Research pick: Underwater acoustic wireless communication

Acoustic communication through water is well known in many species of sea creature, whales, dolphins and other cetaceans, perhaps being the best known examples. But, crustaceans and fish too often communicate through water with sound. People have used sonar, sound navigation and ranging, since the time of Leonardo da Vinci who first described an acoustic listening technique in 1490. Modern, active sonar methods are, of course, far more sophisticated than his passive technique.

Now, research in the International Journal of Intelligent Internet of Things Computing discusses an acoustic communications system akin to sending an underwater email. Md. Aktarul Hasan and Shen Wei of the School of Informatics at Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou, China, and colleague Yubo Peng of the Zhejiang Province E-commerce Promotion Centre demonstrate proof of concept for an acoustic communications device based on based on Arduino controllers.

In their system a piezo-electric transducer acts as a speaker to produce a low-frequency signal. At the receiver end of the “channel” the same type of piezo-electric transducer is used as a microphone to detect the incoming signal. The team has shown that within a 1 to 3 kilohertz (kHz) band, they can transmit and receive information at a rate of 200 bits per second acoustically through water and were able to send the requisite information from a web page, converted into Morse code, through the water that could then be decoded and the information used to display the page on a computer at the receiving end. The system is built on the TCP/IP internet protocal. The working distance between transmitter and receiver can be be up to 25 metres with the current setup. The team adds that improvements in the technology could increase the range of their system considerably making it much more useful.

The team suggests that their battery-powered system could be run from a small boat. They point out that the basic demonstration of transmitting a web page suggests that simple “wireless” telemetry and remote control of underwater devices should now be possible.

Hasan, M.A., Peng, Y. and Wei, S. (2022) ‘Underwater wireless communication using TCP/IP’, Int. J. Intelligent Internet of Things Computing, Vol. 1, No. 4, pp.273–286.

Prof. Omid Mahian appointed as new Editor in Chief of International Journal of Renewable Energy Technology

Prof. Omid Mahian from Xi'an Jiaotong University and Imperial College London has been appointed to take over editorship of the International Journal of Renewable Energy Technology.

Research pick: Take note! "GreenNotes: a smart utility tool to keep track of regular goals in the 21st century for smart cities and people"

Writing in the International Journal of System of Systems Engineering, a team from India discusses the use of a smart utility tool called GreenNotes. This tool, the researchers explain, can be used to keep track of regular goals in the 21st century for smart cities and people.

Rohit Rastogi, Karan Budhwani, and Harsh Mittal of the Department of CSE at ABES Engineering College in Ghaziabad, point out that GreenNotes is a small piece of software that is run as a plugin, or extension, in one’s web browser, and hooks into the cloud. Cloud accessibility can improve the portability of an application as well as open up the possibility of using it as a collaborative tool. GreenNotes, the team says, allows users to quickly take notes as well as carry out voice-to-text conversions, thus acting as a modern spin on a dictation machine. The extension also has a built-in reminder tool. The team points out that it uses the freemium model wherein the basic functionality is available at no cost, but premium features can be purchased within the Chrome browser.

The team has reviewed other related browser extensions to reveal their pros and cons and compare them with those of GreenNotes to good effect. One benefit is soft-deletion, so that I note can be sent reversibly to a recycling bin rather than being permanently deleted in the first instance. The extension also offers a WYSIWYG option which isn’t used by all rival extensions. It has a markdown editing feature, which again, is not present in other available extensions. The voice-to-text option is unique among the extensions surveyed. A mobile version of the desktop browser extension is in development.

Rastogi, R., Budhwani, K. and Mittal, H. (2023) ‘GreenNotes: a smart utility tool to keep track of regular goals in the 21st century for smart cities and people’, Int. J. System of Systems Engineering, Vol. 13, No. 1, pp.1–29.

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

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

• A genetic algorithm for real-time demand side management in smart-microgrids
• Numerical treatment and analysis for a class of time-fractional Burgers equations with the Dirichlet boundary conditions
• Self-similarity single image super-resolution based on blur kernel estimation for texture reconstruction
• Transfer learning approach in deep neural networks for uterine fibroid detection
• Side-path FPN-based multi-scale object detection
• Prior distributions-based data augmentation for object detection
• Predicting stock price movement using a stack of multi-sized filter maps and convolutional neural networks
• Multi-class classification using convolution neural networks for plant leaf recognition of Ayurvedic plants
• Enhancing the energy efficiency by LEACH protocol in the internet of things

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:

• Sustainable supply chain intervention: a case-based analysis of the economics of land degradation
• Self-reflexive practice through the human scale development approach - competencies needed for transformative science research
• Max-Neef and sustainability: theoretical, methodological and empirical contributions
• A novel tool for quality-of-life assessment in the household context
• Urban research for sustainability: developing a comparative transdisciplinary co-production approach to realise just cities
• Fundamental human needs and socio-ecological transformation: a reflection on participatory action research in a context of tree plantations in Chile
• Waste management in rural South Africa - perspectives from Manfred Max-Neef's human scale development framework
• The international impact of Manfred Max-Neef's scholarship: a bibliometric approach

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

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

• A fuzzy Kano-QFD approach for prioritising NBA quality parameters for service quality enhancement: a case of Indian PEIs
• Joint optimisation of production run length and maintenance policy for an imperfect process with multiple correlated quality characteristics
• Statistical estimation of random failure probability based on stress levels
• Design and implementation of ARL-unbiased CCCr-chart for monitoring high-yield processes
• Design of EWMA control chart for monitoring transformed Rayleigh distributed data
• Quality insight: quality integration using engineering systems methodology

Research pick: Opting for organic - "Organic food consumption in emerging markets after COVID-19: value-attitude-behaviour model"

Research published in the International Journal of Green Economics has investigated the many factors that affect consumer attitudes and buying habits when it comes to organic food products. Mohd Farhan of the Mittal School of Business in Punjab, India, suggests that the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has led many consumers to become more aware of how the nutritional quality of the food they eat affects their health. This has led to an increased awareness of organic food products.

Farhan surveyed 600 people in India and Nepal to ascertain how food habits and consumption patterns have changed recently. He analysed the data using Smart Partial Least Squares and Mann-Whitney tests.

The analyses revealed that safety, awareness, and trust had a positive impact on a person’s inclination to consume organic food as opposed to other food products. Farhan also showed that the perceived health benefits as well as hedonic and social values were found to influence consumer attitudes towards organic food in a positive manner. This inevitably led to those consumers being more likely to buy organic food products. The findings highlight the importance of awareness and education with regard to organic food. It is likely that demand will continue to rise in the next few years and producers and sellers need to be aware of this in order to benefit from improved awareness among their potential customers and to find ways to meet increasing demand.

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought health issues to the fore the world over and many people are looking for healthier food options as part of their approach to coping with the risks surrounding the disease. Of course, it might be argued that the benefits of organic versus non-organic food products may not be as significant as is often claimed. Nevertheless, increased food and health awareness and education will always be beneficial and those people opting for organic foods may also make other changes to their eating habits and lifestyle in the name of improving their health that will have additional, more tangible benefits.

The producers and marketers of organic foods must demonstrate the benefits of their produce honestly and show that the generally higher price is offset by associated improved health and environmental factors.

Farhan, M. (2022) ‘Organic food consumption in emerging markets after COVID-19: value-attitude-behaviour model’, Int. J. Green Economics, Vol. 16, No. 3, pp.294–311.

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Hydromechatronics

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

• Sensitivity indices of a reinforced concrete beam exposed to explosions
• Analysis and optimisation of impact wear of diesel engine needle valve assembly
• Stability analysis of elastic steel beam-column under high temperature
• Solution of structural mechanic's problems by machine learning
• Explicit implementation of the non-local operator method: a non-local dynamic formulation for elasticity solid

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

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

• Market competition and employment in construction sector in the USA: evidence from trade liberalisation
• Model for measuring the effect of incentive schemes, tariff regimes and technological innovations on change of consumer behaviour on energy savings: a study based on Sri Lankan electricity consumers in the domestic sector
• Fiscal implications of special economic zones in India: a study of Noida SEZ
• The Algerian natural gas in light of the regional gas markets' developments

Research pick: Finding the fakers - "Deceptive web-review detection strategies: a survey"

There is growing evidence that much of the material on the internet is entirely fake. This is perhaps well-known. Indeed, there is also equally compelling evidence that a huge number of the people on the internet are fake too. Much of the engagement and virality of content on social media and elsewhere being nothing but automated bot activity and click farms. Much of it is done as part of promoting misinformation for a political agenda and a lot of it is done to scam advertisers into imagining their paid ads are being seen by real people.

