31 December 2014

Inderscience is media partner for Latin American and Caribbean Oil & Gas Security Forum

Inderscience is a media partner for the Latin American and Caribbean Oil & Gas Security Forum (17-18 March 2015, Bogota, Colombia).

The journals involved are:
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Call for papers: "Computational Intelligence in Information Systems"

For a special issue of the International Journal of Advanced Intelligence Paradigms.

This special issue will provide a forum for researchers, industry professionals and academics to present new research advances in the general areas related to theoretical foundations of computational intelligence and their applications in various domains.
 
The issue will carry revised and substantially extended versions of selected papers presented at the 21st International Conference on Neural Information Processing (ICONIP2014) and the 4th INNS Symposia Series on Computational Intelligence in Information Systems (INNS-CIIS 2014). We also strongly encourage researchers unable to participate in these events to submit articles for this call.
 
Suitable topics include, but are not limited to, the following:
 
Advances in Computational Intelligence: 
  • Advanced machine learning paradigms
  • Soft computing
  • Possibility theory
  • Probabilistic reasoning
  • Belief functions
  • Rough sets
  • Decision theory
  • Philosophical foundation
  • Psychological models
  • Agent-based systems
  • Collective intelligence
  • Evolutionary Computing
  • Fuzzy Logic
  • Machine learning
  • Machine vision
  • Nature-inspired computing
  • Optimisation techniques
  • Pattern recognition
Applications of Computational Intelligence in Information Systems: 
  • Bioinformatics
  • Biometrics
  • Brain-machine interfaces
  • Computer graphics and virtual reality
  • Creative computing
  • Data analysis and visualization
  • Data mining
  • Multimedia computing
  • Self-aware systems
  • Sensor networks
  • Web analytics
  • Web interface and applications
  • Web intelligence
 
Important Dates
Submission deadline: 1 March, 2015
Acceptance/rejection notification: 15 April, 2015
Final paper due: 15 May, 2015

Special issue published: "IT for Artists"

International Journal of Arts and Technology 7(4) 2014

Includes expanded versions of papers presented at the third ArtsIT event, held at the Department of Informatics, Systems and Communication (DISCo), University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan.
  • The challenge of preserving interactive sound art: a multi-level approach
  • On the detection of the level of attention in an orchestra through head movements
  • Defining digital-Foley for live performance
  • Media in performance - the Subway project
Abstracts
  • Heliotropika: interfacing between humans and cyanobacteria
  • Interactive light and sound installation using artificial intelligence
  • Le Voyage dans la Lune
  • Visions Project K.1: DIY 3-D interactive videohologram device
  • Media, database, and narrative: navigating digital public space
  • Mixing the library-information interaction and the disc jockey

Call for papers: "Climate change policy"

For a special issue of the International Journal of Environmental Policy and Decision Making.

Climate change is the most important global environment challenge in the coming years. The aim of this special issue is to explore the policies which can support mitigation and adaptation of climate change. This issue will publish both empirical and decision modelling research. And we are particular interested in submissions at the regional and global scale. Perspectives from both science and social science are equally appreciated.

Suitable topics include, but are not limited to, the following:
  • Economic and social impacts of climate change
  • Mitigation and adaptation strategies for climate change
  • Carbon mitigation policy
  • Carbon adaptation policy
  • Equity of climate policy
  • Responsibilities of climate change
  • Negotiations of climate change
  • Integrated assessment modelling on climate and economy
  • Climate policy from the ecosystem perspective

Important Dates
Submission of manuscripts: 30 June, 2015

30 December 2014

Special issue published: "Clean Energy for Vehicle Application"

International Journal of Powertrains 3(4) 2014
  • Greening the transportation sector: a methodology for assessing sustainable mobility policies within a sustainable energy action plan
  • Architectural study of diesel hybrid propulsion systems to meet future fuel economy and emission regulations
  • Trip-based control strategy for simple and efficient use of plugin hybrid electric vehicles
  • Numerical analysis of the benefits achievable by after-market mild hybridisation of conventional cars

Call for papers: "Public policies on energy development"

For a special issue of the International Journal of Public Policy.

The modern era of public policy is increasingly dominated by energy-related concerns. Increased awareness of the finite nature of conventional energies such as oil, coinciding with increasingly severe international pollution problems, have pushed energy related issues high up the public agenda. The aim of this special issue is to discuss government policies aimed at addressing energy development challenges, the purpose being to build bridges and enhance connectivity between policy makers, academics, industry specialists and the wider public.

This issue will publish both quantitative and qualitative research on energy policies which may be either evaluative/retrospective studies on existing policies or reflect on gaps and potential opportunities that might be a priority area for future policy design. Submissions focusing on developing countries are particularly welcome.

Suitable topics include, but are not limited to, the following:
  • Energy supply/demand policies
  • Energy efficiency and conservation policies
  • Energy investment, market and regulatory policies
  • Energy R&D polices
  • Strategic planning priorities for energy development in the long-run
  • Rural/urban residential energy policies
  • Energy poverty policies
  • Energy policy modelling
  • Public opinions on energy issues
  • Public willingness to pay for renewable energy
  • Rural electrification and access to modern energy
  • Energy mix considerations for 'off-grid' systems
  • Cross-border energy policies
  • The role of energy in economic development
  • Barriers to development/uptake of new energies

Important Dates
Submission of manuscripts: 28 February, 2016

Special issue published: "Signal Processing for Visual Surveillance"

International Journal of Machine Intelligence and Sensory Signal Processing 1(3) 2014

Theory
  • Confidence intervals for the mutual information
  • QoS provisioning in channel allocation strategy in cognitive radio using fuzzy logic

Practice
  • Automatic generation of trimap for image matting 
  • A framework for suspicious object detection from surveillance video

Application
  • A multi-camera video dataset for research on high-definition surveillance

18 December 2014

Special issue published: "Simulation and Process Modelling in Safety and Emergencies"

International Journal of Simulation and Process Modelling 9(4) 2014
  • Dynamics of software systems projects during the requirements process improvement
  • Sample average approximation method for the chance-constrained stochastic programming in the transportation model of emergency management
  • Quantitative method on miners' emergency response capacity
  • Electric vehicle industry development environment evaluation in China based on BP neural network
  • Research on probability of default prediction based on loan company's credit fund trading behaviours
  • Managerial equity incentive, corporate risk-taking, and corporate performance
  • Evaluating policies using agent-based simulations: investigating policies for continuity of care
  • Using simulation in verification of a mathematical model for predicting the performance of manual assembly line occupied with flexible workforce
  • Modelling methodology for the simulation of the manufacturing systems

Call for papers: "The Technology Revolution in Marketing Management Processes"

For a special issue of the International Journal of Business and Globalisation.

Today, rapidly changing technologies, unlimited access to information and global competition are a source of new challenges for companies operating in the market and also for the marketing concept itself. Additionally, uncertainty and risk, which are a natural part of contemporary market realities, make traditional marketing rules insufficient. This therefore implies the necessity to look for new ways for achieving competitive advantage.
 
Marketing is an area of company activity that has undergone many changes in the last decade. New communication tools, ensuring interactivity in processes, new ways of cooperation with customers, new ways of reaching customers, creating offers and value for customers, etc. are an effect of the information revolution in the sphere of marketing.
 
In the near future we can expect next new trends, and as a consequence new opportunities, business models and concepts. This special issue is dedicated to the influence of the technology revolution on marketing theory and practice.
 
