29 October 2021

Special issue published: "Research Trends and Future Development of Artificial Intelligence in Education in the Mobile Era"

International Journal of Mobile Learning and Organisation 15(4) 2021

  • Enhancing skill prediction through generalising Bayesian knowledge tracing
  • Automatic topic detection on Chinese essays: a technology enhanced approach to facilitating formative use of summative assessment
  • Mobile-based learning of drug prescription for medical education using artificial intelligence techniques
  • Context-aware recommender system for adaptive ubiquitous learning
  • Advancements and hot research topics of artificial intelligence in mobile learning: a review of journal publications from 1995 to 2019
Additional paper
  • Usage patterns and effects of mobile learning activities using social learning apps on the achievement of undergraduate students in a history of art course

Special issue published: "Is Small Beautiful in the Alcohol Sector?"

International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business 44(2) 2021

  • Do wine judges give higher scores to wines made with less-known grape varieties?
  • Grape varieties: is specialisation beautiful in the wine sector?
  • Sparkling wines' future in the USA: insights from the industry
  • The dynamics of direct selling for wine-growing farms
  • Collective strategic action conceptualisations by Quebec craft microdistillers: a mixed methods-based approach

Free open access article available: "Laytime and demurrage implications in voyage charterparties for chemical tankers"

The following paper, "Laytime and demurrage implications in voyage charterparties for chemical tankers" (International Journal of Innovation and Sustainable Development 15(4) 2021), is freely available for download as an open access article.

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


Special issue published: "Managing People and Micro-Sized Enterprises in Change"

International Journal of Management and Enterprise Development 20(3) 2021

  • Success factors of intra-organisational online collaboration: a systematic literature review
  • Internationalisation of microenterprises: systematic literature review
  • Do local business peculiarities matter in internationalisation? A perspective from micro, small and medium-scale entrepreneurs in business clusters
  • The influence of organisational capabilities on organisational performance in the manufacturing sector
  • The role of tacit knowledge sharing and critical adaptability in the dynamic effect of training quality on organisational performance: the model of Indonesian banking industry
Additional paper
  • Analyses of small and medium-sized science and technology parks show that longer-term growth may depend upon attracting larger partners

Research pick: Fuzzy diagnosis of COVID-19 - "Application of fuzzy logic on CT-scan images of COVID-19 patients"

Fuzzy logic can be used to quickly and accurately identify the tell-tale signs of COVID-19 in lung scans and X-rays of patients suspected of having the disease, according to new work published International Journal of Intelligent Information and Database Systems.

Fariha Noor, Md. Rashad Tanjim, Muhammad Jawadur Rahim, Md. Naimul Islam Suvon, Faria Karim Porna, Shabbir Ahmed, Md. Abdullah Al Kaioum, and Rashedur M. Rahman of North South University, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, explain that image processing is crucial in many areas of scientific and medical investigation. This is no truer than with respect to determining whether a patient presents with COVID-19, no infection, or unrelated viral pneumonia.

The team has used two approaches to segmenting images – fuzzy c-means, and k-means clustering. This allowed them to map out the key features of computerized tomography (CT) images and X-rays from known patients with a diagnosis and then use the data to train a convolutional neural network to identify the characteristics in new images presented to it. As they hoped, the approach worked much better with segmented images than with raw images. Moreover, both CT and X-ray images gave good results. The team adds that they could improve accuracy still further when they also applied fuzzy edge detection to the images.

The team adds that there is plenty of room for improvement in the accuracy of the approach but suggests that optimization and the classification of greater numbers of images will allow this to happen quickly. For any convolutional neural network, the more classified data, i.e. known images with which it is trained, the better in terms of boosting accuracy and reducing the likelihood of false positive or false negative results from the diagnostic. The researchers also suggest that the same approach might also be used to classify other diseases.

In conventional Boolean logic, a variable can only be binary, toggling between 0 and 1, false or true. In fuzzy logic, invented in the mid-1960s, there is a suggestion that a result can be on a spectrum, and so have a non-integral value lying between 0 and 1. The allusion being that an output can lie somewhere between completely false and completely true. Now, this is not to suggest that a disease diagnosis might be a half-truth. Rather, where there is ambiguity in the data or results, in this case, CT or X-ray images, a secure decision can be made by a neural network, for instance, about the nature of each segment of the image being associated with infection or otherwise. When multiple segments are then investigated, a more likely diagnosis of negative or positive can be gleaned from the images based on how well the system has been trained with definitive images.

Noor, F., Tanjim, M.R., Rahim, M.J., Suvon, M.N.I., Porna, F.K., Ahmed, S., Al Kaioum, M.A. and Rahman, R.M. (2021) ‘Application of fuzzy logic on CT-scan images of COVID-19 patients’, Int. J. Intelligent Information and Database Systems, Vol. 14, No. 4, pp.333–348.

28 October 2021

Special issue published: "Knowledge and Sustainability: Reflections to Achieve Balanced Societies" [includes free OA article]

International Journal of Innovation and Sustainable Development 15(4) 2021

  • Analysis of social, environmental and economic sustainability core: a bibliometric overview
  • Detecting trends in sustainability publications: research development and dynamics in "Green and sustainable science and technology" category
  • Sustainable business model innovation and ethics: a conceptual review from the institutional theory addressing (un)sustainability
  • The influence of media exposure and trust on youth attitude towards greener Tainan
  • What is the public opinion about universities and sustainability? a social media analysis among 'Spain' and across the world
Additional papers
  • Integrating innovation and sustainability into tour operator business
  • Entrepreneurial self-efficacy development: an effective intervention for sustainable student entrepreneurial intentions [OPEN ACCESS]
  • Laytime and demurrage implications in voyage charterparties for chemical tankers

Special issue published: "The Internet of Things Related Open Approach"

International Journal of Services Technology and Management 27(4/5/6)

  • Evaluation of educational hospitals' portal as a tool for patient access to information
  • Internet of things: the acceptance and its impact on well-being among millennials
  • The creation and capture of value through open platform: the business model utilising two-sided markets by managing standardisation
  • Technical capabilities are not enough: deploying internet of things in the metals and mining industry
  • Entrepreneurial orientation vignettes into open innovation of the internet of things: advancing into the age of service dominant reasoning
  • Smart parking: an investigation of users' satisfaction in the Kingdom of Bahrain
  • Two dimensions of the evolution process by R&D subsidiaries in MNCs: comparative analysis of Coca-Cola and 3M in Japan
Additional papers
  • An overview of the internationalisation of manufacturing operations: a literature review
  • Intellectual capital and firms' financing decisions in the European context: a panel data analysis
  • A flexible and extensible project planning and management tool tailored for European projects

Free open access article available: "Entrepreneurial self-efficacy development: an effective intervention for sustainable student entrepreneurial intentions"

The following paper, "Entrepreneurial self-efficacy development: an effective intervention for sustainable student entrepreneurial intentions" (International Journal of Innovation and Sustainable Development 15(4) 2021), is freely available for download as an open access article.

