Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Advanced Intelligence Paradigms

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

• Development and analysis of downlink scheduling algorithm in LTE system with imperfect channel quality indicator
• An integrated and secured medical data framework for effective tele health applications
• Investigations on scheduling algorithms in LTE-advanced networks with carrier aggregation
• Non-dominated sorting particle swarm optimisation for multi-channel cooperative spectrum sensing in heterogeneous green CRNs
• Distributed genetic algorithm for lifetime coverage optimisation in wireless sensor networks

Special issue published: "International Design of Dialogic Environmental Policies – Part 1"

International Journal of Global Environmental Issues 20(2/3/4) 2021

• Inequality in the distribution of income as a threat to the sustainable development of united territorial communities in Ukraine
• National energy and climate planning approach for the Western Balkans: between the carrot and the stick of the EU Green Agenda
• Hydrogen perspectives in the world and in Ukraine
• The irrational fear of non-being (and the havoc it may be causing)
• Cost of energy infrastructure in Europe and Austria: electricity, gas, oil, and heat
• SYNOPTICS, part VI: synoptical analysis of the psychic field
• The impact of rural-urban migration and its effects on urbanisation in Kano State, Nigeria
• Design and model of facemask to inactivate the novel coronavirus
• How the Thabarwa Nature Centre deals with COVID-19 during the pandemic
• Interdisciplinarity of literary studies and natural sciences? Ecology, synergetics and poetics of total dialogue in Andrei Bitov's novel The Monkey Link: A Pilgrimage Novel
• Concept and methodology for multi-country foresight - application on science-technology-innovation and productive chain policies
• SYNOPTICS, part VII: application of the Synoptics model for the social analysis of large states: Republic of South Africa

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

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

• Multi-objective hazardous materials routing and scheduling for balancing safety and travel time
• Trust, commitment and business expansion in automotive supply chains in a developing country: a principal-agency perspective
• A cost allocation model based on the combination of data envelopment analysis and Shannon entropy (case study: branches of the central post of Isfahan)
• Self-organisation migration technique for enhancing the permutation coded genetic algorithm
• An application of integer programming to producing aircraft engine parts

Research pick: Music analysis appreciation - "Evaluation analysis of music based on directed weighted complex network and statistics"

Can a computer be used to analyse the mood and genre of different pieces of music and so offer an insight into how influential a piece might be, might it even be used to write the next mournful classical movement, angst-ridden emo rock song, or bouncy, hooky, catchy one-hit wonder?

Research International Journal of Arts and Technology from a team in China demonstrates how a directed weighted complex network and statistical methods can be used to carry out an evaluational analysis. Xinyan Ma, Xinyu Zhou, and Tingting Mo of the School of Mathematics and Information Science at Guangxi University in Nanning have used their knowledge of graph theory and cluster analysis in their work. Through this, they can observe trends of musical development among artists and genres.

One might suggest that given the perhaps entirely subjective and emotional responses we have to music that a mathematical analysis would not be possible. But, the underlying forms and formalities of music, its structures and styles, are in many ways mathematical and can be teased apart to reveal insights that perhaps go beyond our emotional response. Moreover, the tools of machine learning and artificial intelligence might even be taught to extend this kind of analysis to allow us to extract or even recreate particular musical notions from music. An objective means of music analysis could also be useful in studying how specific pieces of music and genres affect culture over time.

The network models generated by the team offer a visual way to look at music in terms of its various characteristics and how these correlated historically with popularity and the place of that music within the cultural environment. Ultimately, the team writes, “this project can help music lovers to further understand different types of music.” But, the findings offer much more than that, pointing to a deeper appreciation of different musical genres. The work might also be useful in priming music recommendation tools and so open up listeners to the experience of artists and genres they may not have heard before but find that they enjoy listening to.

Ma, X., Zhou, X. and Mo, T. (2021) ‘Evaluation analysis of music based on directed weighted complex network and statistics’, Int. J. Arts and Technology, Vol. 13, No. 4, pp.315–335.

Special issue published: "University-Industry Collaborations for Inclusive Innovation and Sustainable Development"

International Journal of Intellectual Property Management 12(1) 2022

• Transforming universities to address grand societal challenges: a case study of organisational and institutional change at Lund University
• University-industry-government partnership working on sustainable development goals in Brazil
• The role of universities in the development of the local knowledge base: supporting innovation ecosystems through skills development and entrepreneurship
• Collaboration of universities with productive actors in an age of knowledge-based inequality
• The entrepreneurial activity of university students in Costa Rica: the role of the university ecosystem
• Bringing social challenges to the classroom: connecting students with local agents
• University professional and citizenship education through service learning

Special issue published: "Entrepreneurship Research in Europe: Hot Topics and Methodological Challenges"

International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business 45(2) 2022

• A breath of fresh air - social cognitive career theory in studying entrepreneurial intentions
• Enactment of entrepreneurial intention: is gender egalitarianism a facilitator or an inhibitor?
• How is immigrant entrepreneurial opportunity formation influenced by interactions between home and host countries?
• Exploring the collective dimension of agricultural entrepreneurship: the case of a wine cooperative in Italy
• Entrepreneurial scales in the Italian academia context: a comparison between university spin-offs and high-tech start-ups
• It gives you wheels: the university-based accelerators in start-up ecosystems

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Logistics Systems and Management

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

• Evolution of maritime supply chains of containerised freight in India: Taaffe, Morrill and Gould model revisited
• Outcome of selective dis-integration on supply chain efficiency and organisation performance
• Piecewise objective optimisation model for inventory control integrated with supplier selection considering discount
• Advancements in industrial supply chain through lean implementation - a review
• Interpretive structural modelling approach to assess financial attributes of the air cargo industry
• Supply chain design under disruptions considering risk mitigation strategies for robustness and resiliency

Special issue published: "Machine Learning and Deep Learning Methods for the Applications in Ad Hoc and Ubiquitous Computing"

International Journal of Ad Hoc and Ubiquitous Computing 39(1/2) 2022

• An adaptive stochastic central force optimisation algorithm for node localisation in wireless sensor networks
• A compact GBMO applied to modify DV-Hop based on layers in a wireless sensor network
• Auto insurance fraud identification based on a CNN-LSTM fusion deep learning model
• Optimal dense convolutional network model for image classification in unmanned aerial vehicles based ad hoc networks
• Two-stage adaptive weight vector design method for decomposition based many-objective evolutionary algorithm
• Behaviour-based grey wolf optimiser for a wireless sensor network deployment problem
• Learning stereo disparity with feature consistency and confidence
• Research on multi-feature fusion entity relation extraction based on deep learning
• A reliable transmission scheme for 3D point cloud based on partial decode-and-forward relay over burst error fading channel

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Internet Marketing and Advertising

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

• Viewer responses to product messages using one-person media influencers
• The acceptance of mobile advertising: a social or personal matter?
• The congruent and comparative impacts of weather on consumer reviews: evidence from an online forum and experiment
• Social media advertising and consumer decision-making: the mediating role of consumer engagement
• Exploring cultural influences on mobile marketing acceptance

Research pick: Big data in healthcare - "Big data in healthcare made simple to save people’s lives"

There is much work to be done to simplify the use of big data in healthcare for the ultimate benefit of patients, but researchers are making huge progress and addressing privacy and other concerns. Writing in the International Journal of Cloud Computing, a team from India suggests that the knowledge and insights that emerge from our use of big data in medical research, diagnostics, and dispensing will save lives as well as hopefully reducing the costs associated with healthcare provision.

R. Vijay Anand and Iyapparaja Meenakshisundaram of the School of Information Technology and Engineering at Vellore Institute of Technology in Vellore, R. Jothikumar of the Department of CSE at Shadan College of Engineering and Technology in Peerancheru, Hyderabad, and P. Krishna Chaitanya of the Ramachandra College of Engineering in Eluru, Andhra Pradesh discuss the issues surrounding healthcare big data in detail.

The researchers suggest that the statistical tools and analyses that are allowing us to handle big data ever more efficiently and effectively is, in many places, already feeding into the clinical environment. They add that big data, of course, is useful even earlier in the healthcare process, improving trials and research itself. They point out that on the other side of the ecosystem, it might even be used to reduce the incidence of healthcare insurance fraud and other related problems.

