Call for papers: "Vehicle Routing Problems: Formulations and Solution Algorithms"

For a special issue of the International Journal of Decision Support Systems.

The vehicle routing problem is one of the most important problems in the field of supply chain management of logistics, of combinatorial optimisation and, in general, of operational research.

Interest in this problem has recently increased from both the theoretical and practical perspectives.

From the practical point of view, the problem is one of the most crucial ones in supply chain management and, thus, the finding of the optimal set of routes will help decision makers to reduce the cost of the supply chain and increase profit. In the formulation of the problem, managers can simulate the complete network and add any constraints concerning customers, vehicles, routes and, additionally, the traffic conditions of the network and the energy consumption of the vehicles.

From the theoretical point of view, there are a number of researchers that deal with the solution of a variant (or more variants) of the problem. These variants of the problem focus on specific constraints and the researchers are trying to find an algorithm that gives the best new solutions in a specific set of benchmark instances or in problems from real life.

For this special issue, we invite contributions in both theoretical and practical aspects of the vehicle routing problem.

Suitable topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Variants of the vehicle routing problem
• Capacitated vehicle routing problem
• Cumulative capacitated vehicle routing problem
• Dynamic vehicle routing problem
• Inventory routing problem
• Green vehicle routing problem
• Location routing problem
• Multi-depot vehicle routing problem
• Open vehicle routing problem
• Pollution routing problem
• Production routing problem
• Split delivery vehicle routing problem
• Stochastic vehicle routing problem
• Vehicle routing problem with simultaneous pickup and deliveries
• Vehicle routing problem with time windows
• Vehicle routing problem with backhauls
• Solution algorithms for vehicle routing problems
• Ant colony optimisation
• Artificial bee colony
• Artificial immune systems
• Differential evolution
• Genetic algorithms
• Greedy randomized adaptive search procedure
• Particle swarm optimisation
• Simulated annealing
• Tabu search
• Variable neighborhood search
• Decision support systems for vehicle routing problems

Important Dates

Deadline for full paper submission: 30 April, 2016
Notice of acceptance/rejection: 31 June, 2016
Revised paper submission: 31 August, 2016
Final decision: 31 September, 2016

Chewing over the aging process

Could scientists use the Second Law of Thermodynamics on your chewing muscles to work out when you are going to die? According to research published in the International Journal of Exergy, the level of entropy, or thermodynamic disorder, in the chewing muscles in your jaw increases with each mouthful. This entropy begins to accumulate from the moment you’re “on solids” until your last meal, but measuring it at any given point in your life could be used to estimate life expectancy.

The Second Law of Thermodynamics states the precise opposite of the optimistic phrase “things can only get better”. In fact, the disorder in a closed system, its entropy, always increases…eventually. In other words, things can only get worse. Castles of stone or sand eventually collapse, the bodies of those who build such castles ultimately decay, in the meantime the food they eat is broken and only temporarily rebuilt into muscles. The masseter muscles, for instance, strong and the most prominent chewing muscles in the jaw that are particularly powerful in herbivores, but all mammals use these muscles to chew.

While we live and breathe our bodies have repair systems for mending damaged tissues, but they do suffer wear and tear, mainly through friction. Nevertheless, Mustafa Özilgen of the Department of Food Engineering, at Yeditepe University, in Istanbul, and colleagues, point out that the lifespan entropy concept suggests that organisms have a limited capacity for generating disorder, entropy, during their lifetime. When that limit is reached, the organism dies, essentially “of natural causes”.

A person living out their three score years and ten, or perhaps more realistically in the modern era, 76 years on average will generate 10 kilojoules per degree Kelvin of entropy in their masseter muscles as they chew from out of the cradle and into the grave. An obese person, who may be taking up 10 percent more nutrients than their slim friend, may generate that same amount of entropy five years earlier. A more efficient body, and specifically more efficient muscles will take longer to generate entropy. As such, the team says, it should be possible to determine entropy of the masseter muscles under laboratory conditions by recording precise energy measurements of the tissue while a person chews and so provide an estimate of lifespan based on likely quantities of food they eat each day through their lives.


Çatak, J., Develi, A.Ç., Sorguven, E., Özilgen, M. and İnal, S.H. (2015) ‘Lifespan entropy generated by the masseter muscles during chewing: an indicator of the life expectancy?’, Int. J. Exergy, Vol. 18, No. 1, pp.46–67.

Original article: Chewing over the aging process.
via Science Spot » Inderscience http://ift.tt/1jD1vlY

Special issue published: "Social Networks and Technologies in Leisure and Tourism Marketing"

International Journal of Leisure and Tourism Marketing 4(3/4) 2015

• Second homes tourism and sustainable rural development in all around the world
• Is it really making an impact? Examining the effect of social media marketing participation benefits on perceived value and behavioural intention: evidences from India
• Investigating the effect of place quality and word-of-mouth communication on intention to revisit the city of military service
• The effects of mobile applications as a marketing tool in airport infrastructure and airlines
• Long tails in the tourism industry: towards knowledge intensive service suppliers
• A missed opportunity? Unravelling the marketing potentials of tourism in Ghana through GIS

Special issue published: "Advances in Computational Biology and Genomics"

International Journal of Computational Biology and Drug Design 8(3) 2015

• SWATH-MS in proteomics: current status
• NGSPERL: a semi-automated framework for large scale next generation sequencing data analysis
• Non-invasive electroencephalography signals classification using rough neural network
• MARAGAP: a modular approach to reference assisted genome assembly pipeline
• Robust hybrid wrapper/filter biomarker discovery from gene expression data based on generalised island model
• Predicting tumour stages of lung cancer adenocarcinoma tumours from pooled microarray data using machine learning methods
• In-silico study of computational modelling and GLP-1 receptor inverse agonist compounds on a cancer cell line inhibitory bioassay dataset

Call for papers: "Knowledge Management: Theory and Practice in SMEs"

For a special issue of the International Journal of Learning and Change.

Knowledge management is a discipline concerned with the analysis and technical support of practices used in an organisation to identify, create, represent, distribute and enable the adoption and leveraging of good practices embedded in collaborative settings and, in particular, in organisational processes.

 

Knowledge management is the expedient and systematic management of knowledge processes, techniques and means in order to comprehensively exploit the potential of knowledge for goal achievement, problem solving and effective decision making.

 

Effective knowledge management is an increasingly important source of uniqueness and a key to the success of contemporary organisations, bolstering the collective expertise of its employees and partners.

 

The main aim of this special issue is to analyse the current state of knowledge management theory, practice and learning processes in SMEs as a result of new factors that characterise today’s international economic climate. The issue will deal with the diverse and complex characteristics of knowledge management in SMEs that lead to uniqueness in the face of the effects of globalisation.

 

Suitable topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Knowledge management and internationalisation in SMEs
• Knowledge and learning processes in SMEs
• Management of tacit and explicit knowledge
• Knowledge management processes
• Knowledge management methods and tools
• Knowledge management process evaluation methods
• Peculiarities of knowledge management implementation in SMEs
• Similarities and differences of knowledge management practice in SMEs and the specific factors affecting knowledge management efficiency
• Innovation policy in SMEs

 

Important Dates

Submission of manuscripts: 15 January, 2016

Notification to authors: 15 March, 2016

Final versions due: 15 May, 2016

Special issue published: "Managerial Complexity in Shipping and Port Markets"

International Journal of Shipping and Transport Logistics 7(5) 2015

Extended versions of papers presented at the 2013 International Association of Maritime Economists (IAME) Conference.

• Does multimarket contact lead to mutual forbearance? The influence of the coopetition network of maritime and port companies
• Container ship size and the implications on port call workload
• Beyond the landlord: worldwide empirical analysis of port authority strategies
• Stakeholder management practices found in landlord seaport authorities in Flanders: an inside-out perspective
• The impact of multiple-site acquisitions on corporate growth patterns of international terminal operators

Open access [free] issue on climate change

Emerging perspectives on loss and damage from climate change are covered by the special issue published in the International Journal of Global Warming, vol.8(2), 2015. This is available as an Open Access issue.

Research Picks for October 2015

Social media and disasters
Researchers in South Korea and the USA hoped to determine whether public organisations can encourage people to use social media during a natural or other disaster for mutual benefit and safety. Using the 2013 Seoul Emergency Management Survey covering the Seoul floods as a basis for their analysis, the team found that social networking services do indeed help organisations communicate more effectively during a period of upheaval and increased dangers to the public. Information and advice, they found can spread rapidly via such networks especially if the public is encouraged to participate in risk communication via this medium.
Song, M., Kim, J.W., Kim, Y. and Jung, K. (2015) ‘Does the provision of emergency information on social media facilitate citizen participation during a disaster?’, Int. J. Emergency Management, Vol. 11, No. 3, pp.224–239.