Suitable topics include, but are not limited to, the following:
  • New business models influenced by technological innovation
  • New marketing concepts, e.g. experiential marketing, buzz marketing, augmented reality, neuromarketing, prosumption, gamification
  • New trends in creating value proposition for customers
  • Marketing in the informative society
  • Inbound marketing
  • The role of new technologies in internal marketing
  • Consumers in the informative society
  • Changes in organisation of marketing functions: new marketing professions, new organisational structures
  • Information technologies in search of new business opportunities
 
Important Dates
Submission of manuscripts: 30 April, 2015
Notification to authors: 30 July, 2015
Final versions due: 30 October, 2015

Special issue published: "Innovative Mobile and Internet Technologies"

International Journal of Internet Protocol Technology 8(2/3) 2014

Expanded versions of papers presented at the 7th International Conference on Frontier of Computer Science and Technology (FCST 2012).
  • A data flow-oriented specification method for analysing network security configurations
  • Intrusion detection method based on nonlinear correlation measure
  • An efficient quantum anonymous communication with hybrid entanglement swapping
  • Efficient constructions of certificate-based key encapsulation mechanism
  • Efficient identity-based threshold signature scheme from bilinear pairings in standard model
  • High-efficient quantum secret sharing with arrangements of lines on two-dimensional planes
  • LIFE: a lightweight and flexible key management scheme for securely and pervasively file editing in mobile cloud computing
  • Modelling, analysis and containment of passive worms in P2P networks
  • Quantum states sharing in the relay system with teleportation of non-maximally entanglement
  • The algorithm model for cumulative vulnerability risk assessment

Special issue published: "Resiliency and Engineering Systems – Research Trends and Challenges"

International Journal of Critical Infrastructures 10(3/4) 2014
  • Assessment process of the resilience potential of critical infrastructures
  • Optimal recovery sequencing for enhanced resilience and service restoration in transportation networks
  • Existing technologies for deterring and defeating waterside attack of dams
  • Behaviour analysis techniques for supporting critical infrastructure security
  • Taxonomy of SCADA systems security testbeds
  • Future SCADA challenges and the promising solution: the agent-based SCADA
  • Designing critical policy infrastructures by participatory systems analysis: the case of Fukushima's reconstruction
  • Simulation-based characterisation of critical infrastructure system resilience
  • Probabilistic resilience for building systems exposed to natural disasters
  • A user-layered approach for modelling and simulating terrorist attacks

Saving installation art

How do we conserve installation art and more specifically how do we allow audio-visual installation art that uses parochial hardware and software, video tapes, computers, DVD players and the like for future generations who will inevitably have other incompatible devices and gadgets for their art and entertainment? Part of the answer must lie in curation and documentation of the artefacts used according to a study published in the International Journal of Arts and Technology.

Federica Bressan and Sergio Canazza of the Department of Information Engineering, University of Padova, Italy, are worried that much of the installation art that flourished and was appreciated widely will succumb to a short life expectancy because the technology many installations used has a limited lifespan of its and the devices and media quickly become obsolete. An art installation that uses VHS tapes and a television based on the cathode-ray tube, for instance, may well not be reproducible in its original form once those devices, or their components, fail and no replacement is to be found. Moreover, the recording itself may fail at any point and be lost irretrievably. This problem may be even more acute if one considers interactive art installations that rely on non-proprietary devices and software, for example.

It is important, Bressan and Canazza suggest, for art conservationists to be aware of such future problems and to categorise and catalogue such installations with relative urgency. The team has described a multi-level approach to categorisation that will support conservation, documentation, academic study, re-installation at new exhibitions, novel interpretations and tributes, for instance.

Bressan, F. and Canazza, S. (2014) ‘The challenge of preserving interactive sound art: a multi-level approach’, Int. J. Arts and Technology, Vol. 7, No. 4, pp.294–315.

Saving installation art is a post from: David Bradley's Science Spot

via Science Spot http://ift.tt/1sCOeaX

17 December 2014

Call for papers: "Supply Network Evolution in Emerging Industries"

For a special issue of the International Journal of Manufacturing Technology and Management.

The study of emerging industries has recently captured the interest of academics, industrialists and government policy makers as a means to providing potential sources of ‘value’ creation. In recent years, research in this area has typically focused on product R&D technologies, coupled with their particular technology commercialisation challenges. However, industrial systems are more complex and are not readily described by a single viewpoint.

It is now widely recognised that manufacturing value chains (including subsequent stages of design for manufacture, engineering, production operations ramp-up, route-to-market and in-use activities) are critical to transforming new technologies and ideas into innovative products and services. However, the design, set-up and operation of enabling supply networks, in the context of emerging industries, is poorly understood.

One key challenge is that there is no defined strategy that a firm can follow due to lack of certainty in the business eco-system and in end-consumer requirements, forcing entrepreneurs to experiment with multiple supply chain strategies. This process can be very time-consuming, increasing time-to-market and making it difficult to maintain critical “first mover advantage”.

The increasing focus on emerging industries, with these inherent uncertainties, is also concurrent with changes in the industrial landscape for mature sectors, which have arisen from the twin impacts of globalisation and the dissolution of vertically integrated value chains, raising the importance of supply networks as an enabling element of emerging industrial development.

This special issue focuses on supply network evolution in emerging industries, drawing on examples of ‘industrial innovation’ spanning technology-based product innovation, new production or supply chain replenishment models (e.g. new routes to market) and/or novel business models. Consistent with the mission of IJMTM, submitted papers should contain a significant empirical contribution and enable communication between academics, industrialists and policymakers to further knowledge and research, as well as theory and practice, in the field of manufacturing technology and management. Original research and development papers, review papers and case studies are welcome. The relevance of supply network evolution in emerging industries must be explicit.

Suitable topics include but are not limited to:
  • Understanding the dynamics of emerging technologies/industries and subsequent engagement with complex industrial networks
  • Insights on the interaction between various stages of the manufacturing value chain
  • Visualisation of value showing potential value streams for network partners
  • Industrial network development from the perspectives of different stakeholders
  • Trends and generic stages of supply network evolution within emerging industries
  • Effective management of resources through effective supply chain strategies
  • Development of frameworks and their application to supporting the configuration of networks for the commercialisation of nascent and emergent technologies
Papers should address relevant practical problems and provide either valuable managerial insight and/or a fundamental improvement of our understanding of supply network evolution in emerging industries.


Important Dates
Manuscript submission: 30 June, 2015

Call for papers: "International Issues in Entrepreneurship"

For a special issue of the International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business.

The aim of this special issue is to continue the work of Dana and Wright (2009) by highlighting the emerging research priorities for international issues in entrepreneurship. The objective is to condense into a single issue the matters that researchers and policy makers consider important in the international arena of entrepreneurship.

Many researchers are looking at the role of social capital in entrepreneurship and the international directions that this provides (Light and Dana, 2013). This has become important in the internationalisation process of firms, and also to researchers interested in entrepreneurship from an international perspective (Ratten, Dana, Han and Welpe, 2007).

References:
Dana, L.P. and Wright, R.W. (2009) ‘International entrepreneurship: research priorities for the future’, Int. J. Globalisation and Small Business, Vol. 3, No. 1, pp.90–134.
Light, I. and Dana,L-P. (2013), Boundaries of social capital in entrepreneurship, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, Vol. 37, No. 3, pp. 603-624.
Ratten, V., Dana, L., Han, M. and Welpe. I (2007) ‘Internationalization of SMEs: European Comparative Studies’, International Journal of Small Business and Entrepreneurship, 4(3): 361-379.

Suitable topics include, but are not limited to, the following:
  • Social capital and international issues of entrepreneurship
  • Emerging economies and entrepreneurship
  • Social innovation and entrepreneurship in the international arena
  • Social entrepreneurship and internationalisation
  • International sport entrepreneurship
  • Collaborative and comparative entrepreneurship

Important Dates
Submission of manuscripts: 30 November, 2015
Notification to authors: 31 January, 2016
Final versions due date same: 30 April, 2016

Special issue published: "Policy Considerations for Renewable Energy in Developing Countries"

International Journal of Energy Technology and Policy 10(2) 2014

Extended versions of papers presented at the 4th International Renewable Energy Congress (IREC) 2012.
  • Mechanisms of technology transfer centre of information technology for the southwest region of Parana - Brazil
  • Techno economic performances of a dry cooling solar power tower plant under Algerian climate
  • Chemistry and mineralogy studies of PM10 atmospheric aerosols in the Gulf of Gabès, South Tunisia
  • Performance evaluation of condensation-irrigation solar system under arid climate conditions 
  • Fuzzy maximum power extraction control for a photovoltaic water pumping system

Call for papers: "Behavioural Issues in Family Enterprises"

For a special issue of the International Journal of Management and Enterprise Development.

“A combination of methodological developments over the last few decades, development of reliable scales for family businesses, and the increasing openness of family firms to lower their guard of privacy and allow researchers to examine behaviors and relationships within their enterprises makes it an exciting time to understand behavioral issues in family business. Whether your interest lies in values or goals, leadership or power, trust, justice, commitment or conflict, or in topics such as motivation (...), we promise you will find several opportunities not only to conduct research, but to publish this work in leading journals (...). Not only can you sustain your own publication career by choosing to conduct behavioral research in FBs, you can be sure to make a difference to help improve the operations of a large majority of businesses in the world.”
(Gagné, Sharma and De Massis, 2014, p.11)

The majority of businesses worldwide are owned and managed by families (Gersick, Davis, Hamption and Lansberg, 1997) and the dominance of family businesses in the world’s economies is well documented (Goméz-Mejía, Nuñez-Nickel and Gutierrez, 2001; Sharma, Chrisman and Chua, 1996). This state of affairs is not likely to change in the near future (Landes, 2006) and thus the future of business worldwide will be largely shaped by the values, goals and behaviours of this prevailing form of business ownership and management.