The team has reviewed many of the tools, such as machine learning tools, available to big data scientists in the context of healthcare with a focus on cardiovascular diseases, cancer, asthma, and other conditions.

Anand, R.V, Meenakshisundaram, I., Jothikumar, R. and Chaitanya, P.K. (2022) ‘Big data in healthcare made simple to save people’s lives’, Int. J. Cloud Computing, Vol. 11, No. 1, pp.112–122.

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

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

• On blockchains, cryptos, and media of exchange. Not there (yet)
• Accounting information systems in the blockchain era
• Accounting and non-financial firm data tokens in permissioned DLT networks
• Fintech strategy: e-reputation
• The combined contribution of intangible capital and global value chain participation to productivity
• Patenting motives of pharmaceutical firms: a perspective on changing role of patents and firms' strategy in business

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Managerial and Financial Accounting

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

• An empirical examination of the relationship between credit risk management, size, profitability, and ownership of Indian banks
• Cultural approach to healthcare risk management - an Italian experience with look-alike, sound-alike drugs
• Rethinking occupational welfare policies in long-term care organisations during the COVID-19 pandemic: an organisational ethics approach
• Internal auditing and cyber security: audit role and procedural contribution
• Convergence of Indian accounting standards to IFRS: impact on quality of financial reporting of Indian industries

First issue: International Journal of Cultural Management (free sample issue available)

 

The International Journal of Cultural Management publishes high quality manuscripts of a theoretical or empirical nature that analyse issues related to cultural management. IJCultM targets scholars from academia, the business community and the public sector. Its objective is to attract original work from various disciplines, using varied methodologies to facilitate discussion regarding all aspects of management and the managed use of culture. IJCultM is open to different approaches (political economy analysis, economic evaluation analysis, financial analysis, sociological analysis, etc.), and welcomes critical review articles.

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

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Indian Culture and Business Management

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Indian Culture and Business Management are now available here for free:

• Unravelling the layers of Indian culture and worldview: an exploratory study
• Consumer understanding of corporate social responsibility dimensions: an application of CSR pyramid model in Indian context
• Mediating role of job crafting in the relationship between organisational culture and employee engagement
• Determinants of luxury purchase behaviour: a study of young Indian consumers
• Is Instagram an effective brand conversation platform? A study among young Instagram users in India
• Effect of yoga intervention on mindfulness, perceived stress, emotion regulation and affect: a study on senior managers in an Indian multinational corporate
• Motivations for youth's political participation on social media: implications for political marketers
• Gratitude as a mechanism to form high-quality connections at work: impact on job performance

Research pick: Gamifying the disaster response - "Design for sustainability on inclusive post-disaster recovery: gamification techniques for collecting survivors’ experiences"

A new approach to interviewing people in the aftermath of a disaster aims to avoid interview fatigue symptoms, according to new research in the Journal of Design Research. Carlota Cubelos and Motoharu Onuki of The University of Tokyo and Miguel Esteban of Waseda University, in Tokyo, Japan, explain how the gamification of the interview process can be useful in collecting survivor experiences.

Interview fatigue commonly arises where researchers repeatedly approach survivors of a disaster or crosis for their thoughts, insights, and experience. The feelings of weariness or the dulling of experiences through repeated telling can lead to colouring of the very memories and insights the interviewers hope to glean from their interviewees. The researchers point out that before starting any new study, the emotional status of prospective interviewees should be considered and techniques adapted accordingly to make study participants feel comfortable and able to reflect constructively. The gamification of the interview process might well be useful strategy in this context and a positive way to preclude interview fatigue.

The team used the approach to establish what older people needed in the aftermath of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Their work showed that the game created an environment where people felt comfortable sharing their experiences and thoughts as well as being able to discuss their needs and strengths. The findings could be useful in developing solutions to improve resilience in the face of future disasters, the team suggests.

The team writes that in future research, the gamification framework will be developed further and they will continue to develop solutions for those vulnerable to natural hazards. “Establishing and strengthening an inclusive society to ensure that the most vulnerable people are safe even in extreme situations should become a priority for design researchers, practitioners, and end-users,” they conclude.

Cubelos, C., Onuki, M. and Esteban, M. (2021) ‘Design for sustainability on inclusive post-disaster recovery: gamification techniques for collecting survivors’ experiences’, J. Design Research, Vol. 19, Nos. 1/2/3, pp.82–105.

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Trade and Global Markets

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

• Exchange rate undervaluation, economic institutions and exports performance: evidence from firm-level data
• The effect of Turkey's logistics performance on Turkey's foreign trade
• A WITS-SMART simulation analysis of trade creation, diversion and welfare effects of the African tripartite region
• The relationship among supportive organisational culture, job satisfaction, employee affective response to organisational change, and organisational cynicism
• Economic development and trade outcomes in East African countries: prospects and constraints

Special issue published: "Enabling Green Mobility Via Advanced Powertrain Engineering – Part 1"

International Journal of Powertrains 10(4) 2021

• Linearising longitudinal vehicle dynamics through adaptive control techniques for platooning applications
• Friction screening test method for wet multi-plate clutches
• Finite element analysis of the load capacity of a novel dry clutch design
• The mitigation of mode-switching challenges of spark-assisted compression ignition engines through powertrain electrification
• Editors' perspectives: synergistic technologies for dedicated hybrid powertrains

International Journal of Computer Aided Engineering and Technology announces winners of 2021 Best Editor Awards

Dr. Yan Luo, Editor in Chief of the International Journal of Computer Aided Engineering and Technology, is pleased to announce that the winners of 2021's Best Editor Awards are Dr. Varun Gupta and Associate Prof. Wan Ahmad Yusmawiza Wan Yusoff. Dr. Luo says that Dr. Gupta joined the journal's board in 2013 as Associate Editor, and has contributed research in the domains of software engineering, business model innovation and startup management. Associate Prof. Wan Yusoff earned the award because he has been able to help a large number of young researchers to improve their publications.

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

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

• User acceptance of enterprise resource planning systems: a study in small and medium enterprises in Vietnam
• Family business, strategic planning and corporate entrepreneurship
• Knowledge for innovation: creative routines and weak signal processing
• Venture capital and innovation: tug of war
• Public sector entrepreneurial orientation in South Africa: a focus on organisational boundaries, strategy and resources

Research pick: Understanding startup ecosystems - "It gives you wheels: the university-based accelerators in start-up ecosystems"

A new study in the International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, looks at how university-based accelerators contribute to the development and growth of start-up companies and to the viability of a start-up ecosystem. The research adds to the burgeoning literature of the last decade or so that has investigated the growing phenomenon of start-ups from numerous perspectives.

Fabio Greco and Marco Tregua of the Department of Economics, Management, Institutions at the University of Naples Federico II in Naples, Italy, considered “actors”, geographical contexts, and resources and see these as the three main driving forces shaping start-up ecosystems and the impact of university-based accelerators on those start-ups. They have undertaken a preliminary analysis of several start-up ecosystems across the globe and have also carried out two in-field studies.

The researchers found that university-based accelerators provide methodological, theoretical, and practical advances that are a hard-to-replicate combination. The conditions accelerators offer start-ups bring prestige in the business context, operational models and methods, and allow the sewing of commercial seeds in fertile ground.

The team points out that from a practical perspective, accelerators provided contextual understanding for start-ups based partially on earlier successes and failures. However, given that finding, it is quite surprising that the heritage seems to be lost with the growth of each generation of new companies. The relationships and the learning process may well be embedded within the accelerator, but the established companies that benefit from the accelerator do not tend to be present in a supportive role for the newcomers, which is surprising.

University-based accelerators are, by definition, in the university-based context, and should, the researchers suggest, perform the role of alumni in facilitating the role of newcomers and in helping to increase the prestige of the accelerator itself. This would benefit all actors, just as an alumni association might benefit former and new students alike as well as one’s alma mater.

Greco, F. and Tregua, M. (2022) ‘It gives you wheels: the university-based accelerators in start-up ecosystems’, Int. J. Entrepreneurship and Small Business, Vol. 45, No. 2, pp.235–257.

