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:

• Energy and exergy analyses of dual refrigerant system for liquefaction of natural gas
• Entropy generation analysis due to heat transfer and nanofluid flow through microchannels: a review
• Human body exergy consumption in the thermal environment of shelter gymnasium in winter
• Energy and exergy analyses of chemical looping combustion-based 660 MWe supercritical coal-fired power plant
• Experimental investigation of phase change material utilisation inside the horizontal mantled hot water tank

Special issue published: "Banking and Contemporary Tools for Risk Management"

International Journal of Economics and Business Research 21(1) 2021

• Risk assessment of business models driven by Industry 4.0
• Scenario planning combined with probabilities as a risk management tool - analysis of pros and cons
• Alternative capital requirement for insurers: possibilities and issues
• Assessment of reputational risk impact on commercial banks financial performance
• Risk management considerations for artificial intelligence business applications
• Nexus between assets structure and profitability of Croatian banking system
• On the resilience and the risk spillovers in innovation clusters

Free open access article available: "Mining constant information for readable test data generation"

The following paper, "Mining constant information for readable test data generation" (International Journal of Embedded Systems 14(1) 2021), 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 Advanced Intelligence Paradigms

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Advanced Intelligence Paradigms are now available here for free: 

• Effective content-based pattern predicted text mining using PSE model
• Design of an ultra-low power, low complexity and low jitter PLL with digitally controlled oscillator
• Diminution of power in load/store queue for CAM and SRAM-based out-of-order processors
• Improving recommendation quality and performance of genetic-based recommender system
• Occlusion detection and processing using optical flow and particle filter
• River flow prediction with memory-based artificial neural networks: a case study of the Dholai river basin
• An intelligent and interactive AR-based location identifier for indoor navigation
• A unified approach for skin colour segmentation using generic bivariate Pearson mixture model
• Clustering mixed data using neighbourhood rough sets

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:

• Linking elements of entrepreneurial orientation and firm performance: examining the moderation of environmental dynamism
• Examining the indirect effect of corporate social responsibility on firm performance: an empirical study in Lebanon
• An analysis on sustainability reporting practices of the Turkish banking sector
• Developing entrepreneurial intentions: what matters?
• The antecedents of student-university identification: an investigation into the Egyptian higher education sector
• Testing for temperature anomaly in capital markets of Pakistan and India

Special issue published: "Advances in Computational Intelligence for Machine Vision and Image Processing"

International Journal of Intelligent Engineering Informatics 8(4) 2020

• Dung beetle inspired local search in artificial bee colony algorithm for unconstrained and constrained numerical optimisation
• Low-level features based 2D face recognition using machine learning
• Artificial intelligence based watermarking in hybrid DDS domain for security of colour images
• Medical image segmentation based on fuzzy 2-partition Kapur entropy using fast recursive algorithm
• Hybrid ANFIS-genetic algorithm based forecasting model for predicting Cholera-waterborne disease

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:

• Developing a qualitative model of productivity for service companies using fuzzy analytic hierarchy process: a case study
• Optimisation algorithms for improvement of a multihead weighing process
• Modelling the water supply service quality: a case study of the municipal corporation
• Performance assessment of talent management system via using system dynamic approach and scenario planning (case study: Iran Falat-Qhare Oil Company)
• Evaluating bikesharing service quality: a case study for BIXI, Montreal
• A study on software quality factors and metrics to enhance software quality assurance
• The relationship between total quality management practices and organisational image in the hospital industry: an empirical examination

Special issue published: "Sustainable Manufacturing in Precision Technology"

International Journal of Precision Technology 9(2/3) 2020

• A review on localised and multi-point aerosol application in minimum quantity lubrication machining
• Effect of shell thickness and firing temperature on properties of modified ceramic shell for precision casting of Al-Si alloys
• Improving productivity with eco-friendly dielectrics in sustainable EDM machining of AISI 2507 super duplex stainless steel
• A bibliometric analysis of research on sustainable manufacturing
• Analysis of entry and exit delamination during micro-drilling of green composites using response surface methodology
• Multi-objective optimisation of process parameters in turning of Al6061 alloys using DEFORM-3D
• A comparative study for biomachining of aluminium alloy 4004 using Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans and Aspergillus niger
• A green and resilient supply chain design model

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Operational Research

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

• On multi-level quadratic fractional programming problem with modified fuzzy goal programming approach
• A perturbation-based approach for continuous network design problem with link capacity expansion
• New approach for ranking efficient DMUs based on Euclidean norm in data envelopment analysis
• A continuous approximation procedure for determining inventory distribution schemas within supply chains: gradual and intermittent shipping patterns
• A note on min-max goal programming approach for solving multi-objective de novo programming problems
• Scheduling batches with time constraints in wafer fabrication
  

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:

• Application of vision aided strapdown integrated navigation in lane vehicles
• RFID aided SINS integrated navigation system for lane applications
• A homomorphic range searching scheme for sensitive data in internet of things
• Container-based task scheduling for edge computing in IoT-cloud environment using improved HBF optimisation algorithm
• Self-adjustive DE and KELM-based image watermarking in DCT domain using fuzzy entropy
• Home security alarm system for middle-aged people living alone
• Feature selection optimisation of software product line using metaheuristic techniques
• Attribute-based access control and authentication mechanism using smart cards for cloud-based IoT applications
• A feature selection model for prediction of software defects
• An improved TFIDF algorithm based on dual parallel adaptive computing model
• A hybrid model of empirical wavelet transform and extreme learning machine for dissolved oxygen forecasting
• Hash-based and privacy-aware movie recommendations in a big data environment

Special issue published: "Managing the New Mobility"

International Journal of Automotive Technology and Management 20(4) 2020

• Limiting CO2 fleet emissions in the automotive industry - a portfolio planning approach
• Substituting individual mobility by mobility on demand using autonomous vehicles - a sustainable assessment simulation of Berlin and Stuttgart
• Comparing customer perceptions of potential autonomous vehicle manufacturers: an analysis of the relationship between corporate reputation and intention to use
• Dynamic capabilities in the automotive industry under digitalisation - a quantitative study in the automotive supplier industry
• To separate or to integrate? The normative effect of national culture on organisational ambidexterity of automotive OEMs in transition towards electric mobility

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Economics and Business Research

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Economics and Business Research are now available here for free:

• A method for the evaluation of bushmeat as a livelihood for rural subsistence communities in Ecuador
• Hainan province: China's new free trade zone and Hainan medical tourism
• Firms' profitability: evidence from Bahrain and Qatar
• The impact of public relations on judicial institutions' performance
• The unfair competition lawsuit for protecting the unregistered trademark which is accompanying a sound under the UAE legislation
• The role of business intelligence in a knowledge-based economy: the case of Saudi Arabia
• Implementation of accounting standards as a company marketing strategy to attract shareholders
• Corporate social responsibility and accounting conservatism

Special issue published: "Iot on Learning and Teaching"

International Journal of Continuing Engineering Education and Life-Long Learning 31(1) 2021