However, in the perhaps more mundane world of actual users, searching for information about products and services in which they are interested there is a need to be able detect fake reviews. A review in the International Journal of Intelligent Engineering Informatics, has taken a look at the approaches to detecting deceptive reviews. One recent analysis suggests that two-thirds of customer evalutions, or reviews, of products sold on a major e-commerce site are fake. These fake reviews not only distort the average opinion for a given product, often boosting a low number of “stars” for a shoddy product to make it a more saleable five-star item, but also boost the seller’s overall profile illicitly too.

Rajdavinder Singh Boparai and Rekha Bhatia of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at Punjabi University in Patiala, Punjab, India, discuss the state-of-the-art in research into this problem. They also survey the various AI, artificial intelligence, machine-learning tools aimed at flagging non-genuine reviews on commercial websites. The team reveals the gaps in the research literature as well as the limitations of the current tools and points to how those gaps might be plugged.

Deceptive reviews can have myriad sources and authors making it difficult to home in on a particular writing style as fake. A significant gap in current research and tools that might be filled by future research would see the development of a more representative model that would be generic, capable, and portable and be able to quickly and accurately flag as fake deceptive reviews based on real-world data. Given the recent public advent of so-called language models and tools, it is likely that we will see more and more fake reviews online. However, the very tools that generate such deceptive content might also be used to detect its presence. We will inevitably see a game of cat and mouse between the e-commerce sites and the fakers and caught in the middle will be the consumers looking for a decent product at a good price.

Boparai, R.S. and Bhatia, R. (2022) ‘Deceptive web-review detection strategies: a survey’, Int. J. Intelligent Engineering Informatics, Vol. 10, No. 5, pp.411–433.

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Wireless and Mobile Computing

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

• Object detection based on multiple trick feature pyramid networks and dynamic balanced 
• Accumulating weighted segmentation in 3D face recognition
• Communication and ranging composite system based on parallel combinatory spread spectrum technology
• Construction method of grid cells development model based on visual drive
• Channel capacity and bit error rate analysis in wireless communication system over Rayleigh fading channel
• A top-down survey on securing IoT with machine learning: goals, recent advances and challenges
• Design of action detection system in wrestling match video based on 3D convolutional neural network
• Research on adaptive diagnosis algorithm for fuel injection failure system of construction machinery diesel engine
• Research on collaborative optimisation of urban agricultural product distribution centre location and routing based on improved adaptive large-scale neighbourhood search algorithm
• Research and analysis of psychological data based on machine learning methods

Special issue published: "Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Leadership in Emerging Markets"

International Journal of Business and Globalisation 33(3) 2023

• Management innovation: literature review and research directions
• Managing Indian universities' need of single national regulator of higher education
• Role of supervisor, co-worker support, social network and group cohesiveness on employee intention to stay
• Day of week effect: an empirical study for Indian Stock Markets
• Use of social networking sites for B school marketing: an empirical analysis
• Repositioning industry R&D units into tertiary education research laboratories
• A comparative study between retail sukuk and retail bonds in Indonesia

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

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

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

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Financial Markets and Derivatives

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

• Performance measures and investment decisions: evidence from international stock markets
• Analysing time varying co-movements among the US and BRICS stock markets
• The price of microstructure risk on emerging stock markets: towards an integration of African financial markets
• A directional movement trading strategy using jump-diffusion price dynamics
• Does behavioural risk explain the value premium? A study of Indian equity market

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Electric and Hybrid Vehicles

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Electric and Hybrid Vehicles are now available here for free:

• Transient power smoothing control strategy for battery of pure electric bus
• Research on energy management of hybrid power system in fuel cell vehicles
• Position sensorless control system of SPMSM based on high frequency signal injection method with passive controller
• Electric vehicle charging method and impact of charging and discharging on distribution system: a review
• Research on two-stage isolated on-board charger and control technology
• An overview on hybrid energy storage systems for electric vehicles
• Research of electric vehicle on-board controller based on inverter time division multiplexing
• Design of battery management system based on improved ampere-hour integration method

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Critical Infrastructures

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

• Comparative analysis of fuzzy multi-criteria decision-making methods in maintenance prioritisation of infrastructure assets
• Optimising the supporting structure of a bridge's foundation pit based on hybrid neural network
• Prediction of COVID-19 spread in world using pandemic dataset with application of auto ARIMA and SIR models
• Study on the seismic behaviour of upper masonry floor with variable stiffness for multi-story brick structures with bottom-frame based on finite element simulation
• A decision support tool for optimal configuration of critical infrastructures

Research pick: Sound security - "Utilisation of audible steganography to organise and analyse the text within WAV files"

Research published in the International Journal of Intelligent Engineering Informatics, investigates how information can be hidden in a type of sound file, known as a wav file, a technique known as audio steganography.

Steganography has been used for thousands of years to hide information. A message written in so-called “invisible ink” is a primitive example of steganography. In the computer age, information has been hidden in text, image, and audio files without leaving any visible or noticeable changes.  Steganography involves concealing the information as well as the existence of that information so that only the intended recipient can find it.

Audio steganography is usually considered a cost-effective means to encrypt data over a network, as it has low noise distortion and can generally be embedded without being detectable. R. Ramyadevi and V. Poornima of the Department of Computer Science at the SRM Institute of Science and Technology in Tamil Nadu, India, have estimated the maximum number of characters, numbers, letters, and other symbols, that might be added to an audio file without altering its structure. But more importantly they have looked at the limit on audible distortion and disturbance of the bit rate when the file is played as a normal sound file on a media player. If there is obvious distortion, then the fact that the file was being used for audio steganography might be more apparent to a third party. The wav, known formally as the waveform audio file format, was developed in 1991 by IBM and Microsoft and is widely used on personal computers and other devices.

The team’s study shows that accuracy can be improved at low embedding levels and deliver an optimal peak signal-to-noise ratio while obfuscating information if the first, second, and third least significant bits (LSBs) of the audio file are employed in the steganographic processing. The team compared 8-bit and 16-bit pulse-code modulation (PCM) audio and used mean square error (MSE), mean absolute error (MAE), signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and cross-correlation analysis to identify hidden text data within a given audio stream. The team writes that a 16-bit stereo wav file can carry just over 30000 characters with spaces without the presence of that added information being detectable to a third part unaware of its presence in the file. An 8-bit mono wav file can carry more than 8000 characters with spaces.

If the first three LSBs were used accuracy was 98 percent and a false alarm rate of less than 5 percent was seen. Of course, the robustness of the hidden message within the audio file is affected by the length of the text message that is hidden, the team reports. More added information would be more obvious to a third party checking files for this kind of message obfuscation in a collection of sound files.

Ramyadevi, R. and Poornima, V. (2022) ‘Utilisation of audible steganography to organise and analyse the text within WAV files’, Int. J. Intelligent Engineering Informatics, Vol. 10, No. 5, pp.397–410.

