Research pick: What are words worth to business schools? - "Website words matter: an analysis of business schools"

Business schools at public universities signalled competence with their websites while private universities demonstrated excitement and sincerity, according to a new content analysis by researchers in the USA discussed in the Journal of Global Business Advancement.

Blake Frank, Sri Beldona, and Scott Wysong of the University of Dallas, in Irving, Texas, USA, have investigated how a business school website informs putative students about what might be referred to as the school’s brand personality. They used an analytical approach that extracted words from website content from business school websites and showed how a dictionary-based approach to identifying brand personality is a successful approach. As well as the difference between private and public business schools, the team also found that those establishments with higher enrolment numbers also portrayed themselves as more competent, while those with a smaller rollcall described themselves as being more sincere.

The team explains why their findings are important:

“Business schools today must continually fight for market share. With lower barriers to entry, there has been a burgeoning of online programs around the world,” they explain, they quote fellow researchers in adding that “Increasing competition between universities heightens the need for institutions to understand, manage, and leverage a strong brand position.”

They suggest that for a business school to simply list the requirements of its courses, application deadlines, and other functional information is no longer sufficient. “Prospective students want to know why they should choose a particular business school or program over the others they are considering,” they add. “Business schools have to make a strong case.”

They conclude that business schools need to look closely at the words they use on their websites and must ensure that the content meshes with the brand personality they hope to communicate that they might encourage the prospective students they hope to enrol from around the world.

Frank, B., Beldona, S. and Wysong, S. (2020) ‘Website words matter: an analysis of business schools’ online brand personalities’, J. Global Business Advancement, Vol. 13, No. 1, pp.53–69.

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

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

• Performance analysis and evaluation of software defined networking distributed controllers in datacentre networks
• Image style transfer using convolutional neural networks based on transfer learning
• A survey on word embedding techniques and semantic similarity for paraphrase identification
• Hybrid converter for electric vehicle battery charging with power quality features
• SVM classification of brain images from MRI scans using morphological transformation and GLCM texture features
• Pipel: exploiting resource reorganisation to optimise performance of pipeline-structured applications in the cloud

Research pick: Deep space mine - "Resources in space and asteroid mining: where we are and which challenges should be expected"

Many resources essential to the technology on which we depend are dwindling or are increasingly inaccessible to certain nations for geopolitical reasons. A case in point is that several of the rare metallic elements that are needed to construct the components of modern electronic devices such as smartphones and tablet PCs, fuel cells, rechargeable batteries, photovoltaic systems, and other technology are by definition low in abundance.

Moreover, such elements are often critical in the design of such devices and there are no synthetic alternatives as there might be if one were to substitute for other natural materials such as wood, where organic polymers might do the job just as well, if not better.

With this in mind, research published in the International Journal of Technology Management discusses the issue of whether we might undertake mining operations on an asteroid that comes into the Earth’s purview.

José Antonio Peña-Ramos of the Universidad Autónoma de Chile and the Universidad de Granada, Spain, and Fernando Rafael Ramírez-de Luis of the Universidad Pablo de Olavide, in Seville, Spain, ask whether the “scramble for space is a realistic possibility in the short-term or whether it is another dystopian exaggeration doomed to oblivion".

They look at the current state-of-the-art technology that would be needed to putatively mine an asteroid and point out that it is far too immature to be at all viable. They discuss whether there is adequate regulation in this notional industry, and of course, there isn’t, with some states suggesting it should be a unilateral decision and others looking for international rules and regulations. There are also many who might be involved and large amounts of money to be made and so the stakes will inevitably be high and given our track record when it comes to land grabs and goldrushes, space mining may well lead to serious conflict between the corporations and inevitably the nation states involved in such endeavours.

Peña-Ramos, J.A. and Ramírez-de Luis, F.R. (2020) ‘Resources in space and asteroid mining: where we are and which challenges should be expected’, Int. J. Technology Management, Vol. 82, Nos. 3/4, pp.197–205.