Special issue published: "Digital Innovation in Emerging Economies"

International Journal of Technology Management 87(2/3/4) 2021

• Multisided platform research over the past three decades: a bibliometric analysis
• How do online labour markets facilitate transactions of knowledge-intensive tasks? A service productisation perspective
• Industry competition, life cycle and export performance of China's cross-border e-commerce enterprises
• The performance and innovation speed of utility applications in China
• Driving factors of digital transformation for manufacturing enterprises: a multi-case study from China
• How can digital technology-related acquisitions affect a firm's innovation performance?
• How does a new venture build a new product's legitimacy? Evidence from digital innovations in an established industry
• How does value co-creation behaviour affect enterprise innovation performance?
• Do KIBS facilitate innovation in manufacturing firms in China? Evidence on production-based linkages
• Learning from institutional diversity to innovate: a study of Chinese exporters in digital industries
• Reducing uncertainty through imitation in technological innovation: the different moderating roles of digitised and traditional coverage

Research pick: Riding the pandemic white swan - "White Swan – the pandemic crisis, lockdown and unlock effect on the Indian stock market"

The COVID-19 pandemic led to a massive economic downturn on a par with that experienced in the 2008 financial crash. Work published in the Global Business and Economics Review looks at this crisis from the perspective of the Indian stock market and how lockdown and unlocking society affected it.

Narinder Pal Singh and Himanshu Goel of the Jagan Institute of Management Studies in Rohini, New Delhi, India, suggest that rather than being a rare and unpredictable and potentially devastating “black swan” event in the parlance of randomness expert Nassim N. Taleb, the COVID-19 pandemic is a “white swan” event. One that had been predicted to some degree many years prior to its emergence. Moreover, given what we already knew about pandemic evolution we might have been able to understand this latest pandemic in many more ways than we might originally have conceived. At this point in history, we must look to the white swan events to guide us and help us address the challenges that arise in the next crisis with greater insight.

However, as we are still in the middle of this White Swan crisis, the researchers point out that: “The enforcement of lockdown in countries resulted in the crashing of global economies, a major drop in oil prices, falls in production and exports, an increase in unemployment, and the downfall of economic activities. The aforesaid has majorly hit the economies and financial markets across the globe including India.” The team then asks in what ways might our understanding of the ebbing and flowing of covid waves affect our understanding of the rise and fall of the Indian stock market. They specifically wanted to know whether the number of daily confirmed cases was linked with the Indian stock market index? “The novelty of this research [is] that [it] examines the impact of the lockdown and the unlock periods of COVID-19 on the volatility of the BSE Sensex returns,” the team adds.

The team found that lockdown very much affected the volatility of returns, but unlocking again didn’t have much effect at all. However, they identified a significant long-term relationship between daily case numbers and the closing prices of the BSE Sensex. “The findings of this research are central to investors of all categories…and can help in formulating the optimal strategy to regain the attention of domestic and foreign investors,” the researchers suggest.

Singh, N.P. and Goel, H. (2022) ‘White Swan – the pandemic crisis, lockdown and unlock effect on the Indian stock market’, Global Business and Economics Review, Vol. 26, No. 2, pp.152–162.

Research pick: A new age in advertising - "Is WhatsApp a ‘new age advertising tool’?"

Among the more popular social media software is the Whatsapp software, which exists under the Meta company umbrella alongside Facebook and Instagram. Whatsapp is generally used on an internet-connected mobile device, such as a smartphone, as a communications tool. Whatapp’s purported two billion active users can connect with each other video, voice, or text messaging on the system provided they have a data connection on their device and the phone number of their contact.

The app also allows users to share media files and form groups of contacts to communicate privately and share information. The latest statistics suggest that 100 billion end-to-end encrypted messages are sent each day on the application.

There are almost 400 billion Whatsapp users in India and researchers there ask in the International Journal of Internet Marketing and Advertising, whether Whatsapp represents a next-generation opportunity for advertising.

Mallika Srivastava of SVKM’s Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies and Semila Fernandes of the Symbiosis Institute of Business Management, Bengaluru have looked at the demographic born between 1982 and approximately 2002. This large grouping encompasses the so-called digital natives, people who were born after the advent of mainstream digital technologies, such as email, the web, and phones that allow users to do more than make phone calls. Their study looks at how this group, specifically the urban sector, perceives corporate marketing within Whatsapp.

The team’s analysis reveals what effect different types of advertisement, user gender, active time on Whatsapp, and various other factors affect brand awareness and brand trust as well as the way in which a packet of advertising information might go “viral”, and critically purchase intention. This kind of insight can feed into marketing strategies for companies hoping to make the most of their spending on social media and the way in which they engage with their customers and prospective clients.

Srivastava, M. and Fernandes, S. (2022) ‘Is WhatsApp a ‘new age advertising tool’?’, Int. J. Internet Marketing and Advertising, Vol. 16, Nos. 1/2, pp.120–141.

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

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

• Active contours for overlapping cervical cell segmentation
• Complex diffusion regularisation-based low dose CT image reconstruction
• Characterisation of frequency modulated wave of NIR photons transport in human lower forearm phantom
• Integrated neuromuscular fatigue analysis system for soldiers' load carriage trial using DWT

Special issue published: "Intelligent Transportation Systems for Smart Cities"

International Journal of Vehicle Information and Communication Systems 7(1) 2022

• Improved coverage measurements through machine learning algorithms in a situational aware channel condition for indoor distributed massive MIMO mm-wave system
• Multivariate short-term traffic flow prediction based on real-time expressway toll plaza data using non-parametric techniques
• Effect of feature and sampling ratio on tool wear classification during boring operation using tree-based algorithms
• Collaborative decision making system in intelligent transportation system using distributed blockchain technology
• Dynamic formulation of a two link flexible manipulator and its comparison analysis with a knuckle joint cantilever

Free open access article available: "Investigation and optimisation of cracked aluminium alloy plate restored for fatigue loading application"

The following paper, "Investigation and optimisation of cracked aluminium alloy plate restored for fatigue loading application" (International Journal of Computer Aided Engineering and Technology 16(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: Cleaning up without greenwashing - "Social media impacting green behaviours of Indian consumers"

In what way is social media affecting the “green” behaviour of people in India? Research published in the International Journal of Indian Culture and Business Management looks to answer that question with respect to motivational factors revealed by an analysis of social media and attitudes to eco-friendly consumer choices balanced against costs.

Meesha Gupta and Asif Ali Syed of the Faculty of Management Studies and Research at the Aligarh Muslim University in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, collected data from 536 respondents who use social media and are also inclined towards eco-friendly products as opposed to less environmentally benign purchases. The team used exploratory factor analysis and structural equation modelling techniques to analyse the data.

The study revealed that Indian consumers are quite willing to pay a higher price for products that are greener. As such, the researchers suggest that companies can benefit from this attitude by offering novel and innovative products through their social media marketing efforts. They add that this must be done subtly so as not to over-saturate an account that might render it annoying rather than enticing. Moreover, they stress that companies must be transparent and communicate openly with their customers and putative customers, without that approach trust in a brand’s green credentials might be easily lost.

In a world where social media has levelled the relationship between producers and providers and those to whom they sell products and services, those providers must put themselves in a position of trust. Social media can be powerful, attempts at “greenwashing” become obvious in the face of the hive mind where customers share and discuss products openly and frequently on social media and any issues can be shared very quickly and become serious problems for companies that attempt to fake their credentials, for instance.

“Green firms should foster relationships based on mutual gain and mutual interest. This can leverage customer loyalty,” the team writes.

Gupta, M. and Syed, A.A. (2022) ‘Social media impacting green behaviours of Indian consumers’, Int. J. Indian Culture and Business Management, Vol. 25, No. 1, pp.116–138.

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Simulation and Process Modelling

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

• Miniaturised structure design, modelling and simulation process for active engine mounts
• Discrete-event simulation and data analysis for process flow improvements in a cabinet manufacturing facility
• The cost analysis of a leading optics business in Saudi Arabia
• A new transformation approach for complex systems modelling and simulation: application to industrial control system
• Numerical simulation for fractional phi-4 equation using homotopy Sumudu approach
• Path-based modelling of business processes
• A new semantic annotation approach for software vulnerability source code

International Journal of Services and Standards to invite expanded papers from International Journal of Services and Standards Conference 2022 for potential publication

Extended versions of papers presented at the International Journal of Services and Standards Conference 2022 (25 June 2022, National Yunlin University of Science and Technology, Taiwan) will be invited for review and potential publication by the International Journal of Services and Standards.