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Applied Systemic Studies

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

• Analysing data from a bunch of transactions (block of a blockchain) can lead to optimisation of business decisions
• Key barriers in the growth of engineering education in the context of Chhattisgarh state: a fuzzy Kano and TISM integrated approach
• Analysis of image forgery detection using convolutional neural network
• Cryptocurrencies: from characteristics to behaviours
• Inventory automation practices and productivity: a study on steel manufacturing firms

Special issue published: "Intelligent Nano-Biotechnology for the Future: Emerging Challenges and Advancements"

International Journal of Nanotechnology 19(6/7/8/9/10/11) 2022

• Preparation of hydrophobic honeycomb films with an amphiphilic copolymer via the breath figure method
• Research on the application of new nanomaterial γ-Al2O3 in industrial product modelling design
• Protective effect of nano-electrostatic composite material on miners' skin and its influence on working state
• Cytological mechanism of nanowire reinforced biological bone cement in the treatment of vertebral osteoporotic fractures
• Characteristic analysis of discontinuous function modelling-based nano-biosensor and its detection for hyaluronidase
• Adoption of porous nanocomposite fibre scaffold in cartilage injury healing and rehabilitation
• Clinical value of injected calcium phosphate cement/recombined bone xenograft-based hybrid nano-biomaterials in the knee joint sports rehabilitation ability
• Image-based automatic segmentation of leaf using clustering algorithm
• Experimental and theoretical validation studies of ASnO3 (A = Ba, Ca, Sr) nanofibres for bioactivity applications
• Effect observation and nursing of nanosilver antibacterial dressing in preventing catheter-related bloodstream infection
• Polyacrylic acid coated nanomaterials and sports rehabilitation training on the therapeutic effect of patients with stroke
• Nanomaterials in diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular diseases
• Study on vitro transdermal administration of surface anaesthetics based on dextran-based nano-injection lipid lidocaine
• Application of bio-scaffold materials in the recovery of sports health of injured parts of fracture patients
• Study on preparation and technology of nanoporous platinum based metal materials by dealloying method
• Antibacterial properties of PCL/silver NPs based nanocomposites for potential food packaging applications
• Application of nanomaterials in martial arts sports injury patients
• Research on gene therapy of neurons based on narcotic nanoparticles intervention in cerebral ischemia
• Research on application of new nanomaterials in repairing ligament injury of Wushu athletes
• Nano-drug release control microchip combined with biomaterials in the recovery of shoulder joint movement and contraction
• Effect of sodium hyaluronate-based nanoprobe in rehabilitation of tendon injury and tendon adhesion
• Graphene oxide nanomaterials in the recovery of shoulder joint movement contraction
• Electrospinning nanofibres in the exercise rehabilitation after fracture of anterior cruciate ligament
• Preparation of reduced graphene oxide/nano hydroxyapatite nanocomposite scaffold and its adoption in sports fracture injury
• Preparation of nano biosensors for detection of intestinal flora and cellulose molecular weight
• Neurotrophic factors combined with ordered collagen nano-modified materials in the recovery of exercise ability of patients with peripheral nerve transection
• Influence of gold nanoclusters biomaterials combined with upper limb rehabilitation robot on patients with limb ischemic injury
• Adoption of carbon nanomaterial-based flexible sensors in human exercise health monitoring
• Adoption of three-resonant terahertz nano-biosensor in human sports health monitoring
• Nano-targeted drugs in combined treatment and nursing of liver cancer
• Analysis and research on regeneration therapy of athlete tendon injury based on nanometre sensor technology
• New nanoparticle computed tomography contrast agent in the treatment of neonatal hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy
• Research and development of nano-lipid functional food and its impact on sports and health industry
• Application value of new nano-drug carrier in biphasic 3D-pCASL in the evaluation of cerebral perfusion blood flow in symptomatic and asymptomatic unilateral middle cerebral artery subtotal occlusion
• Modelling and analysis of fatigue physiological parameters of all tissues of football athletes under cervical vertebral stress based on biomechanical analysis
• Research on optimisation strategy of athletes' training mental fatigue based on nano biomechanical data fusion analysis
• A summary of feature selection techniques for gene chip in bioinformatics based on RSA algorithm
• Analysis of the effect of modern biotechnology and nanotechnology on competitive sports
• Research on promoting the development of circular economy by using nano-biopharmaceutical technology
• Research on the relevant effects of Taijiquan exercise on the changes of lower limb muscle strength in the elderly based on nano biometric IC technology
• Analysis of the influence of physical training on skeletal structure based on biomechanical analysis
• Simulation analysis of sports training process optimisation based on motion biomechanical analysis
• Simulation study on changes of EMG and physiological parameters of athletes under training state based on nano biomechanics analysis
• Analysis on the influence of nanotechnology development on sports health industry
• Effects of spray pressure, distance, angle and equivalent orifice diameter on spray uniformity for nano-pesticide application
• Modelling and simulation analysis of training effect and electromyogram change of track and field athletes based on biomechanics
• Sleep stage based sleep disorder detection using single-channel electroencephalogram

Research pick: Indian climate investment volatility during COVID-19

How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected investment in climate change initiatives in the developing world? New research in the International Journal of Green Economics, focuses on the impact of the disease on such investment in India.

Peeyush Bangur of the Women’s Institute for Studies in Development Oriented Management (WISDOM) in Rajasthan used the GARCH (1,1) model to examine India’s CARBONEX index and found that there was, as one might have anticipated, increased volatility in this investment realm during the pandemic. Indeed, there was an increase in variance of almost 150% according to Bangur’s analysis. The findings have important implications for investment returns as well as the response to climate change showing that confidence in climate investment fell during the height of the pandemic. The work may help guide the future investment response when we face another pandemic.

Anthropogenic carbon emissions are driving climate change. The effects in coming years will likely be devastating, particularly for those already living at the extremes. Unfortunately, the common societal model around the world involves economic growth and this comes at a price in terms of resources used and pollution generated. If we are to address the problems we face, we need to co-opt the paradigm of economic growth to help us reduce emissions, lower our reliance on unsustainable resources, and tackle climate change.

Carbon emissions trading, investment in sustainable technologies and renewables are at the forefront of this. The S&P BSE CARBONEX of India was the first carbon-based thematic index and was launched in November 2012 with phased support from the British High Commission in India. This index reflects investment in the green economy. Bangur suggests that “investors, company managers, regulators, academics, and government officials may benefit from the study’s findings.” He adds that green investment will return in the post-pandemic world “The implications of volatility may serve as a guide for launching the initial policy action in the event of subsequent instances of a similar nature,” he says.

Bangur, P. (2022) ‘Climate change investing and COVID-19: evidence from return volatility’, Int. J. Green Economics, Vol. 16, No. 3, pp.235–245.

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of System of Systems Engineering

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

• Implementation and system analysis of load balancing algorithms for public cloud systems
• Blockchain empowered disaster recovery framework
• Enriching module dependency graphs for improved software clustering
• The multiple impacts of the COVID-19: a qualitative perspective
• Student engagement and course motivation through experiential learning pedagogy

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

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

• How to institutionalise language change in management accounting: the influence of acceptance and belief in the case of 'value creation accounting'
• How to develop a corporate social responsibility strategy
• The impact of dynamic capabilities on competitive advantage: an empirical study of firms in the customs clearing and freight forwarding industry in Zimbabwe
• Economic growth strategy: an empirical analysis of the determinants of the private saving rate in Lebanon
• The opaqueness conundrum in fast fashion global supply chains: the irony of hiding what we are trying to find

Special issue published: "The Meta COVID-19 Era: Challenges in Managing, Performing and Strategising"

Journal for Global Business Advancement 15(3) 2022

• Developing compassionate self-leadership: a conceptual framework for leadership effectiveness in the digital age
• The management of digital transformation in German companies: an empirical analysis
• Football industry strategic contextualisation and developmental choices: the case of Cyprus, EU
• The contribution of environmental accounting in corporations: evidence from Greece
• Antecedents to enculturation and acculturation for diffusion of knowledge using internet applications: an empirical investigation
• Determinants of employee engagement in the healthcare sector

Research pick: Businesses encouraging shopper loyalty - "Customer retention using loyalty cards program"

Customer loyalty can be a key component of ongoing business success, especially in a market with lots of rivals and a limited number of potential customers. Business must be involved in ongoing research in order to know what works to retain customers in ever-changing markets. In particular, determining what incentives might work to improve customer loyalty can be key.