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


Special issue published: "Role of Digital Sources and Technological Advancement in Marketing Practices and Problems"

International Journal of Technology Marketing 15(2/3) 2021

  • Digital marketing as a game changer strategy to enhance brand performance
  • Segmenting utilitarian-based mobile app users: an empirical study using SEM and clustering techniques
  • Artificial neural network to diagnose the consumer behaviour towards non-fuel products and services at filling stations
  • Effect of eWOM valence on purchase intention: the moderating role of product
  • Determinants of smart speaker adoption intention: extending the theory of planned behaviour
  • Moderating effect of self-efficacy and social influence on e-payments adoption among Indian millennials
  • Consumer response towards personalised pricing strategies in online marketing
Additional papers
  • Assessing student engagement and learners' behaviour in collaborative learning
  • Critical success factors for better healthcare: an MCDM approach
  • Indian women and Facebook apparels brand communities: a study with reference to Koovs, Myntra and Shein

Research pick: Wine for table six - "Do wine judges give higher scores to wines made with less-known grape varieties?"

An analysis of almost 30000 different wines shows that wine judges give higher scores to wines made with less well-known varieties of grape. Details of the study are reported in the International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business.

Florine Livat and Hervé Remaud of the Kedge Business School in Talence, France, have investigated the decisions regarding various wines by judges looking at several attributes, including region of origin, colour, still versus sparkling, and so on, but with a particular focus on the grape variety. The team considered the outcomes of International Wine and Spirit Competitions over the period 2013 to 2016.

“On average, wines made from the top ten varietal grapes are graded lower than wines made from other, less frequently used, grapes,” the team writes. They add that “Wines of the new world and those produced under a certification of origin rule are given greater scores.”

The team offers an explanation for their findings in that wine judges tend to be expert in the various grapes used to make the more well-known wines, such as merlots and chardonnays whereas they have fewer reference points for grapes such as treixadura or adakaras and so are more generous in judging such wines as there is less knowledge about what makes a good wine with such grapes.

With their finding in mind, the researchers suggest that wine producers ought to focus on using less well-known grape varieties as this could increase their chances of obtaining a higher score and medals, which would, ultimately give them greater kudos as a winemaker and help them sell more wine. In addition, the wine judges are perhaps inadvertently motivating wine amateurs and buyers to experiment and so discover wines that one might consider less mainstream. Given that almost 60% of the wines produced in the world are made from the ten most popular grape varieties, there is plenty of scope for novelty and innovation in this age-old realm.

“As part of the authenticity and craft trend, wine producers would gain to develop as part of their portfolio one or two wines made with indigenous varieties and submit them to trade shows,” the team adds, such wines stand a better chance of coming away with an award. The research would also suggest that “a wine producer would save time and resources to not submit a wine made with popular grape varieties if not located in a typical wine region for such varieties” as there is likely to be fierce competition and positive judging would be skewed away from awarding high scores to such varieties anyway, as the research shows.

Livat, F. and Remaud, H. (2021) ‘Do wine judges give higher scores to wines made with less-known grape varieties?’, Int. J. Entrepreneurship and Small Business, Vol. 44, No. 2, pp.106–117.

27 October 2021

Free open access article available: "Separation correction by speed-adjustment for aircraft on air routes to a congested airport"

The following paper, "Separation correction by speed-adjustment for aircraft on air routes to a congested airport" (International Journal of Mathematical Modelling and Numerical Optimisation 11(4) 2021), is freely available for download as an open access article.

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

Special issue published: "Technology-Enabled Active and Personalised Learning"

International Journal of Innovation and Learning 30(3) 2021

  • Analysis and evaluation of digital forms of teaching at the university - lecture recordings, inverted classroom, and MOOCs
  • A review of the use of open educational resources: the benefits, challenges and good practices in higher education
  • iPads in special educational needs schools: categorisation and individualisation of learning from the view of Czech education
  • Experiential learning for children with autism spectrum disorder using virtual reality headsets: a preliminary report
  • A cross-platform game for learning computational thinking with the support of collaborative learning
  • Investigating the four-level inquiry continuum on college students' higher order thinking and peer interaction tendencies
  • A project-based collaborative learning with an online evidence-based assessment system
  • Enhancing students' engagement by giving ongoing formative feedback in a blended learning setting

Research pick: Social student skills - "Introducing a capstone course on social networks"

Social networks provide a platform for political, social, business, and leisure activities and an opportunity for those with expertise in computer science to create novel businesses. New work published in the International Journal of Continuing Engineering Education and Life-Long Learning, looks at how a course might be developed for computer engineering students that will equip them with the skills to handle and manipulate the various platforms. Such a capstone course* might also be designed to empower them to generate new business opportunities, develop useful applications, or simply prepare for the job market in this arena.

Social networks have come to dominate the wide digital world that is often whimsically referred to as “cyberspace”. Billions of people use at least one social network in their day-to-day lives. Indeed, the author of the current paper, Mohammad Fraiwan of the Department of Computer Engineering, Jordan University of Science and Technology, writes that there are well over three billion uses of social networks. That figure is growing all the time it seems and given that the world population is fast approaching 8 billion that represents a substantial proportion. With traditional and online media already utilizing social networks as a source of “news” and “comment”, there are many ways in which a knowledgeable expert in this realm might create and exploit business opportunities.