• Data acquisition model for online learning activity in distance English teaching based on xAPI
• Integration model for multimedia education resource based on internet of things
• Evaluation of teaching effect of internet of things education platform based on long-term and short-term memory network
• Design of key data integration system for interactive English teaching based on internet of things
• Research on remote control method of assisted instruction based on machine learning
• Construction of case-based oral English mobile teaching platform based on mobile virtual technology
• Design of internet of things online oral English teaching platform based on long-term and short-term memory network
• Design of automatic response system for handheld mobile learning equipment based on augmented reality

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

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

• National culture as a moderator in ambidexterity-performance relationships: a meta-analysis
• The effect of service innovation on service loyalty in post offices
• Exploitative dominant balanced ambidexterity solving the paradox of innovation strategies in SMEs
• Antecedents and outcomes of service recovery satisfaction: perspectives on open and distance learning in Malaysia
• Microfinance models in improving 'quality of life': empirical analysis on Indian perspective
• Monetary policy transmission mechanism, innovative banking system and economic growth dynamics in Nigeria

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:

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

Themed issue published: "Masonry Research in the Third Millennium: From Theory to Practical Applications"

International Journal of Masonry Research and Innovation 5(4) 2020

• Four years of structural health monitoring of the San Pietro bell tower in Perugia, Italy: two years before the earthquake versus two years after
• Performance assessment of a bio-inspired anomaly detection algorithm for unsupervised SHM: application to a Manueline masonry church
• Structural and constructive analysis of San Juan de Dios Basilica dome, in Granada (Spain)
• Observation of crack initiation zone in brick masonry couplets under compression using X-ray microfocus computed tomography and digital image correlation
• Limit analysis of masonry arch bridges through an adaptive GA-NURBS upper-bound approach
• Evaluating elastic modulus and thrust force of semi-interlocking masonry panel
• Nonlinear programming numerical formulation to acquire limit self-standing conditions of circular masonry arches accounting for limited friction

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:

• Video encryption based on chaotic array system: working with image directly
• An algorithm of decomposition and combinatorial optimisation based on 3-Otsu
• Intelligent monitoring system for thermal energy consumption of buildings under the IoT technology
• Study on the subway transfer recognition during rush hour based on big data
• Fuzzy judgment of edge features under dynamic constraints in pedestrian tracking
• Design of cloud computing-based foreign language teaching management system based on parallel computing
• Stargan-based camera style transfer for person retrieval

Special issue published: "Russian Economy: A Path to Sustainable Innovative Development"

International Journal of Economic Policy in Emerging Economies 13(6) 2020

• Optimisation of the mechanisms of managing venture investments in the sphere of digital education on the basis of new information and communication technologies: audit and reorganisation
• Influence of technological innovations on economic inequality in developed and developing countries
• Possibilities and perspectives of strategic planning of socio-economic and technological development of a region with the usage of the foresight methodology
• Improving the mechanisms of evaluation of efficiency of managing an educational establishment within the global crisis management in Industry 4.0
• Overcoming the threats and risks of the strategy of education quality management in a region in Industry 4.0
• The alternative energetics development as an important component of regional innovation systems in the context of the best available technologies implementation

Additional papers

• Educational support for digital state communications for transition to Industry 4.0
• Macroeconomic determinants of military expenditure in Malaysia
• Impact of India ASEAN FTA on employment in Indian manufacturing sector

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:

• Solid waste management and methane generation in Kota City
• Modelling and appraisal of cadmium removal from water by sustainable bio-waste of hen egg shells
• Eradicating poverty among the waste workers through waste collection? A case study of Dhaka City
• Study of strength properties of geopolymer composite
• Downstream market analysis of used oils in Trinidad and Tobago to inform an appropriate waste management strategy
• An equilibrium and kinetic study for the removal of reactive red M5B using phosphoric acid treated activated carbon
• Lean manufacturing in pharmaceutical closed-loop supply chain
• An eco-friendly novel technique for power generation utilising municipal waste water and sludge recycling

Special issue published: "Sustainable Practices in the Global Business Environment"

International Journal of Business and Globalisation 26(4) 2020

• Understanding associations between Big Five personality traits, multiple dimensions of wellbeing and sustainable development
• S-commerce: perception analysis using PLS-SEM
• Relationship between employees' psychological capital and creativity: the mediating role of creative self-efficacy and positive affect
• Combating gender inequality and shortage in Indian armed forces
• Employee engagement and its predictors: literature review and a proposed model
• Relative influence of media and eWOM on purchase intention of green products

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

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

• Hybridisation study of renewable multi-source systems based on environmental economic and technical indicators
• A system dynamics approach to analysing bioethanol and biodiesel supply chains: increasing bioethanol and biodiesel market shares in the USA
• Energy consumption and economic growth modelling in SADC countries: an application of the VAR Granger causality analysis
• Energy efficiency and company performance in Japanese listed companies
• Multi-objective MCTLBO approach to allocate renewable energy system (PV/BESS) in electricity grid: assessing grid benefits

Special issue published: "Advanced Big Data and Artificial Intelligence Technologies for Edge Computing"

International Journal of Computer Applications in Technology 64(2) 2020

• An improved hybrid error control path tracking intelligent algorithm for omnidirectional AGV on ROS
• A system architecture for intelligent agriculture based on edge computing
• Path discovery approach for mobile data gathering in WSN

Regularly submitted papers

• Research on rotating high-frequency current injection method based on LC resonance network
• An improved 2-OPT optimisation scheme for Hamilton loop
• Parameter optimisation and experimental verification of the positive-negative pressure pulse automatic control system for plug removal
• An identity-based integrity verification scheme for cloud storage in 5G environment
• Automatically optimised stereoscopic camera control based on an assessment of 3D video quality of experience
• Research on design of unattended intelligent pharmacy system
• Intelligent game-based learning: an effective learning model approach

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Economic Policy in Emerging Economies

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Economic Policy in Emerging Economies are now available here for free:

• Consumer perception of sharing economy: pilot survey in Latvia
• Reinvestigating the determinants of environmental degradation in Nigeria
• Islamic bank financing: finding the spatial effect and influencing factors from an archipelagic Indonesia
• Macro-economic determinants of tax revenue in India: an application of dynamic simultaneous equation model
• Dynamics among banking penetration, transport infrastructure, and regional growth: an empirical note from Indian states

Sustainable neem biodiesel

The neem tree, Azadirachta indica, also known as the Indian Lilac, is well known for its oil extracted from its seed and fruit. It has been used in traditional medicine but has also been investigated for the pest control potential of natural products. Work published in the International Journal of Renewable Energy Technology, reports on the production, characterisation and utilisation of neem biodiesel as a green fuel for vehicle engines.

Bheru Lal Salvi and Sudhakar Jindal of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the Maharana Pratap University of Agriculture and Technology in Udaipur, Rajasthan, India, have shown how neem biodiesel can be prepared through a two-stage trans-esterification reaction in approximately 88% yield. The neem biodiesel is of a higher viscosity and density than conventional diesel derived from petroleum oil. It also has a slightly lower energy density, or calorific value. However, neem biodiesel blended with up to 20 percent by volume of petrochemical diesel results in a product with a very similar viscosity to conventional diesel, making it more viable for use in compression ignition engines.

