Special issue: Business culture and management in China

International Journal of Chinese Culture and Management 1(3) 2008

• The impact of distributors' HRM on the performance of manufacturer-distributor partnerships
• Managing technology transfer in multinational corporations
• Going global, crossing cultures: intercultural management in Chinese enterprises
• The impact of Chinese culture on the service contribution in European manufacturing companies
• Exploring guanxi and cultural barriers: a perspective from the Taiwanese SMS investors in China
• Comparative studies on organisational learning culture in Chinese native enterprises
• The impact of national and organisational cultures on intergroup coordination in software development in mainland China: a qualitative analysis
• Leadership effectiveness in the Chinese enterprises: the roles of Chinese leadership and employee's individual orientation

Special issue: Policy approaches towards supporting biotechnology across Europe: current trends and outcomes

International Journal of Biotechnology 10(4) 2008

Papers draw upon the results of the BioPolis project, which provides an inventory and an analysis of national policies that stimulate biotechnology research, its exploitation and its commercialisation by industry across Europe.

• Dynamics in biotechnology policy-making in Europe in the period 1994–2006
• The performance of European countries in biotechnology: how does Europe compare to the USA?
• The effectiveness of biotechnology policies in Europe
• Biotechnology policies and performance in central and eastern Europe
• Bridging the biotechnology gap: policy experiences from the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary and Slovenia

Special issue: Cultural and rhetorical bases for communicating knowledge in web-based communities

International Journal of Web Based Communities 4(4) 2008

• Genre, knowledge and digital code in web-based communities: an integrated theoretical framework for shaping digital discursive spaces
• Virtual communities of practice: the communication of knowledge across cultural boundaries
• Conversations of virtual learning communities: discourse and survey analyses of moderated online synchronous discussions
• Cross-cultural knowledge communication in online communities of practice
• Sociotechnical research and knowledge communication in community-centred systems design: a technological frames perspective
• Noobs' and 'chicks' on Animutation Portal: power and status in a community of practice
• Virtual Tourist: knowledge communication in an online travel community
• Knowledge communication in rate.ee, a web picture-rating community

Special issue: Self-directed learning and human resource development

International Journal of Human Resources Development and Management 8(4) 2008

• The importance of self-directed learning for human resource development: an introduction
• Productivity in the workplace: the role of self-directed learning and the implications for human resource management
• Leader effectiveness from self-directed learning and strategic thinking
• Psychological contracts and self-directed learning
• Fostering learning strategies in universities to prepare a self-regulated workforce
• Continuous professional development via self-directed learning amongst social work professionals
• Taking the self-directed road to e-learning: learner control, efficacy and motivation

Special issue: The lines of growing entrepreneurship in transition economies

International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management 8(3) 2008

• Globalisation of internal venture capital opportunities in developing small and medium enterprises' relationships
• Understanding the foreign direct investment environments in EU 27+ candidate country Croatia: the current determinants and patterns
• Keeping pace with change in SMEs: creating and maintaining congruence and consistency in SMEs in transition economies
• Export strategies as a factor of SME growth in Croatia
• Development economics' view on growing entrepreneurship in Slovenia
• The determinants of entrepreneurship and small business growth in Kosova: evidence from new and established firms
• The innovation infrastructure in Serbia as the driving force for the development and restructuring of the country's S&T landscape

First issue: International Journal of Medical Engineering and Informatics

International Journal of Medical Engineering and Informatics promotes an understanding of the structural and functional aspects of disease mechanisms and the application of technology towards the treatment and management of such diseases. The journal seeks to promote genuine interdisciplinary collaboration between those interested in the theoretical and clinical aspects of medicine and to foster and encourage the application of computers and mathematics to problems arising from the medical sciences.

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

Call for papers: Terrain Topology: Measurement, Analysis, and Applications

Call for papers: Terrain Topology: Measurement, Analysis, and Applications

A special issue of International Journal of Vehicle Systems Modelling and Testing

Road terrain profiles are of interest to many groups, from civil engineers evaluating highway smoothness to automotive engineers performing multi-body dynamic simulations and durability analysis. The quality of the terrain profile has a large effect on all analyses and, therefore, the terrain measurement must be as accurate as possible. Currently, high fidelity data is being produced by new systems that can be used in many advanced applications, such as 3D tyre models and terramechanics models that require detailed knowledge about the terrain topology.

The focus of this special issue is research concerning all aspects of terrain measurement techniques, analysis of measured terrain, and mathematical and statistical modelling of terrain topology for on-road and off-road applications. Of particular interest are areas related to passenger, commercial, and military applications. Submissions are encouraged from a wide audience of members of academia, the defence community, and the automotive industry.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following areas:

• Measurement techniques
• Instrumentation
• Signal processing
• Terrain topology characterisation
• Chassis load prediction
• Mathematical modelling of terrain
• Vehicle design applications
• Vehicle testing and development

Important Dates
Extended abstracts due: 1 January, 2009
Complete manuscript due for review: 1 March, 2009
Authors notified of final paper acceptance: 1 May, 2009
Submission of final manuscript: 1 June, 2009

Call for papers: Data Quality Management in Wireless Sensor Networks

Call for papers: Data Quality Management in Wireless Sensor Networks

A special issue of International Journal of Sensor Networks

As new fabrication and integration technologies reduce the cost and size of wireless sensors, the observation and control of our physical world will expand dramatically using the temporally and spatially dense monitoring afforded by wireless sensor networks technology. Several applications such as habitat monitoring, counter-sniper system, environment sampling, and structure monitoring, have been launched, showing the promising future of wide range of applications of networked sensor systems.

Their success is nonetheless determined by whether the sensor networks can provide a high quality stream of data over a long period. The inherent feature of unattended and untethered deployment of networked sensors in a malicious environment, however, imposes challenges to the underlying systems. These challenges are further complicated by the fact that sensor systems are usually seriously energy-constrained. Most previous efforts focus on devising techniques to save the sensor node energy and thus extend the lifetime of the whole sensor network. However, with more deployments of real sensor systems, in which the main function is to collect interesting data and to share with peers, data quality has been becoming a more important issue in the design of sensor systems. Consistency, accuracy, reliability, and survivability concerns have to be addressed in sensor data collection, storage, and processing.

The goal of the special issue is to publish the most recent results in the data quality management aspects of wireless sensor networks research. Researchers and practitioners working in this area are expected to take this opportunity to discuss and express their views on the current trends, challenges, and state of the art solutions addressing various issues in sensor networks.

Suitable topics include, but are not limited to:

• Data quality modelling
• Data quality management
• Middleware support for data quality
• Outlier data detection and filtering
• Trade-off between energy efficiency and data quality
• Data collection in lossy environments
• Query processing over uncertain data
• Fault-tolerant networking support
• Data persistence in faulty networks

Important Dates
Manuscript due: 31 December, 2008
Acceptance/rejection notification: 30 April, 2009
Final manuscript due: 31 May, 2009

Call for papers: Comparative Benchmarking Analysis of Sea Ports

Call for papers: Comparative Benchmarking Analysis of Sea Ports

A special issue of International Journal of Shipping and Transport Logistics

In recent years, sea ports have experienced a period of rapid growth along with intense inter-port rivalry as a consequence of hinterland development. Port benchmarking technique has become a vital tool for port management bodies to compare the activity of a port with that of its competitors regionally and internationally.

This special issue is devoted to publishing the latest and significant results only on regional or international comparative benchmarking analysis of sea ports. Innovative papers on benchmarking seaports at regional/international level using either data envelopment analysis or stochastic frontier models are particularly encouraged. The use of other innovative models for port benchmarking is also welcome.