Special issue published: "Smart Structures, Structural Control and Health Monitoring – A Special Issue in Honour of Professor Fabio Casciati and Professor Lucia Faravelli"

International Journal of Sustainable Materials and Structural Systems 4(2/3/4) 2020

• State-of-the-art: shape memory alloys for monumental consolidation and base isolation
• Intrinsic differences between thinner and thicker wires in NiTi SMA
• Optimal thickness of a spherical shell subjected to double-sided corrosion
• Experimental study of structural change detection using data-driven reduced-order models
• Application of vibration-based damage detection algorithms to experimental data from multi-storey steel structures
• Design of a new wireless data acquisition system for civil structural monitoring
• Condition assessment of a supertall structure by an improved Hilbert-Huang transform and empirical mode decomposition method
• Structural health monitoring of in-service tunnels
• Automatic detection and damage quantification of multiple cracks on concrete surface from video
• Ground-penetrating radar investigation for the restoration of Al-Azhar historical minarets
• Identification of indicators, metrics and level of service for the resilience of transport critical infrastructure
• Vibration control of wind turbines: recent advances and emerging trends

Research pick: Blockchain Pet Adoptions - "Adoption of pets in distributed network using blockchain technology"

The blockchain concept underpins digital currencies, such as BitCoin. It acts as a distributed register that holds all transactions of the currency in an encrypted and immutable table. The technology is not limited to cryptocurrencies though, there are many other applications that might benefit from such as secure information system. Writing in the  International Journal of Blockchains and Cryptocurrencies, a team from India explain how a blockchain might be used in pet adoption.

The team from the Computer Science and Engineering Department at Vidyavardhaka College of Engineering, in Mysuru, explain that a blockchain can store transaction details associated with a given pet, its previous owners and the people adopting the animal. In addition, other details can be retrieved by using a hash value including the financial transaction that will have facilitated the adoption process, as it were.

The team concludes that their approach is far more secure than centralised systems and precludes “spoofing” whereby a malicious third party might intervene in a transaction and either remove funds from an account illegally or perhaps even still the pet to be adopted.

Gururaj, H.L., Manoj, A.A., Kumar, A.A., Nagarajath, S.M. and Ravi Kumar, V. (2020) ‘Adoption of pets in distributed network using blockchain technology’, Int. J. Blockchains and Cryptocurrencies, Vol. 1, No. 2, pp.107–120.

Research pick: Detecting epilepsy with entropy - "Epileptic seizure detection in EEG using improved entropy"

Epilepsy is a chronic neurological disorder wherein abnormal firing of neurons in the brain leads to seizures. It can abruptly disrupt the health and life of those people it affects. Its diagnosis can limit certain aspects of everyday life particularly if not fully treated. People with the condition, for instance, are often precluded from driving or operating hazardous machinery to reduce the risk of injury and harm should they have a seizure while doing so. Seizures are commonly associated with loss of consciousness and severe muscle spasms.

A new, non-invasive, approach to epilepsy detection is reported in the International Journal of Biomedical Engineering and Technology that uses a fuzzy entropy algorithm to examine electroencephalograms (EEG). This algorithm abstracts all of the features of the EEG trace, these features are then fed to an artificial neural network trained on known epilepsy EEG traces. The system can very effectively differentiate between brain patterns in the patient during periods of seizure and normal periods.

Gini, A.T.P. and Queen, M.P.F. (2020) ‘Epileptic seizure detection in EEG using improved entropy’, Int. J. Biomedical Engineering and Technology, Vol. 33, No. 4, pp.325–345.

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

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

• Improving the performance of medical robotic system using H∞ loop shaping robust controller
• Hybrid ANFIS-ant colony based optimisation for quadrotor trajectory tracking control
• A novel sliding mode composite control design for fast time performance of quadrotor UAV
• Backstepping controller design with a quadratic error for a double inverted pendulum
• Fractal, chaos and neural networks in path generation of mobile robot

Additional papers

• Neumann boundary geometric control of a fractional diffusion process
• Kalman filtering linear quadratic regulator for artificial pancreas in type-I diabetes patient

Free open access article available: "Blockchain-based federated identity and auditing"

 The following paper, "Blockchain-based federated identity and auditing" (International Journal of Blockchains and Cryptocurrencies 1(2) 2020), is freely available for download as an open access article.

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

Research pick: Keep taking the tablets - "Understanding technology transition: a cross-cultural study on the transition from PCs to tablet computers"

New research published in the International Journal of Technology Management, shows how people make the technology transition from one type of device to another following a period of using both classes of device in parallel. For example, many users have a personal computer as well as a tablet computer, but at some point a lot of those people will abandon the PC in favour of the more portable and agile tablet, foregoing some of the benefits of a PC that may well have become legacy features once they are fully embedded in the tablet realm.

