31 October 2022

Special issue published: "Eco-Innovation in Environmental Management and Sustainability"

International Journal of Environmental Technology and Management 25(6) 2022

  • Ecological construction design and planning based on energy-saving building technology
  • Application of energy performance contracting in building energy saving
  • Plastics waste management and its sustainable approaches – an overview
  • Environmental carrying capacity of green resource city ecological landscape supported by GIS
  • Relationship between low-carbon service innovation and enterprise performance under the background of green entrepreneurship
  • Sustainable design and low-carbon technology application of rural landscape under the background of rural revitalisation
  • A contribution to the municipal solid waste management in Havana, Cuba
  • A neutral MCDM method for evaluation of sustainability indexes of green building construction

Free open access article available: "Why fly electric? Stakeholder perceptions of e-plane knowledge, motivations and barriers"

The following paper, "Why fly electric? Stakeholder perceptions of e-plane knowledge, motivations and barriers" (International Journal of Sustainable Aviation 8(4) 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 Sustainable Development

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Sustainable Development are now available here for free:
  • Government behaviours in sustainable development of tea industry: empirical evidence from Fujian, China
  • Analysing poverty-growth-inequality linkage in lower and lower-middle income countries in Africa
  • Achieving sustainable partnership in the United Nations in the framework of the Sustainable Development Goals
  • Spontaneous environmental action practice case based on the Fushan Fishery Resource Conservation Area

Research pick: Modelling crash risk - "Factors affecting crash risk within the car-sharing market"

A clear understanding of the crash risks associated with care sharing might allow insurance companies to tailor their products to drivers and encourage more car sharing without compromising safety.

A team from Lithuania writing in the International Journal of Risk Assessment and Management has looked at the growth of car sharing in recent years in the context of insurance and risk. Obviously, there are significant benefits to car sharing in that it can reduce the total number of vehicles on the roads, reduce pollution and fuel use, and perhaps even reduce the number of road traffic accidents. Kristina Sutiene and Monika Uselyte of the Department of Mathematical Modeling at Kaunas University of Technology in Kaunas, Lithuania, have retrieved data from car-sharing systems and used linear regression and machine learning methods, such as regression trees and random forests, to model crash risk based on those observations.

They found that the average daily trip duration, the month of any crash event, and the make of car correlate most closely with the incidence of vehicle accidents. Holiday periods, working day or weekend, and peak hour had no valuable information for predicting crash risk. Additional the driver’s gender had no bearing on crash risk either.

The conventional approach taken by insurance companies in setting premiums usually takes into account the age, gender and other demographic factors of the driver to be insured as well as the make, value, and power of the vehicle. In the sharing economy, this model is somewhat outdated where experienced drivers of any gender may be equally as safe or otherwise. Moreover, there are many other factors that might be better predictors of crash risk as the Kaunas University of Technology team suggests, especially in the context of car sharing.

The team suggests that “After a proper assessment of the risk indicators that have the greatest impact on the occurrence of crashes, companies might be able to enter into personalised car-sharing pricing by developing usage-based or pay-as-you-drive insurance products.”

Sutiene, K. and Uselyte, M. (2021) ‘Factors affecting crash risk within the car-sharing market’, Int. J. Risk Assessment and Management, Vol. 24, Nos. 2/3/4, pp.236–251.

28 October 2022

Research pick: Infrared and drunk - "Drunkenness detection using a CNN with adding Gaussian noise and blur in the thermal infrared images"

A convolutional neural network can evaluate thermal infrared images of human faces and determine with 93 percent accuracy whether the person is drunk. The system described in the International Journal of Intelligent Information and Database Systems could be implemented in places where drunk driving and drunken behaviour are common problems. There are more than a million deaths worldwide each year from road traffic accidents, a large number of those are a direct result of drunkenness.

Kha Tu Huynh and Huynh Phuong Thanh Nguyen of Vietnam National University of Ho Chi Minh City explain that earlier efforts at developing a way to detect drunkenness have focused on eye state, head position, or functional state indicators. However, such systems might be confused by other factors. The team points out that analysis of thermal imaging offers a less ambiguous approach that is also non-invasive and could allow the authorities to screen people in city centres or at events where alcohol is likely to be consumed and people may opt to drive home.

The team points out that it is important that any system designed to identify inebriated people must have a very low rate of false positives and false negatives. After all, a false negative might see a drunk person driving their car whereas too many false positives would preclude sober drivers from using their vehicles and lead to frustration and a loss of trust in the system among the public.

There will always be a compromise in any such system, erring on the side of caution would be preferable, but optimising the classification through larger training datasets on a diverse population of thermal images should bring it closer to the ideal, which would, of course, be the theoretically unachievable 100% accuracy and zero false positives, and zero false negatives.

Huynh, K.T. and Nguyen, H.P.T. (2022) ‘Drunkenness detection using a CNN with adding Gaussian noise and blur in the thermal infrared images’, Int. J. Intelligent Information and Database Systems, Vol. 15, No. 4, pp.398–419.

27 October 2022

Research pick: Honeybee helpers on the wind farm - "A new effective solution for wind farm layout optimisation problem using self-sacrificing artificial bee colony algorithm"

An algorithm based on the altruistic behaviour of honeybees could help those designing wind farms know exactly where to plant each turbine in the array to maximise efficiency and energy output from the wind farm. A team from India discuss the details in the International Journal of Renewable Energy Technology.

Defining the optimal positions on a wind farm for each turbine to maximise energy output is a complex constrained optimisation problem. Such problems are common in engineering and many other areas of human endeavour. Solving such problems usually requires a huge amount of mathematical prowess and computer resources, but thankfully in recent years, researchers have looked to natural systems to help them find solutions much more efficiently and much quicker. Nature has had millions of years to evolve optimal systems for solving the complex problems facing living things. Researchers have, in a few cases, such as flocking and foraging behaviour, studies these systems and modeled them algorithmically. Those algorithms can then be harnessed to solve non-natural problems.

Nirmala Sharma, Harish Sharma, and Ajay Sharma of Rajasthan Technical Univerisity and Jagdish Chand Bansal of the South Asian University in New Delhi, India, explain that the swarming behaviour of honeybees often involves those individuals that are less of a fit for the behaviour sacrificing their position for those of better fit. The self-sacrificing algorithm that models this behaviour translates to the positioning of each turbine in the windfarm so that a position is tested and sacrificed in favour of a position that is better based on wind patterns and the effects of neighbouring turbines on the individual being tested for a new position. The algorithm thus accrues a layout for the turbines in the wind farm where each position is optimal for given geographical characteristics to give the greatest possible power output.

The algorithm can also give the engineers the maximum number of turbines needed for a given site. The optimal number will maximize energy production. Too few and the site would not be extracting all of the available wind power, too many would be a waste of resources and might reduce the total output from the turbines as their rotation interferes with wind flow to and through the neighbouring turbines. The team has demonstrated proof of principle with idealized wind farms of 500-, 750-, and 1,000-metre radius. The next step will be to consider real geographical landscapes and to optimize for non-uniform wind patterns.

Sharma, N., Sharma, H., Sharma, A. and Bansal, J.C. (2022) ‘A new effective solution for wind farm layout optimisation problem using self-sacrificing artificial bee colony algorithm’, Int. J. Renewable Energy Technology, Vol. 13, No. 4, pp.396–442.

Free open access article available: "Performance evaluation of SDWNs in cloud systems"

The following paper, "Performance evaluation of SDWNs in cloud systems" (International Journal of Information and Communication Technology 21(4) 2022), is freely available for download as an open access article.

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

26 October 2022

Research pick: Predicting the pandemic path with Google Trends - "Searching for the peak: Google Trends and the first COVID-19 wave in Italy"

As we are all so very well aware how, a novel coronavirus, latter dubbed SARS-CoV-2, which causes a potentially lethal form of pneumonia as well as having other disparate and desperate effects emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019. It spread rapidly during the following weeks despite efforts to control it and a lack of early information and insight about its behaviour and characteristics may well be to blame for its rise. It reached pandemic proportions at some point in the first quarter of 2020 at which point the World Health Organisation officially declared the global COVID-19 pandemic.