Suitable topics include, but are not limited to:

• Port comparative analysis at regional level
• Port comparative analysis at international level
• Use of DEA, stochastic frontier, or other innovative models for port benchmarking

Important Dates
Submission deadline: 31 January 2009
Notification of the initial decision: 30 April 2009
Notification of acceptance: 31 July 2009

Special issue: Global growth and the evolving role of entrepreneurship

International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business 6(4) 2008

• Tobati, Paraguay: indigenous market town revisited
• The internationalisation of Western firms' R&D in China
• Entrepreneurship policy in Cyprus
• An analytical framework for micro-level analysis of GEM data
• Indicators of entrepreneurship activity: some methodological contributions
• Bounded emotionality in entrepreneurial calculations: a case study in rural Sri Lanka

Special issue: Marketing transformation to the new e-business environment: emerging trends, approaches and challenges

International Journal of Business Environment 2(2) 2008

• Towards an alternative logic for electronic customer relationship management
• Building a theoretical framework for e-service export performance
• Sustaining the brand idea in electronic environments
• Semantic information management and e-business: towards more transparent value chains
• Online retailing: open at all hours?
• Playing cat and mouse: consumer empowerment and marketing interactions on the internet
• The motivations underlying the use of technological innovations: new insights from projective techniques
• The challenges in adopting residual radio frequency identification technologies in the business environment: a consumer segmentation approach
• The electronic village: the digital challenges in communication strategies for sporting organisations

Special issue: Private sector involvement in drinking water supply: the experience

International Journal of Water 4(3/4) 2008

• Mimicking the private sector: new public management in the water supply and sanitation sector
• Private sector involvement according to European water liberalisation scenarios
• Private sector involvement in drinking water supply in Ghana
• Public–private partnerships in basic service delivery: impact on the poor, examples from the water sector in India
• Water services in Latin America: experiences with public–private partnerships
• A Caribbean evaluation of public versus private drinking water provision: the case of St. Maarten, Netherlands Antilles
• Role of small-scale independent providers in water and sanitation
• Utility and non-state water service provision for the urban poor
• Different faces of private sector involvement in the water supply and sanitation sector

Special issue: Strategy and information management in the innovative era

International Journal of Technology Management 43(1/2/3) 2008

• Management of dualities as a critical dimension of a knowledge-era organisation
• Infomemes and infonomes: in search of knowledge DNA
• Understanding the critical factors effect user satisfaction and impact of ERP through innovation of diffusion theory
• The environmental sustainability of information systems: considering the impact of operational strategies and practices
• Strategy and strategic action in the global era: overcoming the knowing-doing gap
• Market information feedback for the high-tech dominated IPO companies
• Google and global market search: information signals and knowledge indices
• The transformation of a traditional salt company into a biotech business through innovations and reforms: a case study of Taiyen
• Small firm transformation through IS
• The process of business start-ups in the internet: a multiple case study
• Evaluating IT outsourcing customer satisfaction and its impact on firm performance in Korea
• Developing the partner relationship management system for franchised electronic stores
• Capturing strategic alliance outcomes: an analysis of motives, objectives and outcomes
• Intellectual capital and business performance in the Portuguese banking industry
• An innovative model of a computer-mediated professional community: China software developer net
• KMsharer: an information technology approach to enable knowledge management services
• The impact of knowledge management enablers on non-financial performance in small and medium enterprises

Call for papers: Solving Multi Response Problems in the Taguchi Method for Product And Process Performance Improvement

Call for papers: Solving Multi Response Problems in the Taguchi Method for Product And Process Performance Improvement

A special issue of International Journal of Business Performance Management

Manufacturing companies around the world are affected by globalisation and are forced to be more competitive day by day to sustain their profitability. The implementation of total quality principles is being considered as one of the strongest indicators of competitiveness of the company. Robust design, which is widely acknowledged as most significant contribution of Taguchi, is an offline quality assurance technique which ensures quality of design of process and products that greatly improves engineering productivity. The Taguchi method of experimental design is a widely accepted approach for robust experimental design that seeks to obtain a best combination set of factors/levels with the lowest societal cost solution to achieve customer requirements.

It is observed that most of the published Taguchi applications have been primarily concerned with the optimisation of a single response. However, in practice, multiple responses are common in complex processes and, in most cases; we generally rely on experience and engineering knowledge of the product/process for optimisation which often increases the degree of uncertainty during the decision-making process.

This special issue aims to provide academia and practitioners with a collection of innovative research and most recent developments in to handling the multi response problems in the Taguchi method for product and process performance improvement.

Contributors are encouraged to submit original manuscripts that are conceptual, case studies, or metaheuristic-based, and to focus on the following or other areas related to multi response problem:

• Engineering judgement
• Assignment of weight
• Regression analysis
• Mathematical programming
• Response surface methodology
• Principal component analysis
• DEAR approach
• Grey relational analysis
• Fuzzy logic
• Fuzzy multiple attribute decision making
• Neural networks
• Application of metaheuristics
• Case studies

Important Dates
Manuscript submission: 31 October 2008
Notification of initial decision: 31 December 2008
Notification of final acceptance: 31 January 2009

First issue: International Journal of Private Law

International Journal of Private Law covers all aspects of private law, including audio-visual, media, communication, and space law, which have not been covered by any journals so far. It explores the legal issues facing individuals, entrepreneurs, and business owners and discusses provocative and timely issues facing both the national and international community.

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

Special issue: Biogeochemistry of toxic trace elements in water, soil and plants

International Journal of Environment and Pollution 33(2/3) 2008

• Difference in the root structure of hyperaccumulator Thlaspi caerulescens and non-hyperaccumulator Thlaspi arvense
• Heavy metal content in Thlaspi caerulescens J. et C. Presl growing on metalliferous and non-metalliferous soils in Central Slovakia
• Cadmium and zinc in polluted mining soils and uptake by plants (El Losar mine, Spain)
• Bleeding sap and leaves of silver birch (Betula pendula) as bioindicators of metal contaminated soils
• Heavy metals in urban soils of Xuzhou (China), Part I: total concentration of heavy metals in soils
• Plant diversity in relation to anthropogenic trace metals in soils of selected sites in Nigeria's Guinea Savanna
• Spatial distribution and heavy metal content of some bryophytes and lichens in relation to air pollution in Nigeria's Guinea Savanna
• The use of cypress tree bark as an environmental indicator of heavy metals deposition in Fuheis City, Jordan
• Effect of arsenic on soil, plant and foodstuffs by using irrigated groundwater and pond water from Nadia district, West Bengal
• Effect of old mining activities on nutrient and toxic elements concentration in the biomass of Norway spruce (Picea abies L. Karst.) and European Birch (Betula pendula L.)
• Concentrations of heavy metals in plants grown on polluted mining soils (Loma Charra mine, Spain)
• Mercury contamination of surface water and fish in a gold mining region (Cuyuni river basin, Venezuela)
• Cadmium in soil-plant systems: an overview
• Phytofiltration of water polluted with arsenic and heavy metals

Submitted Papers

• The use of the environmental Kuznets curve: environmental and economic implications
• An empirical index to evaluate the sustainability of mining projects

Special issue: The green family: how to reduce residential environmental impact

International Journal of Environmental Technology and Management 9(4) 2008

• Life cycle engineering: methods, databases and results
• Life Cycle Assessment applications in the building sector
• Household environmental monitoring a strategy to help homeowners reduce their environmental impact
• Energy challenge: a demand side energy management experiment in households
• Energy-efficient and low carbon emission residential building near Torino, Italy
• Energy demand of German households and saving potential
• Passive house projects in Belgium
• Retrofit of a century old land-house to a low-energy house
• Environmental assessment of energy production by combustion of biogas provided by the anaerobic digestion of agricultural biomass
• Performance assessment of a 5 kW SOFC cogeneration fuel cell
• Impact of energy efficiency upgrade retrofits on the residential energy consumption and Greenhouse Gas emissions in Canada

Call for papers: Value Creation

Call for papers: Value Creation

A special issue of International Journal of Opportunity, Growth and Value Creation

This special issue spotlights on the creation of value within organisations and networks. The concept of value creation is at the core of entrepreneurial activities, and is reflected by the exploitation of opportunities and subsequent organisational growth. However, our understanding of the nature of value creation, how to achieve it, and how to capture it, is limited. Therefore, this issue will shed light on the sources, processes, and outcomes associated with organisational value creation (value created for and by the organisation).

The sources of organisational value creation refer to their antecedents and can include multiple levels such as organisations, and networks. These sources may involve aspects such as creativity, employee motivation, entrepreneurial behavior, programs, culture or structure.

Processes associated with value creation refer to issues such as how value is created, by whom, and under what conditions. This may include research questions addressing value creation strategies, new business models, organisational forms, management practices, innovation processes, incentive schemes, job design, social or company networks, incubation, or firm creation in general.

The outcome of value creation refers to the benefits gained from value creation. These outcomes may include relative value to recipients, various stakeholders as recipients, learning, capability creation and performance.

While this special issue is concerned with organisational value creation, we acknowledge that value creation can be studied at various levels of analysis (individual, team, organisation, business-relationship, networks and society) that may be interlinked. Te special issue focuses particularly on value creation in organisations and networks.

We appreciate contributions that shed light on issues which include, but are not limited to:

• Value creation in organisations and networks
• Sources of value creation
• Processes of value creation
• New business models
• Management practices
• Mechanisms of value creation
• Learning and innovation

Important Date
Paper Submission Deadline: 1 October 2008

Call for papers: Simulation and Control of Burr Formation and Deburring Processes

Call for papers: Simulation and Control of Burr Formation and Deburring Processes

A special issue of International Journal of Computer Aided Engineering and Technology

Burrs are unwanted materials remaining after almost all machining operations including drilling, milling and turning. They are formed at the exit of a cutting edge upon completion of a machining operation. Burr formation not only degrades part accuracy and quality but also hampers part handling and assembly. Therefore, many parts in the automotive and aerospace industries require deburring, which is a tedious, non-productive process that consumes 15-30% of the total machining cost.

