28 February 2020

Inderscience journals to invite expanded papers from 2nd Scientia Academia International Conference (SAIC-2020) for potential publication

Free open access article available: "A novel watermarking algorithm based on characteristics model of local fragmentary images"

The following paper, "A novel watermarking algorithm based on characteristics model of local fragmentary images" (International Journal of Embedded Systems 12(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 Earthquake and Impact Engineering

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Earthquake and Impact Engineering are now available here for free:
  • Optimal damper placement in hybrid control system of multiple isolation and building connection
  • Implications of adopting different force reductions in seismic design of RC buildings
  • Closed-form rocking vibration of rigid block under critical and non-critical double impulse
  • Effects of vertical irregularities and construction quality in seismic fragilities for reinforced concrete buildings

Research pick: Smart phone posturing - "Exploratory study on adequacy of upper extremity position during smartphone usage"

It’s perhaps the news lazy phone users have been dreaming of. Researchers have demonstrated that lying on your side and holding your phone is the best posture to avoid pain and problems in the upper back, arms and wrists.

Writing in the International Journal of Human Factors and Ergonomics, a team from South Korea investigated whether phone use while sitting, lying on one’s back or lying on one’s side was more or less likely to lead to problems in the upper extremities of the musculoskeletal system. The team recruited thirty healthy young adults and instructed them to type on a smartphone for five minutes at a time and to have a five-minute rest. They used electromyography to measure muscle response in different postures and measured wrist and elbow joint angles during use.

Different muscles were more active in different positions but were highest in the sitting position and the joint angles were suggestive of greater strain in this posture. Using the phone while lying on one’s side demonstrated a neutral wrist angle, so better alignment, in contrast, and the least muscular activity. As such, the team recommends phone users will be more comfortable and suffer less from problems of the upper musculoskeletal system if they lie on their sides while using their phones. Of course, the demands of the workplace, public transport, and other circumstances may preclude this more relaxing posture.

The next step, of course, will be to persuade phone users to not use the phones while walking to prevent pedestrian collisions and the development of a stoop.

Yun, H-Y. and Yoon, T-L. (2019) ‘Exploratory study on adequacy of upper extremity position during smartphone usage’, Int. J. Human Factors and Ergonomics, Vol. 6, No. 4, pp.390-402.

27 February 2020

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Monetary Economics and Finance

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Monetary Economics and Finance are now available here for free:
  • FDPM after the global price crisis in the coal industry
  • Dynamic analysis of implied risk neutral density
  • The effect of sustainability assurance demand on information asymmetry: evidence from French companies
  • Macroeconomic determinants of credit risk: a P-VAR approach evidence from Europe
  • US monetary policy surprises transmission to European stock markets

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Learning and Intellectual Capital

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Learning and Intellectual Capital are now available here for free:
  • Intellectual capital profiles and financial performance of Islamic banks in the UK
  • Perception intelligence as an element of human intellectual capital and its assessment among university students
  • Exploring the relationship between person-organisation fit and organisation health: an empirical study
  • Identification and ranking of competency-based recruitment system criteria: an empirical case study
  • Extent and gaps in intellectual capital disclosure in the Indian industry

International Journal of Intelligent Engineering Informatics to invite expanded papers from International Conference on Smart Machine Intelligence and Real-Time Computing (SMART COM 2020) for potential publication

Extended versions of papers presented at the International Conference on Smart Machine Intelligence and Real-Time Computing (SMART COM 2020) (26-27 June 2020, Govind Ballah Pant Institute of Engineering & Technology, Pauri Garhwal, India) will be invited for review and potential publication by the International Journal of Intelligent Engineering Informatics.

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

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Innovative Computing and Applications are now available here for free:
  • A hybrid binary harmony search algorithm for solving the winner determination problem
  • Dynamic HypE for solving single objective optimisation problems
  • Hand motions recognition based on sEMG nonlinear feature and time domain feature fusion
  • Gaussian bare-bones firefly algorithm
  • One-dimensional deep learning firefly algorithm guided by the best particle
  • A novel firefly algorithm with self-adaptive step strategy
  • A new artificial bee colony based on neighbourhood selection
  • An enhanced cuckoo search using dimension selection

Research pick: Slimy computation - "Slime mould foraging: an inspiration for algorithmic design"

Nature has provided a great deal of inspiration for computer scientists developing search algorithms and ways to solve complicated problems with as little computing power as possible. Ant colonies, beehives, bat hunting, and now slime mould foraging can be used as models on which an algorithm can be constructed.

Writing in the International Journal of Innovative Computing and Applications, Anthony Brabazon and Sean McGarraghy of the University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland, explain how 99.5% of the living things on earth lack neurones and yet are proven success stories despite what we, as neuronal creatures, might whimsically perceive as a deficiency. One group of organisms that have been rather successful for millions of years are the so-called slime moulds. The term is an informal name for several different groups of organisms that are actually unrelated. They are not moulds, rather they are organisms that can live freely as single cells, but under certain conditions will form communicating aggregates that work in concert as if they are a multicellular reproductive structure.

The team explains that the plasmodial slime mould Physarum polycephalum, which forms from aggregates of individual amoebae, encases itself in a thin membrane and can act as a single organism. The researchers explain how “Inspiration has been drawn from some of its foraging behaviour to develop algorithms for graph optimisation.” They report examples of the algorithms that can be developed and make suggestions as to how future research might proceed to utilise the benefits and minimise any limitations.

Of course, the slime mould itself is, despites its lack of neurons, carrying out computations all the while, chemical computations, you might say. So, in a sense modelling its behaviour in an algorithm is an excellent foundation.

“Of course,” the team concedes, “it is also important to note that the developed algorithms are very simplified representations of (the imperfectly understood) real-world foraging behaviours of P. polycephalum and other slime moulds and doubtless future biological research concerning these organisms will open up new avenues of investigation.”

Brabazon, A. and McGarraghy, S. (2020) ‘Slime mould foraging: an inspiration for algorithmic design’, Int. J. Innovative Computing and Applications, Vol. 11, No. 1, pp.30–45.

26 February 2020

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Embedded Systems

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Embedded Systems are now available here for free:
  • A fast video haze removal algorithm via mixed transmissivity optimisation
  • Point clouds reduction model based on 3D feature extraction
  • Experimental evaluation of various modified Smith predictor-based fractional order control design strategies in control of a thermal process with time delay
  • Radio-frequency and microwave spectroscopy investigation of bacteria solutions: determination of the aggregation threshold
  • An efficient fuzzy logic-based and bio-inspired QoS-compliant routing scheme for VANET
  • Neural network based study of PV panel performance in the presence of dust
  • Design of embedded atrial fibrillation detection scheme for wireless body area networks
  • Adaptive FIR filter for frequency and power estimation of sinusoids
  • Analysing and modelling worm propagation speed in the smart grid communication infrastructure
  • Designing a wireless sensor with ultra-capacitor and PV microcell for smart building energy management

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management are now available here for free:
  • Learning and unlearning in firms commercialising product innovations: the short-term performance implications of business model changes
  • New independent technology-based firms: differences from other NTBFs and future research agenda for technology innovation management
  • Delineating the concept of corporate social innovation: toward a multidimensional model
  • Corporate governance and initial public offerings

Special issue published: "Biomechanics For Performance and Well-Being"

International Journal of Human Factors and Ergonomics 6(4) 2019

  • Increased bone conducted vibration reduces motion sickness in automated vehicles
  • Spencer Salter; Cyriel Diels; Stratis Kanarachos; Doug Thake; Paul Herriotts; Didier A. Depireux
  • DOI: 10.1504/IJHFE.2019.105358
  • 319-330 Biomechanics performance in 30-s chair stand test in patients with medial knee osteoarthritis
  • Vitor Ferreira; Leandro Machado; Adélio Vilaça; Francisco Xará-Leite; Paulo Roriz
  • DOI: 10.1504/IJHFE.2019.105359
  • 331-354 Correlation between ankle stiffness and antagonist co-activation in post-stroke subjects
  • Edgar Ribeiro; Augusta Silva; Liliana Pinho; Rubim Santos; Francisco Pinho; Andreia S.P. Sousa
  • DOI: 10.1504/IJHFE.2019.105360
  • 355-389 VEHand: an in-vehicle information system to improve driving performance in an unfamiliar traffic regulation
  • Hasan J. Alyamani; Manolya Kavakli; Stephen Smith
  • DOI: 10.1504/IJHFE.2019.105361
  • 390-402 Exploratory study on adequacy of upper extremity position during smartphone usage

