Free sample articles on Global Katrina Effect newly available from International Journal of Emergency Management

The following special issue articles from the International Journal of Emergency Management are now available here for free:

• Lessons from Sidr and Katrina: examining Bangladeshi progress in managing storm surge and some remaining challenges in the northern Bay of Bengal and central Gulf of Mexico regions
• Hurricane Katrina 10 years later: a qualitative meta-analysis of communications and media studies of New Orleans' Black community
• Looking forward 10 years after Katrina: managing climate risk and uncertainty through building systematic resilience in New Orleans post Hurricane Katrina
• Donor countries as aid recipients: the USA, New Zealand and the lessons of Hurricane Katrina
• A systematic review of the international disaster case management literature in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina
• Lessons from Katrina: commanding the military during disaster response - then and now

Call for papers: "People Create Your Innovative Technology – How Do You Manage Them"

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

At the end of the day, there are always people behind any new technology or innovation. Representatives of young generations and employees working in R&D and innovation find the atmosphere and content of work highly important (Romero and Pescosolido, 2008). This effects R&D and technology management. There is a lot of discussion on related aspects in technology management literature at the organisational level. However, as Rauffet et al. (2016) indicate, individual competences are important constituents of organisational capabilities. Therefore, people-related issues are rapidly gaining momentum in R&D, innovation, technology development (Frishammar et al., 2015; Hannah and Robertson, 2015; Järvenpää and Majchrzak, 2016; Rau et al., 2016; Ritala et al., 2015; Wendelken et al., 2014).

Technology-oriented organisations are more dependent on knowledgeable, competent employees than ever (Guthrie, 2001). People as employees and entrepreneurs are the initiators and originators of technological developments (e.g., Adler, 1995; Alegre et al., 2013; Camelo-Ordaz et al., 2011; Wright et al. 1994). They are invaluable in generating ideas, collecting and combining information and knowledge, pushing ideas forward, and in accepting suggestions regarding unconventional solutions to more and less surprising problems. At the same time, they present the issue of the "human factor". Individuals are, at the end of the day, unpredictable in many ways (Glaser et al., 2015; Olander et al., 2015). There are numerous motivational, social, cognitive, informative, and other factors that play a role in how innovation processes begin, develop and finally turn out (see, e.g., Hannah and Robertson, 2015; Nickerson et al., 2007). The dispersion of the responsibility of innovation generation (Stovel and Bontis, 2002) further increases complexity.

Many people-related aspects have been addressed in earlier innovation studies. However, in many cases these are addressed from one side only, seeing some activities or features as either positive or negative. There are not many studies examining why the not-invented-here syndrome (e.g., Michailova and Husted, 2003; Antons and Piller, 2015) would be good, why predisposed (biased) views or dominance by a single individual manager (Nickerson et al., 2007) would be beneficial for innovation and organisational developments, or why positive outcomes would stem from employees leaking confidential knowledge outside the organization, for example.

Yet many paradoxical aspects can be found in innovation, and some counterintuitive aspects related to the human factor have already been revealed. For example, in general when employees can make decisions related to innovation themselves, they can act faster when needed and catch chances that would be otherwise missed. However, Glaser et al. (2015) point towards proactivity and initiative of employees to be potentially detrimental for value creation. On the other hand, some contexts may pose challenges in establishing shared understanding between individuals, or differencing interests may impede knowledge sharing for example at newly emerging interfaces (Rau et al., 2016).

Bulgurcu et al. (2010) and Hannah and Robertson (2015) have discussed the issue of people trying to do a good job by bending and breaking their organisation's confidentiality rules, and by sharing knowledge despite the attempts of the firm managers to protect core knowledge. From the management-side, setting up rules and structures provides security and the idea is to increase clarity and ease working, but employees may perceive or interpret these completely differently. Courpasson et al. (2014) suggest that employee resistance - that could generally be seen as an unwanted behaviour - can foster unintended, innovative outcomes for both individuals and the organisation. Yet another example is that high commitment and low employee turnover is not always beneficial; there is a chance that there could be more and more "Lonely wolves" (Husted and Michailova, 2010) type of R&D workers emerging in the future. These and other examples raise questions regarding the role of various human factors, the nature of their relationships, as well as the contingencies that drive these connections.

Against the above described background, we wish to receive submissions that would take a fresh look at managing the people that generate innovative technologies. In particular, we would like to include papers discussing factors that are typically associated with either positive or negative outcomes regarding innovativeness but that can, depending on context, timing, etc., generate varying innovation outcomes - even in paradoxical and counterintuitive ways. In particular, examination of the patterns of when, how, and why specific human factors, management practices, and other such aspects turn out to be positive or negative are of interest.

Theoretical, conceptual and empirical studies utilising a variety of methods from qualitative case studies to quantitative approaches are welcome. We encourage work conducted on data collected from organisations of different sizes (small and medium-sized enterprises, multinational enterprises, individual experts as freelancers etc.), and from different organisational levels - including examination at micro level. We suspect that data from different market areas can provide different kinds of results, and therefore encourage studies comparing different cultural contexts and/or having one particular context of examination.

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

• The role of people for competitiveness and cooperation in technology management
• Unconventional organisational tools for people management in technology management activities
• Organisational strategies for managing R&D employees
• Embracing cultural differences in technology management
• Contradictive issues in legal principles and organisational practices
• Employee turnover: cause of loss of knowledge assets or source of fresh new ideas?
• Innovation management from the viewpoint of strategy and management vs. R&D employees
• Downsides of intra-organisational knowledge sharing for technological developments
• Human factors promoting and/or declining productivity, efficiency, and quality of R&D
• (Over) enthusiastic employees as innovators and gatekeepers of core knowledge
• Complex linkages between external knowledge sharing and protection, and value capture
• Balancing intra-organisational knowledge sharing and protection
• Complexities of Inter-firmR&D and innovation activities
• Issues related to knowledge sharing and protection between individual experts
• The effects of voluntary and involuntary employee turnover for technology management
• Positive aspects of knowledge leakage in technology management
• Sense and emotions in technology management

Important Dates

Manuscripts due by: 10 October, 2017

References

Adler P. (1995). Interdepartmental Interdependence and Coordination: The Case of the Design/Manufacturing Interface. Organization Science, 6,147-167.

Alegre J, Sengupta K, & Lapiedra R. (2013). Knowledge management and innovation performance in a high-tech SMEs industry. International Small Business Journal, 31, 454-470.

Antons, D., & Piller, F. T. (2015). Opening the black box of "Not Invented Here": attitudes, decision biases, and behavioral consequences. The Academy of Management Perspectives, 29, 193-217.

Bulgurcu B, Cavusoglu H & Benbasat I. (2010). Information security policy compliance: An empirical study of rationality-based beliefs and information security awareness. MIS Quarterly, 34, 523-548.

Camelo-Ordaz C, Garcia-Cruz J, Sousa-Ginel E, & Valle-Cabrera R. (2011). The influence of human resource management on knowledge sharing and innovation in Spain: the mediating role of affective commitment. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 22, 1442-1463.

Courpasson, D., Dany, F., & Martí, I. (2014). Organizational entrepreneurship as active resistance: a struggle against outsourcing. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice. DOI: 10.1111/etap.12109, 1-30.

Frishammar, J., Ericsson, K., Patel, P.C., 2015. The dark side of knowledge transfer: Exploring knowledge leakage in joint R&D projects. Technovation 41-42, 75-88.

Glaser, L., Stam, W., & Takeuchi, R. (2015). Managing the risks of proactivity: A multilevel study of initiative and performance in the middle management context. Academy of Management Journal. Published online before print June 25, 2015, doi: 10.5465/amj.2014.0177

Guthrie, J. (2000). Alternative pay practices and employee turnover. Group and Organization Management, 25(4), 419-39.

Hannah DR & Robertson K. (2015). Why and how do employees break and bend confidential information protection rules? Journal of Management Studies, 52, 381-413.

Husted, K. & Michailova, S. (2010). Dual allegiance and knowledge sharing in inter-firm R&D collaborations. Organizational Dynamics, 39(1), 37-47.

Järvenpää, S.L., Majchrzak, A., 2016. Interactive self-regulatory theory for sharing and protecting in interorganizational collaborations. Academy of Management Review 41(1): 9-27.

Michailova, S., & Husted, K. (2003). Knowledge-sharing hostility in Russian firms. California Management Review, 45(3), 59-77.