Down to Earth in Australia
There is a growing need for commerce to innovate and become sustainable. The example of indigenous food entrepreneurship offers many lessons for businesses around the world, according to a study by researchers in Australia and France. The team has used Mark Olive and Indigiearth, an Aboriginal owned and operated business, employing local Aboriginal staff, strengthening Aboriginal People and Culture, as examplars of success in this sphere. Olive is often referred to as the “Australia’s Jamie Oliver” because of his ethical approach, but the team points out that the indigenous people of Australia have always had a strong association between the land, nation, families, individuals and communities that inspires innovative cooking and food use at the local level. The team concludes that, “the entrepreneurial capacity of indigenous people can be strengthened by promoting commercially viable but culturally ethical business ventures.”
Ratten, V. and Dana, L-P. (2015) ‘Indigenous food entrepreneurship in Australia: Mark Olive ‘Australia’s Jamie Oliver’ and Indigiearth’, Int. J. Entrepreneurship and Small Business, Vol. 26, No. 3, pp.265–279.

Fitness Trackers
Scientists at Portland State University working with colleagues at Intel and Nike have investigated the decision-making process when consumers wish to purchase a wearable fitness tracker. Their findings show that a hierarchical decision model defines and organises the decision-making criterion that is used in the selection a fitness tracking device. Factors such as water resistance for different types of sport, what metrics the device records (heart rate, distance travelled, steps taken etc), as well as other functionality such as connectivity with social media and email, operating system (Android, Apple’s iOS etc) are all involved in the purchase decision. Intriguingly, the decision algorithm recommended all users in their test cases to use the UP Jawbone fitness tracker device.
Daim, T.U., Al-Mulla, N., Sengupta, S.B., Shah, K. and Demchig, B. (2015) ‘Technology assessment: case of the wearable computing for fitness’, Int. J. Medical Engineering and Informatics, Vol. 7, No. 4, pp.321–364.

Aggregated assessment
A team in Azerbaijan has investigated how an aggregated “score” for scientific output might prove a better metric for how well researchers are…researching. An aggregate score must be based on reliable and validated indices, the team says, but many are somewhat lacking or focus on a specific aspect of the scientific process, such as publication, rather than taking a holistic view. The team’s aggregate score gives a weighted index which was compared with 25 indices against two citation data and the results suggest that it could be used as a valid supplement to the familiar h-index. Future work will investigate whether “fuzzy clustering” can be used to improve the aggregate still further.
Alguliyev, R., Aliguliyev, R., Fataliyev, T. and Hasanova, R. (2015) ‘An aggregated index for assessment of the scientific output of researchers’, Int. J. Knowledge Management Studies, Vol. 6, No. 1, pp.31–62.


Original article: Research Picks for October 2015.
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Special issue published: "Marketing of Olympic Sport via New Media"

International Journal of Sport Management and Marketing 15(3/4) 2014

• The effect of Twitter on sports fans' information processing: an analysis of the controversial referee's decision in the 2012 London Olympic Games
• Social Sochi: using social network analysis to investigate electronic word-of-mouth transmitted through social media communities
• Speak for yourself: analysing how US athletes used self-presentation on Twitter during the 2012 London Paralympic Games
• I am not loving it: examining the hijacking of #CheersToSochi
• Activating a global sport sponsorship with social media: an analysis of TOP sponsors, Twitter, and the 2014 Olympic Games 

Additional paper

• Playing the game: how football directors make sense of dismissing the coach

New Editor for the International Journal of Cognitive Biometrics

Prof. Ramaswamy Palaniappan from the University of Kent in the UK has been appointed to take over editorship of the International Journal of Cognitive Biometrics. His predecessor, Dr. Kenneth Revett, will remain with the journal in the role of Editor.

Call for papers: "Information and Communication Technologies Development: SME Changes in the Information Age"

For a special issue of the International Journal of Learning and Change.

The development of information and communication technologies (ICT) is becoming increasingly powerful in the economic sector. ICT development has not only advantages, but also creates certain challenges for both organisations and consumers. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are the most common type of firm found in today’s global economy, and for this reason, research into ICT development and resulting changes in small businesses is becoming extremely important.

ICT development changes can take many forms, such as consumer behaviour changes, IT security issues, e-business solution opportunities, new types of emerging markets, changes of international or internal communication, etc.

Changes that have affected the market and businesses, such as changing society and changing SME management caused by ICT development, must be analysed and documented in the near future so that existing empirical studies and theories may constitute a multi-disciplinary guide for researchers, scholars, consultants, entrepreneurs, businessmen, managers, government agencies and policy makers.

The main aim of this special issue is to analyse the current state of the relationship between ICT development and SMEs in the context of new factors that characterise today’s economic climate. The issue will deal with the diverse and complex questions raised by changed in small organisations caused by ICT development.

Suitable topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

• E-business solutions for SMEs
• E-marketing peculiarities in small businesses
• Understanding customers behaviour in the virtual environment
• Small businesses and international networks
• E-logistic solutions
• Emerging e-economies
• ICT security issues in SMEs
• IT auditing in SMEs
• Knowledge management in SMEs
• Modern human resource management solutions for small businesses
• New tendencies and research in digitalised small businesses
• Network economic development
• Social networks in marketing communication of SMEs
• Mass customisation challenges in the information age

Important Dates

Submission of manuscripts: 1 February, 2016

Special issue published: "Sensor Networks, Ubiquitous and Trustworthy Computing"

International Journal of Computer Applications in Technology 52(2/3) 2015

• Double array structures based on byte segmentation for n-gram
• A Kinect-based system for Arabic sign language to speech translation
• Improved dialogue communication systems for individuals with dementia
• A vote-based intrusion-tolerance algorithm for network latency estimation
• Skin region segmentation using an image-adapted colour model
• Categorising texts more accurately with field association terms
• An analysis of customer retention rates by time series data mining
• Building Chinese field association knowledge base from Wikipedia
• The optimal configuration method of software engineer to IT project
• The estimate method of the omission of Japanese inquiry texts using an LDA algorithm
• Web-based reading support system: assigning pronunciations to difficult words according to the vocabulary level of individual users

Additional paper

• A compact Wi-Fi base station antenna using suspended patch and tapered ground

Special issue published: "Management of Culture and Cultural Change in Healthcare Organisations"

European Journal of Cross-Cultural Competence and Management 3(3/4) 2015

• Lean thinking to change healthcare organisations: a case study to reduce waste and redesign services
• Cultural change in healthcare organisations through lean practices
• An analysis of resident physician occupational burnout in Turkey: implications for organisational culture
• Lean organisational culture - development and testing of a measurement tool

Additional paper

• Do 'cultural gaps' affect entrepreneurial activities? An analysis based on globe's dimensions

Newly announced journal: International Journal of Multivariate Data Analysis

We are living with the simultaneous occurrence of five characteristics - or dimensions - related to the generation and availability of data: volume, velocity, variety, variability and complexity. The International Journal of Multivariate Data Analysis proposes and fosters discussion on the application of multivariate techniques and on development of new theoretical methods, emphasising the hierarchy between data, information and knowledge in this new scenario, and showing how data, modelling and analysis can lead to better decision making. IJMDA provides an international and multidisciplinary approach to this important topic.

Risk factors for prostate cancer

New research suggests that age, race and family history are the biggest risk factors for a man to develop prostate cancer, although high blood pressure, high cholesterol, vitamin D deficiency, inflammation of prostate, and vasectomy also add to the risk. In contrast, obesity, alcohol abuse, and smoking show a negative association with the disease. Details are reported in the International Journal of Medical Engineering and Informatics.

Khaled Alqahtani, Shankar Srinivasan, Dinesh Mital and Syed Haque of the Department of Health Informatics, at Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences, Newark, New Jersey, USA, explain that prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men with 233000 new cases estimated in the USA during 2014 and almost 30000 deaths. A boy being born today has an almost 1 in 7 chance of developing prostate cancer at some point in their life and a 3% chance of dying from the disease. At this time, however, cancer specialists do not fully understand the underlying causes nor the epidemiology of prostate cancer.