Due to increasing demands on high part accuracy and low production time, there is a great deal of interest around the world in studying the mechanisms of burr formation, the strategies for burr prevention and the methods for deburring. This special issue calls for papers on the application of computer technology, specifically simulation and control technology, to this area of research.

The following topics, but not limited to, will be included under two main categories:

Burr Formation and Prevention

• Modelling and classification of burrs
• Predictive modelling for burr prevention
• Predicting burr location
• FEM modelling and simulation of burr formation
• Material effect on burr formation
• Simulation of tool geometry effect on burr formation
• Effect of machining processes and parameters on burr formation
• Product design optimisation for burr prevention
• Cutting tool design and optimisation for burr prevention
• Toolpath optimisation and burr prevention

Deburring Process Control

• Modelling and simulation of various deburring methods, automated and semi-automated
• Predictive modeling of part surface quality for deburring process control
• Robotic deburring and CNC machine-based deburring
• Optimal selection of deburring tools and process conditions
• Force control methods for automated deburring
• Active and passive compliant deburring toolheads and methods
• Large part deburring and small part deburring
• Design and optimisation of automated deburring systems/cells

Important Dates
Paper submission due: 31 December, 2008
Acceptance notification: 30 April, 2009
Final papers due: 30 June, 2009

Special issue: Modularity

International Journal of Technology Management 42(4) 2008

• Modularity in the mediation of market and technology change
• Product modularity and the product life cycle: new dynamics in the interactions of product and process technologies
• Systems, components and modular design: the case of the US semiconductor industry
• Networks of innovation and modularity: a dynamic perspective
• A case study of knowledge protection and diffusion for innovation: managing knowledge in the mobile telephone industry
• Modularity in cooperative product development: the case of the MCC 'smart' car
• Scenario-driven modular design in managing market uncertainty

Call for papers: CO2 Capture in Global Warming Mitigation: Chemical Engineering Applications

Call for papers: CO2 Capture in Global Warming Mitigation: Chemical Engineering Applications

A special issue of International Journal of Environment and Waste Management

Any serious efforts by government or industry to address greenhouse gas emissions and global warming in the near term would impose a price or charge on carbon or constrain the use of CO2-emitting fuels in some manner. The primary policy instruments available include restrictions on emissions, stricter regulation of the use of coal and other fossil fuels, subsidies for carbon-free fuels, such as nuclear, wind, biomass, and solar power, tradable rights to carbon emissions (called cap-and-trade systems), and direct carbon taxes.

The IPCC Special Report on Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Capture and Storage revealed that carbon dioxide capture (CC) is a process consisting of the separation of CO2 from industrial and energy-related sources. Carbon dioxide capture is a part of an option amongst many others as described earlier in the portfolio of mitigation actions for stabilisation of atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations. The study of CC further indicates that it deeply involves widespread application of chemical engineering viz., advanced combustion engineering, mass transfer operations (absorption, as also adsorption) and host of other associated areas. Extensive research with leading-edge technologies is being conducted around the globe, especially in the developed nations, in order to cope with this emerging challenge. This research, embedded with technical, economic and institutional features, will help the policy makers in framing the carbon mitigation control option economically and also to maintain opportunities for the use of coal in a carbon-constrained world in an environmentally acceptable manner.

In recent years, extensive research has been conducted for CO2 capture in the developing nations. In this context, this special issue aims at inviting papers in this emerging field.

Original research papers or reviews are invited in the following and related areas:

• CO2 capture by absorption and adsorption
• Mass transfer studies in CO2 capture
• Theoretical analysis of CO2 capture
• Process integration and intensification
• Advanced combustion engineering that assists CO2 capture
• Downstream use of CO2 that is captured
• Analysis of CO2 capture processes using entropy generation
• Fossil fuel power plant layout design considering CO2 capture as a mandate
• Economics of CO2 capture processes
• Decision support systems for policy making in CO2 capture

Important Dates
Deadline for paper submission: 31 August 2008
Deadline for paper review: 31 October 2008
Deadline for submission of revised papers: 15 November 2008
Deadline for re-review of papers requiring major revision: 15 December 2008
Deadline for second revisions of papers if requires: 31 December 2008

Call for papers: Network Coding and its Applications in Wireless Communication Systems

Call for papers: Network Coding and its Applications in Wireless Communication Systems

A special issue of International Journal of Autonomous and Adaptive Communications Systems

Network coding, as an effective technique, can be exploited to increase the network available information flow in wired and wireless networks. The main advantage of network coding is that it allows each node or router in the network to encode the data received from multiple links and forward the mixed one to its neighboring nodes. Such a processing mode will reduce the information congestion at some nodes or links and improve the network information flow. In some scenarios, it can approach the maximum flow of the networks. In the last few years, some applications of network coding in wireless communication systems have been attracted more attention. To better exploit this promising coding paradigm, the aim of this special issue is to present a collection of high-quality research papers that report the latest research advances in wireless communication systems.

The topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

• Network coding theory
• Applications of network coding in WLAN, WMAN, WiMax etc.
• Applications of Network coding in wireless ad Hoc network,
• Applications of Network coding in wireless sensor networks
• Network coding for network robustness
• Network coding for network security
• Physical layer network coding
• Practical network coding

Important Dates
Paper submission: 15 May, 2009
Acceptance notification: 1 August, 2009
Camera ready papers due: 1 October, 2009

Special issue: Towards an interoperable and open-source infrastructure for lifelong competence development

International Journal of Learning Technology 3(4) 2008

Papers from an Open Workshop organised by the TENCompetence project on the theme Service Oriented Approaches and Lifelong Competence Development Infrastructures and held in Manchester, UK, 11-12 January 2007.

• Establishing a development process for composite applications in the work-based learning and competency management domain
• Persona, identity and competence: issues of control in teaching and learning with personal technology
• Personal recommender systems for learners in lifelong learning networks: the requirements, techniques and model
• Enhancing social interaction in competence development networks: a conceptual framework
• Ad hoc transient communities: towards fostering knowledge sharing in learning networks

Special issue: Innovation, development and environment

International Journal of Global Environmental Issues 8(4) 2008

• Technology and the environment in the history of the economic thought
• Notes on environmental regulation and growth
• Capital accumulation, technological progress and environment
• The link between economic growth and environmental quality: what is role of demographic change?
• Environmental Kuznets Curves for Greenhouse Gas emissions. Evidence from Italy using National Accounts Matrix including Environmental Accounts and provincial panel data
• From Hubbert to Kuznets: on the sustainability of the current energy system
• Environmental policies and the trade of energy technologies in Europe

Special issue: Quantitative approaches in management

International Journal of Management and Decision Making 9(4) 2008

• Application of fuzzy MCDM to establishing a new fee schedule for orthopaedic procedures in a National Health Insurance program
• An application of the Analytical Hierarchy Process and Fuzzy Analytical Hierarchy Process in the selection of collecting centre location for the reverse logistics Multicriteria Decision-Making supply chain model
• Hierarchical alternatives in Multi Criteria Decision Making
• Using two-stage DEA to measure managerial efficiency change of non-life insurance companies in Taiwan
• The R&D funding decision: the need for a systemic approach
• Integrating the event study method and the Grey Markov forecasting model to evaluate the effect of announcements regarding the establishment of FHCs
• Predicting diffusion of innovative products using neural networks
• Analysis on the supply trend of Taiwan deck officers after the execution of STCW-95 convention

Special issue: Requirements for flexibility and the ways to achieve it

International Journal of Business Process Integration and Management 3(1) 2008

Papers from the 7th International Workshop on Business Process Modelling, Development and Support (BPMDS’06) [associated with CAiSE’06] held inLuxembourg 5-6 June 2006

• Facilitating flexibility in interorganisational processes: a conceptual model
• Controlling business process instance flexibility via rules of planning
• Using soft constraints to guide users in flexible business process management systems
• Business process flexibility through the exploration of stimuli
• Contextualisation of business processes
• Using process mining to learn from process changes in evolutionary systems

Special issue: Fault diagnosis and fault tolerant control for industrial systems

International Journal of Modelling, Identification and Control 3(2) 2008

• Using neural networks and statistical tests for detecting changes in the process dynamics
• Parameterisation of reconfiguring second-order linear systems via eigenstructure assignment
• Fault detection in centrifugal pumping systems using neural networks
• Prediction of defects in castings using back propagation neural networks
• Neural network fault classification of transient data in an automotive engine air path
• Detection and localisation of damage in bridge model by spatial wavelet based approach
• Fault detection, diagnosis and tolerant control for non-Gaussian stochastic distribution systems using a rational square-root approximation model
• Fault-tolerant wide-range stabilisation of a power system
• Fault diagnosis system for a robot manipulator through neuro fuzzy approach
• Fuzzy observer for fault detection and reconstruction of unknown input fuzzy models

Call for papers: Doing Business in Developing/Emerging Economies: Cases in Management, Business and Marketing

Call for papers: Doing Business in Developing/Emerging Economies: Cases in Management, Business and Marketing

A special issue of International Journal of Economics and Business Research

The purpose of this special edition is to provide much needed ‘practice’ in developing/emerging economies given the fast moving, turbulent nature of today’s business environment and the rapid emergence of ‘new economic giants’ like Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC).