Fraiwan describes and demonstrates the successes of a capstone course for undergraduate students that not only exposes these students to the plethora of social networks, but also makes it possible for them to collect and analyse data from these networks and propose useful applications. He points out that while computer engineering is intrinsically tied to studying and solving real-life problems, many courses are embedded in a staid and out-moded didactic tradition.

There is, therefore, a growing and pressing need for the student of today to be tutored and guided in practical emerging fields to ready them for the job market they will face when they graduate. Fundamentally, a new style of course that brings real-life problems into the classroom and guides the students in how to solve those problems will prepare them to be problem solvers in the outside world in a way that more conventional courses cannot.

Fraiwan, M. (2021) ‘Introducing a capstone course on social networks’, Int. J. Continuing Engineering Education and Life-Long Learning, Vol. 31, No. 4, pp.485–500.

* A capstone course is usually defined as a period of study and a project undertaken towards the end of a larger period of education to “cap” off the work that has been built up to that point, analogous to the final stones or brocks laid atop a wall, the capstones.

Free open access article available: "Can we identify the students who have success in macroeconomics depending on exam format by comparing multiple-choice test and constructed response test?"

The following paper, "Can we identify the students who have success in macroeconomics depending on exam format by comparing multiple-choice test and constructed response test?" (International Journal of Education Economics and Development 12(4) 2021), is freely available for download as an open access article.

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

Special issue published: "Global Business Research Touching New Heights Across Emerging Countries"

Journal for International Business and Entrepreneurship Development 13(2) 2021

  • How can knowledge sharing be influenced by organisational social capital, workplace friendship, team culture and public service motivation in the public sector?
  • Corporate bankruptcy during economic crisis: a financial analysis of the Greek construction sector
  • The relationship between managers' emotional intelligence and employees' performance
  • Structural equation model of variables affecting firm's market value in precious mineral mining industry: case of Eastern African Community
  • Operations of foreign firms and domestic small business venturing: the moderating roles of institutions, reputations and internationalisations
  • Collectivism, individualism, and self-identity as psychological antecedents of consumer cosmopolitanism and consumer ethnocentrism: a Vietnamese young perspective

26 October 2021

Free open access article available: "Enlightening cyclists: an evaluation study of a bicycle light communication system aimed to support older cyclists in traffic interactions"

The following paper, "Enlightening cyclists: an evaluation study of a bicycle light communication system aimed to support older cyclists in traffic interactions" (International Journal of Human Factors and Ergonomics 8(3) 2021), is freely available for download as an open access article.

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


Special issue published: "Social Media Marketing in the Digital Era"

International Journal of Internet Marketing and Advertising 15(5/6) 2021

  • Cosmetics interest and behaviour generated from social media advertising and e-WOM among female millennials
  • Attributes of Instagram influencers impacting consumer brand engagement
  • The impact of social media advertising on purchase intention: the mediation role of consumer brand engagement
  • Instagram marketing: understanding the adoption factors for small and medium enterprises
  • How do people adopt information on social media? The role of e-WOM in revealing travel itineraries
  • A brand-centric framework for ephemeral media: conceptual approach to Instagram stories
  • The influence of brand image for the online direct selling of a Malaysian micro-enterprise cosmetic brand: the mediating role of brand awareness

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:
  • Downside risk of major crops in selected six regions in North Dakota
  • Working capital management effects on investment-cash flow sensitivity
  • Negawatt planning via stochastic programming
  • Review of restoration processes for damaged social infrastructures in Japan and building a performance indicator for designing disaster mitigation policy
  • Cost analysis in the manufacturing industry by a learning model of outsourcing

Free open access article available: "Lean practices and the adoption of digital technologies in production"

The following paper, "Lean practices and the adoption of digital technologies in production" (International Journal of Services and Operations Management 40(2) 2021), is freely available for download as an open access article.

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

Research pick: IoT security in a smart city - "Attack resistance-based topology robustness of scale-free internet of things for smart cities"

Can we build smart cities that utilise a network of Internet of Things (IoT) devices that are interconnected and protected in such a way that they can resist malicious attacks from third parties? Writing in the International Journal of Web and Grid Services, an international team looks at how topology can be used to make a robust scale-free system with attack resistance.

The researchers suggest that the emergence of the IoT has led to an exponential increase in devices and applications running on them that leaves many systems vulnerable to attack where unwitting users and even those running such systems are unaware of the exploits and loopholes at a single point that might be used to gain access or disrupt whole networks and systems. The team has looked at how Enhanced Angle Sum Operation ROSE (EASO-ROSE), Enhanced ROSE, Adaptive Genetic Algorithm (AGA), and Cluster Adaptive Genetic Algorithm (CAGA) might be used as protection at the scale-free smart city level of the IoT.

Given that many aspects of the IoT are critical components in healthcare, industry, transport, and defence, there is an ongoing and pressing need to ensure they are protected in a robust way against attack. Indeed, failure at a power station or hospital could be life threatening, for instance. The problem is that IoT networks have myriad components and absorb, generate, and process vast amounts of data. Coupled with multiple input and output points there are many ways in which they might be attacked. In addition, the reduction in complexity of utilizing a scale-free system in preference to a small-world model for networking at once adds to the security concerns as well as making them more resilient in some ways.

The team has simulated a smart city and assessed two models of protection. Each has its pros and cons, as one would expect. The team shows that their proposed Enhanced ROSE and EASO-ROSE outperform conventional ROSE and simulating annealing. The CAGA and AGA approaches in turn perform better than conventional simulating annealing and hill-climbing approaches in terms of results. They work by guiding the system topology towards a global optimal solution.

Qureshi, T.N., Javaid, N., Almogren, A., Abubaker, Z., Almajed, H. and Mohiuddin, I. (2021) ‘Attack resistance-based topology robustness of scale-free internet of things for smart cities’, Int. J. Web and Grid Services, Vol. 17, No. 4, pp.343–370.