Alqahtani and colleagues have analyzed data from The US Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS), the largest database in the USA for all-payer inpatient health care. They focused on the years 2007-2011 amounting to more than 12 million records and looked at men aged 35 to 100 years, finding that approximately 5.35% of them had prostate cancer (642383 men). They then used statistical analyses to look at the independent variables: age, race, family history of prostate cancer, family history of any other cancer, obesity, alcohol abuse, smoking, cholesterol, vitamin D deficiency, inflammation of prostate, vasectomy, and hypertension, to see which factors were critical variables associated with prostate cancer incidence.


Alqahtani, K.S., Srinivasan, S., Mital, D.P. and Haque, S. (2015) ‘Analysis of risk factors for prostate cancer patients’, Int. J. Medical Engineering and Informatics, Vol. 7, No. 4, pp.365–380.

Original article: Risk factors for prostate cancer.
via Science Spot » Inderscience http://ift.tt/1VkBM2E

Special issue published: "Sustainable Road Transportation in Latin America"

Latin American Journal of Management for Sustainable Development 2(2) 2015

Includes extended versions of papers presented at the 9th ICTCT Extra Workshop.

• Accident risk and factors regarding non-motorised road users - a central road safety challenge with deficient data
• Main stumbling blocks for a good traffic accident database system - evidences from Brazil
• A brief report on the road safety of urban roads of São Paulo City involving the elderly population
• Young drivers in ArRiyadh
• Rehabilitation of drivers who misapply or do not use child restraint systems in cars in Austria
• Graduated driver licensing: searching for the best composition of components
• Interaction with IVT-systems - results of driving behaviour observations from the EU-project INTERACTION

Call for papers: "Manufacturing Processes and Systems for Micro and Nano Applications"

For a special issue of the International Journal of Mechatronics and Manufacturing Systems.

The analysis of all phenomena involved in micro and nano manufacturing processes and systems is strategic for production fields where miniaturised components are fundamental for satisfying product requirements. Much knowledge of the fundamental principles of some of these manufacturing processes and systems has been consolidated, while other knowledge, processes and systems are now emerging due to improvements in tools, machine tools, control systems, etc.

 

The aim of this special issue will be to present state-of-the-art, current research and future trends in manufacturing processes for realising micro and nano features and components. Process performance, process characterisation, applications, modelling, simulations, system dynamics, surface texturing, monitoring and assembly are examples of aspects of interest to the issue.

 

True to IJMMS’s aims and scope, a high-quality and balanced focus on both the scientific and practical impacts in selected papers will bridge the gap between research and successful industrial applications.

 

Suitable topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Laser micro processing
• Abrasive water jet and abrasive flow machining
• Micro/nano EDM/ECM
• Micro/nano machining processes (milling, turning, drilling)
• Metal forming
• Micro tubehydroforming
• Micro injection molding
• Hot embossing of micro components
• Additive manufacturing of micro components
• Metrology
• MEMS
• Micro machines and systems
• Process optimisation
• Other related topics, or combinations of the above topics

 

Important Dates

Submission of manuscripts: 15 March, 2016

Special issue published: "Tourism Discourse: Local and Global Perspectives"

International Journal of Tourism Anthropology 4(3) 2015

• Environmental management and Egyptian tourism
• Bourgeois tourism as a discourse of inclusion and exclusion - the tourist gaze in late 19th century Germany
• Beyond the Grand Tour: re-thinking the education abroad narrative for US higher education in the 1920s 
• Impact of rural tourism development on subjective well-being of rural Chinese women
• Context in tourist encounters and the double meaning of the word 'toris' in Sumba, Indonesia

Additional paper

• Re-defining localism: an ethnography of human territoriality in the surf

Special issue published: "Emerging Perspectives on Loss and Damage" (free Open Access issue)

International Journal of Global Warming 8(2) 2015

Extended versions of papers presented at ‘Perspectives on loss and damage: society, climate change and decision-making’.

This is an Open Access issue; its articles are available for free.

• Coming full circle: the history of loss and damage under the UNFCCC
• Loss and damage due to climate change: attribution and causation - where climate science and law meet
• The suitability of disaster loss databases to measure loss and damage from climate change 
• Assessing the risk of loss and damage: exposure, vulnerability and risk to climate-related hazards for different country classifications
• Observations on the role of the private sector in the UNFCCC's loss and damage of climate change work program
• Climate change impacts and the value of adaptation - can crop adjustments help farmers in Pakistan?
• The rising tide: migration as a response to loss and damage from sea level rise in vulnerable communities 
• Problematising loss and damage
• Establishing institutional arrangements on loss and damage under the UNFCCC: the Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage

Call for papers: "The Evolutionary Perspective and Behavioural Approach: The State of the Art, Possibilities and Constraints"

For a special issue of the International Journal of Economics and Business Research.

The evolutionary approach has been very attractive since Darwin’s work, and not only in natural science. Nelson and Winter (1962) endeavored to explain an economic change by means of an evolutionary object. This has influenced management science and many scholars attempt to seek the explanation for changing organisational practice from the perspective of selection and adaptation phenomena. Contemporarily, research on evolutionary change in an organisation and of organisations is conducted in many universities. Theories and studies in this field provide new perspectives on understanding and explaining the evolutionary change as a process and practice.

It is envisaged that the evolutionary approach constitutes the extension or even the complement of the behavioral approach in management. However, there are many ambiguities and inconsistencies in perceiving organisations and management from the behavioural lens; recently, scholars have increasingly focused their attention on the practice of strategising with an emphasis on micro-level social activities and combining micro and macro levels of analysis. It seems that linking the behavioural approach and evolutionary one in the context of micro-foundations might provide an opportunity to better understand and explore phenomena associated with one another, although occurring at different epistemological levels.

The objective of this special issue is to bring together the state of the art of the evolutionary approach and behavioural research and to call for exemplary contributions that extend and bridge the existing streams of research on organisational evolution and behavioural strategies. We see potential in recent research on micro-foundations, the behavioural approach and evolutionary perspectives to contribute to an enriched understanding of evolutionary change processes and practices. We are open to a wide range of propositions within the evolutionary and behavioural approach in economics and management. In particular, we invite research that enhances theories on management through the interchange of ideas across different perspectives.

We invite theoretical and empirical papers using wide-range approaches. Research submitted to the issue should explicitly apply evolutionary thinking as a generative lens to theorise about economics and management issues. Other existing theoretical perspectives in strategising, micro-foundations and behavioural strategies research could be linked to theorise whether, how and why behaviours matter in the evolutionary process; under what circumstances they are likely to be beneficial in terms of organisational survival; how their effects succeed and what enabling and constraining mechanisms are or could be at work in the evolutionary process. As such, it is also not necessary for research submitted to consider only positive outcomes.

Suitable topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Evolutionary thoughts as well as behavioural approaches in economics and management - mainstream, novelties and comparison, especially:
• Evolution of organisations and industries
• Evolution objectives (i.e. organisational routines)
• Evolutionary agents (environment and managers)
• Evolutionary processes (variation, selection, retention)
• Selection's objectives
• Levels, determinants and agents
• Evolutionary levels of analysis
• Co-evolution phenomenon
• Mechanisms of adaptation
• Behavioral determinants of organisational evolution
• Aspects of mindfulness, mental processes, attention, heuristics, habits, bounded rationality, etc., as well as mutual hallmarks and differences between the behavioural approach and evolutionary perspective
• Theorising and examining phenomena at different levels of analysis, including methodological approaches, methods and techniques in the field of evolutionary perspective and behavioral approach in terms of, for example, micro-foundations concepta, multi-level analysis, and others.

Important Dates

Submission of manuscripts: 30 November, 2016

Why music while you eat?

Research in India has found that restaurateurs in different food establishments there can influence how long their customers stay, how much they eat and whether or not they come back for seconds. The study of music as an accompaniment to a meal has been well visited in the West but not so completely in emerging markets. Now, writing in the International Journal of Indian Culture and Business Management, R.K. Srivastava of the University of Mumbai, described how he has studied 27 local restaurants serving fast food, Indian, Thai, Chinese or Italian food in order to find out how music choice influences customers.

Srivastava suggests that it is well known that background music influences the amount of time and money spent by consumers. It helps reduce anxiety, improves mood and reduces stress associated with queuing. His study looks at the impact of the tempo and type of music being played in an eaterie and its effect on consumers. He has now tested four hypotheses.