It was well recognised that as far as the western world was concerned, Italy was hit hardest and fastest, with the news media full of images of overcrowded hospitals and the tragic sight of coffins stacked high. New research in the International Journal of Computational Economics and Econometrics, looks at a technological aspect of the early dissemination of information regarding the spread of the virus in Italy as the pandemic was growing. The findings, concerning search trends at the time on Google, might help researchers understand better what happened in the early stages of this pandemic as it began to grow in Europe and perhaps offer insights that could help us defend ourselves better when the next lethal pathogen emerges.

Paolo Brunori of the London School of Economics, UK, Giuliano Resce of the University of Molise in Campobasso, and Laura Serlenga of the Università degli Studi di Bari ‘Aldo Moro’ in Bari, Italy, explain how difficult it was for the authorities to monitor the spread of the coronavirus in the pre-pandemic stages. There were no readily available test kits to allow people to check whether they were infectious or not at any given time. Moreover, official figures proved incredibly unreliable and perhaps delayed the implementation of social distancing, lockdowns, and quarantines. Indeed, the mode of transmission remained ambiguous and what restrictions and controls had been put in place in various places were not necessarily effective.

The team has now investigated how Google Trends, the nature and frequency of search terms being used by the public, might allow the trajectory of the pandemic to be predicted. Fundamentally, the details of the historical Google Trends contain useful information that correlated with the number of patients being admitted to intensive care units, the number of deaths and excess mortality in Italian regions at the time. Such information and correlations will not only allow us to model this pandemic and to see where policy failed and where it succeeded but more critically they could be used to predict the trajectory of a future pandemic and perhaps allow policymakers to implement the necessary controls and restrictions more purposefully at an earlier stage in the spread of that next emergent disease.

Brunori, P., Resce, G. and Serlenga, L. (2022) ‘Searching for the peak: Google Trends and the first COVID-19 wave in Italy’, Int. J. Computational Economics and Econometrics, Vol. 12, No. 4, pp.445–458.

25 October 2022

Special issue published: "Frontiers of Nano-Dimensional Devices: Materials, Physics, Modelling and Simulation"

International Journal of Nanoparticles 14(2/3/4) 2022

  • Improved noise rejection mechanism for optical frequency comb designed at 94 GHz window spectrum
  • Calculation of reflectance for double quantum well laser at both minimum dispersion and minimum attenuation spectra
  • A zero bias highly efficient active diode circuit for piezoelectric energy harvester
  • All-optical frequency encoded 2-bit comparator using dibit-based logic and reflective semiconductor optical amplifier
  • Design and analysis of tri-layered strained channel HOI CGAA FET
  • Junction temperature management of white pcLED at high temperature industrial ambient under tropical conditions: a simulation-based study
  • Swarm intelligence-based mono and multi-objective methods for sizing preamplifier circuits for biomedical applications
  • Y-shaped double-gate high electron mobility transistor for radio frequency applications
  • Characterisation of short channel effects for 14 nm tri-layered strained channel HOI FinFET using high-K dielectric materials
  • Electronic and optical properties of 2D metal/semi-metal-ReS2 van der Waals heterostructures from first principles calculations
  • Performance parameter analysis and estimation of high-K induced three-fin SOI n-FinFET at 14 nm gate length
  • Nanosensor technology and their applications: an overview
  • Synthesis and characterisation of manganese and nickel doped zinc oxide nanoparticles: photocatalytic and antibacterial activity

Research pick: Finding COVID-19 fake news - "CovFakeBot: a machine learning based chatbot using ensemble learning technique for COVID-19 fake news detection"

The COVID-19 pandemic has been marked by ever-present fake news surrounding the behaviour and effects of the coronavirus, the impact of social distancing, lockdowns, and quarantine, and the medical response in terms of vaccinations and pharmaceuticals. Indeed, even some world leaders led the public astray with nonsensical revelations and suggestions regarding how we might address the problem of SARS-CoV-2.

Given that the pandemic is still very much an ongoing problem, research in the International Journal of Artificial Intelligence and Soft Computing, discusses a computer chatbot that uses ensemble learning technique to detect fake news. The chatbot, dubbed CovFakeBot, was developed by a team from the University of Delhi, India, and has been trained using well-established machine-learning models. It can accurately discriminate between genuine news and fake news regarding the COVID-19 pandemic on the microblogging platform Twitter.

Hunar Batra, Gunjan Kanwar Palawat, Kanika Gupta, Priadarshana, Supragya, Deepali Bajaj, and Urmil Bharti of the Department of Computer Science at the Shaheed Rajguru College of Applied Sciences for Women, explain that their chatbot utilises the application programming interface (API) of a well-known messenger app, specifically the WhatsApp Business API, with another communications technology, Twilio, to create a conversational user interface. The team tested the chatbot with ten different machine learning and ensemble learning classifiers on a dataset from Twitter. A soft-voting model was demonstrated as the most accurate.

The team suggests that the CovFakeBot could become a very useful tool for social media users hoping to quickly check whether an update of concern is genuine news or fake news. They add that it would be a relatively simple matter to extend the system to other areas where fake news is an issue by training a new instance of the chatbot with a new dataset in the area of interest. In the long run, they hope that CovFakeBot and its cousins will be useful in limiting the spread of fake news on social media.

Batra, H., Palawat, G.K., Gupta, K., Priadarshana, Supragya, Bajaj, D. and Bharti, U. (2022) ‘CovFakeBot: a machine learning based chatbot using ensemble learning technique for COVID-19 fake news detection’, Int. J. Artificial Intelligence and Soft Computing, Vol. 7, No. 3, pp.228–241.

24 October 2022

Free open access article available: "Approaching the impact of organisational culture on quality management practices using the competing values framework: the case study of Dubai government organisations"

The following paper, "Approaching the impact of organisational culture on quality management practices using the competing values framework: the case study of Dubai government organisations" (International Journal of Productivity and Quality Management 37(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: Managing mindfulness - "Mindfulness and well-being in management students: analysing the moderating role of gender in corona times"

How have mindfulness and well-being sat with adult management students during the COVID-19 pandemic? And, does gender have a moderaring role? These are two pertinent questions for our current age that are answered in the International Journal of Knowledge and Learning.

Teena Bharti of the Indian Institute of Management Bodh Gaya in Uruvela, Bihar, India, has considered an important aspect of the COVID-19 pandemic on our future managers and business leaders. The pandemic has had not only an incredibly wide-ranging impact on health across the globe but also on commerce and the economy. Bharti surveyed almost 500 adult management students to explore how mindfulness among them influenced their personal well-being and how gender affected the link between these two traits.

Put simply, the research suggests that mindfulness did indeed lead to greater well-being among the students. Moreover, female students were found to be more mindful and so generally showed greater well-being during these rather troubled times. The findings suggest that offering students guidance in how to be more mindful, might help them cope better with the stresses and strains felt while studying during a crisis. Perhaps the same guidance might even be beneficial to students in other disciplines and indeed the wider public.

Mindfulness is generally thought of as allowing oneself to have one-focus attention. It essentially involves allowing oneself not to be distracted from one’s present activity and place by thoughts about other circumstances, the past, nor the future while immersed in that activity or place. It is a key component of many philosophies and is often considered a life skill that can improve one’s mental wellbeing or at the very least, if not improve, then help to reduce the risk of problems arising in stressful circumstances.

Bharti concludes that “moment-to-moment attention [mindfulness] induces subjective well-being and is very relevant in coping with the contingent times (covid pandemic in this case), loneliness, and other psychological issues.”

Bharti, T. (2022) ‘Mindfulness and well-being in management students: analysing the moderating role of gender in corona times’, Int. J. Knowledge and Learning, Vol. 15, No. 4, pp.359–372.

