Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Enterprise Network Management

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

• Improving mechanical strength on welded joints by using optimisation technique
• A study on the impact of psychological empowerment on motivation and satisfaction among the faculty working in the technical educational institutions in India based on age and work
• A study on the impact of macroeconomic indicators on the stock price by relaxing the assumptions of stationarity in time series data in a general linear model
• A literature review on the anomalies observed in the newsvendor ordering behaviour
• Mechanical integrity of PEEK bone plate in internal fixation of femur: experimental and finite element analysis towards performance measurement
• Swarm intelligence-based task scheduling algorithm for load balancing in cloud system

Special issue published: "Smart Computational Intelligence-Based Intelligent Control of Power Electronics Devices and its Application in Smartgrids"

International Journal of Power Electronics 15(3/4) 2022

• A modified type-2 neuro-fuzzy SVM-based inverter fed IM drive
• Genetic algorithm and anti-predatory swarm optimisation-based solutions for selective harmonic elimination in multilevel inverters
• Battery and super capacitor powered energy management scheme for EV/HEV using fuzzy logic controller and PID controller
• Application of artificial intelligence techniques in the operation of neutral-point clamped rectifier under perturbed conditions
• Virtual inertia support in the microgrid, its research challenges and its technology potentials in recent years
• Performance assessment of PV integrated model predictive controller-based hybrid filter for power quality improvement
• Analysis of tilt integral derivative controller-based automatic load frequency control of multi-area multi-source system
• Implementation of energy management in hybrid renewable energy island systems using soft computing techniques

Additional papers

• Design and implementation of constant flux controller for VSI assisted SEIG feeding induction motor pump
• Finite element and analytic equivalent circuit models for MSIM feeded by MPI controlled by SVPWM strategy to minimise circulation harmonic current
• Rooftop-based magnetically levitated VAWT with specially designed guide vanes for enhanced efficiency in distributed generation
• Research on power quality comprehensive control device under the situation of medium voltage and high power based on H-bridge cascade converter

New Editor for International Journal of Artificial Intelligence and Soft Computing

Prof. Gai-Ge Wang from the Ocean University of China has been appointed to take over editorship of the International Journal of Artificial Intelligence and Soft Computing.

Research pick: How do you know music was my first love? - "Music emotion recognition method based on multi feature fusion"

Software that can correlate musical changes in an audio recording of a song with perceived emotional content would be useful across the music industry, particularly in terms of cataloguing music and developing music recommendation systems for streaming services and sales. The same approach might also have utility in musical composition and music teaching as well as in music-based therapy. Research in the International Journal of Arts and Technology, recognizes that there are numerous limitations in the current software and points the way forward to how such software might be improved.

Yali Zhang of the School of Music at Henan Polytechnic in Zhengzhou, China, explains how earlier research has focused on training a probabilistic neural network to recognise the nuance of a piece of music and correlate it with the likely emotional responses intended by the composer. However, such work has large error margins that Zhang hopes to preclude in developing her new approach to music emotion recognition. Zhang’s approach involves processing the music signal in order to obfuscate a proportion of the low-frequency information that is not necessarily a part of the music’s emotional content. Her approach also frames the sound signal and then divides the frames by a window function so that they can be processed by the emotion recognition software. In addition, noise is reduced by time-domain endpoint detection, she adds.

With the sound file thus pre-processed, the matter of recognition can begin and this involves analyzing pitch changes, the rise and fall of tone, and the rate at which those changes occur. Zhang explains that a “weight coefficient” of musical emotion can thus be extracted from a sound file. The characteristics thus extracted for known sound files with human-described emotive content can then be used to train the system so that it can automatically recognise the emotive content in a previously uncategorized piece of music. The approach reduces the error margins seen in earlier work considerably making the categorization of musical emotive content much more accurate.

Zhang, Y. (2022) ‘Music emotion recognition method based on multi feature fusion’, Int. J. Arts and Technology, Vol. 14, No. 1, pp.10–23.

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Business Performance and Supply Chain Modelling

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Business Performance and Supply Chain Modelling are now available here for free:

• Manufacturing vs. remanufacturing: study and analysis of a green supply chain in Japan and Europe
• Redesign of supply chains for agricultural companies considering multiple scenarios by the methodology of sample average approximation
• Issues of biodiesel supply chain for public sector transportation in India
• A group evaluation method for supplier selection based on interval type-2 fuzzy TOPSIS method

Special issue published: "Digital Technologies for Enterprise Network Management"

International Journal of Enterprise Network Management 13(1) 2022

• An environment-adaptive distributed node joining approach and a secure cluster-based architecture for MANET
• Profile matching of online users across multiple social networks: a text mining approach
• Digital commerce in enterprises
• Design of an enterprise cloud-based intrusion detection system model, using back propagation network based on particle swarm optimisation algorithm
• Performance testing in lexical analysis on latest Twitter trends for enterprise network using PIG

Additional paper

• Engineering changes - research findings and future directions

Research pick: Finding a match on social media - "Profile matching of online users across multiple social networks: a text mining approach"

It is perhaps a significant concern that internet users willingly and sometimes unwittingly share their personal and private information through online social networks without a second thought for how that information might be used. There is an ongoing risk of identity theft and users being the victim of other cybercrimes such as scams and phishing attacks. The obverse of perceiving all this shared information is that for researchers hoping to understand the trends within society, the information offers a vast seam of data, opinions, and behaviour that could be mined to extract nuggets of information about humanity. It might even be used to predict how behaviour online and offline might change.

For researchers hoping to dig into this motherlode of data, however, there is a significant obstacle. Many users have accounts on many different social networks and do not necessarily maintain consistency in terms of biography, demographic, data, and identity per se, across the different platforms. Specifically, data obtained from a Facebook or LinkedIn profile can reveal demographic information, such as age, gender, sexuality, relationship status and relatives, race, education, and occupation. Facebook updates and those on Twitter can reveal psychographic information, such as attitude towards a product, online behaviour, and politics.

New research published in the International Journal of Enterprise Network Management, demonstrates an accurate way in which user profiles across different online social networks can be matched. Once matched it is then possible to couple all the demographic information obtained from one platform with the behavioural information from another. One would hope that such information might then be anonymised for the purposes of legitimate research. However, there is always the spectre of nefarious uses being plausible once such data mining tools are available.

Nevertheless, Deepesh Kumar Srivastava of the Institute of Management Technology Dubai in UAE and Basav Roychoudhury Indian Institute of Management Shillong in Meghalaya, India, have demonstrated a way to match profiles on different platforms. Their approach relies on extracting user-generated content and user-shared updates across the different platforms and analyzing it to find the overlap where a user is active on multiple platforms. Their text mining techniques extract high-frequency words and words commonly used in the users’ updates on social media platforms. They have tested the current iteration of their approach on publicly available data sets and demonstrated 72.5 per cent accuracy in matching a user’s profiles on different platforms.

Such a level of accuracy would be useful when coupled with other techniques, such as basic name and location matching and other relatively mundane data mining approaches. Even as a baseline from which to improve the approach it offers an excellent starting point. Future work will home in on overlapping characteristics in user chronology at the timeline level to improve matching where a user might duplicate the sentiment or content of a post on more than one platform and so reveal a match.

Srivastava, D.K. and Roychoudhury, B. (2022) ‘Profile matching of online users across multiple social networks: a text mining approach’, Int. J. Enterprise Network Management, Vol. 13, No. 1, pp.19–36.

Research pick: Correcting COVID-19 misinformation - "Effects of corrections on COVID-19-related misinformation: cross-media empirical analyses in Japan"

There has been serious discussion about COVID-19 misinfomation. That misinformation has most likely cost many people their lives, driven by messages from those with a hidden agenda to drive everyday people away from science-based medical advice. The question remains as to what is the best way to counter the stream of misinfomation and fake news. Might the mainstream, mass media be able to correct false perceptions about the pandemic and our response to it? Alternatively, is it that many people would respond and engage more fully with corrective information if that reaches them through social media?

Writing in the International Journal of Web Based Communities, a team from Japan has investigated what impact mass media and social media can have on public perception regarding COVID-19 misinfomation. Their model suggests that the way in which people respond to corrective information depends on their level of literacy and the sources that they trust the most.

