Special issue published: "Advances in Banking and Finance in the Post-Crisis Era"

International Journal of Financial Engineering and Risk Management 3(2) 2019

• An empirical investigation of covered interest rate parity: the case of the GBP/USD and SEK/USD exchange rates
• Evaluating the effect of IFRS adoption on earnings management in Greece. A logit approach
• Bitcoin as an alternative digital currency: exploring the publics' perception vs. experts
• Solutions in quadratures to the CEV model
• ECB's unconventional monetary policies and the European bank stock returns
• A study of corporate failure using data envelopment analysis and quadratic discriminant analysis: the case of the Greek construction sector during the period of the economic crisis

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Vehicle Safety

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

• Design and analysis of an impact energy absorbing steering system
• Can electroencephalography improve road safety? An EEG-based study of driver's perception of traffic light signals in a virtual environment
• Understanding the spatial patterns of tanker accidents in Nigeria using geographically weighted regression
• Crashworthiness optimal design of a new extruded octagonal multi-cell tube under dynamic axial impact
• Robust real-time driver drowsiness detection based on image processing and feature extraction methods
• A preliminary study to optimise safety conditions on a freight urban robotic vehicle

Research pick: Staying cool in India - "Indian cool: concept and contrast with western cool"

The concept of “cool” is an ephemeral one. Coolness might be defined as an aesthetic of attitude, behaviour, comportment, appearance, and style, but to define it as such might not in itself be seen as cool. Instead, it is conceived as a cultural term, largely of the youth vernacular to suggest something or someone is worthy of admiration. One esoteric popular culture icon, app, meme, or celebrity, might be perceived as cool while to those in the know, another is seen as uncool.

Nowhere is the concept more simultaneously important and insignificant than in youth culture where fashions, trends, fame, and even fortune can wax and wane in the wake of cool.

Research published in the International Journal of Indian Culture and Business Management, discusses the concept of cool and compares and contrasts what is seen as cool among Indian youth and their counterparts in the notional “West”. Ekta Duggal and Harsh Verma of the University of Delhi, point out that sociological research has focused on Western cool but there is scant data on Indian cool. They hope to redress this balance to some extent.

Their analysis produces a quite overwhelming conclusion: That while Western cool seems among young people seems to be about counter-culture and rebellious characteristics as well as unbridled hedonism, and commercial consumption, Indian youth do not perceive such characteristics as cool. Quite the opposite, it is usually seen as cool among Indian youth to be seen to be sensitive to the environment and people. Although these too are increasingly considered cool among some sectors of youth even in the West.

The team suggests that marketers and businesses in India are at risk of failure if they conflate western and Indian cool by assuming that the values are the same.

Duggal, E. and Verma, H.V. (2019) ‘Indian cool: concept and contrast with western cool‘, Int. J. Indian Culture and Business Management, Vol. 19, No. 1, pp.67-80.

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Financial Markets and Derivatives

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Financial Markets and Derivatives are now available here for free:

• Bond pricing under the generalised Black-Karasinski models
• Correlation asymmetry and implication on hedging
• Intraday price discovery in Indian stock index futures market: new evidence from neural network approach
• The impact of monetary policy expectations on interbank interest rates in Malaysia

Research pick: Leaner, cleaner diesel engines - "Numerical investigation of valve lifts effects on performance and emissions in diesel engine"

Diesel engines are widely used in transport the world over. Regulatory and legal efforts are afoot to reduce their use in some countries because of concerns about pollution. However, they are likely to remain a mainstay of heavy goods transport for many years to come because their efficiency and power general outstrip petrol engines and electric vehicles in some contexts.

Writing in the International Journal of Global Warming, researchers from Turkey are investigating how the efficiency of diesel engines might be boosted by simple changes to the way the engines operate. Kubilay Bayramoglu, Semih Yilmaz, and Kerim Deniz Kaya of Dokuz Eylul University, Tinaztepe Campus, in Izmir, have carried out a numerical investigation of valve lifts effects on performance and emissions in diesel engines. Their work is carried out in the context of transport being the source of approximately one-third of the carbon emissions the world over and as such plays an important part in global warming and thus climate change.

The team has specifically examined the effect of changing intake valve lift distances on combustion characteristics and so efficiency and emissions, in a four-stroke single-cylinder diesel engine. The team’s analysis of the data with the commercially available ANSYS-Forte software, using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) for combustion system analysis and ANSYS-Chemkin for reaction kinetics of combustion, showed the changes in carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide emissions as well as so-called NOx emissions (nitrogen monoxide and dioxide) and how crank angle changes these.

The analyses showed that gross indicated power, indicated main effective pressure, and combustion efficiency all increase when valve lift is extended, the team reports.

Bayramoglu, K., Yilmaz, S. and Kaya, K.D. (2019) ‘Numerical investigation of valve lifts effects on performance and emissions in diesel engine‘, Int. J. Global Warming, Vol. 18, Nos. 3/4, pp.287-303.

Special issue published: "Future Generation Wireless Networks"

International Journal of Networking and Virtual Organisations 21(1) 2019

• A power aware mechanism for energy efficient routing in MANET
• A novel routing protocol for relay node-based energy consumption in MANET
• Privacy and security issues in cloud computing using idyllic approach
• Estimation of complexity by using an object oriented metrics approach and its proposed algorithm and models
• A novel boot strapping algorithm for text extraction in a self-organising neural network model
• Error free backbone tree construction to expand the longevity of wireless
• Reduction of overhead in routing protocols for MANET using fuzzy set-based decision making
• Performance measure of routing protocol with angular coordinates and distinctive transmissions in wireless networks
• Scalability assurance process in replication and migration using cloud simulator
• Efficient network coding-based data transfer framework for multihop wireless communication

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Ultra Wideband Communications and Systems

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Ultra Wideband Communications and Systems are now available here for free:

• Artificial neural network design of stub microstrip band-pass filters
• Design and analysis of superstrate embedded dielectric resonator antenna
• Analysis of power spectral density of ultra wideband waveforms for pulse shape modulation
• Identifying and filtering noise caused by sensor set switching in UWB indoor position tracking
• UWB outdoor channel environments: analysis of experimental data collection and comparison to IEEE 802.l5.4a UWB channel model

Special issue published: "Computer Science and Information Technology"

International Journal of Computer Applications in Technology 60(4) 2019

• A comparison of text classification methods using different stemming techniques
• Dynamic VM allocation and traffic control to manage QoS and energy consumption in cloud computing environment
• Performance prediction of pharmaceutical suppliers: comparative study between DEA-ANFIS-PSO and DEA-ANFIS-GA
• Estimate of stochastic model parameter of exchange rate using machine learning techniques
• Using data taxonomy to achieve security in cloud computing

Regularly submitted papers

• A modular cloud-based ontology framework for context-aware EHR services
• Integrated safety and economic factors in a sand mine industry: a multivariate algorithm

Special issue published: "Decision and Logistics"

International Journal of Information and Decision Sciences 11(2) 2019

• The impact of using new significant reference point with TOPSIS methods: study and application
• Spatiotemporal assessment of water quality in the distribution network of City of Sharjah, UAE
• Decision aid system for Omani medical herb leaves recognition using computer vision and artificial intelligence
• Modelling time complexity of micro-genetic algorithms for online traffic control decisions

Additional paper

• A non-stationary NDVI time series modelling using triplet Markov chain

Special issue published: "Smart City Applications"