The first: That appropriate music will improve restaurant footfalls. The second that slower music will increase the time people stay in a restaurant. The third that customers will return if they enjoyed the music on their first visit. Finally, the music has to match the type of food to have the most influence.

The study showed that Indian and Chinese restaurants prefer to play soft music, while fast food and Thai restaurants prefer hard rock and this correlates with what consumers in those establishments expect. Srivastava confirms the four hypotheses but also shows that a proportion of those eating in restaurants serving Indian food would prefer to hear rock music while they eat.

“Understanding of the effects of music is particularly useful to service managers, as this element of the environment is relatively inexpensive and easy to control. The results from this study have wider implications for retail and service environment,” he concludes. “The use of music is likely to be most effective when it integrates with other atmospheric elements in a holistic manner in order to convey a coherent message and consistent positioning strategy.”


Srivastava, R.K. (2015) ‘Musical environment and its effect on restaurant patrons’ behaviour in emerging market’, Int. J. Indian Culture and Business Management, Vol. 11, No. 4, pp.517–537.

Original article: Why music while you eat?.
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First issue: International Journal of Supply Chain and Inventory Management (free sample issue available)

The International Journal of Supply Chain and Inventory Management provides a unique focus by explicitly linking supply chains with inventory management. Inventory, transport, location of production and storage spaces significantly influence supply chain performance. Modifications of inventory policies can lead to a dramatic alteration of supply chain efficiency and responsiveness. Increasing supply chain inventories will improve customer service and revenue but also increase supply chain cost. Therefore, key areas to be explored include the correct sizing of inventory, links with supply chain efficiency and impact on logistics services.

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

Special issue published: "Islamic Entrepreneurship and Business"

International Journal of Business and Globalisation 15(3) 2015

• The context of Islamic entrepreneurship and business: concept, principles and perspectives
• Entrepreneurship within the framework of Shari'ah
• The history of an Islamic entrepreneurship: achieving exporting-network leadership through religious legitimacy
• Effects of Islamic entrepreneurship mind programming on entrepreneurial performance through entrepreneurial motivation
• Planning for succession in family businesses: a comparison of Arab/Islamic and US practices
• Islamic marketing at the bottom of the pyramid: factors affecting customer's satisfaction among the poor in Islamic pawnshop in Indonesia
• Islamic financing sources of entrepreneurial ventures in a non-Islamic country: challenges and benefits
• The determinants of the profitability of Islamic banks: a cross-sectional study from Asia and Africa
• Women entrepreneurship in Islamic perspective: a driver for social change
• Social entrepreneurship and Islamic philanthropy
• Effects of business Jihad on entrepreneurs' ethical behaviour and corporate social responsibility: a qualitative study

Call for papers: "Multimedia and Pattern Recognition Technology in Medicine"

For a special issue of the International Journal of Advanced Media and Communication.

Today, multimedia and pattern recognition-based medical technology is becoming a popular trend, and can explore and utilise multimedia information, including video streams, images, voices, heartbeat, blood pressure and scalar sensor data. Based on this kind of technology, medical devices are able to perceive, process in real-time, analyse and evaluate multi-source and multi-dimensional data, and thus have been widely used in disease diagnosis, rehabilitation, health monitoring, assisted surgery and other medical areas.

Many of these applications require a multimedia and pattern recognition paradigm using medical sensors. The notion of neurocomputing is becoming a reality with the development of a variety of multimedia technologies. The intelligence functions of multimedia and pattern recognition technologies can be applied to smart hospitals, smart clinics, smart rehabilitation at home and so on. Accordingly, assessment and evaluation methods need to be developed and incorporated into the iterative design process.

This special issue calls for high-quality, up-to-date articles related to medical technology based on multimedia and pattern recognition, and serves as a forum for researchers all over the world to discuss their works and recent advances in multimedia/pattern recognition medical technology or devices and their clinical applications. In particular, the issue aims to showcase the most recent achievements and developments in machine learning and neurocomputing technologies for medicine. Both theoretical studies and papers on state-of-the-art practical applications are welcome for submission. Articles will be selected on the basis of both their quality and their relevance to the theme of this special issue.

Suitable topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Machine learning and neurocomputing in medical technology
• Multimedia and pattern recognition technology for medicine
• Wearable, multimodal and multiple sensor healthcare devices
• Neural networks and learning systems
• Sparse coding, learning-to-rank, bag-of-features
• Internet of things/cloud computing-based medicine
• Stereoscopic 3D image and/or video quality assessment
• Multimedia signal processing and 3D video pre/post-processing
• Bio-optics and health monitoring
• Pervasive and ubiquitous technology for medicine
• Virtual rehabilitation and its efficacy evaluation
• Ultra-wideband (UWB) radar imaging for healthcare
• Virtual/augmented reality and human-computer interaction
• Virtual avatar and virtual body/self representation
• Wireless and internet-of-things technology for medicine
• Serious games for clinical purposes
• NeuroAtHome-related production

Important Dates

Submission deadline: 20 February, 2016

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Technology Enhanced Learning

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

• Neurophysiological methods for monitoring brain activity in serious games and virtual environments: a review
• Learning to be creative and being creative to learn with SAPO campus: the development of a theoretical framework
• Creativity in technology-enhanced experiential learning: videocast implementation in higher education
• Social networking sites for online mentoring and creativity enhancement
• Children as inventors: orchestrating an informal pedagogic scenario with digital resources
• The potential of treasure hunt games to generate positive emotions in learners: experiencing local geography and history using GPS devices

New Editor for International Journal of Intellectual Property Management

Prof. Tana Pistorius from the University of South Africa has been appointed to take over editorship of the International Journal of Intellectual Property Management.

Leaner, safer industry

Lean manufacturing involves minimizing expenses by attempting to eradicate waste, waste of materials, energy, and human resources. But, if lean efforts are at the cost of safety then that is a bad thing for any company, research in the International Journal of Lean Enterprise Research emphasizes.

“To remain profitable, organizations must continue to lower costs while maintaining quality and productivity,” explains Elizabeth Cudney of the Missouri University of Science and Technology, in Rolla, Missouri, USA, and colleagues. However, she points out, “During the focus on lean implementation there is a potential of introducing hazards and changing a process in ways that can result in non-compliance of health and safety regulations.” The lean philosophy, taken to its logical conclusion, should see money and time spent on accidents and employee compensation as just as wasteful as ordering too much raw material for a product, and as such it too should be minimized.

The team explains that the lean philosophy was invented by leaders at Toyota, Taiichi Ohno, Shigeo Shingo, and Eiji Toyoda during the company’s formative years in the car industry. The company practiced and perfected an approach to manufacturing the right product at the right time and in the right quantity, also known as just-in-time (JIT). The team further explains that the main tenet of lean is to identify waste, or non-value adding (NVA) activities, and to then eliminate or minimize them as far as possible; waste being anything consumes time, energy, money, or resources and does not add value to the final product or service.

Now, on the basis of a survey of companies using lean today, Cudney and colleagues suggest that lean and safety issues must be addressed at the same time in order to produce a more productive and safer working environment. They point out that, “When there is a passionate effort to lean processes, there is a danger that lean facilitators might overlook health and safety issues or even introduce new hazards.” They emphasize that waste related to safety issues should be considered by lean practitioners from the outset. Ergonomics, health and safety, and continuous improvement activities in lean can be integrated to boost efficiency and improve working conditions.


Cudney, E.A., Murray, S.L. and Pai, P. (2015) ‘Relationship between lean and safety’, Int. J. Lean Enterprise Research, Vol. 1, No. 3, pp.217–231.

Original article: Leaner, safer industry.
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Call for papers: "Data Analytics and Modelling"

For a special issue of the International Journal of Mathematical Modelling and Numerical Optimisation.

The amounts of global data in all spheres have been increasing rapidly day by day. Organisations capture tera-bytes of information about their customers, suppliers and operations daily. Furthermore, millions of networked sensors embedded in the physical world and devices such as mobile phones and automobiles generate huge amounts of data through sensing, creating and communicating between each other. Multimedia sources and individuals with smart phones and on social network sites also contribute to fuelling this exponential growth.

 

This large pool of data, coined as “big data”, can be captured, communicated, aggregated, stored and analysed, and is now part of every sector and function of the global economy. Like other essential factors of production such as physical assets and human capital, it is becoming an increasingly important factor in modern economic activity, innovation and growth.

 

The objective of this special issue is to provide an opportunity for researchers working in the area of theory and applications of data sciences. The issue invites contributions from the academic community and industry experts, in order to present recent advances in this area.