21 October 2022

Special issue published: "Computational and Statistical Modelling for Tackling the Emergence of the COVID-19 Pandemic"

International Journal of Computational Economics and Econometrics 12(4) 2022

  • The management of COVID-19 epidemic: estimate of the actual infected population, impact of social distancing and directions for an efficient testing strategy. The case of Italy
  • Socio-economic and demographic factors influencing the spatial spread of COVID-19 in the USA
  • An integrated K-means-GP approach for US stock fund diversification and its impact due to COVID-19
  • Non-parametric Bayesian updating and windowing with kernel density and the kudzu algorithm
  • COVID-19 pandemic and the economy: sentiment analysis on Twitter data
  • Searching for the peak: Google Trends and the first COVID-19 wave in Italy
  • Evaluating the efficiency of fiscal responses to COVID-19 pandemic in the OECD countries: a two-stage data envelopment analysis approach

Research pick: Thai tourists’ travel thinking - "Factors affecting the attitude and intention of Thai Gen Xers to travel overseas as free independent travellers"

The factors influencing Generation X in Thailand and their intentions to travel overseas are discussed in the International Journal of Public Sector Performance Management. Generation X approximately represents those people born between 1965 and 1979, the cohort between the so-called Baby Boomers (born 1946 to 1964) and the Millennials (born roughly between 1980 and 1996).

Chalongrat Rattanakhongsuk, Natchapol Lopiroon, Nunsinee Petcharapirat, Peerapum Hemansutthikul, Suprawee Watchararungroong, Thanaphol Anangosolporn, Warumporn Terdpataweepong, Guntalee Ruenrom, and Apichart Kanarattanavong of Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Thailand surveyed 365 Thai Gen Xers and asked them our travel motivations including escapism, excitement, relaxation, knowledge seeking, relationships, self-enhancement and self-actualisation, the influence of friends and family as well as media influencers (travel bloggers and reviewers), their economic circumstances, and foreign-language skills.

The team found that of the various factors that might influence intention to travel abroad among Thai Gen X knowledge seeking, ego-enhancement, media influencer, facilities and foreign language skills were the most significant. This was all in the context of free, independent travelling, the team emphasises. They discuss how governmental agencies and the private sector in destination countries might benefit from the clearer understanding of the motivations among Thai Gen X tourists. This is a significant demographic cohort representing 20% of the Thai population, about 16 million people, indeed it is the largest cohort by “generation” grouping at the moment. Destinations that fulfil the demand of this group of independent, and most-likely affluent, travellers, such as good facilities and an attractive tourist “offering” will reap the rewards.

Rattanakhongsuk, C., Lopiroon, N., Petcharapirat, N., Hemansutthikul, P., Watchararungroong, S., Anangosolporn, T., Terdpataweepong, W., Ruenrom, G. and Kanarattanavong, A. (2022) ‘Factors affecting the attitude and intention of Thai Gen Xers to travel overseas as free independent travellers’, Int. J. Public Sector Performance Management, Vol. 10, Nos. 2/3, pp.363–376.

Special issue published: "Technology Marketing in Tourism and Hospitality"

International Journal of Technology Marketing 16(4) 2022

  • Section 1 The impact of technology and marketing on the future of destination during and after the pandemic
    • Piloting a digital maturity model for smart destinations
    • Tourism destinations' online representation: a performance assessment
    • Same same but different: the destination image of Dubai and Abu Dhabi on YouTube
  • Section 2 Digital tools that can help on future development
    • Is destination image instagrammable? Visit intentions and value co-creation through social media content
    • SECI model questionnaire validation for hospitality establishments
    • Role of TripAdvisor in influencing international tourists visiting Puducherry
  • Section 3 The impact of technology on cultural tourism and marketing of cultural areas
    • COVID-19 resilience via digital cultural heritage; digital life in museums and festivals during the anthropause
    • The dialogue between tradition and modernity: exploring creative cultural tourism design in the 'internet plus' era

Special issue published: "Accounting, Performance Management Innovations, and Responsible and Lean Practices in Public Sector Organisations"

International Journal of Public Sector Performance Management 10(2/3) 2022

  • Impact of organisational culture on project performance with mediating role of knowledge creation process
  • Taxpayers' morality and tax amnesty participation (survey on the individual taxpayer in Sukabumi, West Java, Indonesia)
  • The taxonomy of development in Vietnam during 2012-2015
  • The implementation of 5S as an organisational development practice: a case study in a property development company in Malaysia
  • The influence of ethical culture on corruption: the public sector's perspective
  • Transaction cost analysis in building information modelling adoption procurement: an initial study
  • Professional perceptions on the roles of skilled workers in performance of the construction industry
  • The impact of lean manufacturing practices on firms' sustainable performance of the manufacturing industry sector
  • Developing the modified accountability disclosure index for local governments
  • Technical influence on knowledge grid model to promote knowledge sharing in big data community
  • Uses of electronic catalogue in public procurement in Indonesia as a more effective mechanism in strengthening economic security
  • Audit committee competencies and corporate disclosure transparency of Malaysian government linked companies
  • Factors affecting the attitude and intention of Thai Gen Xers to travel overseas as free independent travellers
  • The effect of work commitment and competence on job satisfaction and employee performance of Bank Pembiayaan Rakyat Syariah Bhakti Sumekar
  • Partner engagement on university's community service program in Indonesia
  • MC-COMET3 as a learning strategy to develop students' number sense: a theoretical framework
  • Effect of job satisfaction and emotional intelligence on employee performance at the University of Mayjen Sungkono, Mojokerto
  • Knowledge sharing based on organisational culture and remuneration applied to improve employee performance quality in public service agencies
  • Sustainability disclosure and financial performance: evidence in Malaysia public listed companies

20 October 2022

New Editor for International Journal of Intellectual Property Management

Prof. Rosa Puertas from the Universidad Politécnica de Valencia in Italy has been appointed to take over editorship of the International Journal of Intellectual Property Management.

Research pick: Migrant lockdown - "Impact of COVID-19 on the migrant worker livelihood: study in the Jalpaiguri Region, India"

Research in the International Journal of Services, Economics and Management has looked at the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the livelihoods of migrant workers in the Jalpaiguri region of India at the foothills of the Himalaya Mountains. The study by Nirmal Chandra Roy of the Department of Business Administration (Human Resource) at The University of Burdwan in West Bengal, India, used a structured questionnaire to collect data and the analysis reveals that local migrant workers who lost their jobs during the pandemic were the worst hit by the nationwide lockdown.

The COVID-19 pandemic affected everyone globally in terms of health and mortality but also with regard to livelihood and the wider economy. Where lockdowns, quarantines, social distancing, and other restrictions were implemented in order to stifle the spread of the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 the impact on the workforce was enormous understanding the effect on migrant workers was the focus of the present study. There was a supposition that this particular demographic may well have been affected even more detrimentally than other workers in some ways. India has hundreds of millions of migrant workers with several million migrating each year. It was reported that prior to the pandemic, most migrants travelling to cities such as Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Chennai in 2019 came mainly from the Indian states of West Bengal, Bihar, and Uttar Pradesh. More than 30 million Indians migrated overseas with about 9 million of those settling in Arab states.

Roy writes that the study provides an invaluable benchmark for labour studies and for policymakers in this region where more than half a million people leave their homes to find work elsewhere. The work reveals the plight of migrants from this particular region returning home to no income opportunities during the lockdown. Some small tea plantations offered limited part-time work for a few of the returners, but the long-term prospects were dire for many. Earnings for the majority were negligible. Roy points out that the pandemic itself limited the research to this particular region, but suggests that wider studies might show a similar detrimental effect in other regions and so could help in the decision-making processes among policymakers looking at how the poverty-stricken migrant populations might be helped out of their predicament.

Roy, N.C. (2022) ‘Impact of COVID-19 on the migrant worker livelihood: study in the Jalpaiguri Region, India’, Int. J. Services, Economics and Management, Vol. 13, No. 3, pp.243–258.