Special issue published: "Deep Learning for Organisational Knowledge Retention"

International Journal of Technology Management 86(2/3/4) 2021

  • 25-year cycle evolution theory: relationship between German economic development mode and human resource management innovation after World War II
  • Acquiring and processing movement information from various sources using intelligent AI cognitive model for sports activities
  • An empirical analysis of the OFDI influence on financing constraints based on listed companies in China
  • Analysis of internet finance development trend of Chinese e-commerce enterprises based on P2P business platform model
  • Social-cultural perspective of fine arts policies using AI model
  • Study of employee behaviour based on artificial intelligence linguistic and speech analysis
  • The role of AI assisted socio-cultural frameworks in academic change and higher education growth

22 October 2021

Research pick: Sailing free in the Blue Pacific - "Blue Pacific, polluted ocean"

A powerful discourse is breaking on the shores of the islands of the Pacific as the nations within this vast region use the language of the Blue Pacific to express their solidarity with each other as well as their sovereignty, especially in the face of climate change.

Margaret Jolly of the School of Culture, History and Language in the College of Asia and the Pacific at The Australian National University in Canberra, suggests that in this discourse there exists a toxic legacy, that of colonialism and capitalism. Moreover, to this day, the people of the region must grapple with the problems those two oppressors have wrought – a massively polluted ocean with a huge burden of plastic waste, nuclear contamination, and the warming and acidification of the ocean associated with climate change.

Writing in the International Journal of Society Systems Science, Jolly explores this cruel ongoing paradox with which the people of the Pacific region must continue to live. She points out that “the global inequalities and divisions created by a colonising capitalism and the burgeoning power and hubris of fossil-fuelled political economies are both cause and consequence of all [the problems the people face].” In the face of these ongoing crises, the people of the Pacific are seeking to redress the balance, reduce inequalities with the regions that once colonised, and resist the onslaught of continued pollution.

Anthropogenic climate change means so-called “natural” driven by human activity and pollution are becoming more commonplace and all the people of the Pacific are likely to be affected detrimentally regardless of whether the ocean laps at their doors or the live inland and at higher altitude. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch also, is perhaps the all too visible evidence of plastic pollution representing a shifting region the size of the Australian territory of Queensland.

The idyllic imaginings of the backpacker seeking oceanic utopia may never have represented reality at any point in history, but the modern waste streams that are the rivers that empty into the Pacific Ocean are the more obvious sign that all is not well.

Efforts are being made, thankfully, to address the problems of the Blue Pacific. But, adds Jolly, the people of this enormous and diverse region must forge “forceful and creative coalitions across divisions and inequalities” in their struggle to create a shared future that frees itself from the colonial capitalist legacy that anchors it unwittingly close to a figurative rocky shore rather than allowing it to sail free as it should.

Jolly, M. (2021) ‘Blue Pacific, polluted ocean’, Int. J. Society Systems Science, Vol. 13, No. 3, pp.241–257.

21 October 2021

Research pick: What price influence? - "Attributes of Instagram influencers impacting consumer brand engagement"

Social media influencers can wield considerable power when it comes to advocating for brands and even causes specifically with the niche that is their following on a given platform. Among the various platforms, Instagram, is one of the most influential with many of its most popular users driving sociopolitical opinion and nudging consumers towards particular products and services.

Helen Inseng Duh and Thabile Thabethe of the Marketing Department at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, have investigated the attributes that seem to endow the most influential users of the Instagram platform with their particular power to drive opinion. They have gathered data on 330 “millennials” from diverse backgrounds studying at the university to see whether there are any correlations with social and cultural background or whether it is the characteristics of the influencers themselves that push their popularity and persuasiveness.

Writing in the International Journal of Internet Marketing and Advertising, the team has found that trustworthiness, familiarity, similarity, and likeability were significant drivers of brand engagement. However, the likeability of an influencer perhaps paradoxically was a negative driver of brand engagement. Moreover, it seems that expertise and the attractiveness of the influencer had little effect on brand engagement.

The attention of consumers is constantly pulled in different directions by all kinds of marketing distractions on a wide range of devices in the wider world through advertising hoardings and traditional media and sales approaches in shopping centres and beyond. Given this scenario, it is intriguing that a personality on social media, whether an established celebrity, such as an actor, musician, sporting hero, or a new kind of celebrity, made famous by a given platform, can have any direct influence at all, but this is very much the case. Marketers are exploiting this influence widely just as they have done other media over the years. It is critical to their success in achieving their sales goals that they understand what it is about the so-called influencers that drive engagement with the products and services being marketed and how this affects brand recognition and ultimately purchasing decisions.

The bottom line in the study is that the biggest factor regarding the impact a given influencer has on brand engagement is whether or not they are familiar not whether they are attractive, likeable or an expert in a given niche. Ultimately, to achieve the greatest success when targeting millennials with influencer marketing, marketers need to simply choose familiar and moderately likable social influencers to communicate and endorse their brands, the team suggests.

Duh, H.I. and Thabethe, T. (2021) ‘Attributes of Instagram influencers impacting consumer brand engagement’, Int. J. Internet Marketing and Advertising, Vol. 15, Nos. 5/6, pp.477–497.

20 October 2021

Research pick: Shedding light on cyclist safety - "Enlightening cyclists: an evaluation study of a bicycle light communication system aimed to support older cyclists in traffic interactions"

How do we keep older cyclists safe on our roads? That’s the question researchers in The Netherlands hope to answer in a paper published in the International Journal of Human Factors and Ergonomics. In it, the team has carried out an evaluation study of a light communication system for bicycles that could improve visibility to other road users.

Frank Westerhuis and Dick de Waard of the University of Groningen, and Carola Engbers, Rosemary Dubbeldam, and Hans Rietman of Roessingh Research and Development in Enschede, and also at the neighbouring University of Twente, suggest that older cyclists are at risk because of low-speed interactions, stopping, (dis)mounting, and potentially misjudging riding speeds. A lighting system that alerted other road users to a cyclist’s riding speed, braking, and turning intentions, has now been developed to improve safety for older cyclists. Tests on the system were perceived positively by volunteers using and observing the system, the team reports.

Cycling is a rather common mode of transport across The Netherlands and in many other parts of the world. Researchers have previously suggested that it not only improves personal health but also has environmental benefits, not least because of an obvious reduction in pollution. With an aging population in many regions and continued good health for many, the number of older cyclists on the roads continues to rise. Of course, older people are often susceptible to physical and cognitive problems that might increase their accident risk while cycling. As such, there is a pressing need to improve safety for this cohort of cyclists.