International Journal of Intelligent Enterprise 6(2/3/4) 2019

• Performance study of routing protocols based on node mobility in MANETs
• A memetic algorithm for fleet size and mix vehicle routing problems with electric modular vehicles
• IT governance in collaboration mode: building IT collaboration network using a socio technical approach based on actor network theory
• Micro navigation system for smart parking area
• Smart cities reconsidered: the entrepreneurial challenge
• Architecture of a decision support system based on big data for monitoring type 2 diabetics
• MultiPrime cloud-RSA: a fast homomorphic encryption scheme for data confidentiality protection in clouds
• Training and evaluation of TreeTagger on Amazigh corpus
• Towards a ubiquitous students' response system for monitoring learning performances
• Game theory-based analysis of inter-cluster communication in a DRHT network
• A smart architecture design for health remote monitoring systems and heterogeneous wireless sensor network technologies: a machine learning breathlessness prediction prototype
• Improving smart learning experience quality through the use of extracted data from social networks
• French medical named entity recognition: a hybrid approach
• Detection of driver's alertness level based on the Viola and Jones method and logistic regression analysis
• AWS and IoT for real-time remote medical monitoring
• Use of cloud computing and GIS on vehicle traffic management

Additional paper

• A study on the barriers to lean manufacturing implementation for small-scale industries in Himachal region (India)

Special issue published: "Energy and Environmental Impact Assessment"

International Journal of Global Warming 18(3/4) 2019

• Environmental impact assessment of using various fuels in a thermal power plant
• Impact of climate change on indoor environment of historic libraries in Mediterranean climate zone
• Resolving strategic conflict for environmental conservation of glacial ecosystem: an attitudinal conflict resolution approach
• Spatiotemporal variability of climate extremes in the Marmara Region (NW Turkey)
• Thermodynamics performance of cooling pumps based on different sea water temperatures in main engine of a cargo ship
• The impacts of window to wall ratio and window orientation on building energy consumption and CO2 emissions under climate change
• Numerical investigation of valve lifts effects on performance and emissions in diesel engine
• Thermal anomalies in the Mediterranean and in Asia Minor (1951-2010)
• Utilisation and leaching behaviour of lead smelting slag as an additive in cement mortars
• A general framework for adaptation strategies to sea level rise: the case of Turkey
• Are high altitudinal regions warming faster than lower elevations on the Tibetan Plateau?
• Understanding and perceptions of climate change: a perspective of university stakeholders
• Kinetics and mechanism of reaction between carbon disulfide and novel aqueous amines solutions

International Journal of Society Systems Science to invite expanded papers from TEQIP III Sponsored First International Conference on Secure Reconfigurable Architectures and Intelligent Computing (SRAIC 2019) for potential publication

Extended versions of papers presented at the TEQIP III Sponsored First International Conference on Secure Reconfigurable Architectures and Intelligent Computing (SRAIC 2019) (28-30 November 2019, India) will be invited for review and potential publication by the International Journal of Society Systems Science.

Special issue published: "Government Initiatives and Policies in India"

International Journal of Public Sector Performance Management 5(3/4) 2019

• Determinants of foreign direct investment in India's service sector
• Antecedents of green consumer behaviour: a study of consumers in a developing country like India
• Gender equality based talent acquisition and retention practices: a study of employees in Delhi-NCR region
• Determinants of inward foreign direct investment in India - a factor analysis approach
• Consumer behaviour and online shopping: the study of online shopping adoption (with reference to Lucknow city)
• The role of Chinese electronics products to sway middle-class buyers
• A study on the impact of various dimensions of conflict in channel relationship and performance
• Signalling role of 2G scam investigation on stock market returns of select telecom companies in India
• Product conspicuousness and reference group influence among women: an empirical analysis
• Urban transport policy in India: a review
• Analysis of effect of perceived cybercrime risk on mobile app payments
• Identification of enablers for CSR implementation using ISM technique
• Locus of control and its impact on stress at work and job satisfaction
• The lead-lag relationship between futures and options market: a study on the financial services sector of NSE Nifty
• A Study of the Effect of Vipassana Meditation Practices on Employees' Satisfaction with Life
• The role of government campaign commercials in shaping government brand equity
• An empirical analysis of money supply, inflation and output: the case of India
• A study on the impact of FDI policy and the foreign exchange management in India

Special issue published: "Digitalisation and Innovation in Logistics Management"

International Journal of Internet Manufacturing and Services 6(3) 2019

• Bluetooth-based positioning techniques for the cold chain application
• Design of intelligent transportation systems for accessible transportation services
• Business intelligence for service parts logistics management
• Simulation analysis of a manufacturing company
• Application of optical character recognition with Tesseract in logistics management

Special issue published: "Concepts and Methodologies for the Next Generation of Modelling and Simulation Techniques in Industry and Logistics"

International Journal of Simulation and Process Modelling 14(3) 2019

• Individualised modelling of affective data for intelligent tutoring systems: lessons learned
• Identifying and modelling correlation between airport weather conditions and additional time in airport arrival sequencing and metering area
• Surrogate-assisted microscopic traffic simulation-based optimisation of routing parameters
• Sustainability in logistic hubs: a decision support system for investigating green practices at container terminals
• Analysing uncertainties and their impacts on deliveries of a logging company: simulation model to foster supply chain resilience
• Microscopic modelling of international (re-)hospitalisation effects in the CEPHOS-LINK setting
• Multidisciplinary development of a simulation of industrial plant disasters designed for improving safety through training and new procedures
• Innovative social networks modelling for population simulation
• Simulation and performance improvement of a reverse logistics system for waste electrical and electronic equipment: a case study in Italy

International Journal of Computer Aided Engineering and Technology to invite expanded papers from International Conference on Intelligent Systems and Advanced Computing Sciences (ISACS'19) for potential publication

Extended versions of papers presented at the International Conference on Intelligent Systems and Advanced Computing Sciences (ISACS'19) (26-27 December 2019, TAZA, Morocco) will be invited for review and potential publication by the International Journal of Computer Aided Engineering and Technology.

Special issue published: "Web-Based Communities and the Emerging Transitions in Politics"

International Journal of Web Based Communities 15(2) 2019

• Likes, comments and shares on social media: exploring user engagement with a state tourism Facebook page
• Citizens' electronic participation: a systematic review of their challenges and how to overcome them
• Arabic language sentiment analysis via cross-language translation
• A fanpage of sexual and reproductive health education with good information quality: youth perception
• Chat-bot-based natural language interface for blogs and information networks
• Extensive use of online social networks: a qualitative analysis of Iranian students' perspectives

Research pick: Waste not, want not - "Waste prevention: a misunderstood concept"

Much of the public is “on-side” when it comes to sort and recycling their rubbish, but what about the more fundamental concept of “waste prevention”. Despite thirty years of efforts, the message has got through about sorting and recycling but not concerning reducing the amount of waste the public generates. Writing in the International Journal of Sustainable Development, Mickaël Dupré of IAE de Brest at the University of Occidental Brittany in France discusses how this situation might be remedied.

In his paper, he explores the social representation of waste prevention in order to identify how people think about this idea. If we can work out what people think of waste prevention it might be possible to find ways for citizens to deal with it. His findings suggest that waste prevention is largely understood as waste sorting. As such, he goes on to formulate some guidelines for the public that steps back from waste sorting and addresses the issue of how they can reduce waste generation in the first place.

“Creating a shared societal vision of waste prevention, therefore, appears as a sensible path to reduce waste. This could come under culture management, confirming the role of culture as a pillar of sustainable development, Dupré concludes.

Dupré, M. (2018) ‘Waste prevention: a misunderstood concept‘, Int. J. Sustainable Development, Vol. 21, Nos. 1/2/3/4, pp.150-169.

