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

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

• Return prediction with time varying betas: a research in BIST
• Mixed logistic model with two independent random coefficients for financial crisis prediction: Argentinean companies
• Determinants of banks' debt: dynamic panel evidence from Indian public sector banks
• Accounting by companies for the Kyoto Protocol in the EU

Free open access article available: "Towards a theory of indigenous entrepreneurship: a classic?"

The following paper, "Towards a theory of indigenous entrepreneurship: a classic?" (International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business 45(1) 2022), is freely available for download as an open access article.

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

Research pick: Low-road from the danger zone - "Safe hubs during earthquakes and emergency events"

How might a nation protect its citizens in times of disaster such as earthquakes or war? New research in the International Journal of the Built Environment and Asset Management looks at the concept of “safe hubs”. Spaces to which people might flee during an acute or ongoing incident that takes them a place sufficiently far from the danger zone.

Hesham Salim Al-Rawe and Ali Jihad Hamad of the Engineering Technical College of Mosul at the Northern Technical University in Mosul, Iraq, suggest that crowded places such as cities and city streets make people especially vulnerable. Often there is nowhere for the people to flee a lethal event nor any route by which they might make their escape.

The researchers point out that cities such as Tokyo, Los Angeles, Jakarta, and many others have high-rise buildings designed specifically to be resilient in the face of earthquakes, but there are still enormous risks of being trapped in a city even if the buildings remain standing. The team has taken the city of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia, as a case study to examine the concept of safe hubs and the routes that might be followed in the face of disaster to reach them.

Given that cities often have underground structures and conduits far below the surface that are essentially safe from events occurring above ground to some degree, it would seem that they might offer an escape route to a safe space beyond the city centre and away from the present danger. There are other considerations that must be taken into account before a strategy based on deep underground tunnels might be implemented, such as the possibility of collapse of subterranean structures or the flooding of tunnels, for instance.

Nevertheless, when faced with a major disaster that might lead to many deaths, there are risks and benefits that must be balanced. A typical powerful earthquake might lead to tens of thousands of deaths whereas allowing many more people to escape to a safe hub with a much smaller risk of death during their escape would balance the equation in favour of that approach, it might be said.

There remains much work to be done in working out how to implement the underground realm as a potential escape route in vulnerable cities but the team suggests that, as our city population densities grow and more and more buildings reach for the skies, for future generations, finding safe hubs beyond the built environment to allow them to escape disasters, such as earthquakes could be an important part of their way of life.

Al-Rawe, H.S. and Hamad, A.J. (2021) ‘Safe hubs during earthquakes and emergency events’, Int. J. Built Environment and Asset Management, Vol. 2, No. 2, pp.124–131.

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:

• Designing an interactive educational software involving children as design partners
• Developing a student attendance app using QR codes: educational and practical considerations
• Academics' views of adaptive e-learning technology in a South African university
• Educational technology in Abu Dhabi public schools: teaching with interactive whiteboards (IWBs)
• Seamless teaching and ubiquitous learning: an e-solution to the delivery of technology-infused lessons
• Vodcasting tasks in online L2 classes: investigating the potentials and challenges in distance language learning
• Integrating emotional attachment, resource sharing, communication and collaboration into UTAUT2 to examine students' behavioural intention to adopt social media networks in education

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Aviation Management

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

• How does aviation industry measure safety performance? Current practice and limitations
• Evaluating human error data for hazards in air-traffic control and deriving a quantitative safety index
• China's airline industry deregulation: assessing the impact on the operational performance of dominant carriers
• Airport management perspectives on aviation biofuels: drivers, barriers, and policy requirements in the US Pacific Northwest
• Consumers from India and the USA have differing views of flight attendants

Free open access article available: "Bootstrapped nonlinear impulse-response analysis: the FTSE100 (UK) and the NDX100 (US) indices 2012-2021"

The following paper, "Bootstrapped nonlinear impulse-response analysis: the FTSE100 (UK) and the NDX100 (US) indices 2012-2021" (International Journal of Computational Economics and Econometrics 12(1/2) 2022), is freely available for download as an open access article.

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

Research pick: Controlling tremor, hand in glove - "Innovative and affordable wearable solution for suppression of hand tremors"

Hand tremor can be debilitating, interfering with everyday activities such as eating and drinking, writing, and use of technology. It can also be indicative of a serious underlying health problem.

Dana Vishnu, G.A. Dhanush, S. Siddharth, and Kiran S. Raj of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the Amrita School of Engineering in Coimbatore and Shriram Vasudevan of Software Services MNC in Bengaluru, explain that most tremors in a person’s hands are not critical medical issues nor life-threatening, but can interfere with normal life and for some may cause embarrassment.

The problem facing healthcare when it comes to hand tremor is that there are many different types of tremors with a range of causes. There are ways to address the problem in some cases, but the conventional solutions work only with one specific type of tremor. There is no current medical intervention to relieve hand tremor.

Work from India published in the International Journal of Intelligent Systems Technologies and Applications, discusses a wearable solution to hand tremor in the form of an electronic glove and a feedback system linked to software that the user can access and control. The device can detect problematic muscle activity in the hand and suppress it safely without interfering with conscious movements.

The team explains their approach: “Our system contains two models that work together in order to reduce the tremors,” the researchers write. “The first model is a time series analysis model which is used to predict the hand tremors in advance and the second model is a deep learning LSTM model which receives input from the previous model along with the signal from actuators and figures out the correct intensity that reduces hand tremors of the patient.”

The next stage of the research will be to reduce the “handprint” of the glove by streamlining the circuitry and wiring. In addition, the team hopes to be able to imrove latency so that the response to involuntary movements can be made by the technology much faster. Finally, they hope to unshackle the device from the internet with software that is on-board and so the glove functions entirely autonomously addressing the patient’s needs.

Vishnu, D., Vasudevan, S.K., Dhanush, G.A., Siddharth, S. and Raj, K.S. (2021) ‘Innovative and affordable wearable solution for suppression of hand tremors’, Int. J. Intelligent Systems Technologies and Applications, Vol. 20, No. 3, pp.233–244.

International Journal of Systems, Control and Communications announces winner of Best Editorial Board Member Award

Prof. Jianbo Su, Editor in Chief of the International Journal of Systems, Control and Communications, is pleased to announce that the 2021 Best Editorial Board Member Award has been won by Prof. Ge Guo of Northeastern University, China, in recognition of his outstanding and constructive editorial services for the journal.

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:

• Efficiency of microfinance institutions of South Asia: a bootstrap DEA approach
• Separating yolk from white: a filter based on economic properties of trend and cycle
• Computational method for approximating the behaviour of a triopoly: an application to the mobile telecommunications sector in Greece
• Factor decomposition of disaggregate inflation: the case of Greece
• Size-distribution analysis in the study of urban systems: evidence from Greece
• Persistent dynamics in (in)determinate equilibrium rational expectations models

New Editor for International Journal of Low Radiation

Prof. Elena Vanina from Federal State Unitary Enterprise "RADON" in Russia has been appointed to take over editorship of the International Journal of Low Radiation.

Inderscience Editor ranks in AD Scientific Index

Inderscience's Editorial Office would like to congratulate Dr. Dafnis N. Coudounaris, Editor in Chief of the International Journal of Export Marketing and Nordic Journal of Tourism, for ranking first in Marketing in Aalborg University for 2021, based on a recent announcement from the AD Scientific Index.

Research pick: Big social data - "Analysing knowledge in social big data"

Big data is big, as it were, and the buzz phrase is often accompanied by associated terms such as data mining, machine learning, computational intelligence, the semantic web, and social networks. Research published in the International Journal of Cloud Computing looks at big data in this context and asks how social big data might best be analysed with state-of-the-art tools to allow us to extract new knowledge.

