31 January 2020

Free sample articles newly available from Progress in Computational Fluid Dynamics, An International Journal

The following sample articles from the Progress in Computational Fluid Dynamics, An International Journal are now available here for free:
  • Investigation of PEMFC performance with various configurations of serpentine and interdigitated flow channel
  • Comparative RANS turbulence modelling of lost salt core viability in high pressure die casting
  • Experimental and computational study of optically-driven electrothermal vortex
  • Numerical simulation of liquid mass collision with a wall
  • A local and fast interpolation method for mesh deformation
  • Colocated pressure-velocity coupling in finite difference methods

Special Issue published: "Innovative Services and Emerging Technologies of Smart Cities"

International Journal of Ad Hoc and Ubiquitous Computing 33(1) 2020

  • Using ubiquitous data to improve smartwatches' context awareness: a case study applied to develop wearable products
  • Incentive mechanism-based influential maximisation scheme for social cloud service networks
  • Base station assisted relay selection in device-to-device communications
  • Sensor-based detection of abnormal events for elderly people using deep belief networks
  • Task allocation for crowdsensing based on submodular optimisation
  • Random forest, gradient boosted machines and deep neural network for stock price forecasting: a comparative analysis on South Korean companies


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:
  • Comparisons of inverse modelling approaches for predicting energy consumption, economic growth and CO2 emissions: a case study for low-income countries
  • Waste prevention: a misunderstood concept
  • Knowledge and understanding of sustainability labels in Brazil
  • Regional sustainable development indicators for developing countries: case study of provinces in Indonesia
  • Livelihood vulnerability index: an application to assess the climatic vulnerability status of inland small scale fishing livelihood
  • Human well-being after 2015 Nepal earthquake: micro-evidence from one of the hardest hit rural villages
  • What are the sustainability principles guiding social life cycle assessment studies?
  • Gender mainstreaming of the impacts of 2012 flood-induced migration on household livelihoods in Nigeria
  • Closing the loop for resource efficiency, sustainable consumption and production: a critical review of the circular economy

Research pick: Attacking the clones - "A hybrid approach to find cloned objects in copy move forged images"

It is relatively easy to clone parts of an image with photo editing software to remove objects and backgrounds or even to duplicate objects. A skilful digital artist will be able to do this almost seamlessly. Such artists with malicious intent can use cloning tools and to fake and forge images and detecting such distortions of the originals can be difficult even to those trained in the art themselves.

Now, work published in the International Journal of Forensic Software Engineering shows how two distinct analytical techniques – ad hoc method and principal component analysis (PCA) based scale-invariant feature transform (SIFT) method – can work together in a hybrid system to analyse an image and reveal where such cloning techniques have been used for illicit purposes. Ashish Kumar Chakraverti of IKG-Punjab Technical University, in Jalandhar, and Vijay Dhir of the M.K. Group of Institutes, in Amritsar, Punjab, India, provide details in the latest issue of the journal.

The approach involves a pre-processing step in which the image of interest is adjusted in terms of contrast and colour and other factors to create a version of the image that can be analysed more readily. The hybrid analytical technique then works its way through the image to reveal errant regions of the image. The team has tested its hybrid approach successfully on the CoMoFoD image database. They had fewer false positives and negatives than state-of-art detection programs, which bodes well for its application in defeating criminality involving such image manipulation.

Chakraverti, A.K. and Dhir, V. (2019) ‘A hybrid approach to find cloned objects in copy move forged images’, Int. J. Forensic Software Engineering, Vol. 1, No. 1, pp.3–20.

30 January 2020

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Exergy

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Exergy are now available here for free:
  • Designing and exergetic analysis of a solar power tower system for Iskenderun region
  • Energy and exergy analyses of a HCCI engine-based system running on hydrogen enriched wet-ethanol fuel
  • Exergetic examination of a novel solar-thermochemical-based integrated system for multigeneration
  • Energy and exergy analyses of Al2O3-diesel-biodiesel blends in a diesel engine
  • Extremely small energy requirement by poliovirus to proliferate itself is the key to an outbreak of an epidemic

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Mathematics in Operational Research

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Mathematics in Operational Research are now available here for free:
  • Work planning optimisation in ports: a simplex application
  • A fuzzy rough integrated multi-stage supply chain inventory model with carbon emissions under inflation and time-value of money
  • Optimal strategy for an inventory model based on agile manufacturing under imperfect production process
  • A new optimal multi-product (Q, R, SS) policy with multivariate Markov stochastic demand forecasting model
  • Developing an integrated decision making model in supply chain under demand uncertainty using genetic algorithm and network data envelopment analysis
  • Joint replenishment model of both-ways and one-way substitution among products in fixed time horizon
  • Second order duality for variational problem via efficiency of higher order
  • A new short-term energy price forecasting method based on wavelet neural network

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Ad Hoc and Ubiquitous Computing

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Ad Hoc and Ubiquitous Computing are now available here for free:
  • Dynamic group-based scheduling of machine-to-machine communication for uplink traffic in LTE networks
  • An efficient node deployment method for indoor passive localisation
  • Convex hull based trajectory design for mobile sink in wireless sensor networks
  • Efficient two-party certificateless authenticated key agreement protocol under GDH assumption
  • UAVs assisted queue scheduling in ground ad hoc networks

Research pick: Ozone levels and climate change - "Advanced algorithms for studying the impact of climate changes on ozone levels in the atmosphere"

The oxygen in the air that we breathe is O2. Two oxygen atoms joined together to form a diatomic molecule. It is essential to life. However, there is another form of oxygen where three oxygen atoms join together to make an O3 molecule. We call this triatomic oxygen, ozone. Ozone is present in the upper atmosphere and protects the planet to some extent from harmful ultraviolet radiation from the Sun. However, combustion and other processes at ground level generate ozone as a noxious and toxic pollutant that can cause smog and is deleterious to air quality and so human and environmental health.

Writing in the International Journal of Environment and Pollution, an international team has developed an advanced algorithm that can be used to investigate the impact of climate change on ozone levels. Zahari Zlatev of the Department of Environmental Science at Aarhus University in Roskilde, Denmark, Ivan Dimov and Krassimir Georgiev of the Institute of Information and Communication Technologies at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences in Sofia, Bulgaria, and István Faragó and Ágnes Havasi of the MTA-ELTE Numerical Analysis and Large Networks Research Group in Budapest, Hungary, discuss details in the paper. Their model is built on a system of non-linear partial differential equations. They use it to analyse a sixteen-year timeframe across the whole of Europe and environs.

The team has to some extent overcome the complexities of the data and its uncertainties, but their conclusion is that climate change will ultimately lead to higher levels of an atmospheric pollutant like ozone.

Zlatev, Z., Dimov, I., Faragó, I., Georgiev, K. and Havasi, Á. (2019) ‘Advanced algorithms for studying the impact of climate changes on ozone levels in the atmosphere‘, Int. J. Environment and Pollution, Vol. 66, Nos. 1/2/3, pp.212-238.

29 January 2020

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Business Governance and Ethics

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Business Governance and Ethics are now available here for free:
  • Business ethics: a study of Portuguese social representation of business ethics
  • Governance, product market competition and agency costs: evidence from the UAE
  • Academic directors and IPO initial returns
  • Accountants' whistle-blowing intentions: the impact of affective organisational commitment
  • The relationship between corporate social responsibility disclosure and earnings management: is it a complement mechanism or a substitute mechanism?

New Editor for International Journal of Systems, Control and Communications

Prof. Jianbo Su from Shanghai Jiaotong University in China has been appointed to take over editorship of the International Journal of Systems, Control and Communications.

