Call for papers: Technological Advancements That Improve or Enhance Energy Efficiency in Biomedical Research and Animal Facilities

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

A convergence of global factors and the need for more effective pharmaceutical products has increased the demand for biomedical and animal research facilities. This facility type is extremely energy intensive because it requires 24/7 operation, high internal equipment loads, back-up and redundant mechanical and electrical systems, and a high air ventilation rate. At the same time, we are experiencing a tightening of energy standards, public demand for ‘green’ and sustainable approaches and technologies that reduce the carbon footprint and meet cost efficiency initiatives.

The focus of this special issue is to identify and/or develop technologies, methodologies and solutions that can be applied to future trends in research facility design and function. To satisfy the regulatory and public challenges, these must be cost-effective and dramatically reduce the average energy use of research facilities while improving safety, comfort, overall quality and facility sustainability. Answering this challenge requires a holistic, interdisciplinary approach that addresses not only the need for energy and resource reduction but also the expanding role of research facilities as a vehicle to foster team-based research and to offer the flexibility to meet current and future research demands.

Evaluative filters to be considered when preparing manuscripts should include adherence to building codes and standards, policy directives (e.g. Energy Policy Act of 2005), governmental mandates (e.g. Executive Order 13423 “Strengthening Federal Environmental, Energy and Transportation Management”), other applicable regulatory statutes, risk assessment modelling tools, and benchmarking standards (e.g. LEED and Green Globes).

Suitable topics include but are not limited to:

• Lighting (day lighting, high efficiency lighting, lighting controls)
• Use of sustainable materials
• Water management and waste management
• HVAC systems
• Temperature control (alternatives to traditional heating/cooling technologies)
• Pervious materials
• Glazing selection
• Operational strategies
• Continuous commissioning
• Building-integrated renewable energy devices
• Integrated design to achieve optimum facility sustainability
• Net zero energy buildings

Important Dates
Deadline for submission of proposals/abstracts: 15 January, 2011
Author notification: 10 March, 2011
Full paper submission deadline: 10 August, 2011

Call for papers: Technological Advancements That Improve or Enhance Energy Efficiency in Healthcare Facilities

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

A convergence of global factors and the need for more effective treatments has resulted in an increase in demand for energy efficient healthcare facilities. This facility type is extremely energy-intensive because it requires 24/7 operation, high internal equipment loads, back-up and redundant mechanical and electrical systems, and a high air ventilation rate. At the same time, we are experiencing a tightening of energy standards, public demand for ‘green’ and sustainable approaches and technologies that reduce the carbon footprint and meet cost efficiency initiatives.

The focus of this special issue is to identify and/or develop technologies, methodologies and solutions that can be applied to future trends in healthcare facilities design and function. To satisfy the regulatory and public challenges, these must be cost-effective and dramatically reduce the average energy use of research facilities while improving safety, comfort, overall quality and facility sustainability. Answering this challenge requires a holistic, interdisciplinary approach that addresses not only the need for energy and resource reduction but also the expanding role of research facilities as a vehicle to foster team-based research and to offer the flexibility to meet current and future research demands.

Evaluative filters to be considered when preparing manuscripts should include adherence to building codes and standards, policy directives (e.g. Energy Policy Act of 2005), governmental mandates (e.g. Executive Order 13423 “Strengthening Federal Environmental, Energy and Transportation Management”), other applicable regulatory statutes, risk assessment modelling tools, and benchmarking standards (e.g. LEED and Green Globes).

Suitable topics include but are not limited to:

• Lighting (day lighting, high efficiency lighting, lighting controls)
• Use of sustainable materials
• Water management and waste management
• HVAC systems
• Temperature control (alternatives to traditional heating/cooling technologies)
• Pervious materials
• Glazing selection
• Operational strategies
• Continuous commissioning
• Building-integrated renewable energy devices
• Integrated design to achieve optimum facility sustainability
• Net zero energy buildings

Important Dates
Deadline for submission of proposals/abstracts: 15 January, 2011
Author notification: 10 March, 2011
Full paper submission deadline: 10 August, 2011

Special issue: Wireless internet

International Journal of Internet Protocol Technology 5(3) 2010

• Service differentiation using priority-based MAC protocol in MANETs
• Comparisons of channel assignment algorithms for wireless mesh networks
• Virtual ID: ID/locator split in a mobile IP environment for mobility, multihoming and location privacy for the next generation wireless networks

Additional Papers

• Managing multi-priority services in ubiquitous computing applications
• Enhancing convenience and situation-aware intelligence of smart home services using passive RFID and intelligent controls

Special issue: Dependency analysis and modelling

International Journal of System of Systems Engineering 2(1) 2010

• Empirical findings on European critical infrastructure dependencies
• Multiformalism techniques for critical infrastructure modelling
• How to measure the degree of interdependencies among critical infrastructures
• Agent-based modelling of interdependent critical infrastructures
• Stability of a model of power microgeneration network using the Kuramoto model

Call for papers: Recent Advances in Sensing, Detection and Remediation of Environmental Pollutants by Nanoscale Materials

A special issue of International Journal of Environment and Waste Management

With the rise in global population and increasing pressure on the Earth’s limited resources, the world is facing formidable challenges in environmental health and protection. Sensing, detection and remediation of environmental pollutants are therefore urgent challenges that need to be addressed with existing and emerging technologies. Rapid progress in nanotechnology and nanoscale materials offers significant opportunities for a wide range of applications for detection and remediation of a broad range of environmental contaminants. Further, the convergence and intersection of analytical techniques and nanotechnology provide opportunities for development of advanced nanomaterials and miniaturized, rapid, ultrasensitive and affordable field-deployable devices.

The purpose of this special issue is to invite contributions that showcase recent research that address these very important challenges.

Suitable topics include but are not limited to the following:

• Nanoscale material-based chemical sensors
• Nanoscale material-based biological sensors
• Environmental applications of carbon nanotubes
• Environmental applications of polymer nanostructures
• Environmental applications of metal oxide nanostructures
• Advanced nanomaterials for environmental applications
• Toxic gas sensors
• Water treatment and purification
• Decontamination
• Synthesis and properties of nanoscale materials for environmental applications

Important Dates
Deadline for paper submission: 28 February 2011
First turn of papers review: 15 April 2011
Second turn of papers review: 31 May 2011
Final papers submission: 15 July 2011

Call for papers: Nanomaterials in Biosciences and Engineering

A special issue of International Journal of Biomedical Nanoscience and Nanotechnology

Nanoscience is regarded and acknowledged as a triumph of human ingenuity and the development of man is always marked by technological breakthroughs. The emerging field of nanotechnology is leading to a technological revolution in the world. It is the next industrial revolution and almost all industries will be radically transformed by it in few years and this technology will directly benefit the common man when it comes to commercial use. It has already established a beachhead in the economy.

A number of reviews and text books have been published, endorsing the status of the 21st centuries’ leading science and technology. The interface of nanoscience and technology with biological and therapeutic sciences is expected to radically improve the ability to provide efficient treatments. The production of advanced materials has brought increasing focus on nanomaterials due to their significant physical and chemical properties and surface effects. Not only materials scientists but also researchers from other disciplines such as physics, chemistry, biology and engineering have been involved in working on science and applications of nanostructured materials with varied emphasis on synthesis, processing, characterization and applications.