The loyalty card system is perhaps the most well-known incentive programs that rewards loyalty and purportedly improves repeat business. The basic concept is that customers sign up to the program and are reward when they make repeat purchases or engage with the business in other ways, such as by referring friends, leaving reviews, or following the business on social media. Commonly they earn points on their card for various activities and these can be exchanged for in-store discounts, free gifts, or even vouchers or coupons that can be redeemed at associated outlets, such as restaurants, cinemas, or even holiday companies and theme parks. The specific rewards and incentives a company offers to its loyal customers vary widely, depending on the type of business and the preferences of the target audience. Some businesses use physical cards that are scanned at the point of purchase, others encourage their customers to download a mobile phone app.

Of course, there is also the advantage to the business of not only retaining customers but learning more about their buying habits and other activities linked to use of the loyalty card. Tracking activity gives businesses invaluable information on customer behaviour so they can be tarhets more effectively through marketing campaigns.

A study in the International Journal of Business Innovation and Research looked at the various factors that led customers to shop at two outlets in India Ondoor and Reliance Fresh, and to uncover whether loyalty cards had a role to play in customer retention. Nyagarama Omboga Thomas and Sapna Singh of the Department of Management at SRK University in Bhopal and Mohit Gangwar of Bhabha University also in Bhopal, used a descriptive survey research design to collect data via questionnaire.

The researchers’ analysis of the data revealed that there were many factors that had on influence on the purchasing choices of customers, including product availability, brand variety, the atmosphere of the given outlet, return policy, price, service, promotions, and store location. But, the businesses’ loyalty card programs had a strong impact on those customers who were signed up with the program.

Thomas, N.O., Singh, S. and Gangwar, M. (2023) ‘Customer retention using loyalty cards program’, Int. J. Business Innovation and Research, Vol. 30, No. 2, pp.200–217.

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

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

• Medical supplies lot-sizing with supplier selection in Thailand healthcare supply chain sector
• Competing value framework model of organisational culture and job performance: an examination of the mediating role of HPHR practices
• Analysis of a multi-echelon supply chain network with Erlang replenishments, (s, S) inventory policies, lost sales and Poisson external demand
• Exploring the impact of orientations on hospital-supplier collaboration: an empirical study
• Effect of customer satisfaction, costs, knowledge and awareness, infrastructure and service quality on e-commerce success
• The effects of total quality management practices on sustainable performance: perspective from Malaysia

Special issue published: "Innovative Methods and Applications in Computational Intelligence"

International Journal of Computational Intelligence Studies 11(3/4) 2022

• Isolation strategy for multi-objective quantum-inspired evolutionary algorithm
• Adaptive data-sharing methods for multi-agent systems using deep reinforcement learning
• Modelling of decarbonised global and local supply chain network for material-based greenhouse gas emission and costs with COVID-19 disruption and trans-Pacific partnership
• Investigation of the location of secondary storage warehouses in the inventory delivery planning problem considering road conditions
• Defending against audio adversarial examples based on multiple-sub-detectors

Additional papers

• Predictive analytics of user cognitive styles in online shopping
• Application of quantum-behaved characteristic particle swarm optimisation algorithm in multi-objective optimisation of urban rail train

Research pick: Funding higher education in SSA - "Diversifying income streams in public higher education institutions in Botswana"

The role of higher education in driving economic growth and development is recognised the world over. The existence of a skilled workforce drives innovation and economic growth, while educated citizens can contribute to the development of society. In addition, higher education can help to produce the critical mass of skilled workers required for sustained economic growth.

However, recent economic challenges have widened funding gaps in higher education, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), where higher education is largely funded by the government, with minimal contribution from the learners themselves or their parents. The recognition of this underscores the need for higher education establishments to diversify their income streams to support their work.

Emmanuel Botlhale of the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Botswana in Gaborone suggests that addressing the chronic funding gaps in Botswana’s higher education sector needs a deep exploration of alternative income-generation options. Writing in the International Journal of Higher Education and Sustainability, he discusses the many approaches that might be implemented to boost income sources. This might include rebranding of courses to make them more appealing to prospective students, collaborations between town and gown (the non-academic locals and businesses and the academics), the sale of university bonds, public-private partnerships in education, and the development of entrepreneurial universities that nurture spin-off companies the intellectual property, products, and services of which, can generate revenue for the institution.

Income stream diversification could fill the chronic funding gaps in higher education in Botswana and other SSA countries that have grown since 2007 and in particular because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Diversification and the development of third-stream incomes beyond tuition fees should reduce an institution’s dependence on public resources and provide a more sustainable future. The policy suggestions made by Botlhale are perhaps tailored to higher education in Botswana, but he suggests that the suggestions if adopted elsewhere will need fine-tuning to the particular national context in other SSA nations.

Botlhale, E. (2022) ‘Diversifying income streams in public higher education institutions in Botswana’, Int. J. Higher Education and Sustainability, Vol. 4, No. 2, pp.97–114.

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

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

• Excited states of S+14 ion (1S nS) in singlet and triplet states (1S, 3S) by Hartree-Fock method
• Mapping of background radiation for soil samples in Kufa Districts, Iraq
• MCNP6 and Serpent 2 results comparison in the neutronic modelling of aqueous homogeneous subcritical systems for medical isotope production
• Detailed safety assessment for the VVER-1000 fuel assembly
• Quantum mechanical calculations of fusion reactions induced by multi-neutron halo systems below and above Coulomb barrier
• In-core fuel management of TRIGA reactor optimising performance and safety
• Determination of alpha radioactivity in soil samples collected from University of Kerbala, Iraq

Special issue published: "Advances in Internet of Vehicles"

International Journal of Vehicle Information and Communication Systems 7(4) 2022

• Auto-reversing intelligent obstacle avoidance system based on optical fibre sensor
• High reliability metro integrated monitoring system based on ZigBee communication
• Automatic control method of driving direction of unmanned ground vehicle based on association rules
• Intelligent encryption method for wireless sensing signal of underwater vehicles
• Key technologies of automotive air conditioning control system based on CAN Bus and intelligent control algorithm
• Research on EPS system control strategy of SUV based on CarSim/Simulink

Regularly submitted paper

• Fuzzy based local agent routing protocol for delay conscious MANETs

Research pick: Time to step up – Compassionate volunteers needed in migrant education - "European contexts of volunteering and inclusion of migrant children in schools"

Research in the International Journal of Innovation and Learning discusses the motivation for volunteering in the educational section to help with the inclusion of migrant children in European schools.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) suggests that migration brings with it many economic advantages to a nation, including expansion of the workforce across many sectors, increased revenues from tax, greater economic activity, a boost to the working-age population, and an increase in the national skillset. On the other hand, there are challenges for host countries on how best to integrate newcomers into society. The challenges represent general economic, social, and health-related issues, as well as education-specific issues.

Valerij Dermol and Aleš Trunk of the International School for Social and Business Studies in Celje, Špela Javornik and Plamen Vladkov Mirazchiyski of the Educational Research Institute in Ljubljana, Slovenia, and Susana de Juana-Espinosa of the University of Alicante in Alicante, Spain, discuss the role of volunteers in supporting the inclusion of migrant students in schools when institutions are unable to do so on their own. The team carried out a systematic literature review of almost 16000 sources. The analysis honed their material down to 15 main sources and put particular emphasis on the RoMigSc project and results associated with needs and rationale for volunteering.

Dermol and colleagues found that while volunteers do anticipate personal benefits from their work, including career advancement, many are simply motivated by their concern for disadvantaged students, and yet others are encouraged to volunteer because they know other people already volunteering in the sector.

The team suggests that future research and practice should emphasise the recruitment volunteers who are motivated to work with migrant students out of compassion given that such internal motivation is a strong driver for volunteers in general. As such, volunteers recruited on such grounds are likely to be strong candidates with stamina. Given the state of world affairs, there is a pressing need to recruit more volunteers across Europe to help vulnerable groups, nowhere more so than in education. Not only will the presence of compassionate volunteers assisting migrant children in schools, but there will likely be a recognition by the other students and teachers in general of the mutual benefits.

Dermol, V., Javornik, Š., de Juana-Espinosa, S., Mirazchiyski, P.V. and Trunk, A. (2023) ‘European contexts of volunteering and inclusion of migrant children in schools’, Int. J. Innovation and Learning, Vol. 33, No. 2, pp.230–251.