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Biomedical Engineering and Technology

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Biomedical Engineering and Technology are now available here for free:
  • Using worn out insole to express human foot
  • Investigation on ROI size and location to classify mammograms
  • Decision support system for type II diabetes and its risk factor prediction using bee-based harmony search and decision tree algorithm
  • Three-dimensional MRI brain tumour classification using hybrid ant colony optimisation and grey wolf optimiser with proximal support vector machine
  • Analysis of brainstem in Alzheimer MR images using Lattice Boltzmann level set
  • Microcalcifications segmentation from mammograms for breast cancer detection

Research pick: Lean job satisfaction - "The effect of lean on job satisfaction"

Lean principles and lean management are business principles that aim to make manufacturing and other processes more efficient by only have the absolute requisite resources to hand at the right time in any given stage of the process. Thus, excess starting materials, equipment, and essentially redundant staff do not increase the burden on storage, systems, waste disposal, and other factors any one of which might reduce efficiency and so profits.

Now, writing in the International Journal of Intelligent Enterprise, a team from India, discusses the implications of running a lean operation on employee job satisfaction. A. Varadaraj and S. Ananth of the Alliance School of Business, at Alliance University, in Bangalore, suggest that “Lean has shown visible effects in enhancing productivity, reducing wastage of time and materials while still maintaining customer satisfaction as well as employee satisfaction.” Part of the overall lean philosophy is about people understanding their motives and aspirations and lean relies on always focusing on employee motivation and work performance.

The team has carried out a detailed survey of employees working in a lean environment and used various statistical tools to analyse the results. They found that employees with a positive attitude coupled with good leadership style both play a vital role in the continuous improvement of lean implementation and have a big influence on job satisfaction. That said, they also found that “A dedicated employee can help the organisation to achieve its goals and benefits only when the leadership appreciates their contribution in the workplace.”

In order to be most effective, there has to be good awareness among employees of how lean can benefit them and the company they work for in different ways, training and management must also be positively linked to the whole ethos and what is commonly referred to as work-life balance must be maintained at an optimal level for the sake of employee job satisfaction and to the benefit of the organisation.

Varadaraj, A. and Ananth, S. (2020) ‘The effect of lean on job satisfaction’, Int. J. Intelligent Enterprise, Vol. 7, Nos. 1/2/3, pp.137–154.

28 January 2020

International Journal of Computational Vision and Robotics to invite expanded papers from International Workshop on New Approaches for Multidimensional Signal Processing (NAMSP 2020) for potential publication

Extended versions of papers presented at the International Workshop on New Approaches for Multidimensional Signal Processing (NAMSP 2020) (Technical University of Sofia, Sofia, Bulgaria, 9-11 July 2020) will be invited for review and potential publication by the International Journal of Computational Vision and Robotics.

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Intelligent Enterprise

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Intelligent Enterprise are now available here for free:
  • Gandhian management perspective for enhancing productivity and innovation in public sector organisation
  • Solving quadratic assignment problem by symbiotic organisms search algorithm
  • Design of interleaved flyback converter
  • Integrating the power of social media dataset impact in medical diagnosis
  • Heterogeneous network security management
  • Clustering of text documents with keyword weighting function
  • Fuzzy association rule mining for economic development indicators

Special issue published: "Applications of Computing in Engineering, Science and Management"

International Journal of Sustainable Agricultural Management and Informatics 5(4) 2019

  • An analytical study of applications of human resource information system in modern human resources management
  • Effect of the position of base station in square fields of energy efficient small, medium and large-scale wireless sensor networks - internet-of-things
  • Exploration of multipath routing protocol for mobile ad hoc networks
  • An improved hybrid algorithm for improving quality parameters in MANETs
  • MODIS land surface temperature data for prediction of urban heat island effect
Additional paper
  • Farmer's evaluation on conservative agriculture practices

Research pick: Motherly career paths in India - "Role of media in motivating career-oriented females in challenging the norms of patriarchy"

Marriage and motherhood are almost universal in India, writes a team from Amity University. They then ask in the International Journal of Gender Studies in Developing Societies, whether women have a choice in this matter or whether society so effectively defines their roles almost from birth that the majority do not recognise that there is a choice at all.

Priya Gupta of the Amity School of Fine Arts and Mili Sharma Amity School of Communication additionally ask whether those women who are in fact career-oriented can enjoy motherhood without marriage. They have studied the issues via focus group discussions, spread across four strata in the hope of answering some of the questions that face women in Indian society as it develops. They introduce the concept of “single mothers by choice” or what one might more colloquially call “choice moms” in a pseudo-American vernacular. Moreover, they argue the case of a choice for career women in India to use surrogacy and in vitro fertilisation for their aspirations of motherhood outside of marriage.

Those involved in the study were well aware that many women sacrifice their burgeoning careers to marry and have children. But, they were also aware of celebrity women who had taken unconventional routes to motherhood. Various advantages were perceived by the women in the study of unconventional approaches.

Most respondents believed that their feminine identity can remain intact, and they can retain their independence by side-stepping marriage in their lives, which challenges the patriarchy. However, many were torn on the idea of motherhood without marriage, or even a male partner, given society’s entrenched views on such matters. Indian society is changing, but there remain obstacles in the path of women hoping to have a career, avoid marriage, but still take the option of becoming a mother.

Gupta, P. and Sharma, M. (2020) ‘Role of media in motivating career-oriented females in challenging the norms of patriarchy’, Int. J. Gender Studies in Developing Societies, Vol. 3, No. 3, pp.243–255.

27 January 2020

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Global Warming

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Global Warming are now available here for free:
  • Determining the effect of deforestation on sustainable water supply in a semi-arid mountainous watershed by using storm water management model
  • Patterns and influencing factors of spatio-temporal variability of soil organic carbon in karst catchment
  • Future realities of climate change impacts: an integrated assessment study of Canada
  • How to model a complex national energy system? Developing an integrated energy systems framework for long-term energy and emissions analysis
  • Enhancement of landfill gas production and waste stabilisation by using geotextile filter in a bioreactor landfill

New Editor for Latin American Journal of Management for Sustainable Development

Associate Prof. Luciana Oranges Cezarino from the Federal University of Uberlandia in Brazil has been appointed to take over editorship of the Latin American Journal of Management for Sustainable Development. She will be joined by a new Executive Editor, Prof. Lara Bartocci Liboni of the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Special issue published: "Agile Approaches for Transdisciplinary Engineering"

International Journal of Agile Systems and Management 12(4) 2019

  • Developing agile platform assets – exploring ways to reach beyond modularisation at five product development companies
  • Glencoe – a tool and a methodology to manage variability within the product development process
  • Knowledge management support in the engineering change process in small and medium-sized companies
  • A should costing approach for manufacturing companies
  • A multipath methodology to promote ergonomics, safety and efficiency in agile factories
  • A proposal of integrated worker-monitoring system towards ergonomic manufacturing environment

New Editor for International Journal of Ocean Systems Management

Prof. José António Correia from the University of Porto in Portugal has been appointed to take over editorship of the International Journal of Ocean Systems Management.

24 January 2020

International Journal of Computational Vision and Robotics to invite expanded papers from International Conference on Computational Vision and Robotics (ICCVR-2020) for potential publication

Extended versions of papers presented at the International Conference on Computational Vision and Robotics (ICCVR-2020) (6-7 June 2020, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) will be invited for review and potential publication by the International Journal of Computational Vision and Robotics.