This special issue covers current trends and developments in nanomaterials. Papers may involve both the basic research and application developments relating to experimental, theoretical, computational and applications of nanomaterials. Research articles and review papers are invited; there may also be a small section for short communications.

Subject Coverage

• Nanostructures in medicine and biology
• Engineering structural materials
• Design, synthesis and pattering
• Composite nanomaterials
• Nanoelectronics

Important Dates
Deadline for submission: 31 December, 2010
Communication of Peer reviews to authors: 31 January, 2011
Deadline for revised manuscripts: 31 March, 2011

Call for papers: Information Technology Management in the ‘Cloud’ World

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

Cloud computing, the latest technology for virtualization, has widely been endorsed by organizations to increase their efficiency, reduce costs, and enhance flexibility and adaptability. It is estimated that the worldwide cloud computing spend will reach US$ 148 billion in 2014. While organizations spend between 40 and 50 percent of cloud budget on cloud services from external providers, there has been an increase in spending in private cloud implementations for internal use of the enterprise. The cloud phenomenon heightens the need for advanced theories on and improved practices in information technology (IT) management.

This special issue is devoted to contemporary theories and empirical analyses on IT management in the ‘cloud’ world. The context includes public and private organizations, and cloud computing vendors and customers. The special issue welcomes a multidisciplinary approach to IT management, welcoming submissions from fields of management science, decision sciences, information systems, organizational theory, among others. Preference will be given to high quality papers that have a firm grounding in theories and that apply diverse research methodologies (e.g., case studies, surveys, experiment).

We encourage submission of high-quality papers addressing issues involving IT management in the ‘cloud’ world. Potential topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Adoption and diffusion of cloud computing technologies across different countries
• Management and implementation issued faced by companies in managing information technologies in the 'cloud' world
• Cloud computing and IT and business alignment
• Conceptual frameworks for IT management in the 'cloud' world
• Key factors for successful IT management in the 'cloud' world
• Change management issues in the 'cloud' world
• The impact of the 'cloud' phenomenon on the changes in IT workforce composition and effectiveness
• Effectiveness of IT models applying cloud computing technologies

Important Dates
Full paper deadline: 20 June 2011
Notification of acceptance and review results: 20 August 2011
Revised submission deadline: 15 October 2011
Notification of acceptance: 12 December 2011
Camera-ready version deadline: 12 February 2012

Call for papers: Supply Chain Agility: Emerging Research Perspectives

A special issue of International Journal of Agile Systems and Management

Supply chain agility is the ability of the supply chain partner organizations to adapt quickly with the rapid changes in these business environments. It requires an appropriate blending of coordination, communication and speed in procurement, inventory, assembly and delivery of products and services, as well as the return and re-use of materials and services. Supply chain agility also encompasses related human, financial and information capital flows across organizations that facilitate effective and efficient fulfillment of orders.

Researchers and practitioners have addressed a variety of issues in the supply chain agility area, such as location/allocation decisions, inventory control, production planning, transportation mode selection, and supplier selection. It is also increasingly recognized that successful agile supply chains depend on a number of managerial issues such as organizational resistance to change, inter-functional conflicts, joint production planning, profit sharing, team oriented performance measures, shifts in channel power, information sharing, real time communication, and technical compatibility. Such issues are relevant to both manufacturing and service sectors.

The objective of this special issue is to contribute new insights to the extant body of knowledge in agile supply chain. The special issue is intended for revised and substantially extended versions of selected papers submitted at the Operational Research Society of India (ORSI 2010) conference titled Operational Research for Urban and Rural Development, 15-17th December at Thiagarajar College of Engineering, Madurai -625015. However, we also encourage other researchers to submit their manuscripts to this Special Issue.

We seek cutting edge developments, concepts, practices and research opportunities in supply chain agility in both manufacturing and service sectors. Studies that build theory or test theory with rigour, extending existing theory in different contexts or different cultural environments are invited. Studies that examine emerging practices and new concepts in developed and developing economies are also invited. Methodologies adapted in these studies could extend from mathematical models to simulation, case studies, or large scale empirical survey based research. Researchers can submit recent research findings and perspectives that engage concepts, models, methods, tools and techniques related to the managerial dimensions of agile supply chain.

Suggested topics include but are not limited to:

• Agile procurement
• Storage agility in materials and finished inventory
• Agile production planning and control
• Agile distribution
• Agile demand management
• Alignment and motivation in agile supply chains
• Power and relationship issues in agile supply chains
• Supply chain agility: organizational structures
• Cultural aspects of agile supply chains
• Performance measurement systems in agile supply chains
• Measurement and management of risk in agile supply chains
• Developing and managing innovation in agile supply chains
• Quality issues in agile supply chains

Important Date
Manuscripts should be submitted not later than: 31 March 2011

Special issue: CFD in the minerals and process industries

Progress in Computational Fluid Dynamics, an International Journal 10(5/6) 2010

Papers from the Seventh International Conference on Computational Fluid Dynamics in the Minerals and Process Industries held in Melbourne, Australia, 9 - 11 December 2009.

• Towards efficient simulation of off-gas scrubbing by a hybrid Eulerian–Lagrangian model
• Short-wave instability growth in closely spaced vortex pairs
• CFD-modelling of Selective Non-Catalytic Reduction of NOx in grate-kiln plants
• CFD simulation of free surface flow and heat transfer of liquid slag on a spinning disc for a novel dry slag granulation process
• Effect of rotor blade angle and clearance on blood flow through a non-pulsatile, axial, heart pump
• Tailoring the oxygen distribution in 300 mm Czochralski crystal of pure silicon using cusp magnetic field
• Validation of SPH predictions of oxide generated during Al melt transfer
• Screw conveyor performance: comparison of discrete element modelling with laboratory experiments
• Predicting pressure drop in pneumatic conveying using the discrete element modelling approach
• Wall y+ approach for dealing with turbulent flows over a wall mounted cube
• Computational Fluid Dynamics modelling of ultra-lean porous burners
• Turbulence model analysis of flow inside a hydrocyclone
• CFD modelling of the effect of furnace crater pressure on the melt and gas flows in the submerged arc furnaces used for silicon production
• Combustion modelling of a rotary limekiln
  

Special issue: Risks and environment

International Journal of Environment and Pollution 42(4) 2010

• Analysing the levels of human-induced greenhouse gas emissions from land use, land use change and forestry activities on Annex I countries ability to meet Kyoto targets
• The risk-effective sustainability of policies: the small business credit environment in Korea
• Risk assessment of land-use suitability and application to Tangshan City
• Assessment of water quality observation stations using cluster analysis and ordinal logistic regression technique
• A conflict measure model and its application to supplier evaluation under environmental uncertainty
• Sustainable development and planning of coal industry under uncertainty using system dynamic and stochastic programming

Submitted paper

• Nutrient removal ability and resistance of five hydrophytes under low-temperature conditions

Special issue: Deepening our understanding of projects – using cases for learning

International Journal of Project Organisation and Management 2(3) 2010

Papers from the IRNOP (International Research Network on Organizing by Projects) IX conference held in Berlin, Germany, 11-13 October 2009.

