International Journal of Business Performance Management to invite expanded papers from International Conference of Research and Studies in Finance (ICRSF'20) for potential publication

Extended versions of papers presented at the International Conference of Research and Studies in Finance (ICRSF'20) (3-4 March 2020, Fez, Morocco) will be invited for review and potential publication by the International Journal of Business Performance Management.

Special issue published: "Harmonisation Within Atmospheric Dispersion Modelling for Regulatory Purposes – Part II"

International Journal of Environment and Pollution 65(1/2/3) 2019

• The coupled chemistry-meteorology model BOLCHEM: an application to air pollution in the Po Valley (Italy) hot spot
• Evaluation of the NO2 burden within a joint street canyon and tunnel portal micro environment
• A new bottom-up emissions estimation approach for aircraft sources in support of air quality modelling for community-scale assessments around airports
• RIAT+, an integrated assessment tool useful for air quality planning: an application to Emilia Romagna region
• Numerical modelling of transient dispersion of air pollution in perpendicular urban street intersection with detail inclusion of traffic dynamics
• Parameterisation study of chemically reactive pollutant dispersion over idealised urban areas based on the Gaussian plume model
• Air exchange in urban canyons with variable building width: a numerical LES approach
• CFD studies of pollutant spatial distribution in a large office
• Evaluation of OpenFOAM against CODASC wind tunnel database and impact of heating on the flow in an idealised street canyon
• Emission projections and limit values of air pollution concentration - a case study using the EMEP4PL model
• On the comparison of urban canopy effects parameterisation
• Effects of increasing the surface reflectance over air quality levels using WRF-BEM/AEMM/CMAQ: application over the city of Madrid
• A solution of the time-dependent advection-diffusion equation
• Spatial representativeness evaluation of air quality monitoring sites by point-centred variography
• Modelling the air quality for assessing the health benefits of urban regeneration: a case of Tallinn city Centre, Estonia

First issue: International Journal of Blockchains and Cryptocurrencies (free sample issue available)

Blockchain and cryptocurrencies are now topics of substantial impact that academia and industry need to contemplate, exploit and adopt. The mission of the International Journal of Blockchains and Cryptocurrencies is to be the premier resource for the most innovative scholarly and professional research information pertaining to the management and use of blockchains and cryptocurrencies. Its articles will be essential for anyone interested in this area. IJBC is the first journal dedicated to the topic.

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

New Editor for International Journal of Renewable Energy Technology

Prof. Miadreza Shafiekhah from University of Vaasa in Finland has been appointed to take over editorship of the International Journal of Renewable Energy Technology.

Research pick: Smart software for smart devices - "Techniques to detect data leakage in mobile applications"

Almost everywhere one turns, one sees someone using a smartphone or other mobile, internet-connected device. Commonly, usage of such devices is not to make and receive phone calls as one might expect but the use of countless services that allow one to manipulate, share, download, view, listen to digital entities, such as emails, photos, videos, audio files, and so much more. Indeed, many users keep much of their personal, private, and business lives locked and synchronized in these powerful portable computers. But, there is a problem – data leakage. How can we be sure that our smartphones aren’t betraying our inner secrets to third parties with perhaps malicious intent or at best with their, not our, interest in mind?

Work published in the International Journal of Security and Networks discusses and assesses the techniques that can be employed to test whether a smartphone or device is leaking data. The team has surveyed the problem for the two main operating systems – Android and iOS. The team explains data leakage is defined as the unintentional or accidental distribution of sensitive information to a third-party entity. This might be leakage to the creators of a particular app or leakage via malware or hacking.

Ultimately, the team found, none of the current defenses against data leakage is perfect nor even entirely adequate. They point out that future developments in machine learning, so-called artificial intelligence, will most likely be the way forward for smart software to protect our purportedly smart devices.

Rocha, T., Souto, E. and El-Khatib, K. (2019) ‘Techniques to detect data leakage in mobile applications‘, Int. J. Security and Networks, Vol. 14, No. 3, pp.146-157.

Special issue published: "Cloud-Based Opportunities for Online Communities"

International Journal of Web Based Communities 15(3) 2019

• Automated question extraction and tagging for cloud-based online communities
• Identification of regression function and distribution model for denial of service attack in Second Life online community using simple network management protocol
• Energy efficient resource management techniques in cloud environment for web-based community by machine learning: a survey
• Dynamic ranking of cloud services for web-based cloud communities: efficient algorithm for rating-based discovery and multi-level ranking of cloud services
• An intelligent fuzzy-induced recommender system for cloud-based cultural communities

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Export Marketing

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

• Recapturing images after a brand crisis through marketing communication in social networks: the Maggi controversy
• Strategic application of the hazard analysis and critical control point system for new export markets for Cyprus' small and medium food enterprises during the 2012 economic crisis
• Influences of international orientation and export commitment on the export performance of emerging market SMEs
• The coordination of export promotion networks for the creative industries

Special issue published: "IoT Based Next Generation Systems for Medical Internet Applications"

International Journal of Networking and Virtual Organisations 21(2) 2019

• An energy efficient and secure data forwarding scheme for wireless body sensor network
• Improving the performance of MANETs to suit for IoT-based applications
• Complexity estimation by using multiparadigm approach: a proposed metrics and algorithms
• Intelligent decision making service framework based on analytic hierarchy process in cloud environment
• Future algorithm for optimised path selection and detection in MANET
• Controlling industrial parameters through server using Li-Fi and Wi-Fi communication protocols
• A comparative study of various existing malware analysis methods
• Survey on testing technique for modern web application-rookies vantage point

Research pick: Social media in a repressive society - "The transformative influence of social media: an exploratory case study of empowerment in repressive society"

Social media is affecting all our lives in ways we are only just beginning to recognise, whether it is the simple, but constant preoccupation many people have with sharing their digital lives or connecting with friends and family to the outpourings of politicians that are the vanguard of modern propaganda that seems to win elections. In what we might refer to as repressive societies, social media is also having an effect on society. Indeed, it is providing a medium for empowerment that has not existed before.