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Microstructure and Materials Properties

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Microstructure and Materials Properties are now available here for free:
  • Effect of input parameters on friction stir processing of AA2014-T6 using response surface methodology
  • Influence of initial oxidation and secondary oxidation on spontaneous combustion of lignite
  • Analysis of the mechanical properties and penetration depth of gas metal arc welding on AISI 304 stainless steel
  • Reliability studies on biaxially tensile strained-Si channel p-MOSFETs
  • Microstructure evaluation and modelling the tensile strength and yield strength of titanium alloys
  • The effect of process parameters on the hardness and wear resistance performance of laser cladded Ti-Si coatings on Ti-6Al-4V alloy

Special issue published: "Extended Realities: Theoretical and Managerial Contributions in Virtual, Augmented and Mixed Reality"

International Journal of Technology Marketing 13(3/4) 2019

  • Wearable XR-technology: literature review, conceptual framework and future research directions
  • Augmenting reality: fusing consumers' experiences and interactions with immersive technologies in physical retail settings
  • Virtual reality as an urban tourism destination marketing tool
  • Designing enhanced augmented reality tourism experiences: a multi-stakeholder approach
  • Towards user acceptance of autonomous vehicles: a virtual reality study on human-machine interfaces
  • User experience design for mixed reality: a case study of HoloLens in museum
  • Exploring VR experiences of tourists' attachment to a rural destination
Additional papers
  • Proximity marketing in banking: lessons from retail and entertainment industries
  • Technology-based marketing strategies through the consumer lens: how might perceptions of ethicality and effectiveness interrelate?

New Editor for International Journal of Internet Marketing and Advertising

Associate Prof. Jesús García-Madariaga from Universidad Complutense de Madrid in Spain has been appointed to take over editorship of the International Journal of Internet Marketing and Advertising.

23 January 2020

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Internet Technology and Secured Transactions

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Internet Technology and Secured Transactions are now available here for free:
  • TAACS-FL: trust aware access control system using fuzzy logic for internet of things
  • Efficient authentication and key management scheme for wireless mesh networks
  • Spatial data storage and retrieval in cloud computing environments using attribute based encryption algorithm
  • Performance analysis of cloud computing using series of queues with Erlang service
  • Secure communication process in IoT using media gate network transmit protocol with reliable data transport protocol
  • Privacy preserving computation of scalar product and sign of scalar product
  • Enhancing network lifetime through power-aware routing in MANET
  • An efficient spectrum handoff decision making scheme for cognitive radio networks
  • Cost-based constrained task scheduling in cloud environment
  • Risk-based availability modelling and reputation management on fault tolerant cloud computing systems
  • Event detection in sports video based on audio-visual and support vector machine. Case-study: football
  • A novel dyadic multiresolution wavelet image steganography using N-ary
  • Dynamic high bandwidth nodes for routing in MANETs

Special issue published: "Advances in Engineering Systems and Product Technology"

International Journal of Materials and Product Technology 59(4) 2019

  • Effect of nano-yttria dispersion on the microstructure and mechanical properties of W-Ni-Co alloys
  • Experimental investigations and optimisation of process parameters in dry finish turning of Inconel 625 super alloy
  • Coupling reduction of two element MIMO antenna using parasitic element for LTE band application
  • Random dopant fluctuations impact reduction in 7 nm bulk-FinFET by substrate engineering
  • Volumetric shrinkage prediction in fused deposition modelling process - ANFIS modelling approach

Research pick: Virtual tourism - "Virtual reality as an urban tourism destination marketing tool"

Virtual reality could be used as a powerful marketing tool for urban tourism. Natasha Moorhouse of the Faculty of Business and Law at Manchester Metropolitan University in the United Kingdom discusses the details in the International Journal of Technology Marketing.

“In an increasingly complex and global marketplace, it is vital that urban tourism destinations develop novel marketing strategies to differentiate, remain competitive, and ultimately attract and retain visitors to facilitate long-term tourism growth,” she writes. Virtual reality has been long anticipated in tourism marketing, offering those selling destination experiences the opportunity to share the wonders of different places from the comfort of the travel agent office or even the holidaymaker’s home. But, adoption has been slow despite the potential. Marketers need to understand better the possibilities of these tools as well as their limitations in order to give consumers the best opportunities.

Moorhouse’s work contributes exploratory work that could offer valuable insights into the various factors associated with virtual reality tools in this context. She puts particular emphasis on the marketing of urban destinations. Virtual reality will remain a challenge for many tour operators and the public perception of such systems may well slow the uptake. However, there is also the potential for embedding virtual reality into the detailed planning of a trip allowing the traveler to investigate places in detail before they map out their itinerary.

Of course, it might be in the age of lowering our collective carbon footprint, that virtual reality tourism could be a less costly alternative to travel, both financially and environmentally.

Moorhouse, N. (2019) ‘Virtual reality as an urban tourism destination marketing tool’, Int. J. Technology Marketing, Vol. 13, Nos. 3/4, pp.285–306.

22 January 2020

Special issue published: "Challenges in the Development of Large-Scale Pollution Models"

International Journal of Environment and Pollution 66(1/2/3) 2019

  • Urban areas parameterisation for CFD simulation and cities air quality analysis
  • Current trends in nanotechnology for bioremediation
  • Assaying SARIMA and generalised regularised regression for particulate matter PM10 modelling and forecasting
  • On convergence of difference schemes for Dirichlet IBVP for two-dimensional quasilinear parabolic equations
  • Identification of dust transport patterns and sources by using MODIS: a technique developed to discriminate dust and clouds
  • Analysis of regional climate model simulations for Central Europe as a potential tool to assess weather-related air quality conditions
  • The method of general heat treatment of waste water from metal manufacture based on photocatalysis
  • An approach for selection of solid waste disposal sites by rapid impact assessment matrix and environmental performance index analysis
  • Global climate driven effects on urban air pollution simulations using very high spatial resolution
  • Applying WRF-CMAQ models for assessment of sulphur and nitrogen deposition in Bulgaria for the years 2016 and 2017
  • Assessment of fluoride hazard in groundwater of Palghat District, Kerala: a GIS approach
  • Advanced algorithms for studying the impact of climate changes on ozone levels in the atmosphere

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Productivity and Quality Management

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Productivity and Quality Management are now available here for free:
  • An empirical investigation of the relationship between TQM practices, quality performance, and customer satisfaction level
  • Monitoring of an ingot making facility via principal component analysis and its variants
  • Evaluating the efficiency of the commercial banks admired in Fortune 500 list; using data envelopment analysis
  • Business research productivity and barriers
  • Service provider's rationalisation for the performance improvement of the organisation: a case study
  • Effect of deep cryogenic treatment on performance measures in wire electrical discharge machining process during taper cutting operation

Special issue published: "Achieving Sustainability in the Digital Business Environment"

International Journal of Decision Support Systems 4(2) 2019

  • Supporting decisions for the application of combined natural and engineered systems for water treatment and reuse
  • Strategic decision support systems for short supply chain development in the agrifood sector
  • Nonlinear data envelopment analysis models for technologies with undesirable outputs
  • Using multicriteria decision analysis to evaluate the effect of digital transformation on organisational performance: evidence from Greek tourism SMEs
  • Traffic flow forecasting for city logistics: a literature review and evaluation

Research pick: Hyphenated headlines - "Improving named entity recognition and disambiguation in news headlines"

Data mining and extraction of knowledge from disparate sources is big data, big business. But, how does the search software cope with entities that are mentioned where only part of their name is used or a name is hyphenated when it normally isn’t? Research published in the International Journal of Intelligent Information and Database Systems reveals details of a new approach to improving named entity recognition and disambiguation in news headlines.

Jayendra Barua and Rajdeep Niyogi of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, at the Indian Institute of Technology, in Roorkee, Uttarakhand, India, explain that their approach to such an analysis of current news headlines builds on a trained algorithm that has been taught to remove the hyphens and complete incomplete names to remove ambiguity.

The team’s evaluation of their novel approach shows that it works with approximately 10 percent greater accuracy than conventional systems and so could improve the automated retrieval of news associated with particular companies, organizations, events, public figures, and other entities of interest to those data mining the news. The system works well with newsfeeds, such as the RSS type of newsfeed generated by regularly updated websites. Headlines from such sources might commonly be longer than conventional newspaper headlines but are nevertheless succinct, commonly being ten or fewer words long. Each word might then be important in a data mining context and so disambiguation is critical.

Barua, J. and Niyogi, R. (2019) ‘Improving named entity recognition and disambiguation in news headlines’, Int. J. Intelligent Information and Database Systems, Vol. 12, No. 4, pp.279–303.

