Special issue published: "Advancements in Mechatronics and Manufacturing Propelling Industry 4.0"

International Journal of Mechatronics and Manufacturing Systems 13(1) 2020

• Interoperability of the future factory: an overview of concepts and research challenges
• Robot-assisted painting system for bolt-nut pairs
• An investigation of acceptance and e-readiness for the application of virtual reality and augmented reality technologies to maintenance training in the manufacturing industry
• Preparing for Industry 4.0: digital business model innovation in the food and beverage industry
• An industrial case study on discrete event modelling of value stream mapping for Industry 4.0

Special issue published: "Towards an Enriched, Linked, Open and Filtered Metadata Model"

International Journal of Metadata, Semantics and Ontologies 14(2) 2020

• The future of interlinked, interoperable and scalable metadata
• Intermediary XML schemas: constraint, templating and interoperability in complex environments
• Unique challenges facing Linked Data implementation for National Educational Television
• Exploring the utility of metadata record graphs and network analysis for metadata quality evaluation and augmentation
• From the web of bibliographic data to the web of bibliographic meaning: structuring, interlinking and validating ontologies on the semantic web
• CMDIfication process for textbook resources
• Citation content/context data as a source for research cooperation analysis
• Extending the GLOBDEF framework with support for semantic enhancement of various data formats
• Service traceability in SOA-based software systems: a traceability network add-in for BPAOntoSOA framework

Special issue published: "Biomedicine in Industry and Society"

International Journal of Medical Engineering and Informatics 12(4) 2020

• Investigation of problems faced during capturing of gait signals
• Improving the classifier accuracy with an integrated approach using medical data – a study
• Wavelet packet transform-based medical image multiple watermarking with independent component analysis extraction
• Novel feature extraction of EEG signal for accurate event detection
• An amalgamated prediction model for breast cancer detection using fuzzy features
• Optimised feature selection and entropy-based graph classification of gene expression data
• EEG signal analysis and classification on P300 speller-based BCI performance in ALS patients
• Novel multiphase contouring and force calculation algorithm for ROI detection and calculation of energy value in multiple scale and orientation for early detection of stages of breast cancer

Research pick: Avoiding malware on the move - "Android application security: detecting Android malware and evaluating anti-malware software"

Mobile devices are a fairly ubiquitous feature of our lives. Some would say that their huge and yet compact computing power has made life easier for millions of people by providing information, entertainment, and services at  a tap or a swipe. Of course, every technology has its abusers and our always-connected smartphones, tablets, and laptops are no different.

Writing in the International Journal of Internet Technology and Secured Transactions, researchers from India discuss the security measures available for mobile devices that utilize Google’s Android operating system. They suggest that the more open nature of Android and its applications ecosystem can in some sense make it more vulnerable to malware than the rather more closed and cloistered operating system used by devices manufactured by Apple. Indeed, evidence suggests that 97 percent of malware targets Android rather than any other operating system on mobile devices.

The team has analysed hundreds of Android apps from the official store and unofficial download repositories. They used applied permission-based and behavioural footprinting methods to detect malware. Shockingly, they demonstrated that almost 13 percent of the apps on the official Play store had some kind of malware. This figure was more than double at 28 percent for third-party stores.

Much malware discussed in the context of conventional desktop computing is associated with criminal activity such as harvesting bank details and logins, duplicating and spreading the malware further afield, and creating zombie computers. Zombie PCs not only propagate the malware further but they are recruited into a bot-net and provide the controllers with the computing power to manipulate large numbers of PCs for carrying out denial of service attacks on large corporate or governmental networks with malicious or hacktivist intent.

The team found that almost all of the malware in Android apps was created to steal personal information from the infected device and send it to a remote server. Given that even legitimate applications do this endlessly, it is difficult to see where the line is being drawn. Nobody wants their personal and private information stolen whether by a small third-party app or a major corporate organization such as a search engine or social media company.

As such, the team has also assessed a number of the most prominent apps aimed at precluding infection with mobile viruses and malware. Unfortunately, even the best antimalware apps tested could detect a mere seven of twelve different classes of malware found on Android systems. The underlying reason is that new, zero-day malware, is emerging all the time.

“There remains a need for efficient anti-malware software that accurately detects and avoids malware families,” the team writes.

Rani, S. and Dhindsa, K.S. (2020) ‘Android application security: detecting Android malware and evaluating anti-malware software’, Int. J. Internet Technology and Secured Transactions, Vol. 10, No. 4, pp.491–506.

Footnote

It is worth noting that one of the biggest manufacturers of Android phones, Samsung, recommends that its users do not install third-party antimalware apps. They point out that apps on the Play store are screened before being allowed through and that the screening technology is improving all the time. –dB/

Special issue published: "Innovative Digital Business Models as Levers of Organisational Sustainability" (includes open access article)

International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management 24(4/5) 2020

• Applying the circular economy to a business model: an illustrative case study of a pioneering energy company
• Platform-based sustainable business models: reducing food waste in food services [Open Access article]
• Show it with feeling: performed emotions in critical sensemaking
• Dare to defy the challenges of online business
• University spin-off managers and the 'ideal' funding process
• Delighted niche driven entrepreneurial odyssey: a case study of Maharaja Masala Udyog
• Network characteristics and the adoption of organisational innovation in the food sector
• Examining conditions for successful entrepreneurship in China's firms
• Comparison of online customer ratings between the eco-labelled and non-eco-labelled hotels of Oslo
• Practices for building innovation capabilities of local employees at German manufacturing subsidiaries in China
• The influence of innovation stimulus, facilitating factors and support mechanisms on innovation performance in Brazilian small textile firms

Special issue published: "Business and Social Issues in Mobile Environment"

International Journal of Mobile Learning and Organisation 14(3) 2020

• Effect of information quality and system quality in information system success model as an antecedent of mobile learning in education institutions: case study in Jordan
• Consumer perception towards corporate social responsibility practices: a study of the Malaysian banking sector
• Mobile advergame: analysis of flow, attitudes and competitor trait as the moderating variable
• The inclination to public disclosure of financial forecasts by companies listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange in times of mobile life
• The impact of telework on creativity of professional employees in Sri Lanka: componential and social cognitive theoretical views

Additional papers

• A comprehensive framework for designing and evaluating vocabulary learning apps from multiple perspectives
• Implementation of flipped classroom with personalised ubiquitous learning support system to promote the university student performance of information literacy

Research pick: Pull up to the bumper - "Wooing the consumer in a six-second commercial! Measuring the efficacy of bumper advertisements on YouTube"

Is six-seconds long enough for an advertisement to woo a potential customer? The corporate executives who place short, “bumper ads” on the video-based social media service, Youtube, think so. Now, research published in the International Journal of Electronic Marketing and Retailing, shows what kind of content in bumper ads is most engaging for Youtube users. Ultimately, the insights could help guide advertisers hoping to improve brand awareness and consumer attitude towards a product, and ultimately increase sales.

Youtube introduced this ad format in 2016. Bumper ads are there to boost an advertiser’s reach and allow them to deliver a short, but hopefully memorable message to their potential customers. Critically, although bumper ads are of an incredibly limited duration set by Youtube, they are also unskippable, so viewers hoping to watch user-generated content on the site are commonly forced to wait until the bumper ad runs before they can do so. Whether they choose to stare at the screen and absorb the ad is a moot point. Most users are unlikely to turn away knowing that an ad is going to be so short and will thus be exposed to the message within, as is the intention of the advertiser.

Jay P. Trivedi, Siddharth Deshmukh, and Amit Kishore of MICA in Gujarat, India, based their findings on data collected from almost 300 Youtube users analysed in detail with various statistical techniques.

“Video advertising is seeing an upswing in ad spends, and advertisers need to understand the strengths and limitations of each video ad format. This work is arguably the first academic research done to understand the type of content which can work for bumper ads,” the team writes. They suggest that it is particularly pertinent to Generation-Y consumers in the emerging market of India. Gen-Y is usually defined as the “millennial generation”, people who were born between the early 1980s and early2000s.

Fundamentally, the team found that bumper ads do not lead directly to sales, but if they are able to convey the core message and involve the consumer, then they may drive sales later. “Advertisers can draw from [our results] and plan to convey the message by increased frequency of bumper ads or by placing them across multiple video genres to involve viewers more.”

Trivedi, J.P., Deshmukh, S. and Kishore, A. (2020) ‘Wooing the consumer in a six-second commercial! Measuring the efficacy of bumper advertisements on YouTube’, Int. J. Electronic Marketing and Retailing, Vol. 11, No. 3, pp.307–322.