Tsukasa Tanihara and Hidetaka Oshima of Keio University in Tokyo and Shinichi Yamaguchi and Tomoaki Watanabe of the International University of Japan, also in Tokyo, found that people with an interest and understanding of COVID-19 who saw misinfomation about the disease were more likely to respond to corrective information from the mass media. By contrast, those people with a lower level of literacy regarding the pandemic would more commonly be persuaded to shift their stance if the corrective information came from their social media networks instead. This latter finding, the team says, suggests that those who rely entirely on social media for corrective information may well not have the capacity to distinguish between the facts and the fake.

The findings could have important implications for the education of citizens in the present, ongoing pandemic and in future pandemics as well as in other spheres, such as political elections. The team concludes that it is better to utilize mass media to broadcast corrective information. Secondly, authorized corrections in social media need to be flagged to give them greater prominence so that they reach more people. Thirdly, corrective information must be engaging, if people are disinterested in a topic, they need to be persuaded to assimilate the corrective information before they will accept.

Tanihara, T., Yamaguchi, S., Watanabe, T. and Oshima, H. (2022) ‘Effects of corrections on COVID-19-related misinformation: cross-media empirical analyses in Japan’, Int. J. Web Based Communities, Vol. 18, No. 1, pp.41–63.

Special issue published: "Efficiency and Performance Trends Under the Impact of Climate Change, Technology, Ageing Population, Immigration and Religious Challenges"

Global Business and Economics Review 26(3) 2022

• Funds of hedge funds' role in portfolio diversification during crisis: the case of Cyprus
• Football industry stakeholders' salience and attributes - the case of Cyprus, EU
• The effect of religiosity and demographic variables on Arab women consumers' self-expression through luxury brands: a mixed methods study
• The impact of e-service on hotels' booking: adjusted TAM framework for customers' intentions to book hotels online
• Green controlling in medium-sized companies in Baden-Württemberg: an insight view
• Financial statement misrepresentation: the role of internal and external audit

Additional paper

• An analysis of joint effects of free cash flows and ownership concentration on corporate debt policy

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Arts and Technology

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

• Dynamic target image correction method of digital media based on virtual reality
• Music note position recognition in optical music recognition using convolutional neural network
• The method to capture the form of opera performance based on machine vision
• Anita Bermeo's transmedial artistic biography of her performatic character 'La Torera'
• Multi-note intelligent fusion method of music based on artificial neural network

Special issue published: "Innovative Technologies in the Era of Digital Marketing And E-Commerce"

International Journal of Technology Marketing 16(1/2) 2022

• The influence of consumer trust in consumer behaviour toward mobile payment applications amongst young professionals
• Online shopping during the Covid-19 crisis: the impact of anthropomorphic virtual agents on consumers' psychological states
• Factors influencing purchase intention of smartphone: a case of Gen Z Malaysian consumers
• Impact of Alibaba's Double 11 refund collapse event on consumer's willingness to participate
• Brand community and its impact on brand love and repurchase intention in the fashion industry context
• The use and effectiveness of social media marketing on firm's performance and value creation on stakeholders: evidence from Greek B2B exporting firms
• Customer engagement model and consumer behaviour within omnichannel retailing
• Are digital influencers social change catalysts? Empirical findings from the online apparel industry
• Factors affecting adoption of cloud-based services: evidence from an emerging market

Research pick: Networking COVID-19 - "Study of novel COVID-19 data using graph energy centrality: a soft computing approach"

Understanding how infectious diseases, such as COVID-19 (causative pathogen – SARS-CoV-2), spread requires a deep understanding of our social connections and networks. It is the way forward for efficient infection prevention and control, according to researchers writing in the International Journal of Medical Engineering and Informatics.

S. Mahadevi, Shyam S. Kamath, and D. Pushparaj Shetty of the Department of Mathematical and Computational Sciences at the National Institute of Technology Karnataka in Surathkal, Mangalore, India, explain how it is important that we have effective models of infectious disease, especially those with the potential to cause debilitating global pandemics. The team has used graph energy centrality to study COVID-19 data from South Korea (Korean Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) by building a transmission network from that data and also from the Johns Hopkins University data in the USA. The team has also used data from Australia, Canada, China, Germany, India, Italy, and elsewhere to help them validate their model.

The model allows them to home in on the most active nodes, the likely infectious superspreaders, within the network. If such nodes can be detected in a network before a disease has spread widely, those individuals, and perhaps even sites and events might be put under specific isolation rules to slow if not stave off the emergence of a pandemic. The researchers point out that many of the emergent human infectious diseases arise from wild animal hosts where the native virus or other pathogen is often endemic. A problem commonly arises when humans are interacting closely with those animals or other vectors of disease and the pathogen opportunistically makes the leap from species to species reaching a person who would essentially be Patient 0.

Subsequently, the detection of high-risk hosts is important for the management and monitoring of such diseases, especially the identification of those at risk with wide social networks. This will be critical in the face of the next lethal pandemic.

Mahadevi, S., Kamath, S.S. and Shetty, D.P. (2022) ‘Study of novel COVID-19 data using graph energy centrality: a soft computing approach’, Int. J. Medical Engineering and Informatics, Vol. 14, No. 3, pp.282–294.

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Web Based Communities

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Web Based Communities are now available here for free:

• Social distancing close together: the rhizomatic role of WhatsApp in communities - a proposed research framework
• Method of differential privacy protection for web-based communities based on adding noise to the centroid of positions
• Sustaining social capital online amidst social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic: web-based communities, their mitigating effects, and associated issues
• Web-based community-supported online education during the COVID-19 pandemic
• Remote working in the time of covid-19: developing a web-based community

Special issue published: "The 21st Korean Thermophysical Properties (KSTP) Conference"

International Journal of Nanotechnology 19(1) 2022

• Evaluation of high-speed rotation properties of LiCl-KCl molten salt with MgO binder
• Thermophysical properties of Ni-based Waspaloy alloy changed with tungsten, titanium and aluminium
• Effect of precipitation of silicone oil-based nanofluid on thermal conductivity
• Evaluation on the photothermal conversion performance of SiC nanofluid for a direct absorption solar collector
• Study on the optical characteristics according to the anion and cation in the ionic liquid and MWCNT ionanofluid
• Measurement of thermo-optic coefficient of silicon dioxide nanofluid using interferometer
• Measurement of thermal diffusivity of gold nanofluid according to particle size and temperature
• Evaluation of sorption test of iodide on carbon nanotubes to support anionic radionuclide immobilisation method
• Analysis of combustion characteristics using CPFD in 0.1 MWth oxy-fuel CFB
• Numerical study on thermophoresis of dust in air
• Analysis on measurement of hydrogen concentration in air mixture using 3 omega method

Free open access article available: "Influence of YouTube commercial communication on organic eWOM, purchase intent and purchase associations among young consumers"

The following paper, "Influence of YouTube commercial communication on organic eWOM, purchase intent and purchase associations among young consumers" (International Journal of Web Based Communities 18(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: Storytime marketing to millennials - "Story-telling in the digital space – a ploy to communicate with millennials"

Story telling is an ancient human trait. We were perhaps making manifest our imaginings even before we had the spoken word. In the modern world, stories are as important to us as they ever were and are crucial to many human endeavours in the creative arts, in scientific research, and, of course, in the commercial world. Work published in the International Journal of Business and Globalisation, investigates the way in which story telling in the digital realm can be used to influence the choices of millennial consumers.

The so-called millennials, otherwise known as Generation Y, represent those people born in the period spanning the early 1980s to the mid-1990s. The millennials are often thought of as the digital natives having been born into a world of increasingly mainstream information and communication technology. Precise definitions as to the exact dates spanned can vary from treatise to treatise, but 1981 and 1996 are usually considered the boundaries. Generation X preceded the millennials and they were born after the “Baby-boomers” from 1965 to 1980 approximately. They were succeeded by Generation Z (1997-2012) and the next cohort, Generation Alpha (early 20102 to mid-2020s)

Yukti Ahuja and Indu Loura of the Jagan Institute of Management Studies in Delhi, India, allude to the fact that marketers often struggle to engage with millennials. This generation is thought to be the first global generation, one that is highly engaged with ICT and perhaps not readily coerced by the older generation hoping to exploit them using such technology. Their interests are varied and extravagant but are also cynical of inauthenticity and efforts by marketers and advertisers to create fake virality around products.