Nickerson, J.A., Silverman, B.S. & Zenger, T.R. (2007) The 'Problem' of Creating and Capturing Value. Strategic Organization, 5, 211 - 225.

Olander, H., Hurmelinna-Laukkanen, P. & Heilmann, P. (2015). Human resources - Strength and weakness in protection of intellectual capital. Journal of Intellectual Capital, 16, 742-762.

Rau, C. Möslein, K.M., and Neyer, A-K. (2016) Playing possum, hide-and-seek, and other behavioral patterns: knowledge boundaries at newly emerging interfaces, R&D Management, 46, 2, 341-353.

Rauffet, P., Cunha, C. D., & Bernard, A. (2016). Managing resource learning in distributed organisations with the organisational capability approach. International Journal of Technology Management, 70(4), 300-322.

Ritala, P., Olander, H., Michailova, S. and Husted, K. (2015) Knowledge sharing, knowledge leaking and relative innovation performance: An empirical study, Technovation, 35, 22-31.

Romero, E., Pescosolido, A. (2008). Humour and group effectiveness. Human Relations, 61(3), pp. 395-418.

Stovel, M, & Bontis, N. (2002). Voluntary turnover:knowledge management - friend or foe? Journal of Intellectual Capital, 3(3): 303-322.

Wendelken, A., Danzinger, F., Rau, C., and Moeslein, K.M. (2014). Innovation without me: why employees do (not) participate in organizational innovation communities, R&D Management, 44, 2, 217-236.

Wright PM, McMahan GC, & McWilliams A. (1994). Human resources and sustained competitive advantage: a resource-based perspective. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 5, 301-326.

Special issue published: "Enhancing the Performance of Traditional Machining"

International Journal of Machining and Machinability of Materials 18(5/6) 2016

Extended versions of papers presented at the 5th International and 26th All India Manufacturing
Technology, Design and Research (AIMTDR) Conference.

• Experimental assessment on performance of TiN/TiCN/Al2O3/ZrCN coated tool during dry machining of Nimonic C-263
• Comparative evaluations of nose wear progression and failure modes during hard turning under dry and near-dry cutting conditions
• Effect of tool wear on white layer thickness and subsurface hardness on hard turned EN31 steel
• Experimental investigation on cutting force and surface roughness in machining of hardened AISI 52100 steel using cBN tool
• Experimental comparative study of conventional, micro-textured and coated micro-textured tools during machining of hardened AISI 1040 alloy steel
• An experimental study of cutting forces and temperature in multi-tool turning of grey cast iron
• Determining cutting force coefficients from instantaneous cutting forces in ball end milling
• Effect of process parameters on convective heat transfer coefficient of fluid and heat partitioning in high efficiency deep grinding with water-based coolant
• An alternate method for optimisation of minimum quantity lubrication parameters in surface grinding
• Study on fluctuation of cutting force in process of high-speed milling of Inconel 718
• Study of the local forces along a cutting edge when drilling Ti6Al4V - comparison of methods
• Study of finish milling of titanium alloy (TI6AL4V)

Special issue published: "Management and Engineering: Matching Human and Technological Needs"

International Journal of Manufacturing Technology and Management 30(5) 2016

• Comparative analysis of procedural approaches for facility layout design using AHP approach 
• Reducing total costs of machined parts through green manufacturing
• Manufacturing strategy formulation, leadership style and organisational culture in small and medium-sized enterprises
• A discrete time-cost-environment trade-off problem with multiple projects: the Jinping-II Hydroelectric Station large-scale deeply buried tunnel group project
• The human factor in production planning and control: considering human needs in computer aided decision-support systems

Inderscience is media partner for 4th Annual Peptides Congress

Inderscience is a media partner for 4th Annual Peptides Congress (24-25 April 2017, London, UK).

The journals involved are:

• Int. J. of Biomedical Nanoscience and Nanotechnology
• Int. J. of Computational Biology and Drug Design

More information on this event is available here.

Special issue published: "Governance and Sustainability"

International Journal of Industrial and Systems Engineering 24(2) 2016

• Stakeholders satisfaction and sustainable success
• An entropy-based approach to stock market volatility: evidence from the G7's market indices
• Corporate governance determinants in emerging markets: evidence from Brazil
• Sustainability assessment framework for proactive supply chain management
• A location problem in the field of wind energy
• CO2 emissions, energy use and country governance
• Governance of sustainability in tourism

Inderscience is media partner for Heritages of Migration: Moving Stories, Objects and Home

Inderscience is a media partner for Heritages of Migration: Moving Stories, Objects and Home (6-10 April 2017, Buenos Aires, Argentina).

The journals involved are:

• Int. J. of Migration and Border Studies
• Int. J. of Migration and Residential Mobility

More information on this event is available here.

Special issue published: "Economics and the Novel"

International Journal of Pluralism and Economics Education 7(2) 2016

• Bourgeois dignity arrives in early Georgian drama
• Two opposing literary critiques of socialism: George Orwell versus Eugen Richter and Henry Hazlitt
• Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged, fiction or fact?
• The economics of The Hunger Games
• Jane Austen and the economic way of thinking
• Domestic virtues and national importance: sailors, commerce, and virtue in Mansfield Park, Persuasion, and The Wealth of Nations
• 'A parcel of heart': the business of love in Peregrine Pickle

Inderscience is media partner for Floating LNG 2017

Inderscience is a media partner for Floating LNG 2017 (13-14 February 2017, London, UK).

The journals involved are:

• Int. J. of Critical Infrastructures
• Int. J. of Environmental Technology and Management
• Int. J. of Energy Technology and Policy
• Int. J. of Global Energy Issues
• Int. J. of Global Environmental Issues
• Int. J. of Oil, Gas and Coal Technology

Special issue published: "Information Technology and Intellectual Property Law"

International Journal of Information and Communication Technology 9(2) 2016

• Trademark law and comparative advertisement in India
• Multiple audio watermarking system based on CDMA
• International cybercrime, transnational evidence gathering and the challenges in Australia: finding the delicate balance
• A novel and efficient public key encryption algorithm
• Suppression of remnant nonlinear echo due to harmonic distortions in intelligent communication networks
• A new method of fault tolerance based on partial reconfiguration

New Editor for International Journal of Web Science

Associate Prof. Shangguang Wang from Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications in China has been appointed to take over editorship of the International Journal of Web Science.

Special issue published: "Technology Revolution in Marketing Management Processes"

International Journal of Business and Globalisation 17(3) 2016

• Marketing communication in hypermedia computer-mediated environments vs the paradigm of a network society
• The use of social media by journalists: guidelines for public relations practitioners
• Selected trends in online trading with special focus on group buying - case study
• Neuromarketing and the advances in the consumer behaviour studies: a systematic review of the literature
• The third methodological movement in marketing research
• An exploration of the relationship between product selection criteria and engagement with 'show-rooming' and 'web-rooming' in the consumer's decision-making process
• The specifics of internationalisation process of Czech agricultural small and medium-sized enterprises
• Key risk factors in internationalisation of Czech engineering small and medium-sized firms
• Place marketing in the policy makers' perspective: testing a holistic model to unfold the state of the art 
• The effect of tourism expenditure on the behaviour of tourists in Barcelona

Inderscience is media partner for 9th Social Media in the Pharmaceutical Industry

Inderscience is a media partner for the 9th Social Media in the Pharmaceutical Industry Conference (18-19 January 2017, London, UK).

The journals involved are:

• Int. J. of Biomedical Engineering and Technology
• Int. J. of Biotechnology
• Int. J. of Healthcare Technology and Management
• Int. J. of Internet Marketing and Advertising
• Int. J. of Technology Management
• Int. J. of Web Based Communities

Call for papers: "Advanced Power Electronic Systems for HVDC and DC Grids"

For a special issue of the International Journal of Power Electronics.

Increasing demand for electricity has led to continuously increased renewable energy sources integration as sustainable alternatives to large fossil fuel driven central power plants. This calls for more long distance power transmission, and increasingly high-voltage direct current (HVDC) instead of ac transmission is used for this purpose. The application of HVDC converter technology in power grids is growing very fast. They were initially introduced based on line-commutated semiconductor technologies (Classic HVDC) and more recently based on self-commutated semiconductor technologies (Voltage-source converter (VSC) HVDC). Recent developments in power electronic converter systems have undergone a rapid evolution where different topologies of VSC HVDC have been introduced to this market.