19 October 2022

Research pick: Filtering fake news - "The impact on society of false news spreading on social media with the help of predictive modelling"

The spread of misinformation as fake news via social media is a serious problem especially when it colours the opinions and actions of people unimpeded by critical thinking. Fake news in the area of politics, health and medicine, and other realms may well have affected the progress of human history in many ways where we have seen inappropriate outcomes that may not have occurred had people been properly informed rather than accepting fake news as truth. The problem is that fake news often feeds a person’s biases and existing opinions and the rapid response of social media allows it to spread quickly to detrimental effect. It is estimated that almost two-thirds of news updates on social media is fake news.

Research in the International Journal of Knowledge and Learning has looked to model the spread of fake news on social media and develop tools to identify fake news so that it might be flagged as false.

The team used a dataset of 3000 news items of which 2725 were used to train their algorithms and the remainder were used to test those algorithms. Five types of classification algorithms were tested: support vector machine (SVM), naïve Bayes, logistic regression, random forest, and neural networks.

The team has shown that logistic regression is the most accurate at flagging the test news updates from the dataset. This approach corroborated the two-thirds proportion of fake news versus fake news. The success of the approach could be used to assist fact-checking systems by flagging updates that are likely to be fake news for further analysis.

Riktesh Srivastava of the City University College of Ajman in UAE, Jitendra Singh Rathore of Banasthali University in Rajasthan, Sachin Kumar Srivastava of the IILM Academy of Higher Learning in Lucknow, and Khushboo Agnihotri of Amity University in Uttar Pradesh, India, hope their research will contribute to efforts to reduce the spread of fake news across social media.

Srivastava, R., Rathore, J.S., Srivastava, S.K. and Agnihotri, K. (2022) ‘The impact on society of false news spreading on social media with the help of predictive modelling’, Int. J. Knowledge and Learning, Vol. 15, No. 4, pp.307–318.

18 October 2022

International Journal of Export Marketing to invite expanded papers from 5th Research Workshop on Export Management Future Internationalisation Strategies for potential publication

Extended versions of papers presented at the 5th Research Workshop on Export Management
Future Internationalisation Strategies: Focus on Best Practices of Export Management
 (7 November 2022, Online & HEG – Haute école de gestion Campus Arc 1, Neuchâtel, Switzerland) will be invited for review and potential publication by the International Journal of Export Marketing.

Research pick: Breaking the vicious cycle of human trafficking in India - "Violation of human rights through prostitution, in the ambit of human trafficking in India"

Modern slavery and human trafficking are rife the world over. Indeed, more people are victim to these heinous crimes than ever before. Research in the International Journal of Human Rights and Constitutional Studies looks at one consequence of human trafficking, prostitution.

Letishiya Chaturvedi of the Kirit P. Mehta School of Law, NMIMS and Poorna Dixit of the Rizvi Law College both in Mumbai, India, point out that constitutional safeguards in India have seriously failed to deter human trafficking and the enforced prostitution of young girls. Moreover, police corruption and an irresponsible and corrupt judiciary has enabled these crimes at unprecedented levels. The team offers real-life case studies to highlight the traumatic lives faced by victims. They conclude with two constructive and productive approaches that might help reduce these crimes.

The team writes that “Areas which ‘supply’ humans are usually battling impoverished circumstances, and those which ‘demand’ them are in desperate need of cheap labour ready for easy exploitation.” They add that for India, this means its impoverished neighbours Bangladesh and Nepal which they note both lack opportunities to break the vicious cycle have ended up feeding an already thriving industry in human trafficking and prostitution in India. Thousands of mainly women are trafficked each year, they add. Human trafficking is deeply entrenched in the criminal realm of Indian society and represents almost endless violations of many disparate human rights.

The solution is represented in a double-edged approach, the team suggests. First, greater efforts must be made to rescue women trapped in this world and to give them an alternative life, a new home, and a potential income beyond slavery and prostitution. Secondly, there needs to be a concerted effort to reduce the potential for exploitation, to defeat human trafficking by catching and punishing the traffickers far more forcefully. Exactly how this might be done remains to be seen, but if the money and resources can be found then the lives of millions of people might be saved from this illegal world.

Chaturvedi, L. and Dixit, P. (2022) ‘Violation of human rights through prostitution, in the ambit of human trafficking in India’, Int. J. Human Rights and Constitutional Studies, Vol. 9, No. 4, pp.391–406.

17 October 2022

Special issue published: "Innovations for Sustainability: Energy, Industry and Agriculture"

International Journal of Global Environmental Issues 21(2/3/4) 2022

  • Intentions without attention: challenges in agricultural extension communication in Ethiopia
  • Clean development mechanism projects in the Brazilian wind sector and the carbon market: accounting aspects and relationships between its peculiarities
  • The impact of agricultural cooperatives on the sustainable development of rural communities
  • UAV multispectral imagery in determination of paddy conditions
  • Global instability trends: impact on human development and labour market
  • Environmental and economic analysis of technological innovations in the energy sector
  • Solar energy for green university: estimation of economic, environmental and image benefits
  • Young people and women as key drivers of agricultural transformation in Africa: transiting from rhetoric to action in Ghana
  • Life satisfaction and digital transformation of society evidence from European economies
  • Coevolution of education and business: adaptive interaction
  • Development of economy digitalisation: global and national dimensions in the pre-COVID and post-pandemic world
  • Scenarios of the logistics systems development for industrial enterprises in a view of sustainability and efficiency
  • Artificial intelligence in the judiciary: challenges and tools for achieving sustainable development goals
  • Natural radioactivity level and evaluation of radiological hazard in the soil around a gold mining area in the North Region of Burkina Faso
  • Is general collective intelligence a reliable path towards achieving green growth?
  • Analysing the presence of volatility clustering and impact of macro-economic variables on sustainability indices in India: using GARCH (1, 1) model and ARDL framework

Free open access article available: "Review of power electronics converters and associated components/systems at cryogenic temperatures"

The following paper, "Review of power electronics converters and associated components/systems at cryogenic temperatures" (International Journal of Powertrains 11(2/3) 2022), is freely available for download as an open access article.

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


International Journal of Environment and Waste Management indexed by Clarivate Analytics' Emerging Sources Citation Index

Inderscience is pleased to announce that the International Journal of Environment and Waste Management has recently been indexed by Clarivate Analytics' Emerging Sources Citation Index.

Research pick: Sustainable digitalisation - "Development of economy digitalisation: global and national dimensions in the pre-COVID and post-pandemic world"

Digitalisation is a rather nebulous term with many different definitions in various fields. According to researchers writing in the International Journal of Global Environmental Issues, digitalisation might encompass production, distribution, exchange, and consumption in different ways and is gaining importance in industry, transport, agriculture, and e-commerce. The team points out that governments have an important role to play in educational, healthcare, and social digitalization.

Volodymyr Bilotserkivets and Viktor Tarasevych of the Department of International Economics, Political Economy and Governance at the National Metallurgical Academy of Ukraine in Dnipro, Urak Aliyev of the Department of Economics and Innovative Business at the ‘Turan-Astana’ University in Kazakhstan, Waldemar Izdebski of the Faculty of Management at Warsaw University of Technology (Politechnika Warszawska) in Warszawa, Poland, and Petr Lemeshchenko of the Department of International Political Economy at the Belarusian State University in Minsk, Belarus, have looked at the processes of economy digitalisation in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and what we might optimistically refer to as the post-pandemic era.

The researchers point out that the transition to digitalized activities during periods of lockdown, quarantines, social distancing, and other measures was profound and often driven by government. Their focus being in East Europe and Kazakhstan shows how the COVID-19 pandemic led to a shift in the role of governments in economy digitalisation. This has happened against a backdrop of climate change, the catastrophic decline of biodiversity, and the continuing deterioration of the human environment.

The team suggests that digitalization could, given the right push, offer a new trajectory for humanity and the planet that sees the cascade of information and communication technologies driving sustainable development. This will need improved digital literacy among the population and improved e-government. State policies need to stimulate such developments.

Bilotserkivets, V., Tarasevych, V., Aliyev, U., Izdebski, W. and Lemeshchenko, P. (2022) ‘Development of economy digitalisation: global and national dimensions in the pre-COVID and post-pandemic world’, Int. J. Global Environmental Issues, Vol. 21, Nos. 2/3/4, pp.276–302.

