial finance in transition economies
Important Date
Paper Submission Deadline: 1 October, 2010

Call for papers: University Cities: Including Universities and Research Institutes into Strategies for Urban Growth

A special issue of International Journal of Knowledge-Based Development

The topic of this special issue refers to the observation that many larger and middle-sized cities have access to the considerable potential of institutions creating and disseminating knowledge. This kind of endowment seems to be especially valuable in an upcoming knowledge-based economy. Recent strategic concepts and inter-city-competitions referring to ‘knowledge-based urban development’, ‘knowledge city’, ‘creative city’, ‘science city’ or ‘entrepreneurial university’ indicate that urban planners and politicians are beginning to search for strategies to take advantage and to make use of this potential. In spite of this favourable initial situation, many cities have not up to now been able to ‘transform’ their knowledge resources into substantial economic success.

Suitable topics include but are not limited to:
  • Case studies of cities trying to activate their knowledge resources for local economic growth
  • Ways of activating human capital embodied in university graduates and university staff for regional/local economic growth
  • Problems in intra-regional cooperation between universities and research institutes in vicinity
  • City competitions as instruments and accelerators for knowledge-based urban development
  • Regulatory barriers and problems for cities applying knowledge city strategies
  • Intra-regional collaboration and networking as preconditions for knowledge-based urban development
  • The role of the (central, federal) state in the process of knowledge-based urban development
  • The implications of knowledge city strategies for urban planning
  • Planning universities and their environment: the level of contribution of architecture and urban design to intensify knowledge flows.
Important Dates
Expression of interest by: 30 June 2010
Full papers by: 15 January 2011

Call for papers: (Re)Creating Public Sphere, Civic Culture and Civic Engagement: Public Service Media vs. Online Social Networks

A special issue of International Journal of Electronic Governance

The net generation, growing up with the internet and other online media, is widely assumed to consist of more responsible citizens, using their technological expertise to campaign on social and political issues, exercise closer scrutiny over their governments, genuinely being more politically engaged. Citizens of the so-called ‘global village’, ‘virtual democracy’, ‘electronic agora’ or ‘blogosphere’ are said to fulfil the dream of a unified and interconnected world. The unprecedented expansion of Online Social Networks (OSN) such as Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn and Twitter offers vast opportunities for communication, entertainment & chatting. These online forums differ from traditional media, such as Public Service Media (PSM), in that they allow more interactivity and many-to-many communication. But they have some similarities to Habermas’ concept of the public sphere: net spheres are public places that are outside of control by the state; they allow individuals to exchange views and knowledge as well as critical points of view; they are spaces where public-minded rational consensus can be developed.

The advantages of cyber-media are that they are not confined to frequency bandwidth; anyone can be a ‘publisher’ (ability to voice one’s opinion; collective action); they provide access (to all with internet account); they are self-generating social networks, allowing networks to form from participation, rather than structuring relationships from the top. However, the net can turn to be a noisy, uncontrolled environment; the open participation may turn chaotic, so there can be no model rules of behaviour or structured conversation; texts and voices may result in anarchic, rather than democratic forms of participation. What is more, there are linguistic barriers and blogging sites are typically dominated by white male voices and polarized opinion. The very notion of openness is at stake as there is limited competition among providers. Inclusiveness can be an issue too – not all people use the Net due to cost considerations or lack of skills, especially in the developing world. Most crucially, critical discussion – the very notion of the Public Sphere – is often absent on the Net, whose content is highly partisan.

So, is it a myth that the Internet can revamp the Public Sphere, tackle political apathy and mobilize citizens? Not entirely, for there are plenty of good examples to show the opposite, as evidenced by Barack Obama’s online campaign to activism on Facebook and Twitter and the Twitter-aided demonstrators in Moldova and Iran against the fraudulent parliamentary election results and the Iranian authoritarian government respectively. Groups in Facebook can choose to support the liberalisation of Tibet; Twitter often has real-time updates on events like the Mumbai terrorist attacks. These examples highlight the Net’s informative and mobilising power.

This special issue seeks research articles and case studies on questions which include but are not limited to:
  • Has the mobilising and democratising power of the Internet been exaggerated?
  • Has the Net the ability to offer critical political discussion?
  • Can the OSN contribute to the (re)creation of Public Sphere, Civic Culture, Civic Engagement, and therefore address the democratic deficit?
  • Is violation of privacy in pursuit of profit an issue of concern?
  • Will the networks be viable, or are we heading for another Internet bubble, given that people log in to chat with friends, thus not paying attention to ads, as well as ad firms' scepticism to advertising their products and services next to user-gen content?
  • Is it about time we looked again at PSM for recreating the Public Sphere, tackling political apathy, and offering a better space for rational debate and culture dissemination in light of their openness to all at affordable prices; offerings of new open forms of distribution & access, including archives, pod-casts and digital distribution; trustworthiness as credible information source and safe spaces for discussion?
Important Dates
Deadline for paper submission: 10 September, 2010
Notification of review results: 10 December, 2010
Submission of revised manuscripts: 10 January, 2011

Call for papers: Business Excellence Through Sustained Competitive Advantage in a Global Market

A special issue of International Journal of Business Excellence

The nature of competition in business world is undergoing rapid change. Escalating global competition is forcing companies to attain sustained competitive advantage to survive, grow and expand. Organizations need to understand the basics of environmental scanning, making and implementing strategic decisions, and seeing how the business fits into its environment and the world at large. Especially in view of the present downslide of the situation globally, business firms need to adjust their competitive position to adapt to the changing environment.