Research pick: The power of footfall - "Harvesting energy from human traffic"

For many years wind power, solar power, tidal power and many other sustainable solutions to electricity generation have been in place. But, what about harvesting the energy of human traffic on city streets and other environments?

Research published in the International Journal of Biomechatronics and Biomedical Robotics demonstrates how the energy of footfall from people simply going about their business on the streets, in shopping malls, the workplace, and elsewhere might be harvested to generate electricity without affecting how people walk on the surface nor being too costly to implement or maintain.

Dazzle Johnson, Mikhael Sayat, and Kean Aw of the Department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering at the University of Auckland in Auckland, New Zealand, describe a pavement energy harvester. The system can convert the pressure of footfall from human traffic on the pavement even though the vertical displacement is a mere 1.5 millimetres, which would be hardly noticeable to pedestrians walking on such as surface. That tiny movement of the ground beneath one’s feet would not affect one’s gait but with each footstep can generate 164 milliwatts of electricity across a 27-ohm load resistor. If someone jumps on to the power pavement area almost a Watt is generated (833 mW).

If we imagine a network of power pavement with millions of footsteps every hour in a busy shopping centre, for instance, then the power generated would quickly add up to usable amounts that could be buffered by charging up embedded batteries and used to power lighting or power outlets. The team is currently testing the prototype system and will work to develop connected harvesters. They need to determine how much vertical displacement each slab might be capable of to generate more power without affecting the way people walk on the surface.

Johnson, D., Sayat, M. and Aw, K. (2022) ‘Harvesting energy from human traffic’, Int. J. Biomechatronics and Biomedical Robotics, Vol. 4, No. 1, pp.13–16.

Special issue published: "Mapping Knowledge Management Practices and Strategies in Emerging Technology Innovations"

International Journal of Knowledge-Based Development 12(3/4) 2022

• Efforts of Saudi Arabia to meet the sustainable development goals of the United Nations: a study on 'The Line' project
• Satisfaction of banking system knowledge-based development in customers towards CRM practices in Salem district
• An evaluation model of the risk of collision between two target ships in a pollution management strategy in coastal waters
• Understanding the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the aviation and tourism industry
• Implementation of Tri Hita Karana culture in encouraging the implementation of accounting information systems towards business continuity
• Conceptual analysis of socio-economic impact through women's Self Help Groups in Dharmapuri zone
• Significance of digital transformations on stakeholders' perceptions against food retail changes
• Assessment of groundwater quality in the urban development industrial area of Jalna district
• Recent applications for improving the last-mile delivery in urbanism logistics
• Effects of CSR on employee motivation, job satisfaction, and organisational commitment
• Secured and delay-tolerant model for banking sector adopted in cheque processing based on smart contracts and processed on blockchain network
• A study on customer relationship management in the Life Insurance Corporation of India with special reference to Tamil Nadu
• Research on intelligent financial information framework and smarter university campus
• The role of the inland container depot system in developing a sustainable transport system
• Internet of things with artificial intelligence detection and blockchains of crop availability for supply chain management
• MENA stock markets' sustained financial connectivity: evidence from pre- vs. during Covid-19
• Innovation comorbidity of compulsive buying and brand addiction among the younger generation

Research pick: Fast-moving shoppers - "Innovation comorbidity of compulsive buying and brand addiction among the younger generation"

Research in the International Journal of Knowledge-Based Development has looked at whether what we might refer to as brand addiction leads to compulsive buying of fast-moving consumer goods. By brand addiction in this context the researchers imply a blindness to other brands that might be available on the market.

D. Chitra, V. Mahalakshmi, B. Lakshmi, and Yabesh Abraham Durairaj Isravel of the Department of Management Studies at Panimalar Engineering College in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India used a descriptive research design to carry out their investigation gathering data from almost 400 buyers through random sampling questionnaire. The team used Pearson Correlation and Regression analysis to analyse the data.

The team found that most customers in this grouping were female and aged 30–45, and working in the private sector. The team suggests that having a favourite, prestigious brand and previous experience with that brand nudges respondents towards brand addiction. In addition, they found that obsessive buying behaviour is driven by price, low maintenance costs, and product quality.

Shopping is usually a necessity when it comes to food and clothing, but it can also be a release from stress and we often talk of “retail therapy” as a euphemism for buying what we want rather than what we need. Shopping in the extreme can become a compulsion for many people in the same way that they become dependent on other behaviour, such as hobbies, exercise, drinking alcohol, smoking tobacco. The team points out that shopping addiction can have as devastating effect on people’s lives as any other kind of compulsive behaviour including general mental health problems, such as anxiety and depression, damage to relationships, and even legal problems.

New insights into how brand addiction and compulsive shopping arise, such as the present, work could help guide counselling and even treatments for people who have a problem with this form of addiction. They discuss the problem cycle where by the emotional urge to shop arises, the excitement of anticipation, followed by preparation and then the purchase, and finally buyer’s remorse or guilt where the shopper perceives a problem and ultimately feels the need to shop again after coming down from the shopping high and experiencing the negative emotions.

Chitra, D., Mahalakshmi, V., Lakshmi, B. and Isravel, Y.A.D. (2022) ‘Innovation comorbidity of compulsive buying and brand addiction among the younger generation’, Int. J. Knowledge-Based Development, Vol. 12, Nos. 3/4, pp.475–493.

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:

• Microstructure and wear behaviour of Ni-based/TiC composite coating
• Tribological performance of hemp fibre reinforced phenolic composites: a brake pad material
• GLC effect on mechanical and electrochemical properties of MoS2 films
• Nitriding in ammonia-nitrogen gaseous mixtures, after the simultaneous saturation with Ti and Al
• Performance of non-metallic sliding element textured bearing

Special issue published: "The Dimensions of Energy for Global Warming"

International Journal of Global Warming 29(1/2) 2023

• Conversion of brewed tea waste into hydrochar and activated carbon
• A new distributor selection methodology for refrigeration cycles
• Macro and micro-climatic analysis of traditional houses in Turkey
• The effect of nanotechnology in the energy sector on economic growth and sustainable development
• Design and analysis of an IoT enabled unmanned aerial vehicle to monitor carbon monoxide: methodology and application
• An on-board energy and environmental analysis within the COVID-19 effects
• Assessment of environmental sustainability with entropy-based indicators for integrated buildings
• Suitability of Hekimhan siderite as oxygen carrier in chemical looping combustion
• Effect of an algae integrated water wall on energy consumption and CO2 emission
• Investigation of energy efficiency strategies in production processes based on operational management
• Biogas production from sugarcane leaves and tops using batch experiments

Special issue published: "The Role of Exergy in Energy Science and Technology"

International Journal of Exergy 40(2) 2023

• Exergy analysis and multi-objective optimisation of ORC using NSGA-II
• Exergy-environmental analysis and optimisation of the modified organic Rankine cycle driven by geothermal and biomass energies
• Thermodynamic re-assessment of a geothermal binary power plant operated in a moderate-temperature geothermal field
• Exergy analysis of a steam power plant at full and partial load conditions
• Experimental investigation and exergetic modelling of R718/LiBr bubble pump operated absorption refrigeration machine
• Exergetic design of hydrogen-based thermally driven R717 absorption refrigeration system
• Exergetic analysis of a newly geothermal power-based integrated system for various outputs

Themed issue published: "COVID-19 and the World Economy"

Global Business and Economics Review 28(2) 2023

• The COVID-19 impact on MSME earnings: evidences from Saudi Arabia
• Performance of the African stock market amid COVID-19 global health crisis: empirical analysis using four events
• Contagion or interdependence? Evidence from Asian emerging stock markets in times of COVID-19 pandemic
• COVID-19 pandemic: revisiting the safe haven assets
• Investigation of cointegration and causal linkages on Bitcoin volatility during COVID-19 pandemic
• COVID-19 and negative oil prices – an empirical analysis comparing importing and exporting countries

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Management Concepts and Philosophy

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

• Life skills from Bhagavad Gita: a vital enabler for leadership excellence in pandemic times and the world beyond
• Impact of macroeconomic variables on commodity indices in India: an application of ARDL model
• Olfactory marketing and market innovation: a systematic literature review and agenda for future research direction
• Machine learning and technological mediation in cost estimation practice
• Improving manufacturing performance through green SCM in Indian manufacturing industries

Research pick: Learning and working online: Insights from a pandemic - "Is going online efficient? A comparative study of offline and online mode of working and learning during COVID-19"

Research in the International Journal of Higher Education and Sustainability looks at the efficiency of working and learning online during the COVID-19 pandemic. Reeta Tomar and Schifra Daruwala of the CHRIST (Deemed to be University) in Ghaziabad, India, have taken an empirical approach to understanding the benefits of going online during this period while recognising the problems, stresses, and tragedies that arose.