The aim of this special issue is to explore and further our understanding of the behaviours of family businesses resulting from the values shared by family members and thus specific goals set forth by the family in such enterprises, in order to recognise their potential impact on the future of the business world.

Gagné, Sharma and De Massis (2014) have recently raised the question of how family values are transmitted to businesses and how they influence goals and behaviours in family businesses. According to Berger and Luckman (1967), behaviour is defined by values, which are transmitted through generations. Values guide the mental maps that determine goals and behaviours in organisations (Greenwood and Hinings, 1993). Behavioural issues in family firms will therefore be, to a great extent, related to the specificity of goals of the family involved in the business. During the process of formulating business development and succession plans, families will consider financial goals, growth possibilities, international expansion objectives and other economic aims.

However, the feature that often distinguishes family businesses from their non-family counterparts is the consideration of non-economic benefits of operating a business enterprise as a family (Chrisman, Sharma, Steier and Chua, 2013; Goméz-Mejía et al., 2010). The consideration of such goals will often, in turn, result in unorthodox behaviours aimed at pursuing such family firm-specific objectives, such as being able to provide employment for family members, fostering the family’s identity and reputation through the business, or contributing the transgenerational welfare of the family. Therefore, in order to encompass the specificity of behaviours in family businesses, research papers aiming to advance the knowledge of the topics listed below are especially welcome for this issue. Both quantitative and qualitative research papers are welcome.

Suitable topics include, but are not limited to, the following:
  • Values in family businesses (influence of family values on business-related behaviours)
  • Relationships in family businesses (social and economic exchange relationships, personal and work relationships, employer/employee relationships)
  • TMT issues, interactions and decision-making processes
  • Leadership, power and motivation in family businesses
  • Trust and justice in family businesses
  • Conflict in family businesses (goal-related conflict and conflict resolution)
  • Temporal considerations in family businesses (family history, attitudes, motivations and emotions)
  • Team processes in family businesses (shared values, trust, cohesion)
  • Goal formulation processes; goal evolution patterns; processes facilitating goal attainment
  • Multi-dimensionality of goals in family businesses, goal diversity and goal consensus issues
  • Economic goals (profitability and profit growth objectives) and non-economic goals (socio-emotional wealth, transgenerational welfare, succession goals, family and firm identity, reputation, etc.; non-economic goals and stakeholder satisfaction)
  • Internationalisation and professionalisation objectives
  • Strategic planning and strategic renewal goals in family businesses

Important Dates
Submission deadline: 30 November, 2015

16 December 2014

Call for papers: "The Impact of Soft Computing Methods in Software Engineering and Big Data"

For a special issue of the International Journal of Artificial Intelligence and Soft Computing.

The artificial intelligence discipline is very broad, and within it can be found the wide and young research area of soft computing. Soft computing deals with the design of hybrid intelligent systems that, unlike hard computing techniques, are tolerant to imprecision, uncertainty, partial truth and approximation, and which can exploit this tolerance to achieve tractability, robustness and very low solution costs.

The main constituents of soft computing include fuzzy logic, neural computing, evolutionary computing, machine learning and probabilistic reasoning. More important than each of these constituents is the fact that they are complementary rather than competitive, being remarkable in the way that each contributes a distinct methodology for addressing problems in its domain.

In the last fifty years of artificial intelligence, the roles played by the various areas of soft computing have varied. Some of them, such as neural computing or machine learning, have been considered hot research topics since the very beginning, whereas research into fuzzy logic and fuzzy systems or into evolutionary computing (evolutionary strategy, genetic algorithms and genetic programming) became popular later. Others have experienced remarkable revivals, such as probabilistic reasoning with the appearance of belief or Bayesian networks during the late 1980s. Hence, soft computing has been highly dynamic area of research which has attracted the attention of many researchers. Today it is almost impossible to think about artificial intelligence without thinking about soft computing.
Soft computing and artificial intelligence are both used successfully in a variety of fields such as pattern recognition, computational biology, language learning, programming language design, data mining, software engineering (especially software language engineering), image processing, natural language processing, big data, cloud computing, and many more.

This special issue aims to provide a forum through which researchers can report recent advances and exchange knowledge in the field of soft computing in close relation to the state-of-the-art of software engineering, big data and other related areas.

Suitable topics include, but are not limited to, the following:
  • Classification and regression methods
  • Unsupervised learning and clustering
  • Convex optimisation
  • Bayesian non-parametric models
  • Social network analysis
  • Feature selection
  • Anomaly detection
  • Engineering applications of big data analysis
  • Simulation optimisation
  • Data mining for energy saving and green production
  • Cognitive modelling
  • Computer-based engineering techniques
  • Software ergonomics
  • Data modelling techniques
  • Game theory
  • Application of object-oriented technology
  • Software engineering economics
  • Neural networks
  • Hybrid architectures
  • Rough sets
  • Granular computing
  • Automata theory
  • Multi-criteria decision making
  • Neural networks
  • Multi objects
  • Fuzzy set uncertainty
  • Knowledge acquisition
  • Knowledge representation
  • Evolutionary computation
  • Formal models
  • Quality management
  • Rational unified processing (RUP)
  • Intellectual property for software applications
  • Algebraic properties of automata and languages
  • History of software engineering
  • Systems engineering
  • Architecture of object-oriented systems
  • Relations of languages and automata to complexity theory
  • Soft computing techniques in health-oriented software
  • Soft computing and network architecture
  • Semi-supervised learning
  • Graph and link mining
  • Distributed optimisation
  • Matrix and tensor methods
  • Recommender systems
  • Online advertising
  • Fault diagnostics
  • Knowledge discovery from big data
  • Empirical studies of big data analytics and computational intelligence
  • Fuzzy logic and its applications
  • Software maintenance and evaluation
  • Knowledge engineering methods and practices
  • Software engineering professionalism
  • Impact of CASE on software development lifecycle
  • Software engineering methods and practices
  • Artificial intelligence
  • Software security analysis
  • Software engineering demographics
  • Software design and its applications
  • Software deployment
  • UML
  • Grammars and automata
  • Test-driven development
  • Turing machine
  • Modelling languages
  • Object-oriented systems
  • Parallel software architecture
  • Network software architecture
  • Cloud computing software architecture
  • Algorithm design
  • Estimations of parameters of codes
  • Petri net languages
  • Applications of formal languages
  • Project management
  • Software-defined networking (SDN)
  • Agile methods
  • Ambiguity in software development
  • Cellular automata and their applications
  • Soft computing in image processing
  • Soft computing and wireless network architecture and optimisation

Important Dates
Submission of manuscripts: 30 April, 2015
Notification to authors: 20 July, 2015
Final versions due: 30 October, 2015

Call for papers: "The Role of Context in Understanding Asian Family Firms"

For a special issue of the International Journal of Management Practice.

The purpose of this special issue is to look at the role of the Asian context in shaping the behaviour, attitudes, strategies and ultimately performance of Asian family firms. We seek manuscripts that report both qualitative and quantitative research. The content is anticipated to include a breadth of issues and challenges facing Asian family firms in their regional growth and development. For this special issue we take broad view of context by referring to the surroundings associated with particular phenomena of interest (Cappeli and Shere, 1991). Consequently, context can be considered as either institutional, including both formal (regulatory) and informal (socio-cultural) contexts, or organisational (e.g. organisational factors, governance structures, resources, etc.) in nature.

The importance of context in influencing individual and firm level behaviours has been well established by prior literature (Welter, 2011). However, although studies have begun to acknowledge and emphasise the importance of context with respect to family firms, few studies demonstrate context as an important determinant of family firm behaviour and performance (Gedajlovic, Carney, Chrisman and Kellermanns, 2012; Sharma and Chua, 2013). Family-owned and managed firms, most of which are small or medium in size, continue to dominate the global economy (IFERA, 2003). Throughout Asia, as much as 90% of firms are thought to be privately owned and managed, with many of them emerging as dominant players in the region (Yeung, 2005). Yet our existing knowledge regarding the experiences and contexts of family firms stems largely from Western family firms (De Massis, Sharma, Chua and Chrisman, 2012).