Research published in the International Journal of Electronic Healthcare, focuses on one particular aspect – the issues facing transgender entrepeneurs in India, a country considered to present particular restrictions to certain minority groups that may well not be of such concern in freer societies. Guruprasad Gadgil of the Francis Marion University, near Florence, South Carolina, and Gayle Prybutok and Victor Prybutok of the University of North Texas, Denton, Texas, USA, explain that research in this area is lacking. They have now carried out a case study, which they say is a first step towards addressing the research gap.

“A key finding points out the important role that social networking plays in entrepreneurial success when the transgender entrepreneur’s skill set is an integral part of a small scale or family business endeavour,” the team says. “This study suggests future research directed at understanding the unique aspects of transgender entrepreneurism in India and informs on entrepreneurism and public policy in India about this population of entrepreneurs.” They conclude that “This research has filled an identified research gap and highlighted the challenges of this unique group of entrepreneurs.”

Gadgil, G., Prybutok, G. and Prybutok, V. (2018) ‘The transformative influence of social media: an exploratory case study of empowerment in repressive society‘, Int. J. Electronic Healthcare, Vol. 10, No. 4, pp.231-248.

Special issue published: "Energy and Environmental Friendly Applications"

International Journal of Global Warming 19(1/2) 2019

• A time-varying carbon intensity approach for demand-side management strategies with respect to CO2 emission reduction in the electricity grid
• Biogas production from sunn hemp
• Waste management and determination of carbon footprint of a marine port: a case study from Izmir, Turkey
• The effect of phase change material incorporated building wall on the CO2 mitigation: a case study of Izmir, Turkey
• Addressing environmental implications of crop stubble burning in Pakistan: innovation platforms as an alternative approach
• Estimation of emissions from crop residue burning using remote sensing data
• Photodegradation of olive mill wastewater with sunlight using nano-ZnO-SiO2 composite, its reusability and the quality of treated water
• Biodesign as an innovative tool to decrease construction induced carbon emissions in the environment
• Bioremediation of minkery wastewater and astaxanthin production by Haematococcus pluvialis
• Investigation of lipid, carbohydrate and protein production from Chlorella vulgaris in controlled environment minkery wastewater
• Investigation of microbial communities in the field-scale co-composting of sewage sludge and organic municipal solid wastes
• Development of seasonal solar radiation estimation models for Dokuz Eylul University campus area for controller of a two-axis solar tracker
• Techno-economic evaluation of a residential roof-mounted solar system and its power generation: a case study in Canada
• Impact of thermal mass for future energy consumption: case study in adobe house

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Work Organisation and Emotion

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Work Organisation and Emotion are now available here for free:

• Examining a competency model of workplace learning: an assessment of participants' reactions
• Student engagement in Indian context: UWES-S validation and relationship with burnout and life satisfaction
• An exploration of global employability skills: a systematic research review
• Workplace flexibility and organisational citizenship behaviour: an investigation of the mediating role of engagement and moderating role of perceived fairness
• Selection and retention of talent
• Managing women's post retirement career in law enforcement organisations: lessons from developed nations for emerging economies
• Managing self towards managing people: role of perceived emotional competencies in healthcare organisations

Research pick: Planning a journey around your asteroid - "Optimal trajectory design for global exploration of an asteroid via bi-impulsive transfers"

Once you have your craft in space, what’s the best way to explore an asteroid? Research published in the International Journal of Space Science and Engineering sets out to answer that question. There have already been several successful missions to examine asteroids, the irregular and fast-moving chunks of rock that orbit our Sun that we consider too small to be called planets. Among them NASA’s NEAR, JAXA’s Hayabusa, and ESAs Rosetta. JAXA’s Hayabusa 2 and NASA’s OSIRIS-REx are currently exploring the asteroids 162173 Ryugu and 101955 Bennu, respectively.

The irregular shapes and mass distribution of an asteroid make their gravity fields remarkably complicated in terms of locating a spacecraft to close proximity with the object and navigating a global route around it with focus on particular points of interest. Now, Yu Shi, Yue Wang, and Shijie Xu of the School of Astronautics at Beihang University in Beijing, China, and Hao Peng of the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, USA, point out that the trajectory must be optimised for scientific relevance as well as fuel efficiency.

They have found a way to optimise the trajectory for a future spacecraft based on an initial estimate of movements required based on assuming the asteroid is a simple point mass with a uniform gravitational field. They then expand on this using the well-known travelling salesman problem of planning a route that minimises distance covered but allowing the salesman, the spacecraft, to visit each place of interest in its journey around the asteroid. As proof of principle, they have designed an exploratory trajectory around asteroid 433 Eros. Of course, of major importance is that the trajectory avoids any collision between spacecraft and asteroid which would lead to summary termination of the mission.

Shi, Y., Peng, H., Wang, Y. and Xu, S. (2019) ‘Optimal trajectory design for global exploration of an asteroid via bi-impulsive transfers‘, Int. J. Space Science and Engineering, Vol. 5, No. 3, pp.205-222.