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Continuing Engineering Education and Life-Long Learning

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Continuing Engineering Education and Life-Long Learning are now available here for free:
  • Critical thinking and critical reading: a sound pedagogical paring
  • Analysing learning behaviours of advanced mathematics in MOOCs
  • Analysis of the influence of multimedia network hybrid teaching method on college students' learning ability in physical education
  • Robot-based motion detection method and its application in PE practice teaching
  • Research on the cultivation of students' autonomous learning ability based on MOOC-based network interactive teaching
  • The promotion role of mobile online education platform in students' self-learning
  • Analysis of the influence of multimedia network hybrid teaching on college students English learning ability
  • College English teaching mode based on intelligent robot
  • Quantitative analysis of the influence of learning resource scheduling in MOOC mode on traditional education and teaching
  • Big data processing with Apache Spark in university institutions: spark streaming and machine learning algorithm

Research pick: Social advertising - "Is advertising on social media effective? An empirical study on the growth of advertisements on the Big Four (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, WhatsApp)"

Social media and online social networking are almost ubiquitous billions of people use the big four” services: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp; the latter three now all owned by Facebook. Many of these platforms have large financial turnover and employ thousands of staff. It’s big business. But, asks a new paper in the International Journal of Procurement Management is advertising on social media effective?

Mohammed Nuseir of the Department of Business Administration at Al Ain University of Science and Technology Abu Dhabi Campus, in the United Arab Emirates, points out how social media has over more than a decade created a new space in which business can sell their goods and services like never before. The big four applications link individuals through various formats – textual updates, graphics, and videos, for instance.

Nuseir has found that there is indeed a reciprocal relationship between users/consumers and the companies that are marketing to them via social media. This is underpinned by the nature of social media where users feel that they have more agency than they ever had with conventional media such as newspapers and magazines, radio, television, and even the internet before web 2.0. Users perceive themselves as having their own personal space within the realm of social media and that they have control of what they share and what passes before them on the various apps that give them access to these sites.

“This ownership and personalisation speak to the degree to which relationships are formed between corporate entities and individuals in contemporary society,” explains Nuseir. As such, marketers must recognise the personalisation of the advertisements they present to potential clients and they need to understand and build on the very reasons why people use social media in the first place. This is the route to successful marketing in the age of “social”.

Nuseir, M.T. (2020) ‘Is advertising on social media effective? An empirical study on the growth of advertisements on the Big Four (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, WhatsApp)’, Int. J. Procurement Management, Vol. 13, No. 1, pp.134–142

25 February 2020

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

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Automotive Technology and Management are now available here for free:
  • Patterns of knowledge development and diffusion in the global autonomous vehicle technological innovation system: a patent-based analysis
  • The concept supply chain technological capability in case of new product development process
  • Range extenders: an innovative approach to range anxiety in electric vehicles
  • Closed-open innovation strategy for autonomous vehicle development
  • From electric cars to energy-efficient houses - the automotive retail sector at the crossroads
  • Management and business of autonomous vehicles: a systematic integrative bibliographic review
  • Examining the myths of connected and autonomous vehicles: analysing the pathway to a driverless mobility paradigm

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Applied Management Science

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Applied Management Science are now available here for free:
  • Local brand origin knowledge of young consumers in a developing country
  • Selection process of emerging technologies using AHP-FMCGP mixed method: transportation industry of Iran
  • A quasi-visibility graph based clique-extraction heuristic model for partitioning of planar shape
  • Effects of buyer-supplier relationship on social performance improvement and innovation performance improvement
  • Linear fractional programming based on triangular neutrosophic numbers

Special issue published: "E-Government Applications for Smart Cities"

Electronic Government, an International Journal 16(1/2) 2020

  • A cooperative GA-SM-based prediction model for healthcare services
  • An analysis of parallel ensemble diabetes decision support system based on voting classifier for classification problem
  • Identification and characterisation of choroidal neovascularisation using e-Health data through an optimal classifier
  • An efficient healthcare framework for kidney disease using hybrid harmony search algorithm
  • Internet of medical things with cloud-based e-health services for brain tumour detection model using deep convolution neural network
  • A framework for e-healthcare management service using recommender system
  • Smart learning using personalised recommendations in web-based learning systems using artificial bee colony algorithm to improve learning performance
  • Empower good governance with public assessed schemes by improved sentiment analysis accuracy
  • Social internet of things using big data analytics and security aspects - a review
  • Managing natural hazards in smart cities in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia using a technique based on interior search algorithm
  • Optimal parameter tuning for PID controller using accelerated grey wolf optimisation in smart sensor environments
  • Social spider-based unequal clustering protocol for wireless sensor environment for smart cities
  • A performance analysis of stereo matching algorithms for stereo vision applications in smart environments

Free sample articles newly available from Middle East Journal of Management

The following sample articles from the Middle East Journal of Management are now available here for free:
  • Assessing agile project management practices: the case of Palestinian software development companies
  • The role of organisational socialisation tactics and task characteristics toward turnover intentions: mediating role of job embeddedness
  • The Saudi confidence process towards a store within objective and sensual antecedents
  • IT efficiency and communication effectiveness in crisis: evidence from security sector data in Yemen
  • Cultural tensions in the late Ottoman Empire: a romantic nationalism model
  • Strategic agility in telecom industry: the effective factors on competitive advantages

Research pick: Live chat versus phonecall - "Bridging the divide with a chat window: why consumers prefer using live chat support on foreign e-commerce sites"

A new study from the USA published in the International Journal of Business and Emerging Markets, suggests that when people interact with non-domestic, i.e. foreign, e-commerce websites they prefer to use online “live chat” channels rather than the telephone.

Daniel Brannon and Muhanad Manshad Monfort of the College of Business at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, Colorado, have looked at the benefits of computer-mediated environments and how they function in the context of cross-cultural services. The team points out that growth among e-commerce sites outside the USA and the English-speaking world, particularly in emerging markets is seeing enormous growth. “Several of the world’s fastest-growing e-commerce retailers are located in emerging economies,” they point out. “For instance, Chinese retailers JD dot com and Alibaba.”

Despite this growth, the team reports that several non-domestic e-commerce sites have struggled to gain a foothold in the US markets. There may well be a perception that these companies are somehow culturally distant and many US consumers are therefore reluctant to encounter or deal with “foreign” customer service personnel. Of course, many non-domestic companies invest heavily in so-called cultural intelligence so that they can engage more authentically with non-native customers. This is thought to make any interaction between a US consumer and a foreign service agent smoother and more positive.

However, there is evidence that the inverse of that effort might work better in many instances. De-personalising the transactions by switching to computer-mediated live chat instead of communication via a telephone call, can have many advantages. The business can control more easily the characteristics of the interaction, especially where automated responses are utilized. When an operative is required to interject, there will be scripted responses and their training will be useful in ensuring communication smooth and polite communication with a lower risk of miscommunication through spoken-word language barriers.

“Given the recent global expansion of online retail, managers should be aware of how foreign (vs. domestic) consumers using their websites prefer to communicate and interact with them,” the team explains. As training of service staff in matters of non-native cultural etiquette as well as language skills is inevitably costly. Live chat can preclude ambiguity in communication to some degree as well as circumventing the need for the comprehensive training that a telephone operative would need.

Brannon, D.C. and Manshad, M. (2019) ‘Bridging the divide with a chat window: why consumers prefer using live chat support on foreign e-commerce sites‘, Int. J. Business and Emerging Markets, Vol. 11, No. 4, pp.335-347.