Special issue published: "Intelligent Logistics and Supply Chain Systems"

International Journal of Manufacturing Technology and Management 33(3/4) 2019

• The state subdivision of public traffic vehicles based on K-means algorithm
• Technological innovation as a moderating role in the relationship between managerial incentives and tax avoidance in IT and software industry of China
• Dual commitment and subjective well-being: a report from Chinese manufacturing industry
• Profit allocation in agricultural supply chain considering risk factors
• An empirical analysis on the forming mechanism of the innovation capability of service-oriented manufacturing enterprises
• Social capital and its influence on the internationalisation strategy and process of Chinese SME from the manufacturing industry
• Business model of service-driven manufacturing from S-G logic perspective
• Agile approach in multi-criterial decision making

Additional paper

• Automatic abrasive blasting system for large diameter pipe bends

Special issue published: "New Developments in Lifelong Learning Environments"

International Journal of Continuing Engineering Education and Life-Long Learning 29(3) 2019

• Edification in creation of Lattice Boltzmann models for materials science students
• Method for teaching students to make a simple geometric estimation of the macroscopic rotational modes of large deformations during pressure forming
• Development of a math learning system for high school students using the Java desktop platform
• A versatile and flexible e-assessment framework towards more authentic summative examinations in higher-education
• An evaluation of Shiraz University curriculum renewal process based on strategic approach of education for sustainable development
• Recent postdigital transformations of undergraduate learning processes in the study of multidisciplinary materials science

Free open access article available: "Carpooling and the Pan-European emergency call 'eCall 112': connected cars and their potential for environmental and transport policy"

The following paper, "Carpooling and the Pan-European emergency call 'eCall 112': connected cars and their potential for environmental and transport policy" (International Journal of Automotive Technology and Management 19(3/4) 2019) is freely available for download as an open access article.

It can be downloaded via the full-text link available here.

Special issue published: "Big Data Infrastructure and Deep Learning Applications"

International Journal of Big Data Intelligence 6(3/4) 2019

• A computational Bayesian approach for estimating density functions based on noise-multiplied data
• New algorithms for inferring gene regulatory networks from time-series expression data on Apache Spark
• A scalable system for executing and scoring K-means clustering techniques and its impact on applications in agriculture
• Scalable mining, analysis and visualisation of protein-protein interaction networks
• Optimising NBA player signing strategies based on practical constraints and statistics analytics
• Text visualisation for feature selection in online review analysis
• Network traffic driven storage repair
• DeepSim: cluster level behavioural simulation model for deep learning
• MapReduce-based fuzzy very fast decision tree for constructing prediction intervals
• Real-time event search using social stream for inbound tourist corresponding to place and time
• Two-channel convolutional neural network for facial expression recognition using facial parts
• Efficient clustering techniques on Hadoop and Spark
• A hybrid power management schema for multi-tier data centres
• Predicting hospital length of stay using neural networks
• Towards an automation of the fact-checking in the journalistic web context

Research pick: Turning the tables on the terrorists - "Winning the war on terror: using social networking tools and GTD to analyse the regularity of terrorism activities"

It is known that much terrorist activity utilizes the power and immediacy of online social media and social networking tools to coordinate its attacks, rally support and spread the various agendas of the different groups and networks. Writing in the International Journal of Grid and Utility Computing, a team from China explains how we might turn the tables on the terrorists and use those tools to analyse terrorist activity and so make predictions about future scenarios and so have the weapons to thwart them in their malevolent endeavours.

Xuan Guo, Fei Xu, Zhiting Xiao, and Hongguo Yuan of the National University of Defense Technology, Wuhan and colleague Xiaoyuan Yang of the Engineering University of PAP, in Xi’an, have demonstrated how they can look at two kinds of different intelligence sources in China and apply social network analysis and mathematical statistics to understand the information. First, they used the social network analysis tool to construct an activity meta-network for the text information. This allowed them to extract four categories of information: person, places, organisations and time. They could then decompose the intelligence into person-organisation and person-location, organisation-location, organization-time. They then applied statistical methods to this extracted data for the years 1989 to 2015.

The team says that the use of big data can help in combating terrorism whether that emerges from networks and cells within a terrorist organization or even the so-called “lone wolf” attack. We will never eradicate terrorism, but if more attacks can be thwarted through such analysis and the development of predictive tools, then its toll on lives and society as a whole might be reduced.

Guo, X., Xu, F., Xiao, Z., Yuan, H. and Yang, X. (2019) ‘Winning the war on terror: using social networking tools and GTD to analyse the regularity of terrorism activities‘, Int. J. Grid and Utility Computing, Vol. 10, No. 4, pp.422-437.

Special issue published: "Advances in Precision and Micro Manufacturing"

International Journal of Precision Technology 8(2/3/4) 2019

• Modelling of static surface error in end-milling of thin-walled geometries
• High aspects ratio micro-drilling of super-alloys using ultra short pulsed laser
• Development of an ultrasonic vibration assisted minimum quantity lubrication system for Ti-6Al-4V grinding
• Contact behaviour of elastic abrasive spheres during self-centring type magneto-mechanical deployment for internal bore finishing
• Micro-EDM performance of Inconel 718 superalloy with and without ultrasonic vibration
• Force analysis during spot finishing of titanium alloy using novel tool in magnetic field assisted finishing process
• Fabrication of high aspect ratio cylindrical tungsten micro tool by reverse micro-ECM process
• Electrochemical discharge machining of soda lime glass for MEMS applications
• Influence of wire feed rate on microslit width fabricated by wire ECM process
• Localised electrochemical co-deposition of copper-nickel using liquid marbles
• Femtosecond laser assisted generation of micro-dimples on moly-chrome film for improving its tribology
• Fibre laser cutting of thick closed cell aluminium foam: morphological analysis and its parametric optimisation
• Nickel stamp fabrication using SU-8 lithography for micro hot-embossing serpentine microfluidic channels
• The influence of deep cryogenic treatment and in-situ cryogenic micro turning of Ti-6Al-4V on cutting forces, surface integrity and chip morphology
• Molecular dynamics simulation of mechanical polishing
• Experimental investigations on the effect of relative particle sizes of abrasive and iron powder in polishing fluid composition for ball end MR finishing of copper
• Effect of polishing fluid composition on forces in ball end magnetorheological finishing process
• Investigation into suitability of electrolytes during surface micro-texturing by electrochemical micromachining
• Constant work gap perpetuation in ball end magnetorheological finishing process
• Investigation of tool-workpiece interaction in nanoscale cutting: a molecular dynamics study 
• In situ geometric measurement of microchannels on EN31 steel by laser micromachining using confocal sensor

Special issue published: "Advancements in Renewable Energy"

Progress in Industrial Ecology, An International Journal 13(3) 2019

• Improvement in wind energy production through condition monitoring of wind turbine blades using vibration signatures and ARMA features: a data-driven approach
• Selection of a meta classifier-data model for classifying wind turbine blade fault conditions using histogram features and vibration signals: a data-mining study
• Consequences of exhaust gas temperature on emissions in CI engine fuelled with Calophyllum inophyllum methyl ester blends with diesel
• Influence of tilt angle on energy yields and performance ratios of grid connected photovoltaic generators in Southeast Asia
• Experimental investigation on a coconut coir packed humidifier for a solar desalination plant
• Performance, emission and combustion analysis of diesel engine fuelled with emulsified biodiesel
• Improving the performance and emission of CI engine using biofuel (Botryococcus)

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of System Control and Information Processing

The following sample articles from the International Journal of System Control and Information Processing are now available here for free:

• The coordinated controller design for dual excitation and steam valve of synchronous generator
• A pricing strategy for demand-side regulation with direct load control: a nonconvex optimisation approach
• Optimal design of two-degree-of-freedom control scheme for non-minimum phase processes with time delay
• Development of algorithm for different programmable modes for a prototype of orthotic ambulatory device for gait rehabilitation
• Single-wheel robot modelling using natural orthogonal complement
• Formation of heterogeneous multi-agent systems under min-weighted persistent graph
• An improved single neuron self-adaptive PID control scheme of superheated steam temperature control system

Special issue published: "Synergistic Approach in IR4.0 for Product Technology Development"

International Journal of Materials and Product Technology 59(1) 2019

• Characterisation of microstructure, mechanical properties and fracture mode of the dissimilar joining of AISI 304 stainless steel and DP780 dual phase steel by resistance spot welding
• Effect of ball milling time on the properties of nickel oxide-samarium-doped cerium composite anodes for solid oxide fuel cells
• Characterising the strength of solid and honeycomb geometrical plates under quasi-static loading
• A systemic study on hydroforming process of exhaust pipe by FE simulation and experiment
• Characterisation of four-layered Al-Al2O3 functionally graded material prepared through powder metallurgy and pressureless sintering
• The weighting of product design specification for a composite side-door impact beam using the analytic hierarchy process method
• Synthesis of carbon nanoparticles from tyre pyrolysis oil using CO2 laser and their characterisation

Research pick: How to avoid cloudbusting - "An improved public auditing protocol for cloud storage integrity checking"

Individuals, corporations, organizations, and even governments now utilize cloud storage for their data. It provides a readily accessible, often distributed, remote, and robust way to stockpile digital resources without having to invest directly in the requisite and often vulnerable hardware nor to find the facilities to house that hardware. Writing in the International Journal of Web and Grid Services, a team from China is developing an improved public auditing protocol for cloud storage integrity checking. This would allow data integrity to be checked on cloud servers in order to ensure no data is lost.

Jindan Zhang and Baocang Wang of the State Key Laboratory of Integrated Service Networks at Xidian University, have shown that it is possible to carry out a software attack on the earlier auditing protocols that makes those approaches wholly vulnerable to malicious third parties. Having thus demonstrated the pitfalls of earlier technology, the team has now developed a much stronger and far less vulnerable protocol.

Given how cloud data storage now underpins much of government and business as well as providing ease of backup and accessibility for millions of individuals as well as websites and other systems, it is critical that public auditing become transparent and viable as well as mostly invulnerable to hackers and other malicious third parties.

Zhang, J. and Wang, B. (2019) ‘An improved public auditing protocol for cloud storage integrity checking’, Int. J. Web and Grid Services, Vol. 15, No. 3, pp.282–303.

Special issue published: "Who Drives the Change? New and Traditional Players in the Global Automotive Sector" [includes free OA article]

International Journal of Automotive Technology and Management 19(3/4) 2019

• Global supply chains and intangible assets in the automotive and aeronautical industries
• Incremental and 'radical' innovation in an emergent country automotive subsidiary: is there any organisational ambidexterity there?
• Reorienting electric mobility research focus on industrialisation issues
• The trajectory of China's new energy vehicles policy
• The existing and the emerging: car ownership and car sharing on the road towards sustainable mobility

Additional papers

• New business models and the sharing economy: impacts and challenges for the traditional automotive industry
• Consumer-brand relationship development in the automotive market: an integrative model
• Carpooling and the Pan-European emergency call 'eCall 112': connected cars and their potential for environmental and transport policy [FREE OPEN ACCESS PAPER]

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Sustainable Development

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

• Green grabbing debate and Madagascar: did we learn anything?
• Re-imagining the future for desert Australia: designing an integrated pathway for enhancing liveability
• Implementing integrated community sustainability planning: a comparative case study of three mid-sized municipalities in Ontario, Canada
• On 'green governance'
• Drivers of environmental trajectories: a case study of Poitou-Charentes companies
• Do non-technological innovations and CSR matter for environmental innovation? An empirical analysis of a sample of innovators
• Electric mobility analysis: contributions from sociology
• Enhancing sustainable mobility through a multimodal platform: would travellers pay for it?
• Consumers' willingness to pay for sustainable and innovative products: a choice experiment with upgradeable products

Special issue published: "Sustainable Entrepreneurship"

International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management 23(4) 2019

• Work integration social enterprises as symbols of sustainable entrepreneurship: evidence from Spanish case studies
• Catalysts of university social responsibility into strategic planning by thematic analysis and deductive coding
• Corporate responsibility in the fast fashion industry: how media pressure affected corporate disclosure following the collapse of Rana Plaza
• Management style and innovation of females in gender-atypical businesses
• The impact of institutions on SMEs' innovation in transition economies
• Entrepreneurs' views on corporate social responsibility communication in SMEs - insights from Germany

Research pick: Fixing fake facts - "Towards an automation of the fact-checking in the journalistic web context"

In the era of so-called “Fake News” can good old-fashioned journalistic fact-checking be automated in order to reduce its detrimental impact on society, politics, and civilization in general? Writing in the International Journal of Big Data Intelligence, a team from Senegal, hope to answer that question. It is worth pointing out that propaganda and misinformation have always existed and have been exploited to pursue a political or other agenda since humanity first communicated.

However, the advent of the internet and social media, in particular, meant that misinformation can spread very rapidly and reach far more people across the globe in a matter of seconds. This is very different to the rate of misinformation spread that occurred up to the digital age. Even the invention of the radio, cinema, and television did not have quite the far-reaching impact of the incredibly familiar and ubiquitous information sources hundreds of millions of people rely on every day now – Google, Facebook, and Twitter, for example.

In recent years, politicians, companies, activists, and terrorist groups have exploited this facile means of spreading propaganda, misinformation, and fake news. Now, the pressure must be exerted that we might reduce the deleterious effects it has on society. Edouard Ngor Sarr of the University of Thies and colleagues there and in the Department of Computer Sciences, Supdeco Dakar have reviewed the state-of-the-art in approaches that might help automate fact-checking in data journalism. They conclude that automated methods can be very powerful but there will always remain a need for human intervention to assess the bottom line and decide whether something is fake or fact in the context of the data journalistic web.

Sarr, E.N., Sall, O., Maiga, A. and Diallo, M.S. (2019) ‘Towards an automation of the fact-checking in the journalistic web context‘, Int. J. Big Data Intelligence, Vol. 6, Nos. 3/4, pp.307-321.

Research pick: Dental decay and flavoured water - "The impact of flavoured mineral water drinks and sugar substitutes available on the Polish market on exogenic erosion of teeth enamel – in vitro study: preliminary results"

A laboratory study published in the International Journal of Environment and Health looks at the effects of flavoured mineral water drinks and sugar substitutes on the exogenic erosion of tooth enamel. Given that many more people drink flavoured sugar solutions today than ever before, there is the likelihood of an emerging dental crisis. However, the switch to sugar substitutes might not be the answer to this problem, the researchers suggest.

Anna Lewandowska and Marzena Joanna Kuras of the Medical University of Warsaw in Poland investigated several drinks available in Poland. They considered pH, titratable acidity and the concentration of phosphorus in the various flavoured mineral waters on the market. They also used solutions of xylitol, erythritol, stevia, and glucose-fructose to see what effect such sweeteners have on exogenous erosion of tooth enamel in the laboratory, with a view to understanding how that might affect dental health in the outside world.

Both flavoured mineral water and sweeteners tested in this study cause exogenous erosion of enamel according to the results of phosphorus released from hydroxyapatite,” the team explains. It is worrying that they discovered that “The erosive potential of the tested sugar substitutes concerned as beneficial for our health was similar to the glucose-fructose syrup.”