21 January 2020

Special issue published: "Achieving Sustainability in the Digital Business Environment"

International Journal of Sustainable Society 11(4) 2019

  • Cultural intelligence for business sustainability: a fixed effect meta-analysis for a decade of empirical findings
  • Determinants of pro-environmental behaviour in the context of emerging economies
  • Sustainable procurement framework for basmati rice in India
  • Multi ethnicity residents perception towards a country – evidences from United Arab Emirates
  • Sustainable irrigation management and farmers' knowledge in South Khorasan, Iran

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Environment and Pollution

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Environment and Pollution are now available here for free:
  • Genotoxic action of naphthenic acids on the fish macrophage cell line, RTS11
  • Residues of organochlorine pesticides and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in surface waters, soils and sediments of the Kaidu River catchment, northwest China
  • Factors affecting the leaching behaviours of magnesium phosphate cement-stabilised/solidified Pb-contaminated soil, part 1: water-to-solid ratio and Pb concentration
  • Using 137Cs and 210Pbex to quantify the effects of land use on soil organic carbon and total nitrogen in the subtropical Dianchi watershed, southwest China
  • Assessment of ambient air quality around mines, in buffer zone and along ore transportation routes in iron ore mining region of Goa: emphasis on spatial distributions and seasonal variations
  • EDTA and citrate impact on heavy metals phytoremediation using paulownia hybrids
  • Evaluation of some blood parameters in parallel with expression of p53 and IL-6 in industrial pollution exposed subject
  • CFD modelling of dispersion in neutrally and stably-stratified atmospheric boundary layers: results for Prairie Grass and Thorney Island

Special issue published: "Advances in Engineering Systems and Product Technology"

International Journal of Materials and Product Technology 59(4) 2019

  • Effect of nano-yttria dispersion on the microstructure and mechanical properties of W-Ni-Co alloys
  • Coupling reduction of two element MIMO antenna using parasitic element for LTE band application
  • Random dopant fluctuations impact reduction in 7 nm bulk-FinFET by substrate engineering
  • Volumetric shrinkage prediction in fused deposition modelling process - ANFIS modelling approach

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

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Information Technology and Management are now available here for free:
  • An improved reversible data hiding scheme based on pixel permutation
  • Sampling method based on improved C4.5 decision tree and its application in prediction of telecom customer churn
  • Dataset replica placement strategy under a response time constraint in the cloud
  • The research on the selection of the rice transfer machine
  • A decision support system for identification of technology innovation risk based on sequential CBR
  • Electric vehicle range estimation based on the road congestion level classification
  • Research on the measuring method and structure mining of organisation conflict
  • Analysis of the multi-agent's relationship in collaborative innovation network for science and technology SEMs based on evolutionary game theory

Research pick: Using social media at work - "Does social media use at work lower productivity?"

A new study by researchers in the USA suggests that the use of social media can sometimes have a negative impact on a work project and sometimes correlate positively with success. Writing in the International Journal of Information Technology and Management, the team suggests that using one of the most well-known social media systems, Facebook can have a negative effect on project success whereas LinkedIn has a positive effect.

Joseph Vithayathil of the School of Business at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, Majid Dadgar of the School of Management at the University of San Francisco, and Kalu Osiri of the College of Business at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, based their conclusions on an empirical study that analysed the relationship between the use of social media at work and project success at work.

It is well known to employers and employees that workers somehow find time during working hours to use Facebook, LinkedIn, personal Google Mail, Youtube, and many other apps and services unrelated to their work. There are numerous examples of employees being fired for using online services during the working day for personal reasons, such as online shopping, sharing photos and updates, and simply chatting to friends. The rationale is that the use of such services will inevitably have a detrimental effect on work and project success, individual implications for morale aside. Social media use continues unabated regardless of employer perception.

However, the US team has shown that for educated employees their use of LinkedIn, which is often considered a more business and work-related social media platform, correlates positively with project success at work. It may well be that this particular social media service is considered less flippant than others and is used for creating and building contacts at the professional level as well as gaining information pertinent to one’s employment.

Vithayathil, J., Dadgar, M. and Osiri, J.K. (2020) ‘Does social media use at work lower productivity?’, Int. J. Information Technology and Management, Vol. 19, No. 1, pp.47–67.

20 January 2020

Research pick: Refurbished smart phones – the Millennial or Gen X choice - "Modelling the purchase intention of millennial and Generation X consumers, towards refurbished mobile phones in India"

Millions living on the Indian sub-continent aspire to ownership of the technological breakthroughs, smartphones, tablet computers, etc that are now almost ubiquitous in other countries. The question of sustainability arises as does the notion of a so-called “green” economics when considering the huge numbers involved.

A new report in the International Journal of Green Economics, discusses one aspect of technology that might allow such issues to be addressed to some extent. Namely, the idea that a large proportion of the population with disposable income is keen to own and use such technology but also quite well aware of the consequences in terms of material resources, waste and pollution, and climate change. Might those born in the two to three decades from the mid-1960s onwards, the so-called “Generation X” and their successors the “Millennials” perhaps be more inclined to take a refurbished mobile phone rather than a brand-new gadget in the name of “saving the planet”.

Prathamesh Mhatre formerly of Ramaiah University of Applied Sciences in Bangalore and Hosur Srinivasan Srivatsa of the M.S. Ramaiah University of Applied Sciences, in Karnataka, India, point out that in the face of consumer pressure born of environmental concern, many companies have been forced to implement refurbishment, recycling, and reuse strategies. This not only gives them a new market but will hopefully have the benefits that consumers are hoping to see in terms of an improved environment.

The team surveyed people born after the so-called “Baby boom” of 1946 to 1964, thus during the approximate periods 1964 to 1980 and then onwards to about 1997, representing “Generation X” and the “Millennial” generation. They looked at purchase intention of people in those two groups living in metropolitan cities of India and analysed their data using Structural Equation Modelling.

“Attitude towards refurbishment, perceived risk and perceived benefit have a significant impact on the purchase intention of Generation X consumers,” the team found. Gen X consumers seek direct benefits from purchasing refurbished phones, in other words. “By contrast, the results for Millennials show that product knowledge, perceived risk, attitude towards refurbishment and subjective norm significantly impact their purchase intention, the team reports. The results contradict earlier studies that suggested that behavioural control does not affect purchase intention and suggests that theoretical models do not always assess different demographics correctly.

Mhatre, P. and Srivatsa, H.S. (2019) ‘Modelling the purchase intention of millennial and Generation X consumers, towards refurbished mobile phones in India’, Int. J. Green Economics, Vol. 13, Nos. 3/4, pp.257–275.

17 January 2020

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Vehicle Performance

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Vehicle Performance are now available here for free:
  • Integration of geometry and small and large deformation analysis for vehicle modelling: chassis, and airless and pneumatic tyre flexibility
  • Cosimulation of vehicle dynamics and terrain interaction to predict one-pass vehicle cone index
  • Deformable soil with adaptive level of detail for tracked and wheeled vehicles
  • Lightweight dynamic vehicle models oriented to vehicle electrification
  • Chrono::Vehicle: template-based ground vehicle modelling and simulation
  • Active longitudinal load transfer control for improving vehicle's stability