24 February 2020

Inderscience journals to invite expanded papers from International Conference on Business Practices and Innovations in Public Sector (ICBPIPS 2021) for potential publication

Extended versions of papers presented at the International Conference on Business Practices and Innovations in Public Sector (ICBPIPS 2021) (20 May 2021, BPIT, Rohini, New Delhi, India) will be invited for review and potential publication by the following journals:

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

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Computational Science and Engineering are now available here for free:
  • A dynamic cold-start recommendation method based on incremental graph pattern matching
  • Novel automatic seed selection approach for mass detection in mammograms
  • Distributed diagnosis based on distributed probability propagation nets
  • Chinese entity attributes extraction based on bidirectional LSTM networks
  • Logistic regression for imbalanced learning based on clustering
  • CDLB: a cross-domain load balancing mechanism for software defined networks in cloud data centre
  • A risk analysis and prediction model of electric power GIS based on deep learning
  • Robust and graph regularised non-negative matrix factorisation for heterogeneous co-transfer clustering
  • The wisdom of the few: a provable approach
  • New intelligent interface study based on K-means gaze tracking
  • A new wolf colony search algorithm based on search strategy for solving travelling salesman problem

Special issue published: "Business Models in a Digital Age: Balancing Competitive and Collaborative Forces"

International Journal of Business and Emerging Markets 11(4) 2019

  • Gender differences in entrepreneurial attitudes and intentions: the case of Brand Dubai
  • Bridging the divide with a chat window: why consumers prefer using live chat support on foreign e-commerce sites
  • Factors that affect students' intention and use of technology: an assessment of UTAUT2 in the context of YouTube video forwarding behaviour
  • Beyond market strategies: political and social dynamics of firm strategy and performance in Ghana
  • What factors determine PE/VC investment decision in China? An empirical study

Free sample articles newly available from Electronic Government, an International Journal

The following sample articles from the Electronic Government, an International Journal are now available here for free:
  • Applying efficient crowdsourcing techniques for increasing quality and transparency of election processes
  • Extracting social networks from e-government by sentiment analysis of users' comments
  • Requirements for developing interoperable e-government systems in developing countries - a case of Uganda
  • How robust is the UTAUT theory in explaining the usage intention of e-government services in an unstable security context?: A study in Iraq
  • Development and test of an energetic management package for industrial process efficiency
  • The influence of utilising Facebook on e-government adoption

21 February 2020

World Review of Science, Technology and Sustainable Development to invite expanded papers from 1st International Conference on Maritime Studies and Marine Innovation (MSMI 2020) for potential publication

Extended versions of papers presented at the The 1st International Conference on Maritime Studies and Marine Innovation (MSMI 2020) (11 December 2020, Bangkok, Thailand) will be invited for review and potential publication by the World Review of Science, Technology and Sustainable Development.

International Journal of Business and Globalisation to invite expanded papers from National Conference on Business Strategy in the VUCA World (BSVUCA-2020) for potential publication

Extended versions of papers presented at the National Conference on Business Strategy in the VUCA World (BSVUCA-2020) (20 March 2020, J.C. Bose University of Science and Technology, YMCA, Faridabad, India) will be invited for review and potential publication by the International Journal of Business and Globalisation.

Research pick: Computers against Creutzfeldt-Jakob - "A De-Novo drug design and ADMET study to design small molecule stabilisers targeting mutant (V210I) human prion protein against familial Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (fCJD)"

Computational methods have been used to design a new drug that might be used to target the defective protein present in familial Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (fCJD). The de novo pharmacophore-based drug design and virtual molecular docking work is described in detail in the International Journal of Computational Biology and Drug Design.

To create their designer drug, the team starts with a data file that describes the complete structure of the target protein obtained from the Protein Data Bank (RCSB PDB). They use a computational model, the Yasara energy minimisation webserver to drill down on this structure to obtain its likely shape and form in the body. This minimized structure is then validated using the RAMPAGE webserver.

The next step is to use yet more computational tools to home in on hollows or “pockets” in the protein structure into which putative small molecule drugs might fit, or dock. With those pockets in hand, they then use another tool to generate likely chemical structures that might fit, this ultimately gives them an optimal “pharmacophore”, a plausible drug structure, which can be used as a template to search the PubChem database of known chemicals that have a very similar size and shape. The team then uses a docking program to see which of those chemicals in the database are most likely to fit the pockets in the target protein in this disease.

They identified five small molecules that might be active in this context. Analysis of these chemicals’ ADMET (absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion, and toxicity) properties show that any of the five might ultimately be proven to be candidates for further investigation in the laboratory and ultimately in the clinic as drug development leads.

The team says that their approach could be helpful in the design and development of many more potential anti-prion drugs. Optimising the method to incorporate more sophisticated modeling techniques could improve the drug leads obtained.

Alam, R., Rahman, G.M.S., Hasan, N. and Chowdhury, A.S. (2020) ‘A De-Novo drug design and ADMET study to design small molecule stabilisers targeting mutant (V210I) human prion protein against familial Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (fCJD)’, Int. J. Computational Biology and Drug Design, Vol. 13, No. 1, pp.21–35.

20 February 2020

Free sample articles newly available from Progress in Industrial Ecology, An International Journal

The following sample articles from the Progress in Industrial Ecology, An International Journal are now available here for free:
  • The impact of industrial practice on carbon emissions in the BRICS: a panel quantile regression analysis
  • Recovering lead, plastic, and sulphuric acid from automobile used batteries by mathematical reverse logistics network modelling
  • Optimum design of water-based drilling fluid in shale formations in Khangiran oilfields
  • System dynamics approach for the relationship between different types of hospitals and hospital waste management (case study: Tabriz)
  • Urban environments sustainable development through low impact approaches
  • The influence of ZnO nanoparticles amount on the optimisation of photo degradation of methyl orange using decorated MWCNTs

Research pick: Optimal staffing of call centres - "Establishing call-centre staffing levels using aggregate planning and simulation approach"

How do call centre managers most effectively decide on staffing levels. New research published in the European Journal of Industrial Engineering offers a new approach.

Rodrigo Barbosa-Correa, Alcides Santander-Mercado, and María Jubiz-Dia of the Universidad del Norte, in Colombia, and colleague Ricardo Rodríguez-Ramos of Bienestar IPS also in Colombia, explain that optimizing staffing levels in a telecommunications company call centre generally needs to be done at the same time as keeping costs down. They carried out an analysis of daily tasks to work out hourly workloads. They then applied an aggregate planning model to get an initial solution for requisite staffing levels based on workforce costs, service level, personnel hiring and migration, and work supplements.

The output from that analysis was then fed into a discrete-event simulation model. This allowed the team to assess the system performance based on queuing characteristics, demand variability, and resources utilization. They could then look at different schedules and capacity levels to see which would perform best and match the demands of a call centre.

The team suggests that their approach gave better results with lower waiting times and more balanced resource utilization than other analytical techniques previously used. “The approach is useful for planning capacity levels in projects and locating new centres,” the team writes.

Barbosa-Correa, R., Santander-Mercado, A., Jubiz-Diaz, M. and Rodríguez-Ramos, R. (2020) ‘Establishing call-centre staffing levels using aggregate planning and simulation approach’, European J. Industrial Engineering, Vol. 14, No. 1, pp.1–33.

Inderscience journals to invite expanded papers from SIMSARC'20 Conference for potential publication

Extended versions of papers presented at the SIMSARC'20 Conference (21-23 December 2020, Symbiosis Institute of Management Studies (SIMS), Maharashtra, India) will be invited for review and potential publication by the following journals:

19 February 2020

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Procurement Management

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Procurement Management are now available here for free:
  • Compliance with transparency provisions in the Public Procurement Act, 2003 (Act 663)
  • Empirical classification and effect of procurement process on organisational performance outcomes
  • 28 years of traceability management: trends, bottlenecks and opportunities
  • Green supply management in the public and private sector in Hungary
  • The influence of the status quo bias theory in the compliance to public procurement regulations in a Sub-Saharan economy
  • Evaluating critical factors for the implementation of e-procurement in Ghana

International Journal of Precision Technology to invite expanded papers from International Conference On Advances in Mechanical Engineering (ICAME-2020) for potential publication

Extended versions of papers presented at the International Conference On Advances in Mechanical Engineering (ICAME-2020) (9-10 July 2020, SATI, Vidisha(M.P.), India) will be invited for review and potential publication by the International Journal of Precision Technology.