14 October 2022

Special issue published: "Sustainable Business Models for the Growth of Indigenous Businesses in Africa"

World Review of Entrepreneurship, Management and Sustainable Development 18(5/6) 2022

  • Editorial: Sustainable Business Models for the Growth of Indigenous Businesses in Africa
  • Effect of innovation on agricultural-based micro, small and medium enterprises survival in Nigeria
  • The role of skill acquisition and entrepreneurship development in improving economic independence among serving corp members in Ibadan North Local Government, Oyo State
  • Obstacles facing women-owned enterprises: a case for sub-Sahara African women
  • Techno-entrepreneurship - pathway to sustainable business performance: empirical evidence from SMEs in Ogun state, Nigeria
  • E-service quality dimensions and customer satisfaction among users of automated saving platforms in a typical developing economy
  • Contributions of Industry 4.0 to the performance of entrepreneurship in Katsina State, Nigeria
  • Does entrepreneurship financing contribute to industrial development in Nigeria? Evidence from small and medium scale enterprises
  • Assessment of capital, investments and trade flows in West Africa: directions for economic efficiency
  • Economic growth and unemployment in Nigeria: an empirical perspective
  • Small-scale enterprise: exploring social adaptation of survival among traders in Akure, Nigeria
  • Innovative leadership styles: innovative entrepreneurial leadership and sustainable economy - a case study of Asia, Europe and America
  • Operational efficiency in higher education in Nigeria: a scale development
  • Sustaining entrepreneurship development through an entrepreneurship agricultural dynamic curriculum

Free open access article available: "Assessing the impact of technological innovation on environmental and financial performance of Chinese textile manufacturing companies"

The following paper, "Assessing the impact of technological innovation on environmental and financial performance of Chinese textile manufacturing companies" (International Journal of Technology, Policy and Management 22(4) 2022), is freely available for download as an open access article.

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


Research pick: Yet another industrial revolution - "Unravelling the fourth industrial revolution: a comparative study of a label"

The notion that we are in the midst of a “fourth” industrial revolution seems rather whimsical at first glance. But, research in the International Journal of Technology, Policy and Management looks at whether technological advances in recent years have been sufficiently marked and significant to represent a step change from the previous industrial paradigms.

Dominique Nijssen and Roger Bemelmans of the Research Center for Data Intelligence at Zuyd University of Applied Sciences in Heerlen and Harro van Lente of the Department of Technology and Society Studies at Maastricht University in Maastricht, The Netherlands, allude to the re-use of the phrase “fourth industrial revolution” by Klaus Schwab of the World Economic Forum back in 2016. The researchers have looked at the evolution of 33 promising technologies during the period 2000 to 2019 to gauge whether the term is valid for this period of history.

Commonly, we think of the first industrial revolution as having its start in the middle (circa 1760) of the 18th Century in Great Britain and continental Europe and stretching into the early part of the nineteenth century, 1820 to 1840. This period saw the transition from manual production to machine production and the increasing use of water power and steam power to drive the rapidly developing industrial realm. A slowdown occurred in the middle of the nineteenth century but the subsequent period of economic growth and technological advance occurred as we learned to control electricity and develop long-distance communications technology, such as the telegraph and the telephone. This second industrial revolution lasted from around 1870 to the beginning of World War I.

It was not until the period after World War II, 1947 onwards that we talk of the third industrial revolution. This period was marked by the displacement of analogue electronics, the valves and relays, of the previous revolution, with digital devices and in many ways is still underway. However, we might talk of the rapid developments of information and communications technologies that came out of this third revolution as heralding an Information Age. However, even this paradigm was perhaps only a holding place for the true fourth industrial revolution, the rapid development of interconnectivity among a huge proportion of the world’s growing population, the emergence of smart technologies that exploit machine learning, big data, and algorithms that can be said to have artificial intelligence. These paradigm shifts in information and communications technology are occurring in parallel with and driving developments in robotics, medicine, industry, and even art and entertainment. The demarcation between the physical world, the digital realm, and even the natural world of biological systems are becoming fuzzy in Industry 4.0.

The team’s analysis of the purported technological visionaries, the products and services being paraded by such people, the actual technologies being adopted and where all of this sits with science and governmental policies around the world is a complicated picture. Indeed, the team’s work suggests that there is perhaps no coherence, no single developmental path, rather there exists a somewhat tangled web of technologies, authorities, visionaries, and individuals. This, however, is probably exactly as how observers in the midst of all previous industrial revolutions perceived the changes happening around them at the time.

There are nevertheless visions and changes that are underway that may well represent the paradigm shift that takes us from the old worldview into the new. Underlying the evolution of the revolution are Artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, renewable energy, shared autonomy, and transportation systems. However, governments and policymakers may well not recognise this Top 5 just yet, if ever, and it seems that the list is not even at the top of the scientific research agenda. Fundamentally, the concept of a fourth industrial revolution is a diffuse one and agendas and investment are pushed and pulled in different ways depending on the particular definition being tabled at any given time by a particular individual or group.


One thing of which we can be almost wholly assured, however, is that the world will change whatever terms we use to describe the changes. The historians of the future will almost certainly pay no heed to our opinions of those changes and will give us a label to fit with their view of the past.

Nijssen, D., Bemelmans, R. and van Lente, H. (2022) ‘Unravelling the fourth industrial revolution: a comparative study of a label’, Int. J. Technology, Policy and Management, Vol. 22, No. 4, pp.288–305.

13 October 2022

Special issue published: "Smart Interaction for the 4.0 Domains: Modelling and Simulating the Content of Future"

International Journal of Simulation and Process Modelling 18(2) 2022

  • A simulation study on how to optimally store products in a warehouse of a fashion supply chain selling through an e-commerce channel
  • An information-based model to assess human cognitive capacity and information processing speed of operators in Industry 4.0
  • A numerical assessment of the influence of Industry 4.0 technologies on the cognitive complexity of procedure-guided tasks
  • Digital clones and digital immunity: adversarial training handles both
  • Strategic digital shipbuilding project portfolio configuration and optimisation
  • The modelling of balance between energy efficiency and economy and simulation analysis in electric gas production technology
  • Using discrete event simulation to optimise cementing resources: a case study analysis using a call-out strategy for onshore rigs

Research pick: Spread the risk - "Spreadsheets: risk from the shadow"

Many of us would, if asked, be able to list a few common computer security risks – viruses inadvertently downloaded with files from sharing systems, malware payloads in emails, “phishing” websites and malicious links in messaging apps. However, the creators and users of malware have many more surreptitious entry points into a computer system that might not be so obvious. For instance, office software, such as spreadsheets, commonly use scripts to carry out sophisticated calculations and these scripts or macros can be abused by third parties with access to the spreadsheet.

A diligent information technology (IT) department at a company or organisation will ensure that its users are using the latest, most secure, versions of any software on the system, that antivirus, malware protection, and firewalls are in place. Moreover, they will preclude the downloading and installation of non-verified software. However, not all IT departments are diligent all of the time and users needing a workaround for a particular problem may well install third-party or older software on their personal computer and potentially render the whole corporate computer system to attack by malicious third parties.

Writing in the International Journal of Business Information Systems, a team from Serbia, describes the findings from a structured questionnaire of computer users focusing on spreadsheet use. Lazar Raković, Marton Sakal, Stojanka Dakić, and Jovica Đurković of the University of Novi Sad in Subotica, found that most users see spreadsheets as important in their jobs and to the functioning of an organization. However, few of their correspondents seemed aware of the risks associated with spreadsheet use. These risks are not confined to malicious scripts but consider spreadsheet errors, credibility, security, data abuse, and poor analysis.

Other problems include lack of version control, inadequate user qualifications, a lack of spreadsheet development guidelines, loss of data, breach of legal regulations, and unauthorised access to data all add to the putative risks associated with spreadsheet software in an organization. This is particularly worrying if that software is being installed and run as “shadow IT” rather than under the oversight of the IT department.