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Nanomanufacturing

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Nanomanufacturing are now available here for free:
  • One-dimensional Z-scheme TiO2/WO3 composite nanofibres for enhanced photocatalytic activity of hydrogen production
  • The effect of nano-zirconia on the morphology and mechanical properties of PVDF/PAN membrane as separators in super capacitors
  • The study on flexible AgVO3 nano paper and its visible light photocatalytic activity
  • Enhanced photocatalytic activity of AgVO3/TiO2 nanorod array composite film under visible light irradiation
  • Sulphur-doped banana peel-derived activated carbon as electrode materials for supercapacitors
  • Creating binder-free supercapacitor electrodes from biomass resources: a nitrogen-doped pomelo peel derived carbon foam
  • Surface modification of TiO2 nanorod arrays with Ag3PO4 @ PANI nanoparticles for enhancing photoelectrochemical performance
  • Low temperature dependence of mechanical process of ultrathin aluminium films: molecular dynamics simulations
  • Influence of shear-induced crystallisation on the rheological behaviour of polyethylene
  • Khaki-coloured niobium oxide nanochains with enhanced lithium storage performances
  • Silicon-based anode materials with three-dimensional conductive network for high-performance lithium ion batteries
  • Scalable synthesis of Sn nanoparticles encapsulated in hierarchical porous carbon networks for high-rate reversible lithium storage
  • Growth of NiCo2O4 nanotubes @MnO2 sheet core-shell arrays on 3D hierarchical porous carbon aerogels as superior electrodes for supercapacitors
  • Experimental investigation on the surface tension and contact angle of Al2O3-oil and SiO2-oil nanofluids
  • Photocatalytic properties of magnesium aluminate spinel nanoparticles prepared by chemical precipitation method
  • Preparation and characterisation of cMWCNTs-mSA/mCS bipolar membrane for electrochemical synthesis
  • Preparation of poly(3-hydroxybutyrateco-3-hydroxyvalerate) supported cobalt phthalocyanine thin membranes and its catalytic degradation of methylene blue
  • Hollow microellipsoid lithium silicate with mesoporosity and its formation mechanism
  • The luminescent properties of GdAlO3:Tb3+ phosphors based on molten salts addition
  • Molecular dynamics simulation of shear deformation of multi-layer graphene sheets with Tersoff potential
  • Multiferroic behaviours of Mn-doped Bi4NdTi3FeO15 ceramics

Inderscience journals to invite expanded papers from International Conference on Sustainability, Governance and Responsibility 2020 for potential publication

Extended versions of papers presented at the International Conference on Sustainability, Governance and Responsibility (ICSGR 2020) (23-24 January 2020, Vivekananda Institute of Professional Studies, Delhi, India) will be invited for review and potential publication by the following journals:

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

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Banking, Accounting and Finance are now available here for free:
  • Pricing 'partial-average' Asian options with the binomial method
  • Forecasting the daily dynamic hedge ratios in emerging European stock futures markets: evidence from GARCH models
  • Reaction of EU stock markets to ECB policy interventions
  • The WTI/Brent oil futures price differential and the globalisation-regionalisation hypothesis

Research pick: Homomorphic encryption for cloud users - "Secure cloud computing using homomorphic construction"

A new approach to encryption could improve user perception of cloud computing services where the users are concerned about private or personal data being exposed to third parties. Writing in the International Journal of Cloud Computing, the team outlines a proposed homomorphic encryption system.

Homomorphic encryption was developed more than a decade ago and represented something of a significant breakthrough in security. By definition, it allows computations to be carried out on a ciphertext (the user’s data in the cloud service, for instance), generating an result that is still encrypted but when decrypted by the user matches exactly the result that would be obtained if the same computational operations had been carried out on the user’s plain-text as opposed to the uploaded ciphertext. It is thus very useful for ensuring the privacy of data uploaded to cloud and other outsourced computer services.

Despite all the benefits of cloud computing, the very nature of the services wherein a user by necessity must share data with a third party, the cloud service provider, means that there are endless issues of trust. Indeed, many users have not adopted cloud services because they recognise that those services being in a different domain to their own personal or private system offers malicious third parties an opportunity to access their data in a way that would not be possible if that data were held only on the user’s domain. The use of sophisticated tools such as homomorphic encryption adds a layer or reassurance that should open up cloud services to all but the most neurotic of user at least within limits.

Swathi, V. and Vani, M.P. (2019) ‘Secure cloud computing using homomorphic construction‘, Int. J. Cloud Computing, Vol. 8, No. 4, pp.354-370.

16 January 2020

Inderscience journals to invite expanded papers from International Conference on Sustainability, Governance and Responsibility 2020 for potential publication

Extended versions of papers presented at the International Conference on Sustainability, Governance and Responsibility (ICSGR 2020) (23-24 January 2020, Vivekananda Institute of Professional Studies, Delhi, India) will be invited for review and potential publication by the following journals:

New Editor for World Review of Intermodal Transportation Research

Associate Prof. Violeta Roso from Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden has been appointed to take over editorship of the World Review of Intermodal Transportation Research.

Research pick: Heat check on a chip - "Development of chip calorimeter based on Bi/Al thermopile for biological sample measurement"

Scientists working in medical research, biology, cellular studies, and in understanding bacteria and other pathogens often need to know about temperature rises and falls in the systems on which they focus. Many processes involve heat production and tracking those changes can get to the core of understanding a process, diagnosing a disease or perhaps investigating whether a pharmaceutical, such as an antibiotic, will work.

Now, Joohyun Lee and Il Doh of the Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science, in Daejeon, South Korea, have developed a tiny device that measures otherwise undetectable heat changes. They describe their “chip calorimeter” in the International Journal of Nanotechnology. The devices is based on a thermopile made from bismuth and aluminium and can detect sub-microwatt changes in the energy levels, and thus the heat generated by very small scale systems such as cell samples or bacterial cultures.

The chip calorimeter measures 8 by 10 millimetres and comprises four identical measurement units. A platinum electrode to generate heats in the centre and two thermopiles on both sides of the heater and maintains the device at a known temperature within a range of 20 millikelvin, this is technically the furnace and acts as a baseline for the system so that any heat increase from a sample can be detected. The whole device is supported on a membrane of silicon nitride just 1 micrometre thick. “Any heat generation by sample or heater in the area of the inner thermopile connection induces temperature difference between the outer and the inner connections so that it produces voltage signal measurable with a nanovoltmeter,” the team explains.

The chip calorimeter could ultimately be employed in measuring metabolic heat of cells for antibiotic research, changes in environmental samples, and temperature changes associated with disease for diagnosis, the team writes.

Lee, J. and Doh, I. (2019) ‘Development of chip calorimeter based on Bi/Al thermopile for biological sample measurement’, Int. J. Nanotechnol., Vol. 16, Nos. 4/5, pp.281–288.

15 January 2020

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Sensor Networks

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Sensor Networks are now available here for free:
  • An improved MDS localisation algorithm for a WSN in a sub-surface mine
  • ICRA: index based cache replacement algorithm for cloud storage
  • A portable roadside vehicle detection system based on multi-sensing fusion
  • A profile based data segmentation for in-home activity recognition
  • Urbihoc: a delay tolerant approach for data acquisition in urban areas using a mobile wireless sensor network
  • Energy efficient data collection in periodic sensor networks using spatio-temporal node correlation

Inderscience journals to invite expanded papers from International Conference of Critical Accounting (ICCA) for potential publication

Extended versions of papers presented at the International Conference of Critical Accounting (ICCA) (9-10 April 2020, City University of New York, New York City, USA) will be invited for review and potential publication by the following journals:

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Rapid Manufacturing

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Rapid Manufacturing are now available here for free:
  • Parametric advancement of numerical model to predict the mechanical properties of friction stir processed AA5052
  • Investigation of mathematical model to optimise the mechanical properties of friction stir processed AA6082
  • Optimisation of identical parallel machine scheduling problem
  • A study on machinability evaluation of Al-Gr-B4C MMC using response surface methodology-based desirability analysis and artificial neural network technique
  • Agility in small sized pump manufacturing companies - an exploration in an Indian scenario
  • Optimisation of free vibration analysis on structural plates of fibre reinforced laminated composites
  • Mechanical properties of 7075-t6 aluminium alloy surface hybrid composites synthesised by friction stir processing
  • Preparation and testing of fibre reinforced Zea mays and Calotropis gigantea concrete material under various testing conditions
  • Studies on mechanical properties of the sintered bronze-graphite composites
  • Trajectory tracking control of two-link industrial robot manipulator based on C++

Research pick: Predicting hurricane damage - "Learning pattern of hurricane damage levels using semantic web resources"

Predicting the damage caused by a hurricane might be possible thanks to an analysis of semantic web resources, according to work published in the International Journal of Computational Science and Engineering.