• Risk management in a mega-project: the Universal EXPO 2015 case
• Exploring and exploiting inventors at Westco: a case of ambidexterity in R&D
• Organisational knowledge and the project dimension
• When customers design a new product architecture: the software case

Call for papers: Intelligent Operations Management and Global Business Services

A special issue of International Journal of Advanced Operations Management

Operations management has seen important investigations undertaken over the past few years by academic researchers but has also captured the interest of many within industry. Since the emergence of the web, this domain is facing computational complexity due to the increase in the problems’ sizes and the big challenge is to overcome this difficulty. Classical approaches involve finding limits but these are no longer capable of handling such voluminous data. Intelligent approaches are required for designing solutions for such complex context.

This special issue is seeking papers that report the latest advances in the field of operations management with a focus on designing intelligent methodologies.

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

• Operations intelligence
• Web operations management
• Intelligent business operations
• Real-time operations management
• Optimization for operations management
• Evolutionary and bio-inspired approaches for operations management
• Agent technology for operations management
• Global business and web services
• Logistics and transportation management
• Distributed operations management
• Ontologies for operations management
• Operations planning and control
• B2B e-commerce
• Applications

Important Dates
Submission deadline: 30 December 2010
Initial Review Notification: 27 February 2011
Final papers due: 27 March 2011

Call for papers: Managing National Healthcare: Economics, Culture, and Strategic Choice

A special issue of European Journal of International Management

Central to the recent global debate on national healthcare are issues concerning economics and cultural values that drive decisions affecting the scale, scope, and delivery of health services (both preventive and treatment) provided for a country’s population. While most agree on the goal of seeking quality healthcare at an affordable price, wide disagreement exists, both within and across nations, about who (government, individual, or third party) should pay for what service and whether national healthcare should operate as a business, public welfare programme, or a social enterprise. In the absence of clear evidence favouring one option over another, policymakers engage in “strategic choice” (Child, 1972), choosing between value-based priorities and criteria of operational effectiveness in making national healthcare decisions.

This special issue seeks to publish research that helps delineate the complex nature of national healthcare and offers evidence-based recommendations for its effective management. We are particularly interested in topics which include but are not limited to:

• studies that investigate fundamental tensions between economic concerns and cultural values surrounding national healthcare, and how these tensions can be resolved or managed through strategic choice
• submissions that seek to frame the debate in novel and creative ways with the aim of introducing innovations into the design and/or delivery of healthcare at different levels of operation (e.g., individual, organization, regional, country, and international).
• contributions that examine topics related to policies and practices concerning the development of new drugs, particularly those that combat rare and neglected diseases, given the important role played by pharmaceutical companies in the healthcare field

Authors interested in submitting to the Special Issue should send an abstract (maximum 3 double-spaced pages) to the guest editor at the address below summarizing the key ideas of their paper and how it helps advance fundamental knowledge about national health care and its effective management. EJIM publishes both conceptual and empirical works, with special interest in papers that develop interdisciplinary knowledge by integrating theoretical ideas and research methods from two or more disciplines.

Important Dates
Deadline for Abstract Submission: 1 November, 2010
Deadline for Abstract Review Notification: 15 December, 2010
Deadline for Full Paper Submission: 1 May, 2011

Call for papers: Spatial Information Modelling, Management and Mining

A special issue of International Journal of Data Mining, Modelling and Management

Nowadays, spatial data exists pervasively in various information systems and applications. The unprecedented amount of spatial data that has been amassed and that is being produced in an increasing speed, via various facilities such as sensors, GPS receivers, smart phones and remote sensing, calls for extensive, deep and sustainable research on spatial information modelling, management and mining. In the past decade, we witnessed increasing research interests in these areas from the database, data mining and geographic information systems (GIS) communities.

This special issue on aims to solicit original research contributions and practical experiences of spatial information modelling, management and mining.

Targeted topics include, but are not limited to:

Spatial information modelling

• Spatial data modelling
• Conceptual and logical models for spatial data
• Spatial services modelling
• Spatial information grid
• Ontologies for GIS applications
• Schema mapping and evolution
• Spatial semantic issues

Spatial information management

• Spatial query languages and interfaces
• Spatial query processing and optimization
• Spatial search engines
• Spatial data management in cloud
• Spatial information integration
• Spatial information interoperability and standards
• Spatial metadata management
• Spatial information visualization
• Location-based services

Spatial mining

• Spatial correlation analysis
• Spatial clustering
• Spatial regression and classification
• Spatial trend detection
• Spatial outlier detection
• Spatial data warehousing

Important Dates
Paper Submission Deadline: 31 January, 2011
First round review results: 28 February, 2011
Revision submission deadline: 31 March, 2011
Final acceptance notification: 15 April, 2011
Final version due: 30 April, 2011

Call for papers: Feature Extraction and Selection for Images Recognition in Large Databases

A special issue of International Journal of Signal and Imaging Systems Engineering

Image recognition is a research area has been widely studied by the scientific communities. Research in this domain is mainly aimed at categorizing images from different sources and different applications of computer vision systems. From the many methods developed for extracting local and global features, an automatic selection of the most relevant is necessary in the learning or the recognition stages. The objective of this special issue is to review recent work in this area, focusing on new developments, whether theoretical, methodological and applications.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

• Feature extraction and description
• Relevant feature selection
• Statistical learning methods for image classification
• Multiple kernel learning and multi-model classification
• Image clustering, classification and recognition
• Content-based image retrieval systems
• CBIR for specific and heterogeneous image databases,
• Biometric authentication, face and iris recognition
• Classification tools for image-based diagnosis
• Biological and medical imaging
• Data mining
• Robotics applications

Important Dates
Manuscript due date: 10 February, 2011
Notification of acceptance: 10 April, 2011
Submission of final manuscript: 10 May, 2011

Call for papers: Advances in Sustainable Supply Chain Management Theory and Practice

A special issue of International Journal of Engineering Management and Economics

In recent years, an increasing environmental and ethical awareness has favoured the emergence of new way of conducting business and operations. Indeed, there is a growing consensus that firms should not only be managed efficiently, but also behave in a sustainable way, that means (according to the Triple Bottom Line framework) taking into account also social and environmental issues into performance evaluation.

At the same time, it has been understood that the above-mentioned objectives cannot be achieved just optimising the performances at a firm level. Actually, the complexity of contemporary value creation processes implies that the transition to a sustainable way of conducting business can be completed only by considering operations at a supply chain level, by utilising a systemic and holistic approach.

Therefore, as a result of these two different phenomena, academic and corporate interest in green and sustainable supply chain management has risen considerably in recent years. It has to be said that some common themes within the sustainable supply chain literature have started to emerge, even though most of the literature, till now, has addressed a single corporate function (for instance, purchasing, logistics, product development) instead of really focusing on an entire supply chain system. Thus, sustainable supply chain is still an evolving field of study, in which there is a lack of unifying theories.

This special issue will provide an international forum to investigate and exchange novel ideas and disseminate knowledge covering this broad and emerging area, with a twofold aim. Contributions aimed at favouring the emergence of theoretical frameworks capable of synthesising the existing body of knowledge in the discipline are more than welcome, as well as papers presenting strategic or operational problem-solving applications based on a rigorous methodology.

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 reviews 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.