The researchers found that the benefits of working from home for professionals including greater job satisfaction, working flexibility, less time commuting and overall improved efficiency. However, this was not the case for students attempting to learn online who experience lower efficacy than they would have during conventional classes. That said, many did enjoy the additional flexibility offered from learning online.

The COVID-19 pandemic brought us a “new normal” of lockdowns, quarantines, and border controls. For extended periods people had to work and learn from home to reduce the risk of spreading the SARS-CoV-2 virus. While at the time of writing the pandemic is very much still with us, the work also offers insights into how the new normal might evolve when we ultimately leave the pandemic.

New working and learning paradigms might offer efficiency improvements as well as helping us to reduce congestion and pollution in our cities. The team suggests that governments must improve policies in terms of educating workers and students and put in place infrastructure, such as inexpensive internet connectivity, to facilitate the work and learn-at-home paradigms. There is also a need to encourage small and medium-sized enterprises to improve their prospects. It is hoped that research insights into the impact of changes implemented during this pandemic might help us cope better with the next.

Tomar, R. and Daruwala, S. (2022) ‘Is going online efficient? A comparative study of offline and online mode of working and learning during COVID-19’, Int. J. Higher Education and Sustainability, Vol. 4, No. 2, pp.81–96.

Special issue published: "Practising Continuous Innovation in Digital Ecosystems – Part 1"

International Journal of Technology Management 91(3/4) 2023

• Design and implementation of a text mining-based tool to support scoping reviews
• The effect of knowledge collaboration on innovation performance: the moderating role of digital technologies
• Is technology neutral for MSEs? Interdependencies, information transparency and power imbalances in e-commerce ecosystems
• Your purpose or mine? Perspectives on data in innovation ecosystems

Additional papers

• The impact of competition and collaboration networks on innovation performance
• Tax incentive, R&D manipulation and enterprises' innovation performance: the moderating role of political connections

Free open access article available: "Flexibility-oriented human resource management system and employee ambidexterity: a moderating role of psychological capital"

The following paper, "Flexibility-oriented human resource management system and employee ambidexterity: a moderating role of psychological capital" (International Journal of Business Excellence 29(2) 2023), is freely available for download as an open access article.

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

Special issue of the International Journal of Export Marketing, in Memory Of Professor Jorma Larimo (1954–2022) (Part 1)

International Journal of Export Marketing 5(2) 2022

• Harnessing social media business affordances for internationalisation: multiple case study of small and medium-sized enterprises
• Spatial proximity as an independent variable in (international) marketing and management research
• Happy customers means more business – a comparative study of a global food chain in COVID-19 endemic era
• The international expansion of Chinese and Taiwanese electronics firms: the role of networking and learning
• A future research agenda on export marketing and international marketing themes: a Delphi approach

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Modelling, Identification and Control

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Modelling, Identification and Control are now available here for free:

• Generation of chaotic attractors using neurons with multidentrites
• Output feedback Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy model predictive control through linear matrix inequalities approaches
• System identification of rover dynamics: a comparison of three model structures
• Control of non-minimum phase system using inverse response compensator with different approximations
• Modified predictive control of continuum manipulators with learning-based model
• MRFCNN: the optimisation method of convolutional neural network for underwater target recognition
• Comparison between real-time auto-tuning PID and conventional PID controller for a dairy industrial evaporation process
• Minimise pruning cost of a node-weighted directed acyclic graph on applications of management
• Ridge regression and lasso regression based least squares algorithm for a time-delayed rational model via redundant rule
• Global stabilisation of control systems using a new sliding mode control method and its application to a general type of synchronisation for chaotic systems

Research pick: COVID control: a global study - "Exploratory analysis of the effectiveness of measures against the COVID-19 disease"

A team from the University of Zagreb in Croatia has surveyed the various ways in which national governments attempted to control the spread of the COVID-19 virus, SARS-CoV-2. Writing in the International Journal of Student Project Reporting, Karla Baričević and Marina Bagić Babac explain how different countries implemented a range of social and economic policies to this end. Their work tracks the epidemiology and shows how the pandemic was affected by the measures put in place. The findings could have implications for controlling the next emergent pathogen with the potential to cause a global pandemic.

The response of different nations to the COVID-19 pandemic was not uniform. Some countries implemented tight lockdowns, border controls, and quarantine arrangements very early in the evolution of the pandemic. Others took a different approach hoping for so-called “herd immunity” rather than social measures to control the virus. Unfortunately, the notion of herd immunity never arose and the emergence of many different variants of the disease represented an ongoing problem throughout the pandemic. Control was at least seen once vaccination became available. That has not been universally available and the World Health Organisation is not yet in a position to sign off on the end of the pandemic. The new normal means COVID-19 is perhaps here to stay.

The team has simulated and analysed different epidemiological factors, including the reproduction number, R, as well as epidemic growth and decay. The aim being to identify the combination and timing of countermeasures that best controlled the spread of COVID-19 reduced morbidity and mortality and also had the least detrimental impact on society and the economy.

Baricevic, K. and Bagic Babac, M. (2022) ‘Exploratory analysis of the effectiveness of measures against the COVID-19 disease’, Int. J. Student Project Reporting, Vol. 1, No. 2, pp.188–202.

Special issue published: "Cloud Computing: Issues and Future Directions"

International Journal of Cloud Computing 11(5/6) 2022

• Allocation of conference hall booking in Android application using cloud
• Dataset identification for prediction of heart diseases
• Determining the effectiveness of drugs on a mutating strain of tuberculosis bacteria by using tuberculosis datasets under a secure cloud-based data management
• Performance evaluation of intrusion detection system using new support vector machine model
• Application of data mining on cloud for lung cancer prognosis
• A novel approach towards tracing the parents of orphaned children and dead bodies in cloud and IoT-based distributed environment by integrating DNA databank with Aadhar and FIR databases
• Cloud resource management using adaptive firefly algorithm and artificial neural network
• Intelligent cloud assistance for healthcare sectors
• Cloud resources allocation for critical IaaS services in multi-cloud environment
• For mobile services in the cloud of things: a model-driven development pattern
• Authentication for cloud computing system through smartcard
• Implementation of multicloud strategies for healthcare organisations to avoid cloud sprawl
• Semi convergent matrix-based neural predictive classifier for big data analytics and prediction in cloud services
• Decentralised erasure code for Hadoop distributed cloud file systems
• Mitigation for cloud computing security risks and governance
• Radio frequency-based periodic cloud data analysis for smart farming

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Global Warming

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

• Prioritising climate change actions post COVID-19 amongst university students; a Q methodology perspective in the United Arab Emirates
• A wet type flue gas desulphurisation system used in a coal-fired power plant: a case study
• A review on life cycle analysis and environmental sustainability assessment of bio-fuel
• Innovative multi-cross trend model and application
• Global relationship between economic growth and CO2 emissions across time: a multilevel approach
• Transit leverage assessment and climate change mitigation pathway for urbanised areas
• Geosystems-indicators of climate change and cultural landscape recovery in Tigireksky Reserve and its protective zone (Altai Krai, Russia)

Special issue published: "Modelling and Analysis of Safety and Risk in Complex Systems: Part 2"

International Journal of Risk Assessment and Management 25(1/2) 2022

• Lenders' liability and ultra-hazardous activities
• Rule based design using clustering for knowledge acquisition
• Investigating the influential key safety climate factors on safety behaviour in the construction industry: a systematic review of the literature
• On the black swan risk dynamical evaluation
• Process-event method for operational risk assessment at enterprise
• Scenario-based stochastic model for supplier selection and order allocation under disruption risk and quantity discount
• Event-driven management of quality of economics and the state 'from below'

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

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

• Numerical simulation of the influence of furnace geometry on its performance in a tangentially fired pulverised-coal supercritical boiler
• Computational analysis of mixing characteristics of port-injected bioCNG with air for different designs of intake manifold
• A computational and experimental study on aerodynamics of motor-driven propellers using thrust stand and rotating cup anemometer
• Computational study of sloshing in spherical tanks and the effect of using annular baffle over slosh force frequency and damping
• Simplified level set method coupled to stabilised finite element flow solver for moving boundaries

Research pick: Protecting the Internet of Things from botnets is nothing to sniff at - "A Snort-based secure edge router for smart home"

The development and deployment of various internet of things (IoT) devices in homes has increased the risks to home networks with such devices inadvertently opening loopholes that could allow fraudsters and others to gain access to the devices themselves, but more worryingly to other devices such as tablet and desktop computers, smartphones, and smart media devices connected to the same home network.