The blended bio-product had little impact on brake specific fuel efficiency. However, it reduced smoke opacity and also led to savings in carbon dioxide emissions. These are two important factors in opting for biodiesel rather than petrochemical diesel. Specifically, analysis of carbon dioxide generated shows that the use of the 20% blended neem biodiesel, led to savings in carbon dioxide emissions of more than 0.14 kilograms per kilowatt hour of power generated. Neem biodiesel may thus represent a potentially sustainable fuel.

Salvi, B.L. and Jindal, S. (2020) ‘Study on production, characterisation and utilisation of neem biodiesel as green fuel for compression ignition engine’,

Neem biodiesel

 

The neem tree, Azadirachta indica, also known as the Indian Lilac, is well known for its oil extracted from its seed and fruit. It has been used in traditional medicine but has also been investigated for the pest control potential of natural products. Work published in the International Journal of Renewable Energy Technology, reports on the production, characterisation and utilisation of neem biodiesel as a green fuel for vehicle engines.

 

Bheru Lal Salvi and Sudhakar Jindal of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the Maharana Pratap University of Agriculture and Technology in Udaipur, Rajasthan, India, have shown how neem biodiesel can be prepared through a two-stage trans-esterification reaction in approximately 88% yield. The neem biodiesel is of a higher viscosity and density than conventional diesel derived from petroleum oil. It also has a slightly energy density, or calorific value. However, neem biodiesel blended with up to 20 percent by volume of petrochemical diesel results in a product with a very similar viscosity to conventional diesel, making it more viable for use in compression ignition engines.

 

The blended bio-product had little impact on brake specific fuel efficiency. However, it reduced smoke opacity and also led to savings in carbon dioxide emissions. These are two important factors in opting for biodiesel rather than petrochemical diesel. Specifically, analysis of carbon dioxide generated shows that the use of the 20% blended neem biodiesel, led to savings in carbon dioxide emissions of more than 0.14 kilograms per kilowatt hour of power generated. Neem biodiesel may thus represent a potentially sustainable fuel.

 

Salvi, B.L. and Jindal, S. (2020) ‘Study on production, characterisation and utilisation of neem biodiesel as green fuel for compression ignition engine’, Int. J. Renewable Energy Technology, Vol. 11, No. 3, pp.207–220.

, Vol. 11, No. 3, pp.207–220.

Special issue published: "Recent Advances in the Security of Multimedia Big Data in Semantic Web-Based Social Networks"

International Journal of High Performance Systems Architecture 9(2/3) 2020

• A new correntropy-based level set algorithm using local robust statistics information
• A video image detection approach based on cooperative positioning
• DenseNet-based attentive plot-aware recommendation
• Applications of robust recognition technology in the foreign language speech assessment system
• Facial beauty prediction via deep cascaded forest
• Data mining model based on user reviews and star ratings
• Research and application of improving the field service ability of electric power marketing measuring mobile operating based on cloud computing technology
• NIR spectroscopy fruit quality detection algorithm based on the least angle regression model

Additional papers

• An amelioration of the skyline algorithm used in the cloud service research and selection system
• Hybrid Zigbee RFID model for tag detection and energy tradeoff

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Oil, Gas and Coal Technology

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Oil, Gas and Coal Technology are now available here for free:

• Real-time hydrocarbons sweet spot identification in shale formations while drilling horizontally using geo-mechanical and geophysical parameters
• Modelling mine gas explosive pattern in underground mine gob and overlying strata
• Colloidal stability and hot filtration test of residual fuel oils based on visbreaking and ebullated bed residue H-Oil hydrocracking
• Control mechanisms and design for a 'coal-backfill-gangue' support system for coal mine gob-side entry retaining
• Geochemistry of Croatian superhigh-organic-sulphur Raša coal, imported low-S coal and bottom ash: their Se and trace metal fingerprints in seawater, clover, foliage and mushroom specimens
• Assisted history matching using pattern recognition technology
• A novel model to investigate the effects of injector-producer pressure difference on SAGD for bitumen recovery
• Coupled flow, stress and damage modelling of interactions between hydraulic fractures and natural fractures in shale gas reservoirs
• Factors controlling production in hydraulically fractured low permeability oil reservoirs
• The coal-gas system - the effective diffusion coefficient

Special issue published: "Constitutional Amendments as an Instrument for the Defence of Democracy"

International Journal of Human Rights and Constitutional Studies 7(4) 2020

• Constitutional amendment and concept of constitution
• Constitutional replacement doctrine
• Constitutional defence of democracy: from non-exportability to undetermined polymorphism
• Abuses and disloyalties in constitutional change
• Constitutional amendment and international human rights standards: a multilevel approach with particular focus on the Spanish case
• Intangible democracy: on the interpretation of Art. 79.3 of the German Basic Law
• Constitutional reform and the 'promised' democracy in Argentina
• The use and perversion of originating constituent power in Venezuela (1999-2019)
• Models of constitutional amendment in Spanish history

Research pick: Cashing in on additive manufacturing - "How designers benefit from free 3D design sharing"

Three-dimensional printing, 3D printing, has developed steadily over the last three decades or so. It has become, if not commonplace, then more well-known and utilised in wide-ranging industries. It has been something of a long-term technological revolution changing the way low-demand objects are designed and produced. So much so that it is often referred to as additive manufacturing.

There is huge potential for bespoke, one-off products, replacement parts made on-demand by an agency or anyone with a 3D printer of their own, and, of course, there is a whole new realm of artistic endeavour available through this technology.

Work published in the International Journal of Business Innovation and Research, reveals how designers benefit from the sharing of 3D designs. According to Annastiina Rintala of the School of Engineering Science at Lappeenranta University of Technology in Finland, the falling costs for entry into the realm of 3D printing is making it more readily available and as such, there is a growing demand for designs. There is even the notion, as there is with open source software, that 3D printing represents the first steps towards the democratization of design.

“Additive manufacturing is expected to be most advantageous in market environments characterised by demand for customisation, flexibility, design complexity, and high transportation costs of the delivery of end products,” explains Rintala. She has now investigated how designers might ultimately benefit financially from sharing their designs for free.

There are three environments where additive manufacturing could spawn novel industries. Firstly, in commercial markets that do not even yet exist or are too small and uncertain to attract established companies. Second, in industries where some potential users are not yet served by low-cost consumer products. And, finally, in areas where some users are not served adequately in terms of customisation options. Within those areas, there are, she says, four putative strategies that might be employed: The first, where a free design simply serves as a free sample of a commercial product. The second where the design serves as an add-on for a commercial product. The third where the design serves as a sample of expert services. The fourth strategy through crowdfunding.

“This study helps to understand the linkages between hobbyism and business in the case of 3D printing,” says Rintala, it also “provides an insight into what types 3D designs attract attention currently, and how sharing free designs could be related to their own business.”

Rintala, A. (2021) ‘How designers benefit from free 3D design sharing’, Int. J. Business Innovation and Research, Vol. 24, No. 1, pp.147–166.