Companies that can create an authentic story without patently attempting to exploit their target audience, however, can reap the rewards. After all, millennials need to acquire goods and utilize services just as every previous generation and every future generation. Suffice to say, they simply find efforts to patronize them online wholly transparent in a way that the older generation raised on conventional media may not.

Ultimately, millennials, and indeed others, expect authenticity. They are more likely to be enticed if the offering does not seem fake if the “story” around a given marketing drive captures their imagination in a non-patronising way and offers them a product or service in such a way that engages them. At this point, they will feel able to be parted from their hard-earned cash.

Ahuja, Y. and Loura, I. (2022) ‘Story-telling in the digital space – a ploy to communicate with millennials’, Int. J. Business and Globalisation, Vol. 30, No. 1, pp.3–13.

Free open access article available: "Global Halal business: a sectoral analysis"

The following paper, "Global Halal business: a sectoral analysis" (International Journal of Business and Globalisation 30(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 Nanotechnology

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

• Modelling the effect of crack formation on the actuation behaviour of ionic polymer metal composite
• Improved logic performance with semiconducting graphene nano mesh double gate field effect transistor
• Carrier depletion type PIN phase shifter in silicon MZM for 200 Gbps operation
• Analysis of forced convective heat transfer through nanofluids around a square cylinder using Eulerian-Eulerian mixture modelling
• Thermally radiative flow of a viscoelastic nanofluid with Newtonian heating
• A flexible and wearable joint motion sensor using triboelectric nanogenerators for hand gesture monitoring
• Radiative 3D-MHD flow of an aqueous ethylene glycol nanofluid past a two-way exponentially extending lamina
• Hybrid piezoelectric nanogenerator based on PVDF film and vertically aligned ZnO nanorods for energy harvesting applications
• Synthesis, characterisation of nanoporous AlSiO4-5 and AlSiO4-12 catalysts, and its green catalytic application of CO2 decomposition
• Role of water temperature in laser induced breakdown at nickel-water interface for generation of nickel oxide nanocolloids
• Structural, dielectric and magnetic properties of double perovskite-La2CoNiO6 ceramics synthesised by wet chemical route
• Influence of nickel dopant concentration on structural, optical, magnetic and electrochemical properties of TiO2 nanoparticle
• Influence of dispersion technique/time on dispersion stability, aspect ratio and morphology of multi-walled carbon nanotubes
• Ethanolic bark extract of Terminalia arjuna mediated biogenic silver nanoparticles and their antimicrobial and anticancer activities
• Fabrication of biocomposite sheets from silk cocoons for tissue engineering applications
• Biogenic systems of mesoporous silica and its potential application in agrochemical delivery system
• Antimicrobial activity study of Ag-ZnO nanoflowers synthesised from neem extract and application in cotton textiles
• Mesoporous CuO nanocatalysts for oxidative degradation of persistent organic pollutants
• Graphene quantum dots doped conducting polymer nanocomposite for high performance supercapacitor application
• Hydrothermal synthesis of silicon nanosphere embedded on carbon nanotubes for high-performance lithium-ion batteries
• Influence of nano alumina addition on the properties of SiC refractories
• Synthesis of ZnO-Ni flower like nanostructure for gas sensing application
• Removal of anionic dye Eriochrome Black-T using nanocomposites derived from slag
• Iron oxide slag nanocomposites in removal of hexavalent chromium
• Effective synthesis of metal loaded nitrogen doped multi walled carbon nanotubes for the degradation of Congo Red dye
• Zeolitic Imidazolate Framework-8 as promising nanoparticles for arsenic removal from aqueous solution
• Solvent composition induced structure control of cadmium sulphide nanoparticles and investigations on photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue
• Protonation of qunioxaline-tetrathiafulvalene (TTF) based derivatives: substituent effect on charge-transfer complexes
• Synthesis of dip coated bismuth vanadium oxide (BiVO4) with iron oxyhydroxides (FeOOH) for photoelectrochemical water splitting applications
• Influence of solvent on morphological texture and catalytic activity of SnO2 nanoparticles

Research pick: COVID-19 and eating habits - "Dietary and eating behaviours during COVID-19 pandemic: with an emphasis on the impact of self-isolation and quarantine on body weight"

What effect have self-isolation and quarantine had on body weight and diet during the COVID-19 pandemic. Research published in the International Journal of Environment and Health looks at this troubling issue.

The emergence of a novel coronavirus towards the end of 2019 and the subsequent global pandemic have left few people unaffected by the disease. One significant aspect now being seen as a serious problem is the issue of diet and weight gain among those living under rules aimed at reducing the spread of the disease through lockdown and self-isolation. Behnaz Shahrokhisahneh of the Department of Nutrition and Dietetics at Cihan University-Erbil in Iraq has investigated this issue through a review of some 21 research papers encompassing the diets and body metrics of almost 30000 people.

She found that overall, very few people showed signs of eating disorders during the pandemic. However, many of them did gain weight and many of them displayed behaviour one might refer to as “emotional eating”, presumably induced by the stresses and strains of lockdowns and self-isolation. Overall, around half of the populations considered in the research works showed signs of unhealthy eating during the pandemic. Conversely, that does imply that half of those people practiced healthy eating habits despite the worldwide concerns surrounding COVID-19.

Shahrokhisahneh suggests that more research is urgently needed to investigate the issues surrounding diet and eating during a pandemic of this scale. Given that obesity is a significant risk factor for morbidity in COVID-19, it is rather poignant that this should be done. Moreover, there is a need to look at the issue in a more granular manner at the individual country level to see what impact different lockdown rules and regulations had on the diet and eating habits of each nation’s citizens. There is a need to provide insights for policymakers as we continue to live with COVID-19 and indeed for any future pandemic where widespread lockdowns and isolation will be required again.

Shahrokhisahneh, B. (2021) ‘Dietary and eating behaviours during COVID-19 pandemic: with an emphasis on the impact of self-isolation and quarantine on body weight’, Int. J. Environment and Health, Vol. 10, Nos. 3/4, pp.243–269.

Free open access article available: "Stakeholder legitimacy and efficiency: the case of innovation at the Port of Tema, Ghana"

The following paper, "Stakeholder legitimacy and efficiency: the case of innovation at the Port of Tema, Ghana" (International Journal of Business and Globalisation 31(1) 2022), is freely available for download as an open access article.

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

Special issue published: "Emerging Trends and Challenges in the Globalised Digital Era" (includes free open access articles)

International Journal of Business and Globalisation 30(1) 2022

• Story-telling in the digital space - a ploy to communicate with millennials
• Determinants of customer experience management and its impact on experience quality in the tourism industry in India
• Impact of organisational trust, commitment and team orientation on industrial disputes - an empirical study on selected manufacturing companies of West Bengal
• Mounting of stress on management graduates and its effect on their performance
• Understanding the effect of entrepreneurial orientation, innovation capability and differentiation strategy on firm performance: a study on small and medium enterprises
• Enhancing student's learning through trading simulation: a vehicle for experiential learning: an action research [OPEN ACCESS]
• Stakeholder legitimacy and efficiency: the case of innovation at the Port of Tema, Ghana [OPEN ACCESS]
• Global Halal business: a sectoral analysis [OPEN ACCESS]

Free open access article available: "Enhancing student's learning through trading simulation: a vehicle for experiential learning: an action research"

The following paper, "Enhancing student's learning through trading simulation: a vehicle for experiential learning: an action research" (International Journal of Business and Globalisation 30(1) 2022), is freely available for download as an open access article. 

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

New Editor for International Journal of Experimental Design and Process Optimisation

Prof. John Kechagias from the University of Thessaly in Greece has been appointed to take over editorship of the International Journal of Experimental Design and Process Optimisation.

Research pick: Over-stimulating animated advertising - "Advertising in app: a neuroscientific approach"

Eye-tracking technology has been used to investigate how well users engage with animated advertisements in a mobile application. The results published in the International Journal of Internet Marketing and Advertising, reveal that users tend to avoid focusing on complex advertisements that are over-stimulating. The finding reinforces earlier evidence of a cognitive workload.