The obvious answer to the insidious problems is for organizations and companies to have a well-defined spreadsheet risk management strategy, to adopt appropriate standards and rules, and to better educate their users regarding the risks of shadow IT.

Raković, L., Sakal, M., Dakić, S. and Đurković, J. (2022) ‘Spreadsheets: risk from the shadow’, Int. J. Business Information Systems, Vol. 41, No. 1, pp.1–19.

12 October 2022

Research pick: Building a better bra - "Recurrence quantification analysis to assess structure of breast motion variability for jumping jacks exercise"

Research in the International Journal of Human Factors and Ergonomics has demonstrated how an analytical tool can be used to assess breast motion during vigorous exercise. The tool reveals that differences in breast size and structure as well as the type of brassiere worn affects movement and so comfort while exercising. The results of a wider study using the analytical approach could be used to develop more effective and supportive exercise bras for different people.

Joseph E. Langenderfer of the School of Engineering and Technology at Central Michigan University in Mount Pleasant, Michigan, USA and Ksenia I. Ustinova of the university’s Department of Physical Therapy, have demonstrated that recurrence quantification analysis (RQA) can be used to assess variability in the motion of breast, thorax, and upper-arm in people with different breast size and support during exercise. Specifically, the team had volunteers undertake a common exercise, star jumps under experimental conditions.

The team found that breast support from wearing a bra during exercise leads to less predictable motion of the breasts. However, they found that while the motion of larger breasts occurred with greater amplitude, as one might expect, during exercise, the motion was actually less random and more complex than the movement of smaller breasts. Conversely, the team also looked at how breast size and level of support affected how the exercises were carried out and found that there was little difference in how different members of the study group carried out the star-jump exercise.

“These findings increase understanding of the structure of breast and body motion variability and how bras influence the motion,” the team writes. “Such information may improve bra design with the goal of allowing more effective human performance in work and exercise.” Given that breast and bra biomechanics are important to at least half the population, research tools that help improve our understanding of the biomechanics are worth pursuing with a view to improving exercise comfort for that part of the population.

Langenderfer, J.E. and Ustinova, K.I. (2022) ‘Recurrence quantification analysis to assess structure of breast motion variability for jumping jacks exercise’, Int. J. Human Factors and Ergonomics, Vol. 9, No. 3, pp.201–214.

11 October 2022

Research pick: Sex sells, but… "Effect of sexual appeal in marketing communication on aggression and sexual aggression: a theoretical perspective and future research directions"

A common trope in marketing and advertising is to use sex appeal in its many guises to imply that a product or service has some association with sexual pleasure. Research in the Journal of International Business and Entrepreneurship Development has looked at the secondary effects of sex appeal used in advertising on adolescents exposed to such marketing materials.

Karnika Bains and Prem Prakash Dewani of the Indian Institute of Management in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India, have specifically focused on a purported association between sexualized advertising and the development of aggression and sexual aggression in adolescents exposed to such advertising. Their findings suggest that repeated exposure to certain kinds of sexualized advertising desensitizes adolescents to the nuances of sexuality and to some degree dehumanizes sexuality. They also found that demeaning portrayals of sexuality in advertising can foster inappropriate attitudes and behaviour.

In the current climate, many markets are saturated with sexualized imagery and innuendo, much of which might be described generously as titillating but much of which could be said to touch on the pornographic. Of course, the more graphic often the more publicity a brand gets from its campaign. This is especially true if the advertising is controversial, shock-advertising. It might be felt that controversy could have a negative impact on brand awareness, but this is rarely the case and campaigns continue to push the boundaries of decency. The common stance is one of “act now, apologise later” because “no publicity is bad publicity”.

The current research considers the social cost of sex appeal in advertising. The team explains how they have found that “culture plays a multi-dimensional role in determining the acceptance, effectiveness, and consequences of advertisements using sexual appeal.” Much of the exploitation of sex appeal in advertising is, they add, demeaning to women, and is at a gratuitous level in many advertisements. They conclude from their review of the literature that “sex in advertisements is detrimental to society.” They suggest that it is time for the advertising industry to re-evaluate its self-regulatory norms.

Bains, K. and Dewani, P.P. (2022) ‘Effect of sexual appeal in marketing communication on aggression and sexual aggression: a theoretical perspective and future research directions’, J. International Business and Entrepreneurship Development, Vol. 14, No. 2, pp.164–187.

10 October 2022

Research pick: COVID-19 and environmental, social, and governance investment - "Investment certainty in ESG investing due to COVID-19: evidence from India"

Research published in the International Journal Sustainable Economy looks at the impact of the global COVID-19 pandemic on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing in India.

Peeyush Bangur and Ruchi Bangur of the Women’s Institute for Studies in Development Oriented Management (WISDOM) in Banasthali Vidyapith in Banasthali, Rajasthan, Pratima Jain of the Prestige Institute of Management and Research in Indore (MP), and Abhikrati Shukla of the Shri Vaishnav Institute of Management also in Indore (MP), India, looked at ESG investment data for the period 2017 to 2021 with a particular poignancy on the point at which the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2 was first recognised in China in the December of 2019.

Their analysis reveals major volatility implications for ESG investment apparently caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Fundamentally, indicators show that certainty in the markets fell with the arrival of the pandemic. Moreover, ongoing news seemed to have a much more immediate effect on value and prices than it had in the period before the pandemic, suggesting that the markets were more sensitive to any news than they had been before. Indeed, the volatility has persisted and the team reports that market nervousness means that confidence among investors in the ESG area has tumbled in India from where it had been before the pandemic.

Perhaps such falls were inevitable, particularly in sensitive investment areas. Indeed, economies have suffered in many ways around the world. However, understanding the patterns followed by the markets when news of the novel disease first emerged and how they evolved with more news and the ultimate realisation that we were in a pandemic could be useful when we face the next pandemic. The team’s work could have implications, therefore, for investors, corporate executives, financial market regulators, academicians, and government officials.

“This study may assist in making more informed decisions regarding future consequences and maintaining market confidence,” the team writes. “The volatility implications may serve as a roadmap for initiating the first policy action in the event of similar incidents in the future,” they add.

Bangur, P., Bangur, R., Jain, P. and Shukla, A. (2022) ‘Investment certainty in ESG investing due to COVID-19: evidence from India’, Int. J. Sustainable Economy, Vol. 14, No. 4, pp.429–440.

Research pick: Social media travel journalism - "The professional practices of travel journalists on Instagram: a generic qualitative study"

Many journalists use social media, not only as a source of information but as an outlet for their own work or that of the media they work for. One such social media outlet is the photography-based application, Instagram. This format whereby a user can accrue followers and share images and videos offers many opportunities for journalists in terms of sharing their output and related content. However, as a team writes in the International Journal of Technology Enhanced Learning few studies have investigated exactly how journalists are using Instagram.

Tatiana Harkiolakis of The London School of Economics and Political Science, UK and Katerina Diamantaki of The American College of Greece in Athens, Greece, hope to help fill this gap with a study of how travel journalists perceive Instagram and how it has changed their professional lives, if at all.

There are two sides to the results that emerge from their survey of travel journalists. On the one hand, it is obvious that Instagram offers new opportunities for expanding a journalist’s professional network as well as being a useful research tool for finding new sources and trend-watching. On the other hand, travel journalists can also use Instagram to help them demonstrate their authenticity and build their own following among members of the public. In both regards, professional travel journalists are essentially competing for attention with amateur content producers and citizen journalists, such as travel bloggers, influencers, and the like.

“Instagram is becoming a platform of growing importance to journalists, especially amongst younger journalists who work for online media and for those focusing on photojournalism, and lifestyle journalism,” the team writes.

Much is yet to be done to understand how the world of journalism has and is changing in the new world of social media. Where journalists once focused on reporting and writing, there is an increasing urgency for them to gain additional skills, such as photography, to have technological literacy, and even an understanding of branding strategy. This, the researchers suggest, is increasingly important in travel journalism, where social media, visual aesthetics and public relations and advertising all play key roles in public consumption of travel-related content and tourism itself.