Dedicated light signals, as are already obligatory on motorbikes, that show rider’s turning and braking behaviour would be useful to all other road users including fellow cyclists. Indicator controls on the bicycle’s handlebars would also reduce the need or the older cyclists to take their hands from said handlebars to indication their turning intention as is the norm and so reduce the risk of the cyclist losing their balance ahead and during a turn.

The team points out that in many jurisdictions, such light indicators would have to be accommodated by the limitations of current law regarding blinking lights on bicycles, which are often illegal. Such a progression could be readily made to improve safety and reduce accidents for a growing number of cyclists.

Westerhuis, F., Engbers, C., Dubbeldam, R., Rietman, H. and de Waard, D. (2021) ‘Enlightening cyclists: an evaluation study of a bicycle light communication system aimed to support older cyclists in traffic interactions’, Int. J. Human Factors and Ergonomics, Vol. 8, No. 3, pp.294–317

19 October 2021

Research pick: COVID-19 inequity lessons - "The COVID-19 crisis and (in)equity: what lessons can we learn?"

Research published in the International Journal of Pluralism and Economics Education takes a US perspective on the COVID-19 crisis and the inequalities that disadvantaged and marginalized populations have experienced during the pandemic. Tonia Warnecke of Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida, considers healthcare access and provision, the digital divide, remote work, national crisis management, the paycheck protection program, worker safety, the gig economy, and unemployment in this context.

Every crisis is different and affects people in very different ways at the local, national, and international levels. However, a major pandemic caused by a potentially lethal pathogen, as is the COVID-19 pandemic, affects disadvantaged and marginalized populations much more than those in a privileged position around the globe. Warnecke suggests that the disparities in the USA are caused by many people not having access to remote working arrangements, the technological divide, a lack of access to good quality health and education, and longstanding racial and gender inequities.

“Crisis management and response can either reduce or exacerbate impacts on different groups,” Warnecke suggests. She adds that her study highlights lessons that society must learn from the experience of the current pandemic to allow us to reframe decision-making processes for greater inclusivity. This would hopefully stand us in good stead to face a future pandemic. Unfortunately, history shows us that many of the public health lessons that might have been learned during other crises, such as the 1918 flu pandemic, the Great Recession, and the 1997 Asian crisis, were cast aside once the crisis was over. This had a detrimental and lasting effect on millions of people.

To avoid new inequities emerging once we have moved through the current pandemic crisis, lessons surrounding non-pharmaceutical interventions, consumer protection, and supply chain resilience must be understood and acted on urgently at the earliest stage of the next major crisis.

“The equity gaps are large and diverse in the USA, with only some highlighted here, but many opportunities remain to reframe economic decision-making and risk management processes to be more inclusive of marginalized and less advantaged groups,” writes Warnecke.

Warnecke, T. (2021) ‘The COVID-19 crisis and (in)equity: what lessons can we learn?‘, Int. J. Pluralism and Economics Education, Vol. 12, No. 1, pp.8-13.

15 October 2021

Special issue published: "Essays on Sketching the Role of Economics in a Post-Virus World – Part 2"

International Journal of Pluralism and Economics Education 12(1) 2021

  • The COVID-19 crisis and (in)equity: what lessons can we learn?
  • Globalisation, de-globalisation, re-globalisation. On old globalisation, de-globalisation pre- and under Corona, and the restructuring of VACs 'post-Corona'
  • Online teaching during COVID-19: the triple imperatives
  • Can we afford pluralism in times of disruption? A competence-based guide for pluralistic and democratic practice
  • What COVID-19 demonstrates: on the limits of self-interested behaviour, capitalism, and the role of solidarity
  • A little microbe that markets cannot help with
  • The COVID-19 pandemic and the contributions of modern monetary theory
  • COVID-19 and economics education: a view from India
  • COVID-19 crisis and role of the Indian state
  • The impact of COVID-19 on the Indian hospitality sector and tourism education
  • India's education sector: impact and alternatives during COVID-19

14 October 2021

Special issue published: "Rethinking Pollution: A Multidisciplinary Approach"

International Journal of Society Systems Science 13(3) 2021

  • The importance of understanding local legends to conserve wildlife: freshwater turtles of the Amazon
  • Solid waste in remote communities of Papua New Guinea - a case study on the Kikori delta region
  • Environmental monitoring and the geospatial sprawl of historic mining legacies in Australia
  • Pollution prevention and mitigation - all hands on deck
  • The effects of environmental pollution in reptiles and amphibians and consequent effect on the indigenous Asian people
  • Blue Pacific, polluted ocean

Special issue published: "Nanotechnology and Nanoscience Uniting Specialists"

International Journal of Nanotechnology 18(9/10) 2021

  • The study of the synthesis of carbon nanomaterials by the plasma-enhanced chemical vapour deposition method
  • Influence of nanoparticles on soil microflora
  • Electrotribological properties of metal composite materials reinforced with nanostructural carbon particles
  • Biomedicine, agricultural technology, nanotechnology and other innovations in the strategy of diversification of the economy of the Stavropol Krai
  • pH-sensitive liposomes with benzophenanthridine alkaloid sanguinarine and their cytotoxic activity
  • Methodology of considering communicative errors in carrying out interdisciplinary research projects
  • Application of arc discharge to increase quality of received nanofilms
  • Methods of designing electrical equipment for testing very large scale integrated circuit
  • Methods of automatic testing the very large integrated circuit of memory
  • Strengthening the viability and growth of the Scots pine seedlings under the action of iron nanoparticles
  • Nanostructuring of the surface layer of the working bodies of agricultural machines with alloyed elements by the method of vibroplasma treatment
  • Modelling social bonds dynamics in groups: an approach to optimise interdisciplinary science projects and to analyse long-term social evolution
  • Search for methodology for measurement of 'cultural code': approach to harmonise multicultural scientific teams
  • Functional relationship of tribological and anti-adhesive, non-stick properties of ultra-thin (nanosized) fluorinated coatings

New Editor for International Journal of International Journal of Big Data Intelligence

Prof. Lin Liu from Tsinghua University in China has been appointed to take over editorship of the International Journal of Big Data Intelligence.