Rahul Thakurta of the Xavier University Bhubaneswar and Anamitra Basu Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) both in Bhubaneswar, India,  and Nils Urbach of the University of Bayreuth, Germany, have looked at the motivation for technology transition in their two countries.

The team has observed a behavioural phenomenon as analysed using social psychology where many users have made a complete transition at least for private, as opposed to business use, of a tablet over PC or laptop. Of course, there are hybrid devices, such as touchscreen laptops that can be separated into screen and base so that the screen becomes a standalone tablet without a physical keyboard for ease of portability in some circumstances.

“Our model was able to explain roughly 58% variance in desire towards transition in Germany, and about 50% variance in desire towards transition in India, which are considered significant. These results establish the importance of the different antecedents in understanding technology transition at an individual level,” the team writes.

Thakurta, R., Urbach, N. and Basu, A. (2020) ‘Understanding technology transition: a cross-cultural study on the transition from PCs to tablet computers’, Int. J. Technology Management, Vol. 82, Nos. 3/4, pp.276–321.

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Lifecycle Performance Engineering

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

• A parametric study of bridge load effect under stochastic vehicular load
• Fractal signal processing method of acoustic emission monitoring for seismic damage of concrete columns
• Multi-scale finite element model validation method of cable-stayed bridge based on the support vector regression
• An efficient method for Bayesian system identification based on Markov chain Monte Carlo simulation
• Operational modal analysis and Bayesian model updating of a standing seam metal roofing system

Research pick: Coffeeshop compatibility - "Effect of staff appearance on customer satisfaction and revisit intention"

A study of customers of coffee shops in the Republic of Korea suggests that they would willingly revisit the same outlet if the staff have an attractive and well-dressed appearance. Whereas they often feel less satisfied by their experience if the staff are not and a second visit to the same establishment is then unlikely, according to research published in the International Journal of Services, Economics and Management.

In the hospitality industry, staff interactions with consumers are crucial to operations and influence consumer satisfaction revisit intention. Now, Byoungho Lee and Jinkyung Choi of Woosong University, in Daejeon, South Korea, surveyed coffee shop customers with respect to perceptions and attitudes. Whereas there have been numerous studies of attractiveness and customer service in other settings, coffee shops per se have not been a focus of many studies. The team’s findings could help coffee shop owners or managers improve consumer satisfaction by influencing perceived attitudes toward the appearance of staff and their clothes or uniform.

The team emphasizes that the attractiveness to customers of service personnel in this environment may not be solely about facial attractiveness, but their personal grooming, overall demeanour, and attitude as well as how smartly dressed they are and how well-kempt their uniform. The findings perhaps offer a new definition of attractiveness in terms of staff appearance and uniforms in cafes and restaurants and could help guide management to improve the customer experience by their guiding service staff.

Lee, B. and Choi, J. (2020) ‘Effect of staff appearance on customer satisfaction and revisit intention’, Int. J. Services, Economics and Management, Vol. 11, No. 2, pp.119–136.

Research pick: Encrypting images chaotically - "Artificial neural network based image encryption technique"

An artificial neural network approach to image encryption offers many advantages over conventional encryption methods suggests a review published in the International Journal of Services Operations and Informatics. Shaimaa Abbas Fahdel Al-Abaidy of the University of Baghdad in Iraq explains that exploiting what is colloquially known as the “butterfly effect” in chaos theory can be even more effective.

Mobile computing and communications devices are almost ubiquitous now. We rely heavily on mobile phones, tablets, laptops, smartwatches, fitness trackers, smart TVs, and other such devices. They almost all rely on being constantly connected with the internet either through a cellphone network or via Wi-Fi for their many different functions. However, the transfer of data to and from such devices can often be vulnerable to third-party intrusion.

There are some instances where this is not particularly problematic, but there are other cases, such as sharing personal images where the sender and recipient, a student and educator, patient and doctor, employee and executive, may not wish other people to have access to those images. This is where encryption becomes a critical part of the communication.

There are many different approaches to encryption some are very secure but have high overheads, particularly when the files being encrypted are themselves relatively large, such as is the case with high-resolution photographs, for instance. Encryption needs to be smoother, faster, and preclude overpowering the encrypting and decrypting device as well as not adding to the data transfer costs in terms of the connecting network capacity.