Recently there has been a call to action by family firm scholars to investigate family firms’ behaviours and performance in the Asia region (Sharma and Chua, 2013). We believe that the Asia region represents an interesting arena to consider the issues and challenges faced by family firms in their growth and development for two reasons. Firstly, although prior researchers have stressed the importance of Confucian values and principals as a key factor in explaining the unique business systems in the region, great heterogeneity can still be found in the region with respect culture and social values (Ahlstrom and Wang, 2010). Secondly, the continued economic and social transformation of the region has led to considerable institutional and social value evolution. Such features of the Asian context in general have led to the unique characteristics and evolution of family firms throughout the region. We believe that it is now time to take a deeper look at the issue of context and its effect on Asian family firms’ development, if we are to improve our understanding of such firms.

References:
Ahlstrom, D. and Wang, L. C. (2010), Entrepreneurial capitalism in East Asia: How history matters. In Landström, H. and Lohrke, F. (Eds.) Historical foundations of entrepreneurial research, Edward Elgar; Cheltenham, UK, pp. 819–879.
Cappelli, P. and Sherer, P. D. (1991), ‘The missing role of context in OB-the need for a meso-level approach’, Research in organizational behavior, Vol. 13, pp. 55-110.
De Massis, A., Sharma, P., Chua, J. H. and Chrisman, J. J. (2012), ‘Family business studies: An annotated bibliography,’,Edward Elgar Publishing.
Gedajlovic, E., Carney, M., Chrisman, J. J. and Kellermanns, F. W. (2012), ‘The adolescence of family firm research taking stock and planning for the future’, Journal of Management, Vol. 38, No. 4, pp. 1010-1037.
Sharma, P. and Chua, J. H. (2013),‘Asian family enterprises and family business research’, Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Vol. 31, No. 1, pp. 327-327.
Welter, F. (2011), ‘Contextualizing entrepreneurship—conceptual challenges and ways forward’,Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, Vol. 35, No. 1, pp. 165-184.

Suitable topics include, but are not limited to, the following:
  • The influence of Asian and familial cultural values and traditions on family firms in Asia (For example, what cultural and family dimensions have had a distinct impact on family firm practices and strategies? How have changes in national and social values influenced changes in family business values?)
  • How and what types of strategies do Asian family firms develop and implement in order to prosper in the region (For example, how does the local socio-cultural context influence strategy development and execution in family firms? How might economic and political contexts affect the internationalisation strategies and choices of Asian family firms (e.g. internationalisation of Asian family firms into other ASEAN countries)? How do institutions interact with family involvement to affect innovation and transgenerational entrepreneurship?)
  • Corporate governance and succession-related issues (What are variances in family structures and composition and how do they influence Asian family firm performance? How have Asian family firm structures adapted to changes in institutional structures over time? Which specific and social factors influence the choice of successor to commit to Asian family firms?)
  • Management of Asian family firms (For example, how do power structures, experience and family firm specific-culture influence the development of ownership feelings and emotions among family and non-family employees in Asian family firms? What is the role of family kinship bonds and trust in influencing the development of pro-organisational behaviours among Asian family firm employees?)
  • Comparative research among Asian family firms (For example, to what degree can institutional variations explain differences in Asian family firm performances?)

Important Dates
Online submission of manuscripts: 30 November, 2015

Inderscience is media partner for Oil and Gas Telecommunications 2015

Inderscience is a media partner for Oil and Gas Telecommunications (25-26 March 2015, London, UK).

15 December 2014

Call for papers: "Counter-narratives in and around Organisations in Cross Cultural Environments"

For a special issue of the European Journal of Cross-Cultural Competence and Management.

This special issue aims to provide readers with a deeper understanding of the nature of counter-narratives and their capability to stabilise and destabilise an organisation, especially in cross-cultural environments. There is a rich tradition of studying narratives in fields of communication, organisation and management research. However, counter-narratives and their impact on international dimensions of organisational behaviour have so far not been given any attention.

With the current growing business environment characterised by increased global competition, organisations need to focus on global strategies and management approaches from an intercultural perspective. For organisations to prosper, dominant narratives about management, employees, strategies, identity etc. need to be revisited, challenged and to some extent countered within an intercultural frame. Counter-narratives can thus become a useful tool for making tensions within intercultural business salient, as they may contest or negotiate dominant narratives which hinder the organisation from benefitting from cultural diversity.

Suitable topics include, but are not limited to, following in relation to counter-narratives and organisations:
  • Organisational or individual identity
  • Cultural differences among internal and external stakeholders
  • Organisational culture
  • Cross-cultural communication
  • Cultural synergy
  • Multicultural teams
  • Leading globally
  • Employee motivation and engagement
  • Decision making
  • Negotiating globally

Important Dates
Submission deadline: 18 October, 2015

Inderscience Journals to publish expanded papers from CloudTech 2015

Expanded versions of papers presented at the CloudTech 2015 International Conference on Cloud Computing Technology and Applications (2-4 June 2015, Marrakesh, Morocco) will be published by the following journals:

Call for papers: "Simulation Modelling and Optimisation of Large-scale Systems"

For a special issue of the International Journal of Simulation and Process Modelling.

Simulation-based optimisation is a widely used methodology to model and analyse many engineering systems, especially large-scale and complex systems for which analytical or closed-form analysis is impossible. In practice, many manmade engineering systems belong to this category, such as communication systems, power systems, manufacturing systems, transportation systems, modern building control systems and supply chain and logistics systems.

The scale of such systems is increasing rapidly, which makes their analysis and optimisation increasingly intractable. With the advances of computation technology and optimisation theory, the simulation-based optimisation methodology provides a feasible way to model, simulate, analyse and optimise such complex systems.

This special issue aims at providing a forum for worldwide scholars to share and communicate their state-of-the-art research results in this area. Research concerning the modelling and simulation of practical and large-scale engineering systems is particularly encouraged. The audience of this issue will include not only academic scholars in the simulation and optimisation area, but also engineers and practitioners in the related industry fields.

Suitable topics include, but are not limited to, the following:
  • Efficiency of simulation
  • Multi-objective simulation optimisation
  • Optimisation and control of building energy and management
  • Simulation and its application in power systems or renewable energy
  • Cloud computing and resource allocation
  • Modelling and analysis of business intelligence
  • Modelling and analysis of transportation systems
  • Simulation optimisation in healthcare and medical systems
  • Application of simulation in supply chain management
  • Simulation optimisation in engineering management
  • Simulation optimisation in service engineering
  • Simulation optimisation based on big data
  • Simulation in environmental monitoring and risk assessment
  • Simulation of decision making processes
  • Online shopping simulation

Important Dates
Submission deadline: 30 May, 2015
Notification to authors: 15 July, 2015
Final versions due: 1 October, 2015

Better protection against floods

Hurricanes are devastating. Aside from the high, sustained wind speeds, they usually bring with them heavy rain, which can quickly lead to the breaching of flood defences in susceptible areas. Now, US and UK researchers have reviewed hurricane flood defence barriers and technologies with a view to helping engineers find improved designs.

Writing in the International Journal of Forensic Engineering, Haijian Shi of Pepco Holdings in Washington DC and Kong Fah Tee of the Department of Civil Engineering, at the University of Greenwich, in Kent, UK, explain that barriers can protect property and save lives during hurricane season. Flood walls, gates and joints are the mainstays of their design, however budgetary constraints, geographical limitations and constructability often limit the implementation of the most effective barriers in some regions.

The team has surveyed the T-walls, I-walls, Pile-braced wall systems, sluice gates, and sector gates that are commonly used in hurricane flood defences. From their analysis of the civil engineering and construction of these defences, the team has devised a six-point checklist for the design of hurricane defences that should be implemented to make the most effective barrier. These six factors should be considered when designing and constructing hurricane defences: seepage analysis, global stability, short-term and long-term settlement (or subsidence), soil structure interaction, fluid structure interaction, durability.

“Hurricane protection barriers can be effective in preventing surging water from breaching and flooding cities,” the team reports. “They can also mitigate erosion to the shore and thereby can help maintain the stability of the shore.” An optimised and informed approach to the engineering of these defences can make vulnerable sites much safer within the budgetary and geographical constraints of a given coastal region.