Research pick: Remote learning in a pandemic - "The COVID-19 pandemic: when e-learning becomes mandatory not complementary"

For many years advocates of e-learning and online approaches to education touted the many benefits. Ultimately, however, it was the emergence of a novel coronavirus that gave us the COVID-19 pandemic that made e-learning an essential rather than a luxury for many students the world over. Research published in the International Journal of Technology Enhanced Learning, looks at how school and university closures, lockdowns, quarantines, and the urgent need to quash the virus, have pushed us into a world of online and e-learning as never before.

Mohammed Akour, Hiba Al Sghaier, and Yazan Al Shboul of Yarmouk University in Irbid, Jordan and Mamdouh Alenezi of the Prince Sultan University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, make the obvious point that students are the focus of education but this is often overlooked in the rush to recruit students, fulfill curriculum obligations, and achieve targets. The COVID-19 pandemic has led to major changes in our outlook and approach, however, and students are now more properly the focus once again. As such, educators need to consider the way in which remote learning has affected their students over the months since the pandemic arose and to see how e-learning might be implemented for the benefit of future students after the pandemic and ahead of the almost inevitable next emergent pathogen.

The team writes that while the pandemic has pushed us into an unprecedented educational position, “E-learning can be an opportunity for teachers, students, and university administrators to stay connected; a tool to guarantee continuous learning; and a means to provide psychosocial support until students can go back to university.” They point out that the success of e-learning approaches to education are obviously highly dependent on access to appropriate technology – a computer, tablet, and, of course, the internet, the role it plays is only as effective as the educators make it and the response of students. “Transitioning to e-learning requires time and preparation for both students and teachers,” the team adds, “as well as from a technological standpoint.”

In the current study, a survey of students revealed a somewhat negative attitude towards e-learning at this point in education history. The main cause, the team suggests, lies in the urgency with which the pandemic forced us to adopt e-learning and the lack of preparation, despite many years of development of the tools and technologies on which educators and students have now relied for almost two years. There are, as it were lessons to be learned, regarding the implementation of e-learning that will hopefully allow educators to help their students in the future should we once again come to a time of lockdowns, school closures, and self-isolation.

Akour, M., Alenezi, M., Al Sghaier, H. and Al Shboul, Y. (2021) ‘The COVID-19 pandemic: when e-learning becomes mandatory not complementary’, Int. J. Technology Enhanced Learning, Vol. 13, No. 4, pp.429–439.

13 October 2021

Free open access article available: "Industry 4.0 roadmap for SMEs: validation of moderation techniques for creativity workshops"

The following paper, "Industry 4.0 roadmap for SMEs: validation of moderation techniques for creativity workshops" (International Journal of Agile Systems and Management 14(2) 2021), is freely available for download as an open access article. 

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

Research pick: The wicked gaze of tourists in a pandemic - "The COVID-19 and the figure of the undesired guest: the right to travel in scrutiny"

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected lives the world over in unimaginable ways. Society has been disrupted massively as have the economies of nations as travel and commerce were restricted by various measures to try and control the spread of the coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, that causes the disease. The tourism industry and all its dependents has suffered immeasurably. Now, writing in the International Journal of Human Rights and Constitutional Studies, cultural theorist Maximiliano Korstanje of the Department of Economics at the University of Palermo in Buenos Aires, Argentina, discusses the figure of the “undesired guest” and our right to travel. Tourism is not a modern phenomenon and underpins culture in many parts of the world. However, tourism cannot exist without tourists, and specifically the “tourist gaze”, a term coined by British sociologist John Urry.

In the new normal, how do we reconcile the need for tourism and tourists, who were previously seen as agents of economic prosperity and wealth but are now perceived as putative carriers of a lethal virus. We might talk of controlling borders, COVID-19 testing, and vaccine passports, but we are in a world of high-risk decision making. The pandemic is pushing us towards a new paradigm in recreational travel, which may well never revert to the old, familiar opportunities that many people enjoyed in the boom years after World War II and well into the 21st Century.

At a fundamental philosophical level, are we to perceive the opportunity to travel as a human right, is the hospitality that might be offered a right too? Has the emergence of a novel and lethal coronavirus not changed all of this? It could be that our “right” to travel is largely an invention of the late 20th Century. Moreover, for many millions of people whether they have a right to travel or not is irrelevant because they live in a state of extreme poverty or under highly restrictive totalitarian regimes, or where resources and opportunity limit every aspect of their lives, tourism does not feature on their life agenda in any way. That said, education and opportunity in the developing world might allow them to dream of such a lifestyle.

It is a moot point. “Tourists who were historically marked as ambassadors of civilisation are now labelled as carriers of a lethal virus,” writes Korstanje. They are now undesired guests, their tourist gaze is now a “wicked gaze”.

Korstanje, M.E. (2021) ‘The COVID-19 and the figure of the undesired guest: the right to travel in scrutiny’, Int. J. Human Rights and Constitutional Studies, Vol. 8, No. 4, pp.336–349.

12 October 2021

Research pick: A right to music - "A human right to music – an ethical justification"

Music is an incredibly powerful part of what it means to be human, but should it be a human right? Should the human right to music be bundled with the right to freedom of expression, the right to culture, the right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion and alongside the rights of minorities and indigenous peoples and the right to self-determination? New work published in the International Journal of Human Rights and Constitutional Studies seeks to answer these questions.

Peter Kirchschlaeger of the Faculty of Theology at the University of Lucerne in Switzerland suggests that there is a strong ethical justification for making music a human right. Once an ethical grounding is in place, a legal right might eventually flow from this.

Article 27 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 states that “Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits.” There has recently been a call for a formal acknowledgement of the ‘composite’ right to music at least through jurisprudence and in practice.

“For a right to be transformed into positive law, a political opinion-forming and decision-making process is necessary leading to the political conclusion of the need for the human right to music,” writes Kirchschlaeger.