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:

• An analysis of factors affecting financial distress of airline companies: case of India
• Relationship between personality and job performance: Indian perspective of Triguna theory
• Proposing a model of talent excellence with a case study in Isfahan Province Gas Company
• Risk management of innovative projects using FMEA; a case study
• The impact of extrinsic and intrinsic rewarding system on employee motivation in the context of Sri Lankan apparel sector
• The adoption of lean principles and practices: transforming human resources delivery system model
• What Brazilian workers think about flexible work and telework?
• Excellence of social media: a quality assessment

Special issue published: "Assessment in the Era of Big Data: Examining The Potential of Process Data in Evaluating Educational Assessments"

International Journal of Quantitative Research in Education 5(2) 2020

• Using cluster analysis to explore students' interactions with automated feedback in an online Earth science task
• Hints, multiple attempts, and learning outcomes in a computer-based formative assessment system
• Can non-responses speak louder than words? Examining patterns of item non-response in TIMSS 2015
• Screening for aberrant school performances in high-stakes assessments using in influential analysis

Additional paper

• Mapworks survey for student retention: who declines to respond?

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Medical Engineering and Informatics

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

• Breast cancer detection in mammogram image with segmentation of tumour region
• Transmission and archiving of reduced MRI medical images
• An artificial intelligence approach for the recognition of early stages of eczema
• Pragmatic realities on brain imaging techniques and image fusion for Alzheimer's disease
• An inventive and innovative system to detect fall of old aged persons – a novel attempt with IoT, sensors and data analytics to prevent the post fall effects

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:

• Understanding the factors affecting consumers' continuance intention in mobile shopping: the case of private shopping clubs
• An analysis on market reaction to mobile payment adoption: comparison between financial and non-financial industry
• Exploring factors affecting the adoption of mobile payment at physical stores
• Customer resistance to churn in a mature mobile telecommunications market
• An integrated model of the antecedents and consequences of perceived information overload using WeChat as an example
• User's perceptions of perceived usefulness, satisfaction, and intentions of mobile application

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:

• Personal authentication and risk evaluation by sensible keyboard sound
• Computational linguistic retrieval framework using negative bootstrapping for retrieving transliteration variants
• Discrete texture elements synthesis on surfaces using elements distribution
• New colour fusion deep learning model for large-scale action recognition
• 2D-feature descriptor without orientation compensation
• An iris biometric-based dual encryption technique for medical image in e-healthcare application

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Power Electronics

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

• Power sharing control strategy of parallel inverters in AC microgrid using improved reverse droop control
• Fuzzy-PI controller applied to PMSM speed controller: design and experimental evaluation
• A comparative closed-loop performances of a DC-DC switched-mode boost converter with classical and PSO-based optimised type-II/III controllers
• A modular DC-DC converter with zero voltage switching capability
• Optimum pulse-width modulation strategy for a symmetric cascaded multilevel inverter
• A new reduced switch count three phase multilevel inverter
• Selective harmonics elimination for three-phase seven-level CHB inverter using backtracking search algorithm

Research pick: As sure as eggs is eggs - "Separating yolk from white: a filter based on economic properties of trend and cycle"

In research published in the International Journal of Computational Economics and Econometrics, Peng Zhou of Cardiff University proposes a new filter technique that can separate the yolk from egg white, figuratively speaking. The filter separates trend and cycle based on stylised economic properties, rather than relying on ad hoc statistical properties such as frequency, he writes. The effectiveness of the approach has been tested against the long macroeconomic data collected by the Bank of England from 1700 to 2015.

Zhou explains how there is a division in macroeconomic theory that segregates studies on long-run economic growth, driven by low-frequency changes, and short-run business cycles, driven by high-frequency changes. There may well be a philosophical distinction, but there is no actual distinction when it comes to the data – the data for economic growth and business cycles are collected together.

The side effect of the philosophical division is that commonly testing or estimating an economic growth theory looks at the growth rate of the raw data and ignores the possible role of business cycles. Conversely, testing or estimating a business cycle theory usually involves filtering the raw data with statistical procedures, which smooths over detail. “Without a proper measurement, the validity and reliability of the empirical inferences are questionable,” Zhou suggests.

As a cook might separate egg white and yolk, for different recipes, so Zhou has proposed a filter that neither ignores one philosophy nor smooths over the other but allows two different recipes to be carried out for economic growth studies and business cycle analysing the same data “egg”. He makes use of some stylised economic properties of trend and cycles to separate them.

Zhou, P. (2021) ‘Separating yolk from white: a filter based on economic properties of trend and cycle’, Int. J. Computational Economics and Econometrics, Vol. 11, No. 1, pp.78–83.

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

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

• The moderating effect of gamification on the relationship between customer engagement and new service development process involvement
• Tertiary education and labour market in Slovenia - a case of ISSBS master students' study and employment satisfaction
• The development of social emotional learning programs in a cross-cultural elementary classroom
• E-learning experiment: web conference activities in teaching at a traditional university
• Business ecosystem perspective on innovation policy: a case study of San Diego life sciences
• The impact of different teaching methods on learning motivation - a sociological case study on Hungarian vocational education

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:

• Statistical analysis for assessing sample/practice exams in undergraduate engineering education
• Multidisciplinary collaboration: an integrated and practical approach to the teaching of project management
• Personality traits and Industry 4.0 - a new dimension for engineering education
• Elite training mode based on multi-mode and multi-layer education in China
• Design and realisation of virtual experiment teaching system for transplanting machine
• Learner-generated behaviours in a flipped learning: a focus on computer culture foundation course

Free open access article available: "An empirical examination of the efficiency of commodity markets in India"

The following paper, "An empirical examination of the efficiency of commodity markets in India" (International Journal of Banking, Accounting and Finance 12(1) 2021), is freely available for download as an open access article.

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

Research pick: Serving up renewable energy - "Maximising the contribution of renewables in a utility energy mix"

As decisions about nuclear power installations, wind farms, solar plants, and other energy sources are being discussed, new research published in the International Journal of Business Continuity and Risk Management, reviews how the contribution of renewables to the utility energy mix might be maximised.

Roy Nersesian and Joseph McManus of the Leon Hess School of Business at Monmouth University, West Long Branch, in New Jersey, USA, suggest that solar and wind power represent major challenges to energy providers. The main issues are the fact that the sun does not always shine and the wind does not always blow and sometimes when it does, it blows too hard. As such, solar and wind cannot reliably displace fossil fuels nor nuclear in the present climate, as it were.

The team has therefore developed a generalised methodology that could be employed to more effectively incorporate renewables such as solar and wind and others into the conventional energy mix for electric utilities in light of this. The potential for pumped storage facilities is there to stabilise electricity generation based on renewable, however, as well as helping ensure the reliability of services utilising currently available technology.

Pumped storage could very well represent a major approach to storing electricity generated by wind or solar, or indeed any other method. The electricity is regenerated by a hydroelectric facility on demand. The team does point out that technology is advancing all the time and while pumped storage is a very effective approach, chemical storage, as in rechargeable batteries, may well become more efficient and more viable where creating a reservoir is not possible with sufficient advances in that area.

Nersesian, R. and McManus, J. (2020) ‘Maximising the contribution of renewables in a utility energy mix’, Int. J. Business Continuity and Risk Management, Vol. 10, No. 4, pp.278–306.