 

The high level of modularity and low losses of modular multilevel converters (MMC) have made them more attractive for HVDC applications, in comparison to previous schemes. However, the efficiency, cell capacitor voltage ripple and dynamic performance are three contradictory aspects of the MMC which are related to the converter topology and control scheme. Therefore, there are several alternative power electronic converter configurations under rapid research and development at various manufacturers and research centers which require substantial evaluation in terms of system operation, control and valve implementation to optimise costs and losses. In addition to the steady state operation, robust transient fault handling is a crucial issue where the further development of overhead line VSC HVDC, multi-terminal HVDC and DC grids are considered for the future dc transmission grid. There is a need for reliable and cost-effective solutions for handling internal and external faults in power electronics based HVDC Transmission systems are the other recent research challenges in this area.

 

Power electronic converter systems in HVDC systems is a very timely topic for power electronic and power system researchers all around the world. The objective of this special issue in is to attract quality submission addressing the various aspects of the advances of power electronic systems in HVDC applications.

 

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

• MMC and other emerging power topologies of HVDC converters
• Alternate cells for MMC
• Converters for new applications of HVDC
• Modeling and analysis of HVDC converters
• Modulation and control of HVDC converters
• Design and protection of HVDC converters
• Inner control issues and methods of MMC and other HVDC converters
• New semiconductors technologies for HVDC converters
• Fault tolerant operation of HVDC converters
• DC circuit breakers and fault current limiters for HVDC systems
• HVDC converters loss analysis and minimization methods

 

Important Dates

Submission of manuscripts: 20 January, 2017

Notification to authors: 20 April, 2017

Final versions due: 20 May, 2017

New Editor for International Journal of Internet Manufacturing and Services

Prof. Zhiqiang Wang from South China University of Technology has been appointed to take over editorship of the International Journal of Internet Manufacturing and Services.

Special issue published: "Recent Advances in Design, Test and Simulation Techniques in Automotive Engineering and Mobility Research"

International Journal of Vehicle Design 71(1/2/3/4) 2016

Extended versions of papers presented at the 7th Automotive Technology Conference (OTEKON 2014).

• A response surface approach to heavy duty truck rear underrun protection device beam optimisation
• Adaptive ride comfort and attitude control of vehicles equipped with active hydro-pneumatic suspension
• Adap-tyre: DEKF filtering for vehicle state estimation based on tyre parameter adaptation
• A hybrid metaheuristic algorithm for the green vehicle routing problem with a heterogeneous fleet
• Evaluation of windshield defogging process in an automobile
• Modelling and optimisation of an 8 × 8 heavy duty vehicle's hydro-pneumatic suspension system
• Hot stamping applications in the automotive industry: coupled numerical simulation and FE-based die design
• Integrated model-based approach for the optimisation of vehicle ride comfort and handling characteristics: integrated vehicle dynamics model design
• Design of improved energy absorbing pads to reduce occupant injuries in vehicle side impact
• Vehicle dynamics modelling and validation for hardware-in-the-loop testing of electronic stability control
• Hyperelastic modelling and shape optimisation of vehicle rubber bushings
• Experimental validation and robustness analysis of a multiple model switching antilock braking system control algorithm
• Optimisation of tractor semi-trailer command steering mechanism using a genetic algorithm
• A computational and experimental investigation of the metallisation effects on the thermal characteristics of an automotive exterior lighting lamp
• Assessment of vehicle noise variability through structural transfer path analysis
• An experimental study of response surface methodology to optimise the operating parameters on PEM fuel cell
• Controller area network with priority queues and FIFO queues: improved schedulability analysis and message set extension
• A comparative study on the mechanical properties of carbon and glass fibre-reinforced epoxy, polyester and vinyl ester-based composites
• Usability of injection moulded polypropylene and TALC-EPDM filled PP composite foam materials in automotive industry
• Investigation of performance of 0-D internal combustion engine simulation codes based on detailed and reduced chemical kinetic mechanisms
• Engine cylinder head development methodology using CFD and FEM analyses
• A hybrid electric vehicle hardware-in-the-loop simulator as a development platform for energy management algorithms

Inderscience is media partner for Maritime Reconnaissance and Surveillance Technology 2017

Inderscience is a media partner for Maritime Reconnaissance and Surveillance Technology (30-31 January 2017, Rome, Italy).

The journals involved are:

• Int. J. of Intelligent Defence Support Systems
• Int. J. of Ocean Systems Management
• Int. J. of Systems, Control and Communications
• Int. J. of Signal and Imaging Systems Engineering

More information on this event is available here.

Call for papers: "Project Management and Scheduling"

For a special issue of the European Journal of Industrial Engineering.

The EURO working group on project management and scheduling (WG-PMS) provides an excellent opportunity to discuss recent and important issues in the field of project management (project planning, project scheduling, project control), and machine scheduling (single and parallel processor problems, flow shops, open shops, job shops, etc.). For this special issue, we are seeking the best available new research in these areas in order to provide a valuable resource for scholars and practitioners striving to leverage techniques and knowledge to improve project management and scheduling.

The issue will carry revised and substantially extended versions of selected papers presented at PMS 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:

• Project management:
• Network modelling
• Project scheduling
• Resource management
• Due-date management
• Project risk management
• Project scheduling under uncertainty
• Proactive/reactive project scheduling
• Multi-criteria project scheduling
• Applications
• Software
• Machine scheduling:
• Shop scheduling
• Scheduling with additional constraints
• Machine assignment and scheduling
• Flexible/robust scheduling
• Grid scheduling
• Multi-criteria scheduling
• Applications
• Software

Important Dates
Submission of manuscripts: 30 September, 2016
Notification to authors: 31 January, 2017
Final versions due: 30 November, 2017

Airship revolution takes flight

The rise of freight airships could go down like a lead balloon with traditional aircraft companies but could also represent a new high for Asian companies seeking to exploit new ways to reach world markets, according to research published in the International Journal of Aviation Management.

Barry Prentice of the I.H. Asper School of Business, at the University of Manitoba, Canada and Yui-yip Lau of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, in Kowloon, Hong Kong, and currently working alongside Prentice in Manitoba, explain how the reinvented technology of airships has come apace in recent years and is a far cry from the trial and error methods and primitive materials used to build the giant Zeppelins of yesteryear. They have thus developed a new conceptual model, which they refer to as the value-density cargo pyramid, to help them analyze dedicated cargo airplanes, sea-air logistics, sea containers and transport airships, through the busy trade corridors between Hong Kong and Europe and North America.

The benefits of airships over “conventional” freight vehicles – airplanes, ships, trains and trucks, for instance, is that they can fly over land and sea, access coastal ports, airports and reach remote inland regions too. “The transport airship is a disruptive technology that has the potential to modify freight transport markets, change geographical advantage and alter world trade patterns,” the team explains. They point out that these advantages coupled with relatively low costs and a smaller carbon footprint might make airships the freight transport choice of the future sooner than the conventional couriers anticipate.

However, airships could simply fill a niche rather than out-competing conventional aircraft. Airships are slower than airplanes, but have much bigger capacity and loading doors and so could reduce the economic barriers for the carriage of low-density and low value-perishable cargoes that are usually sent by even slower marine routes. “This is a sizeable market, and one that does not necessarily erode the markets of established carriers,” the team points out.

“Both technical and economic reasons lie behind the 80-year delay in the commercialization of large freight carrying airships, but in the 21st century no obvious technological barriers remain. The race is on to create this new transportation mode and the first-movers will have an advantage,” the team concludes. We are looking forward to the day when someone will actually be able to calibrate the value-density pyramid.


Prentice, B.E. and Lau, Y-Y. (2016) ‘Market potential for transport airships in service to Hong Kong‘, Int. J. Aviation Management, Vol. 3, No. 1, pp.68-83.

via Inderscience – Science Spot http://ift.tt/2c6EWT2

Thematic issue published: "Internationalisation of Family Business Groups"

European Journal of International Management 10(5) 2016

• Turning innovativeness into domestic and international corporate venturing: the moderating effect of high family ownership and influence
• An empirical study about knowledge transfer, entrepreneurial orientation and performance in family firms
• Particularistic ties and internationalisation: evidence from Taiwanese family business groups
• Internationalisation of family and non-family firms: a conjoint experiment among CEOs

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Product Lifecycle Management

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

• Towards an ontology for product version management
• Maintenance management system for a defence aircraft development programme
• A systematic process for developing product configuration rules
• An ontology-based approach for modelling technical documentation towards ensuring asset optimisation
• Ontology-based approach for product information exchange

Special issue published: "Intelligent Learning Systems and Innovative Pedagogies"

International Journal of Knowledge and Learning 11(1) 2016

• Towards adaptive ubiquitous learning systems
• Clustering learner profiles based on usage data in adaptive e-learning
• Intelligent dynamic case-based reasoning using multi-agents system in adaptive e-service, e-commerce and e-learning systems
• Towards a design approach for serious games

Additional paper

• Modelling an adaptive e-learning system for implementing competencies-based approach

Inderscience is media partner for Pharmaceutical Microbiology 2017

Inderscience is a media partner for Pharmaceutical Microbiology (18-19 January 2017, London, UK).