Special issue published: "Computer-Aided Intelligent Systems"

International Journal of Computer Aided Engineering and Technology 13(1/2) 2020

• Optimised RBIDS: detection and avoidance of black hole attack through NTN communication in mobile ad hoc networks
• A new parallel DSP hardware compatible algorithm for noise reduction and contrast enhancement in video sequence using Zynq-7020
• HDFS-based parallel and scalable pattern mining using clouds for incremental data
• Double-pulse stand-off explosive vapour detection system for flexible perilous materials
• An efficient packet image transmission based on texture content for border side security using sensor networks
• Hybrid data model of PACE and quadruple: an efficient data model for cloud computing
• Enhancing performance of WSN by utilising secure QoS-based explicit routing
• A semi-automated system for smart harvesting of tea leaves
• Hybrid wind-solar system – an optimised approach for efficient power generation
• PV control systems using iterated local search MPPT with an improved switched capacitor DC-DC converter
• Artificial intelligent technology for safe driver assistance system
• Proposed variants of charged system search algorithm for location area optimisation in mobile wireless communication networks
• Hidden object detection for classification of threat
• Deep learning-based techniques to enhance the precision of phrase-based statistical machine translation system for Indian languages
• PID controller tuning using hybrid optimisation technique based on Box's evolutionary optimisation and teacher-learner-based-optimisation

Special issue published: "Advanced Security Mechanisms for Future Internet"

International Journal of Information and Computer Security 13(1) 2020

• A novel GAAC optimisation algorithm for multimodal fusion score decision making in secured biometric systems
• Study of LDPC decoders with quadratic residue sequence for communication system
• Static analysis method for detecting cross site scripting vulnerabilities
• An energy efficient authentication scheme based on hierarchical IBDS and EIBDS in grid-based wireless sensor networks
• Developing malevolent node-based protection system against jamming attack in agent assisted CRN
• An efficient interior and exterior boundary detection-based two level iris segmentation
• An improved co-designed AES-ECC cryptosystem for secure data transmission

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Intelligent Information and Database Systems

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Intelligent Information and Database Systems are now available here for free:

• Study on the optimisation ability of natural selection mechanism
• A novel particle swarms with mixed cooperative co-evolution for large scale global optimisation
• A new quantum evolutionary algorithm using dynamic rotation angle catastrophe for knapsack problem
• Outlier detection based on cluster outlier factor and mutual density
• Applying distance sorting selection in differential evolution
• Ant colony optimisation with local search for the bandwidth minimisation problem on graphs
• Hybrid fireworks algorithm with differential evolution operator
• Inventory routing optimisation using differential evolution with feasibility checking and local search
• Solve the IRP problem with an improved discrete differential evolution algorithm
• Object tracking using the particle filter optimised by the improved artificial fish swarm algorithm

Research pick: Securing the smart home - "SmartGuard: an IoT-based intrusion detection system for smart homes"

So…you’ve built your smart home, it’s got smart heating and lighting, all the latest smart communications and entertainment systems, and of course, smart power generation to make it smart and green. But, how do you keep it secure and stop forced digital or physical entry? Well, you need smart security too, of course.

Writing in the International Journal of Intelligent Information and Database Systems, a team from India discusses how the sensor-enabled internet of things (IoT) has improved many aspects of daily life and how the same tools and devices might be used to make us safer and more secure too.

Nishtha Kesswani of the Department of Computer Science at the Central University of Rajasthan, in BandarSindri, Ajmer and Basant Agarwal of the Department of Computer Science & Engineering, at the Indian Institute of Information Technology Kota (IIIT Kota), MNIT Campus, in Jaipur, describe their approach to digital security for the smart home.

“We present an intrusion detection system, SmartGuard that can be deployed in the smart home,” they write. “The system would be able to detect malicious behaviour within the [home] network as well as any malicious communications from outside.” Obviously, a hacker who can break into a smart home’s network would easily be able to override security features, such as lights and electronic locking systems.

“In order to reduce the overhead on the energy-constrained IoT devices, a cluster-based approach has been used,” the team explains. “The proposed approach will be a smart choice in today’s smart homes full of vulnerabilities,” the team concludes.

Kesswani, N. and Agarwal, B. (2020) ‘SmartGuard: an IoT-based intrusion detection system for smart homes’, Int. J. Intelligent Information and Database Systems, Vol. 13, No. 1, pp.61–71.

Special issue published: "Recent Developments in Environmental Sustainability"

International Journal of Environment and Sustainable Development 19(3) 2020

• Population ageing and energy consumption for sustainable development
• Staircase evacuation for public multi-storey housing in Malaysia
• Are environmentally responsible behaviours shaped by environmental facilitating conditions and antecedent of attitudes? The case of Perak in Malaysia
• Applying low carbon landscapes at the Premier Polytechnic of Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah, Shah Alam, Malaysia
• A comparative requirement of space design: green and open space analysis
• Factors influencing the adoption of sustainability into university facilities management practices: a case study of universities in South Australia
• Occupants' satisfaction towards interior design quality at inpatient units of public hospitals in Malaysia: a sustainable development framework

New Editor for International Journal of Reliability and Safety

Prof. Om Prakash Yadav from North Dakota University in the USA has been appointed to take over editorship of the International Journal of Reliability and Safety. The journal's founding editor, Prof. Zissimos Mourelatos of Oakland University, USA, will remain on the board as Executive Editor.

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Mechatronics and Automation

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

• Methodology for manipulation of Karnaugh maps designing for pneumatic sequential logic circuits
• Dynamic gait planning for walking assistance
• Adaptive controllers for a piezoelectric actuator without and with discontinuity
• A projection-based making-human-feel-safe human-robot cooperation system
• Radiation effect on the performance of robot manipulator
• Real-time path planning algorithm for autonomous vehicles in unknown environments

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Teaching and Case Studies

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Teaching and Case Studies are now available here for free:

• Addicted to quality - an application of strategic organisational instrument to win the Transformation Event Award
• Valuation perspectives of family-owned real-estate companies in Saudi Arabia
• Leadership skills, styles, characteristics and behaviours of Mohammed Lalle
• Evaluating the efficiency of two programming environments in shaping novices' attitudes, perceptions, beliefs and knowledge in programming: a comparison between Scratch and App Inventor
• Economic growth and reduced carbon emissions: the impact of carbon pricing policies
• How to develop cognitive skills through playing in pre-school contexts

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Technoentrepreneurship

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

• Strategic use of corporate and scientific boards in the internationalisation of biotech firms
• Technology entrepreneurship model development for teachers
• Technological learning and innovation systems in developing countries: the example of Dubai
• Knowledge integration within innovation process: a technopreneurial perspective
• Challenges of consumer-based innovations and start-ups in ICT business

Special issue published: "Theory and Applications of Correspondence Analysis and Classification"

International Journal of Data Analysis Techniques and Strategies 12(3) 2020

• Comparison of hierarchical clustering methods for binary data from molecular markers
• Assessment of the awareness of Cypriot accounting firms level concerning cyber risk: an exploratory analysis
• Sequential dimension reduction and clustering of mixed-type data
• A comparative evaluation of dissimilarity-based and model-based clustering in science education research: the case of children's mental models of the Earth
• Implementation of an efficient FPGA architecture for capsule endoscopy processor core using hyper analytic wavelet-based image compression technique

Research pick: Freedom versus terrorism - "The urgency of media coverage arrangements regarding terrorism"

We all know terrorism when we see it or so we would hope, although it take many disparate forms. One aspect of the response is the media coverage of such happenings. Writing in the International Journal of Human Rights and Constitutional Studies, a team from Indonesia discusses the urgency of media coverage of terrorism.

Wenly Lolong and Adensi Timomor of the Department of Law at the Universitas Negeri Manado, suggest that the very nature of terrorism feeds on media coverage. However, while people have a right to be informed of what is happening locally and on a global scale, the team suggests that in Indonesia there is a need for regulation to avoid promoting the terrorist cause through discussion in the media.

The researchers suggest that media coverage perpetuates terrorism by providing a platform for the perpetrators to share their tragic world view through violence. The greater the media coverage, the more likely a new recruit to the cause might be found whether they act as a so-called “lone wolf” or become part of a large terrorist “organization”. Either way, new criminality is generated by the activity of the mass media, the team suggests.

In their research, they explore the reasons that the media covers terrorist activity in the first place and how this coverage might be regulated without impeding the public’s guarantee of the right to information and press freedom.

“The right of information must not be above the right to live safely and peacefully in the country,” the team concludes.

Lolong, W.R.J. and Timomor, A. (2020) ‘The urgency of media coverage arrangements regarding terrorism’, Int. J. Human Rights and Constitutional Studies, Vol. 7, No. 2, pp.138–148.

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Sustainable Aviation

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

• The role of integration in achieving sustainable benefits from airline alliances
• Cultural and political attitudes towards paying to support airport sustainability projects
• Effect of different weightage of Enova® IC3100 silica aerogel on aluminium alloy composites in ISO2685 aviation standard fire-test
• A simplistic flight model for exergy embodiment of composite materials towards nearly-zero exergy aviation
• Robust planning the landing process of unmanned aerial vehicles

Research pick: Voting by blockchain – a stronger link - "Advocating for a blockchain voting system in the USA"

The term “blockchain” is familiar to anyone who has delved into so-called cryptocurrency. It represents an incorruptible digital ledger of transactions associated with a given digital coin in this technology. However, the notion of such a ledger might be useful in a whole range of human affairs, such as electoral and other voting systems. Work published in the International Journal of Technology Enhanced Learning, suggests that a blockchain might be viable in the US voting system.