Papers are particularly welcome from the public as well as the private sector and can either be researched based or from secondary sources. In either case, they should contain a mixture of qualitative/descriptive detail as well as essential quantitative detail such as sales data, market share and financial details.

Suitable topics include, but are not limited to:

• Developing/emerging economies
• Management
• Business innovation and research
• Entrepreneurship
• Marketing
• Accounting
• Human resources
• Strategic alliances
• Outsourcing
• Business ethics
• Business law
• Business information systems
• E-business
• Finance and international finance
• Business and the natural environment
• Economics and business education

Important Date
Closing date for submissions: 15th January 2009

Special issue: Financial risk management

International Journal of Risk Assessment and Management 9(1/2) 2008

• Corporate failure risk assessment of Greek companies
• Demonstration of data mining approaches in credit risk evaluation
• Predicting US commercial bank failures via a multicriteria approach
• Value-at-risk: is lacking in sub-additivity just an annoying technicality?
• Study of banking sector design from risk perspective to minimise social costs
• A practical approach to market risk analysis and control: empirical test of the Mexican foreign exchange and stock markets
• Loose risk management mechanisms of corporate governance of Greek firms; rewards to board from earnings that are not based on performance incentive plans
• Hedge ratio estimation and hedging effectiveness: the case of the S&P 500 stock index futures contract
• An integrated taxonomy of consumers of financial services: the role of perceived risk, effort and involvement
• Multi-factor models for capital asset pricing in a fuzzy environment with empirical studies
• Fuzzy assessment of human-health risks due to air pollution
• A risk mitigation approach for concurrent engineering projects

Special issue: Synthesis, discourse and instrumentality

International Journal of Intellectual Property Management 2(2) 2008

• The purpose of copyright protection in Jordan and Canada: a brief comparison
• Traditional knowledge, the CBD and the TRIPS regime: synthesising the discordant discourses at the WTO
• Intellectual Property Rights from an Islamic perspective
• Spam, spamdexing and regulation of internet advertising
• Taking patents seriously
• Authentication and disclosure of online business entities: the foundation of online transaction security
• From Sony Librie to Sony Reader and iLiad: the beginning of the end? Legal implications surrounding the eBook debate, Sony Reader and iLiad
• Cost, defining, and responsibility of government purchasing Open Source Software
• Copyright, censorship and privacy: Is cyberspace over crowded?

Special issue: Management of IP networks and services

International Journal of Internet Protocol Technology 3(1) 2008

• Management of peer-to-peer overlays
• SLA-based dynamic resource management in wireless environments: an enterprise nomadism use case
• On the enhancement of mobility and multimedia communications in heterogeneous RANs
• A rule based resources management for collaborative grid environments
• Improving the bulk data transfer experience
• Towards self-adaptation in DiffServ-GMPLS network for video-conferencing services
• Design and implementation of network management with two-layer fairness approach in campus network environment
• Policy Based Management in the Global Information Grid

Call for papers: Managing Container Operations Effectively

Call for papers: Managing Container Operations Effectively

A special issue of International Journal of Shipping and Transport Logistics

Containerisation has increasingly facilitated the transportation of goods since 1970s. The average annual growth rate of world container traffic has been around 10% in the last three decades, which is well above the world trade growth rate. The increasing demands drive the development of the supply side. Accordingly, world container fleet and container vessel fleet also maintain around 10% of annual growth. However, in recent years the trade demands are getting more and more imbalanced and volatile, and shippers are becoming more and more demanding to pursue global supply chain management, the container shipping industry is facing challenges of managing container operations more effectively to meet the demands in a dynamic, stochastic, and intermodal environment.

This Special Issue will focus on managerial issues in the container shipping supply chain including inland transportation, depot and seaport operations, seaborne transportation, intermodal transportation, and empty container repositioning. It aims to provide academic and practitioners (including shippers, inland transport companies, freight forwarders, logistics agents, port/terminal operators, ocean carriers) with a collection of innovative research and development in modelling, control, and optimisation of container operations.

Suitable topics include but are not limited to:

• Inland container transportation
• Seaborne container transportation
• Operations management in container depots and ports
• Intermodal transportation
• Empty container repositioning
• Container leasing and fleet sizing
• Demand and supply analysis
• Supply chain network modelling
• Empirical research on container management
• Risk mitigation strategies in shipping supply chains
• Agent-based modelling
• Operations planning, scheduling and control
• Optimisation methods incorporating both structural and control design
• Simulation-optimisation methods
• Practical applications of innovative techniques

Important Dates
Submission Deadline: 20 December, 2008
Notification of the Initial Decision: 30 March, 2009
Notification of Acceptance: 30 June, 2009

Special issue: Energy-efficient algorithm and protocol design in sensor networks

International Journal of Sensor Networks 4(1/2) 2008

• Power-efficient cooperative coding with hybrid-ARQ soft combining for wireless sensor networks in block-fading environment
• Correlated data gathering in wireless sensor networks based on distributed source coding
• Decentralised binary detection with non-constant SNR profile at the sensors
• Energy-efficient image transmission in sensor networks
• Energy-efficient data gathering algorithm in sensor networks with partial aggregation
• Efficient aggregation using first hop selection in WSNs
• Energy-efficient topology control for three-dimensional sensor networks
• A hierarchical clustering-based routing protocol for wireless sensor networks supporting multiple data aggregation qualities
• Skipping technique in face routing for wireless ad hoc and sensor networks
• Reliable and energy-efficient routing protocol in dense wireless sensor networks
• Energy efficiency of a per-hop relay selection scheme for sensor networks using cooperative MIMO
• Public key cryptography empowered smart dust is affordable
  

Special issue: The Polish economy from 1990 to the present

International Journal of Economic Policy in Emerging Economies 1(2/3) 2008

• Economic development and prospects in Poland: an introduction
• Information Technology and Information Society in Poland
• Economic growth in Poland from 1990 to 2006
• Privatisation in Poland during and after the transformation
• Changes on Polish labour market occurring in the period of systemic transformation
• The development of the capital market in Poland
• Polish foreign trade between 1990 and 2007
• Investment processes in Poland after 1990
• Expenses and income of Polish households from 1990 to 2006
• The small and medium-sized enterprise sector in Poland
• Conditions for entrepreneurship of Polish students
• Investment in higher education, Research and Development. Poland in comparison with the European Union and OECD
• International migration in Poland
• Competitiveness of Polish economy at the beginning of the 21st century: implications for economic policy

First issue: International Journal of Business and Emerging Markets

International Journal of Business and Emerging Markets encourages application of research methods to solve specific business-related problems in emerging markets. The journal aims to promote articles that are based on the unification of the theoretical–quantitative or the empirical–qualitative approach, and that propose future research directions for scholars and recommend actionable business strategies for managers.

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

Special issue: Project management and new product development

International Journal of Product Development 6(2) 2008

• The impact of knowledge delivery factors on New Product Development teams: a quantitative analysis of software development efficiency
• A review and critical analysis of global New Product Introduction and Development
• Evaluating and operating NPD mix within Technological and Manufacturing Cluster under uncertainty
• NPD project timeliness: the project-level impact of early engineering effort and customer involvement
• Good theory: developing a foundation for project management
• Development of a Conceptual Framework for Lean New Product Development Process

Call for papers: Everybody Hurts, Sometimes - Emotions and Dysfunctional Leadership

Call for papers: Everybody Hurts, Sometimes - Emotions and Dysfunctional Leadership

A special issue of European Journal of International Management

Organisational dysfunction characterises a facet of today’s workplace that is often hidden or ignored. In general, we expect, albeit naively, that business leaders will do the right thing. They are expected to act honourably, in accordance with organisational and institutional values, as well as acting ethically. The ideal leaders of the 21st century can integrate all the necessary subordinates and know how to build a team while making themselves dispensable. They know how to lead a diverse workforce, possess strategic skills, have a learning focus, as well as an international orientation. They offer constructive criticism when things go wrong and resolve conflicts diplomatically, respecting subordinates’ expectations and ambitions. Also, ideal leaders are expected to be passionate about their jobs. They are supposed to show emotional commitment and devotion and are expected to involve their personal lives in the organisation, thereby integrating their own ‘selves’ into the life of the organisation. They are one with the organisation; a symbol of its being.