Special section published: "Computational Problems in Science and Engineering"

International Journal of Computational Systems Engineering 5(4) 2019

• Edge fixed edge Steiner number of a graph
• Stochastic maximum principle for mean-field type singular optimal control problem with discounted cost
• Discrete MDP problem in service facility systems with inventory management
• On the generalised degree distance of graphs

Regular papers

• A computerised framework for characterisation of breast tissue using mammographic images
• Contest of strength game-based algorithm for decline of active power loss
• A hybrid approach to metamorphic cryptography using KIMLA and DNA concept

Special issue published: "Advanced Intelligent Systems for Sustainable Development Applied to Agriculture and Environment"

International Journal of Sustainable Agricultural Management and Informatics 5(2/3) 2019

• Investigating the impact of drying parameters on the dandelion root using full factorial design of experiments
• Predictable consequences of climate change for varieties of strawberry plants grown in Morocco
• Type 2 fuzzy TOPSIS for agriculture MCDM problems
• Automated greenhouse system for tomato crop using deep learning
• Comparative study of the pathogenic variability of some Morrocan isolates of Botrytis cinerea
• Modelling potential impacts of climate change on the geospatial distribution of phytopathogenic telluric fungi
• How can data mining help us to predict the influence of climate change on Mediterranean agriculture?

Additional papers

• Current trends and challenges in the deployment of IoT technologies for climate smart facility agriculture
• Hybrid approach for fruits quality prediction using image processing and sensors technique

Special issue published: "Physical and Numerical Simulation of Materials Processing – Part II"

International Journal of Computational Materials Science and Surface Engineering 8(1) 2019

• Latest developments in virtual casting of lightweight metals
• Deformation control study on H-beam welded by a finite element model
• Numerical analysis of stress-induced and concentration-dependent carbon diffusion in low-temperature surface carburisation of 316L stainless steel
• The simulation for ultrasonic testing based on frequency-phase coded excitation
• Effect of Ni content and brazing temperature on the self-joining of ZrB2-SiC

Additional papers

• Comparative study on effects of slurry erosive parameters on plasma sprayed flyash-Al2O3 and flyash-SiC composite coatings on Al6061 alloy
• Mathematical model and optimisation for tensile strength of human hair reinforced polyester composites

International Journal of Modelling in Operations Management to invite expanded papers from International Conference on Logistics and Supply Chain (ICLS 2019) for potential publication

Extended versions of papers presented at the International Conference on Logistics and Supply Chain (ICLS 2019) (30 November - 1 December 2019, Beijing Wuzi University, Beijing, China) will be invited for review and potential publication by the International Journal of Modelling in Operations Management.

Special issue published: "Redesigning Higher Education: The Need for Change and Innovation"

International Journal of Learning and Change 11(2) 2019

• Role of blended learning environment towards student performance in higher education: mediating effect of student engagement
• Revitalising employee retention in Indian higher education industry: role of job embeddedness
• The effects of quality of work life on organisational commitment and job satisfaction: a study of academic professionals in higher education sector
• Whistleblowing in Indian higher education sector: a qualitative study
• A review on teachers eudaemonic well-being and innovative behaviour: exploring the importance of personality, work-life balance, self-efficacy and demographic variables
• The inclusion of visually impaired students in a Lebanese private school: a case study

First issue: International Journal of Healthcare Policy (free sample issue available)

The International Journal of Healthcare Policy serves as a forum for interdisciplinary discussion of leading issues in healthcare law, medicine and health policy. Emphasis is placed on issues such as legislative and regulatory environments, and plans and actions that are undertaken by organisations and agencies to achieve specific healthcare goals within society. This perspective is reflective of the broad range of efforts to advance the public's health.

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

Research pick: Waste management in developing cities - "Determinants of awareness and disposal habits of households for effective municipal solid waste management"

Waste is a big problem. It affects our environment, society, and the economy, as well as human health. Saurabh Srivastava and Divya Singh of the Jamwal School of Business at Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, in Katra, India, have carried out an exploratory survey of more than 800 households to see what level of awareness exists and how the inhabitants of those homes deal with the disposal of their solid waste. They analysed the results with the appropriate statistical tools and techniques.

The team explains that their paper derives from the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) and confirms the factors that would support the planning of effective management of solid waste. On the basis of their analysis, they suggest that there is a “need for a well-defined comprehensive and participative plan of action for resolving the issue of municipal solid waste management that can be implemented with defined objectives and timeline by the concerned municipal bodies.” The team found that where there was a general lack of awareness concerning the legal aspects of waste disposal, the potential for pollution, and the impact on human and environmental health, participation in an appropriate waste disposal regime was low.

The United Nations recommends that the impact of solid household waste must be incorporated into municipal plans from the social, environmental, and economic perspectives. All of these perspectives are complicated with many so-called stakeholders involved from the members of those households to the local governing bodies, landowners, and companies involved in collecting, recycling, and disposing of solid waste, and many others.

Srivastava, S. and Jamwal, D.S. (2019) ‘Determinants of awareness and disposal habits of households for effective municipal solid waste management‘, J. Global Business Advancement, Vol. 12, No. 3, pp.405-428.