Special issue published: "Market Competition and Structural Change in International Trade and Finance: A Strategic Perspective"

International Journal of Trade and Global Markets 15(1) 2022

• The effect of transfer pricing and tax haven on cross-border acquisition
• The system-forming factors of social pollution at work on the developing country examples
• The effect of economic, financial and political country risk factors on the JSE mining index: an ARDL approach
• Country risk and the interaction between gold price and gold stock index return volatilities: evidence from the South African market
• The impact of corporate governance, capital structure, company size, and assets structure on financial performance: a study on the corporate governance perception index participants
• Earnings persistence: systematic risk, audit quality and growth
• Trade policy preferences: a case of Thailand
• Financial inclusion in the industry 4.0: the effects of financial inclusion on electronic payments in Thailand
• The effectiveness of local government financial statement audit by public accounting firm
• Financing SMEs in Ghana: evidence of the optimal credit guarantee ratio
• Tax compliance of individual taxpayer in DKI Jakarta, Indonesia
• Effects of information and communication technology adoption and innovation capability on export performance: study of Purwakarta ceramic industry in Indonesia
• How do institutional pressures effect knowledge transfer activities within university-industry partnership?
• Survival mode strategy for traditional market in Indonesia based on consumer behaviour perspective

Research pick: Copyright, databases, and streaming - "The impact of social factors on the economic evaluation of copyright in musical databases of firms"

Copyright in the music industry is a contentious issue, it has been from the very first printed sheet music, through recorded music, home taping, and the digitisation that led to the ongoing file-sharing debacle that nudged the industry towards streaming solutions and new business models.

For those managing musical databases within a firm, there are esoteric issues to consider in that the nature and structure of a database itself might be protected by copyright but the contents held within may have their own copyright limitations and considerations. Writing in the International Journal of Digital Culture and Electronic Tourism, a team from Italy hope to unravel the social and economic factors surrounding copyright issues in this context.

Bruno Marsigalia of the Department of Economic and Business Science at the University of Rome ‘Guglielmo Marconi’ and Giovanni Calcagni of the Department of Economics and Law and the University of Cassino and Southern Lazio explain that the double copyright protection for databases offered by European Union law does not extend to the contents of the database and so should not prejudice the rights holders of copyright material held within said database.

The team explains that it is not always possible to estimate the value of a database because it needs to be considered in a much broader context rather than as a single entity. “The database can be estimated as a part of an intangible asset portfolio, and can be tied to patents, brands and trademarks,” the team writes. “The methods of estimating the value of intangible assets can first of all be used to calculate the economic worth of the databases,” the researchers add. As such, their paper sets out to identify the factors that will have the greatest impact on the value of copyright material provided by a music streaming service.

The valuation must be seen in the context of the artists and performers, songwriters, and others invested in the creative process to produce a new song who reputedly see little of the revenue in many cases despite the growing multi-billion dollar stature of the streaming services that profit from those songs. The law surrounding copyright is evolving from the artists’ and creatives’ perspectives it must be nudged towards allowing them to make a living from their endeavours and not simply a cash cow for the companies that run the databases containing the copyright material.

Marsigalia, B. and Calcagni, G. (2022) ‘The impact of social factors on the economic evaluation of copyright in musical databases of firms’, Int. J. Digital Culture and Electronic Tourism, Vol. 4, No. 1, pp.81–96.

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

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

• CPAAS: an efficient conditional privacy-preservation anonymous authentication scheme using signcryption in VANET
• A multi-swarm optimisation approach for spam detection in online social networks
• A fine-tuned feature descriptor for pedestrian action recognition in autonomous vehicles
• Secure and location privacy in geographical data with electronic codebook mode-advanced encryption standard
• Low-power CMOS circuit design of audio frequency shift keying for emergency alert system
• Design and implementation of smart breaker system for electricity board using autonomous systems

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Digital Culture and Electronic Tourism

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

• The value of management in the digitalisation era: evidence from an Italian museum
• The website for a hospital museum: the Santa Maria Nuova case study
• Influencer marketing for museums: a comparison between Italy and The Netherlands
• Visitors engagement and social media in museums: evidence from Italy
• Museums and their audience: towards dialogic communication through social media?
• Stakeholder engagement via Facebook: an analysis of world's most popular museums

New Editor for International Journal of Work Innovation

Prof. Charbel Salloum from Burgundy University in France has been appointed to take over editorship of the International Journal of Work Innovation.

Research pick: Customised cushions for wheelchairs - "Need for customisation in preventing pressure ulcers for wheelchair patients – a load distribution approach"

Wheelchair users can periodically suffer from skin ulcers or sores caused by friction, pressure, and shear stresses where their skin is constantly in contact with the synthetic materials of their wheelchair. Pressure sores can become a chronic problem, always susceptible to serious infection or additional damage to the skin. New research in the International Journal of Biomedical Engineering and Technology, looks at how a load-distribution approach can be used to customise wheelchairs for their users to avoid such pressure sores.

Sivasankar Arumugam, Rajesh Ranganathan, and T. Ravi of the Coimbatore Institute of Technology in India, point out that every wheelchair user is different, different body shape, weight, posture, and different mobility of issues. As such, a single answer to the problem of pressure ulcers is not feasible if all wheelchair users are to be helped. Their studies with a group of volunteer users reveal, based on pressure measurements, that individual customisation is needed for each user to reduce the shear and frictional forces that lead to pressure ulcers.

Wheelchair patients who spend prolonged periods of time sitting, due to a range of health problems such as spinal cord injury (SCI), paraplegia, tetraplegia, and quadriplegia are at risk of pressure ulcers. When seated, approximately three-quarters of one’s total body weight is distributed through the buttocks and the back of the thighs. Commonly wheelchair users have reduced musculature in that part of the body and so less ability to resist the very tissue deformation that makes those tissues susceptible to damage leading to ulceration. Generic cushions for wheelchairs by virtue of their off-the-shelf disease offer no customisation to suit a particular wheelchair user and so give only limited protection from the development of pressure ulcers.

Pressure ulcers are the third most costly health problem after cancer and cardiovascular disease, so there is a need to find solutions not only to benefit wheelchair users themselves, obviously, but to keep costs down for those users and the healthcare systems on which they rely. The team emphasises that a scientific approach to the customisation of cushions and other components that might help reduce tissue damage and ulceration is needed urgently. Their work provides an outline of the problems that exist for wheelchair users in the context of pressure ulcers. A scientific approach will, they hope, ultimately lead to an optimal approach to customisation for wheelchair cushions and padding suited to the individual wheelchair user.

Arumugam, S., Ranganathan, R. and Ravi, T. (2022) ‘Need for customisation in preventing pressure ulcers for wheelchair patients – a load distribution approach’, Int. J. Biomedical Engineering and Technology, Vol. 38, No. 1, pp.44–64.

Special issue published: "Advances in Solid Mechanics"

International Journal of Theoretical and Applied Multiscale Mechanics 3(4) 2021

• Numerical study of elastic-plastic behaviour of pore-containing materials: effects of pore arrangement
• The treatment of singularities associated with a dislocation segment with applications
• Understanding the low cycle fatigue of additive manufactured Inconel 718: a crystal plasticity modelling approach
• Multiscale analysis in solids with unseparated scales: fine-scale recovery, error estimation, and coarse-scale adaptivity
• Temperature and strain rate sensitivity of shocked aluminium: multiscale dislocation dynamics simulations

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

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

• Achieving lean through value stream mapping with constraint programming and simulation technique for complex production systems
• Fixed and flexible shape facility layout problems using biogeography-based optimisation algorithm
• Blast testing and numerical simulation analysis of diversion tunnel upper section for Qianping reservoir
• Implementation of OEEML in beverage bottling production line: a case study of Pakistan beverage industry
• Development of an optimisation model for unequal-area facility layout problems
• A simulation model of container terminals. The Port of Valencia case study
• Performability modelling and decision-making regarding maintenance priorities for power generation system of a typical thermal power plant

Special issue published: "Modern Managerial and Social Practices for the Sustainable Development of Society" (includes open access article)

World Review of Entrepreneurship, Management and Sustainable Development 18(1/2) 2022