 

Suitable topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Classification
• Regression
• Cluster analysis
• Time series analysis
• Simulation
• Data mining
• Ensemble learning
• Machine learning
• Natural language processing
• Neural networks
• Supervised learning
• Network analysis
• Data fusion and data integration
• Association rule learning
• Crowd sourcing
• Optimisation
• Pattern recognition
• Predictive modelling
• Sentiment analysis
• Signal processing
• Spatial analysis
• Statistics
• Techniques for big data analysis
• Unsupervised learning
• Visualisation

 

Important Dates

Submission of manuscripts: 31 March, 2016

Notification to authors: 31 May, 2016

Final versions due: 31 July, 2016

Special issue published: "Water and Wastewater Environmental Issues: Past and Present: Part I"

International Journal of Global Environmental Issues 14(3/4) 2015

• Route and tunnels of the Aqua Augusta for the water supply of Pompeii
• The ancient urban water system construction of China: the lessons from history for a sustainable future
• The history of fountains and relevant structures in Crete, Hellas
• Ancient water supply systems in Israel
• Water and wastewater management in antiquity in the context of an ethically oriented environmental protection
• Game theory application to reframe river myths
• Water in ancient Greek daily life
• Old mills' hydraulics in the upper Amadorio River, Relleu (Marina Baixa), Alacant, Spain
• Rainwater harvesting: from ancient Greeks to modern times. The case of Kefalonia Island
• From the Middle Ages to 19th century: a journey into the water system of Palermo (Italy)
• Water management structures in historical settlements: towards a cross-geographical, cross-cultural categorisation
• Application of geothermal energy and its environmental problems in Turkey 

Call for papers: "Big Data, Smart Health and Health Informatics"

For a special issue of the International Journal of Telemedicine and Clinical Practices.

Over the past ten years, the accommodation of information technology into healthcare systems has transformed traditional healthcare into a new paradigm called health informatics. The inception of informatics has offered very robust and hi-tech solutions for data and information collection and storage and healthcare management and delivery to the end user.

Informatics-enabled healthcare has emerged as a potential system that promises to deliver the most advanced treatment to the patient with higher probability of success, faster knowledge and information sharing, etc. The technologial advancements in data management – more recently in the forms of big data and cloud compuitng - in healthcare systems have resulted in the storage of enormous amounts of clinical data in various formats.

Informatics-enabled healthcare has emerged as a potential system that promises to deliver the most advanced treatment to the patient with higher probability of success, faster knowledge and information sharing, etc. The technologial advancements in data management – more recently in the forms of big data and cloud compuitng - in healthcare systems have resulted in the storage of enormous amounts of clinical data in various formats.

This has turned traditional healthcare into a smart healthcare system that promises to deliver high-end diagnostic tools, superior treatment and quality of life, with a strong commitment of significant cost reduction. As a whole, this is being dubbed as smart health, one health or e-health.

This special issue intends to address the current research challenges in health informatics and seeks articles discussing the use of informatics in healthcare from various prespectives such as design and development of new tools and techniques, algorithms, applications, healthcare big data and information management and sharing, and so forth.

Suitable topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Big data analytics for clinical care
• Medical data management and mining
• Big data integration for healthcare
• Text mining for healthcare notes and literature
• Smart systems for electronic health records
• Smart methodologies for healthcare
• Smart diagnosis
• Smart information retrieval for healthcare applications
• Smart medical devices and sensors
• Smart monitoring for healthcare
• Intractive e-communities for patients and caregivers, such as social media, social networks and social groups
• Smart e-conference and teleconference systems for doctors and patients
• Smart medical devices and software
• Visual analytics for healthcare
• Privacy and security concerns in smart healthcare
• Smart systems for telemedicine
• Smart healthcare villages or smart healthcare cities
• E-health/one health
• RFID and body sensors
• Wearable sensors
• Intelligent sensors
• Next-generation healthcare infrastructure
• Cost-effective home health monitoring
• Smart shirts
• Embedded computing systems
• Cloud computing in smart healthcare systems
• Health big data management in the cloud
• e-Health education
• Smart and affordable cyber-physical healthcare environments
• Computing concerns in smart healthcare
• Social, privacy and security concerns

Important Dates

Submission deadline: 20 April, 2016

Call for papers: "New Technologies and Their Implications for Innovation Management, Entrepreneurship, Consumers, and Societies as a Whole"

For a special issue of the International Journal of Technology Marketing.

Technology marketing and entrepreneurship are at the heart of most innovative companies that compete in the global marketplace (Brem and Viardot, 2015; Podmetina, Volchek and Smirnova, 2015). What can be subsumed as “new product development and technological innovation marketing” represents one of the most important issues of management and academic marketing research (Ratten, 2009; Ratten and Ratten, 2007). In short, companies who know how to market their new products and technological innovations effectively are more likely to be successful, making this a key priority for many firms (Brem and Freitag, 2015; Millson, 2015; Rauschnabel, Brem and Ivens, 2015).

 

Although prior research has addressed many challenges of the marketing of new technologies in the past, many questions remain unanswered and new questions are raised. These research gaps are continuously growing with the rise of new technologies such as smart technologies, wearables, Internet-of-Things, mixed/augmented reality, and others.

 

Each new technology is associated with several implications for firms and societies as a whole. Moreover, each new technology offers tremendous possibilities for entrepreneurs. For example, with the rise of application-based smart phones, many entrepreneurs have focused on the development of applications, and some of them (e.g. WhatsApp) have developed into very successful companies. On the contrary, new technological innovations can also threaten existing businesses and negatively impact societies as a whole. To benefit from the opportunities of new technologies and to reduce the risks of their threats, profound knowledge is needed to develop effective marketing strategies (see Rauschnabel, Brem and Ivens, 2015; Wang, 2015; Zaglia, Waiguny, Abfalter and Müller, 2015).

 

While past research has intensively studied new technologies such as social media, smart devices and others, most of these studies investigated these technologies after they had been established, and most of them focused on consumers only. What exactly makes new (or future) technologies successful, and how can these technologies positively contribute to other stakeholders (entrepreneurs, society as a whole, etc.) represents an under-researched area. This special issue aims to address this research gap.

 

We welcome submissions from marketing, innovation management, strategy, communication, public policy research and other disciplines that address the implications of new technologies for consumers, companies, entrepreneurs and societies as a whole. In particular, we encourage interdisciplinary research and papers focusing on technologies in the very early stages of the product lifecycle. Both theoretical and empirical submissions are welcome, and empirical papers can use quantitative and/or qualitative methods.

 

References:

Brem, A., & Viardot, É. (2015). Adoption of Innovation: Balancing Internal and External Stakeholders in the Marketing of Innovation (pp. 1-10). Springer International Publishing.

Brem, A., & Freitag, F. (2015). Internationalisation Of New Product Development And Research & Development: Results From A Multiple Case Study On Companies With Innovation Processes In Germany And India. International Journal of Innovation Management, 19(01), 155-170.

Millson, M. R. (2015). Intention: customer perceived market orientation and perceived environmental sustainability information. International Journal of Technology Marketing, 10(3), 248-265.

Podmetina, D., Volchek, D., & Smirnova, M. (2015). The relationship between innovation and internationalisation in a turbulent environment. International Journal of Technology Marketing, 10(3), 326-341.

Ratten, V. (2009). Adoption of technological innovations in the m-commerce industry. International Journal of Technology Marketing, 4(4), 355-367.

Ratten, V., & Ratten, H. (2007). Social cognitive theory in technological innovations. European Journal of Innovation Management, 10(1), 90-108.

Rauschnabel, P. A., Brem, A., & Ivens, B. S. (2015). Who will buy smart glasses? Empirical results of two pre-market-entry studies on the role of personality in individual awareness and intended adoption of Google Glass wearables. Computers in Human Behavior, 49, 635-647.

Richter, C., Kraus, S., & Syrja, P. (2015). The Smart City as an opportunity for entrepreneurship. International Journal of Entrepreneurial Venturing, 7(3), 211-226.

Wang, E. S. T. (2015). The role of player innovativeness in adopting new online games: bidimensional and hierarchical perspectives. International Journal of Technology Marketing, 10(3), 236-247.

Zaglia, M. E., Waiguny, M. K., Abfalter, D., & Müller, J. (2015). The influence of online social networks on performance of small and medium enterprises: an empirical investigation of the online business to business network. International Journal of Entrepreneurial Venturing, 7(1), 1-23.