The journals involved are:

• Int. J. of Biomedical Engineering and Technology
• Int. J. of Biotechnology
• Int. J. of Computational Biology and Drug Design
• Int. J. of Computational Microbiology and Medical Ecology

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Rapid Manufacturing

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

• Identifying limitations for design for manufacturing with desktop FFF 3D printers
• Peel and tensile test investigation of aluminium 1050 foil parts made with a new additive manufacturing process
• Constitutive modelling for fused deposition modelling of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) under elastic response
• Post-processing opportunities of professional and consumer grade 3D printing equipment: a comparative study
• Investigation of pulse advance cold metal transfer on aluminium wire arc additive manufacturing
• Nozzle dispensing additive manufacturing of polysiloxane: dimensional control
• Laser sintered body armour: establishing guidelines for dual-layered stab protection

Special issue published: "Regional Development and Growth: Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Tourism"

International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business 29(2) 2016

• Networking and e-government for local development - experiences gained by entrepreneurs in small enterprises in Sweden
• Multifocal entrepreneurial practices: the case of Moroccan import/export businesses in Milan
• Social entrepreneurship in the rural areas - a sports club's mobilisation of people, money and social capital
• Canals, rivers and lakes as experiencescapes - destination development based on strategic use of inland water
• The innovation process in firms with border region location
• Financial performance analysis of spin-off companies from a UK 'regional' university: a case study of the University of Birmingham
• What happened to the growth? - The case of the ICT industry in Oulu, Finland
• Sustainable tourism among Swedish tourism service providers - easy to say but difficult to implement 
• Role of an entrepreneur for innovating regional agriculture: through a case of a Japanese ice cream firm
• Industry clusters across national borders: literature review and research deficits

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Electronic Healthcare

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

• Macro influencers of electronic health records adoption
• Exploring mobile health in a private online social network
• Applying CHAID algorithm to investigate critical attributes of secured interoperable health data exchange
• Role-based access control through on-demand classification of electronic health record
• An acute knee injury: tracking a two-year recovery online

Special issue published: "Information Systems in Transport Logistics"

International Journal of Shipping and Transport Logistics 8(5) 2016

Extended versions of papers presented at the International Conference on Advanced Logistics and Transport (ICALT) 2014.

• Assessment of public transport control systems: a comparative analysis of platforms and a new platform architecture
• Implementation of telematics-based good practices to support urban freight transport systems, applying a city's adaptability level 
• Optimising case study personnel scheduling problem using an artificial bee colony algorithm
• Information system aiding the logistics processes of loading and securing in railway transport
• Management of divergent production network using decentralised multi-level capacitated lot-sizing models

Special issue published: "Seismic Vulnerability Assessment and Sustainable Rehabilitation Methods of Structures"

International Journal of Sustainable Materials and Structural Systems 2(3/4) 2016

• Cyclic behaviour of cantilever RC columns with steel fibre reinforced concrete at plastic hinge regions
• New factors for the seismic vulnerability assessment of reinforced concrete buildings
• Seismic fragility curves for timber-framed masonry structures based on empirical damage data 
• Estimation of the natural periods of existing masonry towers through empirical procedure
• Seismic vulnerability assessment methods applied to the historic built-up of Arsita within the 2009 post-earthquake reconstruction plan
• The development of a seismic vulnerability assessment methodology for contemporary loadbearing masonry buildings in the Maltese Islands

Additional papers

• A new perspective on hierarchical structure to analyse strength limiting factors of CNT yarns
• Flexural and shear behaviour of concrete beams reinforced with bamboo
• Optimum fly ash proportion in concrete to sustain the impact imposed by diesel

International Journal of Supply Chain and Operations Resilience to publish expanded papers from ICAM 2017

Extended versions of papers presented at the International Conference on Advanced Marketing (26-27 January 2017, Colombo, Sri Lanka) will be published by the International Journal of Supply Chain and Operations Resilience.

Special issue published: "Ageing, Socio-Economic Change, Challenges and Potentialities"

International Journal of Work Innovation 1(4) 2016

• Perceived development opportunities and reward satisfaction as antecedents of nurses' job withdrawal intentions
• Age and generations in everyday organisational life: neglected intersections in studying organisations 
• Generation as a politics of representation
• Discriminatory practices of older workers in an ageing residential care workforce 
• Four paradigms of age management research

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Knowledge and Learning

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

• Children's reading and writing success: the role of diligence and intelligence
• Teaching novice programmers using ProgTest
• How can learning efficiency be improved in teaching economics in English as a foreign language?
• Technological paradigms and trajectories as determinants of the R&D corporate change in drug discovery industry
• The role of user-centered design and usability on knowledge sharing: a school website field study
• Knowledge management and reuse in tourism destination observatories

Special issue published: "Sustainability and Human Resources"

International Journal of Intelligent Enterprise 3(3/4) 2016

• Locating sustainable leadership within a typology of leadership in business
• Linking CSR and sustainability with organisational culture, values and business ethics - a qualitative analysis of Indian IT companies
• Revolutionary learning - appreciative inquiry in action
• An assessment of non-verbal communication skills of business school campus recruits in India: implications for stakeholder communication
• Rethinking human resource: making of parental policy in India
• Managing the IT millennials - HR imperatives and interventions
• Sustainability from the lenses of spirituality: a new perspective

Additional papers

• Implementations of data mining techniques in stock market forecasting: a generic framework
• Improving the quality of cold merchandising unit: an application of quality function deployment

Call for papers: "Decision Support Systems in Commerce, Logistics and Transportation"

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

Commerce, logistics and transportation are key application areas of decision support systems (DSSs), often with remarkable results. The methodological framework and technology of DSSs have been exploited in order to solve problems and boost the varied development and achievements in these areas over recent decades, leading to better utilisation of resources, improvement of service and product quality and the expansion of production capacities.

The rapid development of electronic commerce in recent years has created a new era, and new perspectives have arisen in the contemporary economy that affect production, supply chain management and transportation.

This special issue will focus on the utilisation of the methodological approaches and technology of DSSs to address new challenges concerning logistics and transportation in the digital economy.

The objectives of the issue can be summarised as follows:

• To collect recent results from scientific research in the field of DSSs and their applications in e-commerce, logistics and transportation
• To investigate problems relating to the above-mentioned areas (e-commerce, logistics and transportation)
• To present innovative methodological approaches and systems utilised for the effective handling of problems and decision situations related to the core subjects of the special issue

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

• Decision support systems
• Web-based decision support systems
• Business intelligence and big data analysis
• Negotiation support systems
• Knowledge management systems
• Knowledge and resource discovery
• Group decision support systems
• Collaborative decision making
• Mobile decision support systems
• Social media and decision support systems
• Intelligent agents
• Optimisation methods and systems
• Multicriteria decision aid systems

Important Dates

Submission of manuscripts: 20 January, 2017

Special issue published: "Latin American Financial Markets Recent Challenges: Securities, Valuation and Integration"

International Journal of Bonds and Derivatives 2(3) 2016

• Currency exchange rate risk hedging strategies using MXN/USD MexDer futures contracts
• Mexican REITs (FIBRAS) in retirement funds (AFORES): different pricing approaches and market risk measurement implications
• Spatial valuation of annuity derivatives
• Futures contract implementation and the impact on commodity spot price volatility: evidence from Latin America
• The integration of Latin American bond markets: a copula analysis approach (1999-2015)

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Aviation Management

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

• Identification of key aircraft and operational parameters affecting airport charges
• Emissions of greenhouse gases: Brazilian air transportation sector
• Determining factors in airport baggage claim level of service
• An investigation of airline service quality and passenger satisfaction - the case of China Eastern Airlines in Wuhan region
• Domestic airline networks and passenger demand in Thailand after deregulation
• Measuring success: the search for assessment criteria in determining the impact of deregulation in regional aviation

Special issue published: "Group-Based Decision and Knowledge Support Systems for Service Systems"

International Journal of Information and Decision Sciences 8(3) 2016

• Pattern-based knowledge management for e-government service systems
• A comparative analysis of fuzzy-based AHP derived MCDM methods to select the apt heterogeneous wireless network
• A semantic approach for XML document warehousing and OLAP analysis
• Decision support systems for IT service management
• A new trend for knowledge-based decision support systems design

On digital

The online, digital, world can represent both testing opportunities and crises depending on one’s perspective. The first notion that “digital” could change the world came with the code-breakers at Bletchley Park during World War II, although their role in the war only came to light in recent years as official secrets were opened up to public scrutiny as part of the normal workings of the British government. It was, of course, the critical role played by pioneering mathematician Alan Turing during that period of conflict that led to the modern notion of the computer (the proto-steampunk computers of Ada Lovelace and Charles Babbage aside) and all that has ensued.