Khaled Zayed and Rebekah Placide of the International School of Management in Paris, France, explain that blockchain technology could be used to build “a secure, efficient, and smart voting system”. Used in conjunction with biometric technology, such a system would be far less open to abuse or electoral fraud of any kind. The US has four voting methods commonly used at the moment: optical scan paper ballot systems, direct recording electronic systems, ballot marking systems, and punch-card ballot. Each of those voting methods has its own pros and cons and is open to significant abuse as has been seen in at least one recent election. In essence, the team writes, “The current US voting system is antiquated and in desperate need of a technological and legal overhaul.”

In addition, the current voting machines are in a state of crisis. “They run the risk of malfunctioning, lost votes, shutdowns, and incorrect tallies,” the team adds. “The inability to maintain and purchase parts for these aging machines is of an even greater burden for election administrators in many jurisdictions.”

The team further explains how blockchain technology could fix the voting system in a single step, eradicating many of the problems associated with archaic systems and bringing to bear the benefits of the digital realm on an ancient system.

“Blockchain technology was developed to create security, trust, transparency, and efficiency in communications and business transactions,” the team says. “Blockchain allows a recording and transfer of data that can be audited and transmitted safely and more importantly it is resistant to outages. A list of records called blocks linked together using cryptography for secure communication. With blockchain technology, digital information can be distributed but not copied over.”

Such positive characteristics, when applied to a voting system, could be used for voter registration, identity verification, and electronic vote counting. This would ensure that only legitimate votes are counted and the creation of such a ledger of public votes would represent a step towards a fairer, entirely transparent, and fundamentally more democratic election system.

Zayed, K. and Placide, R. (2020) ‘Advocating for a blockchain voting system in the USA’, Int. J. Technology Enhanced Learning, Vol. 12, No. 3, pp.306–315.

Free open access article available: "Ambidexterity in the supply chain: studying the apparel industry"

The following paper, "Ambidexterity in the supply chain: studying the apparel industry" (International Journal of Agile Systems and Management 13(2) 2020), is freely available for download as an open access article.

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

Special issue published: "Computational Approaches in Biology and Medicine"

International Journal of Computational Biology and Drug Design 13(3) 2020

• Comparative in-silico parmacokinetics and molecular docking study on gedunin isolated from Azadirachta indica, its modified derivatives and selected antifolate drugs as potential dihydrofolate reductase inhibitors of Plasmodium falciparum
• Exploring the antineoplastic effect of phytochemicals from Ipomea sepiaria against matrix metallopeptidases: a pharmacoinformatics approach
• Inter k-shell connectivity: a novel computational approach to identify drug targets
• In-silico analysis of peptidoglycan hydrolases from Serratia marcescens and other Serratia species
• PPI network analysis of diabetic retinopathy genes
• A review on iris recognition system for person identification
• In silico approach for the prediction of functional nsSNPs in WIF1 gene of WNT pathway

Special issue published: "Entrepreneurial Ecosystems: Issues, Trends and Challenges"

International Journal of Business and Globalisation 25(2) 2020

• Linking sustainable development to startup ecosystem in India - a conceptual framework
• Impact of digitisation on entrepreneurial ecosystems: an Indian perspective
• Awareness, entrepreneurial event theory and theory of planned behaviour as antecedents of student entrepreneurial intentions: an Indian perspective
• Psychological empowerment and entrepreneurship: insights from Indian corporate
• A conceptual framework for entrepreneurial orientation: is philanthropy missing in family business?
• Celebrity entrepreneurship and advertising effectiveness: an empirical test
• Identification of factors for the success of the Sri Lankan independent inventors

Special issue published: "Theoretical Advances and Applications of Computational Intelligence"

International Journal of Computer Applications in Technology 63(1/2) 2020

• Intelligent system for feature selection based on rough set and chaotic binary grey wolf optimisation
• Time-sensitive clustering evolving textual data streams
• An efficient binary whale optimisation algorithm with optimum path forest for feature selection
• An implementation method for Arabic keyword tendency using decision tree
• A multi-functional BCI system for exigency assistance and environment control based on ML and IoT
• Arabian horse identification based on whale optimised multi-class support vector machine
• Intelligent approach for large-scale data mining
• Multi-dimensional data visualisation method based on convex-corrected Radviz
• Smart grid resources allocation using smart genetic heuristic
• A hybrid collaborative filtering recommendation algorithm for requirements elicitation
• A new four-dimensional two-scroll hyperchaos dynamical system with no rest point, bifurcation analysis, multi-stability, circuit simulation and FPGA design
• Inland river image dehazing algorithm based on water surface depth prior

Research pick: Phytochemicals to fight cancer - "Exploring the antineoplastic effect of phytochemicals from Ipomea sepiaria against matrix metallopeptidases: a pharmacoinformatics approach"

Phytochemicals from the plant Ipomea sepiaria may be useful in the fight against cancer according to a pharmacoinformatics study published in the International Journal of Computational Biology and Drug Design. The research undertook “in silico”, computer-based, studies of the various chemicals found in this species against a range of enzymes known as metallopeptidases. Inhibiting the activity of these enzymes found in cancer cells could impede the replication of those cancer cells and potentially halt tumour growth in its tracks.

Thousands of plants contain natural products, chemicals that have physiological activity. Indeed, around 40 percent of modern pharmaceuticals had their roots in botanical natural products. The convolvulus plant species, I. sepiaria, is well known as a component of Ayurvedic medicine in the form of Lakshmana used as a laxative. It is purported to act as an antidote to arsenic poisoning and also be an aphrodisiac, although solid randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trials are not yet forthcoming for many of the claims around this plant’s medicinal properties.

S.S. Ariya and Baby Joseph of the Hindustan Institute of Technology and Science, in Chennai, India, and Jemmy Christy of the Sathyabama Institute of Technology and Science, also in Chennai, point out that cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide. As such, the development of anticancer and antineoplastic drugs is high on the pharmaceutical industry’s agenda. The team has now screened 247 phytochemicals identified in I. sepiaria against their enzyme computer model.

The screen showed that eight chemicals, tetradecanoic acid, nerolidol, ipomeanine, dibutyl phthalate, cis-caffeic acid, caffeic acid, moupinamide, and N-cis-feruloyltyramine were active against the target enzymes and so might be further explored as potential anticancer drugs. Moreover, these compounds performed better in the tests than four different drugs currently available in the cancer therapy arsenal. Of course, the next step is to take the “in silico” results to the laboratory testing, in vitro, stage and then to animal testing and finally human trials. The compounds are promising, but as ever with drug development, the path from discovery to market is long and tortuous.

It should be noted that while there may be physiological activity in the folklore remedy of Lakshmana, its use is no substitute for a medical consultation with an oncologist when cancer arises and the adherence to proven therapies for the best prognosis for the patient.

Ariya, S.S., Joseph, B. and Christy, J. (2020) ‘Exploring the antineoplastic effect of phytochemicals from Ipomea sepiaria against matrix metallopeptidases: a pharmacoinformatics approach’, Int. J. Computational Biology and Drug Design, Vol. 13, No. 3, pp.255–271.

Research pick: Whales identify Arabian horses - "Arabian horse identification based on whale optimised multi-class support vector machine"

A computer program, an optimisation algorithm, that mimics in software the social interactions of the humpback whale has been used by researchers in Egypt to build a system for the identification of Arabian horses.

Identification of Arabian racehorses is critical to owner provenance, vaccination handling, disease control, animal traceability, food management, and animal safety. Traditionally, the horses are hot or freeze branded. Today, the branding might be by electronic tag or implant, or even biometric. Classical approaches are invasive and vulnerable to fraud.

Writing in the International Journal of Computer Applications in Technology, Ayat Taha and Ahmed ElKholy of Al-Azhar University in Cairo and colleagues Ashraf Darwish of Helwan University, and Aboul Ella Hassanien Cairo University, explain how the whale optimization algorithm helps avoid fraud. The WOA is inspired by the hunting behaviour of humpback whales. These marine mammals use a special strategy for hunting fish called bubble-net hunting. The whales produce bubbles in a spiral or a ring around a target school of fish and then swim to shrink this ephemeral boundary, pushing the fish into a smaller volume of water. They then pinpoint fish to capture within this boundary, which not only confuses the fish and confines them but gives the whales an almost fixed area to focus on. The WOA mathematically models this in two phases: creating a bubble boundary and then allowing “prey” features to be identified.

The team has now built their algorithm on an optimised Multi-Class Support Vector Machine. The system analyses muzzle imprints from the horses, it having been trained on known horses. It is possible to identify a horse quickly using this system to an accuracy of more than 97%, which surpasses previous machine learning systems that do not rely on biomimetic models such as the whale optimization algorithm.

Taha, A., Darwish, A., Hassanien, A.E. and ElKholy, A. (2020) ‘Arabian horse identification based on whale optimised multi-class support vector machine’, Int. J. Computer Applications in Technology, Vol. 63, Nos. 1/2, pp.83–92.