Quang-Khai Tran and Sa-kwang Song of the Department of Big Data Science at the University of Science and Technology in South Korea, explain that they have created an algorithm trained with reported damage from 48 sites in the USA hit by five different hurricanes. The algorithm can then show the damage that would be seen six hours after landfall of other hurricanes based on the statistics. It works well even with sparse and incomplete data sets, the team reports, which could be important in the face of climate change and very variable weather reporting.
“[The system] was able to estimate the damage levels in several scenarios even if two-thirds of the relevant weather information was unavailable,” the team writes. Of course, additional information and training can only improve the system.

In the current version of the algorithm, the team explains that their statistical components should ultimately be able to cope with real-time streaming data with some additional development of a kind outlined in the paper. The system might then be able to predict damage should we once more see hurricanes of the scale and devastation of Katrina in the USA in 2005, cyclone Nargis in Myanmar in 2008, and super typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines in 2013.

Tran, Q-K. and Song, S-k. (2019) ‘Learning pattern of hurricane damage levels using semantic web resources’, Int. J. Computational Science and Engineering, Vol. 20, No. 4, pp.492–500.

14 January 2020

International Journal of Forensic Software Engineering to invite expanded papers from 3rd International Conference on Big Data and Computational Intelligence for potential publication

Extended versions of papers presented at the 3rd International Conference on Big Data and Computational Intelligence (ICBDCI’20) (20-21 March 2020, MIET, Meerut, India) will be invited for review and potential publication by the International Journal of Forensic Software Engineering.

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Mobile Communications

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Mobile Communications are now available here for free:
  • Exploring new factors affecting purchase intention of mobile commerce: trust and social benefit as mediators
  • Customer retention to mobile telecommunication service providers: the roles of perceived justice and customer loyalty program
  • Inter-type differences in store personality between department stores, hypermarkets, and mobile commerce
  • Effect of regulatory focus primed by a smartphone application on calling plan satisfaction
  • A study of the acceptance and resistance of airline mobile application services: with an emphasis on user characteristics

Special Issue published: "19th Korean Thermophysical Properties (KSTP) Conference"

International Journal of Nanotechnology 16(4/5) 2019

  • Thermal contact conductance of various metal interfaces at cryogenic temperature
  • Measurement of optical properties and thermal diffusivity of vanadium dioxide nano-solution using thermal lens effect
  • Measurements of the thermophysical properties of V2O5 pellets
  • Experimental study on viscosity of Al2O3/Fe3O4 hybrid nanofluid according to different surfactant additives
  • Experimental investigation of the photo-thermal conversion performance of Fe3O4 nanofluid under a magnetic field
  • Flow visualisation of additive alignment inside a polymer matrix depending on hydraulic diameter of the mould channel
  • Thermal property measurement of thin plate by a modulated laser and IR thermography
  • Measurement of thermal boundary resistance in ∼10 nm contact using UHV-SThM
  • Thermophysical properties of Inconel alloy 740 modified with titanium and aluminium
  • Development of chip calorimeter based on Bi/Al thermopile for biological sample measurement
  • Specific heat measurements of CNT nanofluids
  • Layer-number dependent electrical and optical properties of transparent conductive RuO2 nanosheets films

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Heavy Vehicle Systems

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Heavy Vehicle Systems are now available here for free:
  • Research on a rollover protective technique for a vibroseis truck based on reliability analysis
  • Application of the Taguchi based entropy weighted TOPSIS method for optimisation of diesel engine performance and emission parameters
  • Including deformation in a model for engine block dynamics: measurement and prediction of vibration
  • Economic life cycle of the bus fleet: a case study
  • On robust controllers for active steering systems of articulated heavy vehicles

Research pick: Information overload - "An integrated model of the antecedents and consequences of perceived information overload using WeChat as an example"

Researchers in China have investigated what we mean by “information overload” in the context of a social media application, WeChat. Their findings have implications for those who use and run such services as well as other researchers in the field and psychosocial practitioners.

Writing in the International Journal of Mobile Communications, the team reports how the amount of information received and the length of content correlates with user perceptions of information overload as one might expect. However, the number of subscriptions within the service that a user has was not a significant factor in this perception. However, the perception of information overload was associated with negative emotions and an increased (but ongoing) intention to discontinue usage. Negative emotions and this urge to disconnect from the service was higher with a higher level of experience.

Information overload has been defined as the point at which users of any given service receive so much information in a short space of time that they no longer have the capacity to process all of that information satisfactorily and this leads to stress or anxiety and diminished decision-making ability for those people.

“Living in a [so-called] digital society, we are bombarded with information whether or not we actively seek it,” the team writes. “We are all affected by the increasing number of sources from which information emanates.” They add that “Recognising the antecedents and consequences of information overload can help us to prevent it or at least deal with it.”

Zhang, X., Ma, L., Zhang, G. and Wang, G-S. (2020) ‘An integrated model of the antecedents and consequences of perceived information overload using WeChat as an example’, Int. J. Mobile Communications, Vol. 18, No. 1, pp.19–40.

13 January 2020

Free sample articles newly available from Afro-Asian Journal of Finance and Accounting

The following sample articles from the Afro-Asian Journal of Finance and Accounting are now available here for free:
  • Institutional ownership and corporate governance: evidence from Bahrain
  • The impact of large ownership on capital structure of Vietnamese listed firms
  • The influence of tax manipulation upon financial performance: evidence from Bangladesh
  • Examining bank-specific determinants of the dividend payout ratio of Sub-Saharan Africa banks: the panel GMM approach
  • Bank loan loss provisions, risk-taking and bank intangibles Peterson K. Ozili
  • Effect of mergers and acquisitions on short-term gain to equity shareholders of acquiring firms in India

Special issue: "Advances in Continuous Surface Mining"

International Journal of Mining and Mineral Engineering 10(2/3/4) 2019

  • Current state and development of continuous systems on EPS opencast lignite mines
  • Ultimate pit limit determination for fully mobile in-pit crushing and conveying systems
  • Lignite mine monitoring and mapping using freely-available radar and optical satellite imagery
  • Application of mine planning software to resources estimation of the lava lignite deposit in Servia, Greece
  • A real-time event-driven database productivity and maintenance planning tool for continuous surface mining operations
  • Exploring the effect of physical, human and technical factors on bucket wheel excavators' efficiency: a fuzzy cognitive map approach
  • Design and approval third party audit of material handling and mining equipment
  • Percussive cutting of hard rocks with point attack picks: dependency of specific energy consumption and number of blows per unit length of cut groove on impact energy and cutting parameters
  • A cloud-based near real-time slope movement monitoring system
  • Alkali activation of low-alumina mine tailings for more sustainable raw material supply
  • Assessment of social and environmental risks on opencast coal mines
  • Surface mining in Western Macedonia, Greece: fugitive dust (PM10) emissions and dispersion
  • Structural analysis of Greek and Bulgarian coals by solid-state 13C nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy
  • Selection of an optimal electric monorail loading technique in underground mining using analytic hierarchy process and Yager's technique

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

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Services and Operations Management are now available here for free:
  • Particle swarm optimisation algorithm and multi-start simulated annealing algorithm for scheduling batches of parts in multi-cell flexible manufacturing system
  • Improving organisational process input factors and company performance
  • Managing quality within existing supply chains: case studies from Jordan
  • Product assignment using quadratic assignment model in retail
  • Hybrid cellular manufacturing system design with cellularisation ratio: an integrated mixed integer nonlinear programming and discrete event simulation approach

New Editor for International Journal of Happiness and Development

Dr. Parviz Dabir-Alai from Richmond University in the UK has been appointed to take over editorship of the International Journal of Happiness and Development. The previous Editor in Chief, Prof. Mak B. Arvin, will remain with the journal as Honorary Editor.