The team adds that “replacing glucose-fructose syrup with another sweetener has no beneficial effect on the exogenous erosion,” Indeed, “Any type of sweetener enhances the exogenous erosion potential of the solution [because of the drink’s] low pH.

Lewandowska, A. and Kuras, M.J. (2019) ‘The impact of flavoured mineral water drinks and sugar substitutes available on the Polish market on exogenic erosion of teeth enamel – in vitro study: preliminary results‘, Int. J. Environment and Health, Vol. 9, No. 3, pp.213-223.

Research pick: Maturing social media analysis - "ocial media analytics: a tool for the success of online retail industry"

Online social media analytics is a powerful tool to boost e-commerce, according to a new study published in the International Journal of Services Operations and Informatics. Ogunmola Gabriel Ayodeji and Vikas Kumar of the School of Business Studies, at Sharda University, in Greater Noida, India, explain how social media apps and websites are almost ubiquitous in the lives of many people around the world now. There are more active members of some of these services than there are people in even the most populace of nations.

Businesses can instantaneously share information with their customers and clients. But, the greatest benefits to the commercial world can only come if those businesses are fully aware of how their social media presence sits within the wider context and how their customers and future customers are affected and interact with the online presence of that business.

The team explains how there are different phases of the social media analytics process and that this has to become integrated with the companies’ online retail strategy. The paper discusses the challenges and the opportunities.

“SMA metrics for customer life-cycle (acquisition to enhancement) are discussed, the team writes. They then make a comparative analysis of different analytical tools to identify which can be used to the best advantage in the online retail environment. The team points out that the tools are still in their infancy, whether free or paid and proprietary. They must be developed further to allow the approach to online retail to mature.

Ayodeji, O.G. and Kumar, V. (2019) ‘Social media analytics: a tool for the success of online retail industry‘, Int. J. Services Operations and Informatics, Vol. 10, No. 1, pp.79-95.

Research pick: Is Peak P a problem? - "Is phosphorus really a scarce resource?"

Chemists and materials scientists have been worried about the elements for many years. Some precious metals are, by virtue of their very nature, hard to come by. They are found in remote reserves and often in places with interesting politics that might preclude access to those resources for some companies. Other non-metal elements, such as helium are also dwindling. Ultimately, we may run out of some elements on which we rely for modern electronics and computing systems and the cooling for the superconducting magnets in magnetic resonance imaging MRI) machines, in the case of helium. Another element around which the alarm bells are ringing is the critically important phosphorus which is essential for agriculture.

Writing in the International Journal of Environmental Technology and Management, a team from Germany asks the important question: Is phosphorus really a scarce resource?

They explain that this is a QTWAIN – a question to which the answer is no – phosphorus abundant. However, the extraction of more than 90 percent of the supply is not feasible with current technology and economic and political limitations. In 2007/2008 there was a price spike in this commodity that triggered a debate around the notion of “peak P” just as we have had with “peak oil”. The team argues that the peak P crisis was one of economics and politics rather than an actual scarcity of the element, or more specifically, the mineral from which it might be extracted to be used in agricultural fertilizer manufacture.

The team adds that better recycling and management practices are already in hand to sustain phosphorus so that for the foreseeable future there is no need to consider peak P or any other claims as a crisis. Indeed, recycling phosphorus could actually become more economically viable than acquiring and processing virgin resources.

Köhn, J., Zimmer, D. and Leinweber, P. (2018) ‘Is phosphorus really a scarce resource?‘, Int. J. Environmental Technology and Management, Vol. 21, Nos. 5/6, pp.373-395.

Research pick: Using geothermal to cool your home - "Thermodynamic analysis and assessment of a geothermal cooling system for a house"

Geothermal energy can be used to sustainably keep a house cool in notoriously hot parts of the world, thanks to the design of a new cooling system by researchers in Italy and Turkey. Writing in the International Journal of Exergy, the team explains how their vapour absorption chiller (VAC) was designed to meet the cooling demands of a 140 square metre, detached family home in Izmir, Turkey.

Hot geothermal fluid from deep beneath the house is transported to the VAC in which water and ammonia are used as an absorbent and a refrigerant, respectively. The system runs at temperatures of 30, 90, and 2 degrees Celsius at the condenser, boiler, and evaporator. The system runs at an equivalent of about 4.5 kilowatts based on cooling load calculations.

Under optimal conditions, the team estimates that costs would be offset by electricity saved running a conventional air-conditioning unit within six and a half years. This takes into account an up-front estimated cost of US$3500. Moreover, the use of sustainable energy to drive the system means a greatly reduced carbon footprint.

It is critical as we face rising global average temperatures and sharply rising local temperatures because of anthropogenic climate change, that we find alternative, sustainable ways to keep people cool in their homes without simply burning more fossil fuels to generate electricity to do so.

Ozcan, B., Aykurt, I.E., Akpak, M., Tacer, T., Yildirim, N., Hepbasli, A. and Ozcan, H.G. (2019) ‘Thermodynamic analysis and assessment of a geothermal cooling system for a house‘, Int. J. Exergy, Vol. 29, Nos. 2/3/4, pp.350-369.

Research pick: Medical drones for accident and emergency - "Drone transportation cost analysis for emergency medical products"

Remote or computer-controlled aircraft, commonly referred to as “drones” could revolutionize the way in which emergency medical supplies, such as bags of blood plasma, are delivered to areas hit by disaster, accidents or other life-threatening situations. Of course, drones are costly and require skilled operators. Writing in the International Journal of Business Continuity and Risk Management, a team from the USA has undertaken a cost analysis of using drones for this purpose.

The team hoped to show that the delivery of emergency supplies using drones is economically viable in the context of road-traffic accidents. By looking at a range of scenarios where drones might be used the team’s cost analysis supports their hopes, especially as the timely use of drones rather than ground vehicles could ultimately be a matter of life and death. Their particular focus could readily be generalized to other emergency situations given adequate additional data and the construction of appropriate scenarios for other types of emergency.

The team’s analysis focused on two locations in Florida, one near Tampa, the other near Orlando. Both areas have at least one fatality every week due to a road traffic accident and so an improvement in the medical response in those areas could have a significant impact on total lives lost each year in the state. Of course, a road traffic accident will inevitably increase the level of congestion on already congested road networks and make it more difficult for paramedics and ambulances to reach the accident quickly. The use of drones could allow equipment and supplies to get to a site where paramedics may well have arrived on a motorbike, for instance.

Poudel, S.R., Chowdhury, S., Marufuzzaman, M., Bian, L., Mudbari, M. and Pradhan, G. (2019) ‘Drone transportation cost analysis for emergency medical products‘, Int. J. Business Continuity and Risk Management, Vol. 9, No. 3, pp.251-282.

Research pick: Machine learning about glaucoma - "A new intelligent system for glaucoma disease detection"

Untreated glaucoma is a major cause of sight loss. There are several forms and they are all essentially caused by damage to the optic nerve due to increased pressure within the eye. A collaboration between scientists in Algeria and Belgium has led to a new “intelligent system” for glaucoma detection that promises to help diagnose the condition sooner rather than later and allow patients to be treated in a timely manner and their sight saved.

Mohammed El Amine Lazouni and Amel Feroui of the Biomedical Engineering Laboratory, at Abou Bekr Belkaid Tlemcen University in Tlemcen, Algeria and Saïd Mahmoudi of the Computer Science Department at the University of Mons, in Belgium discuss their approach in detail in the International Journal of Computer Aided Engineering and Technology.