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Management in Education

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Management in Education are now available here for free:

• Drivers of experience of students and parents in basic education: a perspective based on relationship quality
• Exploring change in higher education: a case of doctoral education reforms
• Investigating the roles of educational usage activities and motivations behind continuance intention for Facebook assisted student engagement
• Different levels of loyalty towards the higher education service: evidence from a small university in Spain
• The perception of faculty members to organisational virtuousness in the university setting: the case for Jordan
• The perceptions of primary education head teachers, deputy head teachers and teachers on the role of deputy head teachers

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:

• The propensity to pay dividends: empirical evidence from the MENA region
• Actively versus passively managed equity ETFs: new empirical insights
• The earnings announcements consequences in public family firms
• Cash flow sensitivities and bank-finance shocks in non-listed firms
• Basel 3.5 vs. Basel III: a radical overhaul of the capital requirements pillar. The case of commodity exposures

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:

• Impact of monetary policy announcements on bank index in India
• Empirical tests of the Fama-French five-factor model in Indonesia and Singapore 
• The herding behaviour on Pakistan stock exchange – using firm-level data
• The determinant of capital adequacy ratio: empirical evidence from Vietnamese banks (a panel data analysis)
• Financial constraints, corporate debt maturity and firm performance: the case of firms in Southeast Asian countries
• Measuring the effectiveness of selected corporate governance practices and their implications for audit quality: evidence from Qatar
• Audit committee characteristics and earnings conservatism in banking sector: empirical study from GCC

Research pick: A drop of honey in a pandemic - "Covid-19, economy and the ‘drop of honey effect’ metaphor – a note on the Portuguese case. Situation and measures"

The Covid-19 pandemic has changed our lives in 2020. Measures that were adopted to preserve lives and protect health services have been more successful in some parts of the world than others. Nevertheless, millions of people have been infected and a large proportion of those have suffered terrible symptoms of this viral disease. Hundreds of thousands of people so far have died. Medical science continues to work on treatments and the roll-out of vaccination programs.

Aside from the ongoing international medical emergency that Covid-19 represents, there are also widespread social and economic crises that are following in its wake. Work published in the International Journal of Business and Systems Research, has looked at how attempts to “flatten the curve” of infection were aimed at not only controlling the spread of the virus but reducing the detrimental impact of the pandemic on the economy.

José António Filipe of the Department of Mathematics at ISTA – School of Technology and Architecture at the University Institute of Lisbon, Portugal, has looked at the flattening of the curve in the context of a modelling metaphor known as the “drop of honey effect”. The effect invokes chaos theory and dynamic systems and shows how early decisions can have a major impact on prognosis and long-term effects. It is akin to the well-known “butterfly effect” of chaos theory but more applicable to the large-scale socioeconomic and political consequences of small changes and decisions.

The disease we would come to know as Covid-19 is due to an emergent pathogen, a novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, that was first noted in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China in December 2019. How long the problem had existed and been known about prior to the news announcement from China is a moot point.

The virus is highly contagious even before symptoms appear and spread around the world over the first few weeks of 2020 leading the World Health Organization to declare a global pandemic on 11th March. Many countries began to adopt measures to tackle the virus, unfortunately with limited success in many of them. At the time of writing, vaccination programs had been started in some countries but there was also concern about a new strain of the virus that seemed to be spreading more rapidly than the original SARS-CoV-2 although its morbidity and lethality were not entirely clear at this point.

Filipe uses the honey drop effect to look at how events may have unfolded in very different ways if decisions and actions from the very beginnings of the pandemic in Wuhan to the national decisions made before and after the WHO declared the pandemic had each flowed in different ways.

Filipe, J.A. (2021) ‘Covid-19, economy and the ‘drop of honey effect’ metaphor – a note on the Portuguese case. Situation and measures‘, Int. J. Business and Systems Research, Vol. 15, No. 1, pp.1-13.

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Management Practice

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

• A model for measuring the direct and indirect impact of organisational culture factors and knowledge-sharing on the success of employee performance (field study in Jordanian Islamic banks sector)
• Forecasting audit opinion based on multilevel perceptron neural network model using one-goal particle swarm optimisation
• Structural equation modelling of transfusion of TQM-TPM model for Indian manufacturing industries
• The impact of accounting training on small business performance and new technology adoption
• Supply chain drivers and retail supply chain responsiveness: strategy as moderator

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Business and Systems Research

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Business and Systems Research are now available here for free:

• Critical success factors in the stages of technological transfer from university to industry: study in the Andean countries
• Building loyalty in e-commerce: does consumer income matter?
• The TODIM multi-criteria method applied to the ANBIMA ranking of Brazilian investment funds
• Impact of after-sales service on consumer behavioural intentions
• A queuing-based mathematical model for the congested network design problem under demand uncertainty
• Identification and analysis of factors influencing food advertisements on buying behaviour of children in emerging consumption markets: the case study of Afghanistan

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Business Intelligence and Data Mining

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Business Intelligence and Data Mining are now available here for free:

• Mining multilingual and multiscript Twitter data: unleashing the language and script barrier
• Research on aircraft landing schedule using opposition-based genetic algorithm with Cauchy mutation
• Trajectory tracking of the robot end effector for the minimally invasive surgeries
• Characteristic of enterprise collaboration system and its implementation issues in business management
• Frequent pattern mining for parameterised automatic variable key-based cryptosystems
• Analytics on talent search examination data
• Optimal page ranking system for web page personalisation using kernel-based fuzzy C-means and gravitational search algorithm

Research pick: Digital forensics - "Mobile phone forensics – a systematic approach, tools, techniques and challenges"

A systematic approach to mobile phone forensics is discussed in the International Journal of Electronic Security and Digital Forensics. Manish Kumar of the M.S. Ramaiah Institute of Technology in Bangalore, India, that insight and understanding the digital tools available in this sphere are important in both civil and criminal legal cases as well as in the broader fight against organized crime and terrorist activity.

With the exponential growth in digital devices, computers, laptops, and mobile phones the demand from law enforcement for digital forensics has grown apace. With every release of new software and hardware, there is a need for the tools to advance, the tools must also be able to cope with broken or otherwise compromised devices. This is especially the case as criminals and others of malicious intent develop the ways and means to protect their devices from forensic examination. Critically, the forensic tools uses must themselves be compliant with the law in order to offer admissible evidence in court that can uphold a conviction.

The forensic investigator must also be aware that a seized device may be PIN or password protected and may be retrieved in either the on or off state, and internal battery status as this can all affect what evidence might be obtained. In a certain state, an outside criminal party might have the ability to erase a device remotely if appropriate protections are not put in place on being seized from a crime scene or elsewhere. An expeditious examination can allow communication data, such as call logs, contact details, even text messages to be extracted from a mobile phone, for instance. Application data and multimedia files might also be accessible as well as internet history, GPS data, and cloud storage data.

Kumar discusses in detail the various levels of forensic examination available and what level of evidence might be retrieved when used expertly. “Evidence extraction and analysis is always a challenging job. The success completely relies on the approach, tools, techniques, and the skill-set of the examiner. There is no single straight-forward approach which can be applied in all situations,” Kumar writes.

Kumar, M. (2021) ‘Mobile phone forensics – a systematic approach, tools, techniques and challenges’, Int. J. Electronic Security and Digital Forensics, Vol. 13, No. 1, pp.64–87.