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Intelligent Systems Technologies and Applications

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Intelligent Systems Technologies and Applications are now available here for free:
  • Support vector machine based fault detection and diagnosis for HVAC systems
  • Facial beauty analysis by age and gender
  • Combining RSS-SVM with genetic algorithm for Arabic opinions analysis
  • Effect of magnetising core on impedance and induced EMF of two coils wound on single iron core
  • Survey on techniques of fault detection-rookies vantage point
  • An intelligent inventive system for personalised webpage recommendation based on ontology semantics
  • Intelligent systems for redundancy removal with proficient run-length coding and statistical analysis using regression
  • A hybrid test prioritisation technique for combinatorial testing
  • Factors influencing regression testing on cloud and on-premises: an analysis
  • Lagrangian relaxation for distribution networks with cross-docking centre
  • Context aware reliable sensor selection in IoT
  • Efficient multimedia content storage and allocation in multidimensional cloud computing resources
  • Mixed integer programming for vehicle routing problem with time windows

Research pick: Sorting the social network fakers from the movers and shakers - "Fake profile detection in multimedia big data on online social networks"

How can we detect fake profiles to preclude their disruptive and deleterious effects on social media and social networks? Writing in the International Journal of Information and Computer Security, Somya Ranjan Sahoo and B.B. Gupta of the National Institute of Technology at Kurukshetra in Haryana, India, discuss the issues and possible solutions.

Recent research in fake profile detection, they explain has focused on machine learning in order to reveal the kind of suspicious account activity that might betray a fake account. The team is now taking machine learning to big data to find a better way to distinguish the fakers from the movers and shakers, on the well-known social networking system, Facebook.

Facebook is an important part of life for many people, for organizations and other entities. There are some 2.5 billion monthly active users and approximately 1.7 billion people use a Facebook account every day. It is not known how many fake accounts lurk within those statistics. It is known that many malicious third parties hoping to gain access to personal, private, and other data with malicious intent will exploit loopholes in the Facebook system. That combined with social engineering confidence tricks and other exploits can provide them with sufficient data to access other people’s accounts and from there to steal personal information and then even break into other systems such as email and banking systems.

There have been many security exploits used to gain malicious access to information but the use of fake accounts can be the most successful especially when the person being attacked assumes the legitimacy or honesty of the fake account, accepts a friendship request or clicks on a malware phishing link, for instance.

The team’s tailored extension for the popular Google Chrome browser allows them to successfully spot fake accounts. This might be used by security experts as a third-party reporting tool to help Facebook cleanup its systems or ultimately perhaps by the company or users. The team is also now extending the approach to other popular networking sites such as Twitter and Google+.

Sahoo, S.R. and Gupta, B.B. (2020) ‘Fake profile detection in multimedia big data on online social networks‘, Int. J. Information and Computer Security, Vol. 12, Nos. 2/3, pp.303-331.

18 February 2020

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Data Analysis Techniques and Strategies

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Data Analysis Techniques and Strategies are now available here for free:
  • A novel single scan distributed pattern mining algorithm for frequent pattern identification
  • Democracy and economic growth
  • A comprehensive comparison of algorithms for the statistical modelling of non-monotone relationships via isotonic regression of transformed data
  • Factor-based structural equation modelling: going beyond PLS and composites

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

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Information and Communication Technology are now available here for free:
  • Robust adaptive array processing based on modified multistage Wiener filter algorithm
  • Towards a robust palmprint representation for person identification
  • Recognition of the anti-collision algorithm for RFID systems based on tag grouping
  • Development and application research of smart distribution district based on IDTT-B new-type transformer terminal unit
  • Design and development of smart fishing poles using ICT enabled systems
  • Privacy preserving method for knowledge discovered by data mining
  • A modified extended particle swarm optimisation algorithm to solve the directing orbits of chaotic systems
  • Detection and filling of pseudo-hole in complex curved surface objects

Special issue published: "Nature-Inspired Computing and its Applications"

International Journal of Advanced Intelligence Paradigms 15(2) 2020

  • Improving the search efficiency of differential evolution algorithm by population diversity analysis and adaptation of mutation step sizes
  • Towards real-time recognition of activities in smart homes
  • Supervised approach for object identification using speeded up robust features
  • Optimal design of QFT controller for pneumatic servo actuator system using multi-objective genetic algorithm
  • Hybrid BATGSA: a metaheuristic model for classification of breast cancer data

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Human Resources Development and Management

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Human Resources Development and Management are now available here for free:
  • Cross-culture management: an empirical examination on task and relationship orientations of Japanese and Omani working adults
  • We do get terribly enthusiastic about everything! Performing emotion rules through parody
  • Where does it lead to? Nowhere! Problematic sensemaking concerning commercialisation
  • Managerial autonomy and control at a retail chain store
  • Candidate experience in recruitment cycle facilitating employer brand: a case study of Idea Cellular Limited in the Delhi and NCR circle
  • The effects of leadership development on women's career success
  • Stakeholder engagement in a non-profit organisation: an issue-based perspective

Research pick: Antimicrobial velvet bushwillow nanoparticles - "Green synthesis of silver nanoparticles using aqueous extract of Combretum molle leaves, their antibacterial, antifungal and antioxidant activity"

Extracts from the leaves of the African tree, the velvet bushwillow, Combretum molle, can be used as a bio template for the environmentally friendly synthesis of silver nanoparticles with antibacterial, antifungal, and antioxidant activity. Chemists Z. Nate, M.J. Moloto, P.K. Mubiayi, and F.M. Mtunzi of Vaal University of Technology, and N.P. Sibiya of the University of Kwazulu-Natal, and South Africa, explain details of their novel process this week in the International Journal of Nano and Biomaterials.

Plant extracts have been used successfully in the synthesis of metal nanoparticles. Indeed, aqueous extracts of Combretum molle have been used previously. The presence of tannins, proteins, flavonoids, and phenols allows the extracts to reduce metal salts in solution to insoluble metal particles while the same biomolecules can also act as capping agents that control the growth of those very nanoparticles and act to “cap” the surfaces.

In the present work, the team has successfully generated silver nanoparticles in a narrow range of sizes from 1 to 30 nanometres. They found that silver nanoparticles made in this way were more effective against a range of microbes than nanoparticles made using a standard non-biological procedure. Activity was demonstrated against important pathogenic species: Candida albicans, Cryptococcus neoformans, Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus faecalis, Klebsiella pneumonia, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

“These results indicated that the synthesised silver nanoparticles can be used as growth inhibitors against the studied bacteria and fungi species as they showed better inhibition than the already available antibacterial and antifungal agents,” the team writes. They add that the capped silver nanoparticles have antioxidant activity but it is not as great as the activity of the aqueous extract from the plant itself.

Nate, Z., Moloto, M.J., Sibiya, N.P., Mubiayi, P.K. and Mtunzi, F.M. (2019) ‘Green synthesis of silver nanoparticles using aqueous extract of Combretum molle leaves, their antibacterial, antifungal and antioxidant activity’, Int. J. Nano and Biomaterials, Vol. 8, Nos. 3/4, pp.189–203.

17 February 2020

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Entrepreneurial Venturing

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Entrepreneurial Venturing are now available here for free:
  • The dual effect of the age of the entrepreneur on the innovation performance of the micro-enterprises
  • Empowering for effectuation: examining organisational preparedness for corporate entrepreneurship as antecedent of psychological empowerment and entrepreneurial behaviour
  • The success of the activist investor Guy Wyser-Pratte in Continental Europe
  • Structural equation model of variables influencing Thai ceramics entrepreneur organisational sustainability

Special issue published: "Multimedia Information Security Solutions on Social Networks"

International Journal of Information and Computer Security 12(2/3) 2020

  • A secured modular exponentiation for RSA and CRT-RSA with dual blinding to resist power analysis attacks
  • Eight neighbour bits swap encryption-based image steganography using arithmetic progression technique
  • Nested context-aware sanitisation and feature injection in clustered templates of JavaScript worms on the cloud-based OSN
  • Fault prediction for distributed computing Hadoop clusters using real-time higher order differential inputs to SVM: Zedacross
  • A coupled map lattice-based image encryption approach using DNA and bi-objective genetic algorithm
  • Securing wireless sensor networks from node clone attack: a lightweight message authentication algorithm
  • Blind noise estimation-based CT image denoising in tetrolet domain
  • A hybrid generative-discriminative model for abnormal event detection in surveillance video scenes
  • Scrutinising internet banking security solutions
  • Fake profile detection in multimedia big data on online social networks
  • Unconstrained face recognition using deep convolution neural network
  • CSL: FPGA implementation of lightweight block cipher for power-constrained devices

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Computational Biology and Drug Design