Harkiolakis, T. and Diamantaki, K. (2022) ‘The professional practices of travel journalists on Instagram: a generic qualitative study’, Int. J. Technology Enhanced Learning, Vol. 14, No. 4, pp.382–401.

7 October 2022

Special issue published: "Challenges and Opportunities in the Digital Era: Management and IT"

International Journal of Business and Globalisation 31(2) 2022

  • The effect of CBBE constructs on overall brand equity and purchase intention: a cross-sectional study of organised retail consumers in India
  • Review of emotional intelligence, interpersonal relationship and wellness of nurses: scope and avenue for further research
  • Benchmarking global IT majors' brand strength towards global branding of Asian IT organisations
  • Investigation of fashion disposal behaviour among Gen X and Gen Y in India
  • A qualitative analysis of experiences of work-life integration of dual career couples
  • Competitiveness of oil-exporting developing and emerging countries and parameters critical for increasing it

Special issue published: "Intelligent Language Acquisition in the Mobile Era"

International Journal of Mobile Learning and Organisation 16(4) 2022

  • Learning English with the mobile language learning application 'Duolingo': the experiences of three working adults at different proficiency levels
  • Bibliometric analysis of mobile learning research from 1984 to 2020
  • Thirty years of interactive learning environments: contributors, collaborations and research topics
  • A qualitative exploration of student perspectives of chatbot use during emergency remote teaching
  • A reading engagement-promoting strategy to facilitate EFL students' mobile learning achievement, behaviour and engagement
  • Proposal of algorithms to make up for lost school and university years in post-conflict African countries in the face of Covid-19: case of the Central African Republic
  • An online database of English assessment tasks for developing student teachers' assessment literacy

Special issue published: "Blockchain for Cognitive Wireless Communication Networks"

International Journal of Internet Protocol Technology 15(3/4) 2022

  • High-speed pre-accumulator and post-multiplier for convolution neural networks with low power consumption
  • Congruent fine-grained data mining model for large-scale medical data mining
  • Priority-based SenCar deployment strategy for mobile sink data gathering in WSN
  • Machine learning-based security active defence model - security active defence technology in the communication network
  • Processing power sharing using a gadget 'Power Save' for downloading scientific research projects
  • Blockchain-based system for storage utilisation and secure sharing of EHR data
  • Internet of vehicle things communication based on big data analytics integrated internet of things
  • Secure dynamic bits standard scheme in private cloud environment
  • A one-dimensional superior logistic map based-image encryption
  • Enhanced-KNN (M-KNN) based outlier detection and sensor data aggregation for large data streams in the IoT-cloud
  • Efficient authentication method using binary search tree with multi-gateway in wireless IoT

Research pick: Science using smartphone downtime - "Processing power sharing using a gadget ‘Power Save’ for downloading scientific research projects"

A smartphone application that can utilise a device’s idle time could reduce the computational and bandwidth loads for scientific research team members who have large amounts of project data to download from the cloud. Akshay Taywade and R. Sasikala of the School of Computer Science and Engineering at VIT University in Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India, provided details in the International Journal of Internet Protocol Technology.

The processing power, data storage space, and battery life are commonly restrictive characteristics of most smartphones. As such, cloud computing systems are key to much scientific data management and manipulation. However, there are times when a scientist will inevitably need to draw down data from said cloud and that can quickly use up processing power and bandwidth as well as drain batteries. If this data drawdown conflicts with other critical smartphone use, then it becomes limiting. The team has developed an app with the simple name “Power Save”, which they suggest does just that.

Power Save works to coordinate essential downloads for any member of the scientific research team using the smartphone when it is otherwise idle. The app could find use in medicine, astronomy, geology, physics, and many other areas of scientific endeavour. The team points out that by utilising a Wi-Fi connection power consumption can be greatly reduced when compared to 3G or 4G cellular data usage.

Taywade, A. and Sasikala, R. (2022) ‘Processing power sharing using a gadget ‘Power Save’ for downloading scientific research projects’, Int. J. Internet Protocol Technology, Vol. 15, Nos. 3/4, pp.182–188.

6 October 2022

Free open access article available: "Competitiveness of oil-exporting developing and emerging countries and parameters critical for increasing it"

The following paper, "Competitiveness of oil-exporting developing and emerging countries and parameters critical for increasing it" (International Journal of Business and Globalisation 31(2) 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 Networking and Virtual Organisations

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Networking and Virtual Organisations are now available here for free:
  • A game theory approach for UAV-based flying access networks
  • CWOM: a lightweight cloud-oriented workflow optimisation middleware
  • Digitising Chinese medicine clinical practice - a patient management system
  • Dependence of companies on inter-organisational networks: an analysis beyond the benefits generated
  • On the analysis of online and periodic virtual network embedding in multi-domain environments

Free open access article available: "Requirements analysis of security and privacy of mobile payments - Indian context"

The following paper, "Requirements analysis of security and privacy of mobile payments - Indian context" (International Journal of Mobile Communications 20(6) 2022), is freely available for download as an open access article.

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

Research pick: Remote learning in Central African Republic - "Proposal of algorithms to make up for lost school and university years in post-conflict African countries in the face of Covid-19: case of the Central African Republic"

There is significant social, economic, and educational imbalance in most rural areas of the Central African Republic. This region is in the midst of a 12-year civil war that has precluded many years of education for its children, the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the problem. New work published in the International Journal of Mobile Learning and Organisation, looks at how algorithms to drive chat bots might be used to remediate this situation allowing students living in rural parts of the country to catch up on lost years of education through remote learning.

Ghislain Mervyl Saint-Juste Kossingou, Bessan Melckior Dégboé, Samuel Ouya, and Gervais Mendy of the Cheikh Anta Diop University of Dakar in Dakar, Senegal, explain that the imbalances that exist in CAR society are most apparent between the rural areas and the capital city, Bangui. Given that many young people of school age and university age have many lost opportunities in education because of the politico-military crises in their country, the team has sought a technological solution to this problem. They have modelled two algorithms and developed a chat bot that could help with remote learning and educational self-assessment. The approach should allow learning at different levels and in various areas to be undertaken remotely.

Other researchers have, of course, investigated the use of chat bots in education, but the specific needs of students in this part of the world are markedly different in many ways, the team suggests. Their system is focused on those specific needs but is also flexible enough to be adapted to a given situation on demand. Fundamentally, the tool allows students living in remote, rural areas and perhaps under social distancing rules to be largely autonomous in their education even if they have been forced to drop out of education through the politico-military strife. Ultimately, the team hopes their approach will redress the educational imbalance between rural CAR and the capital and allow the nation to grow in the post-conflict, post-covid world.

Kossingou, G.M.S-J., Dégboé, B.M., Ouya, S. and Mendy, G. (2022) ‘Proposal of algorithms to make up for lost school and university years in post-conflict African countries in the face of Covid-19: case of the Central African Republic‘, Int. J. Mobile Learning and Organisation, Vol. 16, No. 4, pp.507-525.

5 October 2022

Free open access article available: "A life cycle perspective to sustainable hydrogen powered maritime systems – functional and technical requirements"

The following paper, "A life cycle perspective to sustainable hydrogen powered maritime systems – functional and technical requirements" (International Journal of Product Lifecycle Management 14(2/3) 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 Journal of Design Research

The following sample articles from the Journal of Design Research are now available here for free:
  • Iterations in business idea creation: an analysis of teamwork in an innovation workshop
  • Future-oriented reasoning in strategic choices about novel product ideas
  • Graduate instructional design students using empathy as a means to an end
  • The state of industrial design or industrial design in a state: an exploration of the current status of industrial design
  • Design thinking and project management: an analysis of the relationship between its characteristics
  • A dual-process perspective on the disparities between designers' intention and consumers' impression of new products
  • The role of conceptual structural design in the architectural education
  • Assessing design approaches' political role in the public sector
  • Reflections on the potential of risk in the design process

Editor of International Journal of Autonomous and Adaptive Communications Systems wins Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher Award and celebrates journal entering Emerging Sources Citation Index

Distinguished Prof. Athanasios Vasilakos, Editor in Chief of the International Journal of Autonomous and Adaptive Communications Systems, has recently received a Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher 2021 Award. The award is given in recognition of Prof. Vasilakos' exceptional research influence, demonstrated by the production of multiple highly cited papers that rank in the top 1% by citations for field and year in the Web of Science. As stated by Clarivate, the Web of Science helps to identify that small fraction of the researcher population that contributes disproportionately to extending the frontiers of knowledge and presenting innovations that make the world healthier, richer, more sustainable and more secure.