However, such leaders are mostly mythical creatures. In reality, most leaders gain their position due to technical expertise rather than an ability to work with human resources, and consequently tend to be strong in operational and technical skills, but less so in relations-building-skills. Moreover, leaders’ performance tends to be measured on a cost-efficiency basis, and when pursuing functional objectives, leaders can often be dysfunctional for the well-being of those who are charged with delivering this functionality.

The incompetence of leaders manifests itself in various ways, such as indecisiveness and over-controlling behavior or an overriding concern for production and efficiency at the expense of the human resources. Opinions on leadership and leaders are thus often constructed on the basis of diverse rather than shared meanings. Also, many ‘successful’ leaders may have psychopathic, narcissistic, and histrionic personality disorders, which, although they may sometimes help them in climbing the ladder of success, eventually will result in a dysfunctional workplace of others.

Leaders are people like the rest of us, human beings with emotions, fears, and desires. Leaders make mistakes, their actions have different consequences than intended, and sometimes they do not act at all. Based on this view, the aim of this special issue is to capture the ‘other side’ of leadership, to challenge the ideal image of the heroic and charismatic leader almost displayed like a superhero. We invite contributions that investigate the current state of emotions and dysfunctional leadership around the globe. We invite contributions that apply unique perspectives and analyses. Qualitative and quantitative as well as conceptual approaches are encouraged. Papers should also point to the future of leadership with particular emphasis on how best to advance the arguments, methods, and effectiveness of leadership.

Examples of topics appropriate to the theme of emotions and dysfunctional leadership include:

• Leaders as the disruptive force in their organisations
• The passionate leader
• The loving and caring leader
• Emotional ignorance
• Emotional workplace bullying
• Trust-breaking
• Tyrannical behavior towards subordinates
• Leadership fantasies
• Micro leadership, with emphasis on roles and implications of roles
• Manic leadership
• Inaccessibility of leadership
• The invisible leader
• Manipulative leadership
• Management of meaninglessness
• Gossip and rumors
• Managerial cowardliness
• The 'successful psychopath'
• Consequences of workaholic tendencies of individuals in organisational power positions
• Prevention and intervention strategies - who sets them, how are they enforced?
• Whistleblowing - usefulness and effectiveness
• Feedback phobia
• Pushing employees outside their comfort zone - promises and challenges

Important Dates
Extended abstract submission deadline: 15 August, 2009
Full paper submission deadline: 1 December, 2009
No changes can be made to the papers after: 30 April, 2010

First issue: International Journal of Sustainable Manufacturing

International Journal of Sustainable Manufacturing deals with science-based sustainability principles and their applications in innovative products, processes and systems for manufacturing with emphasis on economic, environmental and societal aspects of sustainability. This covers the biocomplexity of the environment and its associated technological challenges facing the needs of the society for economic growth and prosperity as applied to design and manufacturing of discrete products. Product lifecycle issues involving the development of use of materials and resources for sustained quality requirements and perpetual material flow are included.

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

First issue: International Journal of Inventory Research

International Journal of Inventory Research stimulates innovative inventory research and its application for improving the productivity, customer satisfaction and competitiveness of manufacturing firms, retailers, logistics providers and all organisations that manage inventories. Although it maintains a focus on inventory theory, it deals with operational as well as strategic issues, with specific inventory models as well as with general supply chain issues, with firm-level as well as macroeconomic perspectives.

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

First issue: International Journal of Autonomous and Adaptive Communications Systems

International Journal of Autonomous and Adaptive Communications Systems covers foundational, engineering and technological aspects of communications systems exhibiting emergent and adaptive behaviour. It supports the understanding, development, and control of such communication systems based on sound theoretical models, including but not limited to bio-inspired, natural computing, game theory and economic models and spans complexity, self-adaptation, autonomic communication, ambient intelligence, and multi-agent systems.

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

Special issue: Measurement and application of risk in economics and finance

International Journal of Monetary Economics and Finance 1(2) 2008

• Semiparametric estimation of dynamic conditional expected shortfall models
• Predictive performance of conditional Extreme Value Theory in Value-at-Risk estimation
• Risk budgeting and Value-at-Risk
• Country financial and political risk: the case of Indonesia, Malaysia and Philippines
• Estimating integrated volatility using absolute high-frequency returns
• An empirical comparison of alternative models in estimating Value-at-Risk: evidence and application from the LSE
• On the role of volatility for modelling risk exposure

Special issue: Teaching Knowledge Management: integration into curriculum, teaching strategies and teaching case studies

International Journal of Teaching and Case Studies 1(3) 2008

• An experiential approach to teaching Knowledge Management
• Self-efficacy and KM course weighting selection: can students optimise their grades?
• How to overcome pitfalls of (E)ER and UML in Knowledge Management education
• Designing and managing intervention methods to promote Self-Regulated Learning
• Teaching KM to secondary education teachers through an action research model
• Dimensions of KM: they know not its called knowledge… but they can manage it!

Newly announced journal: International Journal of Knowledge Engineering and Data Mining

International Journal of Knowledge Engineering and Data Mining - to begin publication in 2009 - publishes theoretical and practical research development on knowledge engineering and data mining. It is devoted to techniques and skills used for knowledgebase systems or intelligent applications development, including all areas of data architecture, data integration and data exchange, data mining, knowledge acquisition, representation, dissemination, codification and discovery techniques, and their technologies. It also focuses on their applications and case studies in industrial and business sectors.

Newly announced journal: International Journal of Business Continuity and Risk Management

International Journal of Business Continuity and Risk Management - to begin publication in 2009 - deals with the essential field of business continuity and risk management with particular emphasis on decision making using a multidisciplinary approach. Organisational resiliency through risk assessment, contingency planning, systems security, crisis and disaster management, and recovery planning, as well as public policy regarding infrastructure and security, are integrated in the journal’s coverage.

Special issue: International marketing and MIS cases leading towards entrepreneurship development

Journal for International Business and Entrepreneurship Development 3(3/4) 2008

• Internationalisation of the New Zealand nutraceutical industry
• Environmental analysis as a means to customer satisfaction: the case of Starbucks in Cyprus
• Attribute-based recruitment of knowledge workers using MADM approach
• The correlation between problems experienced by ethnic entrepreneurs and their marketing and managerial skills
• The influence of identity on international consumer behaviour in transitional settings: a case study of the Bosnian-Herzegovinian banking market
• Greek banks in international markets: a study of entry modes and approaches
• Enterprise resource planning implementation in the retail sector: a case study on the effects of the implementation of an ERP system in Cyprus
• Case study: Paul Smith in Japan
• The external environment and its effect on strategic marketing planning: a case study for McDonald's
• Holiday Inn hotel: a case study from Greece

Special issue: Sustainable investments

Progress in Industrial Ecology, An International Journal 5(3) 2008

• Editorial: The contribution of sustainable investments to sustainable development
• Socially responsible investment and avoidance of controversial sectors: on isomorphic processes and the quest for legitimacy
• The Janus face of sustainable foreign direct investments
• Exploring the environmental information in sell-side analysts' research reports
• The relation between the GRI indicators and the financial performance of firms
• Sustainable investment analysis with the sustainable value approach – a plea and a methodology to overcome the instrumental bias in socially responsible investment research

Special issue: Design, analysis and development for product technology

International Journal of Product Development 6(1) 2008

• Response Surface Methodology-based approach to Electrochemical Deburring (ECD) of SS304 stainless steel workpiece
• Design and optimisation of a pump impeller using mathematical techniques
• Parametric matching selection approach for Satellite Gear Mechanism
• Simulation research on influence of scanning pattern on temperature evolution in SLS/SLM of Ti6Al4V powder
• An experimental analysis of a Y section exhaust manifold system with improved engine performance
• Synchronised collaborative design between heterogeneous CAD systems based on web service
• Modelling approach of a cymene-Si-Oil damping shock absorber based on neural network algorithm

Special issue:The rural entrepreneur: problems of definition

International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business 6(3) 2008

Papers from 5th Rural Entrepreneurship Conference in Lincoln, UK, 22-23 February 2007 and the European Rural Sociology Conference held in Wageningen, Netherlands in August 2007

• Farmers as entrepreneurs: the case of farm-based tourism
• Crisis plan? What crisis plan! How microentrepreneurs manage in a crisis
• Entrepreneurial in-migrants and economic development in rural England
• Zzzz.....Some reflections on the dynamics of village entrepreneurship
• Entrepreneurship capital emerging in a coastal community
• Are farmers businesspeople? Highlighting transformations in the profession of farmers in France
• Entrepreneurial attitudes, intentions and activities – a comparison of urban and rural areas in Wales
• Blots, bovines, buildings, businesses and brands: monitoring the landscape of rural assets
• Starting social enterprises in remote and rural Scotland: best or worst of circumstances?
• A taxonomy of entrepreneurial farmers
• Beyond the concept of 'getting big or getting out': entrepreneurship strategies to survive as a farm family
• The potential for kitchen incubators to assist food-processing enterprises

Newly announced journal: International Journal of Global Warming

International Journal of Global Warming - to begin in 2009 - will bring all disciplines together for both local and global solutions to combat global warming and its consequences. It focuses around improvements in remediation, avoidance, efficiency, cost effectiveness, design, resource utilisation, environmental quality, energy security, and sustainable development. It also address issues related to global changes as a direct and/or indirect result of climate modification and strategies for adaptation to such changes.