Research pick: Supercritical answer to waste oil - "Measurement and modelling of the solubility of dodecylcyclohexane in supercritical carbon dioxide"

Lubricating oils deteriorate and oxidize with use as well as accumulating particles from the engines and other machinery in which they are used. Ultimately, their effectiveness worsens and they begin to damage the components they were designed to protect they have to be replaced. Disposing of waste engine oil thus becomes a significant environmental concern. Waste lubricant cannot be simply disposed of as it is highly toxic to ecosystems and harmful to the environment and human health.

Writing in the International Journal of Global Warming, a team from China has turned to a nineteenth century discovery – supercritical fluids – to help them clean up waste oil and remove contaminants efficiently and effectively.

Supercritical fluids are essentially substances held at a temperature above their boiling point but under sufficiently high pressure that they do not enter the gas phase. Under these conditions water, carbon dioxide, and other substances are in a hybrid state between liquid and gas and have many properties that are very different from the substance in its commonly observed state at ambient temperature and pressure.

For instance, supercritical fluids (SCFs) can dissolve many diverse substances that are not normally considered soluble in the “normal” gas or liquid. They also have the advantage of very rapidly reverting to their normal state once the pressure and temperature are reduced. This phenomenon allows a substance such as supercritical carbon dioxide to be used to dissolve a range of compounds so that a dissolved compound might then be separated from a complex mixture. Once the pressure is released the carbon dioxide boils off leaving behind the separated substance.

Xin Yang, Shuo Xiang, Peng Su, Yan He, and Ping Liu of the Department of Oil, at the Army Logistics University of PLA and Ligong Chen of the Engineering Research Centre for Waste Oil Recovery Technology and Equipment, at Chongqing Technology and Business University, both in Chongqing, China, have now modeled the behaviour of dodecylcyclohexane in supercritical carbon dioxide. This compound is one of the major components of lubricating oils. It is soluble in supercritical carbon dioxide at a specific temperature and pressure.

The team found the optimal temperature and pressure to be 313.2 Kelvin and 14.68 Megapascals, respectively. None of the contaminants of degraded components have as high a solubility under these conditions and so the technology might then be used to separate the dodecylcyclohexane from the waste materials, the team suggests.

Yang, X., Xiang, S., Su, P., He, Y., Liu, P. and Chen, L. (2020) ‘Measurement and modelling of the solubility of dodecylcyclohexane in supercritical carbon dioxide’, Int. J. Global Warming, Vol. 21, No. 1, pp.35–49.

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Sustainable Economy

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

• Estimating the optimal size of secondary healthcare providers in Slovenia
• Determinants of export competitiveness of fresh fruits in India
• Cross-border pollution in an asymmetric trade competition
• Do financial stability and institutional quality have impact on financial inclusion in developing economies? A new evidence from Nigeria
• How important is fiscal stimulus for economic growth? Empirical evidence from G7 countries

Special issue published: "Sustainable Supply Chains and Circular Economy"

International Journal of Integrated Supply Management 13(2/3) 2020

• The impact of Industry 4.0 on sustainability and the circular economy reporting requirements
• Impacts of Industry 4.0 in sustainable food manufacturing and supply chain
• Circular economy business model design
• Drivers and barriers of consumer purchase intention of remanufactured mobile phones: a study on Indonesian consumers
• Consumers' perceptions of circular economy in the hotel industry: evidence from Portugal
• Sustainability as a driver of operational excellence - the relevance of variability in process operations
• Effect of corporate sustainable development on green purchasing: insights from ISO 14001 certified manufacturing companies in Malaysia
• Factors influencing information and communication technology diffusion in Nigeria's transport logistics industry: an exploratory study
• Assessing significant factors for sustainable cold chain performance in Sri Lankan context
• Supply network configuration archetypes for the circular exploitation of solid waste

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Business and Globalisation

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

• Fostering indigenous entrepreneurship amongst San people: an exploratory case of Tsumkwe
• Business internet use in small, family owned and managed hotels in Scotland
• Entrepreneurial motivation: the impact of cultural capital on the 'who' is motivated
• Exporting identity: Italians in London during the long 19th century
• Social bonds: migration and comparative analysis of remitting behaviour between Pakistani and Indian diaspora
• TQM techniques as an innovative approach in sport organisations management: toward a conceptual framework
• The impact of age and reading on the desire for training of managers in entrepreneurial ventures
• How do self-employed Sami people perceive the impact of the EU and globalisation?

Research pick: Plaintext ciphertext - "Plaintext checkable encryption with check delegation revisited"

Writing in the International Journal of Ad Hoc and Ubiquitous Computing, Yu-Chi Chen of the Department Computer Science and Engineering, at Yuan Ze University, in Tauyuan, Taiwan , has revisited the concept of plaintext checkable encryption with check delegation that could be utilized in the context of security and privacy in the realm of big data and cloud computing.

Achieving a specific computing over ciphertext, plaintext checkable encryption (PCE) is a relatively new concept explains Chen. It supports the specific functionality between ciphertext and plaintext. “Given a target plaintext, a ciphertext and a public key, anyone can perform a check algorithm (called Check) to test whether the ciphertext encrypts the target plaintext with the public key,” he explains.

It allows the user to send search instructions to a database, for instance, that are encrypted so that a third party, such as the service provider themselves, cannot see the search terms, but the server has to know that the search is encrypted in a valid way so that it can send back encrypted results; this is where the check function plays its role.

The new work builds on these concepts and offers a new way to approach them with secure public keys and generic constructions.

Chen, Y-C. (2020) ‘Plaintext checkable encryption with check delegation revisited’, Int. J. Ad Hoc and Ubiquitous Computing, Vol. 34, No. 2, pp.102–110.

Special issue published: "Financial Development and Business Innovation in Emerging Markets"

International Journal of Business and Globalisation 25(1) 2020

• Shariah rural bank in empowering the small and micro enterprises: strategies and differentiations
• Modelling the competitiveness of regional bank: empirical evidence from Sumatera, Indonesia
• Related party transactions on tunnelling and propping perspective
• Reputation of external directors, auditors and earnings management
• The perspective of Indonesian students abroad, professionals, and Indonesian government of international mobility of Indonesians
• Comparative analysis of mergers and acquisitions in Indian and international pharmaceutical industry with unique case-lets

Special issue published: "Architectures, Algorithms, Securities and Programming for Big Data Processing and Deep Learning"

International Journal of Ad Hoc and Ubiquitous Computing 34(2) 2020

• Maintaining data integrity in cloud systems through version management
• An optimal scheduling algorithm for DASH video streaming over variable bit rate networks
• Personalised gesture recognition based on tri-axis accelerometer using Gabor filters
• Plaintext checkable encryption with check delegation revisited
• Predicting the price movement from candlestick charts: a CNN-based approach
• Health-Ledger model development based on IoT and blockchain

Research pick: Malaysian mobile markets - "The forefront of mobile shopping: an emerging economy’s perspective"

Writing in the International Journal of Services, Economics and Management, a team from Malaysia provides details of the main factors affecting mobile shopping there. The researchers, Chi-Yang Hng and Pik-Yin Foo of Jalan Universiti in Perak, and Ai-Fen Lim and Radha Krishnan Nair of the UCSI University Kuala Lumpur Campus, Malaysia, analysed 300 questionnaires offered to people in shopping malls in the city of Ipoh. Fundamentally, ease of use and mobile-friendliness, rather than “playfulness” of the mobile shopping experience are what might drive shoppers to use these services.

Around the world, the advent of the internet, the emergence of the world wide web, and the opening up of the digital realm to commercial applications operators continues to see more and more people spend more and more of their time online. The shopping experience, regardless of the Covid-19 pandemic in which we are in the midst at the time of writing of this Inderscience Research Pick, has increasingly moved from commerce to e-commerce. Indeed, smartphones are an essential item for those in the developed and developing world today rather than a luxury. Mobile shopping has become reliable and secure.

The team concedes that this preliminary research has limitations in that those surveyed were generally in the younger age group, adults under 30, and mostly Chinese. Nevertheless, if the results might apply to other demographic groups, which may well be demonstrated in follow-up work, it is likely the most mobile shoppers would prefer uncomplicated applications through which to do their online browsing and shopping. There is also a need to ensure that users are kept informed of transactions and account updates and such like.

Hng, C-Y., Foo, P-Y., Lim, A-F. and Nair, R.K. (2020) ‘The forefront of mobile shopping: an emerging economy’s perspective’, Int. J. Services, Economics and Management, Vol. 11, No. 1, pp.21–47.

Research pick: Painting a picture of Van Gogh as entrepreneur - "Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890), innovator and entrepreneur: an experiential report of Van Gogh guides in Nuenen"

We think of Vincent van Gogh as an artist, famed for his starry nights, his floral tributes, and his raffia-work seating. But, he was also an innovator and an entrepreneur, suggests a paper published in the International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business and modern business people might learn a thing or two from his style.

Jos Pieterse of Fontys University of Applied Sciences, in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, and colleagues have analysed letters from the 19th century and expert observations of Van Gogh’s activities and work experts as well as guides to the Vincentre Van Gogh museum. They also asked 25 students specialising in innovation and entrepreneurship to give their opinions of Van Gogh’s entrepreneurial skills.