Social media and social networking represent a vast information resource with hundreds of millions of people using dozens of tools, such as Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook on a daily basis and posting billions of updates, images, videos, and much more. All of this information, much of it publicly accessible might well be mined for useful knowledge that could, in turn, be useful to a wide range of third parties in various types of business, not-for-profit organisations, law enforcement, those in commerce and marketing, researchers in socioeconomics, healthcare, and many other fields besides.

Brahim Lejdel of the University of El-Oued in El-Oued, Algeria, points out that the combination of big data technologies and traditional machine learning algorithms has already led to some new and interesting challenges social media and social networking. Among the challenges are how best to process, store, represent, and visualise the vast repositories of information that big data represents.

The new research uses a hybrid approach of multi-agent systems and algorithms. It offers what Lejdel describes as a “new approach that can extract entities and their relationships from social big data.” This, he suggests, will allow researchers to pull meaningful knowledge from big data. Lejdel points out that research into big data and social network is in its infancy, of course. Each small step in research takes us closer to understanding and making use of big data and addressing those challenges.

In the current work, he proposes what he describes as “a conceptual model helping decision-makers and customers to find the most relevant solutions that are currently available for extracting, managing, controlling, analysis and visualise knowledge in social media for better user experiences and services.”

Lejdel, B. (2021) ‘Analysing knowledge in social big data’, Int. J. Cloud Computing, Vol. 10, Nos. 5/6, pp.480–491.

Special issue published: "Industry 4.0 and Sustainable Manufacturing"

International Journal of Advanced Operations Management 13(3) 2021

• A framework for implementing sustainable supply chain management
• Exploratory study on design principles and key technologies of Industry 4.0
• An empirical study of the merit order effects in the Texas energy market via quantile regression
• A training methodology based on virtual reality to promote the learning-by-doing approach
• Innovative framework for lean and green complex manufacturing systems using value stream mapping
• Developing the structural model for barriers associated with CSR using ISM to help create brand image in the manufacturing industry
• Development of fuzzy inference system in predictive maintenance architecture for broadcasting chain

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

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

• The effect of flanker category on crowding is modulated by processing time
• Automated three-dimensional image processing for 2-blastomere and 4-blastomere embryo surgical applications
• Holistic multidisciplinary method for optimisation of mechatronic systems
• A magnetorheological fluid-based tremor reduction method for robot-assisted catheter operating system
• A novel clutch coupled drive design for rectification of odometry error: a comparative experimental study
• Design and implementation of convolutional neural network-based SVM technique for manufacturing defect detection

Special issue published: "Spatial Analysis and Interaction in Economics and Econometrics: Data and Modelling for Sustainable Spatial Systems" (includes open access article)

International Journal of Computational Economics and Econometrics 12(1/2) 2022

• Causal statistics of structural dependence space-based trend simulations for the coalition of rice exporters: the cases of India, Thailand, and Vietnam
• Perspective of an exchange rate policy for global financial systems: evidence between China and ASEAN countries
• Transnational public research funding in Europe: exploring proximity dimensions in the ERA-NET programs
• A dose response evaluation of regional incentives to R&D
• Simulating the effect of El Niño Southern Oscillation on the worldwide wheat prices
• Does spatial location affect business liquidations?
• The effects of education and experience on youth employee wages: the case of Turkey
• Exploring Brexit implications: the impact of longer journey times

Additional paper

• Bootstrapped nonlinear impulse-response analysis: the FTSE100 (UK) and the NDX100 (US) indices 2012-2021

Research pick: Social media contact tracing - "A statistical analysis for COVID-19 as a contract tracing approach and social network communication management"

It will soon be two years since the World Health Organisation declared that COVID-19 had reached pandemic status. In that time, millions have died from the disease and many more than that have been infected, some suffering from seemingly chronic illness after recovering from the initial symptoms. From the beginning, there was an obvious need to detect those who were infected with the causative pathogen, SARS-CoV-2. This was not only important for treating those people or ensuring that they self-isolated but also to alert anyone with whom the infected and putatively infectious person had come into contact.

Research in the International Journal of Computer Applications in Technology, has used a statistical analysis using artificial intelligence to show that social network communications might be a useful tool in contact tracing during a pandemic. An international team from India, Iraq, and Malaysia explains that contact tracing is used to alert people who have been in contact with a person who has reported testing positive for the disease.

“Creation of awareness and preventive measures against any infectious disease demands the need of certain methods like contact tracing approach,” the team writes. The researchers have now used Natural Language Processing (NLP) to analyse social media data. They have validated their analysis based on online social networking and conventional contact tracing tools. They point out that to be effective any test and trace service needs to be quick to note those who are reported as carrying the infection and then to be quick in contacting those people they may have encountered in the preceding days. As we know, many infectious disease, including COVID-19, can be infectious even when the carrier is asymptomatic or before symptoms appear.

The team suggests that contact tracing is key to bringing the present pandemic under control. Conventional contact tracing tools are vital, but the addition of approaches based on analysing social media could allow more people who are potentially infectious to be caught in the net and advised to self-isolate before they pass on the virus to other people.

Swain, A., Satpathy, S., Dutta, S., Sahoo, S. and Hamad, A.A. (2021) ‘A statistical analysis for COVID-19 as a contract tracing approach and social network communication management’, Int. J. Computer Applications in Technology, Vol. 66, Nos. 3/4, pp.279–285.

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Process Management and Benchmarking

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

• Reliability analysis of variables of environmental management in Indian micro scale industries and SMEs
• On the benchmarking of port performance. A cosine similarity approach
• Application of artificial neural network techniques in computer aided process planning - a review
• Effect of perceived support on employee's voice behaviour through the work engagement: a moderator role of locus of control
• Development of geometry spot weld distribution model to improve efficiency of automotive body shop
• Ranking the performance of Indian public sector bank using analytic hierarchy process and technique for order preference by similarity to an ideal solution
• Using AHP and TOPSIS techniques for assessment of multi-skilled workforce in manufacturing industry

Free open access article available: "Hyper-trend method for seasonal adjustment and trend-cycle decomposition of time series containing long-period cycles"

The following paper, "Hyper-trend method for seasonal adjustment and trend-cycle decomposition of time series containing long-period cycles" (Asian Journal of Management Science and Applications 6(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: Fake news alert - "An empirical study on internet-based false news stories: experiences, problem awareness and responsibilities"

Fake news represents an important challenge for democracy as it can interfere with public perception of actual events and happenings in society, politics, economics, and influence them in untoward ways to holding and acting on opinions based on lies and misinformation.

We all have access to far more information than we ever did at any point in history. Every hour of every day is filled with streams of information from news outlets, social media and beyond. Much of that information is output with intent well beyond its sharing for the sake of knowledge. Much of it is misinformation or disinformation, propaganda, manipulative content designed to help a third party fulfil their agenda. We have come to know this as fake news in the era of soundbites and social media doom scrolling.

Writing in the International Journal of Applied Decision Sciences, researchers in Germany, explain how they have taken an empirical view of internet-based false news stories and looked at the experiences, problem awareness, and responsibilities associated with those stories among university students exposed to them. Hypotheses that emerge from the work of Sven Grüner at the Institute of Agricultural and Nutritional Sciences, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg in Saale, Germany, are multifarious and require careful consideration if we are to address the problem of fake news. Grüner describes the hypotheses to be tested.

First, people are less likely to assume that they are dealing with false news stories the greater their trust in others and the more emphasis they put on the opinions of others. Secondly, fake news are perceived as a problem at the societal level but not at the individual level. Thirdly, men overestimate their ability to spot fake news. Finally, people perceive the operators of media platforms as being in charge of fake news.

The unimaginable challenge we face is how to develop an efficient and effective information system that precludes the dissemination of fake news. Unfortunately, in the words of George Orwell

In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act

Grüner, S. (2022) ‘An empirical study on internet-based false news stories: experiences, problem awareness and responsibilities’, Int. J. Applied Decision Sciences, Vol. 15, No. 1, pp.15–45.

New Editor for Atoms for Peace: an International Journal

Prof. Massimo Zucchetti from the Polytechnic University of Turin in Italy has been appointed to take over editorship of Atoms for Peace: an International Journal.