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Computational Materials Science and Surface Engineering

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Computational Materials Science and Surface Engineering are now available here for free:

• Identifying the minimum corrosion conditions for friction stir welded dissimilar joints of aluminium-magnesium alloys
• The potential of using superhydrophobic surfaces on airfoils and hydrofoils: a numerical approach
• Experimental and numerical investigations on plasma sprayed ceramic coatings with varying coating thickness
• Simulation study on rapid solidification of eutectic Al-Cu alloy: a molecular dynamics approach
• Theory analysis of grinding fluid jet and its effect on surface roughness of workpiece

Special issue published: "Intelligent Technology for the Internet of Vehicles"

International Journal of Vehicle Information and Communication Systems 4(2) 2019

• Study on internet of vehicles traffic congestion detection algorithm based on big data
• Cooperative collision avoidance algorithm for multi-vehicle based on vehicle networking technology
• Intelligent matching method of vehicle navigation map information based on vehicle networking technology
• Modelling and analysis of factors affecting information perception quality of intelligent vehicle visual environment
• Intelligent acquisition model of traffic congestion information in the vehicle networking environment based on multi-sensor fusion
• Control method for communication information transmission rate in passive cluster vehicles of vehicular networking
• Research on the vehicle-borne information fusion strategy based on big data analysis

International Journal of Management Practice to invite expanded papers from SICTIM 2020 International Conference for potential publication

Extended versions of papers presented at the SICTIM 2020 International Conference (10-11 January 2020, Vidyavihar, Mumbai, India) will be invited for review and potential publication by the International Journal of Management Practice.

Research pick: Choosing trees with a liking for heavy metal - "Selection of the most suitable tree species in urban areas based on their capability of capturing heavy metals: a forest policy approach"

Which species of trees should we be planting in the urban environment to best soak up pollutants containing toxic heavy metals? Stefanos Tsiaras of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and Theano Samara of the Forest Research Institute of Thessaloniki, in Greece, hope to answer this question. The team discusses the requirements of the urban environment in terms of arboreal planting in the International Journal of Sustainable Agricultural Management and Informatics.

The team has assessed five of the most common tree species found in green spaces in urban Greece – Cupressus arizonica (Arizona cypress), Albizia julibrissin (Persian silk tree), Platanus orientalis (Old world sycamore), Celtis australis (European nettle tree), and Ligustrum japonicum (wax-leaf privet). They used the PROMETHEE (Preference ranking organization method for enrichment evaluation) method to take into consideration various criteria and especially the sequestration of seven heavy metals: cadmium, chromium, copper, lead, manganese, nickel, and zinc.

“The best choice among the alternatives is Cupressus arizonica,” the team reports. “Only one other tree species has a positive net flow [of heavy metals from its environment], Albizia julibrissin.” They add that for the three tree species there is negative net flow of heavy metals. “The results are reasonable,” the team suggests, “as the cypress is an evergreen species and it absorbs heavy metals during the whole year, in contrast to the deciduous tree species.”

The selection of the beneficial species could have important implications for the “greening” of Thessaloniki, a densely populated city that lacks much urban greenery at the moment. “Forest policy planning for urban green is essential,” the team suggests. In this particular case and elsewhere in the world with large traffic volumes, light and heavy industry, and few green spaces, the right trees can provide ecosystem services and improve the environment and the health of the citizens who live and work there.

Tsiaras, S. and Samara, T. (2019) ‘Selection of the most suitable tree species in urban areas based on their capability of capturing heavy metals: a forest policy approach‘, Int. J. Sustainable Agricultural Management and Informatics, Vol. 5, No. 1, pp.15-24.

Special issue published: "Recent Advances in Active Safety Control Systems for Heavy Commercial Vehicles"

International Journal of Heavy Vehicle Systems 26(3/4) 2019

• Braking intention recognition algorithm based on electronic braking system in commercial vehicles
• Research on lane-keeping control strategy for bus
• Path planning and tracking for autonomous mining articulated vehicles
• A new driving condition identification method for heavy duty vehicles based on HHMM
• Rollover prevention for a heavy vehicle using optimised slide mode steering control
• Modelling, verification and analysis of articulated steer vehicles and a new way to eliminate jack-knife and snaking behaviour
• Path-tracking errors for active trailer steering off-highway: a simulation study
• Integrated control strategy for articulated heavy vehicles based on a linear model with real-time parameters
• Modelling and analysis of the influences of various liquid sloshing characteristics on tank truck dynamics
• Improving stability and comfort of an in-wheel motor drive electric vehicle via active suspensions
• Dynamics integrated control for four-wheel independent control electric vehicle

Additional papers

• Multi-axle vehicle dynamics with roll
• IEEE 802.11p MAC with spectrum sensing scheme reliable for VANET using the intelligent transportation system
• Comparative study of dynamic programming and Pontryagin's minimum principle for autonomous multi-wheeled combat vehicle path planning
• Appraisal of numerical based finite element method to synthesise the wheel-obstacle collision dynamics using a single-wheel tester

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Information Systems and Change Management

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Information Systems and Change Management are now available here for free:

• Task complexity and rapport in outsourced system development
• Competency-based diagnosis for interns-quality assessment approach
• The influence mechanism of goal content on employees' ethical sensitivity
• Dynamic social alignment on operational level and organisational performance
• High performance scheduler for multicast switches

Special issue published: "Marketing Strategies and Financing Practices Across Emerging Nations: Challenges and Opportunities"

International Journal of Trade and Global Markets 12(3/4) 2019

• One belt one road: a new aspect on income convergence
• Social capital and the cyclicality of government expenditure
• Competitiveness and protection policy: the case of Indonesian lobster exports to the Asian markets
• Classification of elderly worker before super-aged society on cognition of current job
• Utilisation analysis and increasing strategy: e-commerce use of SMEs in Bandung, Indonesia
• Profit shifting behaviour between sisters companies: the case of Czech Republic
• The role of tax risk management in international tax avoidance practices: evidence from Indonesia and Malaysia
• Policy recommendation on outstanding loan administration of the people's bank program of public financial institution in Thailand
• Modelling impact of economic and demographic factors on personal saving rate in the euro area
• The impact of bonus schemes and Machiavellianism in earnings management intentions
• The implementation of qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) to define the working capital management strategy of hotels in Indonesia
• Employee behaviours affecting job satisfaction
• Effect of perceived value on repurchase intention in e-commerce: a study on the Female Daily mobile application

Additional papers

• Empirical analysis of export performance and economic growth: the case of Macedonia
• Examining agricultural export returns from Midwestern states
• Re-engineering the business process of sales in view of life cycle stage and the company organisational structure

Research pick: How severe are those software bugs? - "Automated labelling and severity prediction of software bug reports"

The automated labelling and severity prediction of bug reports for computer software is the target of researchers at The Hashemite University in Zarqa, Jordan. Details of their efforts are mapped out in the International Journal of Computational Science and Engineering. Ultimately, they are developing an intelligent classifier that can predict whether a newly submitted bug report is of sufficient concern in the bug-tracking system to warrant urgent investigation and remediation.