We know that Van Gogh was a hard worker based on his prodigious artistic output. The new findings show the innovative and entrepreneurial potential of Van Gogh to reflect his imagination, creativity, and analytical skills. However, based on his apparent lack of financial acumen we can say only with hindsight that he was artistically far ahead but not recognized by his audience.

“The whole field of artistic innovation and entrepreneurship deserves to be better researched for a mutual learning effect for organisational science to learn from this field and vice versa,” the team writes. “The work of Vincent van Gogh both in his drawings, paintings and letters are just one [tragic] example.”

Ulijn, J., Veldhoen, A., Bekkers-Vermeulen, J., Hendrikse, S., Pieterse, J. and Saych, N. (2020) ‘Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890), innovator and entrepreneur: an experiential report of Van Gogh guides in Nuenen’, Int. J. Entrepreneurship and Small Business, Vol. 40, No. 3, pp.337–372.

Special issue published: "Architectures, Algorithms, Securities and Programming for Big Data Processing and Deep Learning"

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Ad Hoc and Ubiquitous Computing are now available here for free:

• Maintaining data integrity in cloud systems through version management
• An optimal scheduling algorithm for DASH video streaming over variable bit rate networks
• Personalised gesture recognition based on tri-axis accelerometer using Gabor filters
• Plaintext checkable encryption with check delegation revisited
• Predicting the price movement from candlestick charts: a CNN-based approach
• Health-Ledger model development based on IoT and blockchain

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

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

• Green innovation under uncertainty - a dynamic perspective
• Social loafing with group development
• Understanding the antecedents of service decisions: an integration of service promiscuity and customer citizenship behaviour
• Service quality gap - a tale of two companies
• Bill prioritisation and bill payment orientation in the developing country context

International Journal of Simulation and Process Modelling to invite expanded papers from Second International Symposium on Simulation and Process Modelling (ISSPM 2020) for potential publication

Extended versions of papers presented at the Second International Symposium on Simulation and Process Modelling (ISSPM 2020) (29-30 August 2020, Shenyang, China) will be invited for review and potential publication by the International Journal of Simulation and Process Modelling.

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Metadata, Semantics and Ontologies

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Metadata, Semantics and Ontologies are now available here for free:

• Using type and temporal semantic enrichment to boost content discoverability and multilingualism in the Greek cultural aggregator SearchCulture.gr
• A semantic web enabled host intrusion detection system
• Ontology of folktales in the Greater Mekong Subregion
• The properties of property alignment on the semantic web
• A supervised aspect level sentiment model to predict overall sentiment on tweeter documents
• A combined path index for efficient processing of XML queries
• Data provenance in multi-agent systems: relevance, benefits and research opportunities
• A method for examining metadata quality in open research datasets using the OAI-PMH and SQL queries: the case of the Dublin Core 'Subject' element and suggestions for user-centred metadata annotation design

Research pick: Plastic membrane to treat age-related macular degeneration - "Modelling and simulation analysis of porous polymeric scaffold for the replacement of Bruch’s membrane as a therapy for age-related macular degeneration"

A porous polymeric scaffold might be the answer to a sight problem that afflicts millions of older people every year, age-related macular degeneration. Researchers writing in the International Journal of Biomedical Engineering and Technology, discuss in detail their modelling and simulation analysis of these materials, which might be used as a prosthetic for the eye’s Bruch’s membrane.

Age-related macular degeneration is a medical condition that occurs when the macula of the retina is damaged through oxidative processes usually associated with age but also in tobacco smokers. The macula is an oval-shaped, pigmented area at the centre of the retina so deterioration of this region leads to blurred or no vision in the centre of the visual field. Initially, there are no symptoms but vision in the afflicted person will suffer and loss of central vision occurs making it hard to recognize faces, drive, read, or perform other activities of daily life. At present, there is no treatment for macular degeneration and while not smoking is a good preventative measure, avoidance of the other main risk factors – ageing and genetics – cannot be avoided.

Bruch’s membrane is the innermost layer of the choroid, the layer between the retina and the outer layer of the eye, the sclera. It is sometimes referred to as the vitreous lamina because it is a glass-like layer, some two to four micrometres thick. Changes in this membrane are often the underlying cause of the blindness seen in AMD as errant blood vessel growth occurs in this membrane in the condition. More specifically, AMD is characterized by extracellular deposits that accumulate between the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) and the inner collagenous layer of Bruch’s membrane, causing the death of RPE cells and subsequent loss of photoreceptor cells.

As such, materials to engineer the structure of the membrane and preclude abnormal blood vessel growth might offer a way to slow or even halt progression of the disease once diagnosed.

Susan Immanuel, Aswin Bob Ignatius, and Alagappan Muthuppalaniappan of the PSG College of Technology, in Coimbatore, Tamilnadu, India, have designed a prosthetic Bruch’s membrane, which is based on porous polycaprolactone (PCL). The artificial membrane was designed using the COMSOL Multiphysics tool. Its properties, including structural integrity and fluid flow, were analysed using Brinkman’s equation.

“The results show that the scaffold with higher porosity has a lower pressure gradient which is necessary for retinal pigment epithelial adherence and is mechanically stable,” the team writes. “This proves that a PCL scaffold with higher porosity is a potential replacement for Bruch’s membrane.”

Immanuel, S., Ignatius, A.B. and Muthuppalaniappan, A. (2020) ‘Modelling and simulation analysis of porous polymeric scaffold for the replacement of Bruch’s membrane as a therapy for age-related macular degeneration’, Int. J. Biomedical Engineering and Technology, Vol. 33, No. 3, pp.290–304.

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Integrated Supply Management

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

• Incentive for information sharing through revenue-sharing contracts in a logistics service provider and customer relationship
• Transformational leadership and environmental commitment in supply chain relationships: the mediating effect of perceived fairness
• The impact of procurement on supplier satisfaction: service, communication, and speed
• Impact of market orientation, learning orientation, and supply chain integration on product innovation
• Recent approaches to supplier selection: a review of literature within 2006-2016
• Business service supply and collaboration: the impact of purchasing integration

Research pick: Commerce in a time of Covid - "Coronavirus (COVID-19/SARS-CoV-2) and supply chain resilience: a research note"

The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic caused by the recently emerged virus SARS-CoV-2 is affecting everyone’s lives in many significant and disparate ways. New research published in the International Journal of Integrated Supply Management has looked at how companies are attempting to sustain their supply chains in the face of this disease.

Dmitry Ivanov of the Berlin School of Economics and Law, Germany and Ajay Das of CUNY-Baruch, New York, USA, point out how the impact of the pandemic is unlike any prior natural disaster. They explain that low-frequency-high-impact events can pose a considerable risk to supply chains and the normal functioning of society. The effects of such events ripple through economies and society. The team has now modelled this ripple effect on global supply chains in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. Fundamentally, epidemics and pandemics are a special instance of low-frequency-high-impact events, the team suggests. After all, they add, in contrast to geographically centred, singular occurrence – such as a natural or industrial disaster – a pandemic is not limited to a particular region nor confined to a particular time period.

In their analysis, they consider the velocity with which the pandemic propagated, the duration of production, distribution, and market disruption, and the decline in consumer demand. They have also analysed how risk to supply chains might be mitigated in the face of this pandemic and have mapped out potential recovery paths. The creation of flexible and dynamic virtual local supply and demand structures are perhaps key to resilience. However, the team also points out that they believe this is not the end of global supply chains.

“Every crisis ends, and once the situation normalises, global supply chains would continue to offer a degree of efficiency and effectiveness that cannot be matched by domestic or regionally limited supply chains,” they write.

Ivanov, D. and Das, A. (2020) ‘Coronavirus (COVID-19/SARS-CoV-2) and supply chain resilience: a research note’, Int. J. Integrated Supply Management, Vol. 13, No. 1, pp.90-102.

Special issue published: "Anatomy of Cultural and Creative Entrepreneurship: Past, Present and Future"

International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business 40(2) 2020

• Artpreneurs' lessons to traditional business
• Cultural and creative entrepreneurship: towards a paradigmatic proposal?
• Mapping and thematic analysis of cultural entrepreneurship research
• Balancing the creative business model
• Leveraging historical shifts in the world economy: systems of patronage and supportive ecosystems for creative and cultural enterprise
• The role of education in the entrepreneurial ecosystem: the case of 'Made in Italy Tuscany Academy' in the Florence fashion city

Research pick: The ABC of art and business - "Artpreneurs’ lessons to traditional business"

A new paradigm in business and entrepreneurial activity is emerging according to a new study. The new paradigm within cultural entrepreneurship differs considerably from the accepted model showing that there is an increased appreciation of “the arts” in business and commerce. The emergence of the so-called “artpreneur” could provide conventional business ventures with new insights.

Marilena Vecco of the Department of Accounting, Finance and Law in the Burgundy School of Business in Dijon, France, provides details of the work in the International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business. Vecco hopes to answer the question as to whether we can talk about cross-fertilisation between art and entrepreneurship.