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Computational Biology and Drug Design are now available here for free:
  • Interaction studies of Angelica polymorpha and Beilschmiedia pulverulenta phytochemicals with acetylcholinesterase as anti-Alzheimer's disease target
  • Protein interaction network analysis of TGF-β signalling pathway enabled EMT process to anticipate the anticancer activity of curcumin
  • Flexible molecular docking: application of hybrid tabu-simplex optimisation
  • In-silico mutational study of ferulic acid decarboxylase for improvement of substrate binding empathy
  • Development of specific DHODH inhibitors for Plasmodium and Human species

Special issue published: "Recent Technologies and Applications in Big Data-Inspired Data Acquisition, Processing and Analysis for Wireless Sensor Networks"

International Journal of Internet Manufacturing and Services 7(1/2) 2020

  • Design of candidate schedules for applying iterative ordinal optimisation for scheduling technique on cloud computing platform
  • Mobile self-organising network positioning algorithm based on node clustering
  • The information security scheduling method of vehicle self-organising system for wireless sensor
  • Research on algorithm of information transmission path planning in big data environment
  • Research on virus diffusion prevention method for computer singularity in complex sensor networks
  • Outlier data mining of multivariate time series based on association rule mapping
  • Trust-based fruit fly optimisation algorithm for task scheduling in a cloud environment
  • Reliability in IoUT enabled underwater sensor networks using dynamic adaptive routing protocol
  • Multi-source remote sensing image big data classification system design in cloud computing environment
  • Research and analysis on sensitive data encryption method in accounting information processing system
  • Analysis of scientific and technological innovation influence factors affect enterprise performance
  • Factors affecting users' stickiness in online car-hailing platforms: an empirical study

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Knowledge Management Studies

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Knowledge Management Studies are now available here for free:
  • An integrated approach to performance measurement, analysis, improvements and knowledge management in healthcare sector
  • Implementing cooperative bacterial foraging optimisation algorithm based resources and VM management in IaaS cloud
  • Development of knowledge based sentiment analysis system using lexicon approach on twitter data
  • Reliable army knowledge management process using perception tacit knowledge with xenogeneic deep neural networks
  • Retrieving knowledgeable information from cloud using trapezoid-based multi-keyword query ranking with weighted distributed function
  • Knowledge based non-functional software distinguishing quality effort estimation using fuzzy use case point approach
  • Knowledge management based supplier selection of wind turbine manufacturer supply chain

14 February 2020

Free sample articles newly available from European Journal of Industrial Engineering

The following sample articles from the European Journal of Industrial Engineering are now available here for free:
  • Side-sensitive synthetic double sampling X control charts
  • Scheduling TV advertisements via genetic algorithm
  • Flowshop sequence-dependent group scheduling with minimisation of weighted earliness and tardiness
  • Supply chains competition with vertical and horizontal information sharing
  • A continuous review (s, S) inventory system with postponed demands at service facility

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Sustainable Society

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Sustainable Society are now available here for free:
  • Assessing flow benefits of protected areas of central India: a case study from Maharashtra state of India
  • Corporate social responsibility and purchase intentions: perceptions and expectations of young consumers' in Ghana
  • The endangerment of Mendriq's traditional knowledge in Malaysia
  • Land use/cover change and urban sustainability in a medium-sized city
  • Solar energy expansion and the lesson from India and China

Special issue published: "Business Valuation, Change Management and Entrepreneurial Education: Managerial Lessons Across Industries"

Global Business and Economics Review 22(1/2) 2020

  • Customers' intentions to adopt proximity m-payment services: empirical evidence from Greece
  • Organisational ambidexterity, hard power management and smart power management at Amazon, a case study
  • Evolutions in manufacturing cost deployment
  • Socially responsible strategies in SMEs: a study in six European countries
  • Valuation of renewable energy investments: an explanatory mixed-methods study about applied approaches amongst practitioners
  • Big data in SMEs – findings of an empirical study
  • Venture capitalists and the internationalisation of new ventures – a Portuguese case study
  • Networked establishment processes in transition economies
  • An experiential learning program for entrepreneurship education
  • The success of STEM graduates in entrepreneurship training: a European case study

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Internet Protocol Technology

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Internet Protocol Technology are now available here for free:
  • Addressing for 6LoWPAN
  • A general purpose deployment method for wireless mesh network
  • Modified QUIC protocol for improved network performance and comparison with QUIC and TCP
  • Improvement of WBAN performances by a hybrid model: design and evaluation of a novel inter-MAC layer exploited in medical applications
  • Security analysis of a cloud authentication protocol using applied pi calculus
  • ATM PIN generation - a formal mathematical model to generate PIN using regular grammar, context free grammar and recognition through finite state machine, pushdown automata
  • Analysis of factors affecting customer satisfaction in e-commerce applications using Condorcet - AHP method

Research pick: Making it last on St Valentine’s Day - "Effects of postharvest relative humidity and various re-cutting on vase life of cut rose flowers"

On St Valentine’s Day, 14th February, some people may have been lucky enough to receive fresh-cut roses. A new study published International Journal Postharvest Technology and Innovation has advice on how to make the blooms, if not the love, last.

Esmaeil Chamani of the Department of Horticultural Sciences at the University of Mohaghegh Ardabili, in Ardabil, Iran and Carol Wagstaff of the School of Food Biosciences at the University of Reading, Reading, UK, have evaluated the effect of different levels of relative humidity (60%, 75%, and 90%) and re-cutting of the stems at 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 centimetres re-cutting at the end of the stem on “vase life”. The team carried out two parallel experiments using either a bucket or a vase. Conditions were randomised and eight replications in the bucket experiment and five replications in the vase experiment were carried out.

The basic result was that re-cutting stems had little effect on how long the blooms retained their floral prowess. Increasing humidity from 60 to 90 percent was the optimal alteration for prolonging the display. The findings corroborate how shortened longevity of cut roses is primarily related to water loss from their large leaf area and the essentially unfavourable growth conditions for a cut flower. That said, the team also found that higher humidity would increase bacterial growth. This could be counteracted by cutting 5 centimetres from the end of the cut stem.

The blooming bottom line for Valentine’s lovers – trim your rose stems and make sure things are kept quite steamy around the vase.

Chamani, E. and Wagstaff, C. (2019) ‘Effects of postharvest relative humidity and various re-cutting on vase life of cut rose flowers’, Int. J. Postharvest Technology and Innovation, Vol. 6, No. 1, pp.70–82.

13 February 2020

Free sample articles newly available from Global Business and Economics Review

The following sample articles from the Global Business and Economics Review are now available here for free:
  • Service quality and attitudinal loyalty: the mediating effect of delight on retail banking relationships
  • Developing sustainable competitive advantage of a firm through human resource management practices: a competence-based approach
  • The romance of modern accounting education: an impact from positivism and materialism
  • Big data: ethical issues
  • Performance measurement indicators in the healthcare industry: a systematic review
  • Impacts of information quality on decision-making
  • Crafting a web-unique value proposition using the concept analysis technique
  • Understanding the invisible hands of incentives

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Internet Manufacturing and Services

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Internet Manufacturing and Services are now available here for free:
  • Research on interaction between logistics industrial clusters and urbanisation based on system dynamics and cloud model
  • Analysis on the core competitiveness of Shenyang equipment manufacturing industry
  • Integrating business processes of container sea-rail combined transport
  • Modelling and improvements of production processes using OptQuest and process analyser
  • The two-stage delay distribution method based on compensation mechanism under random environment
  • Railway route optimisation from Romania to Poland based on an analysis of China's 'One Belt and One Road' initiative

Special issue published: "Sustainable Development and International Business"

International Journal of Sustainable Society 12(1) 2020

  • The nexus of climate change and hotel management in Malaysia: an exploratory study
  • Women's entrepreneurial narrative: making sense of the partner's role
  • Measures to facilitate the scale-up of education for sustainable development in higher education
  • Blood diamonds: an analysis of the state of affairs and the effectiveness of the Kimberley Process
  • Mixed migration flows into Europe: discharging state anti-trafficking obligations through the proper identification of trafficking victims

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Reasoning-based Intelligent Systems

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Reasoning-based Intelligent Systems are now available here for free:
  • Automatic three-dimensional sorting system based on internet and database
  • Adapting eSpeak to Arabic language: converting Arabic text to speech language using eSpeak
  • Visual automatic obstacle avoidance technology research in unmanned vehicles
  • Cloud platform load balancing based on bee colony algorithm
  • A novelty psychological cognition behaviour model based on reinforcement learning
  • Double PWM coordinated control based on model predictive algorithm and power compensation
  • Decision support for grape crop protection using ontology
  • Incorporating noun compounds in distributional-based semantic representation approaches for measuring semantic relatedness
  • Adaptive multi-crossover evolutionary algorithm for real-world optimisation problems

Research pick: The digital whistleblower - "Can artificial intelligence replace whistle-blowers in the business sector?"