 

Suitable topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Strategic and organisational issues in technology marketing. For example: How should organisations implement and deal with new technologies? How can the success of marketing for new technologies be measured and benchmarked?
• Technological innovations and entrepreneurship. For example: How can successful business models be built around new technological innovations (such as new apps)?
• User acceptance of new technologies. For example: To what extent are existing user acceptance theories applicable to new technologies and how do they need to be revised? How do external factors, such as economical changes or cultural aspects, influence adoption?
• Government policy and entrepreneurship. For example: Which regulatory frameworks (e.g. privacy) are necessary to minimise the risks of new technologies for societies as a whole?
• Organisational challenges of new technologies. For example: How should large corporations, SMWs, non-profit organisations, entrepreneurs and other organisations react to new innovations? How does digitisation influence businesses?

Important Dates

Submission of manuscripts: 30 June, 2016

Notification to authors: 30 October, 2016

Final versions due: 30 December, 2016

Special issue published: "Innovations in Sustainability Management at Universities"

International Journal of Innovation and Sustainable Development 9(3/4) 2015

• Towards a praxis of sustainability education in universities
• How to promote, support and experiment sustainability in higher education institutions? The case of LaSalle Beauvais in France
• Education for sustainable development in Russia: problems and challenges
• Environmental sustainability: an overview of Brazilian Federal Institutes of Education, Science, and Technology
• University food gardens: a unifying place for higher education sustainability
• The university as a site for transformation around sustainability
• Education for sustainability, critical reflection and transformative learning: professors' experiences in Brazilian administration courses
• Incorporating education for sustainability into management education: how can we do this?
• Successes and snags of a sustainability course in higher education
• National innovative capacity as determinant in sustainable development: a comparison between the BRICS and G7 countries

Call for papers: "On-Chip Communication: Theory and Applications"

For a special issue of the International Journal of High Performance Systems Architecture.

In a system-on-chip (SoC) design, and particularly in a multi-processor system-on-chip (MPSoC) design, one of the main issues is the interconnection among components, from point-to-point to 3D network-on-chips (NoC). The decision of which kind of interconnection to apply can be based on power consumption, performance, cost and design cycle time. The increasing complexity of applications directly impacts the complexity of on-chip communication, demanding modelling and simulation of new design strategies to optimise design parameters.

For this special issue we invite original research related to on-chip communication theory and its applications. Both theoretical and applied papers on all aspects of design are welcome.

Suitable topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Communication-centric design flow
• Bus-based communication architectures
• Current design approaches
• Physical and electrical analysis
• Models for performance exploration
• Power/energy exploration
• Design and synthesis of communication architectures
• Dynamic bus reconfiguration
• Bus encoding techniques
• Interface synthesis and optimisation
• Secure on-chip communication infrastructure
• Custom bus design
• Network-on-chips
• Optical interconnect
• Wireless interconnects
• Physical design trends
• Communication architectures for multi-processor system-on-chips
• On-chip communication in 3D architectures
• Hybrid networks
• Mapping and scheduling tasks
• Reliability and fault-tolerance

Important Dates

Submission of manuscripts: 1 March, 2017
Notification of acceptance: 1 June, 2017
Final version due (tentative): 1 September, 2017

Special issue published: "Nano/Micro Optical Technologies"

International Journal of Nanotechnology 12(10/11/12) 2015

Extended versions of papers presented at the 2014 International Conference on Optoelectronic Technology and Application.

• LED induced fluorescence detector integrated in microfluidic cell chip
• Study on geometry of silicon PIN radiation detector for breakdown voltage improvement
• Optical and electrical properties of FeSi2 films prepared by DC magnetron co-sputtering
• Highly efficient ultra-thin crystalline silicon solar cell with plasmonic cavities
• Quadruple-wavelength THz modulator based on compound lattice PC with direct-coupled and side-coupled structure
• Comparative characterisations of structural and optical properties of zinc oxide modified by carbon nanotubes and graphene
• Mid-infrared ZnGeP2 optical parametric oscillator pumped by Tm:YAlO3 laser
• In situ synthesis of graphene/zinc oxide composite by thermal decomposition of zinc acetate
• Miniature tunable Alvarez lens driven by piezo actuator
• Design of MEMS-based micro-filter integrating grating and tunable Fabry-Perot cavity
• Study on the excitation and propagation characteristics of THz-wave surface plasmon polaritons on the surface of semiconductor
• Simulation and measurement of stiffness for dual beam laser trap using residual gravity method
• Surface plasmon-enhanced UV emission of ZnO nanorods using Ag nanoparticles
• Fabrication method for inductive mesh film on spherical substrates
• Effective bandgap calculation of photonic crystals with sector scatterers
• Effect of annealing on optical properties and surface structure of ZnO:V thin films
• Comparison of two methods for the synthesis of SiO2/SiC nanoparticles
• Cogwheels for generation of surface plasmon polariton vortex
• Generation of a phase contrast Talbot array illuminator with electric controlling
• Pump couplers in a cascaded structure

Inderscience is media partner for Social Media in the Pharmaceutical Industry 2016

Inderscience is a media partner for Social Media in the Pharmaceutical Industry (20-21 January 2016, London, UK).

The journals involved are:

• Int. J. of Electronic Healthcare
• Int. J. of Healthcare Technology and Management
• Int. J. of Internet Marketing and Advertising
• Int. J. of Social Media and Interactive Learning Environments
• Int. J. of Technology Management
• Int. J. of Web Based Communities

Further information is available here.

Special issue published: "Emergency Materials and Product Technology"

International Journal of Materials and Product Technology 51(2) 2015

• A decision making methodology for material selection in sugar industry using hybrid MCDM techniques
• Effect of roughness geometries in contact mechanics
• A review on wrought magnesium alloys processed by equal channel angular pressing 
• Effect of bright annealing process on the properties of TIG welded duplex stainless steel tube
• Polynomial neural networks with a weighted direct solution and their application in stock index prediction

Inderscience is media partner for Border Security 2016

Inderscience is a media partner for Border Security (17-18 February 2016, Rome, Italy).

The journals involved are:

• International Journal of Biometrics
• International Journal of Intelligent Defence Support Systems
• International Journal of Migration and Border Studies
• International Journal of Systems, Control and Communications

Further information is available here.

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Low Radiation

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

• Research trends in radioactive waste management: a global perspective
• Individual radiosensitivity: a key issue in radiation protection
• Hypothesising that salts of iodine, strontium and caesium reverse ageing induced by nuclear radiation
• Evaluation of natural radioactivity in rocks of Nilgiri hills and their radiation hazard to mankind
• Food contamination after the Chernobyl accident: dose assessments and health effects
• Pb-210 irradiation dose estimation for inhabitants living in high natural background areas on Pernambuco/Brazil
• A review on comparison of natural radiation in Iran with other countries

Call for papers: "Governance and Public Sector Reforms: Trends, Possibilities and Caveats"

For a special issue of the International Journal of Public Policy.

A well-functioning public sector is a prerequisite for transparent and effective democratic governance. Public administration and the broader public sector worldwide have been under a great deal of pressure in these times of financial and economic crisis, and even more so during the period of gradual emergence from the crisis, due to austerity measures and the related challenges in relation to rationalisation, optimisation, reorganisation and changes in the forms of governance.

Changes in the development of the public sector have led to the implementation of various types of reform: from the introduction of improved methods of management to comprehensive structural reforms. In this context, the development of public administration (the administrative part of the public sector) and the development of the broader public sector (the service-providing part of the public sector) are complementary, as more efficient and democratic public administration depends on the rationalisation and democratisation of the public sector.

This special issue welcomes articles which focus on different operational elements in various areas of public sectors worldwide, such as the optimisation of the management of public organisations, human resource management, public sector performance, e-government, etc. Detailed theoretical and empirical analysis will be highly appreciated in the following areas (from an individual or comparative perspective): responsive, effective and efficient operation of user-oriented public sectors; efficient use of human, financial, spatial, environmental and energy resources in the public sector; responsible, open and transparent operation of public sectors; corruption and strengthening of integrity in the public sector; professionalism and development of professional competences and innovation of public employees; systems of flexible human resource management in the public sector; modernisation of administrative procedural law and inspection systems; improvement of public quality systems; improvement of legislation, reduction of legislative burdens, effective public information system, and increased use of e-services, digitalisation and interoperability of information solutions in the public sector.