Free open access article available: "PAIDS: toward pedestrian high-precision position and attribute information detection"

The following paper, "PAIDS: toward pedestrian high-precision position and attribute information detection" (International Journal of Mechatronics and Automation 8(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: "The Significance of Machine Learning for COVID-19"

International Journal of Computer Applications in Technology 66(3/4) 2021

• Analysis of some topological nodes using the adaptive control based on 9-D, hypothesis theoretical to COVID-19
• The impact of oil exports on consumer imports in the Iraqi economy and COVID-19 period, a theoretical study
• Simple program for computing objective optical properties of magnetic lenses
• Impact parameter evaluation of nano Al2O3 dielectric in wire cut-electrical release machining in a COVID-19 environment
• An empirical validation of learn from home a case of COVID-19 catalysed online distance learning in India and Morocco
• A statistical analysis for COVID-19 as a contract tracing approach and social network communication management
• The degree of applying electronic learning in the Gifted School/Nineveh in Iraq and what management provided to the students and its relationship to qualitative education under coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic
• Multivariate economic analysis of the government policies and COVID-19 on financial sector
• An empirical study on COVID-19 for social contact tracing on classification perspective
• Analysis of COVID-19 pandemic and forecasting using machine learning models
• Design and analysis on molecular level biomedical event trigger extraction using recurrent neural network-based particle swarm optimisation for COVID-19 research
• COVID-19 suspected person detection and identification using thermal imaging-based closed circuit television camera and tracking using drone in Internet of Things
• Machine learning-based classification: an analysis based on COVID-19 transmission electron microscopy images
• Gradient and statistical features-based prediction system for COVID-19 using chest X-ray images
• Indian COVID-19 time series prediction using Facebook's Prophet model
• Transmission dynamics of COVID-19 outbreak in India and effectiveness of self-quarantine: a phase-wise data driven analysis
• COVID-19 outbreak in Orissa: MLR and H-SVR-based modelling and forecasting
• An ensemble approach to forecast COVID-19 incidences using linear and non-linear statistical models
• Analysis of convolutional recurrent neural network classifier for COVID-19 symptoms over computerised tomography images
• Prediction of COVID-19 epidemic curve of India using supervised learning approach

Free open access article available: "Systematic design and implementation of a semantic assistance system for aero-engine design and manufacturing"

The following paper, "Systematic design and implementation of a semantic assistance system for aero-engine design and manufacturing" (International Journal of Metadata, Semantics and Ontologies 15(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 sexual harassment of Generation Z

Workplace policy and training in addressing matters concerning sexual harassment need to ensure that the youngest members of the workforce are also protected from this kind of abuse, something that has not necessarily been dealt with comprehensively by many companies in the past. Research in this area published in the International Journal of Human Resources Development and Management focuses specifically on members of the workforce in the demographic group commonly referred to as Generation Z.

Those people classed as being in Generation Z are considered to have been born any time from the mid to late 1990s into the early 2010s. They are thus the successors to the Millennial Generation (the Millennials) who would have reached adulthood at the turn of the century. They are commonly the children of Generation X who succeeded the Babyboomers. Generation Z people are often known as “digital natives” as they were born after the advent of the World Wide Web and the broad emergence and ubiquity of portable electronic communication devices, such as tablet computers and smartphones. They are the predecessors to Generation Alpha who are those people born from the mid-2010s onwards.

Susan M. Stewart of the School of Management and Marketing at Western Illinois University-Quad Cities in Moline, Illinois and H. Kristl Davison of the Department of Management at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina, USA, suggest that members of Generation Z are increasingly finding themselves victims of sexual harassment hence the importance of a new focus on this worrying issue from their perspective.

As such, the researchers consider the following points in some detail: the rights and responsibilities of Generation Z workers regarding sexual harassment and the legal issues and recent court cases involving Generation Z workers. They also suggest various ideas for how research in this area might pan out in the future and the organisational actions that might be instigated to address the problems. Certainly, they point out there may be more victims of sexual harassment among those of Generation Z in specific demographic groups and that should be a topic of future research too.

The team adds that it might also be time for human resources development and management to draw learning from other disciplines such as developmental psychology. This they suggest might lead to a better understanding of emotional, cognitive, moral, and sexual development in youngsters of this generation, who are of working age and yet still teenagers.

“It is hoped that this article inspires more research ideas and discourse, as well as human resource management practices, on this important topic in an effort to better protect Generation Z workers,” the team writes. Sexual harassment is abuse at any age, but protecting the younger members of the workforce who might suffer long-term consequences in a way that older adults might not simply because the youngsters are still developing psychologically, educationally, and physically is an important consideration in protecting all members of the workforce.

Stewart, S.M. and Davison, H.K. (2021) ‘Generation Z workers and sexual harassment’, Int. J. Human Resources Development and Management, Vol. 21, No. 4, pp.243–251.

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Private Law

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

• Legal marketing: proposition for a conceptual definition
• An approach to the Principles of Latin American Contract Law's development and their contract remedies
• The replacement of the engineer under the new FIDIC Red Book 2017: issues of agency and privity of contract, with a note on Qatar
• Law and economies of arbitration in global tax policy: Indian practice
• Development of liability framework for genetically modified food: problems and perspectives under international law and Indian law

Special issue published: "Cloud Computing for Smart Digital Environment"

International Journal of Cloud Computing 10(5/6) 2021

• An improved pricing algorithm for infrastructure as a service cloud
• Versioning temporal characteristics of JSON-based big data via the τJSchema framework
• Versioning schemas of JSON-based conventional and temporal big data through high-level operations in the τJSchema framework
• Analysing knowledge in social big data
• Developing a smart learning environment for the implementation of an adaptive connectivist MOOC platform
• An effective cooperative aligner to resolve multiple-sequence alignment problem
• Data openness for efficient e-governance in the age of big data
• Cloud computing services, models and simulation tools
• Semantic integration of Moroccan cultural heritage using CIDOC CRM: case of Drâa-Tafilalet zone
• Efficient skin cancer diagnosis based on deep learning approach using lesions skeleton
• A deadline-based elastic approach for balanced task scheduling in computing cloud environment
• Tourism recommender systems: an overview
• A multidimensional-multilayered anomaly detection in RFID-sensor integrated internet of things network
• Use of internet of things for monitoring and evaluating water's quality: a comparative study
• Analysis and simulation of a reverse osmosis unit for producing drinking water in Morocco
• Peer-to-peer storage engine for schemaless immutable data
• User arrival rate dependent profit maximisation of web application deployment on cloud

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Global Environmental Issues

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Global Environmental Issues are now available here for free:

• Bioactivity studies of an endangered medicinal plant Celastrus paniculatus willd.: an overview
• SYNOPTICS, part V: application of the Synoptics model for the social analysis of the sovereign system
• Investigating the issue of fiscal sustainability in India: a state level analysis
• Photochemical behaviour of pretilachlor on black soil surface
• A second phase sampling design for monitoring the nitrogen dioxide in Greater Cairo and Delta, Egypt

Free open access article available: "Development and evaluation of an automatic connection device for electric cars with four DOFs and a control scheme based on infrared markers"

The following paper, "Development and evaluation of an automatic connection device for electric cars with four DOFs and a control scheme based on infrared markers" (International Journal of Mechatronics and Automation 8(4) 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 Business Innovation and Research

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

• How designers benefit from free 3D design sharing
• An inquiry on knowledge management in third-party logistics companies
• Measuring the effectiveness of first service encounter in public transportation: an empirical investigation
• Transforming weaknesses into strengths through organisational shamans: the case of Colombian peace commissioner that signed the final agreement
• Employee turnover intention in the milieu of human resource management practices: moderating role of work-life balance
• Return of investment initiatives in business process management
• Investigating actors and enablers of innovation using a service ecosystem lens: a modelling approach
• The impact of corporate social responsibility on word-of-mouth through the effects of customer trust and customer commitment in a serial multiple mediator model