• Active ageing: a way for social sustainability in ageing Indian society
• Green accounting and its application: a study on reporting practices of environmental accounting in India
• Linking non-financial motivators of women entrepreneurs with entrepreneurial satisfaction: a cluster analysis
• Exploring espoused competencies from management teachers for sustainability of Indian business schools
• Political economy of agricultural development and disparity in India
• Endeavour towards sustainability: an empirical study of an Indian electronics retail industry
• Farmer producer organisations for sustainable development of tribal communities
• Pricing challenge in servitisation: can servitisation improve ecological sustenance?
• Sustainable spare parts inventory control using companywide interchangeability technique: perspective to petroleum and fertiliser industries
• Integrating strategic flexibility and marketing system to achieve sustainable competitive advantage: conceptual refinement and framework

Additional paper

• 'All you need is... entrepreneurial attitudes': a deeper look into the propensity to start a business during the COVID-19 through a gender comparison (GEM data) [OPEN ACCESS]

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

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

• Energy consumption and cost control method of engineering projects based on building energy-saving theory
• Evolution of the Southern Corridor in the European energy security agenda and policy-making process
• Research on energy-saving control and optimisation of air conditioning system based on genetic algorithm
• 3D virtual technology for space design in green building energy-saving design
• Abnormal node detection method for time-sharing heating energy consumption in multi-storey buildings based on drosophila algorithm

Research pick: The Gita as pandemic guide - "Life skills from Bhagavad Gita: a vital enabler for leadership excellence in pandemic times and the world beyond"

The Bhagavad Gita is an ancient text, a 700-verse Hindu scripture dating from the second half of the first millennium BCE. It has provided guidance for many millions of people. Now, writing in the International Journal of  Management Concepts and Philosophy, a team from the Manav Rachna International Institute of Research and Studies in Faridabad, Haryana, India, suggest that the text is very much still relevant in today’s post-pandemic world. It may well provide relevant philosophical nutrition to help people, including those in business, cope with the harsh realities of life, instability, and the challenges they face in their personal and professional lives.

Monika Bansal and Surbhi Kapur suggest that the Bhagavad Gita, more formally the Shrimad Bhagavad Gita, but often simply referred to as The Gita, has a narrative framework based on a dialogue between Pandava prince Arjuna and his guide and charioteer Krishna, the Supreme Personality of the Godhead. The text brings together teachings regarding righteousness, attachment, and the yogic ideals of physical and mental health.

The team explains how the emergence of a novel and potentially lethal coronavirus in late 2019 wrought many problems through the COVID-19 pandemic it caused and that we are still living through more than two years later. Much sickness and death has taken place as well as massive disruption to millions, if not the many billions, of people around the world, society as a whole and our economic systems. We have faced many dilemmas and anxieties and many people have realized that there is a pressing need for us to relearn important life skills such as empathy, communication, adaptability, and emotional intelligence. With those tools we might better face the new-normal of this post-pandemic world.

A philosophical analysis of the ancient Indian literature found in The Gita has allowed the team to find practical solutions to many of the spiritual and mental problems we face at this time in human history. They suggest that leaders might learn new lessons from this text to offer the citizens help and new hope as we attempt to emerge into a post-pandemic world. The Gita is extensive and has many disparate sources and interpretations. The team concludes that future research “will help in simplifying and uncovering pearls of wisdom scattered across the firmament of ancient texts.” In addition, empirical work suggested by their literature review could provide nuanced corroboration of the benefits to humanity of The Gita as guide.

Bansal, M. and Kapur, S. (2022) ‘Life skills from Bhagavad Gita: a vital enabler for leadership excellence in pandemic times and the world beyond’, Int. J. Management Concepts and Philosophy, Vol. 15, No. 1, pp.80–95.

Special issue published: "Composite Indicators and Multicriteria Decision Making: New Developments and Applications" (includes open access article)

International Journal of Multicriteria Decision Making 8(4) 2021

• A nonlinear multivariate method for constructing profiles of country performance
• Development and evaluation of a new tool for multiple criteria decision making
• Inferring criteria weight parameters in CODAS method
• Ranking of the environmental sustainability of Cuban provinces using a non-compensatory multi-criteria model
• Monitoring multidimensional phenomena with a multicriteria composite performance interval approach

Free open access article available: "'All you need is... entrepreneurial attitudes': a deeper look into the propensity to start a business during the COVID-19 through a gender comparison (GEM data)"

The following paper, "'All you need is... entrepreneurial attitudes': a deeper look into the propensity to start a business during the COVID-19 through a gender comparison (GEM data)" (World Review of Entrepreneurship, Management and Sustainable Development 18(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: Interactive pop songs - "Research on the development and experience of popular music single with interactive lyrics and composition"

Evolving technology has had a massive impact on how we make and experience music. Many of the changes have been driven by musicians themselves in terms of the creative aspects of music-making, but consumers too pushed the music industry in new directions. Of course, while genres wax and wane in terms of popularity, the underlying technology, at least in the popular context, is always looking to find the next big thing, the next more than one-hit-wonder.

Writing in the International Journal of Arts and Technology, a team from Taiwan discuss one of the next evolutionary steps in popular music – the “single” with interactive lyrics and composition. In the age before recorded music and to this day in the realm of live music, each performance is unique, a song reborn each time a singer or musician counts in the band, a conductor taps their baton, or the pianist tinkles the ivories. In the world of recorded music there are different options, there is multi-tracking, overdubs and retakes, samples and loops, many different ways to restructure the sonic landscape for greater listening pleasure.

Musician David Byrne, the erstwhile singer and guitarist with American new wave band, Talking Heads, predicted many years ago that technology would soon be available to allow listeners to remix the songs from their favourite artists. In subsequent years a whole other wave of bedroom-based record producers and mix DJs emerged as genres such as electronic dance music (EDM) and hip-hop developed. In a parallel world and contemporary with Byrne’s forecasts many years before the world wide web and the mp3, other big-name, exploratory musicians such as Peter Gabriel and David Bowie were looking into the multimedia potential of the technology for their music.

Of course, there was and is much innovation taking place well beyond the USA and Western Europe. Indeed, in South Korea, Taiwan, China, and elsewhere, big changes have taken place in music-making and music consumption that are being enjoyed by hundreds of millions of people. The West may well eventually catch up with the advances taking place in Asia, but that is by the by from the commercial standpoint. Kuei-Yang Chiu and Wen-Hung Chao of the Department of Digital Media Design at the Asia University in Taichung, Taiwan, explain that there are many opportunities for Chinese popular music offered by technological progress and internet penetration.

The team has now developed a popular music single that has interactive lyrics and composition. The approach uses innovation diffusion theory and interactive movies with a non-linear narrative to develop the music and associated video. The basic concept is not dissimilar to interactive storybooks that give readers different options for plots to follow at pertinent moments in the story. The music system can then be experienced on an interactive web application. The team has had a positive response from test audiences. Importantly, from the commercial perspective, they have found that the “replay” function can engage users. Moreover, listeners who usually pay to listen to music rather than using illicit file-sharing services, were more inclined to have a positive experience with the system.

Chiu, K-Y. and Chao, W-H. (2021) ‘Research on the development and experience of popular music single with interactive lyrics and composition’, Int. J. Arts and Technology, Vol. 13, No. 2, pp.137–160.

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

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

• A dynamic slicing-based approach for effective SBFL technique
• Hyperspectral endmember extraction using Pearson's correlation coefficient
• Feature weighting for naïve Bayes using multi objective artificial bee colony algorithm
• NO2 pollutant concentration forecasting for air quality monitoring by using an optimised deep learning bidirectional GRU model
• Coupling model based on grey relational analysis and stepwise discriminant analysis for subsidence discrimination of foundation in soft clay areas
• A blockchain-based authority management framework in traceability systems
• FACF: fuzzy areas-based collaborative filtering for point-of-interest recommendation
• Unmanned surface vehicle adaptive decision model for changing weather
• Application of light gradient boosting machine in mine water inrush source type online discriminant
• Implicit emotional tendency recognition based on disconnected recurrent neural networks

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of High Performance Computing and Networking

The following sample articles from the International Journal of High Performance Computing and Networking are now available here for free:

• XtremDew: a platform for cooperative tasks and data schedulers
• BAT algorithm used for load balancing purpose in cloud computing: an overview
• Device classification based data encryption for internet of things
• Multi-model coupling method for imbalanced network traffic classification based on clustering
• Distributed software defined information centric networking
• A rack-aware scalable resource management system for Hadoop YARN

Special issue published: "The Impact of COVID-19 On Supply Chain Management Performance: How to Enhance Supply Chain Sustainability?"