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Automation and Control

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

• Novel robust stability condition for uncertain systems with interval time-varying delay and nonlinear perturbations
• Synthesise of MPC controller for uncertain systems subject to input and output constraints: application to anthropomorphic robot arm
• Stability analysis and robust synchronisation of fractional-order modified Colpitts oscillators
• A distributive approach for position control of clamps in a reconfigurable assembly fixture
• Stabilisation of a rotary inverted pendulum system with double-PID and LQR control: experimental verification
• Optimal preview control design of pneumatic servo system: a comparative analysis

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:

• Reconstruction of an orthotropic thermal conductivity from non-local heat flux measurements
• A higher-order hybrid numerical scheme for singularly perturbed convection-diffusion problem with boundary and weak interior layers
• Numerical analysis on thermal performance of a trapezoidal micro-channel heat sink using an improved version of the augmented ε-constraint method
• Numerical analysis of the European and American options with the SPH method
• Frequency regulation of a power system integrated with renewables using a novel DE-DA optimised controller

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Electronic Security and Digital Forensics

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Electronic Security and Digital Forensics are now available here for free:

• Forensic of an unrooted mobile device
• Augmenting smart home network security using blockchain technology
• A novel approach to secret data concealment with high cover text capacity and security
• Application of quality in use model to assess the user experience of open source digital forensics tools
• Authenticate audio video-crypto invisible watermarking approach for enhancing hidden information security and robustness
• A 3-layer RDH method in encrypted domain for medical information security

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Computational Economics and Econometrics

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Computational Economics and Econometrics are now available here for free:

• Real options games between two competitors: the case of price war
• Evidence for the globalisation types model integrating different trade theories
• An analysis of long-run relationship between ICT sectors and economic growth: evidence from ASEAN countries
• Overvaluation in a non-optimal currency area
• Modelling agricultural risk in a large scale positive mathematical programming model

Research pick: Automatic for the pharma - "Research on design of unattended intelligent pharmacy system"

Researchers in China are developing an unattended intelligent hospital pharmacy system that can dispense seal boxes of prescription drugs. Details are reported in the International Journal of Computer Applications in Technology. Haifei Si, Xingliu Hu, Yizhi Wang, Xiang Luo, and Mingming Huang of Jinling Institute of Technology, in Nanjing, Jiangsu and Zhen Shi of Harbin Engineering University, in Harbin, Heilongjiang, explain how their system cuts patient waiting times for prescription collection by two-thirds (66 percent).

Hospital pharmacies are often overwhelmed by the sheer volume of prescriptions that have to be dispensed on a given day and long delays commonly occur between the time a medicine is prescribed for a patient and it being dispensed. Moreover, delays at the pharmacy on the day of discharge are a common problem for waiting to go home. An automated, intelligent system could reduce the pressure on pharmacists dealing with a large number of patients and many prescriptions. The team writes that there are tens of thousands of hospitals in China but only a couple of hundred have automation in their pharmacies, so addressing the problem more widely could potentially benefit many more people.

The system uses an Automated Guided Vehicle with an optimised path strategy that takes control input from the prescription software to retrieve the boxed medicines from storage. The team suggests it is something of a breakthrough in hospital dispensing. It is reliable, stable, and low maintenance.

Si, H., Hu, X., Wang, Y., Shi, Z., Luo, X. and Huang, M. (2020) ‘Research on design of unattended intelligent pharmacy system’, Int. J. Computer Applications in Technology, Vol. 64, No. 2, pp.197–207.

Free open access article available: "Local brand franchise competition in the disruption era"

The following paper, "Local brand franchise competition in the disruption era" (International Journal of Productivity and Quality Management 31(4) 2020), is freely available for download as an open access article.

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

Research pick: Sustainability in a pandemic - "COVID-19 and sustainable development"

A new perspective to be published in the International Journal of Sustainable Development suggests that the current sustainable development framework is strong enough to face long-term global challenges including poverty and climate change and even, emergent diseases, such as the current COVID-19 pandemic.

Mohan Munasinghe, Chairman of the Munasinghe Institute for Development (MIND) in Colombo, Sri Lanka, explains however that the emergence of the virus SARS-CoV-2, which led to the COVID-19 pandemic beginning at the end of 2019 has highlighted major existing unsustainabilities. Among those are potentially unhealthy interactions between ecological and socio-economic systems. Such interactions where people encroach on wildlife habitats can, it seems, facilitate the transfer of pathogens from wild species to domesticated species or humans and occasionally lead to diseases that affect humanity on a global scale.

In 2015, humanity recognised sustainable development as a key objective of our future health and prosperity. The concept gave rise to the universal acceptance of the United Nations 2030 Agenda and 17 sustainable development goals by all countries. When the World Health Organisation declared COVID-19 a global pandemic in March 2020 those aspirations were put on hold to some degree as humanity attempted to cope with what has become an unprecedented a horrendous health crisis with ongoing socio-economic effects.

From this perspective, seven preliminary policy-relevant lessons can be gleaned that would allow us to reinvigorate our approach to sustainable development issues. This will hold under the proviso that we learn the lessons and follow their guidance.

• Protect the environmental base and avoid dangerous feedbacks
• Find integrated, globally coordinated, systems-based long-term solutions for multiple problems
• Empower individuals to act now
• Focus on social issues
• Pursue a transformative path to sustainability via balanced inclusive green growth
• Promote sustainable urban habitats and lifestyles using digital technology
• Use better risk analysis and management.

“The pandemic does have a silver lining – it confirms that achieving sustainability is an effective but urgently needed response,” Munasinghe says. “If we do not change, it will not be the end of the world,” he adds. “The earth will certainly continue as it has for billions of years, but perhaps with a diminished human presence or none – a relatively minor blip in the greater scheme of things.”

Munasinghe, M. (2021) ‘COVID-19 and sustainable development’, Int. J. Sustainable Development, in press.

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Learning and Change

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

• Integrating disciplinary plans to manage learner behaviour in the pre-instructional phase of a lesson in South African schools
• The relationship of leadership qualities and professional ideas among teachers of the additional education system
• Characteristics of psychological and pedagogical support of children with special needs
• Types of communicative coordination in dialogues in academic sphere of communication
• The use of technological cycles in the management of an educational institution by integrating marketing technologies
• On innovative pedagogical technologies and training methods
• Using activity systems theory to understand change process in developing teacher as researcher at master level studies

Research pick: Students at the movies - "Assessing the effectiveness of using western movies in elucidating economic concepts"

Higher education establishments in Malaysia take many innovative approaches to teaching, particularly in digital learning. Work published in the International Journal of Education Economics and Development suggests that the careful choice of western cinematic output, movies, can be useful in teaching certain economic concepts and how these relate to the real world.

Siew King Ting, Sze Wei Yong, Tze Wee Lai, and Geetha Subramaniam of the Universiti Teknologi MARA in Cawangan Sarawak and Selangor, together with Brian Dollery of the University of New England, in Armidale, Australia, suggest that digital approaches to education have complemented traditional “chalk-and-talk” approaches for many years now. The approach lends itself to innovation as the digital world itself innovates continuously. As such smartphones and tablets, websites and apps, social media and social networking have all been used as teaching tools. They can enrich and engage students in various ways. Recently, educators in business schools teaching economics have employed movies, music, videos, and TV shows to explicate economic concepts to students.