To develop their system, the team build two datasets using 350 bug reports from the open-source community – Eclipse, Mozilla, and Gnome – reported in the monstrous, well-known, and aptly named database, Bugzilla. The datasets with have characteristic textual features, based on 51 important terms, the team explains and so based on this information, they could train various discriminative models to carry out automated labelling and severity prediction of any subsequent bug report submitted. They used a boosting algorithm to improve performance.

“For automated labelling, the accuracy reaches around 91% with the AdaBoost algorithm and cross-validation test,” the team reports. However, they only saw a severity prediction classification of some 67% with the AdaBoost algorithm and the cross-validation test. Nevertheless, the team says their results are encouraging and offers hope of removing the bottleneck that is the manual assessment of bug reports used until now.

“The proposed feature sets have proved a good classification performance on two ‘hard’ problems,” the team reports. “The results are encouraging and, in the future, we plan to work more on enhancing the classification algorithms component for better performance,” the researchers conclude.

Otoom, A.F., Al-Shdaifat, D., Hammad, M., Abdallah, E.E. and Aljammal, A. (2019) ‘Automated labelling and severity prediction of software bug reports‘, Int. J. Computational Science and Engineering, Vol. 19, No. 3, pp.334-342.

Special issue published: "Knowledge Processing and Information Quality"

International Journal of Digital Signals and Smart Systems 2(4) 2018

• Fusion of information and analytics: a discussion on potential methods to cope with uncertainty in complex environments (big data and IoT)
• Petri nets-based approach for scheduling and rescheduling in multi-site manufacturing system
• Tracklet and signature representation for multi-shot person re-identification using part appearance mixture approach
• A survey on the cryptographic approaches for CAN bus automotive networks

Special issue on: "Economics and Business Engineering"

International Journal of Services and Operations Management 33(4) 2019

• Do IT integration and decision-making integration influence service operation performance? Empirical evidence from electrical and electronics distribution firms
• Green supply chain performance evaluation model for automotive manufacturing industries by using eco-balanced scorecard
• An efficient supplier selection model for hospital pharmacy through fuzzy AHP and fuzzy TOPSIS
• A multi-objective genetic algorithm to solve a single machine scheduling problem with setup-times
• An empirical study of the performance of Canadian-owned chains of retail stores
• A hyper-heuristic framework for solving the delivery problem with time windows
• Business process reengineering impact on SMEs operations: evidences from GCC region

Research pick: Improving incubators in India - "Assessing the effectiveness of business incubators"

Business incubators can provide the requisite infrastructure, mentoring, and nurturing environment to allow startup companies to grow and thrive. At least that is the theory. Writing in the International Journal of Innovation and Learning, a team from India has investigated whether this is indeed the case.

Monika Dhochak of the Goa Institute of Management and Satya Ranjan Acharya and S.B. Sareen of the Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India in Ahmedabad, have looked at 29 such business incubators created under the Department of Science and Technology (DST) model.

“In today’s competitive business world, business reinvention model based on disruptive innovation and technology has become the new source of sustainable competitive advantage,” the team writes. “India being a developing and competitive economy aspires to realise the sustainable development through innovative startups,” they add.

The team points out that business incubators offer four clear benefits to startups: First, they provide access to debt and equity capital to launch and sustain growth. Secondly, they allow links to be formed with investors through contacts. Thirdly, they create in-house equity and debt funds to seed a deal and to fill financing gaps. Finally, an incubator can create relationships with other entities and service providers that might otherwise be inaccessible.

In the context of the Indian incubators, there are limitations, such as inadequate computing facilities and a lack of mentoring in some areas. These issues could be overcome now that they are known, the team suggests. Virtual incubation and soft services might also be worth investigating further. “Offering such support could contribute significantly to the sustenance and growth graduated companies on one hand and offer a new revenue stream to the incubator on the other hand,” the team concludes.

Dhochak, M., Acharya, S.R. and Sareen, S.B. (2019) ‘Assessing the effectiveness of business incubators’, Int. J. Innovation and Learning, Vol. 26, No. 2, pp.177–194.

Research pick: Setting sail in San Francisco - "Wind-assist marine demonstration for ferries: prospects for saving diesel fuel with wind power"

Windpower has been with us for millennia. Our ancestors used it to power vessels to sail the River Nile around 3400 BCE and the seven seas ever since. Now. A modern tack sees US scientists developing a “wingsail” to assist with the propulsion of an otherwise diesel-powered vessel that might be used as a ferry. They outline their plans in the International Journal of Environmental Technology and Management.

Timothy Lipman and Jeffrey Lidicker of the Transportation Sustainability Research Center at the University of California at Berkeley, USA, explain how a carbon-fibre, computer-controlled wingsail could be mounted on a 14-metre trimaran test vessel, which was then sailed through San Francisco Bay over a three-month test period.