This Special Issue looks for contributions (case studies, models, theoretical frameworks, empirical studies) in green supply chain management concerning but not limited to:

• Theoretical frameworks/definitions about sustainable/green supply chain
• Reviews of existing literature about sustainable/green supply chain
• Sustainable supply chain strategic planning and operational models
• Sustainable/green logistics network configurations and resource allocation strategies
• Sustainable/green accounting practices across supply chain
• Sustainable/green supply chain practical cases, issues and solutions
• Sustainable/green supply chain projects' evaluation
• Sustainable/green supply chain performance evaluation

Important Dates
Submission of a two-page abstract: 10 December, 2010
Feedback to authors: 20 January, 2011
Submission of full paper: 10 May, 2011

Special issue: Intercultural convergence: timeless challenge in education

International Journal of Intercultural Information Management 2(2) 2010

Papers from TL2009, the IASK (International Association for Scientific Knowledge) Teaching and Learning Conference, held in Porto, Portugal, 7-9 December 2009.

See also
International Journal of Information and Operations Management Education 3(3) 2010
International Journal of Information and Operations Management Education 3(4) 2010

• Pedagogical traditions in EU universities: challenges and opportunities
• Challenges of civic education in Portuguese basic schools
• A preliminary study of psychological and educational support requested by students from the University of Alicante
• Forming didactic skills in the students of the faculty of sports and physical education of Galati, Romania
• Research trends of ICT delivery systems in Malaysian higher education institutions: a content analysis
• Homogeneity, permanent residency and racism: experiences of Indian students at an Australian Sandstone University
• Lifelong learning across cultures: an examination of learning provision for a particularly disadvantaged group

Special issue: Industry clusters: big business for small firms?

International Journal of Globalisation and Small Business 4(1) 2010

• The role of cluster facilitators
• The role of regional clusters and firm size for firm efficiency
• Size does matter: collaboration and competitive advantage within a manufacturing and engineering cluster
• Government policy, clusters and the 'Dubai model'
• Research note: clusters vs. networks – a literature-based approach towards an integrated concept

Special issue: Internet technology: emerging technologies and applications

International Journal of Electronic Business 8(4/5) 2010

Includes papers from the International Conference on Information Systems and Software Engineering (ICISSE 2009) held in Chennai, India, 28–30 December 2009.

• The effects of website design on purchase intention in online shopping: the mediating role of trust and the moderating role of culture
• Seeing is believing: using Data Visualisation for formative feedback in computer supported online learning collaboration
• Frame based Intelligent Tutoring System with weighted attributes and adaptive hypermedia
• Social comparison and trust in the acceptance of social shopping websites
• Digital Ecology: a medley of computer-centric digital informatics and environmentalism
• Exploring hyperlink structure of electronic commerce websites: a Webometric study

Submitted papers

• Factors influencing e-marketplace adoption in agricultural micro-enterprises
• National culture and national adoption and use of mobile telephony

Special issue: Adaptive neural control techniques with engineering applications

International Journal of Modelling, Identification and Control 11(1/2) 2010

• DSC approach to robust adaptive NN tracking control for a class of MIMO systems
• Observer-based stabilisation of some non-linear non-minimum phase systems using neural network
• RBF networks based approximate decoupling controller
• Robust stabilising controller synthesis for discrete-time recurrent neural networks via state feedback
• State feedback linearisation-based neural network adaptive controller for a class of uncertain SISO non-linear systems
• System identification using the neural-extended Kalman filter for state-estimation and controller modification
• Inferential control with the aid of modified QPLS-based soft sensor for an industrial FCCU fractionator
• Use of a neural-network-based approach for a reliable modelling of a distillation column
• Neural networks modelling and generalised predictive control for an autonomous underwater vehicle
• Neural network-based robust control for hypersonic flight vehicle with uncertainty modelling
• Robust design of bipolar wave cellular neural network with applications
• Neural network based iterative learning control for product qualities in batch processes
• Building neural network-based behaviour systems for emotion-based pet robots
• Neural network PID control for a water level system
• Tracking control of robot manipulators based on orthogonal neural network

Special issue: Bridging of material length scales

International Journal of Materials and Structural Integrity 4(2-4) 2010

• Two-scale modelling of effects of microstructure and thermomechanical properties on dynamic performance of an aluminium alloy
• Lengthscale-dependent modelling of ductile failure in metallic microstructures
• The effect of atomic force microscope probe size on indentation tests simulated using realistic surface forces
• Approach on thermoelectricity reliability of board-level backplane based on the orthogonal experiment design
• On the relationship of microstructure properties of asphalt mixtures to their constitutive behaviour
• On the differences of dynamic localisations between different types of metals
• Dynamic properties analysis and test of SMT printed circuit board assembly
• Dislocation-based model for predicting size-scale effects on the micro and nano indentation hardness of metallic materials
• Modelling size effects in micro/nano-systems by including interfacial effects in a gradient plasticity framework
• Synthesis and characterisation of sodium trititanate whisker surface Cd(II) ion-imprinted polymer and selective solid-phase extraction of cadmium

Call for papers: Human Centred Industrial Product Design Using Intelligent Techniques

A special issue of International Journal of Advanced Operations Management

Human centered product design, dealing with sensory science (study of five human senses), consumer science or marketing study, cognitive science, Kansei engineering (study of human emotions), ergonomics and the like, has attracted great attention in different industrial sectors (textile, cosmetic, food, chemical, automobile, etc). It aims at integrating the human body and human perception elements into industrial design in order to develop new personalized products meeting specific requirements of consumers in comfort and fashion style.

However, setting up a suitable mathematical formulation, an efficient human evaluation procedure and a powerful computing method for modelling human perception is quite difficult because there exists uncertainty and imprecision in human factors (semantic ambiguity, non normalized data, data reliability, etc). Intelligent techniques can be used in a complementary way with classical statistical tools for generating efficient models of human perception and human bodies and human centered product design support systems.

Contributors are encouraged to submit original manuscripts that have practical relevance, case studies, and focus on the areas related to human centered industrial product design using intelligent techniques which include but are not limited to:

• Normalization and optimization of sensory evaluation procedures
• Modelling of human perception in socio-cultural contexts (well-being, comfort, etc)
• Decision making support in uncertain and imprecise environment with human factors
• Semantic analysis of human perception
• Human body models and their perception
• Human knowledge extraction

This special issue is intended for revised and substantially extended versions of selected papers presented at FLINS2010 (The 9th International Conference on Foundations and Applications of Computational Intelligence), held from 2 to 4 August 2010 in Chengdu (China), and IFAC2010 HMS (11th IFAC Symposium on Analysis, Design, and Evaluation of Human-Machine Systems), held from 31 August to 2 September 2010 in Valenciennes (France), but we explicitly encourage other researchers to submit their papers to this Special Issue as well.

Important Dates
Manuscript submission: 15 December 2010
Notification of initial decision: 30 January 2011
Submission of revised manuscript: 1 March 2011
Notification of final acceptance: 30 March 2011

Call for papers: Recent Advanced Technologies and Theories in Ubiquitous Networks and Wireless Communications

A special issue of International Journal of Ad Hoc and Ubiquitous Computing

As we look towards the advent of the ubiquitous and pervasive society, in which a huge number of devices and other objects will be connected to networks, expectations are rising for advanced ubiquitous networks and wireless communications. For example, advanced wireless communication systems enable tetherless communication between a variety of nodes ranging from humans to computers. They may roughly be classified by their geographical coverage area.