The issue will carry revised and substantially extended versions of selected papers presented during the XXII Days of Slovenian Public Administration conference, but we also strongly encourage other researchers to submit articles for this call.

Suitable topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Public governance reform
• Public sector reform (education, R&D, health, etc.)
• Public administration reform
• Public-private partnership
• Performance management in the public sector
• Public financial management
• Public finance and fiscal policy
• TQM in the public sector
• Human resource management in the public sector
• Public employment
• Organisational structural reform in the public sector
• Public sector innovations
• Information management in the public sector
• E-government
• Public accountability
• Transparency in the public sector
• Values and ethics in the public sector
• Public service delivery
• Local self-government

Important Dates

Submission of manuscripts: 31 January, 2016

Papers submitted earlier than the submission deadline will be put through the review process on a rolling basis, and their authors may expect to hear back sooner.

Special issue published: "Man Machine Interface"

For a special issue of the International Journal of Knowledge Engineering and Soft Data Paradigms.

Machines have become an indispensable part of a man’s life. Some say that humans are enslaved by modern technology and reject progress on principle, while fanatics of new trends simply must have not only the latest useful tools but every gadget as well. We see machines used in daily routines or in research, to make coffee, to save lives, to study the secrets of DNA on the micro scale, and for space travel on the macro scale.

The aim of this special issue is to bring together scientists interested in all aspects of theory and practice related to man-machine interactions, thus providing an international forum for exchanging ideas, setting questions for discussion, and sharing experience.

The issue will carry revised and substantially extended versions of selected papers presented at the 3rd International Symposium on Big Data and Cloud Computing Challenges (ISBCC 2016), but we also strongly encourage researchers unable to participate in the conference to submit articles for this call.

Suitable topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Computational intelligence
• Pattern recognition
• Data processing, storage and transfer
• Assistive technologies
• Data mining and decision support
• AI and simulations in biosciences
• Socio-cultural effects
• Interfaces
• Accessibility
• Human-robot interaction
• Interaction devices and tools
• Autonomous agents

Important Dates
Submission of manuscripts: 10 June, 2016
Notification to authors: 10 August, 2016
Final versions due: 30 August, 2016

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Metaheuristics

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

• Complex constrained design optimisation using an elitist teaching-learning-based optimisation algorithm
• A new hybrid metaheuristic for medical data classification
• Multi-period street scheduling and sweeping
• Parallel artificial immune system for the constrained graph list multicolouring problem

Special issue published: "Advanced Powertrain Testing Methodologies for Fuel-Efficient Commercial Vehicles"

International Journal of Powertrains 4(3) 2015

• Fuel saving potential of hybrid powertrains with electric waste heat recovery for heavy duty line haul applications
• An intelligent driver assistance system for improving commercial vehicle fuel economy
• Real-time implementable optimal control strategy for hybrid electric vehicles energy management: application to medium-duty commercial vehicles
• Fuel economy and performance improvement enabled by medium-duty dual clutch transmissions
• Powertrain test cell and its test procedure development for greenhouse gas emission measurements
• Definition of procedures for heavy duty powertrain evaluation
• Cost effective hybrid boosting solution with application to light duty vocational vehicles

Newly announced journal: International Journal of Internet of Things and Cyber-Assurance

The Internet of Things must address the reliable and timely delivery of information, regardless of cyber-threats, using secure automatic processes over distributed and heterogeneous computing systems. The International Journal of Internet of Things and Cyber-Assurance provides an embedded security, information assurance and cyber-security research perspective, illustrating how cyber-assurance must integrate with IoT devices and networks to understand how these individual components interact in ways to resist and avoid intentional attempts to compromise normal operations. IJITCA addresses the protection of IoT networks from mobile devices to complex processing systems.

Free sample articles newly available from African Journal of Accounting, Auditing and Finance

The following sample articles from the African Journal of Accounting, Auditing and Finance are now available here for free:

• Assessment of the relevance of accounting mutations: an analysis from financial statements in Cameroon
• Structure of the start-up capital and continuity of companies in Cameroon
• Standardisation of international accounting: harmonisation between OHADA and IASB (IFRS) reference frameworks
• Accounting information and the rationality of bank credits within the Cameroon context

Special issue published: "Bayesian Statistics in Psychometrics"

International Journal of Quantitative Research in Education 2(3/4) 2015

• Introduction to Bayesian item response modelling
• Bayesian estimation of the four-parameter IRT model using Gibbs sampling
• Longitudinal multiple-group IRT modelling: covariance pattern selection using MCMC and RJMCMC
• Posterior predictive model checks for cognitive diagnostic models
• Assessing person fit using l*z and the posterior predictive model checking method for dichotomous item response theory models
• A DIF detection procedure in multidimensional item response theory framework using MCMC technique 

Call for papers: "Technology-mediated Proactive Learning"

For a special issue of the International Journal of Services and Standards.

Undoubtedly, technology has become an integral part of all aspects of education, broadly covering curriculum planning and design, content development and delivery, knowledge transfer and management, communication among learners and instructors, assessment and programme evaluation.

In a technology-enabled learning environment, students can learn in new and more proactive ways. This aligns itself with ideas of student-centred learning. Technology-mediated proactive learning is now one of the important topics in the field for further investigation.

This special issue aims to explore how technology can be used to enable proactive learning so as to enhance learning effectiveness and enrich learning experience. Areas to be explored include blended learning, collaborative learning, intelligent tutoring, mobile learning, ubiquitous learning and learning platform and advising systems. The intention of the issue is to disseminate research and share experience in technology-mediated proactive learning.

Suitable topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Blended learning in practice
• Mobile learning and ubiquitous learning
• Use of social media for learning
• Computer-supported collaborative learning
• Intelligent tutoring and advising systems
• Learning platforms and content management systems
• Massive open online courses
• Institutional policies on technology-enhanced learning
• Knowledge management through technology
• Educational administration through technology

Important Dates

Submission of manuscripts: 15 November, 2015

Special issue published: "Sustainable Supply Chain Network Design"

International Journal of Automation and Logistics 1(3) 2015

• Social sustainability practices in the supply chain of Indian manufacturing industries
• Modelling barriers of sustainable supply chain network design using interpretive structural modelling: an insight from food processing sector in India
• Framework for adopting sustainability in the supply chain
• Performance measurement of sustainable third party reverse logistics provider by data envelopment analysis: a case study of an Indian apparel manufacturing group
• Prioritising and ranking critical factors for sustainable cloud ERP adoption in SMEs

Call for papers: "Recent Advances in Biological Network Mining"

For a special issue of the International Journal of Computational Intelligence in Bioinformatics and Systems Biology.

This special issue aims to publish high-quality articles that describe new software tools and databases, or review state-of-the-art methods, for mining biological networks. Of particular interest are graph-theoretic algorithms applied to the analysis of complex networks such as protein-protein interaction networks, metabolic networks, signalling and gene regulatory networks. Articles describing applications of these algorithms to disease gene detection, pathway prediction, biomarker discovery and drug target identification are also welcome.

 

Suitable topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Graph mining methods and software applied to network biology
• Machine learning algorithms applied to systems biology
• Mining networks through data and tool integration
• Network prediction through literature mining
• Crowdsourcing network inference
• Medical applications of network mining
• Mining biological networks with GPU, cloud and high-performance computing

 

Important Dates

Submission of manuscripts: 15 January, 2016

Notification to authors: 15 March, 2016

Final versions due: 15 May, 2016

Inderscience is media partner for Maritime Reconnaissance and Surveillance Technology 2016

Inderscience is a media partner for Maritime Reconnaissance and Surveillance Technology (15-16 February 2016, London, UK).

The journals involved are:

• International Journal of Intelligent Defence Support Systems
• International Journal of Ocean Systems Management
• International Journal of Systems, Control and Communications
• International Journal of Signal and Imaging Systems Engineering

More information on the event is available here.

Call for papers: "Issues and Challenges in Developing Biomedical and Image Processing Algorithms in the 21st Century"

For a special issue of the International Journal of Telemedicine and Clinical Practices.

Rapid developments in biomedical and image processing have many applications and challenges today. It is a field in which many disciplines are involved with the aim of making human life more comfortable. This special issue will concentrate on issues and challenges in developing biomedical and image processing algorithms. We invite the authors to submit innovative and high-quality works on issues and challenges in biomedical and image processing algorithms using computer-aided tools to improve their performance.

The main objective of the issue is to provide a platform for researchers, engineers and academics to present their research work and development activities in developing new algorithms.