Federico Cassioli and Michela Balconi of the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Milan, Italy, wanted to understand how users respond to animated advertisements. Earlier evidence had suggested that many users become less engaged with such distracting and over-stimulating content. This, of course, has important implications for marketing and those designing advertisements for display within applications.

Animated advertisements have become commonplace as in-app marketing tools. They assume that users will be more engaged with such content than with a static advertisement and so will be more likely to make a purchase. However, there is a huge degree of saturation with this kind of advertising that must vie with engaging creative content and the applications themselves for user attention. Nevertheless, the team writes, “Ubiquitous connectivity is the fundamental key for the exponential growth of customer daily touchpoints with companies.”

The always-connected user, or moreover, consumer, can be reached with much greater efficiency and efficacy than ever before. In addition, the nature of smartphone applications, web 2.0, and social media also means that those very companies have access to personal and even private information about putative consumers – habits, previous purchases and preferences, work, hobbies, day-to-day lives, of which their forebears could only have dreamed. It is, however, up to the marketing executives and advertising people to utilize this wealth of information and accessibility to consumers to their advantage to sell their products and services.

If the advertisers’ current approach is conspiring against them from the start then they will inevitably fail and new approaches guided by research such as that by Cassioli and Balconi must be taken as a nudge away from the conventional towards those new marketing methods. The eye-tracking study revealed that over-stimulating animated advertisements are not the way forward, the marketing executives perhaps need to find a compromise that engages putative customers without deterring interaction.

The team suggests that interstitial advertisements might become increasingly useful to companies. In addition, advertisements that fall into the “reward” category, whereby consumers benefit directly from greater interaction with a brand and its products through an advertisement, could become more commonplace. Such an approach rewards users in some way for interacting with the advertisement thus enticing them towards the marketing offer in a subtle manner and thence a purchase.

Cassioli, F. and Balconi, M. (2022) ‘Advertising in app: a neuroscientific approach’, Int. J. Internet Marketing and Advertising, Vol. 16, No. 3, pp.257–270.

Free open access article available: "Computational offloading framework using caching and cloud service selection in mobile cloud computing"

The following paper, "Computational offloading framework using caching and cloud service selection in mobile cloud computing" (International Journal of Advanced Intelligence Paradigms 21(3/4) 2022), is freely available for download as an open access article.

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

Special issue published: "Vehicle Safety: Design and Assessment"

International Journal of Vehicle Design 86(1/2/3/4) 2021

• Reliability evaluation method of vehicle acceleration sensor based on vector control
• Translation of SysML diagram into mathematical Petri net model for quantitative reliability analysis of airbag system
• Design and development of quad bike chassis frame
• Fault diagnosis and failure analysis of motor controller by the approach of Bayesian inference
• Speed control of vehicle automatic driving system based on 5G vehicle network
• Research on vehicle's collision avoidance warning system based on trajectory data mining
• A tracking control method for collision avoidance trajectory of autonomous vehicle based on multi-constraint MPC
• Research on feature extraction of vehicle abnormal driving behaviour based on 5G internet of vehicles
• Collision-warning system integrated with merging behaviour prediction model based on multi-sensor fusion
• Design and simulation of a pedestrian protection airbag using corpuscular particle method

Research pick: COVID life and death in Brazil - "Multilevel evidence on how policymakers may reduce avoidable deaths due to COVID-19: the case of Brazil"

There is much disinformation surrounding the preventative measures that have been implemented across the globe in order to reduce the spread of the coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, and deaths from the disease it causes COVID-19. However, the research suggests that many of the measures, including social distancing, lockdown, face-covering mandates, and vaccination, all help reduce infection rates, hospitalisations, and deaths regardless of the disinformation.

Writing in the International Journal of Mathematics in Operational Research, a team from Brazil and the UK looks at the case of Brazil and shows, using two levels of evidence, how social distancing through lockdown measures led to a significant reduction in COVID-19 in those states that adopted this approach to controlling the disease. Political disagreement between state and the federal government over the implementation of different measures and different levels of flexibility in those measures in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic meant that there were significant differences between the approaches taken by the 27 Brazilian states.

Rafael de Freitas Souza, Luiz Paulo Fávero, and Hamilton Luiz Corrêa of the University of São Paulo, and Michel Ferreira Cardia Haddad of the University of Cambridge, explain that in a lethal pandemic, the decisions made by policymakers can mean the difference between life and death for many people.

“Within the context of political battles where science is constantly questioned by populism, such as the one experienced in Brazil, then the adherence to social isolation – even partially implemented – is considerably more effective compared to the lack of such measures,” the team writes. Their conclusion is supported by their analysis as well as evidence from a number of independent studies, they add.

Latin America was hit by the pandemic later than many other regions, but it was hit harder than some. Given that we are still in the grip of the COVID-19 pandemic with its emerging variants and outbreaks, despite measures taken and the development of vaccines and treatments, it is important that policymakers are presented with evidence-based information rather than disinformation so that the right decisions can be made regarding how we approach the ongoing pandemic and how we address the problems that the next pandemic will bring.

de Freitas Souza, R., Fávero, L.P., Ferreira Cardia Haddad, M. and Luiz Corrêa, H. (2022) ‘Multilevel evidence on how policymakers may reduce avoidable deaths due to COVID-19: the case of Brazil’, Int. J. Mathematics in Operational Research, Vol. 21, No. 3, pp.321–337.

Free open access article available: "Limits of the concepts of organisational learning and learning organisation for government-owned international development agencies"

The following paper, "Limits of the concepts of organisational learning and learning organisation for government-owned international development agencies" (International Journal of Public Sector Performance Management 9(3) 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 Applied Pattern Recognition

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

• A comprehensive survey on the reduction of the semantic gap in content-based image retrieval
• Exploring the mel scale features using supervised learning classifiers for emotion classification
• Nature inspired hybrid algorithms for binding shared key with user trait
• A hybrid gene selection model for molecular breast cancer classification using a deep neural network

Special issue published: "Emerging Research Trends in Engineering, Science and Technology"

International Journal of Cloud Computing 11(2) 2022

• Software defined networking: a crucial approach for cloud computing adoption
• Performance comparison of various techniques for automatic licence plate recognition systems
• Comparative analysis of different polynomial interpolations for implementing key management techniques in MANETs
• A survey of multi-signature schemes for XML documents

Additional paper

• Autonomic scalability control for cloud workloads with Bayesian network

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Value Chain Management

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

• Competence development needs for micro-enterprises entering servitisation
• A model ISM-MICMAC for managing risk in agri-food supply chain: an investigation from the Andean region of Peru
• Struggling with conservatism: entrepreneurships' challenges in business model design
• Willingness to adopt aquaculture as an alternative livelihood option - a case study of the fishers and livestock farmers of Adamawa State, Nigeria
• Involving suppliers in collaborative new product development: comparing large and small firms

Research pick: Modelling superspreader events - "Modelling the potential role of super spreaders on COVID-19 transmission dynamics"

The term “superspreader event” has become well known since the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, although such events are not without precedence throughout history. Such an event involving a large gathering of people wherein several individuals are carriers of an infectious disease spread the disease to those with whom they come into contact at the event and thence those newly infected individuals take away with them the potential to spread the disease to family, friends, work colleagues and many others.

Williams Chukwu of the Division of Infectious Diseases and Global Public Health at the University of California San Diego, USA and colleagues at the University of Zimbabwe and the University of Johannesburg, South Africa, explain that superspreader events can increase the public healthcare burden considerably in a short space of time. The researchers have now developed a mathematical model to look at the dynamics of the spread of COVID-19 at large events.

Their model takes into account two important variables that must be considered in assessing the risk and ultimate impact of large-scale events in the face of a major infectious disease: clinical, infectivity level and social or environmental contact level. Ultimately, it provides a way to assess the likely effect on wider public health of running large-scale events and what control measures might be put in place to reduce the risk of such an event being a superspreader.

Indeed, the measures the team suggests in the International Journal of Mathematical Modelling and Numerical Optimisation are those that have been implemented in many parts of the world with varying degrees of success in this pandemic and in previous pandemics – social distancing, curfews, wearing of face masks, use of hand sanitizers, and other measures. The team points out that the adoption and efficacy of vaccination programs should also be taken into account to reflect a more realistic model, where such programs have been instigated and events are being held.