Due to the heterogeneous characteristics of ubiquitous networks and wireless communications, various break-through items including energy-efficient, energy harvesting, and cross layer techniques used in networking and computing have recently received considerable attention. To enable ubiquitous networks and wireless communications, it is necessary to integrate advanced technologies and theories, many of which are highly heterogeneous, from various fields including pervasive computing, ubiquitous networking, and wireless communications. Many enabling ubiquitous networks and wireless communication technologies continue to be deployed in various computing environments.

This special issue aims to address a variety of advanced technologies, theory, and applications in ubiquitous networks and wireless communications. It solicits high-quality theoretical as well as practical works on a broad range of issues important to communications, networks, and applications.

Topics of primary interest include, but are not limited to:

• Throughput, capacity, and delay analysis on ubiquitous networks and wireless communications
• Data and resource management in ubiquitous networks and wireless communications
• Service creation and delivery over next generation networks
  
• Resource management schemes for heterogeneous wireless networks
  
• Ubiquitous location tracking and wireless cognitive networks
  
• Intrusion detection in ubiquitous computing networks and threat and vulnerability modelling in ubiquitous computing networks
• Secure service discovery in ubiquitous computing and trust access control management in ubiquitous computing
• Context-awareness services and applications in ubiquitous networks
• Security, privacy, and trust in ubiquitous networks and wireless communications
• Advanced MAC scheduling, routing, and communication protocols
• Energy-efficient protocols and services in ubiquitous networks and wireless communications
• Energy-harvesting technologies in ubiquitous networks
• Fault-tolerant and resilient techniques in ubiquitous networks and wireless communications
• Performance evaluation of wireless systems, and technologies

Important Dates
Deadline for Submission: 31 July, 2011
Acceptance notification - 1st Round: 30 September, 2011
Final Notification of acceptance: 31 October, 2011

First issue: International Journal of Modelling in Operations Management

Providing a multidisciplinary platform for the advancement of knowledge in operations management in engineering, information technology, economics, business and management and services, International Journal of Modelling in Operations Management will in the latter area be particularly concerned with supply chain management, human resource management and quality management.

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

First issue: International Journal of Information Technology, Communications and Convergence

Addressing the various theories and practical applications of future generation information technology (FGIT), which involves communications and convergence, International Journal of Information Technology, Communications and Convergence will present important results of significant value to solve the application services and various problems within the scope of FGIT.

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

Special issues: Managing the risks of bovine spongiform encephalopathy: a Canadian perspective

International Journal of Risk Assessment and Management 14(1/2) 2010

• Continued risk management of the diminishing bovine spongiform encephalopathy outbreak in the UK
• Bovine spongiform encephalopathy risk management in Australia and New Zealand
• A review of bovine spongiform encephalopathy and its management in Canada and the USA
• Bovine spongiform encephalopathy risk management in Latin America: Costa Rica as a representative country for risk management and policy
• Bovine spongiform encephalopathy and variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease preventive risk management in the Russian Federation
• Bovine spongiform encephalopathy and variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease risk management in Central European Countries: Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia and Poland
• Risk management for bovine spongiform encephalopathy and variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in France: policy analysis and lessons learned
• Overview of bovine spongiform encephalopathy and related events in Germany
• Risk assessment and risk management of bovine spongiform encephalopathy in Portugal
• Bovine spongiform encephalopathy and variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease risk management in Spain

Submitted Paper

• Health and safety risk assessment methodology to calculate reverse airflow tolerance in a biosafety level 3 (BSL-3) or airborne infection isolation room (AII) environment

International Journal of Risk Assessment and Management 14(3/4) 2010

• Bovine spongiform encephalopathy and variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease risk management in Belgium
• Bovine spongiform encephalopathy and variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease risk management in the Netherlands
• Bovine spongiform encephalopathy and its management in Israel
• Bovine spongiform encephalopathy and variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease risk management in Switzerland
• Risk assessment, management and communication responses to bovine spongiform encephalopathy in Japan
• Preventive risk management strategies for bovine spongiform encephalopathy and variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in India
• Risk management strategies for bovine spongiform encephalopathy in South America
• Bovine spongiform encephalopathy and variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease risk management in Italy
• Bovine spongiform encephalopathy and variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease risk management in Nordic countries
• Bovine spongiform encephalopathy and variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease risk management strategies in the People's Republic of China

Special issue: Advances in microarray data analysis and beyond

International Journal of Computational Biology and Drug Design 3(2) 2010

• A multi-view approach to cDNA micro-array analysis
• Compact Extreme Learning Machines for biological systems
• An improved multi-label classification method and its application to functional genomics
• Predicting three-dimensional structure of protein fragments from dihedral angle propensities and molecular dynamics
• Proteomic-based screening of miRNAs metabolic pathway targeting

Special issue: Global entrepreneurship through innovation

International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management 12(3/4) 2010

• Engines of growth – the importance of 'routine innovation activities'
• A comparative study of career success between Korean and American women managers
• Business incubation in the UAE: prospects for enterprise development
• Main characteristics of technological entrepreneurship and the impact of governmental policies in Korea
• Entrepreneurial innovation problems associated with the dynamic growth of university spin-outs in China: a capabilities perspective
• An international collaboration of technology using a business roadmapping approach
• Globalisation strategy for small and medium sized enterprises

Call for papers: Strategic Change Management in High Technology Industry

A special issue of International Journal of Strategic Change Management

A strategy is a long-term plan to achieve specific objectives or goals. Strategies are focused on the future and bring about sustained change, and typically require detailed planning and analysis. In business, strategy planning is often seen as key to future success or even survival. With the world changing at a rapid pace, companies need to be dynamic and flexible to stay in business. They need to foresee the future and be ready to adapt to the potential changes that will come their way. The process of strategic change management involves developing an innovative vision for where the company needs to be, and then developing and equally innovative path for achieving the goal.

A high technology industry is one that produces sophisticated products with a significant emphasis on research and development, including computers, telecommunications, aerospace and military equipment, etc. The high technology industry has been one of the fastest growing industries in the world, impacting economies globally and locally.

Strategic change can be affected by the states of high technology companies and their external environments. Because the performance of high technology companies might depend on the fit between the companies and their external environments, the appearances of novel opportunities and threats in the external environments - in other words, the change of external environments - requires high technology companies to adapt to the external environments again; as a result, such companies would need to change their strategy in response to the environmental changes.

There is no easy way to manage strategic change, and no simple formula that will work in all cases; this special issue tries to simplify a very complex subject by focusing on strategic change management in high technology industry.

Topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Managing strategy in high technology industry
• Operation and management of high technology companies
• Critical resources, strategic capability and growth performance
• Alliances between multinational corporations, and between multinationals and small firms
• Multinational corporations' R&D transfer, R&D globalization
• Industry-academia R&D alliances, technological alliances
• Human resource training and management
• Innovation mechanisms related to strategic change
• Patients, intellectual capital management, intellectual property protection
• Venture capital
• Organizational learning
• Competitive advantage and strategic change management
• Knowledge management strategies
• Managing core technology and competence
• Technology policies
• Technology transactions
• Government policies
• Case studies

Important Dates
Contact with Guest Editors: ASAP
Submission of manuscripts: 30 December, 2010
Notification to authors: 15 February, 2011
Final versions due: 28 February, 2011

Call for papers: Exploring Clusters of High Technology Industries: a Global Perspective

A special issue of International Journal of Learning and Intellectual Capital

The interactions between technology, innovation and industrial location behaviours have come to be seen as essential features of regional development. Many researchers have devoted their time to understanding the factors explaining why particular types of technologies appear to blossom in particular localities, and how this affects local economic growth. But there is a question of why the results of clusters are different, showing some successes and also some failures amidst many intermediate results. Lessons are drawn from observations of particularly successful innovative regions as a means of re-modelling both industrial and regional policy. In the meantime, a comparative cross-country analysis of institutions from a global perspective is theoretically and practically important and helpful to find best practices so as to design proper management schemes and public policy inducements for clusters in different countries or regions.

As a worldwide economic phenomenon, clusters show remarkable performance in modern economic organizations, while high technology clusters have played a leading role since the 1990s due to their strong and lasting competitive advantage in regional economic development. Clusters of high technology are the important component of regional economy.

Why do high technology firms show differential growth rate in clusters? How can a cluster of high technology work more efficiently? What is the essence of competitiveness for a cluster of high technology? The special issue deals with issues revolving around the interactions between regional innovation system and innovation policy system, the effectiveness and efficiency of technology policy, the factors explaining superior performance of high technology firms, the cooperation between industries and academic institutions, the role of learning in technology innovation and cluster growth, as well as issues related to patents and intellectual property.

Topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Surveys of high technology industries
• Cluster growth experiences of developed and developing countries
• Learning regions
• Patents, intellectual capital, intellectual property protection
• Regional innovation system, innovation environment, regional development
• Critical resource and strategic capability
• Government policy, technology policy
• Industry-academia cooperation, technological alliance
• Organisational learning
• Knowledge management, knowledge spillover, knowledge flow
• Managing core technology and competence
• Science and technology intermediary services
• Management of technology
• Technology transfer, technology diffusion
• Mobility of skilled individuals, human resources management
• Case studies

Important Dates
Contact with Guest Editors: ASAP
Submission of manuscripts: 30 December, 2010
Notification to authors: 15 February, 2011
Final versions due: 28 February, 2011

Call for papers: China’s Economic Hot Topics: Growth and Management

A special issue of International Journal of Chinese Culture and Management

Since the initiation of economic reforms in 1979, China has become one of the world’s fastest-growing economies. China's rise to be crowned as the world's second-largest economy today is the latest milestone in a boom that has been running almost constantly since the country began the long process of embracing free-market principles more than 30 years ago.

As the world economy sags, China’s economy faces challenges. Some hot topics, such as inflation, international trade, environment protection, lower income groups, etc., have aroused the strong interest of academic scholars. Meanwhile, stock market volatility, inflection point of real estate, and crisis of small and medium-sized enterprises have also been discussed widely.

This special issue deals with issues revolving around China’s hot topics of economic growth and management, such as how to interpret China’s current economy and how to skillfully handle the relationship between maintaining fast yet steady economic development, restructuring the economic structure, and managing inflation expectations.

Topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Survey of China's economic growth
• Commodity economy theory
• Market economic theory
• Economic systems
• Economic growth and scientific development
• Relationships between reform, development and stability
• Management mechanism and government polices
• Capital markets
• Social security systems
• International relations
• Culture development and management
• Internationalisation
• Environmental protection
• Case studies

Important Dates
Contact with Guest Editors: ASAP
Submission of manuscripts: 30 December, 2010
Notification to authors: 15 February, 2011
Final versions due: 28 February, 2011

Call for papers: Biomechanics in Bioenergy

A special issue of International Journal of Experimental and Computational Biomechanics

Current focus of bioenergy technologies is on understanding and manipulating the processes and mechanisms that either could convert plant and animal matter into energy resources or could mimick the natural systems for producing energy such as photosynthesis. The domain of exploration includes analyses at nanoscale such as quantum mechanical study of photocenters or large scale analyses for studying biodiesel production. Overall, the process flow in such technologies is the change in energy from one non-consumable form to a consumable form. Another important bioenergy technology of interest is based on using either inorganic or hybrid organic-inorganic nanoscale components in systems such as those intended for in-vivo tissue regeneration and for targeted drug delivery because of higher probability of sustainability in body.

The focus of this special issue is on bringing together researchers whose work has addressed any aspect of both types of bioenergy problems from the point of view of biomechanics. Its focus is on presenting information in the form of focused reviews and contemporary articles.

Suitable topics include but are not limited to:

• Biomechanics in natural and artificial photosynthesis systems
• Biomechanics in biomolecular systems such as collagen with implications for bioenergy
• Biomechanics in coupled organic-inorganic bioenergy systems
• Biomechanics for in-vivo tissue engineering

Both computational as well as experimental analyses, focusing on the above mentioned topics, are welcome.

Important Date
Submission deadline: 31 December, 2010

Call for papers: Internationalization of SMEs

A special issue of European Journal of International Management

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are the most common type of firm found in today’s global economy. Porter indicated that the success of SMEs, under the effects of globalization, depends on the formulation and implementation of strategies. SMEs are increasingly facing international problems similar to those of larger firms. However, in recent years it has been widely demonstrated that SMEs can adapt more easily to changes in the environment owing to their more manageable size, and also that they can compete with large organizations through specialization and networks provided by new technology. As a result, today's companies have to respond to markets at an increasingly faster pace and are forced to play a role in international markets.

Internationalization can take many forms, such as imports, exports, foreign direct investment or international collaboration, in order to access know-how or technology. Several international studies have indicated that internationalization is often accompanied by improved performance and competitiveness in SMEs, since internationalization provides opportunities to improve productivity and increase their chances of survival.

Changes that have affected the market and businesses, such as the sweeping tide of globalization, must be analysed and documented in the near future so that existing empirical studies and theories may constitute a multi-disciplinary guide for researchers, scholars, consultants, entrepreneurs, businessmen, managers, government agencies, policy makers.

The main aim of this special issue is to analyse the current state of the relationship between internationalization and SMEs as a result of new factors that characterize today’s international economic climate. The issue will deal with the diverse and complex characteristics of internationalization in small organizations that lead to competitiveness in the face of the effects of globalization.