Historically, one might say that the business world has perceived artists as merely “dreamers”, only “useful” and “productive” when generating profitable artistic and aesthetic output. However, the work of painters, musicians, and many others, indeed all artists, has much greater currency in the business world and business education, especially given the advent of the digital era. There is also an increasing recognition among the educated that to recognise one’s own artistic and creative spirit as well as those characteristics in others is increasingly important in terms of a rounded, well-balanced, and diverse approach to business, society, culture, and life in general.

The current paper identifies several lessons focusing on the process, skills and behaviour of artpreneurs that might be adopted by traditional entrepreneurs with a particular emphasis on sustainability. It is obvious from this work that the aesthetic dimension represents a competitive advantage for the artpreneur over the conventional business-trained entrepreneur.

Vecco, M. (2020) ‘Artpreneurs’ lessons to traditional business‘, Int. J. Entrepreneurship and Small Business, Vol. 40, No. 2, pp.154-170.

Research pick: Understanding water-repellent enzymes - "Correlation among hydrophobic aromatic and aliphatic residues in the six enzyme classes"

The ability of some molecules, such as fatty or oily molecules, to repel water is known as hydrophobicity. The opposite, water attracting, is hydrophilicity. The hydrophobic force that keeps water molecules at bay is one of the most fundamental of chemical interactions, but it is not only about why oil and water do not mix, it lies at the heart of how the proteins, the molecular machinery of our cells fold into their active form and indeed how they work to keep us and every other living thing alive.

Research published in the International Journal of Computational Biology and Drug Design, has investigated the properties of two types of hydrophobic groups in six specific kinds of proteins, the biological catalysts known as enzymes. Anindita Roy Chowdhury (Chakravarty) of the GD Goenka University, in Haryana and her colleagues H.G. Nagendra of the Sir M Visvesvaraya Institute of Technology, in Bengaluru, and Alpana Seal of the University of Kalyani, in West Bengal, India, explain how the hydrophobic properties of aliphatic and aromatic groups on the amino acids that build up a protein chain then allow the chain to twist and turn and fold in on itself to form its active structure. Aliphatic groups, or residues, are essentially chains of carbon and hydrogen atoms while aromatic groups are commonly rings of carbon and hydrogen atoms joined to the amino acid structure.

The researchers had previously identified those aromatic and aliphatic residues that contribute the most and the least to hydrophobic character in six enzyme classes. In the current work, they have examined the relative contributions towards hydrophobicity of the different hydrophobic amino acids in both aromatic and aliphatic categories.

They have found that there is an inverse relationship between residues of similar hydrophobic strength both in aromatic and aliphatic categories. So, for instance, the presence of an amino acid such as tryptophan which contains an aromatic group has the inverse effect to one like phenylalanine . A similar relationship is found in pairs of amino acids with aliphatic side chains, such as isoleucine and leucine. Leucine, isoleucine, and phenylalanine are essential for creating a hydrophobic, non-polar, environment at the core of an enzyme that has to bind non-polar molecules.

“This analysis is likely to provide insight for finer analysis of the enzyme molecule,” the team writes.

Roy Chowdhury, A., Nagendra, H.G. and Seal, A. (2020) ‘Correlation among hydrophobic aromatic and aliphatic residues in the six enzyme classes’, Int. J. Computational Biology and Drug Design, Vol. 13, No. 2, pp.209–223.

Special issue published: "21st Century Manufacturing"

International Journal of Rapid Manufacturing 9(2/3) 2020

• Mass production strategy for additive manufacturing by stacking the product at design phase
• Teaching leadership in additive manufacturing: doing the right thing, before doing it right
• Phantom holes: optimised internal structural design for use with additive manufacturing, typical fused filament fabrication systems
• A smart decision making tool for cleaning process planning in remanufacturing
• A comparison framework to support the selection of the best additive manufacturing process for specific aerospace applications
• Experimental and numerical investigation on the effect of layer thickness during laser powder-bed fusion of stainless steel 17-4PH
• A statistical approach for process optimisation of digital light processing 3D printing process
• Investigation of the tensile properties in fibre-reinforced additive manufacturing and fused filament fabrication
• Power consumption investigation for fused filament fabricated specimen

Research pick: The push and pull of R&D - "The two faces of R&D investments: push and pull factors"

For many companies, their long-term success depends on research and development (R&D) as it plays a crucial role in contributing to a firm’s ability to innovate and fight obsolescence. Moreover, companies in emerging countries are investing heavily in R&D in the hope that their investment will help them reach the level of their competitors in the “West”. A 2016 report from a major accountancy firm revealed that Chinese firms had the most significant R&D expenditure, with some 130 Chinese companies listed in the report having invested a total of $48.6 billion in 2016.

Now, research published in the International Journal of Technology Management looks at the push and pull of investment in R&D to see which predominates. Xin Pan of the Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, in Chengdu working with Xuanjin Chen and Xibao Li of Tsinghua University, in Beijing, China, suggests that there are factors that pull on R&D reducing investment and factors that push, increase costs. They conclude that push effect causes almost 9 out of every ten companies in China to overinvest in R&D and leads to an average overinvestment of 41.33% above the optimal level.

“This R&D investment inefficiency is heterogeneous in terms of state ownership structures,” the team reports. “A higher percentage of state-owned firms suffer from severe overinvestment,” they add. The team offers managers and corporate policymakers advice and guidance on how they might ultimately reduce R&D investment inefficiency.

Pan, X., Chen, X. and Li, X. (2020) ‘The two faces of R&D investments: push and pull factors’, Int. J. Technology Management, Vol. 82, No. 1, pp.26–46.

Free open access article available: "The dynamics of entry mode choice in challenging business environments: an exploratory study of medium sized exporters' entry into Africa"

The following paper, "The dynamics of entry mode choice in challenging business environments: an exploratory study of medium sized exporters' entry into Africa" (International Journal of Export Marketing 3(3) 2020), is freely available for download as an open access article.

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

International Journal of Computational Science and Engineering to invite expanded papers from Sixth International Symposium on Signal Processing and Intelligent Recognition Systems (SIRS'20) for potential publication

Extended versions of papers presented at the Sixth International Symposium on Signal Processing and Intelligent Recognition Systems (SIRS'20) (14-17 October 2020, Vellore Institute of Technology, Chennai, India) will be invited for review and potential publication by the International Journal of Computational Science and Engineering.

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

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

• Finding and validating medical information shared on Twitter: experiences using a crowdsourcing approach
• A simple decision-making approach for information technology solution selection
• Holistic evaluation of knowledge management practices in large Indian software organisations
• Creating entrepreneurial education programs and ecosystems in universities

International Journal of Embedded Systems to invite expanded papers from Symposium on Machine Learning and Metaheuristics Algorithms, and Applications (SoMMA'20) for potential publication

Extended versions of papers presented at the Symposium on Machine Learning and Metaheuristics Algorithms, and Applications (SoMMA'20) (14-17 October 2020, Chennai, India) will be invited for review and potential publication by the International Journal of Embedded Systems.

Research pick: Advertising sensitive products - "Internet advertising of offensive products: the effects of cartoons on adult consumer attitudes"

Internet advertising is big business. Indeed, there are several world-famous brands that have billions of users that have a simple function, such as web search or social networking on which multi-billion dollar advertising revenues hinge. Now, there are legitimate and worthy products that some people might consider “offensive” or to perhaps be more precise associated with a sensitive or taboo subject in some way, such as personal hygiene and health products. So, how do corporate marketing departments advertise such products without upsetting the wider community?

Writing in the InternationalJournal of Internet Marketing and Advertising, a team from Thailand and the USA has considered this issue. Pakakorn Rakrachakarn and Thittapong Daengrasmisopon of the Stamford International University, Bangkok, and George Moschis of Georgia State University and Mahidol University, Bangkok, discuss the level of negative response to advertising of such products.

The team has tested a standard, 4 × 4 factorial design online advertisement to see how internet users respond. The advertisements came in two forms – ones that used a conventional photographic form and the other that used a drawing, cartoon, instead.

“The findings indicate that for the main effects of online banner advertising designs, cartoon advertisements (drawings) have a less favourable effect on attitude toward the brand when it is non-cartoon (photographs), regardless of product type (offensive or non-offensive),” the team reports. They add that there is no interaction effect between advertisement design and product types on consumer response, even though cartoon advertisements used in sensitive product advertising gave a less favourable attitude toward the product than non-cartoon advertisements.

The main conclusion seems to be that these kinds of products can generate negative responses when compared with more everyday products, that much is perhaps obvious. However, the use of cartoons instead of photographs in advertising controversial and sensitive products has an even more detrimental effect on perception. Marketing executives should, the team suggests, take their findings into account in designing future campaigns for putatively taboo products.

Rakrachakarn, P., Moschis, G.P. and Daengrasmisopon, T. (2020) ‘Internet advertising of offensive products: the effects of cartoons on adult consumer attitudes’, Int. J. Internet Marketing and Advertising, Vol. 14, No. 2, pp.152–167.