Mushanyu, J., Chukwu, W., Nyabadza, F. and Muchatibaya, G. (2022) ‘Modelling the potential role of super spreaders on COVID-19 transmission dynamics’, Int. J. Mathematical Modelling and Numerical Optimisation, Vol. 12, No. 2, pp.191–209.

Special issue published: "Advances in Computational Intelligence and Data Science"

International Journal of Data Mining, Modelling and Management 14(1) 2022

• Investigation of contraction process issue in fuzzy min-max models
• Plagiarism detection of figure images in scientific publications
• Arabic text semantic-based query expansion
• A hybrid feature selection method combining Gini index and support vector machine with recursive feature elimination for gene expression classification
• Fast parallel computation of PageRank scores with improved convergence time

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

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

• Experimental investigation on abrasive water jet polishing of stainless steel: a preliminary study
• Laser surface texturing and tribological behaviour under solid lubrication on titanium and titanium alloy surfaces
• Surface modification of carbonised waste rice husks by mild hydrothermal treatment
• Root cause analysis of pitting corrosion of AA2024 and AA7075 after exposure in salt fog environment
• An assessment of erosive wear of hydro-turbine steel using statistical modelling and optimisation

New Editor for International Journal of Ultra Wideband Communications and Systems

Prof. Maria-Gabriella Di Benedetto from the University of Rome La Sapienza in Italy has been appointed to take over editorship of the International Journal of Ultra Wideband Communications and Systems.

Special issue published: "Recent Advancements in Commercial Vehicle Roll Dynamics Study"

International Journal of Vehicle Performance 8(2/3) 2022

• Mathematical model for farm tractors towing single axle trailer rollover prediction
• A light-duty truck model for the analysis of on-center handling characteristics
• GA tuned H∞ roll acceleration controller based on series active variable geometry suspension on rough roads
• Roll stability enhancement in a full dynamic ground-tour vehicle model based on series active variable-geometry suspension
• Roll dynamics of long combination semi-trailers with steerable axles
• Active trailer braking control for car-trailer combination based on multi-objective fuzzy algorithm
• Effect of off-centred loading on roll stability of multi-trailer trucks
• Analytical and experimental investigation of roll stability of a truck towing a special purpose trailer with no suspension
• A comparative study of tail air-deflector designs on aerodynamic drag reduction of medium-duty trucks
• Numerical modelling of explosively formed projectiles compared with experiments and results of a numerical sensitivity study

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

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

• Corrosive nature of the wetting behaviour modified AISI 304 stainless steel with a surface microgroove
• Development and wear resistance evaluation of epoxy resin composite reinforced with cow horn and corn cob
• Sol-gel preparation of bioactive nanoporous (Al2O3: CuO: SiO2): dielectric properties and wastewater decontamination
• Effect of Cu co-doping on the microstructure and optical properties of alumino-zinc thin films for optoelectronic applications
• Friction and wear behaviour of HVOF sprayed Cr2O3-TiO2 coatings on aluminium alloy

Special issue published: "Smart Learning Environment"

International Journal of Innovation and Learning 31(3) 2022

• Defining virtual reality enabled learning
• Promoting collaborative innovation and disciplinary integration in maker education through augmented reality: a design-based research
• The acceptance of the online gamification learning platform by higher education students in hospitality and tourism
• The impact of thinking tools on the argumentation skills of pre-service science teachers in flipped learning
• Creating a critical culture to cultivate students' critical thinking: a case study of a media literacy course in Japan
• A study of flipped offline and online computer programming courses in a Japanese university
• A case study exploring the negative emotions of teachers specialising in synchronous online classes

Free open access article available: "WOM credibility and eWOM credibility and their consequences for engagement"

The following paper, "WOM credibility and eWOM credibility and their consequences for engagement" (International Journal of Business Environment 13(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: When social irresponsibility goes viral - "Evaluating the effects of corporate social irresponsibility on brand hate and its behavioural outcomes"

Branding is everything in marketing and the public perception of a company and its products and services. If consumers engage with a brand, if they love a brand, they are likely to be repeat customers and moreover will often be evangelical in their representation of a brand to other people whether in the online or offline world.

But, as there is brand love, so there can be brand hate. The concept is discussed in the context of corporate social irresponsibility in the International Journal of Business Governance and Ethics. Whereas much research has focus on the positivity of brand love, a team from Iran has investigated its opposite brand love and found that when corporate entities are irresponsible at the social level this can reflect negatively on their brand identity and consequently be reflected in changing the behaviour of customers detrimentally.

In the digital age, many companies have come to recognise that they must have a strong and positive presence on the internet. Initially, this would have been in the form of a website and conventional advertising of that site in the media and on other websites. The advent of Web 2.0 and the era of so-called social media brought with it new opportunities for engaging with consumers and potential customers where electronic word-of-mouth allowed the crowd to almost dictate the public perception of a brand.

The notion of “going viral” became the dream of marketing executives everywhere hoping to push their product or service to a wider and wider audience. The public relations nightmare was when bad news about the company or its products took the same viral route. Indeed, earlier research has already shown that negative emotions surrounding a brand can have a greater impact than the positive on, in that case, detrimental brand awareness. When they once said no news is bad news, this really is not the case in the world of social media where a reputation can be destroyed by the crowd in an instant and a product “cancelled” for any of countless reasons.

The work of Elaheh Roozbahani and Reza Salehzadeh of Shahid Ashrafi Esfahani University in Isfahan and Seyed Mehdi Mirmehdi of the University of Malayer in Malayer supports the idea that “Brands that do not operate in accordance with the consumer’s perception of ethical, legal, and social issues are not ideologically compatible with consumers, which leads to negative emotions and brand hate. Irresponsible behaviour in society ultimately leads to a negative reaction from that society. Companies from the ownership and board level down to the “shop floor” need to be aware of this and adjust their stance so that they and their brands take a more ethical and moral stance for the sake of society and for the sake of their bottom line.

Roozbahani, E., Salehzadeh, R. and Mirmehdi, S.M. (2022) ‘Evaluating the effects of corporate social irresponsibility on brand hate and its behavioural outcomes’, Int. J. Business Governance and Ethics, Vol. 16, No. 2, pp.158–175.

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Computing Science and Mathematics

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

• A gray wolf algorithm for feature and parameter selection of support vector classification
• Research on robot optimal path planning method based on improved ant colony algorithm
• A modification of nonlinear feedback controller
• Self-adaptive network structure tuning method based on NSGA-III
• Research and application of Lasso regression model based on prior coefficient framework
• A rational spectral collocation method for solving Fredholm integral equations on the whole line
• Smart grid planning method based on multi-objective particle swarm optimisation algorithm
• A rapid optimisation method of TSPs based on water centripetal motion
• The discrete topology of time operator in closed quantum dynamical systems: the case of a finite wave collapse

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Sustainable Society

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

• Local participation in the management of protected areas: legitimate claims and unfulfilled promises: a case study of Wadi El Gemal Protected Area in Egypt
• Functional needs and residents' motivation towards visiting a neighbourhood park
• What we know about volunteer tourism - an approach to motivations and impacts
• Measuring the effectiveness of e-government in Malaysia: does information literacy matter?

Special issue published: "The North American Auto Sector from Nafta to Usmca: The Road Ahead"

International Journal of Automotive Technology and Management 22(1) 2022

• Trade agreements and the geography of motor vehicle production in North America and Europe
• Emerging models of networked industrial policy: recent trends in automotive policy in the USA and Germany
• Why Industry 4.0 is not enhancing national and regional resiliency in the global automotive industry
• COVID-19 and industrial resilience in the Global South. A case study on the auto parts sector in Mexico
• New trade rules, technological disruption and COVID-19: prospects for Ontario in the cross-border Great Lakes automotive industry
• The USMCA and the Mexican automobile industry: Towards a new labor model?

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

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

• A novel neuro-fuzzy-based localisation system for WSN using node proximity
• A novel optimal road layout model based on urban cloud data
• Graph-based recommendation by trust
• Research on the on-demand scheduling algorithm of intelligent routing load based on SDN
• Big data network security index correlation measure based on the fusion of modified two order cone programming model
• Wireless sensor networks secure routing algorithm based on trust value computation
• Integrated monitoring algorithms for software data security situation on private cloud computing platform

Research pick: Luxury brands and COVID-19 - "Digital luxury retailing and the COVID-19 pandemic: a qualitative study"

Luxury brands represent an important part of the global economy, albeit one that is generally accessible only to a small proportion of the world population. Research into the world of digital retailing in this realm has always been sparse in the marketing and business literature. As such, it is difficult to visualise the norms that have changed in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and its so-called new-normal. Work in the International Journal of Electronic Marketing and Retailing, offers a qualitative study that hopes to provide some insights into the world of luxury brands.