Technically, glaucoma originates from an increase in the intraocular pressure (IOP). In the healthy eye, the aqueous humour behind the cornea is maintained in equilibrium with and equal quantity of liquid being discharged by the eye and this region refilled with fluid continuously. However, in glaucoma the rate of flow of liquid out of this cavity is slower than the flow into the space and the pressure within rise, putting damaging pressure on the optic nerve. Open-angle glaucoma is the most common form but another condition called normal tension glaucoma can be just as debilitating. Closed-angle glaucoma is considered a medical emergency. The most common form causes no pain, but gradually leads to damage of one’s peripheral vision and ultimately the whole field of vision, causing complete blindness.

The team’s approach involves one of the standard tests for the early stages of glaucoma measuring the ratio of cup to disc measurements of the retina. Machine learning built on a database of these ratios allows an early diagnosis for a new patient to be made very quickly and accurately, almost 9%%. Such accuracy would allow the ophthalmologist to make a much more precise estimate of glaucoma risk for their patient.

Lazouni, M.E.A., Feroui, A. and Mahmoudi, S. (2019) ‘A new intelligent system for glaucoma disease detection‘, Int. J. Computer Aided Engineering and Technology, Vol. 11, Nos. 4/5, pp.613-633.

International Journal of Innovation and Sustainable Development to invite expanded papers from ARTEM OCC conference 2020 for potential publication

Extended versions of papers presented at the ARTEM OCC conference 2020 (19-21 March 2020, Chemnitz University of Technology in Chemnitz, Germany) will be invited for review and potential publication by the International Journal of Innovation and Sustainable Development.

Research pick: Text messaging to Whatsapp – Early adopters and inertia

Text messaging remains an important means of electronic communication for many people requiring only the simplest connection to the cell phone network. Nevertheless, other more sophisticated tools such as Whatsapp are increasingly prevalent given their multimedia capabilities and the near ubiquity of smartphones and almost universal wireless broadband connectivity in major towns and cities and beyond. Julian Bühler and Markus Bick Chair of Business Information Systems at the ESCP Europe Business School Berlin, Germany, ask what influences how quickly such technologies are adopted in different parts of the world and how the novel displaces the old.

Writing in the International Journal of Mobile Communications, the team has looked at the use of text messaging and Whatsapp and how these have a cultural impact on mobile commerce in two countries: the United Kingdom and Russia. Fundamentally, the team found, the expectations of users in the UK are higher than those in Russia when interacting with mobile commerce sites. This is particularly true of user expectations for hedonic services. It seems, however, that social surroundings actually play a minor role in the user decision-making process. UK users are often early adopters especially in the hedonic sphere seeking out new technology whereas Russian users maintain inertia with the initial services and systems and stay with them in the long term. When Russian users do change they are eager and keen to try out all the new functionality of a service.

The team suggests that their findings have implications for how companies hoping to introduce new technology and services might assess the putative market. They should introduce the service in the UK first as a testing ground for early adoption and move to the Russian market if the UK proves enthusiastic.

Bühler, J. and Bick, M. (2019) ‘From text messages to WhatsApp: cultural effects on m-commerce service adoption in the UK and Russia‘, Int. J. Mobile Communications, Vol. 17, No. 4, pp.441-464.

Research pick: "Environmental uncertainty and corporate social responsibility"

There is a significant negative correlation between environmental uncertainty and corporate social responsibility, according to a study published in the International Journal of Business and Systems Research. The conclusion drawn from 23 years of data associated with more than 3000 companies in the USA suggests that an ethics view should be taken when it comes to corporate social responsibility rather than allowing a changing environment to determine whether or not a company makes a positive ethical decision or not.

Brian Chabowski and Li Sun of the Collins College of Business at the University of Tulsa, in Oklahoma and Sharon Xuerong of the Huang Miller College of Business at Ball State University, in Muncie, Indiana, explain that their insights could offer policymakers solid guidance on taking an ethical stance rather than allowing the business environment to steer policy. A new ethical stance could provide clearer and more positive approaches to employee lay-offs, union relations, health & safety, retirement benefits, as well as recycling, pollution limitation and clean energy, and even in some instances human rights, whether those of indigenous people in the company’s own country.

“To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study that performs a direct empirical test on the relationship between environmental uncertainty and corporate social responsibility (CSR),” the team writes. “Overall, our study shows that managers engage in less CSR activities when in an uncertain environment,” they add. This is perhaps to be expected after all CSR might be costly and when markets are not in favour of a particular company then cuts have to be made. However, the team suggests that there are practical implications that would preclude the need for a company to abandon its ethical stance and instead simply temper its CSR to some degree when the firm is faced with a volatile environment.

Chabowski, B., Huang, S.X. and Sun, L. (2019) ‘Environmental uncertainty and corporate social responsibility‘, Int. J. Business and Systems Research, Vol. 13, No. 3, pp.364-389.

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Global Energy Issues

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Global Energy Issues are now available here for free:

• Are US gasoline price responses asymmetric? Another look
• Growth in transport sector CO2 emissions in Tunisia: an analysis using a bounds testing approach
• Understanding volatility and leverage effects in bunker markets
• Energy transition: between economic opportunity and the need for financing?
• Attributes of a viable policy for the Vietnam electricity sector: opinions of stakeholders
• Thermal energy storage using phase change materials: a way forward J
• Electricity retail competition: the case of the UK
• Investigating the price linkage between the Asian LNG spot and East Asian LNG prices and its implications
• Optimal management of an oil exploitation
• On the relationship between liquid commodities and financial variables: a Bayesian VAR approach
• Oil price shocks and OECD equity markets: distinguishing between supply and demand effects
• Fuel taxes and consumer behaviour: a Markov-switching approach
• Regional analysis of the relationship between CO2 emissions and financial development

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Services Operations and Informatics

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Services Operations and Informatics are now available here for free:

• An extension of importance-performance analysis method: integrated with fuzzy MICMAC
• Energy-performance optimisation for the dynamic consolidation of virtual machines in cloud computing
• The impact of information and communication technologies on bilateral trade in services
• Value evaluation method of industrial product-service based on customer perception
• Managing service performance based on multidimensional and categorical satisfaction data

Special issue published: "Developments in Technology Management Using Fuzzy Set Techniques"

International Journal of Technology, Policy and Management 19(2) 2019

• Evolution of the business and management research in Chile
• Classic colouring problems as special cases of the soft graph colouring model
• Realising the potential of virtual world-based simulations in higher education: a visual perspective
• Does natural language perform better than formal systems? Results from a fuzzy agent-based model
• A systematic overview of the prediction of business failure

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Learning Technology

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

• Social recommender approach for technology-enhanced learning
• The effect of technology supported teaching on students' academic achievement: a combined meta-analytic and thematic study
• Forecasting students' success in an open university
• MathSpeak: a non-ambiguous language for audio rendering of MathML

Special section published: "Review on Change Technology and Knowledge Management"

International Journal of Project Organisation and Management 11(2) 2019

• Testing the reciprocal relationship between quality of work life and subjective well-being: a path analysis model
• Explore relationship between total quality management and CMMI in software development organisations: a study of Chandigarh and Mohali
• Knowledge sharing practice in project-oriented organisations: a practical framework based on project life cycle and project management body of knowledge

Regular papers

• Participatory monitoring and evaluation in development projects of Bangladesh
• Relationships of economic decision-making and risk in the project environment: insights from the literature

International Journal of Grid and Utility Computing to invite expanded papers from Information Technology Trend 2019 for potential publication

Extended versions of papers presented at the Information Technology Trend 2019 (ITT 2019) (20-21 November 2019, HCT-Ras Al Khaimah Women's campus, UAE) will be invited for review and potential publication by the International Journal of Grid and Utility Computing.