The new approach discussed by Al-Abaidy offers protection against the integrity of the encrypted and decrypted image file and protection against common attacks such as a cipher attack, plaintext attack, and brute force attack.

Al-Abaidy, S.A.F. (2020) ‘Artificial neural network based image encryption technique’, Int. J. Services Operations and Informatics, Vol. 10, No. 3, pp.181–189.

Research pick: Solid state life extension - "Extending the lifetime of NAND flash-based SSD through compacted write"

Solid-state storage on mobile devices and computers is becoming de rigeur, it offers much shorter read and write times for data than conventional magnetic storage devices with spinning disks and other moving parts, it uses far less power, and it is silent in operation. But, those advantages come at a cost in that all the rapid reading and writing of data can wear out the device much faster than a conventional hard disk. There are techniques for reducing the wear based in software and settings, but ultimately lifespan is rather limited and there is an urgent need to developed solid-state storage that has greater longevity.

Research published in the International Journal of Embedded Systems offers a new approach to reducing the number of read-writes that occur when data is stored on one particular type of solid-state media, the solid-state disk (SSD). These are commonly used to replace magnetic hard disks in personal computers and laptops offering faster bootup and quicker access to data files.

Hai-Tao Wu and Tian-Ming Yang of Huanghuai University in Henan, China, Ping Huang of Temple University, Philadelphia, USA, and Wen-Kuang Chou of Providence University, Taichung, Taiwan, explain that the problem of SSD electronic wear and tear is due to the legacy of traditional file systems on mechanical drives which involvs a lot of partial page rights.

The team has traced the write activity in an SSD and found that partial page writes are most common for the heads and tails of large write requests. This, the team suggests, means that it might be possible to reduce the number of writes made by compressing two partial page writes from the same large write request into a single page before the data are written into flash. This would reduce significantly the number of accesses to each bit of memory and so prolong the lifespan of the device.

The team adds that their novel approach to prolonging the life of an SSD not only reduces erase number but write latency, and read latency by up to 69%, 47%, and 50%, respectively.

Wu, H-T., Yang, T-M., Huang, P. and Chou, W-K. (2020) ‘Extending the lifetime of NAND flash-based SSD through compacted write’, Int. J. Embedded Systems, Vol. 13, No. 2, pp.129–135.

Research pick: Whatsapp for helpful social communities - "eHealth WhatsApp for social support: design lessons"

Dutch computer scientists have assessed the value of the Whatsapp mobile communication platform in the context of social support. The research seems rather pertinent in the midst of the global Covid-19 pandemic that has forced countless people to work entirely remotely, usually at home, to engage with their doctor and other healthcare workers via online applications, and to work with educators to teach their children at home too.

Whatsapp is a free, cross-platform messaging and Voice over IP (VoIP) service provided by one of the most well-known of the social media companies, Facebook. Whatsapp users can send each other text messages and voice messages without paying the usual charges that might be required of SMS and phone calls by utilizing a Wi-Fi or internet data connection on their phone. They can also make voice and video calls, share images, documents, and other files, and even their location with other users in end-to-end encrypted connections. Users can also build groups of collaborators, friends, and family to communicate and share among that community.

Writing in the International Journal of Networking and Virtual Organisations, Luuk Simons and Catholijn Jonker of Delft University of Technology in Netherlands and Wouter van den Heuvel of the Health Coach Program also in Delft, suggest that WhatsApp groups can be used as attractive social support systems augmenting existing electronic tools and personal coaching. Their exploratory study of a small number of young professionals revealed that they were all happy to engage with others using Whatsapp. Indeed, the app led to greater engagement than other social media tools.

The team demonstrated that the use of a Whatsapp group by these young professionals led to healthy behaviour and health advocacy and confirmed the potential of the system for peer coaching. The research did show that there is a need to educate potential users on how to form relevant communities more effectively. They offer several ideas in their paper on how Whatsapp use might be improved. For instance, it is perhaps essential in a coaching community environment that at least one of the members of the group is an expert in that realm to ensure the quality of advice and discussions, to catalyse group interactions, to prompt users to act as health advocates within the group and to ensure that help is always given to participants when they need it.

Simons, L.P.A., van den Heuvel, W.A.C. and Jonker, C.M. (2020) ‘eHealth WhatsApp for social support: design lessons’, Int. J. Networking and Virtual Organisations, Vol. 23, No. 2, pp.112–127.