Special issue published: "Evolutionary Technology Development for Powertrain Automation and Electrification"

International Journal of Powertrains 10(3) 2021

• Dynamic analysis of powershifts with form-fit clutches in automatic transmissions
• Brief overview of battery thermal management systems for vehicle hybridisation
• Coordination control for heavy-duty dual-mode power-split hybrid electrical vehicle under dynamic condition
• Study on the fuel economy of fuel cell electric vehicle based on rule-based energy management strategies
• Study on high-speed stability of automobile based on aerodynamic lift feedback

Free open access article available: "Monopod robot prototype with reaction wheel for hopping and posture stabilisation"

The following paper, "Monopod robot prototype with reaction wheel for hopping and posture stabilisation" (International Journal of Mechatronics and Automation 8(4) 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 Business Information Systems

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

• The role of brand perception in the information search and processing behaviour of mutual fund investors
• An empirical analysis investigating the adoption of e-commerce in Libyan small-medium enterprises
• Optimising IT outsourcing services by managing the balance between standardisation and customisation - a providers' perspective
• Authentic cloud-biometric signature verification system for healthcare data management
• Mobile word of mouth in mobile messaging applications: an exploration of its antecedents and consequences
• Customers' segmentation in pharmaceutical distribution industry based on the RFML model
• Validation of objective-based ERP value factors measuring intangible benefits - Indian higher education context

Research pick: Cloud computing and copyright - "Data ownership in cloud: legal issues"

When utilising cloud computing services for data storage and processing there are many issues to consider that might offset the benefits of this off-site approach to one’s computing resources, not least confidentiality, privacy, and security. However, there is another consideration – copyright. Might there be ways in which the cloud provider might somehow stake a claim on your data and undermine the normal copyright consideration rules?

A team in the USA writing in the International Journal of Forensic Engineering and Management discusses the legal issues surrounding cloud copyright.

Dennis B. Park, Xiaolong Li, and A. Mehran Shahhosseini of the College of Technology at Indiana State University, in Terre Haute, Indiana, and Li-Shiang Tsay of the College of Science and Technology at North Carolina A&T State University, in Greensboro, North Carolina, muse on the idea that someone utilising a third-party file server might somehow succumb to a copyright grab by that third part if the terms of service are not sufficiently well define to protect the user from such interference.

The team first points out that cloud computing – whether for data storage, data processing, or both offers many advantages to users. It delocalises the burden of computing resources, which is otherwise generally not possible except for users with multiple sites. It allows them to offload many of the information technology demands on to the provider. In addition, hardware and software costs can be reduced enormously as well as precluding the need for the endless update cycles faced by companies and individuals purchasing and running their own systems.

However, as mentioned, there are also several cons that have to be weighed up against all of the pros. Data breaches at a cloud provider are perhaps the most obvious of the problems a user might face. But, there are more insidious ways in which a user’s data might be compromised without a malicious third party being involved – data and copyright assimilation by the cloud provider itself. The team’s assessment of the state-of-the-art and the multifarious legal issues that surround data and the use of cloud services leads them to advise putative users to ensure they read and understand any service agreements they make with such providers in minute detail to ensure that the cloud provider gains no rights over any of the user’s copyright materials that might be uploaded to the cloud servers or data that emerges from the use of processes at a cloud service.

Park, D.B., Li, X., Shahhosseini, A.M. and Tsay, L-S. (2021) ‘Data ownership in cloud: legal issues’, Int. J. Forensic Engineering and Management, Vol. 1, No. 2, pp.125–148.

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Electronic Finance

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

• Revisiting bank profitability, performance and stability in Asia Pacific (2012-2018) using the EAGLES framework
• Social media sentiment, tariffs, and international equity pricing
• Are Asian stock and house prices integrated or segmented?
• Predicting bitcoin prices - ANN approach
• Strategies and developments of Philippine telecommunications industry: revisiting the struggle, liberalisation and innovations
• Have pure-play internet banks caught up with traditional and hybrid banks over the past decade?
• Impact of corporate governance practices on financial performance: evidence from non-financial sector of Pakistan

Free open access article available: "Control of a quadrotor group based on maximum hands-off distributed control"

The following paper, "Control of a quadrotor group based on maximum hands-off distributed control" (International Journal of Mechatronics and Automation 8(4) 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 Renewable Energy Technology

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

• Perception towards rooftop solar PV in India: comparison between adopters and non-adopters
• Performance of selected organic wastes for available technologies for biogas, Kisumu City, Kenya
• Nonlinear management programming for grid connected hybrid system combined to e-mobility facility
• Experimental investigation and heat loss analysis of a three-coil solar cavity receiver of parabolic dish collector under wind condition

Inderscience journals newly indexed by Ei Compendex

Inderscience's Editorial Office is pleased to announce that the following journals have been indexed by Ei Compendex, thus further expanding the range of Inderscience journals listed on this database:

• International Journal of Bio-Inspired Computation
• International Journal of Business Intelligence and Data Mining
• International Journal of Cloud Computing
• International Journal of Computational Intelligence Studies
• International Journal of Electronic Business
• International Journal of Energy Technology and Policy
• International Journal of Environment and Sustainable Development
• International Journal of Hydrology Science and Technology
• International Journal of Innovation and Sustainable Development
• International Journal of Knowledge-Based Development
• International Journal of Power and Energy Conversion
• International Journal of Powertrains
• International Journal of Sensor Networks
• International Journal of Systems, Control and Communications

Research pick: COVID-19 teams and education - "COVID-19 and its impact on global virtual teams: exploring the unexplored"

The unimaginably disruptive crisis the world is facing in the COVID-19 pandemic has led to an unprecedented uptake of virtual teamwork. Workers in many different fields are solving problems and doing their jobs together through video conferencing tools and software in ways that were perhaps optional before the pandemic but are now essential Moreover, many of the members of countless disparate teams are collaborating and conversing online when they may well never have even met offline.

Archana Shrivastava and Pooja Misra of the Birla Institute of Management Technology in Greater Noida, India, have looked into the effect of the pandemic on home-based learning in detail and touch on the parallel world of corporate remote working. The COVID-19 pandemic, as we know, has not been only a global medical crisis but a social and economic crisis. However, there is no history of pandemics that fits with the situation in which we find ourselves today and the tools that are available to us that were not even invented when previous pandemics struck humanity. The team offers details in the International Journal of Networking and Virtual Organisations.

The team turned to qualitative methodology for capturing responses related to the pandemic and its impact on the higher education communities, they explains. “Qualitative methods are valuable given their open-ended nature and focus not just on ‘what’ but on ‘how’,” the team explains. They add that the method proved to be “extremely useful” given how rapidly the situation surrounding COVID-19 and socioeconomic and educational responses are to it. They were also rather aware that personal perspectives and researcher bias can influence the results that might be gleaned from such studies they made a concerted effort to pursue objectivity in evaluating their results.

“The goal of our study was…to provide insights for higher education institutions, faculty, education policymakers, and corporate organisations to understand the prevailing situation and formulate suitable long and short-term policies for the attainment of optimal performance in this unprecedented time,” the team concludes.

Shrivastava, A. and Misra, P. (2021) ‘COVID-19 and its impact on global virtual teams: exploring the unexplored’, Int. J. Networking and Virtual Organisations, Vol. 25, Nos. 3/4, pp.217–231.