Call for papers: Gender and Sustainable Development

Call for papers: Gender and Sustainable Development

A special issue of International Journal of Innovation and Sustainable Development

This special issue welcomes papers based on new quantitative research concerning the economic, social and environmental role of women and the implications for government policies and business practices.

Original research is welcome on topics which include but are not limited to:

• Women in the workforce and economic growth
• Economic impacts of family-friendly policies
• Gender balance and innovative performance
• Female focus in poverty reduction
• Performance of male and female-led firms
• Innovation and women entrepreneurs
• Valuation of female-dominated professions
• Valuation of household work
• Effectiveness of gender quotas in public and private sectors
• Costs and benefits of engendered health policies
• Contributions of women migrants
• Gender aspects of education trends
• Women in global supply chains
• Engendered approaches to disaster risk reduction
• Sustainable consumption patterns by gender
• Gender governance approaches and climate change

Important Dates
Abstract of not more than 150 words by: 1 September 2008
Full paper submission by: 1 November 2008

Special issue: European integration, regional growth and cohesion

International Journal of Public Policy 3(3/4) 2008

• European integration, regional growth and cohesion: an overview
• Economic geography and European integration: the effects on the EU's external border regions
• The impact of EU enlargement on European border regions
• Did previous EU-enlargements change the regional distribution of production? An empirical analysis of three enlargement episodes
• Economic integration in a cross border perspective: an emerging new system of production?
• Multi-level policy making in transport: the problems for border regions
• EU cohesion policy: the debate on Structural Funds
• Ex-ante evaluation of European ICT policies: efficiency vs. cohesion scenarios

Special issue: Wind power trading in electricity markets

International Journal of Energy Technology and Policy 6(3) 2008

• Wind power in electricity markets: key issues and challenges
• Impacts of wind power on PJM market development
• Dispachability improvement of wind generation by the Virtual Power Producers
• Bidding and regulating strategies in a dual imbalance pricing system: case study for a Dutch wind producer
• Wind power generation in China: present status and future prospects
• Development of linear models of Static Var Compensators suitable for enhancing performance of power systems including wind farms
• Evaluation of wind power integration practices in Germany
• Integration of pump storage hydro with wind energy

Special issue: Australian views on energy security: papers from the Energy Security Symposium

International Journal of Global Energy Issues 29(4) 2008

Papers from a Symposium on Australia’s energy security hosted by the Australian Institute of International Affairs and the Australian Homeland Security Centre in Canberra in October 2006.

• The impact of energy security on Australia's international relations
• Energy security: the new cold war
• Energy competition and international relations
• Accessing energy resources in the arc of instability
• Factoring energy security into Australian foreign and trade policy: Has luck run out?
• Asia's rising complex energy interdependence
• 'Strong enterprise, weak government': energy policy making in China
• Australia's engagement in the nuclear fuel cycle: the non-proliferation dimension
• Rapporteur's report

Special issue: Transforming energy systems towards sustainability: critical issues from a socio-technical perspective

International Journal of Environmental Technology and Management 9(2/3) 2008

• Energy systems in transition: contributions from social sciences
• Deploying wind power in Australia: a socio-technical analysis
• Carbon capture and storage: settling the German coal vs. climate change dispute?
• Socio-technical implications of domestic microgeneration technologies in the UK electricity system
• En'lightening' energy use: the co-evolution of household lighting practices
• Who uses innovative energy technologies, when and why? The case of fuel cell MicroCHP in households
• Systematically sustainable provision? The premises and promises of 'joined-up' energy demand management
• Socio-technical analysis of the introduction of wind power in the Netherlands and Denmark
• Governance in the energy transition: Practice of transition management in the Netherlands

Special issue: CIBAM and the Symposium on Security, Terrorism and Business

Global Business and Economics Review 10(2) 2008

[CIBAM = Centre for International Business & Management, Judge Business School, Cambridge University]

• CIBAM and the Symposium on 'Security, Terrorism and Business'
• Terrorism and business
• Ten propositions concerning security, terrorism and business
• Not quite inexplicable: exploring the Bush administration's response to terrorism
• The war on terror: in search of a definition
• War on terrorism: from the bloody clash of civilisations to a nonviolent coexistence of nations and civilisations
• Terrorism and Islamism: differences, dynamics and dilemmas
• Unintended consequences: how Somalia's business community, in search of stability, and the USA, in search of terrorists, nearly created a radical Islamic state in the horn of Africa
• Terrorism and business: a view from an insurance practitioner

Special issue: Integrated disaster risk management in the Asia-Pacific Region

International Journal of Risk Assessment and Management 8(4) 2008

• Evaluation method of flood disaster loss based on genetic algorithm of changeable structure
• Matter-element model of integrated risk assessment for flood control systems
• Assessment of public risk perception in North-western China
• Research on geologic hazard risk management in China based on geologic hazard survey and zoning
• A decision support system for debris-flow hazard mitigation in towns based on numerical simulation: a case study at Dongchuan, Yunnan Province
• Main meteorological disasters and their impacts on the economic and societal developments in China
• Indigenous knowledge and culture on natural resources management in the Salween canyon, Yunnan Province, China
• An application of SCGE model to assess the labour and capital related economic loss in Nankai earthquake
• Probabilistic exposure assessment to total trihalomethanes in drinking water: an EVT method
• Impact of natural disaster on the national economies in China
• The attitudes of university students towards crisis events: a survey in Beijing
• Households' choice on reconstruction of a damaged house after an earthquake: characteristics of decisions and effects of subsidies

Special issue: Knowledge management

International Journal of Business Information Systems 3(6) 2008

• Revisiting knowledge warehousing: theoretical foundations
• Knowledge maps and organisations: an overview and interpretation
• How to use KM effectively in a European context: the case of BCT in Romania
• Motives for and modes of interfirm technological cooperation: an empirical study of China's high-technology SMEs
• The IT professional and knowledge management: researching the Irish perspective
• Knowledge management within information security: the case of Barings Bank
• Capturing tacit knowledge across different domains: Knowledge Community (K-Comm)
• Tacit knowledge, organisational memory: expectations and experiences in developing a knowledge warehouse

Special issue: Advances in machining of composite materials

International Journal of Materials and Product Technology 32(2/3) 2008

• Damage modes of the aeronautic multidirectional carbon/epoxy composite T300/914 in machining
• Working parameters effects on machining-induced damage of fibre-reinforced composites: numerical simulation analysis
• Model for predicting cutting forces in machining CFRP
• Orthogonal machining of UD-CFRP composites
• Analysis of delamination in drilling composite materials by core-saw drill
• The geometrical effect between stages in step drilling of composite materials
• Prediction of thrust force and torque when drilling composite materials
• Damage analysis of carbon/epoxy plates after drilling
• Predicting machinability parameters on drilling Glass Fibre Reinforced Plastics using Response Surface Methodology
• An experimental and statistical study on the effect of drill geometries on force and hole quality in drilling of glass fibre reinforced plastic
• Neural surface roughness models of CNC machined Glass Fibre Reinforced Composites
• Multi-parameter surface roughness analysis in turning of polyamide composite using Polycrystalline Diamond tool
• The experimental study on machinability of new developed Al/(Sip+SiCp)
• Development of an empirical model for surface roughness in the machining of Al/SiC particulate composites by PCD tool
• Modelling cutting power and tool wear in turning of aluminium matrix composites using Artificial Neural Networks

Special issue: Successfully creating new products and services: XV ISPIM Conference

International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management 8(2) 2008

Papers from the XV International Society for Professional Innovation Management (ISPIM) Conference held in Oslo, Norway 20-24 June 2004

• Measurement criteria of the relevance of the Innovation Management methods and tools
• The exploration of future service innovations in the radically changing business environment within the electricity distribution industry
• innovationEnterprizer: system for evaluating and managing corporate innovation
• Information behaviour in value characteristics deployment approach to increasing customer satisfaction by combining product and service
• Proximity, mobility and aesthetics in strategies for innovation management
• Systems thinking and learning in innovation process
• In search of corporate renewal: focus on corporate venturing
• Discovering business innovation, channel collaboration and value delivery in international research odyssey

Call for papers: Revenue Management in Emerging Areas

Call for papers: Revenue Management in Emerging Areas

A special issue of International Journal of Revenue Management

This special issue considers all emerging areas of revenue management other than conventional airlines and hotels applications. While all types of papers related to applications in the emerging areas are welcome, papers related to applications of revenue management in the emerging economies in developing countries are preferred.