Shi, H. and Tee, K.F. (2014) ‘Review of design and construction of hurricane protection barriers’, Int. J. Forensic Engineering, Vol. 2, No. 2, pp.144–151.

Better protection against floods is a post from: David Bradley's Science Spot

via Science Spot http://ift.tt/1zo1zJ1

13 December 2014

Call for papers: "Cloud4Nature: Cloud Services for Natural Resource Management"

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

Environmental monitoring and risk assessment is one of the main challenges today when aiming to create safe ecosystems. Integrated and comprehensive approaches in decision-making processes associated with the management of natural resources are necessary in acute problems triggered by direct or indirect human interventions in the natural systems within which we live.

Natural resources management requires the processing of a huge amount of information with different levels of accessibility and availability and in various formats. Often, the data needs to be acquired, transmitted and accessed in real time. Equally important is having access to historical data for the calibration and validation of models.

With regard to the accessibility of information to stakeholders, there are situations wherein information is to be accessed only by designated stakeholders, but there is generally a huge amount of information that is – and should be handled – as public information.

The aim of this special issue is to share results and stimulate research in the field of integrated and inclusive cyber infrastructures for the management of natural resources. This research will integrate technologies and algorithmic aspects from many domains: artificial intelligence, distributed and mobile computing, human-computer interfaces, sensor networks, collaborative and pervasive computing, robotics, context-aware computing, and others. The issue calls for original papers describing the latest research, innovations, solutions and developments in cloud services for natural resource management.

The issue will carry revised and substantially extended versions of selected papers presented at the 20th International Conference on Control Systems and Computer Science, but we also strongly encourage researchers unable to participate in the conference to submit articles for this call.

Suitable topics include, but are not limited to, the following:
  • Architecture of cyber infrastructures
  • Cloud systems and cloud services
  • Formal methods for natural resource management
  • Embedded systems for natural resource management
  • Cyber infrastructure services
  • Intelligent information system for natural resource management
  • Modelling cyber infrastructures for natural resource management
  • Adaptive mobile cloud computing
  • Mobile big data computing models
  • Design of complex systems
  • e-services for natural resource management
  • Smart sensor networks
  • Systems for location and context sensing and awareness
  • Data management in mobile and cloud systems
  • Mobility-aware cloud data
  • Multimedia content delivery
  • Applications for natural resource management

Important Dates
Paper submission deadline: 30 July, 2015
Notification of the first review: 30 September, 2015
Revised paper submission: 30 October, 2015
Notification of the re-review: 15 November, 2015
Minor revisions due: 30 November, 2015
Final notification: 15 December, 2015

12 December 2014

Call for papers: "Challenges and Opportunities in Global Marketing and Digital Media Management"

For a special issue of the International Journal of Business Environment.

This special issue invites submissions that address challenges and opportunities in global marketing and digital media management. The issue’s aim is to build knowledge that integrates the complexities of the globalised world with emerging strategies in global marketing and digital media.

The specific objective of the issue is to share thought leadership to empower business executives and academics to rethink how global marketing strategy needs to address the challenges of multiculturalism, fragmented consumer needs, digital convergence, technological interconnectivity, global institutional idiosyncrasies, and balancing the needs of localisation against demands of globalisation.

We welcome empirical studies, thought pieces and qualitative investigations that provide theoretical or practical insights. We also encourage practitioners to submit case studies that showcase the latest technologies, trends and best practices in global marketing and digital media strategies.

The issue will carry revised and substantially extended versions of selected papers presented at the 2015 Brand2Global Conference, but we also strongly encourage researchers unable to participate in the conference to submit articles for this call.

Suitable topics include, but are not limited to, the following:
  • Megatrends shaping global marketing and digital media
  • Global brand positioning
  • Localisation, translation and transliteration strategies
  • Managing global integration and local responsiveness
  • Branding and digital media strategies for emerging markets
  • Global consumer segmentation, engagement and tracking
  • Cross-cultural consumer behaviour in digital environments
  • Global social media marketing and tracking
  • Global crowd-sourcing strategies
  • Web globalisation strategies
  • International search engine marketing strategies

Important Dates
Submission of manuscripts: 1 December, 2015
Notification to authors: 1 March, 2016
Final versions due: 1 May, 2016

Int. J. of Computational Science and Engineering to publish expanded papers from CSCS20

Expanded versions of papers presented at the 20th International Conference on Control Systems and Computer Science (27-29 May 2015, Bucharest, Romania) will be published by the International Journal of Computational Science and Engineering.

Call for papers: "Building Information Modelling and the Product Lifecycle Management Perspective"

For a special issue of the International Journal of Product Lifecycle Management.

It has recently been suggested that the future of the construction industry lies in adopting new business models based on an integrated lifecycle approach. New business models may include combinations of products and services that address a client’s or stakeholder’s unique set of requirements throughout the whole building lifecycle – from procurement to schematic design, to detailed design and systems integration, to fabrication and construction, to operations, maintenance and decommissioning. Such a suggestion is often conceived around the notion of building information modelling (BIM) and related concepts.

The increasing focus on the application of BIM throughout the whole building lifecycle highlights its proximity to the product lifecycle management (PLM) concept. As a strategic business approach for the effective management and use of corporate intellectual capital, PLM has gained acceptance in the manufacturing industries. In BIM-enabled construction projects, the introduction of PLM system functions is beginning to foster new forms of business integration. Supply chain participants are developing new approaches to adding value, building up capabilities in systems integration, project staging, stakeholder participation, management and control, information flow and coordination, and decision making across network hierarchies.

The similarities between BIM and PLM also extend to the challenges facing their respective application domains and the drivers that are spurring their continued development. PLM literature identifies globalisation, outsourcing, mass customisation, fast innovation and product traceability as some of the main challenges facing product development teams. These challenges further reinforce the need for collaboration and knowledge management along product lifecycle stages.

In the evolution of BIM, corresponding issues and developments are observable to a greater or lesser degree, demonstrating the potential capacity of a building lifecycle management (BLM) concept. The parallels between BIM and PLM highlight the opportunities to extend current levels of understanding of the connections between these concepts, develop new scientific knowledge and technologies, and introduce new areas of research.

This special issue aims to showcase the capabilities and variety of what is currently possible for BIM, the emerging area of BLM, the similarities/differences between BIM and PLM, and the impact of manufacturing-based versus construction-based application domains. The issue seeks to advance the understanding of integrated business approaches and lifecycle management issues in the construction industry by consolidating a large set of new peer-reviewed work that highlights innovations in BIM from a through-life perspective. One of the key objectives of this special issue is to solicit high-quality papers that investigate and discuss the constructs, systems and/or applications of BIM and related PLM concepts.

The issue will carry revised and substantially extended versions of selected papers presented at the 2013 and 2014 International Conferences on Product Lifecycle Management, but we also strongly encourage researchers unable to participate in the conference to submit articles for this call.

Contributions are welcome in all aspects assessing the similarities and differences across BIM and PLM including, but not limited to, the following:
  • BIM and PLM functions
  • BIM, PLM and lifecycle management
  • BIM and PLM ecosystem development
  • BIM, PLM and influence of/from social networks
  • BIM, PLM implementation processes
  • BIM and PLM maturity and improvement concepts
  • BIM and PLM collaboration and integrated project development
  • BIM, PLM and information/knowledge management
  • BIM, PLM and organisational/process change management
  • BIM and PLM technologies (virtual/simulation environments)
  • BIM and enterprise systems integration in construction
  • BIM and enterprise resource planning
  • BIM, PLM and lifetime value

Important Dates
Submission of manuscripts: 15 June, 2015

Special issue published: "Smart and Sustainable Healthcare Supply Chain"

International Journal of Procurement Management 8(1/2) 2015
  • Lean manufacturing within critical healthcare supply chain: an exploratory study through value chain simulation
  • A combined IDEF0 and FMEA approach to healthcare management reengineering
  • Business process reengineering of drugs storage and distribution: a case study
  • An axiomatic design-based approach for the patient-value-oriented design of a sustainable Lean healthcare system
  • Waste not, want not. What are the drivers of sustainable medicines recycling in National Health Service hospital pharmacies (UK)?
  • Boxed up and locked up, safe and tight! Making the case for unattended electronic locker bank logistics for an innovative solution to NHS hospital supplies (UK)
  • Challenging times to pharmaceutical supply chains towards sustainability: a case study application
  • A decision support tool, implemented in a system dynamics model, to improve the effectiveness in the hospital emergency department
  • Performance analysis of a healthcare supply chain for RFID-enabled process reengineering
  • Coping with uncertainties via resilient supply chain framework
  • Inventory model under permissible delay in payments and inflation with generalised Pareto lifetime
  • Supplier development and buyer-supplier relationship strategies - a literature review

11 December 2014

Call for papers: "Tackling Enterprise in the Informal Economy"

For a special issue of the International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business.