The project demonstrated that for the test vessel sailing at seven knots on a given ferry route, wind of between 10 and 20 knots was sufficient to save between 25 and 40% of the fuel that would otherwise be burned running the vessel’s engines; also assuming no seriously adverse effects of currents. This the team says not only makes sense economically but also could be useful in reducing carbon emissions and pollution from such vessels. The real-world benefits might be somewhat different given that the Bay ferryboat services operate at 17 or more knots, but the proof of concept is encouraging and could provide the basis for further investigations and optimisation of the system for ferries.

Lipman, T.E. and Lidicker, J. (2019) ‘Wind-assist marine demonstration for ferries: prospects for saving diesel fuel with wind power’, Int. J. Environmental Technology and Management, Vol. 22, No. 1, pp.68–83.

Research pick: Early sepsis detection with infrared - "Early sepsis recognition based on infrared thermography"

Sepsis is a major risk factor for patient death among those in intensive care not suffering from heart problems. In fact, it is the eleventh cause of death overall in the USA. It arises when infection causes a breakdown in the immune system leading to a major inflammatory response. Research published in the International Journal of Data Mining and Bioinformatics suggests that infrared thermography could be used for the early detection of sepsis. Early detection is key to treating this condition and reducing the sepsis mortality rate.

Hasanain Al-Sadr, Mihail Popescu, and James Keller of the University of Missouri Columbia, USA, explain that abnormal patterns of body temperature can reveal the earliest stages of sepsis. “We suggest using thermography as a non-invasive tool capable of continuously measuring body temperature patterns and detecting abnormalities,” the team writes. The add that of the odd patterns is temperature difference between body extremities and the patient’s core temperature.

The team has now developed an automatic system that can calculate core versus extremity temperature differences based on a frontal and lateral infrared thermogram of the face. The measurements are determined for the inner and outer ear and tracking the tip of the nose by monitoring the position of the inner corner of a patient’s eyes in the images. The statistical methods the researchers used can work successfully to detect sepsis almost irrespective of the angle of the head relative to the imager and if there are different backgrounds. The system works well in real-time, the team reports.

Al-Sadr, H., Popescu, M. and Keller, J.M. (2019) ‘Early sepsis recognition based on infrared thermography‘, Int. J. Data Mining and Bioinformatics, Vol. 22, No. 4, pp.301-327.

Inderscience journals to invite expanded papers from Management Conclave 2019 - Business Agility in Volatile Times (BAVT-2019) for potential publication

Extended versions of papers presented at Management Conclave 2019 - Business Agility in Volatile Times (BAVT-2019) (7-9 November 2019, Lovely Professional University, India) will be invited for review and potential publication by the following journals:

• Int. J. of Economic Policy in Emerging Economies
• Int. J. of Public Sector Performance Management
• Int. J. of Technology Transfer and Commercialisation
• World Review of Entrepreneurship, Management and Sustainable Development

Special Issue published: "Smart Society"

Asian Journal of Management Science and Applications 4(1) 2019

• Regression model for estimating thermal resource usage in air conditioning systems: daily demand forecast by potential integral method, considering thermal inertia of room and weather conditions
• Long-distance delivery route planning using a commercial electric vehicle including the arrangement of charging stations
• Green fuzzy parallel machine scheduling with sequence-dependent setup in the plastic moulding industry
• On a stochastic degradation model based on the generalised inverse Gaussian distribution
• Dynamic incentive remuneration design for functional recovery care

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Structural Engineering

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

• Comparative study nonlinear static pushover analysis and displacement based adaptive pushover analysis method
• Performance study of steel-concrete composite beam involving flexible shear connector
• Damage evaluation in plates using modal data and firefly optimisation algorithm
• Topology optimisation of the discrete structures with the minimum growing ground structure method
• Assessment of welded splices in beam, column and slab
• Finite element modelling of a cold curved steel plate girder

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Quality and Innovation

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Quality and Innovation are now available here for free:

• Evaluating the effect of public R&D subsidies on Italian firms' innovation activities: a subgroup analysis of 2008 CIS data
• A framework for fostering the quality of HEIs: data collection, evaluation, indication and validation
• Review of lean manufacturing practices - critical success factors and performance measures for SMEs
• Case studies on the implementation of TQM in the Indian leather SMEs
• Banking service quality management using fuzzy FMEA (a case study: Central Melli Bank of Rafsanjan)

Free sample articles newly available from Asian Journal of Management Science and Applications

The following sample articles from the Asian Journal of Management Science and Applications are now available here for free:

• Designing insert buffers for mixed-model assembly lines
• Data pair selection for accurate classification based on information-theoretic metric learning
• Random assignment under ordinal preferences: a separation characterisation
• Hedging financial and environmental risk in portfolios: constructing and evaluating eco-funds
• The analysis based on principal matrix decomposition for 3-mode binary data
• Relative incentive rate in a multi-period and multi-task agency

Research pick: Fertility and prion disease - "Prion disease risk uncertainties associated with urine-derived and recombinant fertility drugs"

A high degree of uncertainty surrounds the issue of the prion disease risk associated with fertility drugs derived from urine, gonadotropins. Writing in the International Journal of Risk Assessment and Management, a team from Canada hopes to address this issue. At the time of writing, the transmission of prion disease via this route is entirely theoretical as there have been no reported cases of incidence.

Neil Cashman of the Department of Neurology at the University of British Columbia, and colleagues at the University of Ottawa, Health Canada, the University of British Columbia, and at Bristol University in the UK, write that the international panel of experts ultimately concludes that the risk is very low although the use of bovine serum instead of urine lowers this small risk by 1200 times.