From the whirling dials and relays to the integrated circuit and Moore’s Law and thence the transistor radio, the pocket calculator, the digital watch, the video recorder and the smart devices like phones and tablets in everybody’s grasp today that pack the punch of multi-billion-dollar Moon shots in a space smaller than a fingernail

Denis Loveridge of the Manchester Institute of Innovation Research, Alliance Manchester Business School, Manchester, UK, discusses in the current issue of the International Journal of Foresight and Innovation Policy how “the digital world quickly became ubiquitous acquiring an unstoppable momentum, especially once parallel developments in software created the so-called ‘killer’ applications.” What we mean by killer applications has evolved considerably over the last decades, but fundamentally it always boils down to creating, acquiring and sharing information whatever point of view you adopt and whether you are talking about textual information, photographs, audio, video, software (more apps) or other digital entities and the whole “internet of things” manifesto.

There has been a feeling, suggests Loveridge in his paper, that the advent of the digital world and its ubiquitous penetration of human societies around the globe raises the perennial existential crisis that has plagued the human psyche for as long as we’ve had a psyche to plague. The doom-mongers and naysayers have always hyped our personal existential angst to the tribal level; to the national stage and to the whole world. The digital world is just the latest switch to flip in our collective concerns about the future.

“The crisis takes many interconnected forms perceived as a cascade of situations containing many turning points involving multiple and interconnected themes,” says Loveridge. He sees crises rather than challenges as inherent in the clash between human emotion and judgement and an ever-accelerating rate at which computation takes place. Computation is a ubiquitous and growing feature of the digital world which exists because of it and for it. Nature computes, but daffodils that bloom in spring, migratory birds, the hormonal cycles of the human race seem gentle and slow-paced compared to the frenetic terabytes and petabytes of digital computation done each day across millions if not billions of computers and “things”. “The clash between computation and human judgement stems from a mismatch between human cognition and behaviour, and the frenetic pace at which computation now proceeds,” suggests Loveridge. The true crisis is whether or not the digital world is part of the same natural world in which we eat, drink and make merry (or otherwise) and if it is not does that mean we might preclude our continued existence and face an extinction wrought by the nightmarish artificial intelligence predicted by Moravec, Kurzweil, Bostrom and many other people.

The bottom line, perhaps, is do we want to engineer ourselves into a world managed entirely by algorithms or do we want to retain that spark of humanity, that weird mediaeval notion of making decisions with the heart rather than the head or is it all the same thing; humans make the machines that make the decisions in our name?


Loveridge, D. (2016) ‘The digital and natural worlds: crisis or challenge?’, Int. J. Foresight and Innovation Policy, Vol. 11, Nos. 1/2/3, pp.148–166.
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Call for papers: "Migration and Diaspora Entrepreneurship: Tackling the Heterogeneity"

For a special issue of the International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management.

While entrepreneurial activities by migrants are not necessarily a new topic, the recent trend of globalisation as well as transnationalisation has certainly made migration entrepreneurship a more heterogeneous phenomenon. The rapid technological development in the communication and transportation sectors has enabled migrants to maintain both emotional and physical connections to their country of origin (Tung, 2008). These environmental changes have created more favourable conditions for the people called ‘diaspora’, the concept referring to migrants and their descendants who are embedded in their countries of residence, while maintaining ethnic collective identity and homeland orientation (Safran, 1991; Brubaker, 2005).

Economic engagements including entrepreneurial activities of diaspora have recently attracted considerable attention from both policy makers and researchers (Newland & Tanaka, 2010; Kotabe et al., 2013; Riddle & Brinkerhoff, 2011; Nkongolo-Bakenda et al., 2013). One of the main reasons for the growing interest in this topic is the significant socio-economic impact of diaspora entrepreneurs on both host and home countries. Diasporans transfer various types of human capital such as technological or industrial knowledge, financial capital and institutions across countries (Saxenian, 2005; World Bank, 2015; Riddle & Brinkerhoff, 2011).

Such entrepreneurs explore and exploit unique business opportunities and create idiosyncratic business models by using their rich and distinctive resources. Due to the mixed embeddedness in networks of host and home countries (Kloostermann et al., 1999), migrants and diasporans are able to access different types of collective and individual resources of different countries. Among others, previous researchers have confined their attention to network resources of migrant and diaspora entrepreneurs. On one side, thanks to advanced digital communication modes such as social media and internet communication, migrants more recently require less effort to maintain their ties to their home countries than ever before (Tung, 2008). On the other side, such technologies create new possibilities to connect migrants living abroad on the digital level (Brinkerhoff, 2012). Migrants today have access to networks in their homeland, in host countries and transnational diaspora networks (Newland & Tanaka, 2010; Kuznetsov, 2006; Elo, 2014). By utilising various types of networks, migration and diaspora entrepreneurs identify unique opportunities and create distinctive business models (Kloosterman, 2010).

Beside their network dynamics, there are a number of factors that make this phenomenon more diverse. Recent globalisation, for instance, has created various types of migration directions. While the majority of migrants are still moving from developing or emerging countries to more economically developed countries, there is also human mobility in the opposite direction or between developed countries (Harima, 2016). We still know little about how and why such migration directions may characterise migrants’ entrepreneurial activities.

Furthermore, there are different types of migration entrepreneurship. Drori et al. (2009) classified them into ethnic entrepreneurship, returnee entrepreneurship, international entrepreneurship and transnational entrepreneurship, which also enhances the heterogeneity of this phenomenon. It is of high priority to explore characteristics of each type to tackle this complexity. We have also been witnessing an immense refugee wave originating mainly from the conflicts and unstable political situations in the Middle East (UNHCR, 2016). While refugees share some common characteristics with migrants and diasporans, they are in the clearly distinctive settings and circumstances – with an impact on their entrepreneurial activities (Wauters & Lambrecht, 2008). Refugees’ entrepreneurial activities – despite their high practical and societal relevance – are still largely ignored in the literature.

Another factor characterising research on migration and diaspora entrepreneurship is the lack of dominant theories which are able to gives foundations for this phenomenon. Although it handles entrepreneurial activities of individuals, this phenomenon has developed as a sort of parallel world alongside mainstream research on entrepreneurship and management. Although there are some efforts to apply theories and concepts from such fields to the phenomenon of migration and diaspora entrepreneurship, current research still suffers from the lack of a bridge between these two different fields.

Considering the above-mentioned factors, this special issue tackles this heterogeneity of migration and diaspora entrepreneurship by considering various dimensions which determine its nature. The issue invites both empirical (both qualitative and quantitative) and theoretical work that extends and deepens the understanding of multi facets of this phenomenon.