10 January 2020

New Editor for International Journal of Management in Education

Dr. Vesna Skrbinjek from the International School for Social and Business Studies in Slovenia has been appointed to take over editorship of the International Journal of Management in Education. The previous Editor in Chief, Prof. Dr. Dušan Lesjak, will remain with the journal as Honorary Editor.

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Product Lifecycle Management

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Product Lifecycle Management are now available here for free:
  • A new framework for modelling schedules in complex and uncertain NPD projects
  • Value creation for lifecycle based product development through the sustainable half-life return model
  • Simulated dynamic finite-element experiments and automatic assembly synthesis for mechanical design automation
  • Changing information management for product-service system engineering: customer-oriented strategies and lessons learned

First issue: International Journal of Computational Medicine and Healthcare (free sample issue available)

Today's medical and healthcare systems have become increasingly computation-intensive due to the demands of digital medical data and rapid developments in IT technologies/methodologies. The International Journal of Computational Medicine and Healthcare meets the need for publications addressing translational and/or transformative scientific research in medicine and healthcare. It is a forum for medical researchers, computational scientists, engineers and other professionals, and processes research papers and reports of medical studies on medical scientific discoveries, innovative engineering design and applications for healthcare system improvement using data and computational systems.

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

Research pick: Obesity as a growing social norm - "Obesity: locating social responsibility in the context of evolving norms"

From a philosophical point of view, we cannot reconcile a world in which so many people are suffering from malnutrition and starving for want a few grains and yet others are killing themselves through obesity.

Now, L. Manning of the Food Policy and Management Food Science and Agri-Food Supply Chain Management at Harper Adams University, in Newport, Shropshire, and J. Kelly of the Aston Business School at Aston University, in Birmingham, UK, discuss how we might locate the social responsibility for obesity in the context of evolving norms. Writing in the International Journal of Innovation and Sustainable Development, the team suggests that most countries have experienced a significant increase in the incidence of obesity in their general population over the last two decades. “Indeed, the condition is now so common, commentators conclude that obesity has become normalised and no longer attracts social opprobrium,” the team writes.

Obesity comes with many morbidities and an increased risk of premature death due to a greater incidence of many serious health conditions. Governments and regulators have looked at how individuals should become responsible for their own health but have also applied pressure to food and drink manufacturers to take some of the responsibility for providing citizens with healthier choices. But, are individual and social responsibility the appropriate response to what is a growing crisis, especially as being overweight or obese is increasingly seen as normal despite the health effects.

The notions of gluttony and sloth are often raised in discussions of obesity, but these are at odds with a more enlightened view of the problem that looks at vulnerability that arises through a range of social and economic factors influence an individual’s ability to make an informed choice about what they eat and drink, exercise, and their tendency to gaining weight to a problematic degree.

Manning, L. and Kelly, J. (2020) ‘Obesity: locating social responsibility in the context of evolving norms‘, Int. J. Innovation and Sustainable Development, Vol. 14, No. 1, pp.8-29.

9 January 2020

International Journal of Artificial Intelligence and Soft Computing to invite expanded papers from National Conference on Mathematical Sciences & Applications (NCMSA - 2020) for potential publication

Extended versions of papers presented at the National Conference on Mathematical Sciences & Applications (NCMSA - 2020) (23-24 January 2020, St.Joseph's College (Autonomous), Tamilnadu, India will be invited for review and potential publication by the International Journal of Artificial Intelligence and Soft Computing.

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Environment and Waste Management

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Environment and Waste Management are now available here for free:
  • Use of zeolite and biogenic silica rich rocks as olive oil mill waste absorbents
  • A study on the potential uses of bottom and fly ash in Mauritius
  • Feasibility of sand filters to wastewater treatment in rural areas in Algeria: experimental study
  • Valorisation of a wastewater in the treatment of leachate from municipal solid waste in Morocco
  • Study on regeneration of spent hydrochloric acid in chemical coal leaching process
  • Current practice and policy for transforming e-waste into urban mining: case study in Taiwan

Free open access article available: "Value stream mapping for sustainable change at a Swedish dairy farm"

The following paper, "Value stream mapping for sustainable change at a Swedish dairy farm" (International Journal of Environment and Waste Management 25(1) 2020), 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 Computational Vision and Robotics

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Computational Vision and Robotics are now available here for free:
  • Ethiopian maize diseases recognition and classification using support vector machine
  • Push recovery system and balancing of a biped robot on steadily increasing slope of an inclined plane
  • Enhancing proximity measure between residual and noise for image denoising
  • Bio-inspired visual attention process using spiking neural networks controlling a camera
  • Content-based image retrieval: a deep look at features prospectus
  • Automated identification and counting of proliferating mesenchymal stem cells in bone callus

Research pick: How pure is your patchouli? - "The use of turbidity as a separation indicator of patchouli oil from its aqueous mixture in community distillation practices"

Indonesian patchouli oil represents a significant share of the world market, supplying some 90 percent to the perfume industry as a common fixative agent for scents. Some 1400 tonnes are produced annually. New markets for this product may open up in medicine, given the efficacy of this substance in certain contexts for cancer chemotherapy. As such, there is an increasing need to look at its distillation from aqueous mixtures to make improved products.

Chemical engineers Chandrawati Cahyani and Wa Ode Cakra Nirwana of Brawijaya University, East Java, Indonesia have investigated how well turbidity might be used as an indicator of how far the distillation process has gone. This approach could offer a less technically onerous and so less costly test than standard gas chromatographic techniques. The team has now demonstrated that there is a linear relationship between turbidity and oil content in the aqueous emulsions of patchouli oil during distillation.

The study also demonstrated that a distillation temperature of 60 degrees Celsius is optimal and minimises the additional cost due to the need for cooling the distillate with chilled water. The process was also shown to work better at pH 4 and with the addition of a 0.2 percent concentration of sodium chloride (common salt).

“Turbidity data proved to be an excellent indicator of separation efficiency, meaning that for field operation in a rural area it will be a beneficial tool,” the team reports in the International Journal of Postharvest Technology and Innovation.

Cahyani, C. and Nirwana, W.O.C. (2019) ‘The use of turbidity as a separation indicator of patchouli oil from its aqueous mixture in community distillation practices’, Int. J. Postharvest Technology and Innovation, Vol. 6, No. 1, pp.1–10.

8 January 2020

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Mathematical Modelling and Numerical Optimisation

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Mathematical Modelling and Numerical Optimisation are now available here for free:
  • Mathematical modelling for low temperature batch drying of paddy using fluidised bed technology
  • Hierarchical multiobjective approach for optimising RFID reader deployment
  • Optimal orbital elements of binary stars based on flower pollination algorithm
  • New hybrid algorithm based on nonmonotone spectral gradient and simultaneous perturbation
  • New semi-analytical method for solving two point nth order fuzzy boundary value problem
  • Boundary element approach of solving Fredholm and Volterra integral equations

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Industrial and Systems Engineering

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Industrial and Systems Engineering are now available here for free:
  • One vendor and multiple retailers system in vendor managed inventory problem with stochastic demand
  • Reliability evaluation and improvement of manufacturing helicopter in an aircraft manufacturing company - case study: skid types helicopter landing gear
  • Assessing software upgradation attributes and optimal release planning using DEMATEL and MAUT
  • Statistical study on the use of the measurement techniques in predictive maintenance taking Moroccan companies as an example
  • Exploring the relationship of discrete components of inventory with financial performance in Indian automotive industry
  • Robust integral backstepping control with extended Kalman filter of permanent magnet synchronous motor

Special issue published: "Computational Modelling of Hydraulic Fracturing"