The team points out that Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) is a human neurodegenerative disorder that is currently incurable and invariably fatal. CJD is a prion disease transmitted by errant proteins and is closely related to bovine spongiform encephalopathy (commonly known as mad cow disease), scrapie in sheep, and a range of other diseases that affect the mammalian brain and all of which have a specific prion associated with their development. Fundamentally, prion diseases are thought to be caused by the misfolding of an otherwise benign and ubiquitous protein in cells into a distinct pathological form that essentially self-replicates by inducing the benign form to transform into the pathological conformation.

The team concludes that “While a formal assessment of the likelihood of prion disease transmission through the use of urine-derived fertility drugs is impossible due to a current lack of relevant scientific data.” Nevertheless, now that the theoretical possibility of prion transmission has been raised in this context, scientists and healthcare workers in the area of fertility treatment must be vigilant for any cases that might arise.

Cashman, N.R., Tyshenko, M.G., Cheung, R., Aspinall, W., Wong, M. and Krewski, D. (2019) ‘Prion disease risk uncertainties associated with urine-derived and recombinant fertility drugs’, Int. J. Risk Assessment and Management, Vol. 22, No. 2, pp.109–127.

Research pick: What price Bitcoin? - "Bitcoin as an alternative digital currency: exploring the publics’ perception vs. experts"

Researchers writing in the International Journal of Financial Engineering and Risk Management, hope to reveal the differences in perception of the digital, or crypto, currency between experts and members of the public.

Spyros Papathanasiou and Dimitrios Balios of the Department of Economics at National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, working with Nikolaos Papamatthaiou of EPAS OAED in Lamia, anticipate that Bitcoin will ultimately be used in everyday life. At present, there are subtleties that may be obvious to experts but entirely overlooked by the public. Their survey of experts and laypeople suggest that the public sees Bitcoin as mainly a means to carry out secure transactions and payments. This is in marked contrast to expert opinion where Bitcoin is seen primarily as an investment vehicle.

Digital currencies began to have a serious impact on world economies as the US financial crisis of 2007 deepened and spread to the rest of the world resulting in serious recession, bankruptcies, and bailouts the following year and through the following decade. Indeed, a public increasingly disgruntled with political measures to remedy the recession, such as austere budgets, and the multi-billion bailouts of financial institutions might also be to blame for the rise of populism in politics.

Regardless, the reliance on anonymous, decentralized monetary systems coincides with this need to
increasingly protect oneself and one’s assets and resources even at the expense of others makes a cryptic currency an obvious, to the experts, way forward for investing. It is essentially off-limits to prying governmental or commercial eyes and also beyond the reach of conventional tax authorities.

Cryptocurrencies represented a negligible fraction of global wealth for a period after their invention, their net value is now perhaps several hundred billion dollars, if not more. The researchers describe the most well-known of these cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin, as offering “the promise of a better financial system with anonymous transactions that are free from banks and government intervention.” They add that “Bitcoin may be the greatest change to the current economic environment in relation to our perception about money, investments, means of transactions and payments.”

Papathanasiou, S., Papamatthaiou, N. and Balios, D.P. (2019) ‘Bitcoin as an alternative digital currency: exploring the publics’ perception vs. experts’, Int. J. Financial Engineering and Risk Management, Vol. 3, No. 2, pp.146–171.

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Sustainable Agricultural Management and Informatics

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Sustainable Agricultural Management and Informatics are now available here for free:

• Promoting soil bioengineering in the Mediterranean ecoregion with new tools and approaches
• The use of vegetation indices and change detection techniques as a tool for monitoring ecosystem and biodiversity integrity
• Land use change and soil fertility assessment in the vicinity of Zagreb landfill
• An overview of food businesses in the Western Greece and the extent to which they use information systems
• Geoinformatics as a tool for the application of energy policy

Special issue published: "Entrepreneurship 4.0 in India: A Multi-Dimensional Perspective"

Journal for Global Business Advancement 12(3) 2019

• Predicting entrepreneurial satisfaction: the role of non-financial incentive factors and quality of life among women digital entrepreneurs
• Strategic use of patents by an entrepreneurial multinational organisation in Indian context
• A framework for linking entrepreneurial ecosystem with institutional factors: a modified total interpretive structural modelling approach
• Determinants of awareness and disposal habits of households for effective municipal solid waste management
• Factors that drive development of technological entrepreneurship in South Asia
• Strategic innovation factors in startups: results of a cross-case analysis of Indian startups

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Environmental Technology and Management

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

• Vehicular pollution dispersion modelling along roads using CALINE4 model - a review
• Optimal routing of complex transportation system of biomedical waste with multiple depot and disposal options
• Assaying coliform removal in waste stabilisation ponds system through the dispersed flow regime
• An evaluation of changes in opinion from an expert workshop on turbidity in drinking water supplies and acute gastrointestinal illness
• A consumption-based, regional input-output analysis of greenhouse gas emissions and the carbon regional index

Research pick: Hackers get stuck in an evolving honeypot - "Mimicry honeypot: an evolutionary decoy system"

Malware, malicious software, is on the rise, whether in the form of Trojans, worms, and viruses, bot-net systems, denial of service tools, and hacking programs. Antivirus, firewall, and intrusion detection systems are all essential components of the protections a systems operator might put in place on their users’ computers and the network they operate. Unfortunately, these are passive rather than active protections and so there are limitations to how well they can protect digital resources especially given the dynamic and evolving nature of attacks on seemingly robust systems.

Writing in the International Journal of High Performance Computing and Networking, researchers in China offer a somewhat novel paradigm – an evolving protection system that mimics the dynamics between predator and prey in the natural world.