Free open access article available: "Factors affecting SMEs' strategic decisions to approach international markets"

The following paper, "Factors affecting SMEs' strategic decisions to approach international markets"(European Journal of International Management 14(4) 2020), is freely available for download as an open access article.

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

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Multinational Corporation Strategy

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

• Is China a single united market for foreign investors? - Federalism, Chinese style and inward FDI in China
• Danish multinational corporations in China: an evolutionary approach to internationalisation
• Internationalisation and firm performance of emerging market firms: exploring the moderating effects of differential knowledge-based resources
• The changing geography and organisation of multinational agribusiness

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Arts and Technology

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

• The themes of metalworking in the Saljuqid period vis-à-vis Khorasan and Mosul schools
• Framework for ranking the cloud service providers of federated cloud architecture using probability ranking methodology
• Design of intensive self-suction multi-purpose household ironing table: based on kansei engineering
• Dictionary learning-based classification of ink strokes in Vincent van Gogh's drawings
• Developing new robust motion templates of martial art techniques using R-GDL approach: a case study of SSCM
• Hindi word correction using micro-parsing
• How to see art through the eyes of an avatar: Cao Fei's progression to online immersion

Research pick: Senior ICT - "Older adults as the internet users: age and gender approach"

Information and telecommunications technology (ICT) has an important role to play in sustaining the quality of life of an aging population. A study published in the International Journal of Innovation and Learning has investigated the impact of ICT, from both the software and hardware perspective, on older people in the Czech Republic. The findings suggest that older men and women use the internet equally and that gender is not a determining factor in whether they do or not.

Ivana Simonova of the University of Jan Evangelista Purkyne in Usti nad Labem and colleagues Petra Poulova, Pavel Prazak, and Blanka Klimova of the University of Hradec Kralove found that older generally use the tools available to them for socialising (communication and sharing images), gaining information (web search and news) and electronic services (banking and shopping). This perhaps reflects the fact that older people are generally no different from younger people who use ICT for the same reasons, perhaps with the addition of employment applications.

The team also found that some older people lack the requisite ICT skills for achieving their goals efficiently. There is also an issue of confidence and training would help them overcome any social or psychological barriers that may well exist. There is also a need to teach older users how to protect themselves from criminals and other online fraudsters, phishers, and scammers. As such, there is a need for training in the use of ICT for older people as well as in teaching them what personal or private information might be collected “legitimately” by the applications and devices they use or harvested illicitly by criminals.

The team concludes that understanding older ICT user behaviour and developing appropriate training should look at seniors as a group but divide them their special and health needs, cognitive function, and previous experience.

Simonova, I., Poulova, P., Prazak, P. and Klimova, B. (2020) ‘Older adults as the internet users: age and gender approach’, Int. J. Innovation and Learning, Vol. 27, No. 4, pp.467–482.

Free open access article available: "Evaluating the effects of Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao bridge on international air travel: demand analysis of the air-bridge-air path"

The following paper, "Evaluating the effects of Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao bridge on international air travel: demand analysis of the air-bridge-air path" (European Journal of International Management
 14(4) 2020), is freely available for download as an open access article.

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

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Learning Technology

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

• Perceptions of the 'flipped classroom': a case study from a developing country 
• Impact of tablet PCs on learning outcomes in a classroom environment 
• "Digital tools will never take the place of a good teacher": understanding teachers' resistance to using technology through Glasser's Choice Theory 
• How compulsive social media use influences college students' performance: a structural equation analysis with gender comparison 
• Self-efficacy and self-esteem in online learning environments of adult learners

Special issue published: "Lightweight Solutions for Cyberspace Security: Research Advances and Challenges"

International Journal of Embedded Systems 12(4) 2020

• Design of an outdoor position certification authority
• Decentralised control-based interaction framework for secure data transmission in internet of automated vehicles
• An experimental estimate of the impact produced on PNU by new generation video codecs
• Lightweight and efficient approach for multi-secret steganography
• A survey on screenlogger attacks as well as countermeasures
• Secure RGB image steganography based on modified LSB substitution
• Modelling performances of an autonomic router running under attack

Additional papers

• Research on intelligent obstacle avoidance control method for mobile robot in multi-barrier environment
• Heuristic approach to minimise the energy consumption of sensors in cloud environment for wireless body area network applications
• Mass internet of things data security exchange model under heterogeneous environment
• Tracking algorithm of weak disturbance signal under multi-device interference in internet of things
• A channel matching scheme for cross-chain
• A novel algorithm for TOP-K optimal path on complex multiple attribute graph
• A novel Monte Carlo-based neural network model for electricity load forecasting
• A novel localised network coding-based overhearing strategy
• An algorithm for determining data forwarding strategy based on recommended trust value in MANET
• Hierarchical bucket tree: an efficient account structure for blockchain-based system

Research pick: "Synthetic signatures and automatic autographs"

One’s signature, or autograph if one is famous, is a unique identifier for many people. It is used to sign documents from business contracts, cheques, a marriage license and everything in between. However, for those whose native “pen”, as opposed to tongue, is not based in an alphabet that can be written cursively, wherein letters are joined or ligatured in freehand, a signature is often off the cards for them.

Autographic for the people

Researchers from Korea and Japan have now developed a computer application that can generate a unique cursive signature for users whose written words is not based on an alphabet and who may not know how best to utilise such alphabets in the written word. Writing in the International Journal of Computer Applications in Technology, Jungpil Shin, Md Abdur Rahim, and Md Rashedul Islam of the The University of Aizu, in Fukushima, Japan, and Keun Soo Yun of Ulsan College, in South Korea, have used a cubic Bezier curve for the cursive connections between letters, the ligatures, and an affine transformation to modify the input characters to make them appear as if they have been written by a native-writer of the English alphabet. The system allows for modifications in the slant, scale, space between the characters, and line emphasis, so that a unique signature might be generated.

Automatic for the pencil

Once the synthetic signature has been generated, the software generates an animated tutorial video to show the putative user of that signature how to create it with pen on paper so that they might use it in the real-world to sign documents.

Of course, the generation of a unique signature using this technology might have wider application online for any user regardless of their written language. The security associated with the parameters used to generate each signature would need to be guaranteed so that it could not be reproduced by a third party but hashing the data string to encrypt it and preclude its duplication without the legitimate user’s password would be possible. It might even be that digital signatures of this sort might exploit the blockchain technology usually associated with digital currencies.

Shin, J., Rahim, M.A., Islam, M.R. and Yun, K.S. (2020) ‘A novel approach of cursive signature generation for personal identity’, Int. J. Computer Applications in Technology, Vol. 62, No. 4, pp.384–394.

Special issue published: "Lightweight Solutions for Cyberspace Security: Research Advances and Challenges"

International Journal of Embedded Systems 12(4) 2020

• Design of an outdoor position certification authority
• Decentralised control-based interaction framework for secure data transmission in internet of automated vehicles
• An experimental estimate of the impact produced on PNU by new generation video codecs
• Lightweight and efficient approach for multi-secret steganography
• A survey on screenlogger attacks as well as countermeasures
• Secure RGB image steganography based on modified LSB substitution
• Modelling performances of an autonomic router running under attack
• Research on intelligent obstacle avoidance control method for mobile robot in multi-barrier environment
• Heuristic approach to minimise the energy consumption of sensors in cloud environment for wireless body area network applications
• Mass internet of things data security exchange model under heterogeneous environment
• Tracking algorithm of weak disturbance signal under multi-device interference in internet of things
• A channel matching scheme for cross-chain
• A novel algorithm for TOP-K optimal path on complex multiple attribute graph
• A novel Monte Carlo-based neural network model for electricity load forecasting
• A novel localised network coding-based overhearing strategy
• An algorithm for determining data forwarding strategy based on recommended trust value in MANET
• Hierarchical bucket tree: an efficient account structure for blockchain-based system

New Editor for International Journal of Governance and Financial Intermediation

Prof. M. Ángeles López-Cabarcos from Santiago de Compostela University in Spain has been appointed to take over editorship of the International Journal of Governance and Financial Intermediation.

Research pick: Encrypting images with chaos - "New chaotic cryptosystem for the image encryption"

Research published in the International Journal of Information and Computer Security details a way to encode an image using a chaotic cryptosystem that makes it harder for someone to illicitly break the encryption by boosting the size of the key space to 180 bits. The system, its authors write, is both robust and highly efficient based on their key space, statistical, and sensitivity analyses.

Assia Merzoug of the Laboratory of Coding and Security of Information at the University Batna and Adda Ali-Pacha and Naima Hadj-Said of the Laboratory of Coding and Security of Information at the University of Oran of Sciences and Technology in Algeria, explain how information security is primarily based on calculation algorithms. The level of security depends on the number of binary digits, bits, used by the system to define the cryptographic key that is employed by legitimate users to unlock the encryption. Too few bits in the key make it easier for a third party to crack the code. Conversely, if the key is too complex, i.e. a very high number of bits then it will require a lot of computer power from legitimate users on both sides to encrypt and decrypt the information.