Giuseppe Colella and Cesare Amatulli of the Ionian Department in ‘Mediterranean Legal and Economic Systems: Society, Environment, Culture’ at the University of Bari ‘Aldo Moro’ in Taranto, Italy, point out that several earlier studies focused on the role that digital technologies have played in the communication surrounding luxury brands but have not widely investigated the digital retail distribution strategies of those providing luxury brands.

The researchers explain that despite the rapid advent of the internet and the current accessibility of social media and other such tools, many luxury goods companies have been hesitant in adopting strategic online distribution and sales systems. The perceived fear is that in the digital world they may not be able to ensure the quality, exclusivity and tradition, that are commonly associated with their luxury brands. They add that luxury brands must strengthen their relationships with digital retail channels so that they can provide a new kind of shopping experience for consumers of luxury goods and attain and maintain their dominant positions in the market.

The team has used a qualitative and exploratory approach with semi-structured one-to-one interviews with experts from a leading digital marketing company in order to develop some initial insights and offer markers for which avenues future research in this area might follow.

“Given the current global economic scenario, battered as it is by the COVID-19 pandemic, luxury industry leaders must be committed to longer-term strategic planning,” the team writes. “In this sense, e-commerce could be a crucial channel for maintaining sales, communicating with consumers, and driving new consumer activation.” They add that “digital marketing could help boost online sales, on the one hand, while enticing consumers to discover and visit stores once they reopen, on the other.”

Colella, G. and Amatulli, C. (2022) ‘Digital luxury retailing and the COVID-19 pandemic: a qualitative study’, Int. J. Electronic Marketing and Retailing, Vol. 13, No. 2, pp.157–189.

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Embedded Systems

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

• DCNet: diffusion convolutional networks for semantic image segmentation
• Multi-level spatial attention network for image data segmentation
• An analysis on power consumption and performance in runtime hardware reconfiguration
• Modular transformation of embedded systems from firm-cores to soft-cores
• Quantum image filtering and its reversible logic circuit design
• A movie recommendation model combining time information and probability matrix factorisation
• A combination classification method based on Ripper and Adaboost
• Design and implementation of a cloud encryption transmission scheme supporting integrity verification
• Selection gate-based networks for semantic relation extraction

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Data Mining, Modelling and Management

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Data Mining, Modelling and Management are now available here for free:

• Hash-processing of universal quantification-like queries dealing with requirements and prohibitions
• Distributed heterogeneous ensemble learning on Apache Spark for ligand-based virtual screening
• Recommendation of items using a social-based collaborative filtering approach and classification techniques
• Efficient deployment approach of wireless sensor networks on 3D terrains
• Convolutional neural network with stacked autoencoders for predicting drug-target interaction and binding affinity
• An ontology-based modelling and reasoning for alerts correlation
• Graph-based cumulative score using statistical features for multilingual automatic text summarisation
• A formal theoretical framework for a flexible classification process
• An enhanced cooperative method to solve multiple-sequence alignment problem

Special issue published: "Advances in Approaches and Methods for Decision Making Using Optimisation and Artificial Intelligence Techniques"

International Journal of Intelligent Enterprise 9(2) 2022

• The effect of travel safety experience on passengers' satisfaction
• Sustainable supply chain risk mitigation: a mixed method approach
• Gender differences in the perception of the quality of college life in a Spanish university
• Performance measurement of various AI techniques for energy estimation and its optimisation using sensitivity analysis
• Optimisation of software release time using adaptive neuro fuzzy approach
• Grey-based decision-making approach for the selection of distributor in a supply chain
• Customer experience evaluation of the car rental industry in Delhi NCR

Additional papers

• Management accounting insight via a new perspective on risk management - companies' profitability relationship
• Role of advertising and promotional strategies in shaping consumer brand attitude regarding consumer durable retailers in Vietnam

Research pick: Figuring out academic plagiarism - "Plagiarism detection of figure images in scientific publications"

There is an urgent need to address the apparently growing problem of plagiarism in academia. Writing in the International Journal of Data Mining, Modelling and Management, a team from Saudi Arabia has focused on one particular aspect of plagiarism where an author uses images stolen from another source and passed them off as their own without due credit to the original content creator and how this might be detected using technology. Images and figures within a research paper may represent hard-fought experimental data or even core concepts within the research and so are critical to the scientific endeavour.

Taiseer Abdalla Elfadil Eisa of the King Khalid University Mahayil in Asir, explains that detecting plagiarism in the figures and images used in a research publication is particularly challenging, not least because of the complexity of the requisite analysis and comparison but also because of the vast number of research papers published in journals each year. The research looks at a technique that can analyse textual content and structure of the figures in a paper. Image processing and semantic mapping are employed, Eisa explains.

“In scientific publications, quantitative information, results of experiments, frameworks, and statistical facts are represented in infographic form, such as figures, charts, and tables, rather than in text forms,” Eisa explains. “However, less attention has been paid to detecting plagiarism in these non-textual elements of scientific publication.” The current study addresses this issue directly by overcoming the limitation of current text-matching tools to extract information for comparison from non-textual components of an image, such as a flowchart. The approach can identify shapes within an image, describe those and their relationships within the image textually and annotate this with OCR (optical character recognition) of any text within those shapes.

The approach improves significantly on existing methods, Eisa writes, addressing the problem of text within shapes in a figure in a way that other approaches have not managed.

Eisa, T.A.E. (2022) ‘Plagiarism detection of figure images in scientific publications’, Int. J. Data Mining, Modelling and Management, Vol. 14, No. 1, pp.15–29.

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

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

• Estimating the welfare loss due to vehicle tariffs in Malaysia
• Going digital, going green: changing production networks in the automotive industry in China
• Robomobility for collective transport: a prospective user centric view
• Tapping into market opportunities in aging societies - the example of advanced driver assistance systems in the transition to autonomous driving
• Innovation radar for disruptive technology insertion: the case of autonomous vehicles in Brazil and France
• Factors of diffusion of innovations: analysis of the literature of autonomous vehicles
• Autonomous shuttles for collective transport: a worldwide benchmark

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of High Performance Systems Architecture

The following sample articles from the International Journal of High Performance Systems Architecture are now available here for free:

• Game theoretical approach for a fair and effective pricing strategy in cloud computing
• Research on frontiers of space-ground integration information network
• New digital signature algorithm based on ECC and its application in bitcoin and IoT
• Improving performance of the symmetrical evolutionary ciphering system SEC
• LSTM-based earthquake prediction: enhanced time feature and data representation

Special issue published: "Global Food Security: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Improving Food Supply Chains"

International Journal of Postharvest Technology and Innovation 8(2/3) 2022

• Alternaria in apples: the hidden menace
• Incidence of mycobiota and aflatoxin B1 in Algerian feed
• Scaling-up urban agriculture for a healthy, sustainable and resilient food system: the postharvest benefits, challenges and key research gaps
• Viability of raisin production by natural drying methods
• Innovative and sustainable solutions to reduce postharvest losses
• The effect of wash water chlorine content on the pinking discolouration of fresh cut Iceberg lettuce
• Impact of ripeness stage and supply chain conditions on quality and bioactive compounds of 'Ambrunés' picota-type sweet cherries

Additional papers

• Postharvest pod storage and maturity effects on specialty cacao pulp quality
• Effects of moisture content on some physical attributes of the seeds of three accessions of winged bean (Psophocarpus tetragonolobus L.)
• Assessing the effect of access on the use of improved seed cleaning technologies; challenges and opportunities among farmers in the Kamuli district-Uganda
• Postharvest quality of two eggplant (Solanum melongena L.) cultivars as influenced by storage in ambient and evaporative cooling conditions

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Entrepreneurial Venturing

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

• Double jeopardy: striving for dual legitimacy in Russian family firms
• The link between interpersonal and interorganisational networking: the role of start-up members' achievement-related affect
• Suspense: exploring a new lens for outcome uncertainty in entrepreneurship
• Digital due diligence activities and goal setting in equity crowdfunding: exploring the differences between novice and experienced investors

New Editor for International Journal of Masonry Research and Innovation

Prof. Antonio Formisano from the University of Naples in Italy has been appointed to take over editorship of the International Journal of Masonry Research and Innovation. His predecessor, Prof. Gabriele Milani, will remain with the journal as its Honorary Editor.