Leyi Shi, Yuwen Cui, Xu Han, Honglong Chen, and Deli Liu of the China University of Petroleum (East China) in Qingdao, present a novel concept of a mimicry honeypot. This, they suggest, can bewilder adversaries (hackers and malware exploits) by evolving protective systems as network circumstances change when under attack. The team says that in tests their mimicry honeypot performs better than a conventional decoy system that might be in place on a network to attract and so distract malware and hackers away from the actual target. Fundamentally, the evolving honeypot adapts and so is never revealed as a honeypot, or honey-trap, to the attackers.

Shi, L., Cui, Y., Han, X., Chen, H. and Liu, D. (2019) ‘Mimicry honeypot: an evolutionary decoy system’, Int. J. High Performance Computing and Networking, Vol. 14, No. 2, pp.157–164.

Research pick: Antibiotics through machine learning - "Application of machine learning techniques towards classification of drug molecules specific to peptide deformylase against Helicobacter pylori"

Machine learning techniques can be used to search for new drugs for one of the most insidious causes of stomach ulcers and other gastrointestinal problems, the bacteria known as Helicobacter pylori.
Ulcers are like open sores in the wall lining the stomach into which stomach acid can eat. These so-called peptic ulcers can be very painful and are a major risk factor for stomach cancer. In the late 1980s, Australian scientists demonstrated that the corkscrew-shaped H. pylori. This was the subject of the 2005 Nobel Prize for Medicine as it overturned decades of received wisdom regarding the nature of ulcers. It suggested that a multi-billion dollar drug industry based on acid inhibitors and other such agents was no longer needed as a course of antibiotics might suffice. This later proved to be the case in treating ulcers caused by H. pylori.

Unfortunately, bacteria quickly evolve resistance to antibiotics, so there is always a need to find new ones that can keep us one step ahead of the infectious pathogens. Now, work published in the International Journal of Bioinformatics Research and Applications, points the way to a new approach to finding antibiotics to treat conditions associated with H. pylori infection.

The approach taken by Surekha Patil and Shivakumar Madagi of the Department of Bioinformatics at Karnataka State Women’s University, Jnanashakti Campus in Karnataka, India, could truncate the drug discovery pipeline significantly in this area of medicinal chemistry. The researchers discuss which algorithms work best to screen a database of small molecules against the target proteins associated with the bacterium. Specifically, the enzyme peptide deformylase is the focus of the work. As candidates emerge from the computer, those that have the most promise can be screened in the laboratory against the target, before further testing against H. pylori in laboratory animals and then humans.

Patil, S. and Madagi, S.B. (2019) ‘Application of machine learning techniques towards classification of drug molecules specific to peptide deformylase against Helicobacter pylori’, Int. J. Bioinformatics Research and Applications, Vol. 15, No. 3, pp.221–242.

Free open access article available: "Prion disease risk uncertainties associated with urine-derived and recombinant fertility drugs"

The following paper, "Prion disease risk uncertainties associated with urine-derived and recombinant fertility drugs" (International Journal of Risk Assessment and Management 22(2) 2019) is freely available for download as an open access article.

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

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Accounting and Finance

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Accounting and Finance are now available here for free:

• Non-financial criteria in project appraisal methodologies: empirical evidence from Indian companies
• A longitudinal analysis of financial instruments disclosure in an emerging capital market: the case of Qatar
• Private equity investment, exit strategy and IPO performance: evidence from Indian IPOs
• CEO turnover after poor performance: turnaround or scapegoating?

Free open access article available: "Vehicle state estimation based on PSO-RBF neural network"

The following paper, "Vehicle state estimation based on PSO-RBF neural network" (International Journal of Vehicle Safety 11(1) 2019) is freely available for download as an open access article.

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

Research pick: Screening for prostate cancer drugs - "Human caveolin-1 a potent inhibitor for prostate cancer therapy: a computational approach"

Researchers in India have taken a computational approach to investigate a protein that could become a novel target for new drugs to prostate cancer therapy. Uzma Khanam, Puniti Mathur, and Bhawna Rathi of Amity University and Balwant Kishan Malik of Sharda University, explain how the target, a protein known as caveolin-1, acts as a scaffold within certain types of cell membranes. The protein interacts with proteins involved in cell signalling and can regulate their activity.

Importantly, it was already known that caveolin-1 levels are elevated in the blood serum of men with prostate cancer. Indeed, this protein is secreted to promote blood vessel growth, angiogenesis, as well as cell proliferation. It also blocks the natural programmed cell death, apoptosis, which allows tumours to grow unfettered.

The team has used a computerized model of the protein to allow them to see how small molecules, putative pharmaceuticals, might fit into pockets in the protein, how they might “dock” with the protein, in other words. This kind of computer simulation of docking behaviour has wrought many novel drugs for a wide range of diseases in the past.

The team explains how they used molecular docking, structural base molecular modelling and molecular dynamics simulations to search for compounds that would inhibit the protein. They used a predictive model to screen against a large database of compounds. Their study has gleaned several potential lead compounds that dock with the active site of the protein. Blocking the protein might block its activity and prevent blood vessel growth and cell proliferation in a tumour within the prostate gland. The team suggests that the biochemical characteristics of these compounds with the protein should now be the focus of laboratory work in the search for new drugs to treat prostate cancer.

Khanam, U., Malik, B.K., Mathur, P. and Rathi, B. (2019) ‘Human caveolin-1 a potent inhibitor for prostate cancer therapy: a computational approach‘, Int. J. Computational Biology and Drug Design, Vol. 12, No. 3, pp.203-218.