Research published in the International Journal of Technology Policy and Law sets out to answer the question: Can artificial intelligence (AI) replace whistle-blowers in the business sector?

Kafteranis Dimitrios in the Faculty of Law at the University of Luxembourg, suggests that major technological developments in recent years have changed significantly the way we business and at the same time they have created new ways for insiders to expose unethical behaviour in those businesses. Evidence of wrongdoing can be accrued digitally very quickly and modern communication tools allow for the almost instantaneous dissemination of such information to regulatory authorities, the media, and the public.

The emergence of so-called artificial intelligence and machine learning also now means that the extraction of evidence of wrongdoing might be automated. This could remove the human whistleblower from the equation allowing problems to be flagged far more effectively and efficiently without making any one individual a target for remonstrations from those involved in the wrongdoing. This could apply equally to exposure to management within a company or beyond the company when it is the management or the company itself that is involved in the wrongdoing.

The research as it stands suggests that artificial whistleblowing is not credible but could be used to assist a human whistleblower in reporting misdemeanours at various levels to the appropriate authority.

Dimitrios, K. (2019) ‘Can artificial intelligence replace whistle-blowers in the business sector?’, Int. J. Technology Policy and Law, Vol. 3, No. 2, pp.160–171.

12 February 2020

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Networking and Virtual Organisations

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Networking and Virtual Organisations are now available here for free:
  • A novel replication scheme based on prediction technology in virtual P2P storage platform
  • Adaptive priority-based fair-resource allocation for MIMO-OFDM multicast networks
  • Priority-based bandwidth allocation and load balancing for multipath IP networks
  • Prediction in mobile ad hoc network based on fuzzy time series
  • Construction of distance teaching platform based on mobile communication technology
  • IT-enabled inter-organisational relationships and collaborative innovation: integration of IT design and relationships governance
  • The measurement of gas solid two-phase flow parameters based on electrical capacitance tomography technology

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Intellectual Property Management

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Intellectual Property Management are now available here for free:
  • Chinese patent applications at the EPO - investigation into filing patterns and motives from the examiner's perspective
  • An assessment of Canadian university technology transfer offices
  • Analysis of IP-related court decisions using e-discovery - a case study of Apotex Pty. Ltd. v Sanofi-Aventis Australia Pty. Ltd. & Ors
  • A paradigm analysis of valuation of intellectual property
  • Scenario of intellectual property right on microorganism and microbiological research: an imperative need to amend

Special issue published: "Mathematical Modelling and Computation"

International Journal of Artificial Intelligence and Soft Computing 7(1) 2019

  • Homomorphic images and shuffle product on probabilistic automata
  • Diamond tile self-assembly shape grammar system
  • Equi-triangular array grammars with equal matrix type of rules
  • Structured hexagonal interactive system on Penneys coin game
  • Segmenting ECG and MRI data using ant colony optimisation
  • Inventory model with penalty cost and shortage cost using fuzzy numbers
  • Context-free graph P system
  • Simulation of universal gates on P system using catalysts

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Information and Decision Sciences

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Information and Decision Sciences are now available here for free:
  • Inverse fuzzy soft set and its application in decision making
  • An interpretive structural modelling of enablers for collaborative planning, forecasting and replenishment implementation in high-tech industries
  • Office location selection by fuzzy AHP and VIKOR
  • Fuzzy classification as a decision making problem in hesitant environments
  • Pressure and ethical decision-making

Research pick: Smoothing out the rough diamonds - "Blood diamonds: an analysis of the state of affairs and the effectiveness of the Kimberley Process"

Easier access to information and better communication tools has empowered consumers and allows them to make informed and perhaps more socially responsible purchasing decisions. At the same time, corporate responsibility and sustainability are gaining momentum. One might imagine that such positive moves in the world of commerce are universal. However, the diamond industry remains opaque.

Writing in the International Journal of Sustainable Society, Meike Schulte and Cody Morris Paris of Middlesex University Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, suggest that the Kimberley Process was set up to allow the rough diamond trade to monitored and to impede the flow of conflict, or blood, diamonds. Such products hewn from areas of conflict and where human rights abuses, child labour, and slavery, are manifest should not be on the market in a socially responsible world.
The team reports that one in five diamonds in terms of volume and one in ten diamonds in terms of value may have been produced under conditions that cannot be regarded as sustainable or ethical. Human rights abuses in the industry are thus incredibly common across several African nations where diamonds are mined with Angola having the worst record for conflict diamonds where the ethics of human rights are taken into account.

The team suggests that human rights violations are systematic and systemic in the rough diamond industry. Global rough diamond production amounts to around 150 million carats each year with a market value of around 16 billion US dollars. It is time, some of these vast revenues were turned to improving the lives of those working in the mines and to extracting child slaves from the often-horrendous working conditions they face. The team adds that related industries – gold, tin, tungsten, and tantalum – have similar ethical problems that must also be addressed.

Schulte, M. and Paris, C.M. (2020) ‘Blood diamonds: an analysis of the state of affairs and the effectiveness of the Kimberley Process’, Int. J. Sustainable Society, Vol. 12, No. 1, pp.51–75.

11 February 2020

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Hydrology Science and Technology

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Hydrology Science and Technology are now available here for free:
  • A bootstrap regional model for assessing the long-term impacts of climate change on river discharge
  • Hydrological study and suspended sediment transport in the MACTA: Mekerra watershed (NW - Algerian)
  • An introduction to the hyperspace of Penman-Monteith reference evapotranspiration
  • Maximum total rainfall and intensity by using Hershfield isohyet maps and Weiss equation
  • The performance of fuzzy regression method for estimating of reference evapotranspiration under controlled environment
  • Cost-effective smart irrigation controller using automatic weather stations

Special issue published: "Modelling as a Service for Designing and Analysing QOS-Oriented Information, Data and Knowledge Systems"

International Journal of Reasoning-based Intelligent Systems 12(1) 2020

  • Measurement-based methodology for modelling the energy consumption of mobile devices
  • Mobile agent and ontology approach for web service discovery using QoS
  • SCOL: similarity and credibility-based approach for opinion leaders detection in collaborative filtering-based recommender systems
  • Machine learning methods against false data injection in smart grid
  • A new reasoning-based approach for measuring the magnetic field emitted by portable computers
  • Two-stage portfolio risk optimisation based on MVO model

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Artificial Intelligence and Soft Computing

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Artificial Intelligence and Soft Computing are now available here for free:
  • A conditionally positive definite kernel function for possibilistic clustering
  • Context's impact on the automatic spelling correction
  • Parametric and non parametric distribution analysis of AkT for cell survival/death
  • Question answering systems: the story till the Arabic linked data
  • A qualitative inference method for prediction of geographic process using spatial and temporal relations

Research pick: The recency period - "Are emotions exacerbating the recency bias?: An experimental study"

The notion of “recency bias” is related to hubris. It is the perception that the events and happenings of recent history will persist into the future. It suggests that the status quo will generally be maintained. Unfortunately, it does not take into account the random effects of human behaviour, environmental response, and many other factors that can upset a recent balance. Of course, hubris usually implies that complacency and recency bias will have a negative outcome as the future unfolds, but occasionally good things do happen.

A team writing in the International Journal of Trade and Global Markets, considers the effects of emotions on recency bias in the context of managerial decision making. Felizia Arni Rudiawarni, Made Narsa, and Bambang Tjahjadi of the Faculty of Economics and Business at the Universitas Airlangga in Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia, have carried out an experimental study to investigate the emotional baggage associated with recency bias in international financial markets with a specific focus on emerging markets rather than the established markets of the developed world.