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

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

• A multi-objective model to allocate multiple facilities at proposed locations in the multi-floor organisation, using an improved genetic algorithm. Case study: Isfahan Governorate
• Symbiotic organisms search algorithm based model reduction of higher order continuous systems
• New family of estimators for population mean using regression-cum-ratio exponential estimators
• Multi-step crossover genetic algorithm for bi-criteria parallel machine scheduling problems
• Activity couple with interdependent durations: serial, parallel or partly overlapping scheduling?
• Fuzzy facility location problem with point and rectangular destinations
• Hermite Hadamard and Fejer type integral inequalities for harmonic convex (concave) fuzzy mappings

Free open access article available: "An analysis of performance of Indian railways"

The following paper, "An analysis of performance of Indian railways" (International Journal of Logistics Systems and Management 40(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: "Advances in Bioinformatics and Biotechnology Towards Medicine and Health"

International Journal of Bioinformatics Research and Applications 17(5) 2021

• Numerical investigation of human knee joint for understanding the influence of anterior cruciate ligament on the displacement and stress
• A computational analysis of cancer inhibitor ortho benzoyl vanillin
• Identification of malignancy in lung using artificial neural network
• Bio-inspired approaches for classification of benign and malignant tumour of the skin
• Micro electro mechanical systems in nephrology
• Computational systems biology of pityriasis lichenoides chronica and its comorbidities

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Business Environment

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

• Toward economic sustainability: how to shape fashion industry development in Taipei
• Analysis of the impact of high voltage power lines on the value of properties in environments of high ecological value and rural tourism: the case of the Lecrín Valley (Granada - Spain)
• Inventory pooling technique from the car rental industry: now and in the autonomous future
• E-commerce adoption in ASEAN: testing on individual and country-level drivers
• Sector productivity and geographical diversification as export enhancing factors: the case of Portugal

Research pick: Big in Japan - "Business strategies of companies with a longevity of 300 years or longer in Japan: a concept model"

Companies come and go. Startups start and then stop, Spinouts whirl and then falter. In one part of the world, however, it is not hard to find companies the history of which might stretch back more than a century, sometimes two or three centuries, and in many cases much, much longer. That place is Japan. Most Western countries might boast a handful of corporate entities with great longevity stretching back to the pre-Industrial era, but Japan has an astonishing 33000-plus companies that are at least a century old. Some of them have their foundations built in the 6th Century of the Common Era.

New research published in International Journal of Management Concepts and Philosophy mentions how in 2016 Shoko Research listed seven companies with more than 1,000 years of business, but there are two other well-known companies – Nakamura Shaji, which was founded in 970CE and Ichimonjiya Wasuke, which was founded in 1000CE. Of the ten biggest companies in the world, half of them are Japanese, although the oldest is now a subsidiary of yet another Japanese company.

Yasuyuki Yamaoka of The Open University of Japan in Chiba and Hiroko Oe of Bournemouth University, UK, interviewed the business owners of ten Japanese companies that were established more than three hundred years ago. The team text-mined their survey results to extract the key themes associated with their longevity.

The team found that there are four key factors perceived by the owners of these ancient companies that feed into their ethos: ‘customers and products’, ‘owner and employees’, ‘management and business credo’ and ‘change and risk management’. The team also demonstrated that non-economic values and the perception of the company as being part of the wider community (Sanpo-Yoshi) are also embedded in the mindset of these business owners. The various factors have been the driving force for the companies’ approach to business, the researchers suggest.

“The developed framework will be a guideline for researchers and practitioners to further share the wisdom of long-established firms,” the team writes. They add that the work is exploratory in nature at this stage and suggest company size and business sustainability might be examined in research that expands the scope of the present study.

Yamaoka, Y. and Oe, H. (2021) ‘Business strategies of companies with a longevity of 300 years or longer in Japan: a concept model’, Int. J. Management Concepts and Philosophy, Vol. 14, No. 4, pp.283–295.

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

The following sample articles from the Progress in Computational Fluid Dynamics, An International Journal are now available here for free:

• The Galerkin least squares MLPG method for convection-dominated problems
• Numerical simulation and optimisation of a reinforced steel plate against underwater explosions
• Finite element simulations of thin films flowing down planes or cylinders
• Numerical study on the sloshing flows in a prismatic tank using natural frequency of the prismatic shapes
• Mathematical formulation for the analysis of the periodic convergence during co-processing routines in long-run, scale-resolving simulations of turbomachinery
• Extension of an immersed boundary method for large eddy simulation of turbulent flows

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Sensor Networks

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

• An identity authentication method for ubiquitous electric power internet of things based on dynamic gesture recognition
• MPI hardware framework for many-core based embedded systems
• Compressive sensing multi-target diffusive source localisation using sparse recovery algorithms in sensor networks
• ST-IFC: efficient spatial-temporal inception fully connected network for citywide crowd flow prediction
• Energy balanced, delay aware multi-path routing using particle swarm optimisation in wireless sensor networks
• Optimised joint resource allocation for NOMA MIMO-based wireless powered sensor networks

Special issue published: "Application of Lean Six Sigma Methods for Process Excellence in Indian Industries"

International Journal of Six Sigma and Competitive Advantage 13(1/2/3) 2021

• Lean Six Sigma imperatives for casting quality improvement of automotive components: a case
• Integration between Lean, Six Sigma and Industry 4.0 technologies
• Improvement in performance measures by desirability coupled with Lean Six Sigma tool on titanium matrix composite: a novel approach
• Grey relational analysis of Green Lean Six Sigma critical success factors for improved organisational performance
• Lean Six Sigma implementation in an Indian manufacturing organisation: a case study
• Green Lean Six Sigma critical barriers: exploration and investigation for improved sustainable performance
• Integration of Six Sigma and lean for superior sustainability of dairy production
• Analysis of interactions among lean barriers in new product development
• Implementing lean through value stream mapping for productivity improvement: a case study of link frame mechanical press manufacturing industry
• Reducing the cost of poor quality and improving process output by adopting a Six Sigma DMAIC tool: a case study
• A framework for achieving lean orientation in complex production value streams
• Implementation of a Six Sigma strategy for process improvement in the wiper motor manufacturing industry
• Cost of poor quality reduction in auto sector: an exploration with Six-Sigma
• An optimised framework for the implementation of hybrid lean and agile manufacturing systems in the rolling industry for India
• Enhancing the capability of a PVC pipe extrusion process through the Six Sigma's strategic approach
• Unearthing the determinants of total quality management on employees' satisfaction of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation
• Optimisation of choice of hospitals based on Lean Six Sigma implementation indicators - customer viewpoint
• A comprehensive method for modelling leanness enablers and measuring leanness index in MSMEs using an integrated AHP-ISM-MICMAC and multi-grade fuzzy approach

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:

• Performance and complexity comparison of service oriented architecture and microservices architecture
• Optimisation driven-based secure routing in MANET using atom whale optimisation algorithm
• Performance analysis of batch receiving wireless sensor networks with interference signals
• A performance overview of contemporary hierarchical clustering algorithms in wireless sensor networks

Research pick: Sorting out smart data - "Towards combined semantic and lexical scores based on a new representation of textual data to extract experimental data from scientific publications"

Might scoring the contents of scientific papers based on semantics and lexicon allow a representation of textual experimental data from scientific publications to be extracted? That is the question a team from France hope to answer in the International Journal of Intelligent Information and Database Systems.

Martin Lentschat of the University of Montpellier and colleagues there and at the University of Paris-Saclay explain how their approach uses the scientific publication representation (SciPuRe) to describe extracted data through ontological, lexical, and structural features based on the segments in a scientific document. The scientific literature is vast and in many ways readily accessible to experts. However, a substantial amount of the information contained in this enormous space can only be mined, or harvested, for use by those experts, inclusion in meta-analyses or fed into advanced decision-support tools, if it is somehow processed and the data, information, and knowledge extracted into a form that can be used by the available tools.

The team points out that in the biomedical research domain there has been a lot of focus on how knowledge can be extracted automatically from the published literature because of the nature of the often date-rich experimental outputs. However, in other areas, there has been a lack of tools that can home in on useful information without the need to take prior knowledge and expertise into account. Where biomedical research pivots on big data other areas of research require smart data.