Special issue published: "Ecological Economics in Developing and Transition Countries"

International Journal of Environmental Technology and Management 21(5/6) 2018

• The impact of economic performance on environmental quality in developing countries
• Consumer behaviour change through education for sustainable development: case of Latvia
• Decoupling of GDP and air pollution in the Czech Republic: trend analysis and policy story behind
• Economic and social dimensions of ecological conflicts: root causes, risks, prevention and mitigation measures
• The impact of environmental determinants of sustainable agriculture on country food security
• Integral assessment of national economy sustainable development
• Corporate environmentalism: an assessment of sustainability reporting among firms in Ghana
• National culture and attitude to ecology: on the example of Ukraine and Mongolia
• Regional differentiation of electricity prices: social-equitable approach
• Is phosphorus really a scarce resource?
• The main trends of innovation capacity influence on environmental situation: the case of Ukraine and Poland
• The concept of sustainability and regional development integration on the northeast coast of Brazil: the case of Pecém Beach-Ceará
• Biogas as an alternative energy source in Ukraine and Israel: current issues and benefits

Research pick: Shoring up coastal defences - "Lifetime wave overtopping assessment of coastal defences under changing environments"

Throughout civilisation, coastal defences have been an issue for those people who live by the sea. Now, climate change and its implications for rising sea levels make the issue increasingly pressing for more and more people. Research published in the International Journal of Lifecycle Performance Engineering, discusses the issue of over-topping of sea defences in the face of a changing environment.

Mehrdad Bahari Mehrabani of the Department of Engineering Science at the University of Greenwich, in Chatham, Kent, UK and Hua-Peng Chen of East China Jiaotong University, Jiangxi, China, have looked at how our changing climate makes it all the more urgent to find ways of assessing coastal defences and ensuring that they are maintained not only on a critical schedule but can be re-engineered on an ad hoc basis when time and tide require it.

Earth sea dykes of the kind that edge lowland coasts and protect towns and cities and the people that live and work on land reclaimed from the sea or vulnerable former marshland, are widespread. Higher than normal tides, storm conditions, and rising sea levels all conspire to breach such sea dykes. The team has demonstrated that it might be possible to predict the demise of a given sea dyke given particular conditions and so offer the possibility of shoring up and improving such coastal defences before problems arise.

Mehrabani, M.B. and Chen, H-P. (2019) ‘Lifetime wave overtopping assessment of coastal defences under changing environments‘, Int. J. Lifecycle Performance Engineering, Vol. 3, No. 2, pp.93-110.

Special issue published: "Big Data Engineering: Recent Advances in Intelligent Methods, Methodologies and Techniques"

International Journal of Data Mining, Modelling and Management 11(3) 2019

• Allegories for database modelling
• A grammar-based approach for XML schema extraction and heterogeneous document integration
• Towards a comparative evaluation of text-based specification formalisms and diagrammatic notations
• Effective and efficient distributed management of big clinical data: a framework

International Journal of Spatio-Temporal Data Science to invite expanded papers from International Conference on Artificial Intelligence & Applications (ICAIA-2019) for potential publication

Extended versions of papers presented at the International Conference on Artificial Intelligence & Applications (ICAIA-2019) (20-21 November 2019, College of Engineering Roorkee, Roorkee, India) will be invited for review and potential publication by the International Journal of Spatio-Temporal Data Science.

Special issue published: "Investigations into Global and Local Response of Solids Subjected to Multi-Scale Time Dependent Loading"

International Journal of Materials and Structural Integrity 13(1/2/3) 2019

• Nonlinear analysis of FGM plates using generalised higher order shear deformation theory
• Higher order Hermite enriched contact finite elements for adhesive contact problems
• Comparative study of algorithms to handle geometric and material nonlinearities
• Wavelet-based finite element simulation of guided waves containing harmonics
• A new 3D finite element for the finite deformation of nearly incompressible hyperelastic solids
• Filler shape and volume fraction effect on dynamic compression behaviour of glass filler reinforced epoxy composites
• Effect of obliquity on ballistic impact response of plain-woven fabric
• Mixed mode stress intensity factors of slanted edge cracked plate with hole subjected to various in-plane loadings using XFEM
• Numerical investigation of crack growth in AISI type 316LN stainless steel weld joint using GTN damage model
• Crystal plasticity-based creep model for solution-strengthened nickel-based alloys
• Cyclic electromechanical response of poly(vinylidene fluoride)
• Effect of soot on tribological properties of steel and ceramic contacts
• Experimental characterisation of leak through elastomer-metal interface

International Journal of Comparative Management to invite expanded papers from 19th Consortium of Students in Management Research (COSMAR 2019) for potential publication

Extended versions of papers presented at the 19th Consortium of Students in Management Research (COSMAR 2019) (28-29 November 2019, Indian Institute of Science Bangalore, India) will be invited for review and potential publication by the International Journal of Comparative Management.

Special issue published: "Technological Innovation for Sustainable Development"

International Journal of Innovation and Sustainable Development 13(3/4) 2019

• A dialectic on innovation and sustainability
• Noospheric thinking and problems of sustainable development of territories
• Leveraging new product innovation through R&D practices in engineering manufacturing sector: a study in Indian context
• The impact of dimensions of sustainable development on the acceptance of organisational innovations (case study: Iran electronics industries)
• Organisational readiness evaluation on sustainable IT management in the Brazilian context
• Towards sustainable rice processing: a case of Republic of Benin
• A framework proposal for sustainability management in wine industry
• Energy transition: the nexus between poverty and CO2 emissions in Brazil
• Consolidation of the wind energy sector in the Brazilian electricity matrix: opportunities, advantages and challenges
• Waste water treatment plant energy conversion technologies comparison

Additional papers

• A comparison of proactive and reactive environmental strategies in green product innovation
• Innovations for sustainability: challenges of utilising sustainability-related knowledge
• Ecosystem services valuation by pioneering companies

Research pick: Validating medical information on social media - "Finding and validating medical information shared on Twitter: experiences using a crowdsourcing approach"

Medical information and healthcare advice abound on the internet, both genuine, science-based information as well as spurious and fake. Research published in the International Journal of Web Engineering and Technology, looks to using a crowd-sourcing approach to the validation of medication information on one particular niche of the internet – the well-known microblogging platform known as Twitter.

Scott Duberstein, Daniel Adomako Asamoah, Derek Doran, and Shu Schiller of Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, point out that social media, of which Twitter can be said to be one of the popular, can be a very useful place to gather information. However, it remains challenging for the lay person to know whether the information they glean from such a system is valid or whether, in the parlance of the modern political vernacular, it is “fake news”. This might not matter so much when the information pertains to celebrity gossip, but it is important in the political realm, and very often a matter of life and death when the subject is medicine.

The team has attempted to develop a system that might automate the validation of information on the internet and specifically Twitter. It utilises the Amazon Mechanical Turk (AMT) crowdsourcing platform and focused, as a proof of principle, on information about major depressive disorder, an important medical condition that is frequently discussed on social media. “The core of our approach entailed the design of a custom survey and the use of a crowdsourcing mechanism to generate a collective understanding and validation of the information collected,” the team writes.

The team has demonstrated that it is possible to use crowdsourcing to successfully extract and validate information about a specific medical topic from a platform like Twitter. They suggest that the same approach might be extended to other medical topics, and perhaps beyond and to other platforms that carry a large body of unvalidated information that might be tested and validated or otherwise. Automation of some aspects of the processing would remove the risk of human error at various stages. It might even be possible for the algorithms employed to differentiate between valid statements and ironic ones that might, with earlier approaches, be confused.