In the context of securing sustained competitive advantage, businesses have both critical thinkers and creative thinkers. While critical thinkers find problems, creative thinkers find solutions and both are necessary for the success of organizations. Academics with differing backgrounds (e.g. strategy, operations, accounting, supply chain, marketing, technology, etc.) are undertaking research on sustained competitive advantage, trying to understand how this affects profitability of organizations.

At the outset, the term ‘sustained competitive advantage’ may bring flavour of ‘strategy’, and the topic is essentially multidisciplinary in nature because it calls for bringing together a wide array of research approaches, such as case studies, survey-method research, development of new models, etc.

This special issue intends to give a forum for the state-of-the-art of sustained competitive advantage in the present competitive world in relation to both manufacturing and service industries. Its aim is to attract high-quality papers representing the importance of achieving sustained competitive advantage through multiple areas such as operations, supply chains, accounting, finance, marketing and general management.

Topics of interest include but are not limited to:
  • Best business practices
  • Corporate social responsibility
  • Performance measurement
  • Marketing and sustained competitive advantage
  • Innovation and sustained competitive advantage
  • Knowledge management and sustained competitive advantage
  • Reverse logistics and green supply chain applications
  • New product development
  • New consumption models
  • New technologies and innovation
Important Date
Submission of Manuscripts by: 30 October, 2010

Call for papers: Rapid Manufacturing in Medical Applications

A special issue of International Journal of Rapid Manufacturing

As rapid prototyping (RP) technology has matured, it is beginning to lend itself to other applications such as rapid tooling and rapid manufacturing. Some traditional tool making methods are considering the use of RP technologies to directly or indirectly fabricate tools. This is considered as a good alternative to the traditional mould making since it is more efficient and requires less lead-time. This approach is also less expensive and allows for quick validation of designs. The next natural evolution of RP technology is rapid manufacturing (RM). RM is the automated fabrication of the final products directly from CAD data. RM is also called additive manufacturing by some since the end result of the process has the required functionality and quality.

RM has been applied to different sectors such as industrial (aerospace, automotive, military etc.), art (jewelry, architecture, sculptures, etc.) and medical and healthcare (devices, dental, implants, etc.). Healthcare represents the most diverse sector.

RM has been used to manufacture implants in hip replacement surgery and cranial patches and other types such as maxiofacial implants for reconstructive surgery. RM has also found applications in the manufacture of disposable surgical cutting guides, fabrication of customized prosthetics and even used for training and education of medical students.

The purpose of this special issue is to provide a comprehensive collection of the latest research and technical work in the area of rapid manufacturing related to the medical application.

Scope includes but is not limited to:
  • Methods and technologies
  • Material and biomaterial capabilities
  • Input and data analysis
  • CAD/CAE
  • Hardware and software issues
  • Process accuracy
  • Medical devices
  • Surgical application
  • Implants and prostheses
  • Tissue engineering and biological models
  • Case studies and other related topics
Important Dates
Full paper submission: 3 May, 2010
Notification of reviews: 15 June, 2010
Revised manuscript submission: 16 July, 2010
Notification of acceptance: 30 July, 2010
Final Paper Revision and submission to the editor: 30 August, 2010

1 April 2010

Special issue: Energy, risk and uncertainty

International Journal of Global Energy Issues 32(4) 2009
  • A control model of policy uncertainty and energy R&D investments
  • Energy risk management with carbon assets
  • Evaluation of power input efficiency for China's typical cities based on the DEA and SFA models
  • Atmospheric environment impact assessment of thermal power plant
Additional paper
  • Anti-industrial pollution efficiency using DEA with constrained emission

Special issue: Consumer society and future of sustainability

Progress in Industrial Ecology, An International Journal 6(4) 2009

Papers from the 11th Annual International Conference of the Finland Futures Research Centre held in Tampere, Finland, 28-29 May 2009.
  • Dietary choices and greenhouse gas emissions – assessment of impact of vegetarian and organic options at national scale
  • Consumers' perceptions of sustainably produced food: a focus group study
  • Consumers and macro-level forces behind CO2 emission development
  • Policies to promote sustainable consumption: framework for a future-oriented evaluation
  • Communicating corporate responsibility through media

Special issue: Information technology and applications

World Review of Science, Technology and Sustainable Development 7(1/2) 2010

Papers from the 5th International Conference on Information Technology and Applications (ICITA 2008) held in Cairns, Australia, 23-26 June 2008.

See also International Journal of Computer Applications in Technology 34(4) 2009
  • Modelling service levels in a call centre with an agent-based model
  • An automated image analysis approach for classification and mapping of woody vegetation from digital aerial photograph
  • A library catalogue system using soundexing retrieval
  • MidField system: configuration of media processing modules for multipoint communication
  • PANDA: a virtual breeding environment for SMEs in the ERP/CRM industry using a service oriented approach
  • CSET automated negotiation model for optimal supply chain formation
  • Proactive information service through user participation in context-aware application
  • Discriminant based analysis of unplanned 14 days readmission patients of hospital
  • Properties of series feature aggregation schemes
  • Causal-effect structure transformation based on hierarchical representation for biomedical sensing
  • Design strategy selection of AV remote UI based on system structure and user level
  • Echo cancellation in VoIP with improved least square lattice method
  • Business process modelling in the context of SOA – an empirical study of the acceptance between EPC and BPMN
  • Behavioural equivalence for a graph rewriting model of concurrent programs
  • Automatic tracking of impact fragments