The issue will carry revised and substantially extended versions of selected papers presented at the 1st and 2nd International Conferences on Migration and Diaspora Entrepreneurship, 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:

• Migration waves and entrepreneurship
• Motivation behind migration and diaspora entrepreneurship
• Diaspora business models
• The role of the digital world in migration and diaspora entrepreneurship
• Entrepreneurial activities for and by refugees
• Migration and diaspora entrepreneurs within entrepreneurial ecosystems
• Diaspora innovation and start-ups
• Female migrant entrepreneurship
• Social entrepreneurship by migrants
• Migration and diaspora entrepreneurs as change agents
• Returnee entrepreneurship
• Refugee entrepreneurship
• Minority entrepreneurship
• Institutions and migration/diaspora entrepreneurship
• The role of time and generations within the context of migration and diaspora entrepreneurship
• Culture, norms, religions and entrepreneurial activities by migrants

Important Dates
Submission of manuscripts: 28 February, 2017

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

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

• Stabilisation of in-plane periodic motion of electrodynamic tether system by combining tether length control and current control
• GPS-based orbital filter to reach the moon
• Orbital-attitude coupling effects on the motion of a dumbbell space tether
• Generalised multi-impulsive manoeuvres for optimum spacecraft rendezvous in near-circular orbit
• The small reconnaissance of atmospheres mission platform concept, part 1: motivations and outline for a swarm of scientific microprobes to the clouds of Jupiter in 2030
• Methods of the analysis of motion of small space vehicles around the centre of masses at deployment of space tether system
• Satellite observations of thermospheric wave 4 at high latitudes

Special issue published: "Perspectives On Inter-Organisational and Collaborative Innovation"

International Journal of Technology Management 71(3/4) 2016

• The role of customer and user knowledge in internal corporate venturing: the viewpoint of the corporate entrepreneur
• Implicit patent alliance acquiring the appropriability of innovation
• Collaboration for continuous innovation: routines for knowledge integration in healthcare
• Appropriability: a key to opening innovation internationally?
• Dynamic strategic groups' analysis and identification of mobility barriers in the European mobile phone industry
• Knowledge transfer capacity of universities and knowledge transfer success: evidence from university - industry collaborations in China

Research Picks – September 2016

In the first September edition of Inderscience Research Picks, David Bradley highlights another four excellent papers from the journals on topics as diverse as improving biodiesel, taking control of seed regulations, sub-Saharan food security and peer-to-peer network safety.

Oiling up the biobus
A new energetic assessment of the vegetable oil components of biodiesel, and specifically esters derived from sunflower oil, reveals that the effective work and efficiency of such fuels in diesel engines falls rapidly if too much bio is used in a blend of conventional petroleum-derived fuel and the biofuel, according to researchers in Turkey. The team has used the laws of thermodynamics and an assessment of “exergy” to show that 75% and 50% ethyl ester blends are the most appropriate fuels for the engine in terms of its performance. The findings should be used to adjust the fuel blends being used by biofuelled vehicles running on esters derived from sunflower oil.
Yamık, H. (2016) ‘Energetic and exergetic assessments of an internal combustion engine with sunflower ester blends’, Int. J. Exergy, Vol. 20, No. 4, pp.482–495.

Seed governance
Seed governance is a global issue say researchers in The Netherlands who have looked at organic seed regulation in the European Union, Mexico, and the USA. Based on a study extending from 2007 to 2014, the researchers suggest that regulatory imbalances and trade incompatibilities arising from divergent stakeholder interests along the organic seed value chain have hindered the development of this important commercial sector. They add that progress towards regulatory harmonisation has so far been slow and highlight three cases wherein this has been a critical issue. There are, however, new opportunities to improve the situation for growers and users if the industry and regulators can learn the lessons of developing coherent policies.
Renaud, E.N.C., Lammerts van Bueren, E.T. and Jiggins, J. (2016) ‘The meta-governance of organic seed regulation in the USA, European Union and Mexico’, Int. J. Agricultural Resources, Governance and Ecology, Vol. 12, No. 3, pp.262–291.

Sub-Saharan food security
Subsistence farmers in sub-Saharan Africa are particularly vulnerable to food insecurity, according to researchers from Germany. The team has been investigating participatory research that might help stabilise and enhance food security through the development and implementation of upgrading strategies. However, their research has shown that the perception of such strategies is different among male and female scientists from Germany and Tanzania and that the issues that arise from these different approaches must be addressed if they are found to be somewhat universal so that sustainable upgrades can be implemented. Fundamentally, where there are general differences in opinion between scientists from different regions and between genders, these differences must be discussed in advance of implementation of improvement strategies.
Graef, F. and Uckert, G. (2016) ‘Male and female scientists differ in their suitability assessments of food-securing upgrading strategies’, Int. J. Agricultural Resources, Governance and Ecology, Vol. 12, No. 3, pp.305–326.

Peer-to-peer security
Peer-to-peer, or P2P, networks have become infamous as the mainstay of users circumventing copyright laws to share digital commodities, such as music, video content, software and even textbooks. However, the underlying technology has many legitimate applications in improving the efficiency of distribution of open source information and materials to which users have shared or free access. However, as with any networking system there are always security concerns. Researchers in India have developed a security system wherein some peers are assessed as being more equal than others so that the most trusted nodes in the network become the validated, forwarding peers for file sharing. The file splitting algorithm also reduces network overheads for file transmission and by utilising trusted nodes more improves the success rate of the system overall.
Senthil Madasamy, N. and Revathi, T. (2016) ‘A secure P2P file sharing model using trust management and data integrity verification’, Int. J. Wireless and Mobile Computing, Vol. 10, No. 4, pp.335–344.


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Free sample articles newly available from Latin American Journal of Management for Sustainable Development

The following sample articles from the Latin American Journal of Management for Sustainable Development are now available here for free:

• The impact of emotional intelligence on transformational leadership and leader effectiveness
• Biofuels from a strategic standpoint: an overview of the literature
• Selection process theoretical framework on environmental costs: an exploratory vision
• Income inequality and environmental degradation: estimates with panel data in Brazilian states
• Implications for waste pickers of Distrito Federal, Brazil arising from the obligation of reverse logistics by the National Policy of Solid Waste
• Road safety - implications for sustainable development in Latin America

Inderscience is media partner for Biosimilars North America 2016

Inderscience is a media partner for Biosimilars North America (16-17 November 2016, Iselin, USA).

The journals involved are:

• Int. J. of Bioinformatics Research and Applications
• Int. J. of Biomedical Engineering and Technology
• Int. J. of Biotechnology
• Int. J. of Immunological Studies

More information on this event is available here.

Special issue published: "Service Management in Transportation and Modern Logistics"

International Journal of Services Technology and Management 22(3/4/5) 2016

• Evaluation method for node importance in container supply chain network
• Greening game analysis in supply chains under three decision-making structures
• Closed-loop supply chain network redesigning model post the horizontal merger based on environmental responsibility
• Research on the e-business logistics service mode based on branch storage and warehouse financing
• An integrated approach for optimising coal purchase and supply logistics network
• A study of the optimisation of commercial vehicles' distribution in multimodal transport network
• ABC classification of spare parts considering costs and service
• Categorical missing data imputation approach via sparse representation
• Analysis of carbon emissions from transportation in Beijing
• Mental workload's influence on job performance for the high-speed railway drivers - job satisfaction as mediator
• Integrative effects among innovation network elements on innovation performance based on QCA 

Call for papers: "Bioscience and Computational Methods"

For a special issue of the International Journal of Biomedical Engineering and Technology.

Computational bioscience is at the cusp of significant innovations that guarantee highly affordable, advanced and smarter healthcare facilities for people across the globe. With data science and analytics fields gaining a lot of attention and investment, brighter days lie ahead for bioscience – the seamless and spontaneous combination of biology and computational techniques. Furthermore, clouds are being positioned as best-in-class IT infrastructures for all kinds of biological experimentation, searching, processing, ingestion, storage and visualisation.

This special issue aims to present a variety of related research contributions to empower future biologists and physicians with bioinformatics tools and analysis methods, including technological advancements, newer tools, techniques and tips, best practices, key metrics and healthcare processes. Our objective is to share value-adding contributions from researchers and scholars across the globe, particularly on the significant impacts of the convergence of bioscience and computational methods.

The issue will carry revised and substantially extended versions of selected papers presented at the International Conference on Allied Electrical and Communication Systems (ICAECS2016), but we also strongly encourage researchers unable to participate in the conference to submit articles for this special issue.