In recent years, it has been widely recognised that many enterprises conduct some or all of their transactions in the informal economy (i.e. they are not declared to the authorities for tax, social security and/or labour law purposes).

This special issue seeks to move beyond current deterrence approaches to tackling the informal economy. Instead, it seeks contributions grounded in institutional theory that view the informal economy as arising when there is an asymmetry between the codified laws and regulations of formal institutions and the norms, values and beliefs that constitute the informal institutions in societies, which result, for example, in a lack of trust in government. Based on this, the emergent view is that there is a need to change both the formal institutions and the informal institutions. How this can be achieved is a key issue that this special issue will address.

Although this special issue therefore has a focus upon papers based on an institutional theory approach towards the informal economy, it nevertheless warmly welcomes papers on any aspect of the informal economy and how it can be tackled.

Suitable topics include, but are not limited to, the following:
  • Empirical studies of the informal economy
  • Informal sector entrepreneurship
  • The impact of formal and informal institutions on the informal economy
  • The role of weak institutions and corruption
  • Tax morale
  • Vulnerable groups and entrepreneurship/bottom of the pyramid studies
  • Necessity- versus opportunity-driven entrepreneurship
  • Public policy perspectives on the informal economy
  • Case studies of policy initiatives to tackle the informal economy
  • Risk of detection and informality

Important Dates
Submission of manuscripts: 1 June, 2015

Call for papers: "Socio-Economic Sustainability, Regional Development and Spatial Planning"

For a special issue of the International Journal of Sustainable Agricultural Management and Informatics.

The aim of this special issue is to present the debate over the future and prospects of the socio-economic and territorial development of the European Union. The agenda of the issue includes the fields of European, economic-geography, sociology, regional development and spatial planning studies. Academicians, researchers, practitioners, policy makers and observers will be presented with the strategies, good practices, policies and critical issues relevant to the topic.

The issue will carry revised and substantially extended versions of selected papers presented at the 2014 international conference “Socio-Economic Sustainability, Regional Development and Spatial Planning: European and International Dimensions & Perspectives”, but we also strongly encourage researchers unable to participate in the conference to submit articles for this call.

Suitable topics include, but are not limited to, the following:
  • The challenges of the European Union: the financial crisis and socio-economic growth
  • Urban and regional development the in European Union and planning policies for sustainable growth
  • Macro-economic policies and regional development
  • Micro-policies and sustainable growth
  • European cooperatives and socio-economic growth
  • Social economy innovations and sustainable communities
  • Inclusive recovery and local city employment governance
  • Public administration and sustainable development
  • Local government role and responses to sustainable development
  • Cellular globalisation in between local and global social dimensions
  • Empowerment of citizens/workers/minorities/youth
  • Innovative communities, social development and education
  • Territorial innovation in the European Union and planning policies
  • New forms of territorial governance in Europe
  • Migration and new forms of inequality and social exclusion in Europe
  • Social policies and social cohesion in Europe
  • Entrepreneurship, SMEs and local development
  • Cultural management, local heritage and local development
  • Tourism development, policy and planning
  • Case studies and applied research on types and forms of sustainable growth

Important Dates
Submission of manuscripts: 30 April, 2015
Notification to authors: 20 May, 2015
Final versions due: 30 June, 2015

10 December 2014

Call for papers: "Supply Chain and Operational Resilience in the Energy Sector"

For a special issue of the International Journal of Supply Chain and Operations Resilience.

According to the “International Energy Outlook 2013”, world energy use will grow by 56 percent between 2010 and 2040. Half of the increase is attributed to growth in China and India. Fossil fuels will continue to supply almost 80 percent of world energy use through to 2040. Natural gas is the fastest growing fossil fuel, supported by increasing supplies of shale gas, particularly in the United States. In the electricity sector, renewable energy and nuclear power are the world’s fastest-growing energy sources, each increasing by 2.5 percent per year.
 
According to the “World Energy Investment Outlook 2014”, “[o]ver the period to 2035, the investment required each year to supply the world’s energy needs rises steadily towards $2000 billion. [...] Decisions to commit capital to the energy sector are increasingly shaped by government policy measures and incentives, rather than by signals coming from competitive markets.”
 
In this evolving scenario several different factors, either opportunities or threats, contribute to increasing the uncertainty and complexity of policy- and business-related decisions. The 2009 Russia–Ukraine gas dispute and the recent events in North Africa demonstrate the intrinsic vulnerability of a “fossil fuel supply chain” to geopolitical risks. The emerging role of shale gas and shale oil represents a controversial phenomenon, since the risk balance of this option remains largely unexplored. In particular, the recent reduction in oil price to about 60-70 $/barrel, the lowest point since 2009, calls into question the economic viability of investments in new, unconventional sources.
 
Moreover, traditional base load generation technologies (e.g. coal, nuclear) and large distribution infrastructures (e.g. power transmission lines, LNG platforms, oil pipelines) continue to show their vulnerability to a wide spectrum of issues such as natural disasters and incidents and growing social unacceptability, particularly in the OECD countries.
 
The mass deployment of renewable sources (mainly wind, solar and biomass) could positively contribute to increasing the operational and supply chain resilience of the energy sector. However, the technical feasibility and the economics of possible solutions are largely uncertain, especially when considering the intrinsic variability of these sources where a technological limit is still difficult to overcome. The deployment of existing and new renewable technologies is also strongly influenced by the evolution of government policies.
 
Supply chain and operational resilience will be a critical factor in granting or supporting sustainable development (economic, environmental and social) of energy systems in the future.
 
Given the extreme relevance and complexity of the field, this special issue aims to bring together the contributions of scholars and practitioners with state-of-the-art papers focused on supply chain and operational resilience in the energy sector. Senior managers, policy makers, practitioners and the wider community of scholars are the targeted audience.
 
Considering the need of a holistic approach, managerial, financial and technically oriented papers are all welcome, so long as the content can be understood by the target audience and the scope is adequately broad. Case studies, benchmarking of technological or operational alternatives and review papers are particularly welcome.
 
Suitable topics include, but are not limited to, the following:
  • Uncertainty modelling and analysis for decision support in the energy sector
  • Application of real options to investment evaluation in the energy sector
  • Maintenance management and power plant life extension
  • Impact of policy and regulatory decisions on plant operations
  • Supply chain and operational resilience of plants in remote locations
  • Resilience engineering of energy systems
  • Risk management of energy infrastructures
  • Fuel supply chain resilience (including appropriateness of fuel processing)
  • Resilience of energy systems during major events
  • Emergency and crisis management of energy systems
  • Business resilience and external factors (environmental, social ande regulatory issues) in the energy sector
  • Resilience capabilities of renewables
  • Resilience and sustainability in the energy sector
  • Other related topics
 
Important Dates
Full paper submission: 30 June, 2015
Notification to authors: 1 October, 2015
Final versions due: 1 December, 2015

Special issue published: "Innovations in Intelligent Systems in Applications"

International Journal of Reasoning-based Intelligent Systems 6(3/4) 2014

Extended version of papers presented at the 2013 IEEE International Symposium on Innovations in Intelligent Systems and Applications (IEEE INISTA 2013).
  • On impact of PCA for solving classification tasks defined on facial images
  • Index matrix interpretation of one type of extended neural networks
  • Evaluation of a new heart beat classification method based on ABC algorithm, comparison with GA, PSO and ACO classifiers
  • Path synthesis of the four-bar mechanism using meta-heuristic algorithms
  • Unsupervised EEG biosignal discrimination
  • Performance evaluation of fuzzy-based fusion rules for tracking applications
  • Fuzzy-neural predictive control using fast optimisation polices

9 December 2014

Special issue published: "Applied Economics"

International Journal of Computational Economics and Econometrics 5(1) 2015
  • Differentiated marketing strategies between strategic groups in Greek food industry
  • Moral hazard contracting and credit rationing in opaque credit markets
  • Determinants of non-performing loans in Ghana banking industry
  • GCC countries and the nexus between exchange rate and oil price: What wavelet decomposition reveals?
  • The effects of exchange rate volatility on sectoral exports evidence from Sweden, UK, and Germany
  • Evolution of global inequality in human well-being: a sensitivity analysis

Call for papers: "Coordinated Control of Multi-Agent Systems: Theory and Applications"

For a special issue of the International Journal of Automation and Logistics.