Previous studies have demonstrated the existence of recency bias where people give more weight to the latest information they receive rather than considering all previous information too in their decision making and judgement. The present study looks at how elements of emotion affect recency bias. The team has found that recency bias is so strong and ingrained in our behaviour that emotions do not seem to affect our decisions. However, there is an impact on judgement of the order in which positive and negative information is received and perceived. Fundamentally, people don’t like to hear bad news.

As such, the team has some advice for strategists in the corporate communications department: When a company has mixed information to disseminate, it is essential to disclose the bad news first and then quickly follow up with positive information to avoid the severely punishing effects of recency bias on the company’s share price, for instance.

Rudiawarni, F.A., Made Narsa, I. and Tjahjadi, B. (2020) ‘Are emotions exacerbating the recency bias?: An experimental study‘, Int. J. Trade and Global Markets, Vol. 13, No. 1, pp.61-70.

10 February 2020

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Masonry Research and Innovation

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Masonry Research and Innovation are now available here for free:
  • Experimental assessment of large displacement cyclic in-plane shear behaviour of semi-interlocking masonry panels
  • Testing and analysis of masonry hollow clay block prisms filled with mortar
  • Validation of a two-step simplified compatible homogenisation approach extended to out-plane loaded masonries
  • Monotonic tests on masonry elements with different angles of inclination of the bed joints under uniaxial compression
  • Thrust evaluations of masonry domes. An application to the St. Peter's dome
  • Experimental ambient vibration tests and numerical investigation on the Sidoni Palace in Castelnuovo of San Pio (L'Aquila, Italy)

International Journal of Forensic Software Engineering to invite expanded papers from 3rd International Workshop on Blockchains and Smart Contracts workshop (BSC) for potential publication

Extended versions of papers presented at the 3rd International Workshop on Blockchains and Smart Contracts workshop (BSC) (6-8 July 2020, Paris, France) 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 Trade and Global Markets

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Trade and Global Markets are now available here for free:
  • Formulating post placement empowerment of Indonesian migrant workers policy: What are the roles of stakeholders?
  • Distributional effects of foreign direct investment on poverty: the case of Vietnam
  • Institutional effects in development of regional innovational infrastructure
  • Impediments to globalisation and financing of small exporting firms: evidence from Southwest Louisiana

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Dynamical Systems and Differential Equations

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Dynamical Systems and Differential Equations are now available here for free:
  • On some attractors of a two-dimensional quadratic map
  • Leader following speed synchronisation in multiple DC motor system using a hybrid controller
  • Lie symmetry analysis and conservation laws of certain time fractional partial differential equations
  • Behaviour of two-dimensional competitive system of nonlinear difference equations of higher order
  • Unique solutions for new fractional differential equations with p-Laplacian and infinite-point boundary conditions

7 February 2020

New Editor for International Journal of Ultra Wideband Communications and Systems

Associate Prof. Yunfei Chen from the University of Warwick in the UK has been appointed to take over editorship of the International Journal of Ultra Wideband Communications and Systems.

Research pick: Making money on Youtube - "How do YouTubers make money? A lesson learned from the most subscribed YouTuber channels"

How do “Youtubers” make money? This is an important question for the modern aged posed in the latest issue of the International Journal Business Information Systems. Bo Han of the College of Business at Texas A&M University-Commerce, in Commerce, Texas, USA, offers an answer.
There might be several ways for someone who uploads video content to the site Youtube. Advertising revenue and the marketing of products, services, and digital resources are a couple. However, under the company’s current guidelines only Youtubers with more than a threshold number of subscribers will earn advertising revenues from advertisements displayed alongside or within their content and channel.

“YouTube has been a critical social media site for users to share their self-made videos such as ‘vlogs’, amateur performances, parodies, and funny ‘fail’ videos with the public,” Han explains; there are more than one billion active users and some 400 hours worth of content is uploaded every minute generating billions of video views every day.

Han’s analysis of the most popular Youtubers suggests that annual revenues are in line with the number of views received on a given channel, the after-view comment rate, and the attitude of viewers. Revenues tend to slide for older Youtubers, suggesting it is very much a youth phenomenon.
Han has some advice for those hoping to earn a living as a Youtuber:

“We expect our findings can inform entrepreneurial YouTubers that their monetisation model is strongly dependent on both their impact breadth and how well they utilise the acquired resources,” he says. “The traditional marketing strategy is critical (e.g., more views leading to more revenues), but it is also important for YouTubers to utilise the social media features offered by YouTube to deepen their impacts on the audience, in order to achieve the expected monetisation success.”

Han, B. (2020) ‘How do YouTubers make money? A lesson learned from the most subscribed YouTuber channels‘, Int. J. Business Information Systems, Vol. 33, No. 1, pp.132-143.

6 February 2020

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

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Technology, Policy and Management are now available here for free:
  • Ensuring quality in ERP implementations through testing components: an ISM approach
  • The mediating effect of the innovation process on the relationships among innovation components: an empirical study on Turkish companies
  • An evaluation of status of technology push and demand pull practices for sustainable development in manufacturing industries
  • Coevolution of technological capabilities and regulation in Indonesian herbal medicine sector
  • Crowd funding dynamics for venture and innovation development

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Bioinformatics Research and Applications

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Bioinformatics Research and Applications are now available here for free:
  • Dynamic background modelling using multi-swarm optimisation
  • Classification of breast cancer based on thermal image using support vector machine
  • Level 2 feature extraction for latent fingerprint enhancement and matching using type-2 intuitionistic fuzzy set
  • Vision-based malaria parasite image analysis: a systematic review

First issue: International Journal of Intelligence and Sustainable Computing (free sample issue available)

Intelligence and sustainable computing is an interdisciplinary field involving various topics such as signal processing, image computing, biomedical informatics, cognitive radio, machine learning, and energy- and thermal-aware management of computing resources. Sustainable intelligence paradigms apply diverse analytical techniques to discover sustainable information suitable for efficient decision making. The International Journal of Intelligence and Sustainable Computing publishes high-quality research papers that explore different aspects of sustainable computing, and serves as an international forum for discussion and reference in this important field.

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

Research pick: Crawling the invisible web genetically - "Genetic algorithm-based intelligent multiagent architecture for extracting information from hidden web databases"

The World-wide Web, WWW, or the web, has grown immensely since its academic and research inception in 1991 and its subsequent expansion into the public and commercial domains. Initially, it was a network of hyperlinked pages and other digital resources. Very early on, it became obvious that some resources were so vast that it would make more sense to generate the materials required by individual users dynamically rather than storing every single digital entity as a unique item.

Today, countless websites are dynamic, every unique visit draws information and data dynamically from a back-end database and presents it to the user on-demand. Whereas static pages can easily be spidered by search engines, database content that drives dynamic websites is inaccessible. Even as long ago as 2001 when there were already several terabytes of public, static web data, it was estimated that the “invisible web”, or “hidden web”, not to be confused with the “dark web”, was some 550 times bigger than the visible resources.

Writing in the International Journal of Business Intelligence and Data Mining, a team from India describes how they have developed a genetic algorithm-based intelligent multiagent architecture that can extract information from the invisible web. The tools could allow even materials that are purportedly off-limits to conventional search engines to be spidered, scraped, and catalogued for a wide range of applications.

D. Weslin of Bharathiar University and Joshva Devadas of Vellore Institute of Technology describe the details and benefits of their approach in the latest issue of the journal. “The experimental results show that the proposed architecture provides better precision and recall than the existing web crawlers,” the team writes.

Weslin, D. and Devadas, T.J. (2020) ‘Genetic algorithm-based intelligent multiagent architecture for extracting information from hidden web databases’, Int. J. Business Intelligence and Data Mining, Vol. 16, No. 2, pp.204–213.