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

• Biology and informatics
• Computational biology
• Mathematical models for molecular processes
• Biological data science
• Big data analytics
• Biological applications in cloud environments
• Biological data mining
• Biological data storage and backup
• Machine learning
• DNA recombination and splicing languages
• Homology searching
• Pattern recognition
• Statistical methods
• Cognitive computing for smarter healthcare
• Biological databases
• Semantic data
• Searching and querying techniques
• Matching methods
• Monte Carlo simulations

Important Dates
Submission of manuscripts: 25 November, 2017
Notification to authors: 25 January, 2018
Final versions due: 25 February, 2018

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Internet Technology and Secured Transactions

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

• Using AOP-based enforcement of prioritised XACML policies for location privacy
• Ontology-based representation of reusable security requirements for developing secure web applications
• An automatic and self-adaptive multi-layer data fusion system for WiFi attack detection
• Framework for surveillance of instant messages
• A mobile contactless point of sale enhanced by the NFC and biometric technologies

Special issue published: "Simulation Modelling and Optimisation of Large-Scale Systems"

International Journal of Simulation and Process Modelling 11(3/4) 2016

• Multi-objective optimal computing budget allocation for multi-objective particle swarm optimisation with particle-dependent weights
• A particle filtering-based estimation of distribution algorithm for multi-objective optimisation
• Reward processes and performance simulation in supermarket models with different servers
• An iterative parametric estimation method for Hammerstein large-scale systems: a simulation study of hydraulic process
• Hybrid clustering technique of PCA-SM-GHSOM for abnormal and normal classification with quarterly financial ratios of listed TCM company sector 
• Optimisation of recommended speed profile for train operation based on ant colony algorithm
• Shipment policy optimisation in a return supply chain for online retailers via stochastic discrete event simulation
• Application of multi-fidelity simulation modelling to integrated circuit packaging
• Renewable-load matching dispatch for isolated power systems with intermittent renewable sources
• A simulation model for outpatient appointment scheduling with patient unpunctuality
• Solving preemptive job-shop scheduling problems using a true concurrency model
• Mathematical modelling of vehicle assembly line for throughput enhancement
• Simulation-based fleet scheduling in the Metrobus

Journal for Global Business Advancement increases issues

The Journal for Global Business Advancement has announced that it will be increasing issues from four to six from 2017 onwards.

Call for papers: "DC Microgrids and LVDC Distribution Networks"

For a special issue of the International Journal of Power Electronics.

Over 100 years ago, alternating current (AC) won “war of currents” over direct current (DC) as the prominent form of electricity due to the fact that the AC transformers voltage can step up and down to facilitate power transmission over long distances with reduced losses. However, due to recent developments in power electronics, the proliferation of DC nature electrical loads, renewable energy sources and energy storage devices, DC systems are becoming a feasible alternative for electrical distribution networks with better efficiency and reliability. Due to these advantages, it is expected that the use of DC systems will increase in future buildings, data-centers, ships, aircrafts and other electrical power systems. Despite all of these advantages, there are a number of technical challenges for the practical implementation of DC distribution systems, such as lack of standardised equipment, protections, voltage levels standardisation, power system stability and grounding. Hence, the objective of this special issue is to disseminate the recent technological advancement in DC microgrids and distribution systems both from academia and industry.

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

• Architectures of DC distribution systems in smart residential, commercial and industrial applications
• Power electronics topologies for DC distribution systems
• Wide bandgap (WBG) semiconductor applications in DC distribution systems
• Reliability, stability and power quality issues in DC distribution systems
• Protections in low voltage DC distribution systems
• DC microgrid interfacing issues for energy storage devices and renewable energy sources
• Grounding configuration in low voltage DC distribution systems
• Voltage standardisation in low voltage DC distribution systems
• Advanced modelling, analysis, design, operation and application of DC distribution system
• Energy management system and strategies in DC distribution system
• Standards and codes relevant to DC distribution system

Important Dates

Submission of manuscripts: 1 February, 2017
Notification to authors: 1 May, 2017
Final versions due: 1 July, 2017

Special issue published: "Modelling and Applied Optimisation in Business and Engineering"

International Journal of Operational Research 27(1/2) 2016

Extended versions of papers presented at the International Conference on Modeling, Simulation and Applied Optimization (ICMSAO’13).

• Effects of probable inflation on a two-warehouse partial backlogging inventory model with permissible delay in payment for deteriorating and imperfect items
• An integrated genetic algorithm approach to 1D-cutting stock problem
• Improved performance of digital filters approximation
• Solving a load balancing problem with a multi-objective particle swarm optimisation approach: application to aircraft cargo transportation
• Arnoldi model reduction for switched linear systems
• Optimal approximants for MIMO model reduction systems using genetic algorithms
• Scheduling of multiple projects with constrained resources and preemption
• An interval linear programming approach for portfolio selection model
• Comparison of multi-criteria decision methods through a ranking stability index
• Solving the bilateral group selection problem using optimal stopping options
• A new method to detect and remove a beard from 3D human face model
• One-hour-ahead wind power forecast using hybrid grey models
• A multiobjective interval goal programming method using penalty function
• A consistent test for unit root against fractional alternative
• Relative efficiency of hardware retail stores chains in Canada
• Energetic parameters in approximation of discrete systems: a MIMO extension problem
• Non-smooth singular Newton's method for positive semidefinite solution of nonlinear matrix equations
• Human factor modelled by fuzzy logic in preventive maintenance actions
• Optimisation techniques for planning the petrol replenishment to retail stations over a multi-period horizon
• Supplier selection criteria and methods: past, present and future

Call for papers: "Data Mining in Signals and Imaging Systems"

For a special issue of the International Journal of Signal and Imaging Systems Engineering.

The term big data is used almost anywhere these days; from news articles to professional magazines, from tweets to YouTube videos and blog discussions. The term coined by Roger Magoulas from O'Reilly media in 2005, refers to a wide range of large data sets almost impossible to manage and process using traditional data management tools - due to their size, but also their complexity.

Over recent years, there has been a lot of research on big data. This special issue will bring out the recent research on big data analysis on various signals and imaging systems. Big data has become the demand of the future. Hence a collection of research papers on this area for this special issue would be very useful and interesting to the readers and also a good contribution to the research community.

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

• Time series big data
• Predictive learning from big data
• Big data for image and video analysis
• Bio-Inspired big data learning
• Machine learning methods from big data
• Optimisation techniques for big data analytics
• Signal processing for big data
• Big data in VLSI applications

Important Dates

Submission of manuscripts: 31 January, 2017

International Journal of Advanced Intelligence Paradigms increases issues

The International Journal of Advanced Intelligence Paradigms has announced that it will be increasing issues from four to six from 2017 onwards.

Call for papers: "Big Data and Data-Driven Science"

For a special issue of the International Journal of Data Science.

Today, a paradigm shift is being observed in science, with the focus gradually shifting away from operation to data, which is greatly influencing decision making. This science is being driven by data and is termed as data science.

In this internet age, we are inundated with data from multiple sources in various forms, especially social media, and in the modern data science vocabulary, this large, complex, structured or unstructured and heterogeneous data is recognised as “big data”. The volume of this data has grown beyond the exabyte magnitude. The rapid pace of data growth through various disparate sources has seriously challenged the data management and analytic capabilities of traditional databases. Furthermore, the velocity of expansion of the amount of data gives rise to a complete paradigm shift in how new-age data is processed.

Confidence in the data engineering of existing data processing systems is gradually fading, whereas the capabilities of new techniques for capturing, storing, visualising and analysing data are evolving.

This special issue intends to address current data-driven research challenges, and seeks articles discussing big data and analytics from various perspectives such as design and development of new tools and techniques, comprehensive analytics, applications, intelligent decision making and so forth. Submitted research articles should present innovative findings that make substantial theoretical and empirical contributions to knowledge in data science.

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

• Architecture, design and development of new tools and techniques for big data
• Big data analytics and associated issues and challenges
• Big data analytics for smart decision making in interdisciplinary domains
• Big data and business intelligence
• Big data and cloud-enabled analytics
• Big data and complex business applications
• Big data and next-generation innovations in business models
• Big data and rich and interactive visual and media analytics
• Big data and risk management
• Big data and smarter agriculture
• Big data and workflow management
• Big data economics
• Big data analytics for clinical care
• Medical (big) data management and mining
• Big data integration for healthcare
• Big data for enterprise, government and society
• Big data implications in enterprise models and practices
• Big data and industry standards
• Big data models and query languages
• Big data management for smart solutions
• Big data real-time analytics
• Big data and forensic science
• Big data security, privacy and trust policies
• Cloud-based big data analytics
• Big data and information quality
• Data lakes for analytics
• Evolution of big data and its knowledge implications
• Hadoop ecosystem in big data research
• Internet of Things (IOT) evolution for enterprise
• Smart data evolution for enterprise
• (Big) open data
• *-as-a-services cloud evolution and big data as-a-service

Important Dates

Submission of manuscripts: 30 November, 2016

Notification to authors: 15 February, 2017

Final versions due: 15 March, 2017

Special issue published: "Innovation and Industrial Logistics"

International Journal of Logistics Systems and Management 25(1) 2016

Extended versions of papers presented at ICIL 2014.