The problem is discussed by a team from India in the International Journal of Sensor Networks. N.D. Patel and B.M. Mehtre of the Institute for Development and Research in Banking Technology (IDRBT) and Rajeev Wankar of the University of Hyderabad, India, explain how cybercrime is on the rise and to some degree this is being driven by the advent of the IoT.

The team cites the Mirai-BotNet, which infected and took control of many IoT devices and routers, creating a network of robots that can be controlled remotely. Such a botnet of zombie computers and devices can be used to cause problems for other systems, such as distributed denial of service (dDoS) attacks. dDoS attacks in turn can be used to overwhelm a network and its security systems allowing a malicious third party to wheedle their way into the system and steal data or tamper with the systems that depend on the network.

To address the issue of the growing security threat to IoT devices, the researchers have proposed a new type of router called a Snort-based secure edge router for the smart home. The team has designed this router to resist and repel many different types of cyberattacks. The team explains how their system uses Snort software to automatically generate rules to protect against attacks. The rules are generated by combining information about the type of data being sent to the device, perhaps from a malicious third party, its location, the header information (the to and from details), and the patterns present in the data being sent to the device.

The researchers tested the SERfSH using a setup that included a Raspberry Pi 4 computer, an ESP32 microcontroller, six IoT devices, and a computer set up to simulate an attack, a so-called “malicious actor machine”. They tested the system against 15 different types of attack. Deauthentication, fake-authentication, sybil attacks, broken-authentication, MAC spoofing, sink hole attacks, DoS, distributed-DoS, port-scanning, WiFi-cracking, ARP-poisoning, DNS-spoofing, malware-based DoS, RPL attacks (flooding), and firmware vulnerability.

The results showed that 14 of these attacks were readily detected although firmware vulnerability was not. 12 of the attacks were blocked and caused no harm with the exception of firmware vulnerability, obviously, as it was not detected and DNS spoofing. The team suggests that the system is scalable and is now planning to use unsupervised machine learning to improve attack detection and ultimately protect against them all.

Patel, N.D., Mehtre, B.M. and Wankar, R. (2023) ‘A Snort-based secure edge router for smart home’, Int. J. Sensor Networks, Vol. 41, No. 1, pp.42–59.

Prof. Kee-hung Lai appointed as new Editor in Chief of International Journal of Shipping and Transport Logistics

Prof. Kee-hung Lai from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University has been appointed to take over editorship of the International Journal of Shipping and Transport Logistics.

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

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

• Total quality management elements and risk resilience at the operational level
• New approach to the definition of risk
• Work motivation and operational risk assessment: a new direction for organisational behaviour studies
• Assessment of target and usefulness of complex cyber-physical systems
• The risk of war-through-misperception: systems-thinking-informed analyses of adversaries' weltanschauung as a safeguard against conflict
• How has the literature contributed to creating effective risk management policies in nonprofit organisations?

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Biomechatronics and Biomedical Robotics

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

• Gender-related differences in ankle-muscles recruitment during walking
• Intelligent detection of melanoma growth stage based on the analysis of the thermal response of skin
• Design and development of an electrostatic-based micropump
• Computational modelling of musculoskeletal to predict the human response with exoskeleton suit

Special issue published: "Maintenance 4.0 Technologies for Sustainable Manufacturing"

International Journal of Manufacturing Technology and Management 36(5/6) 2022

• Simulation study on wear limit of valve sleeve material for hydraulic reversing slide valve of five-axis CNC machine tool
• Unsupervised Bayesian method for colour matching of product packaging
• Optimisation of operation path of six-DOF industrial robot arm based on augmented reality
• Assistant decision-making model for colour matching of outer packing
• Construction of weak signal's automatic capture model of mechanical equipment for intelligent manufacturing
• Quality intelligent control method of railway vehicle wheel axle manufacturing process based on part quality index
• Dynamic analysis method of combustion system of CFB boiler based on empirical mode decomposition
• Automatic assembly cost control method of Industry 4.0 production line based on deep reinforcement learning
• Product packaging text and composition colour matching model design based on visual communication
• Design of industrial logistics information integration method based on supply chain management
• Research on multi-task cooperative control and management method of industrial robot multi-manipulator

Research pick: Linking leadership to employee ingenuity - "How does leadership bring individual creativity? A mediation and moderation analysis"

A new study published in the International Journal of Work Innovation, has revealed some interesting insights into creativity among employees of Pakistan’s private real estate sector. The research could have important implications for both theory and practice in work innovations in this sector and beyond. The team offers several recommendations for the next steps to be taken in this area of research and suggests similar studies might be fruitful in other regions and in sectors such as the information technology sector as well as in education.

Muhammad Bilal Kayani, Komal Shafique, and Maryam Ali of the National University of Modern Languages in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, have carried out a mediation and moderation analysis with a view to understanding the relationship between creativity and leadership in an import sector within the commercial and business worlds, real estate.

The team looked at the effects of two distinct styles of leadership – inclusive and transformational – and how these influence or employee creativity. They surveyed some 250 employees in the real estate sector and had a response rate of 74 percent. The results showed that while inclusive leadership may well see greater employee confidence in terms of an individual’s perception of their own abilities, it ultimately had no impact on that individual’s creativity. The effect of transformational leadership, which generally brings in new ideas to a workplace, however, was different, it very much had a positive effect on employee creativity.

The team also revealed two other characteristics of employees in this sector in that they could see that psychological empowerment had a significant role to play, but an organizational learning culture had negligible effect.

Kayani, M.B., Shafique, K. and Ali, M. (2023) ‘How does leadership bring individual creativity? A mediation and moderation analysis’, Int. J. Work Innovation, Vol. 3, No. 4, pp.382–402.

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Sport Management and Marketing

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

• A study on influence of toss result, toss decision and venue on the outcome of IPL cricket match
• Why sport ticket salespeople leave their jobs: applying attribution theory to employee turnover
• The impact of dynamic ticket pricing on Major League Baseball attendance
• Do they behave the same? Identifying the motives and behavioural intentions that influence the event loyalty of different distance triathletes
• Determinants of personal brand construction of national football players on Instagram
• Motive-based taxonomy of professional softball fans: a segmentation study

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Tourism Policy

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

• Have we (un)intentionally made Indigenous law a tourists' code?
• The importance of film-induced tourism as a motivational influence on travel decisions: analysis of push and pull factors from the perspective of Portuguese consumers
• European destination regions and social exclusion challenges
• Practices and challenges of linking the handicraft sector to sustainable tourism development: evidence from Gamo and Konso zones, southern Ethiopia
• Tourism information platform for low-density territories: the Douro region
• 'I still feel lost……..in those wonderful event memories': enablers of event and destination image
• Local food consumption by foreign tourists in Greece

Special issue published: "Data Science for Manufacturing and Services Industrials"

International Journal of Internet Manufacturing and Services 8(4) 2022

• Hybrid evolutionary algorithm with sequence difference-based differential evolution for multi-objective fuzzy flow-shop scheduling problem
• U2 Net-Plus and background removal-based PIFu-HD: human body reconstruction in complex background
• Ownership structure, fair value measurement and audit fees – empirical evidence from China
• Discuss the impact of corporate governance and external auditing on the quality of corporate information disclosure based on unbalanced data
• Research on financial irregularities identification: a machine learning perspective
• Exploring the relationship between corporate social responsibility in China, auditor reputation and debt financing costs based on unbalanced data

Research pick: Intelligent lighting - "Design of intelligent system for indoor illumination adjustment based on deep learning"

A deep learning-based intelligent regulation system for indoor lighting intensity is described in the International Journal of Industrial and Systems Engineering. The novel system improves the accuracy and efficiency of conventional lighting-regulation systems by exploiting artificial intelligence, or deep learning, trained with on sensor output and historical data. The approach allows natural light levels to be taken into account and calculates the requisite power needed to maintain consistent brightness indoors with a high adjustment accuracy of between 95.0 and 98.5 percent.