International Journal of Logistics Economics and Globalisation 9(3) 2022

• Applying linear programming for logistics distribution of essential relief items during COVID-19 lockdown: evidence from Bangladesh
• A study on reviews of online grocery stores during COVID-19 pandemic using sentiment analysis
• Prolonging retailer-supplier relationship: a study of retail firms during COVID-19 pandemic
• Impact of sustainable supply chain management on performance of SMEs amidst COVID-19 pandemic: an Indian perspective
• Modelling the barriers of supply chain transparency in the post-COVID-19 scenario

Free open access article available: "Monitoring multidimensional phenomena with a multicriteria composite performance interval approach"

The following paper, "Monitoring multidimensional phenomena with a multicriteria composite performance interval approach" (International Journal of Multicriteria Decision Making 8(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: Video recognition of yoga postures - "Recognition of ‘yoga-asana’ using bidirectional LSTM with CNN features"

A system that can analyse a segment of video and identify the yoga postures, asana, being practiced would be a useful tool for instruction and learning in this art.

Yoga practice combines physical and mental health and has its origins in ancient India. Yoga is now practiced worldwide by millions of people. Research has shown that regular yoga practice might be beneficial in managing chronic pain, reducing anxiety and depression, and in improving one’s quality of life. Of course, there is a potential downside to yoga practice, particularly for those learning via video link or from online video tutorials and the link. The main risks are in a novice, or indeed, experienced practitioner pushing themselves too far. Muscular, ligament, tendons, and joints can be vulnerable in such a scenario particularly in the transitions between postures.

A system that a practitioner might use in their solo practice that recognizes when they are holding a posture correctly might be developed to warn them of issues that might arise in a given posture based on an analysis of their efforts.

Human activity recognition in a video is a growing area of research for many applications including the detection of criminal activity in closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage, diagnostics of postural and gait problems in healthcare, the identification of individuals from their movement, confirming that social distancing regulations are being observed, and many other areas. Writing in the International Journal of Arts and Technology, a team from India explains how they have used an end-to-end deep learning pipeline that includes a convolutional neural network (CNN) and a bidirectional long short-term memory (LSTM) network to identify yoga-asana.

The team first trained their system using known postures in videos down-sampled to twenty frames and extracted pertinent spatial features from the frames. The training involved seven well-known yoga-asana: Bhujangasana, Bidalasana-Bitlasana, Trikonasana, Vrikshasana, Padmasana, Shavasana, and Tadasana. Their system was then tested with previously unclassified video and shown to have an accuracy of almost 97 percent when cross-validated by experts. The next step will be to add more asana to the data set. In addition, the team hopes to extend their system to recognise yoga postures being carried out by more than one person at a time so that an online class might be guided more accurately.

Paharia, N., Gupta, R., Jadon, R.S. and Gupta, S.K. (2021) ‘Recognition of ‘yoga-asana’ using bidirectional LSTM with CNN features’, Int. J. Arts and Technology, Vol. 13, No. 3, pp.215–227.

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Computer Applications in Technology

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Computer Applications in Technology are now available here for free:

• A hierarchical network embedding method based on network partitioning
• Hierarchical smart routing protocol for wireless sensor networks
• Self-attention based sentiment analysis with effective embedding techniques
• Variable neighbourhood search-based algorithm to solve the minimum back-walk-free latency problem
• An information real-time synchronisation system across different media based on position encoding for mobile computing
• Real-time sign languages character recognition
• Pedestrian detection algorithm based on improved SSD
• Map simulation of dogs' behaviour using population density of probabilistic model
• Determining solubility of CO2 in aqueous brine systems via hybrid smart strategies

Special issue published: "Environmental Change Management with Sustainable Policy and Planning Measures"

International Journal of Environmental Technology and Management 25(1/2) 2022

• Research on the method of landscape configuration of garden plants based on the evaluation method of beauty degree
• Medium and long-term trend prediction of urban air quality based on deep learning
• Restoration method of garden space environment based on P-IBI factor analysis
• Dynamic monitoring of environmental quality in tourist attractions based on UAV multispectral remote sensing
• Measurement method of green traffic vehicle exhaust emission based on spark algorithm
• Landscape architecture environmental adaptability evaluation model based on improved genetic algorithm
• Quantitative evaluation of landscape architecture environmental benefits based on multi-criteria decision-making
• Prediction method of construction land expansion speed of ecological city based on BP neural network

Additional papers

• Innovative blends to wastewater sludge energy valorisation towards a sustainable circular bioeconomy
• Socio-economic innovations in systems analysis: environmental and economic aspects

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Bio-Inspired Computation

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Bio-Inspired Computation are now available here for free:

• Expediting population diversification in evolutionary computation with quantum algorithm
• A new approach to design S-box generation algorithm based on genetic algorithm
• Research on interface design based on user's mental model driven by interactive genetic algorithm
• Comparison of three nature inspired molecular docking algorithms
• Density peaks clustering based on geodetic distance and dynamic neighbourhood
• Adaptive neighbourhood size adjustment in MOEA/D-DRA
• A modified single and multi-objective bacteria foraging optimisation for the solution of quadratic assignment problem

Research pick: Zen and the art of virtual reality maintenance - "Virtual reality art as an innovative Buddhist learning tool"

At the heart of much Buddhist practice is the notion that meeting with other people and practicing together in real life are the most beneficial approaches. However, individually art can be used for mindfulness and meditation. Indeed, paintings and sculptures have helped individuals and in the modern era digital media and technology can offer something to practitioners too.

Writing in the International Journal of Arts and Technology, a team from Silpakorn University, Thailand discuss how virtual reality might be a useful and innovative tool in Buddhist teaching. Gomesh Karnchanapayap and Atithep Chaetnalao explain how they have developed what they refer to as a ground-breaking tool by bringing together artworks and virtual reality. They suggest that this approach to teaching enables a multi-level learning experience for students.

The team explains that the experience within a virtual reality environment can encourage better memory in students. Moreover, it allows the user to “experience” an environment in safety allowing them to “know” events indirectly but with greater authenticity than is possible with conventional photographs or movies. They add that by purposefully creating an appropriate virtual world it might be possible to imbue a better understanding of the core philosophy of the given artworks.

“This learning innovation is not only an effective learning tool but also suitable for new generations as a new medium to pass on the faith of Buddhism,” the team writes. Indeed, the researchers have evaluated their new VR tool with student evaluation of their learning undertaken with the system and found it to provide a positive experience in terms of test scores. Test results before students were offered the VR experience were commonly around 50% but rose to almost 80% in some cases after training with the VR system.

Of course, it is important to recognise that virtual reality is, like any other technology or indeed more traditional teaching approaches that rely on imagery, simply a tool. It should form part of a broader learning experience in this context for the students just as it would in any other realm. It is the teaching and the learning, not the technology that is the important part of the process.

Karnchanapayap, G. and Chaetnalao, A. (2021) ‘Virtual reality art as an innovative Buddhist learning tool’, Int. J. Arts and Technology, Vol. 13, No. 3, pp.255–277.

Research pick: Entrepreneurs and COVID-19 - "'All you need is… entrepreneurial attitudes': a deeper look into the propensity to start a business during the COVID-19 through a gender comparison (GEM data)"

Research in the World Review of Entrepreneurship, Management and Sustainable Development has investigated the effects on the COVID-19 pandemic on entrepreneurialism and gender differences in the propensity of business people to start a new venture during this period.

The COVID-19 pandemic is both health and social crisis, financial disruptor, and unpredictable disaster that has affected us all and in the current context, the entire global economy.