Big data needs no assessment, no scoring based on content and context, it can be pulled from a publication and processed because the prior knowledge about what the data mean is intrinsic to the data in a sense. To work with smart data, on the other, hand requires it to be assessed so that irrelevant data in a publication can be discarded, the new work points to how this very process might be automated to allow tools related to those used to handle big data in biomedical research to be used with smart data from other less data-intensive areas of research.

The team’s success with the specialist topic discussed suggests that future studies might open up the same approach to other research domains, although whether those are equally as successful will remain to be seen.

“Experiments were carried out on a corpus of fifty English language scientific papers in the food packaging field,” the team reports. “They revealed that article segments are an effective criterion for filtering out the majority of the quantitative entity false positives using lexical scores.”

Lentschat, M., Buche, P., Dibie-Barthelemy, J. and Roche, M., (2022) ‘Towards combined semantic and lexical scores based on a new representation of textual data to extract experimental data from scientific publications’, Int. J. Intelligent Information and Database Systems, Vol. 15, No. 1, pp.78–103.

International Journal of Comparative Management invites special issue proposals

The editorial team of the International Journal of Comparative Management has released a call for special issue proposals for their journal. Details are available here.

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

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Applied Decision Sciences are now available here for free:

• Authentic leadership competences and positional favouritism: impact on positive and negative organisational effectiveness
• Explaining intention to use mobile banking: integrating perceived risk and trust into the technology acceptance model
• Portfolio management strategies of cryptocurrencies
• Multi-order scheduling optimisation considering product operation and worker allocation in divisional seru
• Promoting fashion customer relationship management dimensions based on customer tendency to outfit matching: mining customer orientation and buying behaviour

Special issue published: "The Impact and Importance of Networking and Virtualisation in a Post-COVID-19 Scenario"

International Journal of Networking and Virtual Organisations 25(3/4) 2021

• COVID-19 and its impact on global virtual teams: exploring the unexplored
• An IoT and artificial intelligence-based patient care system focused on COVID-19 pandemic
• Analysis of low-cost electronic device for diagnosis of COVID-19
• PlasmaBlock: a plasma donation blockchain system in COVID-19
• AHP-based evaluation of critical barriers for social distancing in India during COVID-19 pandemic
• Students' perspective on online teaching in higher institutions during COVID-19 pandemic
• Stock movement prediction using neuro genetic hybrid approach and impact on growth trend due to COVID-19

International Journal of Hydromechatronics to invite expanded papers from 23rd International Conference of Fluid Power and Mechatronic Control Engineering (ICFPMCE 2022) for potential publication

Extended versions of papers presented at the 23rd International Conference of Fluid Power and Mechatronic Control Engineering (ICFPMCE 2022) (22-24 July 2022, Kunming, P.R.China) will be invited for review and potential publication by the International Journal of Hydromechatronics.

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Six Sigma and Competitive Advantage

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Six Sigma and Competitive Advantage are now available here for free:

• Analysis of facility layout using MCDM approach: a case study of a manufacturing industry
• Reducing packaging material defects in beverage production line using Six Sigma methodology
• Applicability of quality tools and techniques in manufacturing and service organisations: a comprehensive survey
• Quality improvement through the application of quality tools and simulation technique: a case study in a SME
• Identification of Critical Success Factors for implementing Six Sigma methodology and grouping the factors based on ISO 9001:2015 QMS.

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Materials and Product Technology

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

• Numerical investigation of bipolar plates manufactured using hydroforming process
• Research on structure optimisation method of 3D printer based on decoupling parallel connection
• Research on residual life prediction method of lithium ion battery for pure electric vehicle
• Research on early warning of rolling bearing wear failure based on empirical mode decomposition
• Research on numerical simulation method of preparation process of highly active photocatalytic nanomaterials
• Study on mechanical properties testing of highway concrete pavement construction machinery materials
• Dynamic tensile fracture test of semi flexible epoxy asphalt concrete
• Research on low-temperature crack resistance of toughened epoxy asphalt mixture
• A fuzzy control method for optimal cutting temperature of pure iron

Free open access article available: "Hospital 4.0 roadmap: an agile implementation guideline for hospital manager"

The following paper, "Hospital 4.0 roadmap: an agile implementation guideline for hospital manager" (International Journal of Agile Systems and Management 14(4) 2021), is freely available for download as an open access article.

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

Research pick: Made in China - "The Chinese consumption myth"

New work in the International Journal of Economic Policy in Emerging Economies debunks the notion of ever-increasing consumption in China. The topic has been the subject of much debate wherein it had for many years that economic household consumption was consistently rising across the nation. However, the analysis by Kerry Liu of The China Studies Centre at the University of Sydney in Australia, looked at gross domestic product data, household survey data, and retail sales data from a new perspective and concludes that expenditure has been slowing since 2011.

There has been an inkling that consumers in China have been “downgrading” their spending, choosing lower prices rather than expensive high-quality goods. Whimsically, it has been reported that Chinese consumers have given up their avocados, switched back to the bicycle rather than taking a taxi ride, slinging their cocktails in favour of beer, and cancelling their gym memberships to exercise outdoors as their grandparents did. There have been some conflicting findings such as increasing numbers of vehicle purchases, particularly sport-utility vehicles (SUVs) and some other goods. There are four times as many cars sold in China each year as there are in the great gas-guzzling nation of the USA.

Liu’s findings point to an explanation as to why this might be:

"The main findings are that disposable income plays a significant role in consumption growth; that wealth effects from the real estate market [rising home rental costs] play a significant role in consumption upgrade; and that increasing rent has significantly contributed to the consumption downgrade."

"In view of the importance of consumption to the rebalancing of the Chinese economy, this study makes significant contributions to the debate on China’s economic policies,” says Liu. He adds that while some recent government policies have had a positive effect, more needs to be done. “China should improve its monetary policy by balancing the goals of meeting the needs of the real economy and not further inflating asset markets," he concludes.

Liu, K. (2022) ‘The Chinese consumption myth’, Int. J. Economic Policy in Emerging Economies, Vol. 15, No. 1, pp.103–120.

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Intelligent Information and Database Systems

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

• Improving the quality of service of real-time database systems through a semantics-based scheduling strategy
• Middleware-based fault recovery technique for replicated DRTDBS
• Enhancement for graph operations in relational database for criminal intelligence domain
• A scalable approach for index in generic location-aware rank query
• Building natural language responses from natural language questions in the spatio-temporal context

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

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

• Probabilistic error upper bounds for verification and validation practices for nuclear reactor modelling and simulation
• Experimental study of 41Ar activity release rate from the Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission TRIGA research reactor
• Electronic structure, photovoltaic and absorption properties of designed photo-efficient new organic dyes with D-π-A framework
• Radioactivity concentrations in barley and wheat crops in Nineveh plain region in Iraq
• Light water reactor nuclear power plant commodity cost driver analysis
• A systematic investigation on grain size enrichment of radionuclides and assessment of radiation hazards along the southern coastal environment of Kerala, India
• Radioactivity levels of 238U, 234Th, 40K and 137C in the soil surface of selected regions from Baghdad governorate
• Neutronics design study of an advanced lead-cooled modular nuclear reactor (ALMANAR)

Special issue published: "Web Intelligence, Mining and Semantics"

International Journal of Intelligent Information and Database Systems 15(1) 2022

• Spot extraction and analysis using an automatic detection method of tourist spots using SNS
• Supporting user-centred ontology visualisation: predictive analytics using eye gaze to enhance human-ontology interaction
• MEI2JSON: a pre-processing music scores converter
• Towards combined semantic and lexical scores based on a new representation of textual data to extract experimental data from scientific publications
• Estimating deflation representing people spreading in stream data and estimating a specific position

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:

• Embodied exergy-based analysis of a municipal solid waste treatment system with uncertainty inclusion
• Energy and exergy analyses of a large capacity supercritical utility boiler system
• Thermodynamic assessment of a new solar power-based multigeneration energy plant with thermochemical cycle
• Exergy-based evaluation of a waste heat driven polygeneration system with CO2 as the working fluid
• Performance analysis of human cardiorespiratory system based on the second law of thermodynamics
• Energy and exergy analysis of solar photovoltaic thermal system: experimental and numerical verification
• Experimental study on exergy and sustainability analysis of the thermoelectric based exhaust waste heat recovery system

Research pick: myEntropy reveals file type - "myEntropy: a file type identification tool using entropy scoring"

We are, in the pandemic world, even more dependent on online services than we ever have been before, whether as remote workers, those learning from home, or in healthcare. As such, there is an increasing need to ensure those services are protected from malicious third parties and malware.