In the past few years, coordinated control of multi-agent systems has received a great deal of attention from various scientific communities ranging from mathematics to control engineering and even to biology. Much of the research in this context has examined how globally coordinated group behaviour emerges as a result of local information exchange among individuals. Experimental results indicate that many engineering benefits can be yielded through coordinated behaviours in practical multi-gent systems by carefully implementing designed control protocols. However, in a typical multi-agent system, each agent may only have limited computational and sensing ability. Thus, the distributed control approach has obvious advantages over centralised ones in coordinating multi-agent systems.

The main focus of this special issue will be on new approaches for coordination analysis and synthesis in multi-agent systems, as well as their potential applications in networked engineering systems. The issue will be an international forum for researchers in applied mathematics, control theory and electrical engineering to present the most recent developments and emerging ideas on coordinated control of multi-agent systems and its engineering applications. This issue intends to present the following research trends:

  • Bridging the gap between multi-agent systems theory and practical engineering applications, e.g. potential use of consensus algorithms in smart grids and sensor networks
  • Exploring new distributed coordination protocols for multi-agent systems

Suitable topics include, but are not limited to, the following:
  • Consensus and flocking of multi-agent systems
  • Synchronisation of complex dynamical networks
  • Modelling and optimisation of networked agent systems
  • Distributed filter design of large-scale sensor networks
  • Event-triggered coordination
  • Distributed diagnosis and fault-tolerant control
  • Distributed adaptive control
  • Analysis and synthesis of smart grids
  • Distributed predictive control of networked multi-agent systems

Important Dates
Submission of manuscripts: 31 May, 2015

Special Issue: "Intelligent Approaches to Complex Systems"

International Journal of Intelligent Engineering Informatics 2(2/3) 2014

  • 117 Analytic hierarchy process and technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution: a bibliometric analysis 'from' past, present and future of AHP and TOPSIS
  • Knowledge driven sensor placement in multi-station manufacturing processes
  • Stochastic modelling and optimisation of multi-plant capacity planning problem
  • Weather prediction by recurrent neural network dynamics
  • Artificial bee colony optimisation-based enhanced Mahalanobis Taguchi system for classification
  • A multi-agent architecture for lamb supply chain 
  • A discrete particle swarm algorithm for geometric image inpainting

Call for papers: "Technologies and Applications in the Big Data Era"

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

With the advances of information communication technologies, it is critical to improve the efficiency and accuracy of modern data processing techniques. The past decade has witnessed tremendous technical advances in sensor networks, internet/Web of Things, cloud computing, mobile/embedded computing, spatial/temporal data processing and big data, and these technologies have provided new opportunities and solutions for data processing techniques.

Big data is an emerging paradigm applied to datasets whose size is beyond the ability of commonly used software tools to capture, manage and process within a tolerable elapsed time. Such datasets are often from various sources (Variety) and unstructured, such as those from social media, sensors, scientific applications, surveillance, video and image archives, internet texts and documents, internet search indexing, medical records, business transactions and web logs. They are also of large size (Volume), with fast data in/out (Velocity). More importantly, big data has to be of high value (Value) and establish trustworthiness for business decision making (Veracity).

Various technologies are being discussed to support the handling of big data, such as massively parallel processing databases, scalable storage systems, cloud computing platforms, and MapReduce. Big data is more than simply a matter of size; it is an opportunity to find insights into new and emerging types of data and content, to make businesses more agile, and to answer questions that were previously considered beyond our reach.

This special issue aims to present emerging issues in the research of big data and approaches towards it. Original research articles are solicited in all aspects including theoretical studies, practical applications and experimental prototypes. All submitted papers will be peer-reviewed and selected on the basis of both their quality and their relevance to the theme of the issue.

The issue will carry revised and substantially extended versions of selected papers presented at the 11th International Conference on Semantics, Knowledge & Grids (SKG2015), but we also strongly encourage researchers unable to participate in the conference to submit articles for this call.

Suitable topics include, but are not limited to, the following:
  • Big data novel theory, algorithms and applications
  • Big data standards
  • Big data mining and analytics
  • Big data infrastructure, MapReduce and cloud computing
  • Big data visualisation
  • Big data semantics, scientific discovery and intelligence
  • Big data performance analysis and large-scale deployment
  • Security, privacy, trust and legal issues in big data
  • Big data placement, scheduling and optimisation
  • Volume, velocity, variety, value and veracity of big data
  • Storage and computation management of big data
  • Large-scale big data workflow management
  • Mobility and big data
  • Sensor networks, social networks and big data

Important Dates
Submission of manuscripts: 15 August, 2015

7 December 2014

Special issue published: "Advanced Materials and Manufacturing"

International Journal of Computer Aided Engineering and Technology 7(1) 2015

Extended versions of papers presented at the International Conference on Advanced Materials and Manufacturing (ICAMM 13).
  • Machining parameter optimisation of Al/SiCp composite materials using artificial neural networks
  • Effect of process parameters in chemical modifications on mechanical properties of Sansevieria cylindrica/polyester composite using Taguchi technique
  • Assessment of leak before break by modified average stress criterion
  • Investigation on the wear and corrosion behaviour of friction surfaced mild steel
  • Development of self-cleaning and energy efficient solar cells using two different coating techniques
  • Effect of fibre length and weight percentage on mechanical properties of short sisal/polyester composite
  • The use of artificial neural network for the prediction of wear loss of aluminium-magnesium alloys
  • Cell formation using tabu search for design of cellular manufacturing system
  • GDMP for CNC machine tool selection with a compromise ranking method using generalised fuzzy circumstances
  • GA approach to optimise material flow and makespan in an AGV-based flexible jobshop manufacturing system
  • Free vibration analysis of shear-deformable Al alloy plates using FEM with first order shear deformation theory
  • Fracture toughness evaluation technique for metal matrix composites using ball indentation method

6 December 2014

Call for papers: "Agile Methods for Sustainable Mobility"

For a special issue of the International Journal of Agile Systems and Management.

Mobility is considered an integral part of the world’s increasing standard of living. On the other hand, transport consumes roughly 19% of the world’s energy supply and produces 23% of carbon dioxide emissions. Due to the limited availability of fossil fuels in future and increasing challenges in environmental risk mitigation, new, tremendous concepts and solutions are still necessary to make human mobility more sustainable and affordable. This shift requires further technological progress accompanied by huge commercial investments in infrastructure, and comprehensive government policies to empower this transition. This applies to all transportation sectors – road, air, sea and rail – and includes not only novel vehicle concepts, but operation models and evolution in consumer behaviour.

One of the most important paradigm shifts lies in the holistic view on the development and exploitation of new product concepts which encompasses intensive networking through ITC technology. Besides delivering benefits in air and noise pollution, it encompasses huge challenges in practical usability, reliability and lifecycle considerations. Therefore, sustainable mobility is going to become the main driver for comprehensive approaches such as systems engineering. It draws upon new ways of engineering collaboration and transdisciplinary engineering to develop new products (vehicles), new services or integral mobility concepts within urban infrastructure. Such shifts require adapted or entirely new methods in product development and commercialisation.

With this special issue, we aim to address various areas of sustainable mobility from several research perspectives: agile methods for the development of new mobility concepts derived from traditional concepts, facilitating sustainability by extending the lifecycle of products in exploitation, novel concept to estimate pollution and noise emissions, and the assessment of novel mobility concepts.

The issue will carry revised and substantially extended versions of selected papers presented at the 22nd ISPE International Conference on Concurrent Engineering (CE 2015), but we also strongly encourage researchers unable to participate in the conference to submit articles for this call.