• Performance of hospitals operating departments: the effect of logistic parameters
• Stochastic timed Petri nets to dynamically design and simulate industrial production processes
• Neurofuzzy technology to evaluate the environmental performance of the cargo transportation mode 
• Green supply chain management performance: a study of Brazilian oil and gas companies
• Influence of stock shortage in integrated logistic systems: an under-estimated importance
• Triple-objective models for portfolio optimisation with symmetric and percentile risk measures
• The strategic relevance of logistics: new perspectives
• Greening transport activities in the food retail supply chain

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Agent-Oriented Software Engineering

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Agent-Oriented Software Engineering are now available here for free:

• Goal-oriented testing for MASs
• A unification-based approach to configure generic protocols into agent interaction models
• Agent-based conference management: a case study in SODA

Call for papers: "Approaching Security Challenges and their Remedies"

For a special issue of the International Journal of Internet Technology and Secured Transactions.

We, the end-users, always prefer not to spend more on resource utilisation, storage and administration. Also, we like to share resources with our fellow members. Ultimately this leads to networking. When networking plays a vital role in different forms, broadly wired and wireless, security is an inevitable issue.

Security attacks can arise from multiple sources. The attacker need not be a competitor or a foe, he or she can be an employee of the same institute - a dissatisfied employee or one who has been dismissed. Flash crowds and aggressive legitimate users also deplete resources and could also be attackers.

Network size has increased enormously. This special issue will therefore focus on the forthcoming, unidentified security issues in the various networking fields, and will also explore ways of mitigating threat vulnerability providing real-time solutions in cyberspace.

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

• Security and privacy of data in mobile devices
• Security and monitoring of sensors in IoT
• Cyber security engineering
• Security and privacy of data in cloud computing
• Cloud Intrusion detection and mitigation
• Electronic commerce security
• Mitigating security issues in 3G and 4G networks
• Communication privacy and anonymity
• Distributed denial of service
• Security in routing
• End-to-end security and privacy
• Security challenges in mobile health care
• Wearable computing and body area networks
• NFC and li-fi security challenges

Important Dates

Submission of manuscripts: 30 November, 2016

Notification to authors: 30 January, 2017

Final versions due: 25 March, 2017

Special issue published: "Coordinated Control of Multi-Agent Systems: Theory and Applications"

International Journal of Automation and Logistics 2(3) 2016

• Second-order node-to-node consensus of nonlinear multi-agent systems via pinning control
• A survey of continuous finite-time consensus algorithms in multi-agent systems
• Averaging approach for consensus of fast switching multi-agent networks with delayed communications
• Time synchronisation in wireless sensor networks under energy-efficient spanning tree protocol
• Analysis for hidden-geometry phenomenon of epidemic spreading in metapopulation networks
• Hierarchy robust control for unmanned quadrotor helicopter without linear velocity measurement

International Journal of Business Innovation and Research increases issues

The International Journal of Business Innovation and Research has announced that it will be increasing issues from eight to twelve from 2017 onwards.

New Editor for International Journal of Healthcare Policy

Prof. Daniel Burman from Walden University in the USA has been appointed to take over editorship of the International Journal of Healthcare Policy.

Special issue published: "Sustainable Nanoelectronics"

International Journal of Nanotechnology 13(7) 2016

Extended versions of papers presented at the 6th IEEE International Nanoelectronics Conference (IEEE INEC 2014).

• Characterisation of Ti-doped indium tin oxide nanoparticles synthesised by co-precipitation process
• Amorphous layers by electron beam evaporator deposition for hetero-junction with intrinsic thin layer solar cells applications
• Comprehensive investigation on array-type dummy active diffused region and gate geometries using narrow NMOSFETs with SiC S/D stressors
• Atomic scale nanoelectronics for quantum neuromorphic devices: comparing different materials
• Electrical properties and applications of carbon nanotube composites
• Synthesis and electrochemical properties of nanosized polyoxovanadate K7[NiV13O38] hybridised with carbon conductive additives
• Synchrotron X-ray absorption spectroscopy study of disordered cation distribution of nanosized zinc ferrite powders
• Gold and silver resonators and their optical properties

Newly announced journal: International Journal of Intelligent Machines and Robotics

The International Journal of Intelligent Machines and Robotics is an academic platform which puts the emphasis on disseminating state-of-art technology in the interdisciplinary fields of machine intelligence, advanced robots and real-life applications. This is important because of the ubiquitous nature of intelligent machines and their increasing impact on society. Aiming to fill the gap between academia and industry, IJIMR also welcomes the contributions on robotics and automation education.

Call for papers: "Advances in Intelligent Big Data Analytics"

For a special issue of the International Journal of Intelligent Engineering Informatics.

Big data analytics is a novel research approach used in modern times to understand and solve complex problems. It finds its applications in modelling complex business solutions. Big data is scattered, heterogeneous and is of the size of thousands of terabytes. Intelligent analysis and the management of such huge data is made possible using emerging techniques and tools provided by information and communication technology.

Big data analysis is a multi-dimensional, expanding research field exploring applications in every sphere of technological advancement, be it engineering, applied mathematics, medicine, computational biology, healthcare, social networks, finance, business, government, education, transportation and telecommunications.

The aim of this special issue is to provide an open platform for prospective researchers for discussion of new advancements in big data analytics, development and applications using efficient techniques. We encourage researchers to submit original works which will enrich prospective researchers and provide novel and improved techniques based on some of the areas mentioned below, although not limited to these areas, since "research does not follow any boundaries”.

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

• Big data analytics, development, applications
• Software/hardware tools and techniques for big data management
• Security issues for big data management
• Use of information technology for intelligent data analytics
• Artificial intelligence, decision support systems
• Automated reasoning
• Hybridisation of intelligent models/algorithms in distributed environment
• Data mining/warehousing process
• Exploratory/ knowledge based data analysis
• Bio-inspired computation
• Genetic algorithms
• Neural computing
• Swarm optimisation
• Fuzzy analytics
• Pattern matching and extraction
• Machine learning
• Advanced statistical techniques for intelligent data analysis
• Social engineering
• Human-machine interaction
• Cognitive and ambient intelligence

Important Dates

Submission of manuscripts: 28 February, 2017

Special issue published: "Localisation and Positioning for Healthcare Applications"

International Journal of Ad Hoc and Ubiquitous Computing 23(1/2) 2016

• Multi sensor system for pedestrian tracking and activity recognition in indoor environments
• Distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack detection using data mining approach in cloud-assisted wireless body area networks
• iPil: improving passive indoor localisation via link-based CSI features
• Consumer health information organising and mobile acquiring based on topic maps
• Patient localisation with smart phones using public cloud
• A range-free localisation algorithm based on connectivity in wireless sensor networks
• Robust localisation algorithm for large scale 3D wireless sensor networks
• Comparability of RF-based indoor localisation solutions in heterogeneous environments: an experimental study
• Energy optimised resource scheduling algorithm for private cloud computing
• A hidden Markov model combined with RFID-based sensors for accurate vehicle route prediction

International Journal of Business Excellence increases issues

The International Journal of Business Excellence has announced that it will be increasing issues from eight to twelve from 2017 onwards.

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Nanoparticles

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

• Preparation and characterisation of antibacterial silver-containing nanofibres for wound healing in diabetic mice
• Recent developments in enzymatic biofuel cell: towards implantable integrated micro-devices
• Electric field enhancement of gold tip optical antenna
• Silver nanoparticles: green route of synthesis and antimicrobial profile
• The effect of Zn/S-nanoparticles on the thermal stability of Schiff-base polyamide
• Application of nanoparticles for pesticides, herbicides, fertilisers and animals feed management

Special issue published: "Security and Trust Issues in Peer-To-Peer Networks"

International Journal of Computational Science and Engineering 13(2) 2016

• Detection and mitigation of the eclipse attack in chord overlays
• Traversing Bitcoin's P2P network: insights into the structure of a decentralised currency
• Neighbourhood failures in covert communication network topologies
• Distributed reputation management for service-oriented peer-to-peer enterprise communities
• A traffic identification based on PSO-RBF neural network in peer-to-peer network
• A fuzzy logic-based sustainable and trusted routing for P2P enabled smart grid
• The expert identification in the cyber knowledge community
• Implementation of a social widget system for enhancing the interaction among social networking websites
• Co-op advertising models in one manufacturer-two retailers supply chains with spillover effect