New work published in the International Journal of Electronic Security and Digital Forensics, discusses how the entropy level of critical files might be measured and provided a proxy for determining whether or not those files have been corrupted by a virus or usurped with malware. Tay Xin Hui, Kamaruddin Malik Mohamad, and Nurul Hidayah Ab Rahman of the Universiti Tun Hussein Onn in Malaysia, explain their investigations using “myEntropy” an entropy calculator tool that they have used to examine SQL files, SWF files, and Java files. These three filetypes Structured Query Language, Small Web Format, and Java files are commonly used in a wide-range of online services and can be highly vulnerable to attack.

The team used 250 sample files to calculate the entropy level for each filetype. They could then discern the average entropy level for each. Thus the myEntropy tool might be developed further to be used to quickly and with little computer resources ascertain whether a file of these critical type has been corrupted or replaced with one carrying embedded malware, which would change the entropy of the file considerably.

The team suggests that the tool can be developed for the analysis of many other vulnerable filetypes. They add that a user-friendly front-end for the tool might also be developed to facilitate its adoption by those managing digital devices, emerging computing infrastructure such as Internet of Things systems, cloud computing services and so address the growing problem of cybersecurity threats.

Hui, T.X., Mohamad, K.M. and Ab Rahman, N.H. (2022) ‘myEntropy: a file type identification tool using entropy scoring’, Int. J. Electronic Security and Digital Forensics, Vol. 14, No. 1, pp.76–95.

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Business Forecasting and Marketing Intelligence

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

• Jordanian beauty influencers and their effect on consumers
• Blockchain research: a bibliometric and text mining based review of literature
• A bird's eye view approach: linking optimism and career planning in millennials of an emerging economy
• A multi-parametric simulation study of neural networks' performance for nonlinear data against linear regression analysis in economics
• Role of somatic markers in consumer durable brand selection in e-retail

Special issue published: "IoT Integration on Next Generation Smart City Planning"

International Journal of Grid and Utility Computing 12(5/6) 2021

• Internet of Things based architecture for additive manufacturing interface
• Enhanced authentication and access control in Internet of Things: a potential blockchain-based method
• Forecasting of solar potential and investigation of voltage stability margin using facts device: a synopsis from geography of things perspective
• Control and monitoring of air-conditioning units through cloud storage and control operations
• An analytical approach to real-time cloud services on IoT-based applications for smart city planning
• Personality-aware recommendations: an empirical study in education
• Research on design method of manoeuvring targets tracking generator based on LabVIEW programming
• Clustering structure based multiple measurement vectors model and its algorithm
• A proactive population dynamics load balancing algorithm in cloud computing for QoS optimisation
• Two-phase hybridisation using deep learning and evolutionary algorithms for stock market forecasting
• Novel crowd synthesis approach and GLCM-derived descriptor for crowd behaviour detection
• FastIoT: an efficient and very fast compression model for displaying a huge volume of IoT data in web environments
• A cloud-based system for distance learning supported by Fog-Cloud cooperation
• A competition-based pricing strategy in Cloud markets using regret minimisation techniques

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Strategic Business Alliances

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Strategic Business Alliances are now available here for free:

• Merger of Burger King and Tim Hortons: analysis of marketing strategies in the quick service restaurants
• Intermediary levels of government for the development of productive agglomerations: viable implementations for emerging countries
• The collaborative interdependence in the local production arrangement of gems and jewels in South of Brazil
• Analysis of born globals internationalisation strategy and partnerships
• Knowledge transfer among international strategic alliance partners and its impact on innovation performance

Research pick: Modelling the spread of viruses - "A model for viruses propagation throughout networks"

New research published in the International Journal of Mathematics in Operational Research plots a new route for viral propagation in a computer network.

Anis Rezgui of Ecole Polytechnique de Tunisie and Carthage University in Tunisia has examined an earlier approach to studying the way a virus spreads through a network and found that approaches based on stochastic ordinary differential equations. A second approach, a microscopic approach based on a Markov chain has many similarities with SODEs but can take into account the interconnections between nodes in the network and so provide a clear picture of propagation.

Computer security is a multi-billion dollar industry but money aside it is such an important part of the modern world that it must be the focus of much research out of necessity. Rezgui explains that modelling viral propagation through a computer network has been modelled historically in the same way that we model biological viruses, epidemiologically, in other words. There have been two major types of model used, deterministic and stochastic ones each with pros and cons.

This new work focuses on the latter but introduces a novel approach based on the aforementioned Markov chain, which offers a rigorous way to model viral propagation mathematically. It allows researchers to understand the global behaviour of the network when exposed to malware infection but homes in on the dynamics occurring at each node in the network alone. Such modelling is critical to understanding how a virus spreads and so offers insights into how it might be stopped in its tracks through network analysis. Incorporating a model into an antivirus system might ultimately be able to halt a novel, or zero-day, infection when the viral signatures are not known beforehand and the virus is starting to spread.

It is perhaps a whimsical notion that such modelling when applied to human society might allow biologists and epidemiologists to spot a new and emerging pathogen, such as a coronavirus, before it spreads widely and to stop infection of social nodes that would otherwise lead to a pandemic, for instance.

Rezgui, A. (2021) ‘A model for viruses propagation throughout networks’, Int. J. Mathematics in Operational Research, Vol. 20, No. 3, pp.373–384

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Global Warming

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

• The use of energies as a tool to stabilise climate and world population
• Future climatic and hydrologic changes estimated by bias-adjusted regional climate model outputs of the Cordex-Africa project: case of the Tafna basin (North-Western Africa)
• Spatiotemporal variations and influence factors of greenhouse gas carbon dioxide over China using satellite measurements
• The effect of olive oil mill and molasses wastewater as a co-substrate during simultaneous textile wastewater treatment and energy generation
• Climate change perception and adaptation strategies elaborated by forestry professionals in Turkey Lionel Constantin Fosso; Uzay Karahalil
• Improved Standard Precipitation Index and drought characteristics

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: 

• The inconsistent effect of foreign exchange earnings on economic development of Fiji: the strategies and long run relationship through vector error correction modelling
• Economic effects of earthquakes: focusing on the health sector
• Is financial integration driver of income inequality? A panel co-integration analysis in Europe
• Emerging market stock valuation: new evidence from Peru
• Conceptual model for managing sustainable development of the financial market based on fuzzy cognitive maps: case study of Kazakhstan

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Vehicle Noise and Vibration

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Vehicle Noise and Vibration are now available here for free:

• Passenger body vibration analysis in active quarter car model using PID sliding surface based variable gain super twisting control
• Fatigue life study of suspension ball joints on the basis of ride quality
• Drum brake noise reduction
• Effects of dampers on piston slapping motion
• Application of optimised neural networks models in gears and bearings faults diagnosis
• Vibration suppression of a car engine frame via tuned vibration absorber design
• Three cylinder TGDI+CVT equipped driveline torsional vibration mode study over driveline component inertia/torsional stiffness

Research pick: Cybersecurity among SMEs in Africa - "Towards adequate cybersecurity risk management in SMEs"

Can small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across Africa address the cybersecurity risk adequately? New research from Christopher A. Moturi, Nabihah R. Abdulrahim, and Daniel O. Orwa of the School of Computing and Informatics at the University of Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya, off an answer in the International Journal of Business Continuity and Risk Management.