Research pick: Developing music streaming - "Examining the continuous usage intention and behaviours of music streaming subscribers"

Until the invention of audio recording devices, the music industry as it was involved live performance and the selling of sheet music for people to play their favourite pieces at home. The invention of recording and playback devices led to a shift to a more one-sided approach to the sharing and appreciation of music where listeners became more passive. The “record industry” would go on to sell millions and millions of units to music fans throughout the twentieth century, regurgitating old material as new technology, such as the compact disc (CD) player, emerged.

The industry saw an abrupt change in the early 21st century as the personal computer and personal audio devices became ubiquitous, access to the internet more widespread and with the invention of software that could extract sound files from CDs, compress them, and then allow users to share those files without limitations. The age of file-sharing had arrived. For many years, the record industry floundered, attempting in vain to block access to the sites and software that allowed millions of music fans to share recorded music with millions of others with impunity and without hindrance regardless of copyright laws.

However, the technology companies recognised that there was likely to be no way of blocking the endless peer-to-peer networks that allowed file sharing and they began, in earnest, to develop novel approaches to music dissemination that might engage the many millions of music fans that had turned away from CDs and were listening to downloads – streaming. Music streaming would become an advertising-led, subscription (freemium or premium) model that would give fans instantaneous access to almost any piece of recorded music that cared to access, on-demand.

There are many music fans who continue to listen to their CDs and there are many that persist with the copyright-busting P2P networks, torrents, and other file-sharing systems. There are even fans who favour the analogue world of vinyl. However, the market for music streaming has grown steadily and access to high-speed internet on mobile phones and other portable devices has led to a shift towards those services. Research in the International Journal of Electronic Business considers the continuous usage intention of subscribers to the music streaming services, such as Apple Music, Spotify, JOOX, and Google Play Music, in a developing nation.

The developing world obviously represents a vast and growing market for these and countless other music streaming services. Shih Yee Yeoh, Xavier J.P. Yuntavid, and Phaik Nie Chin of the Graduate School of Business, Universiti Sains Malaysia in Penang, Malaysia, have surveyed users and discovered that, perhaps not surprisingly, ease of use and cost are the two main factors that influence user choice. The team points out that their findings suggest that app designers and service providers should focus on multifunctionality and the social aspects of their services to encourage existing users to engage more with the service, participate in the associated community, which will as a consequence boost the word-of-mouth spread of the service to new users.

Yeoh, S.Y., Yuntavid, X.J.P. and Chin, P.N. (2022) ‘Examining the continuous usage intention and behaviours of music streaming subscribers’, Int. J. Electronic Business, Vol. 17, No. 2, pp.184–203.

Special issue published: "Soft Computing and Optimisation Techniques for Biomedical Data Mining and Analysis"

International Journal of Bioinformatics Research and Applications 18(1/2) 2022

• Recursive subspace based feature selection approach for early risk prediction of chronic disease in patients
• Nearest neighbour-based feature selection and classification approach for analysing sentiments
• ANN model for detection and classification of sleep and non-sleep stages
• Privacy preserving reversible watermarking in the encrypted domain through self-blinding
• Optimisation of sub-space clustering in a high dimension data using Laplacian graph and machine learning
• Artificial neural network model for detection and classification of alcoholic patterns in EEG
• Configuring artificial neural network using optimisation techniques for speaker voice recognition
• Gestational age determination of ultrasound foetal images using artificial neural network
• Classification of breast cancer images using completed local ternary pattern and support vector machine

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Services, Economics and Management

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Services, Economics and Management are now available here for free:

• Economic growth-financial development-poverty nexus in emerging markets
• Quality in the supermarket sector in Peru
• A comparative study of the leadership skills of the millennial male and millennial female managerial leaders in the Indian service sector
• The lost money: study of India's inward foreign remittances and its related factors - a panel data approach
• Knowledge and relationship of consultants as key in management consulting industry: the case of Portugal consulting sector

Special issue published: "Achieving Sustainability Through Corporate Social Responsibility"

International Journal of Innovation and Sustainable Development 16(2) 2022

• Ownership pattern and firm performance: corporate governance in Indian firms
• Dynamics of Indian stock market volatility
• Green HRM: a medium of social responsibility and sustainable development
• Impact of learning through live projects on sustainable employability generation: checking moderating role of education: an empirical study
• Achieving sustainability through financial literacy training
• Natural convergence of sustainability, governance and responsibility: a case study on CIAL: India's Green Port
• Enhancing innovation activities in the transition process towards renewable energy municipalities

Additional papers

• Sustainable organisational performance through lean implementation regimen emanating from product innovation factors: a study in Indian context

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Behavioural and Healthcare Research

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

• Does health expenditure affect health outcomes? A cointegration based approach to the Indian healthcare system
• Investigating factors associated with mother-daughter communication intentions about STD risks and condom use behaviour of female college students
• Knowledge, approaches and practices of university students towards antibiotics use
• Facial emotion recognition in real-time using deep convolution networks
• Proposal of a novel approach to the assessment of patient safety culture
• E-cigarettes epidemic and the need for education

Special issue published: "Methods and Applications of Computer Science and Information Technology"

International Journal of Networking and Virtual Organisations 26(1/2) 2022

• A cluster workload forecasting strategy using a higher order statistics based ARMA model for IaaS cloud services
• Cloud spot price prediction approach using adaptive neural fuzzy inference system with chaos theory
• Stock market manipulation detection using feature modelling with hybrid recurrent neural networks
• Deep learning-based distributed denial-of-service detection
• A word alignment study to improve the reliability of the statistical and neural translation system
• Analysing the challenges in stakeholder relationship management in the healthcare process: a social network perspective

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

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

• Structure based inference of functional single nucleotide polymorphism and its role in TGFβ1 allied colorectal cancer (CRC)
• Neural network based prediction of less side effect causing cancer drug targets in the network of MAPK pathways
• Comparative study of synonymous codon usage in bacteria growing at extreme temperatures
• A hybrid method for differentially expressed genes identification and ranking from RNA-Seq data
• A hybrid method for classification of physical action using discrete wavelet transform and artificial neural network
• Evaluating biological characteristics for protein function prediction using support vector machine

Special issue published: "Challenges and Future Trends of Distance Learning"

International Journal of Continuing Engineering Education and Life-Long Learning 32(2) 2022

• An evaluation model of distance learning effect based on MOOC theory
• The evaluation method for English MOOC quality based on grounded theory
• The evaluation method for distance learning engagement of college English under the mixed teaching mode
• Allocation of multi-dimensional distance learning resource based on MOOC data
• Analysis of mixed learning mode of distance education based on MOOC
• A new evaluation method for English MOOC teaching quality based on AHP
• Dynamic evaluation method of distance learning quality based on MOOC theory
• Research on students' classroom performance evaluation algorithm based on machine learning
• The improvement of interactive learning efficiency based on virtual simulation technology
• Research on the scheduling method of distance learning process education resource based on augmented reality
• The recommendation method for distance learning resources of college English under the MOOC education mode

Free open access article available: "How do cities use their communication channels? A study of social media adoption in two European federal states"

The following paper, "How do cities use their communication channels? A study of social media adoption in two European federal states" (Electronic Government, an International Journal 18(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: Higher education from home - "Wellbeing and work productivity of Indian educators during imposed online teaching in higher education institutions"

The move out of the classroom and into the realm of online teaching driven by the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the practices and wellbeing of teachers enormously. Work published in the International Journal of Work Organisation and Emotion, considers the problems that have arisen in the Indian higher educational system.

Sheelam Jain of the Vignana Jyothi Institute of Management in Bachupally Hyderabad, Telangana, India, explains the abrupt shift to virtual lessons and remote learning caused by the emergence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and the ensuing global pandemic had many disparate effects on wellbeing and performance. She has surveyed a sample of more than 200 teachers in Indian higher education institutes and found that good work-life integration, psychological wellbeing, and organisational support were the saving grace for educators thrust into these new, remote roles.