Now, Dafna Kariv of the Adelson School of Entrepreneurship at Reichman University (IDC) in Herzliya, Israel, Rico J. Baldegger of the School of Management Fribourg (HEG-FR) at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland (HES-SO) in Fribourg, Switzerland, and Gavriela Kashy-Rosenbaum of the Multidisciplinary Department of Social Sciences at Ashkelon Academic College in Kfar-Hanagid, Israel, explain that the pandemic took entrepreneurs by surprise. Moreover, the shock affects women entrepreneurs, they add, to a greater degree. However, the details of that initial pandemic shock have not yet been explored. The team hoped to consider the gendered perceptions of opportunity, fear of failure, and motivations before and during the pandemic to explore what impact these had on the propensity to start a business during the crisis.

The researchers used the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) datasets covering 2019 and 2020 to help them answer their questions. Their findings suggest that while the pandemic affected women entrepreneurs more severely than men, women perceived greater opportunities during the pandemic that were more tightly enmeshed with financial motivators.

“The full impact of COVID-19 on entrepreneurial launches is still unknown as we are in the midst of the crisis,” the team writes. And yet, they add, “Research has shown that launching new businesses is a critical response for recovery from crises…[this is] even more important for women-led entrepreneurial businesses, as these are depicted as smaller and less growth-oriented than those run by men in normal times.”

The team suggests that their work opens up several new avenues for investigation. However, they can also provide a conclusion useful to other researchers at this point as well as to governmental and private companies and associations, accelerators and academic institutions. They suggest that these organizations should monitor, prepare, and implement programs that tap into entrepreneurial motivation in times of crisis. There is a need to equip entrepreneurs with the necessary skills and mindset to take advantage of any opportunities that arise especially when those appear during a major disaster.

Kariv, D., Baldegger, R.J. and Kashy-Rosenbaum, G. (2022) ‘“All you need is… entrepreneurial attitudes”: a deeper look into the propensity to start a business during the COVID-19 through a gender comparison (GEM data)’, World Review of Entrepreneurship, Management and Sustainable Development, Vol. 18, Nos. 1/2, pp.195–226.

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

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

• Quality and performance in small accounting firms
• Case study: application of SMED in SIM card manufacturing company
• Bayesian quantile regression and unsupervised learning methods to the US Army and Navy data
• On bivariate control charts for the mean of autocorrelated process
• Strategic planning of optimising productivity: a '5S under lean quality' approach
• System dynamics model to improve productivity in manufacturing industries
• Co-deployment of quality standards: a systematic literature review

Free open access article available: "Bibliometric review on FDI attractiveness factors"

The following paper, "Bibliometric review on FDI attractiveness factors" (European Journal of International Management 17(2/3) 2022), is freely available for download as an open access article.

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

Research pick: Satisfying social workers - "An exploration of whether job satisfaction predicts subjective well-being among social workers"

A new study in the International Journal of Work Organisation and Emotion investigates whether or not job satisfaction in US social workers correlates with subjective well-being. The quantitative correlational study examined whether motivating factors of job satisfaction predict subjective well-being. The team reports that there is indeed a significant relationship but advancement in one’s job is the only factor that significantly affects the wellbeing of these workers.

Onick Lewis of Troy University in Troy, Alabama and Andrew Babyak of Messiah University in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, USA, had two questions they wishes to answer in their research. The first: to what extent, if any, does general job satisfaction, as measured by the Minnesota satisfaction questionnaire (MSQ) predict subjective well-being, as measured by the satisfaction with life scale (SWLS)? The second: to what extent, if any, do the five dimensions of the MSQ (work itself, recognition, achievement, responsibility, and personal growth), together and separately, make the same prediction?

The team surveyed almost two hundred practicing social workers to collect the primary data to help them answer those two questions. They then used a regression analysis to extract from this data the requisite information with which to draw their conclusions. The team points out that job satisfaction is known to commonly imply life satisfaction for many people and vice versa and these correlations have been extensively studied for decades.

The findings from this present study, in showing that advancement in one’s job is a primary factor in job satisfaction, suggest that there is much work to be done to explain why this is so. There are implications for benefiting employees and employers alike in this area if a clear understanding of how job satisfaction meshes with well-being can be gleaned from this work and follow-on studies. The bottom line might be to recommend to employers that they talk about such issues with their staff so that job satisfaction levels and employee well-being might be improved even if there is no scope for achievable personal advancement in a particular role.

Lewis, O. and Babyak, A. (2021) ‘An exploration of whether job satisfaction predicts subjective well-being among social workers’, Int. J. Work Organisation and Emotion, Vol. 12, No. 4, pp.325–338.

Special issue published: "Confucian/Chopsticks Management: Are Western Business Practices Imbued with Eastern Concepts?" (includes free open access article)

European Journal of International Management 17(2/3) 2022

• Understanding the differences between Chinese and Western business practices: insights into Confucian philosophy
• Does Confucius have a say in management today? Empirical evidence from Asia and Europe
• Can Confucianism raise enterprise performance? Evidence from Chinese industrial enterprises in Shandong Province
• Chinese social capital in a business context: the impact of business ethics, business etiquette and business orientation on relationship building and performance
• Evaluating the role of Confucian virtues in Chinese negotiation strategies using a Yin Yang cultural perspective
• Confucian value's influences on Chinese customer relationships in product crisis recovery
• The impact of business method plagiarism on customer trust: a cultural comparison
• Anticipatory psychological contracts of young labour market entrants: a multi-country study with a Confucian work ethic 'twist'
• Power distance and supervisor ostracism: the moderating effect of procedural fairness
• Confucius - a Chinese thinker still present in Japan's business practices
• Combining Korean Confucianism with European values to build successful business relationships
• Bibliometric review on FDI attractiveness factors [OPEN ACCESS]

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

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

• Extraction of carbon emission feature in urban residential area based on remote sensing technology
• An integrated planning method for open space of urban street landscape based on remote sensing technology
• The spatial pattern planning method of rural landscape based on remote sensing technology
• Dynamic remote sensing monitoring of land cover in ecological protection area based on GIS technology
• Spatial-temporal evolution of complex urban landscape pattern based on remote sensing technology
• Research on dynamic simulation of land use change based on geographical weighted CLUE-S model
• Spatial distribution characteristics of urban landscape pattern based on multi-source remote sensing technology
• Dynamic prediction of urban landscape pattern based on remote sensing image fusion
• Spatial balance degree evaluation model of land use based on regional collaborative remote sensing observation

New Editor for International Journal of Automotive Composites

Dr. Khaled Shahwan from Michigan, USA, has been appointed to take over editorship of the International Journal of Automotive Composites.

Research pick: Multinational enterprises adapting to COVID-19 - "Global value chains and liability of international connectivity: MNE strategy post Covid-19"

The COVID-19 pandemic brought devastating human suffering and major economic disruption. New work in the European Journal of International Management, has considered the impact on multinational enterprises (MNEs) and how in the post-pandemic world restructuring of global value chains is needed that may lead to a potential retreat from the globalization that we have seen in recent years.

Sarah McWilliam and Bo Bernhard Nielsen of the University of Sydney in Darlington, New South Wales, Australia, and Constantina Kottaridi of the University of Piraeus in Athens, Greece, reveal the consequences of the pandemic for MNEs and develop a new concept of the Liability of International Connectivity (LOIC). The team also show how the LOIC affects ownership, location, and internalisation advantages. They suggest that it might compromise control of supply, production, or distribution because of changes in global value chain (GVC) governance, the evolution of power asymmetries with nation states, and power asymmetries with suppliers.

Of course, MNEs that can adapt in the face of massive disruption may well thrive in the post-pandemic world. The team points out that new strategic directions that allow those companies to pursue optimal ownership, location and internalisation could lead to commercial advantages for them. However, the research suggests that the changes wrought by COVID-19 on MNEs will sit on a spectrum of adaptations where some companies need only make minimal changes to face the challenges and those at the other end of the spectrum will need to undergo major restructuring in governance and geography.

The researchers add that their findings suggest that there are many problems facing MNEs and how they can cope with the post-pandemic world and a perceived retreat from globalization. The major economic shakeup has also provided what might be couched positively for MNEs as new opportunities to improve their resilience through enhanced ownership advantages created from growth, diversification, digitalisation, automation, distributed production, and remote working.

McWilliam, S., Nielsen, B.B. and Kottaridi, B. ‘Global value chains and liability of international connectivity: MNE strategy post Covid-19’, European J. International Management.