5 February 2020

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Business Excellence

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Business Excellence are now available here for free:
  • Factors influencing work engagement and its impact on task performance
  • Understanding the connect between digitalisation, sustainability and performance of an organisation
  • Does emotional stability mediates the relationship between self-disclosure, personality integration, and social adjustment?
  • Lean Six Sigma approach: a strategy to enhance performance of first through time and scrap reduction in an automotive industry
  • Technology and brand selection: the mediating effect of cognition in Indian retail
  • Exploration of attributes influencing productivity in opencast mines

Special issue published: "Emerging South Asia in a Globalised World"

International Journal of Business and Globalisation 23(4) 2019

  • India an emerging higher education hub for South Asian countries: globalisation and internationalisation essential keys for growth of South Asia
  • A study on relationship between leadership style and conflict resolution strategy in sustainable India
  • Has trade improved from SAPTA to SAFTA? Evidence from the gravity model
  • Why India still fighting for first FDI receipt country?
  • Internationalisation of SMEs: how does global mindset and network relationships impact in India
  • Integration of South Asian stock market – a select study
  • Recent advances in total factor productivity growth measurement in agriculture: a review of literature

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Power and Energy Conversion

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Power and Energy Conversion are now available here for free:
  • Optimal placement of DSTATCOM, DG and their performance analysis in deregulated power system
  • Simulation of different power methods for induction generator faults detection and diagnosis
  • Impact of optimal location and sizing of distributed generation and automatic reclosers in distribution systems
  • Improving the dynamic frequency regulation of a multisource power system considering GRC and dead band with TCSC and SMES
  • A new model of self-excited induction generator to feed a single phase load with an application in lighting animal farm
  • Comparative analysis of several linear controllers with developed feedback controllers for DSTATCOM

Research pick: Safely ageing in a smart home - "Sensor-based detection of abnormal events for elderly people using deep belief networks"

With an aging population, there is an increasing need for a smart home to be able to monitor health and behaviour with a view to allowing people to continue to live in their homes independently. Research published in the International Journal of Ad Hoc and Ubiquitous Computing shows how motion sensors, actuators, and surveillance systems can be used in different rooms in a home to monitor people are they carry out household chores, such as cooking and cleaning, and other activities, such as using the bathroom, watching television, partaking of hobbies, and sleeping.

Yo-Ping Huang of the Department of Electrical Engineering at the National Taipei University of Technology, in Taiwan, and colleagues suggest that the outputs from sensors and monitors can be fed to an algorithm trained to recognise normal behaviour and to flag issues when a person is unexpectedly immobilized or carrying out an unusual activity in a part of their home where such activities are not commonly undertaken. The system can then alert healthcare workers or family members that there may be a crisis underway and the elderly person can be contacted or emerging services sent to assist.

The team has simulated behaviour and tested the system and its results show that the proposed system outperforms support vector machines in terms of score and accuracy in identifying daily activities.
The researchers add that they will next integrate the system with voice recognition to allow the remote control of appliances used in daily life as well as making wireless and mobile devices connectable so that carers can be availed of potentially hazardous or life-threatening situations as they arise in the person’s home without the carer needing to be in the home continuously to look after the person.

Huang, Y-P., Basanta, H., Kuo, H-C. and Chiao, H-T. (2020) ‘Sensor-based detection of abnormal events for elderly people using deep belief networks’, Int. J. Ad Hoc and Ubiquitous Computing, Vol. 33, No. 1, pp.36–47.

4 February 2020

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Materials Engineering Innovation

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Materials Engineering Innovation are now available here for free:
  • Experimental study of single point incremental forming with dummy sheet
  • Experimental investigation of geometric accuracy in single point incremental forming process of an aluminium alloy
  • Deformation behaviour of A356, Al-11Si-2.5Cu-0.6Fe, and Al-18Si-2.5Cu-0.6Fe alloys forged under different processing conditions
  • Prediction of life of piercing punches using artificial neural network and adaptive neuro fuzzy inference systems
  • Optimisation and modelling of thinning and geometric accuracy in incremental sheet forming combined with stretch forming

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Business Information Systems

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Business Information Systems are now available here for free:
  • A conceptual framework for business intelligence critical success factors
  • A semantic matching engine for web service composition
  • Sophisticated strategic information systems and strategic performance of Islamic banks: a review of literature
  • Managing digital infrastructures: negotiating control and drift in service provisioning
  • Barriers to online shopping
  • Implicit feature identification for opinion mining
  • Selecting and tuning the optimal query form of different SQL commands

First issue: International Journal of Intelligent Internet of Things Computing (free sample issue available)

Internet of Things computing still faces many challenges due to key factors such as constant mobility, limited capability, restricted power and uncertain security. Such factors pose considerable problems for both service provision and consumption. The International Journal of Intelligent Internet of Things Computing therefore aims to promote advances in IoT services and new AI algorithms and techniques in the intelligent computing field, with emphasis on foundational theory, systems and practical real-life applications.

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

Research pick: Recommending children’s books - "CBRec: a book recommendation system for children using the matrix factorisation and content-based filtering approaches"

Yiu-Kai Ng of the Computer Science Department at Brigham Young University, in Provo, Utah, USA, suggests that promoting good reading habits in children is critical to their learning and development as mature members of a thriving society. Writing in the International Journal of Business Intelligence and Data Mining, he also suggests that we need novel ways to recommend reading matter to children that is not based simply on popularity.

Given the prevalence of the internet and mobile phone apps, there is surely a way to extract reading habits and create a so-called recommendation engine based on wider data points than simple popularity. The development of such a tool would allow customisation and personalisation to come to the fore and at the same time avoid what one might perceive as a reading “echo chamber” based on a few popular authors. This is especially important in a multicultural world where exposure to diversity is increasingly important to help us combat bigotry and prejudice and to create a more accepting world as our children grow.

Ng and colleagues have now developed “CBRec”. This is a book recommendation system for children that uses matrix factorisation and content-based filtering approaches to offer suggestions of what the child should read next with greater potential for their enjoying and learning from those books. The new system avoids the need for any kind of social “tags” that might be gleaned from adult users of online social networking sites but at the same time also considers age and reading level.

Given that there are tens of thousands of books for children published every year, this tool could become a significant part of engaging young readers with a wider authorship than the bestsellers lists might otherwise offer them.

Ng, Y-K. (2020) ‘CBRec: a book recommendation system for children using the matrix factorisation and content-based filtering approaches‘, Int. J. Business Intelligence and Data Mining, Vol. 16, No. 2, pp.129-149.

3 February 2020

International Journal of Public Sector Performance Management to invite expanded papers from 3rd International Conference on Recent Trends in Business and Entrepreneurial Ventures for potential publication

Extended versions of papers presented at the 3rd International Conference on Recent Trends in Business and Entrepreneurial Ventures (ICRTBEV 2020) (18-19 March 2020, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) will be invited for review and potential publication by the International Journal of Public Sector Performance Management.

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Wireless and Mobile Computing

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Wireless and Mobile Computing are now available here for free:
  • Novel localisation algorithms in wireless sensor networks
  • Mathematical modelling and analysis of hierarchical modulation in AWGN and Rayleigh channel
  • Corrugated fractal monopole antenna with enhanced bandwidth for ultrawideband applications
  • Detection of malicious domain names based on an improved hidden Markov model
  • Intelligent evaluation and computation of food packaging culture in Shanghai
  • An efficient access control scheme based on CP-ABE with supporting attribute change in cloud storage systems
  • Trajectory optimisation design of robot based on artificial intelligence algorithm
  • Research on robust reduction control method of steering-by-wire based on MBSE
  • A hybrid training method of convolution neural networks using adaptive cooperative particle swarm optimiser
  • Multi-threads computation for aggregation of time-series data
  • An automatic detection model of pulmonary nodules based on deep belief network
  • Numerical simulation on explosion overpressure features of methane-air premixed gas at different concentrations in utility tunnels

Special issue published: "Energy, Environment and Sustainability"

International Journal of Environmental Technology and Management 22(4/5) 2019

  • Quantitative analysis of sound absorption properties of plants in indoor environment for enabling sustainable practices
  • Strategically-framed environmental disclosure index: a measurement approach of Malaysian public listed companies' corporate environmental reporting practices
  • Evaluating the impact of implementing Minimum Energy Performance Standards appliance regulation in Malaysia
  • Analysis of urban water quality trends for effective reservoir sedimentation management in Cameron Highland
  • Analysis of optimal options for CO2 emissions reduction in Malaysian transportation sector
  • Development of natural fibre for environmental and sustainable advancement
  • Sustainable procurement and corporate sustainability performance: the moderating role of organisation age
  • Recycling and sustainable environmental practices of household tea waste
  • The influence of cleaner production and resource efficiency on corporate sustainability performance: the moderating role of organisation size
  • Clarifying the value relevance of voluntary carbon reporting: the case of Malaysian carbon-intensive industries