Areas of interest include but are not limited to:

• Retail
• Broadcasting
• Railways
• Electronic auctions
• Food products
• Car rentals

Important Dates
Full paper due: 31 January, 2009
Notification of acceptance and review results: 1 April, 2009
Final version of paper due: 1 September, 2009

Call for papers: Multidisciplinary Design Optimisation: Bridging the Gap Between Theory and Practice

Call for papers: Multidisciplinary Design Optimisation: Bridging the Gap Between Theory and Practice from an Industrial and Systems Engineering Perspective

A special issue of European Journal of Industrial Engineering

In recent years, it has been recognised that industry is paying more and more attention to the formalisation of complex system analysis and design by seeking better ways to improve efficiency in the design process to meet time, cost, and performance requirements. Multidisciplinary Design Optimisation (MDO) has emerged as an industrial and systems engineering discipline that focuses on the development of new design and optimisation strategies for complex systems.

The design and optimisation of complex, high-performance systems require the use of more and more sophisticated modelling tools. Nevertheless, their scope is generally limited to a single disciplinary domain or to specific subsystems. In this context, the search for the best design solution is in general driven by the trade-offs between different teams; each one specialised in a discipline or in a specific system aspect.

The overall optimisation performance is pursued with a number of methodological, organisational, and technical difficulties such as complex modelling and representation issues, computational efforts, and close collaboration between different teams. MDO is considered a methodology for complex systems design that coherently exploits the synergism of mutually interacting phenomena and domains. The main scientific challenges of MDO are concerned with the development of strong and efficient numerical techniques and with the computational organisation required for the necessary coupling of models and tools employed in interacting disciplines.

Interest in MDO has intensified in the last years, as recent advances in computational, optimisation, and simulation technology have presented significant opportunities to solve MDO problems. Different research streams are highlighting many topics of common interest, such as modelling and optimisation methodologies, uncertainty and robustness analysis, integration techniques, approximation and metamodelling methods. Reducing time and cost of the design while pursuing both accuracy and robustness of solutions and the integration between structural and control design aspects is still of primary interest for the project teams. However, the use of these methods for coupled multidisciplinary problems remains an open challenge in many industrial engineering areas, even if innovative methods and software solutions are now available to be used in multidisciplinary applications.

This special issue provides the threefold opportunity to explore new perspectives, to receive a “feedback from the field” trying to bridge the gap between theory and practice of MDO, and to promote and transfer the knowledge of methods for MDO.

We are inviting people from both academia and industry to submit papers on their recent research experience considering emergent approaches and results to be applied to MDO problems.

Suitable topics include but are not limited to:

• Development of suitable formulation of multidisciplinary design problems
• Optimisation methods incorporating both structural and control design;
• Simulation-optimisation methods
• Robust optimisation
• Metamodelling methods and metamodels management
• Sensitivity analysis
• Practical applications of MDO techniques

Important Dates
Submission Deadline: 20 December, 2008
Notification of the Initial Decision: 30 March, 2009
Notification of Acceptance: 30 June, 2009

Call for papers: Engineering and Computational Technologies in the Life Sciences

Call for papers: Engineering and Computational Technologies in the Life Sciences

A special issue of International Journal of Computer Aided Engineering and Technology

With the rapid advance of biotechnology, in particular genomics and proteomics, research in the life sciences has been dramatically revolutionised. Modern life-science research is therefore calling for wider interdisciplinary methodologies to provide useful and rapid tools for aiding the process of targeted therapeutic interventions and biomarker discovery. One has recently become aware of novel notions in medicine and biology such as personalised medicine and computational systems biology where the adoption of information, engineering, and computer aided technologies is foreseen to play a critical role for the success of such significant biomedical findings to come.

This special issue aims to bring together various current and high-impact life-science problems addressed by novel approaches in engineering, computer science, information technology, physics, and mathematics. Its objective is not only to highlight current topics in computational life sciences including bioinformatics, computational biology, and health informatics, but also to serve as a melting pot where principles of different disciplines can be combined to form a richer integrated research platform in computational life sciences.

Topics of interest include (but are not limited to) new methods and/or novel applications of the following approaches to solving problems in life sciences:

• Image processing, analysis and understanding
• Pattern classification and recognition
• Computational intelligence methods
• AI and machine learning
• Information retrieval and mining
• Optimisation and decision making
• Signal processing
• Fractals and chaos
• Numerical analysis
• Computational mechanics
• Control theory
• Prediction models

Important Dates
Paper submission due: 3 October, 2008
Acceptance notification: 3 November, 2008
Final papers due: 1 December, 2008

Call for papers: Value Chain Management – Linking Australia and its Global Partners

Call for papers: Value Chain Management – Linking Australia and its Global Partners

A special issue of International Journal of Value Chain Management

The value chain approach entails the concept of value adding at the macro and micro levels. The value adding elements permeate across countries, organisations and departments. In today's rapidly evolving business environment, Australian organisations can no longer afford to operate in silos but need to coordinate their activities at both the national and international levels to compete in an increasingly global value chain and network environment.

The intent of the special issue is to investigate innovative and effective applications of value chain approaches in Australia for management in a global business environment. Authors are encouraged to submit both theoretical and applied articles addressing the theme of the special issue.

Topics of relevance to the special issue include but are not limited to the following:

• Technical production
• Economics
• Banking and finance
• Logistics
• Electronic commerce
• Risk management
• Management
• Marketing and customer relationship management
• Supply chain management
• Operations management
• Information technology management
• Value chain approaches in key Australian industries, e.g. agriculture, education, hospitality, financial services

Important Dates
Deadline for submission of manuscripts: 31 October, 2008
Notification of acceptance/rejection to authors: 1 Feb, 2009
Submission of final manuscript: 1 April, 2009

Call for papers: Ambient Sensing and Intelligence for Distributed Pervasive Applications

Call for papers: Ambient Sensing and Intelligence for Distributed Pervasive Applications

A special issue of International Journal of Autonomous and Adaptive Communications Systems

Sensor networks are an enabling technology of Ambient Intelligence. The pervasive nature of unobtrusive sensors distributed in the environment, either embedded or transportable by mobile carriers, enables fine-grain capture of environmental or ambient information that provides the basis of intelligence for higher-order cognitive systems, i.e. systems with capabilities to perceive, reason, learn, and react intelligently to their environment. Such systems in turn are envisioned to have wide ranging applications from intelligent wildlife and building structure monitoring, to humanistic and social endeavors such as health and elderly care service provisioning.

This special issue is intended to foster and stimulate innovations in cross-disciplinary designs and methodologies in the fields of sensor networks and ambient intelligence.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

• Cognitive wireless sensor networks
• Cooperative and distributed sensor localization
• Context-aware reasoning and inference for sensor/RFID-based systems
• Intelligence support for sensor network management
• Sensor networking in heterogeneous wireless environments
• Sensor data fusion for ubiquitous embedded computing
• Ambient intelligence system architectures, applications, and services
• Testbed implementation and experimental trials

Important Dates
Manuscripts due: 1 February, 2009
Acceptance Notification: 1 May, 2009
Final Manuscript Due: 1 June, 2009

Newly announced journal: European Journal of Cross-Cultural Competence and Management

European Journal of Cross-Cultural Competence and Management - to begin publication in 2009 - is the official scholarly publication of the International Association of Cross-Cultural Management and Competence (IACCM). It aims to widen and deepen the discussion about issues regarding the influence of cultural differences and diversity on the management of organisations of all kinds. Of particular relevance is the question of how culture affects both managers and decision-makers in situations involving the cross-cultural transfer of knowledge, values and experiences.

The scope of the journal is further widened by a close cooperation with the European chapter of the Society of Intercultural Education Training And Research (SIETAR Europa).

First issue: The Botulinum Journal

The Botulinum Journal provides an international source of information encompassing varied fields, including microbiology, biochemistry, biophysics, biotechnology, proteomics, genomics, pharmacology, toxicology, drug development related to different forms and types of botulinum neurotoxins, and also Clostridium botulinum.