The team writes that those conventional chalk-and-talk lectures often represent a unidirectional monologue with the educator essentially disseminating information to the students with little mutual engagement. As such, they are often criticised as being ineffective, although the approach does have its benefits. Conversely, innovative approaches add to the workload of the educators who must maintain their own up to date knowledge of the digital realm and be constantly under pressure to find ways to use the digital in novel teaching approaches.

Traditional lectures are tried and tested, the digital can be a distraction.

Either way, teasing apart the benefits of traditional as opposed to modern methods in learning and teaching economic courses is difficult. It is appreciated that young students can struggle to understand economic concepts because of their youth, attitudes, and limited worldly experience.

“The net outcome of using conventional and innovative instructional methods thus remains inconclusive and further empirical research is essential,” the team writes. This is their motivation for investigating the pros and cons of one particular novel teaching tool – the use of movies in education to impart knowledge about particular aspects of economics. The team also suggests that the analysis of movies could be used to enhance writing and critical thinking skills. They add that making short movies of their own might also be used to reinforce understanding.

Ting, S.K., Yong, S.W., Lai, T.W., Subramaniam, G. and Dollery, B. (2021) ‘Assessing the effectiveness of using western movies in elucidating economic concepts’, Int. J. Education Economics and Development, Vol. 12, No. 1, pp.45–60.

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:

• Work-integrated learning: a powerful connecting tool between classroom and industry
• Effects of classroom experiments on student learning outcomes and attendance
• Implementing pragmatism and John Dewey's educational philosophy in Emirati elementary schools: case of mathematics and science teachers
• Returns to schooling in Palestine: a Bayesian approach
• Factors influencing students' motivation to study at a university
• Organisational communication in higher educational institutions: scale development and validation

Research pick: Boosting science teaching with mobile technology - "An exploration of inquiry-based authentic learning enabled by mobile technology for primary science"

It can almost be taken as read that mobile communications technology can help with science education. However, there is little detailed research that has investigated how well mobile devices have been integrated into what might be called authentic learning in a formal science curriculum.

Now, Wing Kei Yeung and Daner Sun of the Department of Mathematics and Information Technology at The Education University of Hong Kong, have explored how enquiry-based science might be assisted by mobile technology. They have focused on the learning platform nQuire-it which has scientific mobile sensors. They used a mixed-methods approach to test how well students benefited from using the system in their learning.

Their findings suggest that this kind of platform can be useful in improving academic performance, boosting student motivation and interest in learning, as well as their ability to link knowledge gained inside the classroom with the world outside. All such outcomes are a key part of modern education.

The team points out that any tool used in education is just that – a tool. It is, they conclude, important to have well-designed teaching plans in place alongside effective methods of increasing student motivation and engagement whether mobile technology or other approaches. “To merge this learning approach with a formal curriculum,” they add, there is a need to “foster an open learning environment complete with sufficient resources and training.”

Yeung, W.K. and Sun, D. (2021) ‘An exploration of inquiry-based authentic learning enabled by mobile technology for primary science’, Int. J. Mobile Learning and Organisation, Vol. 15, No. 1, pp.1–28.

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

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Computer Aided Engineering and Technology are now available here for free:

• Execution of UML-based oil palm fruit harvester algorithm: novel approach
• Bi-level user authentication for enriching legitimates and eradicating duplicates in cloud infrastructure
• A real-time auto calibration technique for stereo camera
• Automatic identification of acute arthritis from ayurvedic wrist pulses
• Evaluation of video watermarking algorithms on mobile device
• Hybrid algorithm for twin image removal in optical scanning holography
• Improved automatic age estimation algorithm using a hybrid feature selection
• Improved indoor location tracking system for mobile nodes

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:

• Unified enterprise modelling language-based interoperability for collaborative access control framework in critical infrastructures
• Implementation of inter-organisational mediums: synthesising framework as a design exemplar
• QoS integrated energy aware routing for wireless sensor networks
• A novel machine learning-based attacker detection system to secure location aided routing in MANETs
• A QoS-enhanced data replication service in virtualised cloud environments

Free open access article available: "Gateway controller with deep sensing: learning to be autonomic in intelligent internet of things"

The following paper, "Gateway controller with deep sensing: learning to be autonomic in intelligent internet of things" (International Journal of Communication Networks and Distributed Systems 26(1) 2021), 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 Communication Networks and Distributed Systems

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Communication Networks and Distributed Systems are now available here for free: 

• A topic-based synchronisation protocol in peer-to-peer publish/subscribe systems
• An automated fault-tolerant route discovery with congestion control using TFRF model for 3D network-on-chips
• An adaptive model for spectrum assignment in elastic optical networks
• A review on propagation of secure data, prevention of attacks and routing in mobile ad-hoc networks
• Resilient intrusion detection system for cloud containers

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Technology Enhanced Learning

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

• Developing ICT adoption model based on the perceived awareness and perceived usefulness of technology among telecom users
• Impact of used programming language for K-12 students' understanding of the loop concept
• Leveraging learners' activity logs for course reading analytics using session-based indicators
• Blended learning of physics in the context of the professional development of teachers
• Designing and implementing constructionist learning in a blended advertising photography course
• Kuwaiti female university students' acceptance of the integration of smartphones in their learning: an investigation guided by a modified version of the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT)

Research pic: Minimising the negawatts - "Negawatt planning via stochastic programming"

Supply and demand…when it comes to power generation if supply outweighs demand it can get very uneconoical as fuel is used at prodigious rates in conventional power stations to produce wattage that goes to waste. Writing in the Asian Journal of Management Science and Applications, a team from Japan discusses the concept of “negawatts” – negative watts – and how they might be traded when power supply exceeds demand.

Masahiro Yamada, Tomoki Fukuba, and Takayuki Shiina of Waseda University in Shinjuku and Ken-ichi Tokoro of the Central Research Institute of Electric Power Industry in Kanagawa, suggest that vast daily fluctuations in the demand for electricity leads to huge and costly inefficiencies. The team has developed a stochastic programming model is formulated for a negawatt planning operation that can manage uncertainty in power demands, the probability of the customer’s failure to reduce it, and a way to optimise operations.

“The experimental results show that customers can choose an operation method tailored to their strategy while controlling the value of the failure probability,” the team explains. “Compared to using a deterministic model, this stochastic programming model ensures high profits and a stable supply to consumers,” they add. The team concludes that with their approach, negawatt planning can be made profitable for the consumer and a stable supply can be attained for the supplier. Such approaches will be essential for many years to come until viable technology for large-scale electricity storage are available and ubiquitous.