The issue will carry revised and substantially extended versions of selected papers presented at the IEEE 3rd International Conference on Electronics and Communication systems (ICECS 2016), but we also strongly encourage researchers unable to participate in the conference to submit articles for this call.

Suitable topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Mathematical modelling of Images
• New algorithms for improvement
• Image enhancement for analysis
• Image compression and watermarking
• Soft computing and bio-inspired computation
• Bio informatics
• Multimedia signal processing
• Medical signal processing
• Image acquisition and display
• Storage and retrieval
• 3-D image analysis

Important Dates
Full paper submission: 10 May, 2016
Notification to authors: 15 August, 2016
Final version submission: 15 September, 2016

Facing up to online healthcare

When our medical records are all in the cloud and available to be discussed among our healthcare professionals via online networks for diagnostics, treatment, and training purposes, how will we, as patients, know that our sensitive and personal information remains secure and private? This could be especially problematic as connected mobile devices become increasingly common in hospitals and doctors’ surgeries.

The task of securing health information is a growing problem for even the best-prepared organisations given that criminals will endeavour to breach security barriers to harvest whatever data they can for identity theft and other fraudulent activities.

Now, Qurban Memon and Asma Fayes Mustafa of the College of Engineering, at UAE University in Al-Ain, United Arab Emirates, are as concerned as anyone. Writing in International Journal of Electronic Healthcare, they explore the possibility of a mobile, private social network for healthcare workers on the Android mobile operating system. With a framework of data-driven privacy and feasibility in mind, they explore how such an m-health system might work.

The team explains how data from sensors and mobile devices access patient location and movement and so calories burned, heart rate, blood pressure, nearby friends and contacts and potentially other data of use to one’s doctor. The “social” side of the network might also allow data to be shared selectively via the network to a patient’s partner, parent, or carer too. In addition, weather conditions and pollen count might be embedded to generate pertinent alerts. As a proof of principle the team has successfully used a well-known online social networking site to test the principles of sharing, social and security. The use of the Android operating systems provides hooks into the likes of LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter with their software development kit, the team reports. However, they suggest that an open source SDK would be more appropriate.


Memon, Q.A. and Mustafa, A.F. (2015) ‘Exploring mobile health in a private online social network’, Int. J. Electronic Healthcare, Vol. 8, No. 1, pp.51–75.

Original article: Facing up to online healthcare.
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Call for papers: "Web Mining and Pervasive Computing in Cloud-based Environments"

For a special issue of the International Journal of Web and Grid Services.

The study of techniques of mining web data and pervasive computing encompasses a large number of the most important and promising directions for scientific research and development in the era of advanced novel cloud applications. These possible applications explore the fundamental roles and interactions as well as practical impacts of web mining and pervasive computing in the next generation of cloud-based environments.

 

Web mining and pervasive computing in cloud-based environments includes the Internet of Things, pervasive computing, collaborative work, social networks, content mining and knowledge grids. A list of relevant topics is provided below, though many other topics could be listed.

 

This special issue aims at attracting original and significant research articles on advanced cloud computing and next-era web mining and pervasive computing, including emerging trends, applications, solutions, theoretical studies and experimental prototypes.

 

The issue will carry revised and substantially extended versions of selected papers presented at the TKU-UoA Bilateral Workshop 2015, but we also strongly encourage researchers unable to participate in the conference to submit articles for this call.

 

Suitable topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Web usage, structure and content mining
• Data mining in the cloud
• Data streaming and dynamic applications in clouds
• Use of web patterns for cloud applications
• Pervasive teamwork in the cloud
• Transparency issues in the cloud
• m-Health applications in the cloud

 

Important Dates

Paper submission deadline: 20 December, 2015

1st round review notification: 15 January, 2016

1st revisions due: 15 February, 2016

2nd round review notification: 28 February, 2016

2nd revisions due: 20 March, 2016

Final acceptance: 25 March, 2016

Students in credit crisis

New research from the USA suggests that college students are well aware that they should be personally responsible for their finances, including their card obligations, but this awareness rarely correlates with limiting the debts they accrue during their time in higher education. Details of the study are reported this month in the International Journal of Behavioural Accounting and Finance.

Lucy Ackert of the Department of Economics and Finance, at Kennesaw State University, in Georgia, and Bryan Church of the Scheller College of Business, at Georgia Tech, Atlanta, USA, explain that policymakers are concerned about the limited financial expertise of young adults and how inexperience with financial matters can leave students with excessive debts. Ackert and Church have undertaken three parallel studies to better understand the financial acumen or otherwise of college students and whether or not their level of awareness correlates with financial responsibility.

“Credit cards have become a way of life, offering convenience and purchase protection, allowing for online shopping, and providing a cushion in case of emergencies,” the researchers explain. Many young people with no credit history can successfully apply for a credit card. As such, consumer advocates have expressed concerns over the years that those who may not necessarily have the financial means to support such credit card use are vulnerable to unscrupulous companies and can be led into serious, long-term financial harm.

College students are an important demographic for financial services, the team adds. However, they may be characterized in general as “having limited resources and being financially naïve and not only lacking experience but being susceptible to lapses in self-control.” The team points out that credit card issuers compete vigorously for college students’ business, partly in the hope of attracting potentially loyal customers for future dealings, such as car loans and mortgages, after graduation.

The disconnection between recognizing the need to be financially responsible and actually being so must be addressed before students learn too many bad habits with their money, the team’s results suggest. “If college students are to make wise financial decisions they must internalize the obligation to exercise financial responsibility,” they say. “It is their duty to spend prudently and to pay their bills when due, and a failure to do so is unacceptable.” Education regarding the misuse of credit cards and the consequences of long-term debt ought to be enshrined in a college education at an early stage of the academic career, the research suggests.


Ackert, L.F. and Church, B.K. (2015) ‘Credit cards, financial responsibility, and college students: an experimental study‘, Int. J. Behavioural Accounting and Finance, Vol. 5, No. 1, pp.1-26.

Original article: Students in credit crisis.
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Dew helps ground cloud services

The most obvious disadvantage of putting your data in the cloud is losing access when you have no internet connection. According to research publishes in the International Journal of Cloud Computing, this is where “dew” could help. Yingwei Wang of the Department of Computer Science, at the University of Prince Edward Island, Charlottetown, Canada, describes what he refers to as a “cloud-dew” architecture that offers an efficient and elegant way to counteract cloud downtime and communication difficulties.

In the world of cloud computing, users and organizations keep their data in the cloud, users access the data from their computer, which means their data is mobile and can be accessed from any computer…but only as long as an internet connection is available. The problem with this arrangement is that the user relies heavily on an internet connection and the cloud servers, Wang explains. “If any problem happens with the servers or an internet connection is not available, the user cannot access their data,” he says.

When a user has lots of complex data, the task of keeping it in sync manually between the cloud and local computers is anything but trivial. Wang’s architecture follows the conventions of cloud architecture but in addition to the cloud servers, there are dew servers held on the local system that act as a buffer between the local user and the cloud servers and avoid the problem of data becoming out of sync, which happens if one simply reverts to the old-school approach in which data is held only on the local server whether or not it is networked. “The dew server and its related databases have two functions: first, it provides the client with the same services as the cloud server provides; second, it synchronizes dew server databases with cloud server databases,” explains Wang.

The dew server is a lightweight local server that retains a copy only of the given user’s data making it available with or without an internet connecting and syncing once more with the cloud server as soon as a connection is available once more. The same cloud-dew architecture might also be used to make websites available offline. Such a system could reduce the internet data overheads for an organization that has intermittent or throttled internet connectivity. Obviously form filling or email exchange is not possible without the internet connection but many functions such as displaying files and images, playing audio or video would be possible provided the data had been synced to the “dewsite” from the web during the last connection period.


Wang, Y. (2015) ‘Cloud-dew architecture’, Int. J. Cloud Computing, Vol. 4, No. 3, pp.199–210.
The Cloud Dew experimental site can be found here.

Original article: Dew helps ground cloud services.
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Special issue published: "Sustainable Manufacturing Processes, Technology and Systems"

International Journal of Mechatronics and Manufacturing Systems 8(1/2) 2015

• High speed machining of nickel-based alloys
• Modelling of ploughing-cutting transition regime during abrasive manufacturing process
• Modelling and vibration analysis of machine tool spindle system with bearing defects
• Control method of tool axis vector based on kinematics characteristics for five-axis NC machining 
• A decision support tool for the energy efficient selection of process plans