Chen Qun Wu of the College of Art and Design at the Yellow River Conservancy Technical Institute in Kaifeng, China, explains that intelligent, or smart, lighting systems could, in the ongoing energy and climate crises, improve efficiency, reduce costs, and lower emissions. Standard lighting systems waste a lot of resources and there is an urgent need to usurp them with an approach to lighting that takes into account various factors rather than always-on lighting at full power to illuminate a space regardless of use or ambient light.

Indeed, lighting currently accounts for about one-third of the power used by a building, intelligent systems could lower that considerably. Wu adds that there is the potential not only for saving power but also for improving working conditions in offices and other buildings where conventional lighting systems can often be too bright for comfortable working.

Wu’s approach takes into account lighting requirements, the movement of the sun, and other factors. It builds on a feedforward neural network structure that controls the lighting far more effectively than a simple on-off switch.

He adds that in subsequent research, he hopes to make improvements in the multi-sensor data fusion method, enhance still further the accuracy of the adjustment results, and integrate the wireless positioning functionality into the system to allow fixed-point adjustment of indoor illumination.

Wu, C.Q. (2023) ‘Design of intelligent system for indoor illumination adjustment based on deep learning’, Int. J. Industrial and Systems Engineering, Vol. 43, No. 2, pp.137–152.

Free open access article available: "Football agents from the perspective of their clients: services, service evaluation, and factors that create satisfaction"

The following paper, "Football agents from the perspective of their clients: services, service evaluation, and factors that create satisfaction" (International Journal of Sport Management and Marketing 22(5/6) 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 Mathematics in Operational Research

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

• A non-parametric estimation of the conditional quantile for truncated and functional data
• A review of evolutionary algorithms in solving large scale benchmark optimisation problems
• An inventory model for decaying items with Pareto distribution, time-dependent demand and shortages
• Fuzzy reliability appraisal of a system using probabilistic dual hesitant fuzzy element emphasising score function
• Selection of rear axle tip alternative material of a car by multi-criteria means
• Developing a cost-effective and heuristic tool to solve cut order planning problems in the apparel industry
• Transient analysis of M/M/C queuing model with reneging, finite capacity and population

Prof. Wei Huang appointed as new Editor in Chief of International Journal of Information Systems and Management

Prof. Wei (Wayne) Huang from the Southern University of Science and Technology in China has been appointed to take over editorship of the International Journal of Information Systems and Management.

Free open access article available: "Network analysis and comparative migration law: examples from the European Court of Human Rights"

The following paper, "Network analysis and comparative migration law: examples from the European Court of Human Rights" (International Journal of Migration and Border Studies 7(2) 2023), is freely available for download as an open access article.

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

Research pick: A paradigm shift in paradigm shifts - "Paradigm busters: researchers into stomach ulcers and corporate psychopaths"

Researchers who present radical new theories are often ridiculed and their work rejected despite the evidence they provide because the new theory upsets the received wisdom or is so outside what is considered to be the accepted paradigm. But there is a third way forward that could allow radical new thinking to emerge without it being lambasted unnecessarily so that it can be judged wholly on its merits.

Writing in the International Journal of Management Concepts and Philosophy, a team from Australia and the UK discuss two well-known theories that too many years to be accepted into the mainstream. The first was the medical discovery that peptic ulcers and stomach cancer are not generally caused by stress but by infection with a bacterium, Helicobacter pylori. The second was the social theory in management research that looked at how toxicity in the workplace can arise because of the presence of corporate psychopaths. Both “new” theories took many years to be accepted, both are now widely acknowledged.

Clive R. Boddy of Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge, UK, Sharyn Curran of Curtin University in Bentley, Western Australia, and Fiona Girkin of the University of Tasmania in Hobart, Australia, have viewed these two discoveries through the lens of Kuhn’s ideas of scientific paradigms. American philosopher of science Thomas Samuel Kuhn (1922-1996) used the word “paradigm” in his 1962 work “The Structure of Scientific Revolutions” and described it as a perspective on reality For instance, Galileo’s heliocentric view of the solar system, which was initially rejected when the paradigm shift in understanding broke through the common culture and of the day.

The team re-emphasises that paradigms are not merely abstractions, but are embodied in people, in their relationships and interactions, in institutions and in their culture. Kuhn’s insight was that academic inquiry is never merely academic but is embedded within academic society and society as a whole. The critical point is that an established paradigm is just that, it is established, entrenched, embedded, and can thus preclude the development and acceptance of a new paradigm in a given field irrespective of how compelling that new paradigm might be should the old school deign to even consider it.

A new paradigm must traverse five stages. Almost as with psychological changes in the five stages of grief The new paradigm must transcend initial ridicule, methodological innovations, rejection of evidence, attempts to disprove it, and then to final acceptance, recognition, until we see the paradigm shift.

Boddy, C.R., Curran, S. and Girkin, F. (2023) ‘Paradigm busters: researchers into stomach ulcers and corporate psychopaths’, Int. J. Management Concepts and Philosophy, Vol. 16, No. 1, pp.11–29.

Open access special issue published: "Comparative Migration Law: Methods, Debates and New Frontiers"

International Journal of Migration and Border Studies 7(2) 2023

• A critical-contextual approach in comparative migration law
• Coloniality and case law on the Australian asylum offshoring scheme
• Comparative international law: enhancing migration law enquiry?
• Methods for comparative migration law: insights from the social sciences
• Legal transfers of migration law: the case for an interdisciplinary approach
• Network analysis and comparative migration law: examples from the European Court of Human Rights

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

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

• Evaluation of transmission effects of the COVID-19 shock on major Asian stock markets
• Stock markets' responses to COVID-19 in developing countries: evidence from the SAARC region
• Searching for a new global development trajectory after COVID-19
• The impact of COVID-19 on small and micro-enterprises in South Africa
• Indian agriculture sector: impacts from COVID-19

Free open access article available: "Examining the role played by civil society organisations in the Amatole District Municipality in the Eastern Cape Province: opportunities and constraints"

The following paper, "Examining the role played by civil society organisations in the Amatole District Municipality in the Eastern Cape Province: opportunities and constraints" (International Journal of Sustainable Society 15(1) 2023), is freely available for download as an open access article.

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

Free open access article available: "Methods for comparative migration law: insights from the social sciences"

The following paper, "Methods for comparative migration law: insights from the social sciences" (International Journal of International Journal of Migration and Border Studies 7(2) 2023), is freely available for download as an open access article.

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

Special issue published: "The Impact and Implications of COVID-19 on Financial and Fiscal Systems in Asian Countries"

International Journal of Monetary Economics and Finance 15(5) 2022

• How has Covid-19 infected the stock market and exchange rate? (A case study of infected vs. uninfected countries)
• Herding behaviour in Turkish stock market sector indices: the effect of COVID-19 outbreak
• Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on stock markets: a case study of selected countries
• A study investigating the role of economic uncertainty and factors affecting futures indices mispricing
• A study on the impact of COVID-19 on the financial health of Indian companies
• 'Same storm, different boats': the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on Indonesian public companies