Duberstein, S.J., Asamoah, D.A., Doran, D. and Schiller, S.Z. (2019) ‘Finding and validating medical information shared on Twitter: experiences using a crowdsourcing approach‘, Int. J. Web Engineering and Technology, Vol. 14, No. 1, pp.80-98.

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Innovative Computing and Applications

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Innovative Computing and Applications are now available here for free:

• Hybrid algorithms for 3-SAT optimisation using MapReduce on clouds
• Blind hyperspectral unmixing by non-parametric non-Gaussianity measure
• RAJIVE: restricting the abuse of JavaScript injection vulnerabilities on cloud data centre by sensing the violation in expected workflow of web applications
• Dual neighbourhood discrete artificial bee colony algorithm for the convex polygons packing problem with constraints of equilibrium

Special issue published: "Computer Aided Inventive Computational Techniques"

International Journal of Computer Aided Engineering and Technology 11(4/5) 2019

• A novel approach for feature fatigue analysis using HMM stemming and adaptive invasive weed optimisation with hybrid firework optimisation method
• Design considerations and construction of a solar pond for efficient energy harvesting using a fuzzy controlled TEG
• Investigation of methodical framework for cross-platform mobile application development: significance of Codename One
• OntoCommerce: an ontology focused semantic framework for personalised product recommendation for user targeted e-commerce
• Performance comparison of SDN OpenFlow controllers
• Road segmentation and tracking on Indian road scenes
• Advanced prediction of learner's profile based on Felder-Silverman learning styles using web usage mining approach and fuzzy c-means algorithm
• Forecasting and enhancing universities navigation outline procedure from web log data
• A safety system for school children using GRAG
• An android-based hardware system for accident avoidance and detection on sharp turns
• Computer aided software integrated automated safety system
• A smooth three-dimensional reconstruction of human head from minimally selected computed tomography slices
• A new high performance empirical model for software cost estimation
• A new intelligent system for glaucoma disease detection

Free open access article available: "Autonomous leader-follower formation control of non-holonomic wheeled mobile robots by incremental path planning and sliding mode augmented tracking control"

The following paper, "Autonomous leader-follower formation control of non-holonomic wheeled mobile robots by incremental path planning and sliding mode augmented tracking control" (International Journal of Systems, Control and Communications 10(3) 2019) is freely available for download as an open access article.

It can be downloaded via the full-text link available here.

Research pick: Is Bitcoin the new gold standard or another fiat? - "Cryptocurrencies, Fiat money or gold standard: empirical evidence from volatility structure analysis using news impact curve"

A statistical analysis of volatility in cryptocurrencies has been carried out using a news impact curve. The analysis provides empirical evidence that could help economists decide whether these modern digital currencies are trust-based but intrinsically worthless like the “fiat” paper money system of familiar currencies we use or the new “gold standard”. The research team offers details of their analysis and their conclusions in the International Journal of Monetary Economics and Finance.

Anwar Hasan Abdullah Othman, Syed Musa Alhabshi, and Razali Haron of the IIUM Institute of Islamic Banking and Finance at the International Islamic University Malaysia, in Kuala Lumpur, explain that trading in Bitcoin, perhaps the most well known of the cryptocurrencies is more on a par with trading in precious metals, specifically gold, as opposed to trading in hard currency. The analysis shows that the volatility and response to economic shockwaves are similar for Bitcoin and gold but that hard currency, such as the US dollar, responds differently in terms of how value changes with the ups and downs of trading and the wider economic conditions.

The team adds that their analysis supports the notion that Bitcoin and gold represent safe-haven assets and could be exploited in hedging against market risk especially during ebullient economic times. “Evidence suggests that cryptocurrency is a potential alternative to the current fiat money system,” the team writes, “offering benefits to policymakers and a good investment option for positional investors in terms of hedging, portfolio diversification strategy, and risk management.”

The next step with this research will be to extend a similar analytical processing to other cryptocurrencies to determine whether or not these conclusions might be generalized beyond Bitcoin.

Othman, A.H.A., Alhabshi, S.M. and Haron, R. (2019) ‘Cryptocurrencies, Fiat money or gold standard: empirical evidence from volatility structure analysis using news impact curve‘, Int. J. Monetary Economics and Finance, Vol. 12, No. 2, pp.75-97.

Special issue published: "Decision Analytics in Port and Shipping Logistics"

International Journal of Shipping and Transport Logistics 11(4) 2019

• The impact of operational strategies on vessel handling times: a simulation approach
• A statistical forecasting model applied to container throughput in a multi-port gateway system: the Barcelona-Tarragona-Valencia case
• Development of a maritime safety management database using relational database approach
• Selection of logistics service modes in e-commerce based on multi-oligopolies Cournot competition

Special issue published: "Recent Advances in Memetic Computing"

International Journal of Innovative Computing and Applications 10(1) 2019

• An enhanced cuckoo search using dimension selection
• A new artificial bee colony based on neighbourhood selection
• A novel firefly algorithm with self-adaptive step strategy
• One-dimensional deep learning firefly algorithm guided by the best particle
• Gaussian bare-bones firefly algorithm
• Hand motions recognition based on sEMG nonlinear feature and time domain feature fusion
• Dynamic HypE for solving single objective optimisation problems
• A hybrid binary harmony search algorithm for solving the winner determination problem

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Materials and Structural Integrity

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Materials and Structural Integrity are now available here for free:

• Nonlinear finite element analysis of steel lined reinforced concrete penstock laid on downstream surface of dam
• Optimisation design and structure analysis of large-scale prestressed rectangular aqueduct
• AHP coupled multi-criteria decision making approach for selection of carbon nanotube applied in mechanical engineering under grey-environment
• Research on the cable routing optimisation by hybrid intelligent water drop algorithm
• Impact of Mg doping contents on the n-type and p-type ZnO by first-principles calculations
• A new method of forced vibration problem of deep beams under distributed harmonic load
• Microscopic characteristics of the methane occurrence state in coal
• Means of protecting materials from spontaneous coal combustion: current developments, mechanisms, classifications, and prospects
• Research on deburring technology for cross hole on automobile brake master cylinder
• Effect of gap on vertical deformation and deterioration stress of CRTS-I ballastless track
• Effect of aluminising on the low cycle fatigue life of a directionally solidified nickel-base alloy used for manufacturing turbine blade
• Experimental study on hardness property improved by PWHT of AA-7075-T6 welded by FSW process
• Physiochemical characterisation of Malaysian white aggregate for use in sustainable concrete structure
• Neural prediction of concrete compressive strength
• Operation optimisation of urban rail transit train base on energy saving

Special issue published: "Exergetic Solutions for Better Performance"

International Journal of Exergy 29(2/3/4) 2019

• Comparative thermodynamic performance assessment of two-stage cycle for various refrigerants
• Energy, exergy, exergoeconomic, and exergoenvironmental study of a parabolic trough collector using a converging-diverging receiver tube
• First and second law analyses of wastewater cooled condenser for a refrigeration system
• Energy, exergy and thermoeconomic analyses of biomass and solar powered organic Rankine cycles
• Thermoeconomic assessment of a solar-based ejector absorption cooling system with thermal energy storage: a case study for Al-Jofra city in Libya
• Energetic and exegetic analysis of a novel multi-generation system using solar power tower
• Conventional and advanced exergy analyses of an air-conditioning system in a subway station
• Increasing exergy efficiency of a coal-fired thermal power plant via feedwater-heating repowering application
• Exergetic performance of building attached photovoltaic power plant: a case study for an olive oil production corporation
• Municipal solid waste based multigeneration system for different districts of Karachi
• Geothermal and solar energy amalgamated multigeneration system escorting diverse needs of a district
• Thermodynamic analysis and assessment of a geothermal cooling system for a house