Yamada, M., Fukuba, T., Shiina, T. and Tokoro, K. (2020) ‘Negawatt planning via stochastic programming’, Asian J. Management Science and Applications, Vol. 5, No. 1, pp.40–55

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Mobile Learning and Organisation

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

• Advancement and research trends of smart learning environments in the mobile era
• Effects of a mobile technology-supported peer assessment approach on students' learning motivation and perceptions in a college flipped dance class
• Stakeholders' perceptions of integrating mobile devices in teaching and learning
• The use of student response systems with learning analytics: a review of case studies (2008-2017)
• Voluntary participation and natural grouping with smartphones: an effective and practical approach to implement a quasi-experiment
• Using Kahoot in law school: differentiated instruction for working adults with diverse learning abilities
• Optimising the learning process with immersive virtual reality and non-immersive virtual reality in an educational environment
• A mobile application with augmented reality in exploring the natural environment of Hong Kong

Research pick: Let us prey - "Analysis of migration pattern of prey species with reserved zone"

One of the reasons that prey species migrate is to avoid predators over long time scales, this ultimately has a powerful effect on the balance of predator and prey in a given ecosystem. This is especially the case if the migration is seasonal and the predator lacks the capacity to migrate.

New work published in the International Journal of Dynamical Systems and Differential Equations, looks at how modeling predator-prey interactions in divided into hypothetical reserved and non-reserved areas – the reserved zone is the area to which the prey migrates and is inaccessible to predators – can improve our understanding of the biological phenomenon of migration. Moreover, the creation of artificial reserved zones could be useful in reducing the detrimental effects of climate change, exploitation, random harvesting, poaching, and pollution on prey species without having any significant negative impact on the predators. Prey and predator both deserve a chance at being part of a sustainable, biodiverse environment, after all.

“Several factors should be taken into account in the time of creating protected areas for a particular species, such as the number of individual of species to be protected, the carrying capacity of the reserved area, dynamics of the ecosystem supporting these species and many others,” write Jyotirmoy Roy and Shariful Alam of the Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology in Howrah. The team’s modeling show how migration into and out of the reserved zone has a powerful effect on the system dynamics, the changing predator-prey balance, in other words. However, the movement of prey from reserved to non-reserved zone has the greatest impact and if that movement falls below a particular threshold then the whole system becomes unstable. Conversely, if there is too great a migration back and forth then the concept of creating a reserved zone becomes meaningless as the prey are essentially perpetually in the purview of the predators.

The next step to modeling such systems will take seasonality into account to create a more realistic system that can be tested more rigourously.

Roy, J. and Alam, S. (2020) ‘Analysis of migration pattern of prey species with reserved zone’, Int. J. Dynamical Systems and Differential Equations, Vol. 10, No. 5, pp.383–400.

Research pick: You’re beautiful, it’s true - "Facial beauty prediction via deep cascaded forest"

Social media, networking, dating apps, and other resources, such as entertainment software, might have a use for an automated system that can analyse a photo of a person’s face and determine how beautiful that face might be to other people. Research published in the International Journal of High Performance Systems Architecture, suggests that a deep cascaded forest could be the answer to developing a prediction system of beauty.

The researchers based in China and Italy have used multi-grained scanning to obtain the features of the portrait and then applied multiple random forests to enhance the person’s features ahead of classification. Tests with a data set of some 10000 previously categorised portraits showed the new algorithm developed from their approach could accurately assign a degree of beauty, automatically for the people without any eye to behold them.

“The method used in this paper is superior to other methods in feature extraction and prediction accuracy relatively,” the team writes. They add that their optimised approach will ultimately offer a stable and accurate facial beauty recognition tool. Of course, as is often remarked beauty is in the eye of the beholder and no automated approach to determining whether someone is handsome, pretty, or other is going to be considered 100% accurate when assessed by real people all of the time.

However, for a dating app or website a rough and ready way to categorise people and so give them a more equitable opportunity to match with a potential new partner could be more successful given that real people really do judge books by their covers however shallow that may seem.

Zhai, Y., Lv, P., Deng, W., Xie, X., Yu, C., Gan, J., Zeng, J., Ying, Z., Labati, R.D., Piuri, V. and Scotti, F. (2020) ‘Facial beauty prediction via deep cascaded forest’, Int. J. High Performance Systems Architecture, Vol. 9, Nos. 2/3, pp.97–106.

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Innovation and Sustainable Development

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

• Water quality protection of the Canada-US Great Lakes: examining the emerging state/nonstate governance approach
• An application of the ‘foundational principles’ of the second pillar of the United Nations guiding principles on business and human rights to the ranger mine, in the Northern Territory of Australia
• Developing a framework for sustainable development in extractive industries: a Latin America perspective
• Change is possible: the effects of a corporate social responsibility course on business student attitudes
• The emergence and devolution of sustainable organisations
• Obesity: locating social responsibility in the context of evolving norms

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Leisure and Tourism Marketing

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

• Explaining visit intention involving eWOM, perceived risk motivations and destination image
• Mouth advertising, an effective tool for loyalty of sport customers, case study: women's health clubs in Mashhad
• Impact of place brand names on destination image
• A study of tourism market for Chinese citizens travelling to the USA
• The influence of perceptions of other consumers on consumer responses and the mediation of crowding tolerance: a study on tourism, hotels and the Olympics

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

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

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

Research pick: Current city buses - "How suitable is lithium-sulphur battery for electric city bus application?"

Rechargeable batteries are de rigueur in the modern world. We find them in everything from our ubiquitous smartphones and tablets to the electric vehicles in which we taxi ourselves from A to Z. Unfortunately, despite the advances in battery technology, the lithium-ion battery has its inherent problems. For instance, limited discharge time, an ultimately limited number of charge-discharge cycles, high cost of the raw metal, lithium to make them, and their overall bulk and weight. Writing in the International Journal of Powertrains, a team from the UK has looked at the developments around an alternative, the lithium-sulfur battery, that might find use in electric buses for our cities.

Victor Calvo-Serra, Abbas Fotouhi, Mehdi Soleymani, and Daniel Auger of the Advanced Vehicle Engineering Centre in the School of Aerospace, Transport, and Manufacturing at Cranfield University, in Bedfordshire, explain how they have used MATLAB/Simulink software to build and simulate an electric bus of a similar model to those currently used in London. The software also models a putative lithium-sulfur battery and compares activity and efficiency with conventional lithium-ion batteries used in such vehicles.

“The results demonstrate that the proposed Li-S battery pack can fulfill the requirements of an electric city bus in terms of power while achieving a considerable increase in vehicle’s range,” the team writes. However, they point out that current Li-S cell prototypes also suffer from limited cycling life that precludes their commercial development for the time being. However, once that limitation is overcome, the technology could ultimately drive forward the move to longer journeys for electric buses. Indeed, there is much promise in Li-S batteries and many advances have been made over the last ten years. It will be interesting to see, after such a long wait, whether three all turn up at once in the very near future.

Calvo-Serra, V., Fotouhi, A., Soleymani, M. and Auger, D.J. (2020) ‘How suitable is lithium-sulphur battery for electric city bus application?’, Int. J. Powertrains, Vol. 9, No. 4, pp.265–288.

First issue: International Journal of Family Business and Regional Development (free sample issue available)

Family business is a driving force in economic development worldwide. It constitutes a whole range of enterprises whereby one or more family members exercise significant influence through leadership, control, participation, governance, investment, etc. Due to the emotional connection with the communities in which such businesses are launched, the family invests heavily in development of the region it calls home. The International Journal of Family Business and Regional Development expands understanding of family business and the relationship with regional development in different economies and countries from an interdisciplinary perspective.

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