Examples of topics appropriate to the theme of internationalization in SMEs include but are not limited to:

• Interfaces between internationalization and small businesses in the present global market
• Knowledge management and internationalization in SMEs
• Internationalization as an economic development strategy for small organizations
• Educational internationalization in small business
• Institutional aid and policy initiatives to internationalization in small organizations
• Small business and international networks
• Promoting internationalization in emerging economies
• Specific management practices that small organizations need to use to achieve international activities
• Interdisciplinary approaches to the study of internationalization in SMEs
• Internationalization and its relation to human resources in small business
• Ethical context of internationalization in small business
• Small franchisor organizations
• Internationalization in the small not-for-profit sector
• Implications of management in the international small public sector
• Comparison of internationalization of SMEs in different countries
• Internationalization training for emerging small organizations
• Internationalization in microenterprises
• New tendencies and research in internationalization and small business
• Similarities and differences in the internationalization of SMEs and the specific factors affecting them

Important Dates
Draft submission deadline: September 15, 2011
Final paper submission deadline: December 15, 2011
Publication release: October 2012

Call for papers: Performance and Efficiency Management of Service Sector Organizations

A special issue of International Journal of Business Performance Management

Private and public institutions need to be assessed regularly. Traditional performance indicators have often been criticized for being inadequate and not conducive to analyzing productivity and efficiency. The proper measurement of organizational performance, productivity and efficiency is therefore an essential part of the reform for the general welfare of all groups in society as well as the nation. Conversely, failure to make performance evaluation and efficiency analysis a standard practice would certainly lead to less than efficient allocation of scarce resources.

By measuring performance and efficiency, it is possible to evaluate the performance of an organization by comparing it with the standard of international best practice. Even for public sector and not-for-profit private sector agencies engaged in the delivery of public services, productivity and efficiency analysis in resource utilization are essential. Provision of public services such as education or healthcare also involves use of valuable resources as inputs to produce the desired results as outputs. In that sense, it is like any other production activity.

This special issue aims to develop and promote an international discussion forum for academicians, professionals and practitioners working and interested in research and practice of productivity, efficiency and performance measurement and management for service sector organizations.

The major aims and objectives of this special issue are to:

• collect and disseminate information relative to productivity, efficiency and performance aspects of service sector organizations;
• promote interdisciplinary flow of technical information among researchers and professionals; and
• serve as a publication medium for various special interest groups in the performance community at large.

This special issue will cover broad areas of performance, productivity and efficiency measurement, management and evaluation systems for service sector organizations, including but not limited to:

• Balanced scorecard (BSC)
• Data envelopment analysis (DEA)
• Enterprise resource planning (ERP)
• Factor analysis (FA)
• Financial ratio (FR)
• Free disposal hull (FDH)
• Fuzzy sets theory (FST)
• Game theory (GT)
• Malmquist index (MI)
• Principal component analysis (PCA)
• Regression analysis (RA)
• Six sigma (SS)
• Statistical quality control (SQC)
• Stochastic frontier analysis (SFA)
• Supply chain management (SCM)
• Total productivity management (TPM)
• Total quality management (TQM)

Service sector organizations include:

• Schools
• Colleges
• Universities
• Primary education
• Libraries
• Hospitals
• Banks
• Insurance
• Logistics
• Infrastructure
• Software
• Government organizations and departments
• Government projects
• Non-governmental oganizations
• Any other service sector organizations

Important Dates
Deadline for submission of manuscripts: 31 March, 2011
Communication of peer review to authors: 31 May, 2011
Deadline for final manuscripts: 30 June, 2011

Call for papers: Simulation Driven Product Development

A special issue of International Journal of Product Development

Following the development of microprocessors, various simulation methodologies have evolved in product development. One such simulation methodology, simulation driven design (SDD), aims at arriving at optimal solutions as fast as possible, often while managing multiple and conflicting design criteria. Although industries have adopted parts of the SDD concept, there is still a lot of research needed in order to make use of its full potential.

This special issue aims to highlight the importance of the simulation driven product development area by attracting and presenting original research on the topic.

Manuscripts are invited from both practitioners and researchers and papers can be either purely theoretical, state of the art reviews, or based on empirical research. This issue encourages submissions from all over the world that expand the frontiers of the fundamental theories and concepts underlying simulation driven product development.

The readership for this special issue is intended to be engineers and academics working in university research and design departments and institutes, managers, designers, technologists, research and development engineers working in industry.

Suitable topics include but are not limited to:

• Simulation driven design
• Modelling and simulation in product development
• Modelling and simulation in decision support systems
• Information and communication technologies in product development
• System level product development
• Virtual and collaborative product development
• Virtual prototyping and virtual tests (computer simulation)
• Fast and lean validation
• Design optimisation
• Quality, reliability and durability in product design and development
• Standards for product, process and project data exchange
• Integration methodologies
• Knowledge management in product design and development processes

Important Dates
Proposition deadline (title, authors. 5-line description): 15 December 2010
Full manuscript submission: 15 June 2011

Call for papers: Integration Processing and Specifications Determination for Subsystems or Components to Meet Vehicle Performance

A special issue of International Journal of Vehicle Design

A vehicle design is an integration processing for different subsystems, and a subsystem design is an integration of different components. Therefore, the integration methods are critically important in vehicle product development. Although design methods for some subsystems or components can be found in publications, vehicle development integration methods and specifications are mainly controlled as corporation’s internal procedures and documents and rarely found in publications. This special issue will focus on vehicle design integration and theoretical design methods, testing methods, and specification determination. Its objective is to collect state-of-the-art research results relating to the design methods and integration processing for various key subsystems or components that have common problems in vehicle product development.

The topics in this special issue will include following contents:

• A brief overview of some specified subsystem or component design processing
• Technical specification determination for a subsystem or a component, including analysis methods and design criteria
• Concept design, including design concepts and methods for guiding detailed vehicle development
• Detailed design, including the calculation methods and tools, and key issues in every design stage
• Experimental validation, including detailed testing contents and methods
• Subject Coverage
• General subsystems or components of interest include, but are not limited to:
• Suspension systems: design focusing on enhancing vehicle NVH performances and fatigue
• Exhaust systems
• Engine front end accessory drive systems
• Cabin sound packages
• Rubber isolators and subsystems
• Radiators and fans
• Driveline systems

Important Dates
Manuscript Submission Deadline: 30 May, 2011
Reviewers' Reports and Decisions: 30 July, 2011
Revised Manuscript Submission: 15 September, 2011

First issue: International Journal of Organisational Design and Engineering

Organisational design and engineering (ODE) is defined as the application of social science, design science and computer science research and practice to the study and implementation of new organisational designs, including the integrated structuring, modelling, development and deployment of IS/IT and social processes.
International Journal of Organisational Design and Engineering intends to break down the "either-or" mindset which still constitutes a major obstacle to the development of strategic and operational thinking about organisations.

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

Call for papers: Evolutionary Computation and Related Metaheuristics

A special issue of International Journal of Data Mining, Modelling and Management

Evolutionary computation has become an essential tool for solving difficult and high-dimensional optimization and classification problems in a broad range of real data management and knowledge discovery problems. Evolutionary computation is associated with systems that use computational models of evolutionary processes (i.e. based to some degree on the evolution of biological life in the natural world) as the key elements in design and implementation.

A number of evolutionary computational and related metaheuristic models have been proposed, including genetic algorithms, genetic programming, evolution strategies, evolutionary programming, learning classifier systems and other genetics-based machine learning, evolvable hardware, artificial life, adaptive behavior, ant colony optimization, swarm intelligence, etc.

Authors are invited to submit their original and unpublished work (theoretical and empirical contributions) in the areas of evolutionary and other related meta-heuristic algorithms approaches.