The team suggests that SMEs are key to economic growth in Africa but as many companies become increasingly entrenched in digital and online operations and services, the risks they face from malware and hackers increases. The team has the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) cybersecurity framework to undertake an in-depth study of selected SMEs to identify the critical issues that are causing those companies problems and to help find solutions that might be applicable to many other SMEs. In Kenya alone, cybercrime is costing SMEs there the equivalent of millions of dollars every year.

Their work could help guide those very companies to a more secure future but also provide e a roadmap for governments and regulatory bodies. Importantly, the study could be used to raise awareness and instil a security-aware culture across SMEs where that culture does not yet exist. Given that cybersecurity has no unique definition across companies and regulators, it is important that agreement on meaning be made so that risks can be identified and security implemented. This definition must encompass evolving social media, mobile computing, big data, cloud computing, and the internet of things to ensure cybersecurity measures are in place that stay one step ahead of the many threats facing companies.

“SMEs are in a position to become more resilient even with limited resources by applying the NIST cybersecurity framework within their environment to gain an in-depth understanding of the cybersecurity risk management practices,” the team writes. The NIST framework can offer SMEs a strategic approach that may cost them money initially but will save them money in the long term by reducing the risk of them succumbing to security breaches and cybercrime.

Moturi, C.A., Abdulrahim, N.R. and Orwa, D.O. (2021) ‘Towards adequate cybersecurity risk management in SMEs’, Int. J. Business Continuity and Risk Management, Vol. 11, No. 4, pp.343–366.

Special issue published: "Advances in Qualitative Behaviours of Dynamical Systems"

International Journal of Dynamical Systems and Differential Equations 11(5/6) 2021

• Cartesian product of the extensions of fuzzy soft ideals over near-rings
• Convergence results of K iteration process for nonexpansive mappings with an application
• Dengue outbreak prediction model for urban Colombo using meteorological data
• Inventory control techniques in a two-echelon supply chain model with fuzzy demand and learning effect
• Stability result for fractional neutral stochastic differential system driven by mixed fractional Brownian motion
• A deep learning approach for brain tumour detection system using convolutional neural networks
• Mean-square asymptotic stability of stochastic inertial neural networks with time-delay and Markovian jump parameters
• Bifurcation analysis of fractional-order VD model
• 2-pebbling property of butterfly-derived graphs
• Analysing of complementary perfect hop domination numeral of corona products of graphs
• Optimal control of fractional stochastic systems with delay
• Qualitative analysis of stochastic fish farm model with mussel population
• H∞ performance analysis for uncertain systems with actuator fault control via relaxed integral inequalities

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Rapid Manufacturing

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

• Mechanical behaviour and high strain rate deformation of stainless steel 316L processed by selective laser melting
• Effect process parameters in TIG/MIG welding on the mechanical properties and corrosion behaviour of dissimilar welded DSS/HSLA steel
• Investigation on corner accuracy in wire cut EDM of AISI D3 tool steel
• Experimental investigation and fuzzy logic modelling of CO2 laser cutting parameter for AA6061-T6 sheet
• Optimising the wear performance of HVOF thermal spray coated Ti-6Al-4V alloy by grey relational approach
• Fatigue behaviour of aluminium reinforced metal matrix hybrid composites (AA 6061 + Mg + TiO2 + SiC)
• Effect of process parameters on microstructural and mechanical properties of friction stir welded dissimilar aluminium alloys AA 6061 and AA 7075

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Risk Assessment and Management

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

• Combined approach to the complex objects control and stability analysis of management decisions
• Concerning evaluation of ethics impact on national economy's competitiveness
• The digital management of structural complex systems in economics
• Data structures, logical-probabilistic models and digital management of the safety and quality of systems in the economics
• The impact of the digitisation of the financial industry on the modelling and pricing of financial assets
• Predictive modelling of economic safety on the example of ecosystem of small and medium-sized business

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:

• Design-based research on gamified outdoor social enquiry learning with context-aware technology: integration of teacher facilitation for advancing the pedagogical effectiveness
• Effects of a collaborative STEM-based orientation approach on senior high-school students' creativity and operacy
• Scaffolding spatial ability with augmented reality and virtual reality
• A mobile game-based learning system with personalised conceptual level and mastery learning approach to promoting students' learning perceptions and achievements
• An exploration of inquiry-based authentic learning enabled by mobile technology for primary science

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:

• Investigating users switching intention for mobile map services: an extension of the push-pull-mooring model
• Factors influencing users' willingness for online messaging services: a developing country perspective
• Antecedents of trust, corporate image, and switching costs: a case in telecommunication services in the Kurdistan region of Iraq
• Deloc: a delegation-based privacy-preserving mechanism for location-based services
• A generic work zone evaluation tool driven by a macroscopic traffic simulation model

Free open access article available: "Ethical reporting of ESG in company financial statements - a South African interpretation"

The following paper, "Ethical reporting of ESG in company financial statements - a South African interpretation" (International Journal of Business Continuity and Risk Management 11(4) 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 Comparative Management

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

• Exploring the nature of risk disclosure in the annual report narratives of Bangladeshi pharmaceutical companies: an impression management perspective
• A panel data analysis on the institutional determinants of foreign direct investment inflows: commonalities between India and China
• Cognition in comparative and strategic management research
• Gender diversity reporting, performance, and exogenous shocks: evidence from New Zealand
• Corporate governance and firm performance in an emerging economy context: new evidence from India
• Regulation of enterprise risk management: a comparative analysis of Australia, Germany and the USA
• Innovation management in the world under occidental dominance and in a new multi-polar world: a comparative perspective
• Transport service quality and perceived service value: an international comparative survey in European and Indian context
• A comparative study on glocal commercial advertisement perceptions - British and French viewers' responses to Red Bull
• Emotional exhaustion and its consequences: a comparative study of nurses in India and China

Research pick: Climate change and COVID-19 - "Prioritising climate change actions post COVID-19 amongst university students; a Q methodology perspective in the United Arab Emirates"

The lockdowns, travel restrictions, and remote working and remote learning that became obligatory for many people around the world during the COVID-19 pandemic may have been inconvenient for some of them but they also represented a lesson we might learn regarding how well we can cope without the daily commute. Such a lesson could point us to new ways of working and learning that might even have a reduced carbon footprint, suggests work published in the International Journal of Global Warming. Indeed at the height of the lockdown and enforced remote activity, during the second and third quarters of 2020, carbon emissions fell enormously.

Aseel A. Takshe, Davide Contu, and Noelia Weber of the Canadian University Dubai, UAE, Jon C. Lovett of the School of Geography at the University of Leeds, and Paul Stenner Faculty of Arts and Social Science, School of Psychology and Counselling, The Open University, UK, suggest that change is afoot. They explain how the various restrictions implemented in efforts to curtail the spread of the coronavirus may have altered our perceptions of effective climate change actions. The team has now surveyed environmental students to see how their perceptions have changed and through their statistical analysis of the results have found four discourses that emerge.

The first sits well with the notion that we ought to learn the lessons of the so-called new normal and that this could benefit us in slowing climate change. The second is more pessimistic but suggests that we should at least endeavour to not return to pre-pandemic habits. The third discourse from the survey analysis demonstrates that many think economic recovery will have precedence over any consideration of the huge problem of climate change. Finally, the opportunities for sustainability after COVID-19 emerge.

The team suggests that, in the UEA, at least, projections for lowering carbon emissions could be achieved if the government implements a ‘green’ economic recovery in parallel with more stringent climate policies, such as abolishing any carbon-intensive investments. They add that adaptation will, of course, be a shared responsibility between governments, communities, and individuals. There is now a need to undertake similar surveys in other nations to determine whether or not similar discourses emerge and to measure the temper of environmental students elsewhere.

Takshe, A.A., Lovett, J.C., Stenner, P., Contu, D. and Weber, N. (2022) ‘Prioritising climate change actions post COVID-19 amongst university students; a Q methodology perspective in the United Arab Emirates’, Int. J. Global Warming, Vol. 26, No. 1, pp.120–139.