Ultimately, a human right to music might embody the following ethos: “The human right to music protects the freedom of expression in the form of music; the freedom to participate in music and to enjoy music; the freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to play, perform or listen to music as form to manifest his or her religion or belief in teaching, practice, and worship; music as a dimension of the Rights of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples; and music as a dimension of the Right to Self-Determination.”

Kirchschlaeger, P.G. (2021) ‘A human right to music – an ethical justification’, Int. J. Human Rights and Constitutional Studies, Vol. 8, No. 4, pp.284–297.

9 October 2021

8 October 2021

Special issue published: "Technology in the Classroom: Innovations in Teaching and Learning"

International Journal of Technology Enhanced Learning 13(4) 2021

  • Proposing new innovative technological features to support human e-learning interaction processes in academic organisations
  • 3D-printing techno-network to help students overcome mathematical learning difficulties
  • Industry-academia outreach: a study of student perception
  • Recommendations of robotics platforms for secondary school education
  • The COVID-19 pandemic: when e-learning becomes mandatory not complementary

Research pick: Economics between crises - "The impact of GDP and governance on venture capital investments for the period 2010–2019 (after the financial crisis and before the Covid-19 pandemic)"

Wars and geological disasters aside, two major crises have affected world economies acutely so far this century – the international financial crisis that peaked around 2010 and the COVID-19 pandemic which emerged a decade later. Research in the International Journal of Teaching and Case Studies, has looked at how governance and gross domestic product (GDP) during the period 2010 to 2019 affected the level of venture capital investment after the financial crises and before the pandemic.

Sebastian Schaefer, Felix Ashu, and Michael Neubert of the ISM International School of Management in Paris, France, suggest in their paper that politicians, investors, and entrepreneurs need to have a clearer understanding of the factors that affect total venture capital investments, without it they cannot facilitate economic growth. The received wisdom is that developed and well-governed countries attract greater investment, but there is a dearth of research evidence to support this assumption quantitatively.

As such, the team has looked at the period 2010 to 2019 and looked at how governance indicators are correlated with GDP across 25 developed European nations. By choosing this period the findings might be to some degree independent of the two major factors that affected global economics before and after the period in question and so could offer a general finding. A multiple regression analysis allowed them to extract new insights but also revealed a mix of effects between countries and so generalisations are difficult to make. Moreover, the team could explain the mixed findings of earlier work better through their own analysis. However, they do offer that overall “a certain minimal level of political governance has an impact on venture capital investments.”

The team proposes that future work will need to increase the sample size and cluster countries into groups. This, they suggest, might allow them to come to more general conclusions regarding each variable considered and the effect it has on venture capital investments.

Schaefer, S., Ashu, F. and Neubert, M. (2021) ‘The impact of GDP and governance on venture capital investments for the period 2010–2019 (after the financial crisis and before the Covid-19 pandemic)’, Int. J. Teaching and Case Studies, Vol. 12, No. 3, pp.219–232.

Research pick: Strategic corporate social responsibility - "How to develop a corporate social responsibility strategy"

Corporate social responsibility is vital to our future development as it will control many of the excesses and mistakes that might otherwise be made by businesses around the world. However, having an appropriate and active strategy in this realm can also boost a company’s competitiveness. New research published in the International Journal of Sustainable Strategic Management, looks at how a business might more effectively develop such a strategy to the benefit of us all and to the benefit of its bottom line.

Sarah Margaretha Jastram and Zara Berberyan of the Hamburg School of Business Administration in Germany, point out that there are many well-documented advantages to strategic corporate social responsibility. Despite this, however, they point out that there is a dearth of coherent models to guide managements towards developing such a strategy. Moreover, there are many practices in this realm that are not strategic. As such, the team has developed – based on fifteen years of experience – what they refer to as a well-grounded framework based on specific analytical tools that can help with the effective formulation and assessment of corporate social responsibility.

Such a framework will preclude diffuse and non-targeted investments in corporate social responsibility that would otherwise not lead to the desired benefits to society and the business itself. A strategic approach can, the team suggests, guide core business choices and so substantially strengthen competitive positioning as well as reaping the wider rewards of taking a stance on corporate social responsibility.

“With this practical framework, we aim to encourage firms to formulate more competitive corporate social responsibility strategies comprising more innovative and unique approaches,” the team writes.

Jastram, S.M. and Berberyan, Z. (2021) ‘How to develop a corporate social responsibility strategy’, Int. J. Sustainable Strategic Management, Vol. 9, No. 1, pp.51–62.

7 October 2021

Special issue published: "Computational Intelligence in Sustainable Information Systems"

International Journal of Intelligent Enterprise 8(4) 2021

  • High performance inventive system for gait automation and detection of physically disabled persons
  • Optimising QoS with load balancing in cloud computing applying dual fuzzy technique
  • Design of master controller test kit for the railway diesel locomotives
  • Study paper on internet of things and its utilised protocols with application
  • A systematic analysis of defects, incidents, tickets and service effort estimation
  • Prediction of disease using fuzzy random forest
  • Energy-aware hybrid optimisation algorithm for wireless sensor networks
  • Multi-kernel learning-based recommender system using adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system
  • Demand-side management in smart electricity grids: a review
  • MagnetOnto: modelling and evaluation of standardised domain ontologies for magnetic materials as a prospective domain
  • Multi-level security model for privacy preserving in the cloud workflow scheduling
  • A new training approach based on ECOC-SVM for SAR image retrieval

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Technology Intelligence and Planning

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Technology Intelligence and Planning are now available here for free:
  • Community renewables in the UK - a clash of cultures?
  • Promoting behind-the-meter battery storage: options for more effective government support and regulation
  • Enabling policy for solar PV: the gap in the urban global south
  • Policy instruments for renewable energy: an empirical evaluation of effectiveness
  • Governance of the clean energy sector in Kazakhstan: impediments to investment

6 October 2021

Special issue published: "Biomedicine, Machine Learning and Big Data"

International Journal of Bioinformatics Research and Applications 17(4) 2021

  • ExBWS: extended bioinformatics web services for sequence analyses
  • A system for continuous monitoring of food intake in patients with dysphagia
  • A review of dimensionality reduction methods applied on clinical data of diabetic neuropathy complaints
  • Biclustering of diabetic nephropathy and diabetic retinopathy microarray data using a similarity-based biclustering algorithm
  • Prediction of Alzheimer associated proteins (PAAP): a perspective to understand Alzheimer disease for therapeutic design
  • Autism detection using machine learning

Research pick: Entrepreneurial co-working spaces - "Coworking spaces: places that stimulate social capital for entrepreneurs"

New research published in the International Journal of Entrepreneurial Venturing suggests that co-working spaces can benefit entrepreneurs that make use of them by boosting social capital.