Suitable topics include but are not limited to:

• Distributed and parallel computation
• Representation and operators
• Adaptation and tuning of the control parameters
• Self- adaptation
• Constraints handling with EC
• Population dynamics analysis
• Fitness landscape analysis
• Hybrid algorithms
• Real-world applications
• Data mining and knowledge discovery
• Combinatorial and numerical optimization
• Very high-dimensional optimization
• Classifier systems
• Industrial and engineering applications
• Telecommunications and networks
• Scheduling and planning
• Transportation and logistics
• Dynamic and uncertain environments
• Economic and financial applications

Important Dates
Full paper submission: 15 November, 2010
Notification of Acceptance: 15 January, 2011
(Revise and resubmit notification; only papers with minor review requirements will be accepted)
Resubmit deadline: 30 February, 2011

Newly announced journal: International Journal of Vehicle Performance

Beginning publication in 2011, International Journal of Vehicle Performance will deal with multidisciplinary issues relevant to performance of ground vehicle systems and sub-systems and will cover theoretical and experimental developments in performance analyses and assessments of ground vehicles including road, off-road, all-terrain and guided vehicles.

Special issue: Emerging issues in development and sectoral performance – the Indian experience

International Journal of Economic Policy in Emerging Economies 3(3) 2010

Includes papers from the conference track Quantitative Approaches to Public Policy - in honour of Professor T. Krishna Kumar - at the Fourth Annual International Conference on Public Policy and Management, held in Bangalore, India, 9-12 August 2009.

• Progress in human development: Are we on the right path?
• Policy making in India for rural development: data base and indicators for transparency and accountability
• Contract labour act in India: a pragmatic view
• Effect of trade liberalisation on volatility: the experience of Indian agriculture
• Firm specific management decisions on Total Factor Productivity Growth in Indian electronics industry during liberalisation
• Measurement of GVA in Indian banks: some preliminary results

Special issue: The power of informatics in public policy and public affairs

International Journal of Public Policy 6(3/4) 2010

• Comparisons of changes over time in per capita health expenditures across racial and ethnic groups
• Changes in the supply of primary care physicians in rural areas in the USA, 1990-2000
• A comparative study of financial performance of freestanding ambulatory surgery centres and hospital-based outpatient departments: 1997-2004
• Admissions of African Americans to state psychiatric hospitals
• Has managed care affected physicians' income?
• Cancer, disability and public health service providers: better education through informatics and the Supercourse
• Disease management organisation approach to chronic illness
• Crime data mining as a decision making tool
• Corruption in US states: the effects of socio-economic factors
• A case study of the effects of the service population on crime and the officer ratio in Orlando, Florida
• Developing fundamental capabilities for successful e-government implementation
• Quality prediction modelling for software customisation in the absence of defect data
• A new approach to understanding the Abu Ghraib prison torture scandal

Additional Papers

• Resilient responses to climate change and variability: a challenge for public policy
• The church in place and space: the case of the Springfield diocese

Special issue: Innovation and creativity in urban management

International Journal of Sustainable Development 13(1/2) 2010

• Developing and sustaining creative cities: a sustainability tool for designers, planners, and public administrators
• Integrated spatial assessment for a creative decision-making process: a combined methodological approach to strategic environmental assessment
• Impact evaluation of creative city policies
• Creative connectivity between research and policy-making to support implementation of urban sustainability
• The unplanned creative city: an emerging sustainability? Crossroads between education and innovation in Santiago, Chile
• Creative urban processes in post-communist metropolises: the case of the Poznan metropolitan region
• The creative potential of medium-sized and small Greek cities: reflections on contemporary cultural strategies
• Urban semicentralised supply and disposal: innovations and challenges for Hanoi, Vietnam
• A local city to a creative city: an examination of Taichung, Taiwan
• The revival of urban waterfront areas: evaluation of British and Irish experiences
• Measuring accessibility: prescriptions for performance measures of the creative and sustainable city
• Sustainability, creativity, resilience: toward new development strategies of port areas through evaluation processes
• Urban management in the face of complexity: commuting networks in insular Italy
• Business dynamics as the source of counterurbanisation: an empirical analysis of Turkey

Call for papers: Business Ethics in the Social Sciences

A special issue of International Journal of Society Systems Science

Business ethics is often referred to as an oxymoron. Yet ethics and performance in organizations are often combined. The study of ethics began thousands of years ago, and has more recently been applied to organizations and business practices. Ethical theories and methodologies are used to understand how businesses operate in a socially responsible manner. Legal practices are also used in context to represent an organization/country’s ideologies on what is right from wrong, yet most are based on ethical theories either through religion or philosophy.

Societies face problems requiring decisions to be made based on a country’s ethical values. A major portion of society’s problems originate in business practices exercised throughout the world. Despite the complexity found in modern business practices that add to the detriment of problem solving, the conceptualization, development, implementation and application of ethical practices and methodologies can often lead to successful outcomes for the businesses and society in general.

Business ethics’ weakness as a field seems to be a lack of a common ground for scholars. Understanding the theoretical domains of ethics and applying it to business can positively impact the field by giving it a theoretical basis to build on. In summary, the idea of this special issue is to understand ethical theory and how it applies in a business context.

In this special issue, we welcome theoretical, empirical papers, and case studies that are within the scope of this issue. The issue will contain invited papers and papers submitted directly as per instructions below.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

• Ethics practices in business (all functional areas, AC, EC, FN, MK, MA)
• Ethics methodologies
• Ethics valuation
• Cultural ethics
• Leadership and integrity
• Trust in organizations
• Moral decision making
• Interface of business ethics and government
• Interface of business ethics and healthcare
• Effective development of corporate social responsibility
• Corporate social responsibility and performance
• Effects of globalization on country values

Important Dates
Submission due date of full paper: 1 May, 2011
Feedback from referees: 2 July, 2011
Submission due date of revised paper: 6 August, 2011
Notification of acceptance: 27 August, 2011
Submission of final revised paper: 28 September, 2011

Special issue: Grid computing

International Journal of Communication Networks and Distributed Systems 5(3) 2010

Includes papers from the First International Workshop on Grid Computing (GridCom-2009) held in Rabat, Morocco, 10-13 May 2009.

• Meta-learning in grid-based data mining systems
• Multi-agent distributed adaptive resource allocation (MADARA)
• Optical grid networking exploiting path computation element (PCE) architecture
• Secure communication between grid domains based on trust relationships and group keys
• User behaviour trust model to defend denial of service attacks in distributed computational environments
• An efficient layered security framework for protecting network layer operations in mobile ad hoc networks
• VisualGrid: enabling runtime applications monitoring in grid environments
• An effective compaction strategy for bi-criteria DAG scheduling in grids

Special issue: Hybrid artificial intelligence systems

International Journal of Reasoning-based Intelligent Systems 2(2) 2010

Papers from the 2nd International Workshop on Hybrid Artificial Intelligence Systems (HAIS 2007), held in Salamanca, Spain, 12-13 November 2007.

• Interval type-1 non-singleton type-2 fuzzy logic systems are type-2 adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference systems
• On combining vision-based hybrid classifiers for weeds detection in precision agriculture
• Applying CBR to manage argumentation in MAS
• Introducing uncertainty into social simulation: using fuzzy logic for agent-based modelling
• Providing home care using context-aware agents
• A feature selection method using a fuzzy mutual information measure
• Determining fuzzy rules for student's performance and learning efficiency by using a hybrid approach
• Addressing the frame and qualification problems in temporal databases