One way around this need for inordinate computer resources for simple encryption might involve exploiting chaos theory, so that a complex key coding the information with an adequate number of bits might be generated that is difficult to crack. The team has brought together the Hénon attractor and a logistics map from chaos theory to construction their cryptosystem.

Standard “Lenna” test image and how a chaotically encrypted version looks

The chaotic data can be spliced into a normal image file to produce an encrypted image that will be very difficult to crack. Indeed, the test image once encrypted looks like simple noise to the casual observed with a flat histogram of pixel values. The whole process uses a very low level of computing resources but nevertheless produces an encrypted image this is very difficult to crack with a bruteforce attack.

Merzoug, A., Ali-Pacha, A. and Hadj-Said, N. (2020) ‘New chaotic cryptosystem for the image encryption’, Int. J. Information and Computer Security, Vol. 12, No. 4, pp.450–463.

Special issue published: "Enhancing Learning Effectiveness with Multifaceted Learning"

International Journal of Innovation and Learning 27(4) 2020

• Teaching and learning with video modelling: production with limited budget and influence of familiar faces on learning effectiveness
• The use of 360-degree videos to facilitate pre-learning and reflection on learning experiences
• Motivating students' learning in science and technology by using robots
• Design and evaluation on interface for screen operation for supporting practical training using ICT in elementary and secondary education
• Understanding K-12 students' information literacy in informal learning environments: a literature review
• Peer assessment of peer assessment plan: a deep learning approach of teacher assessment literacy
• Older adults as the internet users: age and gender approach

Research pick: Teamwork at the global level - "Tactics of handling interpersonal conflict through emotional intelligence"

A team leader’s emotional intelligence can make all the difference when it comes to conflict resolution. Writing in the International Journal of Information Systems and Change Management, a team from China and Pakistan discuss case studies of five conflict-handling styles in handling interpersonal conflicts. They undertook a statistical analysis of 213 questionnaires completed by 213 of 300 team leaders surveyed. The focus of the work being in what the researchers refer to as a non-western context adds useful insight to the literature in this area.

Many organisations operate on a global scale and within those organisations, employees are considered an asset with team players especially valued. Of course, with team players, one usually needs team leaders to allow working groups to function most effectively, although there are example of non-heirarchical working groups. One of the benefits of team working is that each player brings different working styles and skills to the team and offers alternative perspectives to those that might arise from a top-down approach to working.

Unfortunately, that also brings with it an increased opportunity for interpersonal conflict where one team member’s creative perspective does not coincide with the approach of another player in terms of their own attitudes and methods. This can be a positive characteristic of the team, allowing debate to flourish and the optimal solution to a problem to perhaps emerge in the end. However, unchecked conflict might escalate naturally and lead to complex problems that might never be resolved without leadership intervention.

The team’s findings can help guide managers and team leaders in handling interpersonal conflict and particularly conflicts that arise as team members from across the globe are relocated to centres, often in different countries where the organisation is based.

Tanveer, Y., Tariq, A., Akram, U. and Bilal, M. (2019) ‘Tactics of handling interpersonal conflict through emotional intelligence’, Int. J. Information Systems and Change Management, Vol. 11, Nos. 3/4, pp.211–227.

Special issue published: "Intelligent Computation Systems – Part I"

International Journal of Advanced Intelligence Paradigms 16(3/4) 2020

• Automated transformation of NL to OCL constraints via SBVR
• Study of skin flow motion pattern using photoplethysmogram
• Incorporating security in opportunistic routing and traffic management in opportunistic sensor network
• Improving reliability in MAS by rule-based logic and cryptographic techniques
• THD minimisation using genetic algorithm on the nine-level multilevel inverters
• Simulink implementation of RLS algorithm for resilient artefacts removal in ECG signal
• Semantic linkage of source content dynamically with virtual documents using Wikipedia in Hadoop
• A novel system for early detection of breast cancer using area and entropy features of malignant tumour
• Threshold algorithm for the cell formation problem
• Support vector machine-based proactive fault-tolerant scheduling for grid computing environment
• Automatic classification for preventing duplication of online multimedia data in secure cloud infrastructure
• Breast cancer diagnosis using a Minkowski distance method based on mutual information and genetic algorithm

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Business Environment

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

• Cluster policy resilience: new challenges for a mature policy
• Restructuring for service business development: insights from a machine tool manufacturer
• Revisiting product and process innovations
• Productisation as the reverse side of the servitisation strategy
• Organisational ambidexterity and industrial clockspeed theories in understanding dynamic managerial capabilities: a multiple case study
• Product-service innovation and performance: unveiling the complexities
• Antecedents and consequences of servitisation in the office printing industry
• Does business model experimentation in dynamic contexts enhance value capture?

Special issue on: "Sustainable Networking, Cloud and Wireless Systems"

International Journal of Networking and Virtual Organisations 22(4) 2020

• An effective performance of dynamic and ad-hoc on-demand routing protocols for mobile ad-hoc networks under NS environment
• Using MLPA for smart mushroom farm monitoring system based on IoT
• SCM: secured communication model for urban VANET applications
• A multi-objective EBCO-TS algorithm for efficient task scheduling in mobile cloud computing
• Virtual resource auction based on Bayesian incentive strategy in large-scale clouds
• An efficient cache management algorithm for streaming workloads
• Energy efficient dynamic clustering routing protocol in underwater wireless sensor networks
• Light weight security scheme in wireless body area sensor network using logistic chaotic scheme
• A novel evolutionary algorithm (MFO) with rate monotonic scheduling for load balancing in LTE advanced networks
• Petri net model for resource scheduling with auto scaling in elastic cloud

Research pick: Device to device power saving - "Refining channel and power allocation for green device-to-device communications"

When devices communicate they are usually configured to save power by first choosing an appropriate channel, connecting to each other, and then carrying out power control according to the quality of service (QoS) requirements of each device. However, after they have connected the power requirements of each device have usually dropped or at the very least change and so they are essentially not optimised for efficiency. Research published in the International Journal of Ad Hoc and Ubiquitous Computing shows how channel and power reallocations can be performed over several iterations until transmission power drops below a threshold to reduce overall power consumption.

Chih-Shun Hsu of the Department of Information Management at Shih Hsin University, in Taipei, Taiwan, discusses the trade-off among transmission power, throughput, and computation costs based on extensive simulations. He suggests that his simulation results justify the energy efficiency of the proposed refining schemes. The scheme may well allow 5G systems to run more effectively as part of the infrastructure of the 5G network will be to utilise unlicensed bandwidth between devices rather than carrying all packets of information as would be normal across the licensed cellular network.

Three power refining protocols are proposed in the paper: refining scheme with power control (RPC), the refining scheme with channel reallocation (RCR), and the refining scheme hybrid channel reallocation and power control (RCRPC). “All the three refining schemes can greatly reduce the total transmission power and enhance the transmission power efficiency of the scheme with no refining phase,” Hsu explains. He adds that of the three refining schemes, the RPC scheme can achieve the highest total throughput with the lowest computation time, the RCR scheme can achieve the lowest total transmission power with the highest computation time, and the RCRPC scheme can achieve a balanced result such that the total throughput of the RCRPC scheme is slightly lower than that of the RPC scheme and the total transmission power is slightly higher than that of the RCR scheme.”

Hsu, C-S. (2020) ‘Refining channel and power allocation for green device-to-device communications’, Int. J. Ad Hoc and Ubiquitous Computing, Vol. 34, No. 1, pp.11–24.

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Advanced Operations Management

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

• Which practices are lean, agile and resilient? Literature review and practitioners' perspective
• The effect of IT integration on improving agility, integration and performance of supply chain
• Improvement of steel melting operations at a Caribbean company: a lean manufacturing approach
• Trade-off among lean, agile, resilient and green paradigms: an empirical study on pharmaceutical industry in Jordan using a TOPSIS-entropy method
• Green optimisation for LRP problem using a genetic algorithm and a dynamic island model
• Exploring ecosystem network analysis to balance resilience and performance in sustainable supply chain design
• Enhancing stock efficiency and environmental sustainability goals in direct distribution logistic networks

Special issue published: "Business Challenges and Opportunities, Management, Leadership and Innovations: Insights from Emerging Markets"

Journal for Global Business Advancement 12(5) 2019

• Determinants of successful public organisational outcomes: a case of a Vietnamese local government
• A review of the relationship between leadership style and innovation: insights and directions for future research
• Customer-based cold chain equity: the application of customer-based brand equity on the food cold chain
• A survey of investors' share evaluation methods in Nigeria
• Determinants of organisational customers' perceived value and repurchase intention: an empirical study of B2B general insurance across Vietnam
• Partner trust as an evaluative parameter for international joint ventures in Indian setting: insights from meta-analysis

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Six Sigma and Competitive Advantage

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Six Sigma and Competitive Advantage are now available here for free:

• Analysis of lean practices in manufacturing industries: an ISM approach
• A review of specification limits and control limits from the perspective of Six Sigma quality processes
• Identification of components and parameters contributing to noise in transmission through the use of Shainin techniques
• Implementation of Lean Six Sigma framework in a large scale industry: a case study
• Applying Lean Six Sigma methods to improve infectious waste management in hospitals