Additionally, Inderscience is pleased to announce that the International Journal of Autonomous and Adaptive Communications Systems, under the leadership of Prof. Vasilakos, has been indexed by Clarivate' Emerging Sources Citation Index.

Research pick: 2G or not 2G? That is the question! - "Why do they stay with 2G mobile communications services in the 5G era?"

There is a pressing need in the world of communications technology to nudge users of older systems towards the state-of-the-art. However, educational level, finance, and wariness, often associated with being older, often preclude upgrades for many users. For instance, the current high-end smartphones utilise the fifth generation networks, 5G, having transitioned from the simple voice and “text” system of 2G to faster feature phones and smartphones on 3G and 4G. There remain millions of users around the world who rely on their simple, cheap, and effective 2G phones.

The problem for the industry is that the network bandwidth used by the 2G networks could be released to the higher-end networks if there were no active 2G users reliant on it. Indeed, in some parts of the world, the 2G networks have already been switched off by the service providers to free up electromagnetic spectrum. This release bandwidth allows for richer, more information-dense transactions in modern systems. Moreover, some providers are hinting at the disabling of even the 3G networks in their regions, which would force phone almost all users in those regions to switch from low-end feature phones to fully-fledged smartphones.

Older users, reluctant to swap their simple and inexpensive devices for higher-end devices are perhaps not given much credit for their savvy, but the higher-end devices inevitably cost more and come with an expensive service contract as well as greater complexity that older users may not wish to learn to use or simply do not feel they need. If those in poverty are also taken into account, then the need remains for the old 2G networks.

Writing in the International Journal of Mobile Communications, a team from South Korea has looked at the various factors influencing users whom they describe as “laggards” and why they remain hooked to the 2G system. While the existence of 2G users may be an annoyance to the industry, the needs of those laggards must be considered. There seem to be few perceived benefits to upgrading from 2G to a more modern network for so many older, impoverished, or simply reluctant. Greater costs, massively reduced battery life, and much greater complexity must be offset for users who are uninterested in the features of a smartphone such as web searching, social media, apps, and photos, for instance. The converse, however, is that with improved education, cost discounts, and other incentives, policymakers might persuade the laggards of the greater benefits of smartphone use recognised by many others. This could help with efforts to close the digital divide between demographics.

The industry and policymakers will ultimately call an end to the 2G system at which point the laggards will either be entirely disenfranchised or forced to upgrade whether they like it or not…assuming they can afford to do so, of course.

Kim, D. and Kim, S. (2022) ‘Why do they stay with 2G mobile communications services in the 5G era?’, Int. J. Mobile Communications, Vol. 20, No. 6, pp.659–679.

4 October 2022

Free open access article available: "Global and local supply chain sourcing design: cost and delivery reliability comparison in unimodal and intermodal transportation"

The following paper, "Global and local supply chain sourcing design: cost and delivery reliability comparison in unimodal and intermodal transportation" (International Journal of Shipping and Transport Logistics 15(1/2) 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 Information and Coding Theory

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Information and Coding Theory are now available here for free:
  • Skew cyclic codes over 𝔽p + u𝔽p
  • Coding theory: the unit-derived methodology
  • Duadic and triadic codes over a finite non-chain ring and their Gray images
  • A deterministic algorithm for the distance and weight distribution of binary nonlinear codes
  • ℤpℤp[u]-additive cyclic codes

Free open access article available: "(r, Q) inventory management in complex distribution systems of the One Belt One Road initiative"

The following paper, "(r, Q) inventory management in complex distribution systems of the One Belt One Road initiative" (International Journal of Shipping and Transport Logistics 15(1/2) 20XX), is freely available for download as an open access article.

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


Research pick: Road trauma pack to benefit developing world - "The challenges of parachute design: the development of a low cost, fit for purpose trauma pack for use in Namibia"

An innovative approach to design has helped with the development of an economically viable trauma-response pack for road-traffic accidents in the developing world. The “parachute design” approach has seen proof of principle demonstrated with the trauma pack designed specifically for Namibia. Researchers in Namibia working with colleagues in the UK provided details of the design and development in the Journal of Design Research.

The World Health Organisation reports that some 3400 people die on our roads each day around the world. Tens of millions of people injured and maimed in road traffic accidents each year. The WHO has targets for reducing this devastation and as such countries such as Namibia, which is referred to as Developing Country with an Upper-Middle Income are an idea environment for the development of first-responder packs that might save lives and reduce the injury toll in a road traffic accident.

An interdisciplinary team based at the Cardiff School of Art and Design at Cardiff Metropolitan University and Cardiff University’s School of Medicine previously worked on two trauma packs between 2012 and 2016, The first, a low-cost trauma pack, was designed for use in rural Zambia and the second extended the functionality of this pack for Europe. The design of the newer trauma kit, the Namibia pack, focuses on the specific requirements and available resources of Namibia to create a low-cost system. Fundamentally, by using a human-centred design (HCD) approach that gathers feedback during development from potential end-users and those who will manufacture the packs, the team was able to most effectively address what the WHO refers to as the “Four As” – accessibility, availability, affordability and appropriateness.

Clara Watkins, Steve Gill of Cardiff Metropolitan University, Cardiff, UK, Gareth Loudon of the School of Design at the Royal College of Art, London, Judith Hall of the University of Namibia, Matthew Carwardine of Grange University Hospital in Cwmbran, and Chen Wen Ngua and John Jackson of Cardiff and Vale University Health Board, hoped to make significant inroads into lowering mortality rates associated with road-traffic accidents in Namibia.

The team makes a significant point about such work and its benefits: “It is important to recognise that collaborating with the University of Namibia, having prior knowledge of the context and access and support from key stakeholders, made the project viable,” the researchers write.

Watkins, C., Gill, S., Loudon, G., Hall, J., Carwardine, M., Ngua, C.W. and Jackson, J. (2022) ‘The challenges of parachute design: the development of a low cost, fit for purpose trauma pack for use in Namibia’, J. Design Research, Vol. 20, No. 1, pp.1–34.

New Editor for International Journal of Creative Computing

Prof. Sam Goundar from RMIT University in Vietnam has been appointed to take over editorship of the International Journal of Creative Computing.

3 October 2022

Special issue published: "Sustainability Along the Product Lifecycle" (incudes Open Access article)

International Journal of Product Lifecycle Management 14(2/3) 2022

  • Estimation of the value of environmental impacts in coal mines using the life cycle assessment method
  • Life cycle assessment of CO2 emissions with Malmquist index to measure efficiency of energy supply technologies alternatives in bauxite mining in Province of West Kalimantan, Indonesia
  • Life cycle sustainability assessment as a decision-making tool for the design of mechatronic systems
  • Environmental life cycle assessment study of an external wall
  • Industry 4.0 technologies and sustainability challenges: a case study in the coal mining industry
  • IoT platform-enabled decision-making for maintenance service delivery in PSS context: a case study
  • Design-for-X levers for product sustainability: a framework and a decision method
  • Open product development to support circular economy through a material lifecycle management framework
  • A life cycle perspective to sustainable hydrogen powered maritime systems – functional and technical requirements

Free open access article available: "Attraction and subsidy analysis of the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road: A hub line location approach"

The following paper, "Attraction and subsidy analysis of the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road: A hub line location approach" (International Journal of Shipping and Transport Logistics 15(1/2) 2022), is freely available for download as an open access article.

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