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected everyone in one way or another. It has killed millions, left many more with long-term health problems, interrupted lives, careers, and education as well as affecting, to a significant degree, almost every aspect of society and the economy. The response of governments around the world to the identification of this emergent virus in late 2019 and its rapid spread through the early part of 2020 and to this day has been very different. Some governments, such as that of India, implemented stringent lockdown measures very early in the pandemic in an attempt to control the spread of the virus, others were not to tough and perhaps suffered the acute consequences of their response.

Jain points out that the working-from-home aspect of lockdown had some benefits, particularly, in reducing the rate of spread of the virus, but it has come at a price for many people in terms of family life, psychological wellbeing, and finances. She adds that it is important in such times for those in authority to help citizens, such as educators, forced into the new normal of remote learning, to maintain their psychological wellbeing and work-life balance. How this is to be done must now be a topic of public debate among all of those affected in order to address the ongoing problems of the COVID-19 pandemic and to build resilience into our response to the next emergent and potentially lethal pathogen that sweeps around the globe.

Jain, S. (2022) ‘Wellbeing and work productivity of Indian educators during imposed online teaching in higher education institutions’, Int. J. Work Organisation and Emotion, Vol. 13, No. 1, pp.57–82.

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Ultra Wideband Communications and Systems

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Ultra Wideband Communications and Systems are now available here for free:

• Performance of multi-band OFDM UWB communication systems in presence of IEEE802.11n WLAN interference for different antenna scheme configurations
• Design and analysis of multi-band circle shape MIMO antenna using defected ground structure to reduce mutual coupling
• High gain dual-polarised pentagonal microstrip antenna for wireless communications
• Compact UWB filter with narrow notched band based on grounded circular patch resonator
• Queueing analysis of ultra-wideband medium access control protocol with finite buffer

Research pick: COVID19 and the Purchasing Managers’ Index - "The purchasing managers’ index as a predictor of the economic situation during COVID-19 and its relevance for decision making"

The COVID-19 pandemic not only had tragic consequences for the health of humanity but had massive socioeconomic effects. Indeed, at the time of writing, we are still seeing record numbers of people infected with the coronavirus and there is much disruption to the daily lives of many people and the commercial world of supply and demand.

Work in the International Journal of Public Policy, has looked at the so-called “purchasing managers’ index” (PMI) to see how this value might work as a predictor of the economic situation during a pandemic and whether it has relevance for decision making. Javier Cifuentes-Faura in the Faculty of Economics and Business at the University of Murcia, in Murcia, Spain, explains how the pandemic led to the simultaneous destruction of both supply and demand as consumers and businesses were forced into lockdown, transport limited, working and learning from home enforced, and the demands of many regions were reduced to just the essentials.

The short-term data on how international trade was affected by COVID-19 cannot yet tell us much about whether we are now seeing a longer-lasting global downturn, although it may well be likely. Cifuentes-Faura has investigated the PMI and the European Union’s gross domestic product (GDP). The aim is to determine whether there is a correlation between the two that can explain the past and present economic changes and perhaps helps us predict something about the future. The research also looks at the measures taken by public authorities and what if any impact these had on reducing the economic impact of the pandemic.

The COVID-19 will ultimately lead to a major economic crisis and a deep recession across many sectors, Cifuentes-Faura suggests, this will be especially true in the tourism and hospitality sectors. The monthly publication of the PMI offers a way to quickly determine whether policy changes are affecting the economy in a positive or negative way so that they can perhaps be adjusted before their impact on GDP becomes ingrained. First indications that we may have had all along irrespective of PMI and GDP predictions suggest that “A comprehensive package of emergency measures by individual countries is also needed to lessen the impact of this pandemic globally,” Cifuentes-Faura concludes.

Cifuentes-Faura, J. (2021) ‘The purchasing managers’ index as a predictor of the economic situation during COVID-19 and its relevance for decision making’, Int. J. Public Policy, Vol. 16, No. 1, pp.1-12.

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Work Organisation and Emotion

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

• Initiatives taken by NGOs and private companies to fight the COVID-19 pandemic
• Emotions at work: implications for psychological well-being of prison officers in Nigeria
• Emotional intelligence as indicator of performance at workplace: evidence from banking fraternity
• Emotional intelligence and job performance: a meta-analysis

Research pick: Biological solution to electronic problems - "Cell zooming-based fault identification and optimal routing using glow worm-satin bowerbird optimisation"

Wireless sensor networks have many applications in environmental monitoring, safety and control monitoring of industrial processes, in healthcare, and in disaster management. To be effective the devices, the sensors, must be constantly and consistently accessible to the network. There are many problems that can arise in a large wireless network because of energy supply, connectivity, and other factors.

Writing in the International Journal of Ultra Wideband Communications and Systems, a team from India has turned to bio-inspired algorithms to demonstrated how such algorithms can be used in fault detection across a network. Bio-inspired algorithms map the properties and behaviour of a natural system to the solving of a problem at the computational level. Researchers have used ant colony behaviour, foraging bat sonar, beehive swarming, and many other biological systems to create useful tools for solving complex problems that do not succumb to conventional linear computation.

In the present work, the team of Beledha Santhosh Kumar and Polipalli Trinatha Rao of the Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering at the Institute of Aeronautical Engineering in Hyderabad, Telangana, have turned to algorithms inspired by the behaviour of glow-worms (bioluminescent insect larvae) that move and congregate based on the light levels of neighbouring larvae. The second algorithm is based on the courtship behaviour of the male satin bowerbird which constructs and optimises a display of materials it finds in its neighbourhood to attract a mate.

The glow-worm algorithm is programmed to home in on faulty nodes in the network looking for change that indicates a fault, no change is recognised as no fault but uses no energy to determine, a fix can be sent when a fault is detected. The bowerbird algorithm is encoded in such a way into the sensor network that it then routes the required information packets with a minimal of energy demands. The hybrid approach to wireless sensor networks based on these two algorithms working together – with glow-worm detecting and fixing faults and bowerbird sustaining the network and keeping energy costs down – work well, the team reports. Ironically, the hybrid system outperforms two other bio-inspired systems: the emperor penguin optimisation and flower pollination optimisation algorithms.

Kumar, B.S. and Rao, P.T. (2022) ‘Cell zooming-based fault identification and optimal routing using glow worm-satin bowerbird optimisation’, Int. J. Ultra Wideband Communications and Systems, Vol. 5, No. 1, pp.47–55.

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Powertrains

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

• Robust feedback controller in finite frequency based on H∞ performance for a variable speed wind turbine
• CFD-guided development of a pre-chamber ignition system for internal combustion engines
• Air-to-fuel ratio error source determination for a spark-ignition engine using a disturbance observer
• Holistic simulation for integrated vehicle design
• Method for design and evaluation of ICE exhaust silencers

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Public Policy

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

• Public state ownership within varieties of capitalism: regulatory foundations for welfare and freedom
• The case for citizens' wealth funds
• The ownership and funding of natural capital: the case for trusts and a public natural capital fund
• The potential of state commercial property: mapping and managing non-financial public assets
• Democratic ownership in the USA: a quiet revolution
• The Greek experience of privatisation through the Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund
• Models of fair public ownership: lessons from Singapore and Hong Kong
• Socialising capital: looking back on the Meidner plan
• James Meade, public ownership, and the idea of a citizens' trust
• A tale of two nationalisations: experiences of post 1945 public ownership in the UK and France compared

Free sample articles newly available from Afro-Asian Journal of Finance and Accounting

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

• Tax incentives and industrial productivity: evidence from Nigeria
• Active trading strategies based on momentum and term structure signals in commodity futures market: evidence from India
• Risk governance and firm value: exploring the hierarchical regression method
• The nexus between reducing audit report lags and divining integrated financial report governance disclosures: should ASE directives be more conspicuous?
• On the robustness of the Fama-French three-factor and the Carhart four-factor models on the Amman Stock Exchange
• Certification role of transparency and anchor investors in Indian IPOs
• Infrastructure-FDI nexus in Nigeria: insights from nonlinear threshold regression model
• What explains the investment decision-making behaviour? The role of financial literacy and financial risk tolerance