Suitable topics include, but are not limited to, the following:
  • Agile systems design, evaluation and assessment methodologies
  • Systems engineering for sustainability
  • Risks assessment for sustainable mobility concepts
  • Engineering of complex in-service systems
  • Product life cycle management
  • Product design for sustainability
  • Sustainable systems design, development, operation, maintenance and services
  • End-of-life engineering system management
  • Supply chain integration for mobility concepts
  • Operations management and transformation strategies for sustainability
  • Benchmarking, metrics and performance drivers for sustainability
  • Complexity and uncertainty management
  • Knowledge management for sustainability
  • Measuring and improving efficiency of mobility concepts
  • Performance-based contracting strategies
  • System sustainability evaluation in the socio-economic environment

Important Dates
Full paper due: 2 January, 2016

Special issue published: "2013 International Electron Devices and Materials Symposium"

International Journal of Nanotechnology 12(1/2) 2015

Expanded versions of papers from the International Electron Devices and Materials Symposium (IEDMS 2013).
  • The IGZO fully transparent oxide thin film transistor on glass substrate
  • Intrinsic I-V and C-V characteristics of ultra-thin oxide MOS (p) and MOS (n) structures under deep depletion
  • Ultra low-temperature microwave annealing for ultra-shallow junctions and P-MOS devices
  • Exploring failure mechanisms of near ultraviolet AlGaN/GaN light-emitting diodes by reverse-bias stress in water vapour
  • Fabrication of finlike thin-film transistors by solution-processed zinc oxide and nanoimprint lithography
  • Kink effect for 28 nm n-channel field-effect transistors after decoupled plasma nitridation treatment with annealing temperatures
  • Fabrication of Si and Ge vertical nanowire for transistor applications
  • A Si-based bulk FinFET by novel etching process with mask-less and photoresist-free lithography technique
  • Investigation of optical parameters of boron doped aluminium nitride films grown on diamond using spectroscopic ellipsometry
  • Doping profile optimisation in bulk FinFET channel and source/drain extension regions for low off-state leakage
  • Upper/lower-side random dopant fluctuation on 16-nm-gate HKMG bulk FinFET

5 December 2014

Special issue published: "Reshaping Research on Innovation and Gender Issues: is Innovation Gendered?"

International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business 24(1) 2015
  • Queering all aboard: challenging the maleness of the leisure boat industry
  • Social networking and gender effects in opportunity identification
  • Men and women in IT entrepreneurship: consolidating and deconstructing gender stereotypes
  • Gender differences in attitudes towards risk and ambiguity: when psycho-physiological measurements contradict sex-based stereotypes
  • Gendering pursuits of innovation: embeddedness in networks and culture
  • Board composition and environmental innovation: does gender diversity matter?
  • The impact of R&D teams' gender diversity on innovation outputs

Call for papers: "The Relation between Technology and Social Innovation"

For a special issue of the International Journal of Transitions and Innovation Systems.

Social innovation is a result of any accomplishment meeting unsatisfied human needs. Examples of these include the cases of socio-healthcare services (Mulgan 2006; Phills, Deiglmeier and Miller 2008), and of wasted resources and environmental emergences, e.g lower urban pollution in inhabited areas or soil consumption (Rennings 2000; Calef and Goble 2007). Other cases are represented by the development of social services and interventions in favour of disadvantaged and marginalized areas, e.g. development of a regional system (Díez-Vial and Fernández-Olmos 2012), or vulnerable groups, e.g. outcasts, disabled persons, the elderly, and immigrants (Gonzalez and Figueroa 2010). Generally speaking, the establishment of welfare services dedicated to the general population, such as education, family support services, etc.

Using a broader definition, social innovation is achieved every time people’s standards of living are increased and, to use to words of Murray, Grice and Mulgan (2010, p.3), social innovation is “new ideas (products, services and models) that simultaneously meet social needs and create new social relationships or collaborations”. Social innovation is not only the discovery of radical new concepts; it may also refer to an effective and sustainable application of products, services and models in an innovative way (Phills et al. 2008). Effectiveness refers to the optimised use of resources to achieve social outcomes. Sustainabilityrefers to the capacity of self-financing and being independent from external stakeholders (Perrini and Vurro 2006).

However, despite the long debate on social innovation, there is still a lack of understanding in how the development of the initial idea is unfolded (Perrini and Vurro 2006). Surely, the first step of any possible innovation is to identify a potential unsatisfied social need. Yet, this need requires to be coupled with the present opportunities to satisfy it (Mulgan 2006). New opportunities may come thanks to technological advancements or “traditional innovation” that open new ways for delivering social value to society (Williams and Edge 1996; Murray et al. 2010).

The examples are countless: online technologies offered the possibility of freely accessing and sharing knowledge to everybody (Mulgan 2006); remote devices allowed the monitoring of health conditions of patients and the elderly, thus permitting the prompt activation of medical and first aid procedures when needed. Thereof, it is undeniable that the action of modern social actors can be enhanced by technological advancements (Williams and Edge 1996). However, it less clear how the relation of social innovation and technology co-evolves. The process that leads to perceive such “traditional” innovations as potential bearers of potential social outcomes, for example, is still largely understudied (Halme and Laurila 2009). Furthermore, despite having opportunities offered by technological progress, in some parts of the world social innovations struggle to take place (Kanter 1999; Molina-Morales and Giuliani 2012).

Given the above considerations, this call aims to deepen the relation that exists between social innovation and technology and invites both theoretical and empirical papers. In particular, we welcome papers that, using integrated frameworks, can blend traditional innovation paradigms with those pertinent to social entrepreneurship and innovation.

The issue will carry revised and substantially extended versions of selected papers presented at the track "Entrepreneurship and societal change" of the Entrepreneurship SIG of the EURAM 2015 Conference, but we also strongly encourage researchers unable to participate in the conference to submit articles for this call. However, authors interested in submitting papers for the call are encouraged to consider informally presenting their works at the conference.

References:
Calef, D., & Goble, R. (2007). “The allure of technology: How France and California promoted electric and hybrid vehicles to reduce urban air pollution”. Policy sciences, 40(1): 1-34.
Díez–Vial, I., & Fernández–Olmos, M. (2012). “The impact of local technology institutions and R&D investments on information and knowledge flows inside clusters.” International Journal of Transitions and Innovation Systems, 2(2): 194-209.
Gonzalez M., & Figueroa P. (2010). “Intellectual capital on regional innovation systems: Toward the momentum of growth rates of business performance.” International Journal of Transitions and Innovation Systems, 1(1): 82-99.
Halme, M., & Laurila, J. (2009). “Philanthropy, integration or innovation? Exploring the financial and societal outcomes of different types of corporate responsibility”, Journal of Business Ethics, 84(3): 325-339.
Kanter, R. M. (1999). “From spare change to real change: The social sector as beta site for business innovation.” Harvard business review, 77: 122-133.
Molina–Morales, F. X., & Giuliani, E. (2012). “The cluster model: whether and what developing countries should learn from advanced countries”. International Journal of Transitions and Innovation Systems, 2(3): 219-232.
Mulgan, G. (2006). “The process of social innovation”. Innovation, 1(2): 145-162.
Murray, R., Caulier-Grice, J., & Mulgan, G. (2010). The open book of social innovation. NESTA: London, UK
Perrini, F., & Vurro, C. (2006). “Social entrepreneurship: Innovation and social change across theory and practice.” Social entrepreneurship, 23 (1): 57-85.
Phills, J. A., Deiglmeier, K., & Miller, D. T. (2008). “Rediscovering social innovation.” Stanford Social Innovation Review, 6(4): 34-43.
Rennings, K. (2000). “Redefining innovation—eco-innovation research and the contribution from ecological economics.” Ecological economics, 32(2): 319-332.
Sørensen, F., & Mattsson, J. (2013). “City Development as Open Innovation.” International Journal of Transitions and Innovation Systems, 2(2): 151-168
Williams, R., & Edge, D. (1996). “The social shaping of technology.” Research policy, 25(6): 865-899.

Suitable topics include, but are not limited to, the following:
  • Social innovations resulting from technological advancements
  • The role of technology, although not specifically intended or designed for social outcomes, in sustaining and developing social innovations
  • Social entrepreneurship or NPO strategies and the use of technology
  • Efficiency and suitability of social innovations delivered thanks to technology and traditional innovations
  • Development of "social" sensitivity in traditional entrepreneurs thanks to technological advancements
  • Failures of social innovations due to lack of sustainability in terms of feasible technology
  • The lack of social innovation despite the existence of possibilities offered by a technology to deliver social value
  • Creation of social ventures in order to exploit a specific technology
  • Technological advancements obtained thanks to social entrepreneurship or innovation
  • Regional cases, especially from developing and emerging countries, of social innovations and development achieved thanks to technological progress

Important Dates
Submission to EURAM 2015 conference (optional): 13 January, 2015
Submission of extended papers to the special issue: 30 April, 2015
Submission of revised papers following referee comments: 30 June, 2015