Victor Cabral of the Centre for Applied Research on Economics & Management at Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, in the Netherlands, draws on previous work from various social science disciplines to build a conceptual model reveals the links between co-working spaces, social capital, and performance benefits. Through interviews with nineteen entrepreneurs using three co-working spaces, the research reveals the many benefits in terms of networking and other aspects of business that might be wrought by the use of such spaces.

An entrepreneur’s personal network is perhaps one of their most important assets allowing them to make connections with other entrepreneurs, investors, experts, and potential employees that would simply not be possible were they somehow to operate in isolation. As such, interventions that create new connections or strengthen the bridges between known contacts should almost always lead to benefits for all of those within the network.

Co-working spaces have become increasingly common in cities around the world, sometimes spring up on science and business parks, which are in themselves often perceived as a kind of meta-coworking space offering connectivity at the company level and with academia in many cases. “Co-working seems to be a response to the rise of start-ups and self-employed workers who want to work in social settings, and also reflects the shift towards flexible work approaches by firms in modern knowledge economies,” Cabral explains.

At the time of writing, we are in the middle of the global COVID-19 pandemic. Given social distancing measures and lockdowns that have been used since early 2020 to limit the spread of the disease, it is likely that the use of co-working spaces for many has been reduced during this period as more and more people have been forced to remote working and online conferencing and such. However, we can but hope that humanity will overcome this pandemic and we will move forward into a world where restrictions are no longer necessary and the notion of co-working spaces can come to the fore once again.

“This study confirms that co-working spaces are suitable places that ignite social interaction, stimulate the exchange of knowledge, and provide leads to new opportunities,” Cabral writes, confirming the positive outlook for co-working spaces for entrepreneurs in the new normal.

Cabral, V. (2021) ‘Coworking spaces: places that stimulate social capital for entrepreneurs’, Int. J. Entrepreneurial Venturing, Vol. 13, No. 4, pp.404–424.

Special issue published: "Fostering European Entrepreneurship Research Through a Human Action Perspective"

International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business 44(1) 2021

  • Intended entrepreneurs' commitment: a new perspective on the mind-sets, antecedents and outcomes
  • Defining the entrepreneurial mindset and discussing its distinctiveness in entrepreneurship research
  • Why does she start up? The role of personal values in women's entrepreneurial intentions
  • The study group method - how cooperative learning among peers contributes to experiential entrepreneurship education

5 October 2021

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Sustainable Strategic Management

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Sustainable Strategic Management are now available here for free:
  • Marriott's strategic sustainability priorities in the Chinese hotel industry
  • Assessing a sustainable higher educational institution through talent management practices and Islamic work ethics
  • Key supplier retention for electrical and electronic industry: determinant factors
  • Exploring the impact of healthcare agility and resilience on sustainable healthcare performance: moderating role of technology orientation

Special issue published: "Innovative Approaches Towards Sustainable Development in a Globalised World"

World Review of Science, Technology and Sustainable Development 17(4) 2021

  • Employee happiness in the Indian banking sector: an exploration of factors
  • Employer branding: attracting and retaining employees for sustainable development in disruptive economy
  • Home-based entrepreneuring for empowerment and sustainability of Muslim women: a study in the Indian context
  • Knowledge sharing intention and consumer perception in social networking sites
  • Predicting factors affecting green purchase intentions towards green products
  • Sustainable cities and communities - from city services to quality of life. The case of Portuguese cities

Research pick: Safety intelligence - "Intelligent system for women’s safety using data science"

The safety of women is high on the social agenda with molestation, sexual assault, rape, domestic violence, and murder, being recognised increasingly. Researchers from India have reviewed the state-of-the-art surrounding technological safety solutions and highlighted gaps and limitations in the International Journal of Adaptive and Innovative Systems.

Priyanka Kohli and Kawaljeet Singh of Punjabi University in Patiala (Pb), India, explain how an intelligent system that uses concepts from the realm of data science might be used in a mobile phone that can send an alert for help if a person is in a threatening environment. Conversely, machine learning based logistic regression might be used to alert a person to a particular place representing just such a threatening environment.

The empowerment of women underpins the development of a modern society. Inequity and violence against women cannot be allowed to persist in such a community. Of course, the empowerment of women involves educating men, but information and communication technologies have a role to play in driving us towards equity, the review suggests. This may well be even more fruitful a notion in the context of the smart city.

Although a lot of women’s safety systems are already available, a more sophisticated system still needs to be developed that helps to make women feel safe when they are alone or in difficulty, the team writes. A mobile system with intelligent modes may help them out of troubling situations, consisting of modules to bring police, medical or other emergency assistance, call a friend or family member, or a combination of help, they add.

The details of a suggested smart system from the team itself would not only offer the ability to offer alerts and warnings but could be used to record evidence in a given situation. Such a system could, as social equity evolves, offer women, and others, a useful technological safety net of sorts.

Kohli, P. and Singh, K. (2021) ‘Intelligent system for women’s safety using data science’, Int. J. Adaptive and Innovative Systems, Vol. 3, No. 1, pp.25–42.

Free open access article available: "Impact of post-quantum hybrid certificates on PKI, common libraries, and protocols"

The following paper, "Impact of post-quantum hybrid certificates on PKI, common libraries, and protocols" (International Journal of Security and Networks 16(3) 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 Adaptive and Innovative Systems

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Adaptive and Innovative Systems are now available here for free:
  • An optimal RSSI-based cluster-head selection for sensor networks
  • A chain membrane model with application in cluster analysis
  • Designing DNA code: quantity and quality
  • Multi-domain intelligent system for document image retrieval
  • Prediction of instantaneous heart rate using adaptive algorithms