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

Special issue: Theoretical and experimental developments in nanoscale heat and mass transfer in nanostructures and nanocomposites

International Journal of Nanomanufacturing 2(3) 2008

• On the heat transfer of the anatase titanium dioxide nanocrystals
• Carbon diffusion into steel during diamond chemical vapour deposition
• Diffusion of nanoparticles in gases and liquids
• Electrical and thermal transport in thin-film nanotube composites with applications to macroelectronics
• Distribution of impurities and minor components in nanostructured conducting oxides
• Thermal design analysis of compact heat exchanger using nanofluids

Special issue: Competence and incompetence of public managers

International Journal of Public Sector Performance Management 1(2) 2008

• A human capital management assessment tool for identifying training and development needs: application to Egyptian public organisations
• Changing competencies for human resource management: examining e-government scorecard and Federal Human Capital Survey evidence
• Aligning leadership and competences in recruitment and staff development: an empirical analysis in the context of regional public administration
• An archetypal approach to bureaucratic and post bureaucratic managements: the case study of a French public service establishment
• Using performance management to meet changing citizen needs in the Mauritian context: a case of the health sector

Special issue: Trombay Symposium on Desalination and Water Reuse: TSDWR 2007 (Part 2)

International Journal of Nuclear Desalination 3(1) 2008

• Innovative seawater intake for reverse osmosis desalination plants
• Water scenario in India
• Brackish water desalination technologies
• Experiences with the conventional pretreatment system in the seawater reverse osmosis plant at Kalpakkam
• R&D areas for next-generation desalination and water purification technologies
• Improvement in motor performance during high-pressure pump starting at NDDP, Kalpakkam
• Low Temperature Thermal Desalination (LTTD): new sustainable desalination process
• Review and evaluation of desalination cost and costing methodologies
• Cogenerative seawater reverse osmosis. Part 1: elements characteristics

Special issue: Intellectual capital measuring and reporting: lessons from some countries

International Journal of Learning and Intellectual Capital 5(1) 2008

• IC and KM in a macroeconomic perspective: the Portuguese case
• Intellectual capital and real options: agency theory and the dynamics of R&D investments
• Building the intellectual capital of African enterprises in a knowledge economy: impediments and requirements
• Intellectual capital reporting media in an Australian industry
• The intellectual capital disclosures of technology-driven companies: evidence from Indonesia
• Intangibles disclosure, market performance and business reputation – the case of Spain

Newly announced journal: International Journal of Bio-Inspired Computation

International Journal of Bio-Inspired Computation - to begin publication in 2009 - will discuss the new bio-inspired computation methodologies derived from the animal and plant world, such as evolutionary algorithms, ant colony optimisation and swarm intelligence.

Call for papers: Innovative Cutting Tool Technologies for Modern Machining Challenges

Call for papers: Innovative Cutting Tool Technologies for Modern Machining Challenges

A special issue of International Journal of Mechatronics and Manufacturing Systems

With over 100-years of development, the “cutting tool” is still one of the key elements inseparable from high-productivity, high-precision machining operations. Driven by advanced material processing and fabrications, cutting tools have been evolving to have, e.g., the hardest-ever coating and the smallest-ever configuration. In parallel, many emerging machining technologies, such as micro-scale machining, minimum-lubrication machining, and machining of abrasive materials, etc., all require new cutting tools with performance uncharacteristic of conventional tooling. These cutting tools, either with unique materials or geometry, encounter sophisticated loading during machining and exhibit distinct thermomechanical behaviour. In addition, tool wear monitoring using new sensor technologies and tool life predictions using neural network approaches, etc. are equally important to advance the overall production and manufacturing systems.

This special issue emphasises innovative technologies and methodologies related to fundamentals and practices of cutting tools. We invite the submission of high quality research papers related to various aspects of cutting tools, including cutting tool developments, material structures related to tool performance, as well as tool wear monitoring and tool life predictions.

Suitable topics include but are not related to:

• Cutting tools for meso/micro-scale machining
• Tool materials with extreme properties and structures
• Cutting tools with advanced coatings, coated drills or endmills, etc.
• Novel tool wear/failure monitoring
• Tool life predictions using advanced statistical approaches

Important Date
Submission: 30 August 2008

Call for papers: Building Community in Virtual Worlds

Call for papers: Building Community in Virtual Worlds

A special issue of International Journal of Web Based Communities

The aim of this special issue is to collect and to share studies related to the ways in which community can be fostered and sustained in virtual worlds for a variety of purposes.

The use of three-dimensional immersive virtual worlds is gaining popularity in education, gaming, the military and industry. According to Gartner Research, by 2010, 80% of Internet users will have a virtual persona, and 80% of Fortune 500 companies will have a presence in a virtual world. Although still emerging as a whole, some virtual worlds have developed into viable online communities already. For example, Second Life is a fantasy-oriented virtual world with an active membership of more than 12 million users. Cyworld, a Korean web-based virtual world, counts 90% of South Koreans under-30 – and 25% of the total population – among its users. Membership in worlds such as Club Penguin and Webkinz – designed to connect children and adolescents – is growing, as well.

Virtual worlds combine aspects of gaming, social networking, role-play, and simulations. They are viewed by many as a natural extension of 2-D social networking sites -- particularly for a generation of "digital natives" accustomed to using social and immersive technologies to form and to join online communities for both work and recreation. These environments offer significant advantages over more traditional web-based environments, particularly in the areas of communication and collaboration. Virtual worlds enable a sense of presence and co-presence, fostering the creation of communities for learning, work and play in ways previously unavailable. Still, there is much to be learned about how to design, to develop, and to use virtual worlds effectively to cultivate communities and meaningful interactions within them.

Guiding questions for this special issue will include, but are not limited to:

• What types of communities can be expected and/or developed using virtual worlds?
• How are virtual worlds uniquely suited to the creation of communities?
• What strategies are most effective in creating community in virtual worlds?
• How are presence and co-presence manifest in unique ways in virtual worlds?
• What is the impact of presence and co-presence in the creation of purposeful communities?
• How can virtual worlds best be designed as both formal and informal spaces for learning, socializing, communicating, or other intentional or serendipitous purposes?
• What kinds of tools and capabilities must be imbedded in virtual, immersive worlds to promote the creation of different types of communities (i.e. task-oriented, socially-oriented)?
• What research questions are most important as virtual worlds continue to evolve for specific purposes?

Important Dates
Deadline for abstract submission: 1 October, 2008
Deadline for paper submission: 1 December, 2008
Notification to authors: 19 January, 2009

Special issue: Working in the automotive industry

International Journal of Automotive Technology and Management 8(2) 2008

• A survey of best practices in automotive supplier development
• Relocation and East-West competition: the case of the European automotive industry
• Industrial action and working conditions in a green field site: the case of the FIAT-SATA assembly plant in southern Italy
• A company in transition: Fiat Mirafiori of Turin
• The organisational limits to professional qualification changes
• Demand for knowledge workers in the vehicle industry
• Regional development and the reorganisation processes in the automobile industry

Special issue: Damage in electronic materials

International Journal of Materials and Structural Integrity 2(1/2) 2008

• Fracture toughness characterisation of electronic materials and interfaces
• Thermomigration in lead-free solder joints
• Impact of miniaturisation on solder joint reliability
• Reliability of PWB microvias for high density package assembly
• Damage mechanics of solder joints – viscoplasticity, implementation, simulation, and verification
• Effects of radiation damage in GaN and related materials
• Thermodynamic framework for coupling of elasto-viscoplasticity and nonlocal anisotropic damage for microelectronics solder alloys
• Accelerated aging and thermal-mechanical fatigue modelling of Cu-plated through holes with partial solder filling
• Estimating fatigue damage model constants with maximum likelihood method
• Microstructure evolution based acceleration factor determination for SnAgCu solder joints during thermal cycling

Special issue: Knowledge management in research-intensive organisations

International Journal of Learning and Change 3(1) 2008

Revised papers from a workshop at the 23rd European Group for Organization Studies (EGOS) colloquium, held 5-7 July 2007 in Vienna, Austria.

• Lending a helping hand: voluntary engagement in knowledge sharing
• 'It's not my community' – insights from social identity theory explaining community-failure
• Knowledge management in consultancies and high-tech companies: a social systems perspective
• Integrative technologies and knowledge gatekeepers: bridging the gap between epistemic communities in the case of stem cell science
• Linking exploration and exploitation: how a think tank triggers a managerial innovation

Additional Papers

• A high precision prediction model using hybrid Grey dynamic Model
• The empirical relationship among Organisational Learning, Continuous Improvement and Performance Improvement

First issue: International Journal of Food Safety, Nutrition and Public Health

International Journal of Food Safety, Nutrition and Public Health contributes to the improvement of public health, nationally and internationally, through quality research and a better understanding of the science involved in food safety, nutrition and dietetics, food studies, food and restaurant management, and public health.
There is a free download of the papers from this first issue.