International Journal of Hydromechatronics 2(4) 2019

  • Numerical modelling of underwater structural impact damage problems based on the material point method
  • Uncertainty quantification of axisymmetric spherical cavities with lining in coupled saturated thermo-poro-elastic media via adaptive second-order central high resolution schemes
  • Investigation of staggered block shear failure in a steel tension member utilising minimax optimisation
  • Axisymmetric buckling of saturated circular porous-cellular plate based on first-order shear deformation theory
  • Creep effects on crack initiation and propagation in reinforced concrete walls
  • A review on the artificial neural network approach to analysis and prediction of seismic damage in infrastructure

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Education Economics and Development

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Education Economics and Development are now available here for free:
  • A complex network analysis of sustainable research partnerships; evidence from a developing country
  • ECOWAS agenda and regional integration development in West Africa: any role for all-inclusive education?
  • Data envelopment analysis of the efficiency of academic departments at a public university in Iran
  • Behavioural characteristics of gifted students in Grades 6-9 in Al Ain City
  • Do incidence and duration of child labour matter on schooling in Indonesia?
  • Online course enrolment and tuition: empirical evidence from public colleges in Georgia, USA

Research pick: Bright eyes makes better bactericide - "Bactericidal effect of silver nanoparticles from aqueous root extracts of Catharanthus roseus"

An aqueous extract from the root of Catharanthus roseus, a plant commonly known as bright eyes, can be used as both a reducing agent as well as a capping agent for the synthesis of bactericidal silver nanoparticles, according to research published in the International Journal of Nanoparticles. Researchers from India and The Netherlands reveal details in the latest issue of the journal.
C. roseus goes by several names, the quite whimsical “bright eyes” and the more floral Cape periwinkle, graveyard plant, Madagascar periwinkle, old maid, pink periwinkle, rose periwinkle, and others. It is a member of the dogbane family, or Apocynaceae. The plants in this family can be poisonous to dogs, hence the common name.

A root extract of C. roseus specifically contains a range of bitter, nitrogen-containing alkaloids, flavonoids, carbohydrates, amino acids, and various phenolic compounds. V. Subha of the National Center for Nano Science and Nano Technology at the University of Madras, in Chennai, Tamilnadu, India, and colleagues have exploited this rich chemistry to carry out a biotransformation of silver nitrate solution to generate silver nanoparticles.

The team used UV-visible spectroscopy to investigate the products and found that surface plasmon resonance of the nanoparticles reveals a shallow peak at 490 nanometres, consistent with chemical consistency. X-ray diffraction analysis showed their crystalline nature while transmission electron microscopy showed them to be mono-disperse with a size of about 100 nanometres.

Such biotransformations to generate nanoparticles precludes the need for sophisticated technological solutions and separation techniques. It is not only more cost-efficient but avoids many of the hazardous steps in the synthesis involving toxic solvents and other reagents. Critically, the team’s tests of efficacy of these biotransformed silver nanoparticles showed them to be more potent against the likes of Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Bacillus subtilis than silver nanoparticles made by more conventional means.

The team suggests that silver nanoparticles manufactured in this way might have utility in human healthcare against bacterial pathogens. Conversely, they might also be used in some form as alternatives to bactericidal sprays for food crops and other financially important plants.

Subha, V., Ravindran, E., Kumar, A.B.H. and Renganathan, S. (2019) ‘Bactericidal effect of silver nanoparticles from aqueous root extracts of Catharanthus roseus’, Int. J. Nanoparticles, Vol. 11, No. 4, pp.294–304.

7 January 2020

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Services and Standards

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Services and Standards are now available here for free:
  • The product, the mind and the heart of crowdfunding: the effect of signals on technology projects
  • R&D intensity and firm valuation: effect of director and manager incentives
  • The impact of banks adoption of multi-channels mix on the internet banking service encounter quality: the case of Arab Middle East region
  • Development of an electronic homebuilding standardised method
  • Enhancing multicultural counselling competencies and services

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Applied Pattern Recognition

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Applied Pattern Recognition are now available here for free:
  • Real-time based human-fall detection from an indoor video surveillance
  • A comprehensive survey on Bangla handwritten numeral recognition
  • New semi-automated segmentation approach of the left ventricle applied to cine MR images analysis
  • Hindi named entity recognition using system combination
  • Pattern recognition based on specific weights

Research pick: The conservation of cultural heritage - "Impact of climate change on cultural heritage: a simulation study to assess the risks for conservation and thermal comfort"

Cultural heritage can be destroyed. It can decay. Once it is gone, it is gone forever, sadly. Writing in the International Journal of Global Warming, Portuguese researchers discuss the potential impact of climate change on cultural heritage and how we might lose artifacts as extreme weather has a worsening impact on our world.

Guilherme Coelho, Hugo Entradas Silva, and Fernando Henriques of the Universidade NOVA de Lisboa explain that museum pieces are subject to deterioration depending on the conditions in which they are stored, whether or not they are being exhibited or archived. The indoor climate is obviously more controllable than the outdoor, but nevertheless the increasing cost of air-conditioning, (de)humidification, and temperature control, are all likely to affect in a detrimental way how conservators look after their charges. In addition, sometimes the building themselves are the cultural heritage.

The team has now modeled various climate change scenarios to see how weather conditions might affect a building such as Lisbon’s historic church of Saint Christopher. They modeled conditions in Lisbon, but also applied likely conditions associated with Seville (Mediterranean climate), Prague and Oslo (Continental climate), as well as London (Oceanic climate). They not only consider the integrity of artifacts within but also visitor comfort. After all, what is the purpose of conserving cultural heritage without allowing people to appreciate it? Ultimately, climate change is unlikely to be of benefit to house artifacts in buildings that are themselves cultural artifacts.

Coelho, G.B.A., Silva, H.E. and Henriques, F.M.A. (2019) ‘Impact of climate change on cultural heritage: a simulation study to assess the risks for conservation and thermal comfort‘, Int. J. Global Warming, Vol. 19, No. 4, pp.382-406.

6 January 2020

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Applied Decision Sciences

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Applied Decision Sciences are now available here for free:
  • A goal programming embedded genetic algorithm for multi-objective manufacturing cell design
  • Game theory in supply chain management: current trends and applications
  • Consistency formation of fuzzy multi-attribute group decision making based on alternative adjustment
  • Price coordination in closed-loop data supply chain
  • A hierarchical SBM-Tobit approach for examining the influencing factors of industrial CO2 emission efficiency in the Yangtze River Delta

Research pick: Planning Industry 4.0 - "Using social network analysis for industrial plant layout analysis in the context of industry 4.0"

A collaboration between scientists in India, Portugal, and the UK, has used social network analysis to solve the problem of industrial plant layout design. The approach allows the optimization of location and connectivity of personnel, jobs, and resources to make the plant as efficient as possible. The team uses maximum completion time of a job (makespan), resource utilisation, and throughput time to evaluate system performance in this context. Overall the approach offers a new way to move forward with plant design in the context of “industry 4.0”.

Industry 4.0 is a phrase used to refer to the subset of the fourth industrial revolution and encompasses areas that are not normally classified as an industry, such as smart cities but more commonly is used to discuss industrial plant or factories that use machines and robots connected wirelessly to controllers and sensors and ultimately networked to allow the personnel hierarchy to view processes and production at different levels and to make decisions based on their purview.

M.L.R. Varela of the University of Minho, in Guimarães, Portugal, Vijay Kumar Manupati of NIT Warangal, in Telangana, Suraj Panigrahi of VIT University, in Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India, and Eric Costa Research of the Solent University in Southampton, UK (also at INESC Technology and Science, in Porto, Portugal) discuss details in the International Journal of Industrial and Systems Engineering.

“The experimental results revealed that the proposed SNA approach supports to find the key machines of the systems that ultimately lead to the effective performance of the whole system,” the team writes.

Varela, M.L.R., Manupati, V.K., Panigrahi, S., Costa, E. and Putnik, G.D. (2020) ‘Using social network analysis for industrial plant layout analysis in the context of industry 4.0‘, Int. J. Industrial and Systems Engineering, Vol. 34, No. 1, pp.1-19.

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