Research pick: Accessible social media analysis - "Social media analytics: tools, techniques and present day practices"

Web-based application programming interfaces (APIs) provide researchers studying online social networks with a sophisticated route into those networks that can allow them to study the activity of users in detail, given ethical constraints and specific limitations of the APIs. Writing in the International Journal of Services Operations and Informatics, a team from India reviews the state-of-the-art in this constantly evolving realm. In their review, they reveal the challenges that might be faced in using an API, the suitability of a given API for particular research purposes. They also discuss how social media analytical tools might be adopted to support knowledge-based business strategies.

Pooja Nanda of Sharda University in Greater Noida and Vikas Kumar of the Central University of Haryana, suggest that their review will be useful for organisations hoping to identify the various tools on the market for assisting in the making of knowledge-based strategic decisions.

Fundamentally, analysis can find out, at scale, what it is customers and potential customers are saying about a company and its products and services in great detail. Social media in this context is so much more than an advertising or marketing vehicle for those products and services it is a rich seam of opinion and user knowledge to be tapped to allow companies and improve their “offering”, how they market it, and how they adapt to consumer opinion.

As the team’s review suggests, to get the most from such analysis, careful consideration of the available tools, their benefits and limitations, is needed. “Available social media analytics tools should be mapped to the specific knowledge needs of the organisation and they should be implemented and monitored accordingly,” the team writes. “Outcomes from the social media analytical tools need to be well understood and combined into the business strategy to reap their actual benefits,” they conclude.

Nanda, P. and Kumar, V. (2021) ‘Social media analytics: tools, techniques and present day practices’, Int. J. Services Operations and Informatics, Vol. 11, No. 4, pp.422–436.

Special issue published: "Advances in Transportation and Logistics"

International Journal of Shipping and Transport Logistics 14(1/2) 2022

• Risk models based on uncertainty quantification for illicit traffic time series in customs context
• Evaluation of the tram intelligent system management by an analysis of its key performance indicators for an optimal mixed traffic control in Algeria
• Optimisation models and information sharing in a multi-echelon pharmaceutical supply chain
• A theoretical framework for the logistics strategies of B2C e-commerce retailers based on current trends in the industry
• A reconfiguration approach for a supply chain tracking platform
• A sustainable collaborative approach to the distribution network design problem with CO2 emissions allocation

Additional papers

• Simulation of truck arrivals at container terminal based on the interactive truck appointment system
• Bi-objective evacuation problem in ships or buildings

International Journal of Management Practice to invite expanded papers from 23rd European Conference on Knowledge Management for potential publication

Extended versions of papers presented at the 23rd European Conference on Knowledge Management (1-2 September 2022, Naples, Italy) will be invited for review and potential publication by the International Journal of Management Practice.

Free open access article available: "A domain ontology on cascading effects in critical infrastructures based on a systematic literature review"

The following paper, "A domain ontology on cascading effects in critical infrastructures based on a systematic literature review" (International Journal of Critical Infrastructures 18(1) 2022), 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 Critical Infrastructures

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

• Study on rheological properties of EVA modified asphalt based on fractional derivative theory
• A predictor analysis framework for surface radiation budget reprocessing using satellite data
• Truss construction of green fabricated steel structure based on BIM intelligent technology
• Force analysis of variable cross-section continuous box girder bridge
• Research on open cut blasting technology of reservoir diversion tunnel
• Calculation and analysis of gully-buried prestressed inverted siphon structure

 

Research pick: Electronic waste goes supercritical - "Extraction of precious metals from electronic waste by using supercritical fluid technology"

The modern world relies on a small number of precious and rare metals that are vital for the components of our electronic devices. These elements are critical to the functioning of everything from mobile phones and tablet computers to the circuitry that underpins medical scanners and military installations. The design of current technology means they cannot be substituted with another metal, each component relies on the very specific electronic properties of each in the components from which it is built.

Unfortunately, access to sources of these elements is not only limited by geology and politics, but the rarest of the metals, which are often the ones on which we rely the most are present on earth in only limited quantities. As such, every electronic device that is discarded or abandoned represents metals wasted. If there were a simple and environmentally viable means to extract those metals so that they could be reused in the next tranche of devices, then at least some of the issues of accessibility and waste might be addressed.

At this point we must turn to the pre-electronic age and the discovery of a scientific phenomenon that could come to our rescue in the modern age – supercriticality. Supercriticality is a physical characteristic of substances that are heated while being compressed and give rise to properties in the substance that are very different from the substance under normal conditions. For instance, if we heat liquid water above its boiling point the liquid is converted into gas, steam, and this evaporates into the atmosphere.

However, seal the liquid water in a high-pressure vessel and heat it above its boiling point and the water vapour cannot escape. Indeed, the liquid cannot even undergo the transition from liquid to gas if the pressure is high enough. It becomes a supercritical fluid (SCF). As such, SCFs are fluids above their boiling point that remain liquid, they are liquids with more thermal energy than the gas, but neither true liquid nor gas. The nineteenth century scientists who first worked with SCFs recognised that these fluids had properties that allowed them to dissolve other substances that are not normally soluble in the liquid whether that was water or an organic solvent.

Water, organic solvents, even carbon dioxide can form SCFs if the temperature and pressure they are exposed to render them above the supercritical point. An important point about SCFs, however, is that if the pressure is released the substance will quickly convert to gas and evaporate from the now-open pressure vessel. This characteristic has led to numerous applications for SCFs where they can be used to dissolve seemingly intractable substances, which can then be separated from whatever else they might be bound to, the SCF pressure is released, the fluid evaporates, and the separated substance is left behind.

Writing in the International Journal of Environment and Waste Management, a team from Iran have shown how SCFs can be used to dissolve metals in electronic components and so separate those metals from the plastics and other materials of the circuitry. Different metals present can be dissolved in different SCFs and so extracted efficiently in what might be considered an environmentally benign way without recourse to toxic and corrosive solvents and acids. Additionally, the vented SCF can be easily trapped by additional equipment so that the fluid itself, now entirely free of any dissolved component, can be re-used. This would apply to water, organic solvents, or carbon dioxide used as SCFs in extracting metals from electronic waste.

Seyed Mohammad Fayaz, Mohammad Ali Abdoli, Majid Baghdadi, and Abdolreza Karbassi of the University of Tehran, point out that the primary aim of SCFs in this context might simply be to remove harmful metals from a waste stream containing electronic devices and components. However, the additional benefit is so obviously the possibility of recovering those metals for re-use in industry.

Where electronics have not been processed in any way before and simply dumped or buried in landfill, those sites might now represent a rich seam that could be “mined” and processed using SCFs. There are vast quantities of rare and precious metals locked up in waste sites that could one day be tapped and allow manufacturers of the electronics on which depend so much to access the metals they need without having to surmount geopolitical barriers.

Fayaz, S.M., Abdoli, M.A., Baghdadi, M. and Karbassi, A. (2022) ‘Extraction of precious metals from electronic waste by using supercritical fluid technology’, Int. J. Environment and Waste Management, Vol. 29, No. 1, pp.95–109.

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Human Factors and Ergonomics

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Human Factors and Ergonomics are now available here for free:

• Intuitive and subtle motion-anticipatory auditory cues reduce motion sickness in self-driving cars
• Decision making in exceptional circumstances: experts' attitude towards artefacts as preparation for encountering unexpected situations
• Individual differences predict drivers hazard perception skills
• Integrated methods for analysing the causal factors in Australian maritime occupational accidents
• Flexible office, flexible working? A post-relocation study on how and why university employees use a combi-office for their activities at hand
• Application of a sense of coherence-based leadership for productivity and health at Scania
• A front- and rear-view assistant for older cyclists: evaluations on technical performance, user experience and behaviour

Special issue published: "Foreign Direct Investment and the Shadow Economy in the Aftermath of the Global Financial Crisis"

International Journal of Economics and Business Research 23(2) 2022

• Shadow economy and the efficiency of FDI inflow: the case of ASEAN economies
• Shadow economy and foreign direct investment in Nigerian manufacturing industry
• The determining factor of foreign direct investment: how significant are institutional aspects in developing countries?
• An empirical assessment of drivers of the informal micro and small enterprises: evidence from the city of Noida, India
• Inward and outward FDI and the shadow economy during the Greek Economic Crisis
• Artificial neural networks for developing early warning system for banking system: Indian context
• Managing Incoterms® 2020 export risks