Research pick: We’ll meet again, online - "Shall we ever meet; does it matter: unfreezing the constructs of virtual team effectiveness"

Virtual conferences and meetings have been around for many years but they have come to the fore and are a standard form of group communication now that we are in a “new normal” because of the Covid-19 global pandemic. A team from India, writing in the International Journal of Networking and Virtual Organisations, discusses the ways in which virtual teamwork can be made more effective.

Monica Kunte, Sonali Bhattacharya, and Netra Neelam of the Symbiosis International (Deemed) University, in Hinjawadi, India, point out that virtual teams have always offered a way to reduce costs by allowing people to meet online and so preclude the need for transport and accommodation. They have measured perceived effectiveness of participants by looking at goal orientation, interdependency, knowledge sharing, empowerment, and preparedness in a multidimensional second-order construct.

The team has tested and proven their model to offer a useful scale of virtual team effectiveness. As such it will allow organizers and participants to improve their virtual meetings. Factors such as team size, diversity, participant hierarchy and even the timing, length, and frequency of virtual meetings might be optimized using the scale. This should improve efficiency, ensure any agenda is satisfied as well as ensuring all participants are essential to the team at any given point and avoid wasting human resources.

Kunte, M., Bhattacharya, S. and Neelam, N. (2020) ‘Shall we ever meet; does it matter: unfreezing the constructs of virtual team effectiveness’, Int. J. Networking and Virtual Organisations, Vol. 23, No. 2, pp.128–148.

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

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

• Self-adaptative multi-kernel algorithm for switched linear systems identification
• Monitoring the lack of grease condition of rolling bearing using acoustic emission
• Modelling and attitude control of novel multi-ducted-fan aerial vehicle in forward flight
• Optimal storage sizing of energy storage for peak shaving in presence of uncertainties in distributed energy management systems
• Attitude tracking control of rigid spacecraft with disturbance compensation
• Combining recursive projection and dynamic programming technique in multi UAVs formation anomaly detection
• A recursive discrete Kalman filter for the generation of reference signal to UPQC with unbalanced and distorted supply conditions
• Modelling and fault tolerance analysis of triplex redundancy servo valve
• Kinematic calibration for industrial robots using articulated arm coordinate machines
• A model-based implementation of an MPPT technique and a control system for a variable speed wind turbine PMSG

Special issue published: "Vehicular Networking and Communication Systems"

International Journal of Vehicle Information and Communication Systems 5(2) 2020

• Research on self-organising control method of urban intelligent traffic signal based on vehicle networking
• Modelling and analysis of urban vehicle traffic congestion characteristics based on vehicle-borne network theory
• Automatic recognition of vehicle image based on monocular vision and environmental perception
• Design of recognition and compensation system for vehicle communication signal based on vehicle networking
• Anti-jamming method for vehicle communication network based on internet of vehicles technology
• Binocular vision vehicle environment collision early warning method based on machine learning
• Design of intelligent traffic guidance display system based on internet of vehicles
• Research on abnormal monitoring of vehicle traffic network data based on support vector machine

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Modelling in Operations Management

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

• Proposing a new multi objective mathematical model for university course timetabling problem regarding optimisation of the quality of lecturers
• Developing a multi-commodity multi-period mathematical model based on the travelling salesman problem for solving bike sharing rebalancing problem
• Mathematical modelling of the vehicle hybrid locating-routing problem in three-tier supply chain
• Selection of a spouse for females using hybrid multi-criteria decision-making model in India
• Mobile-social media shopping: a partial least squares-structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) approach

Research pick: Cleaning up money laundering - "A novel dynamic approach to identifying suspicious customers in money transactions"

Money laundering is big business but wholly illegal big business. It has an enormously negative impact on local, national, and international economies as well as providing the financial means to fund other criminal activities such as people trafficking and drugs. By definition, money laundering is activity carried out to obscure the source of money that has been obtained illegally.

Writing in the International Journal of Business Intelligence and Data Mining, researchers from the Sultanate of Oman and Saudi Arabia describe a new dynamic approach to identifying suspicious financial transactions that might be part of the chain in a money-laundering scheme.

Abdul Khalique Shaikh of the Department of Information Systems at Sultan Qaboos University in Oman and Amril Nazir of the Department of Computer Science at Taif University, in Al-Hawiya, Saudi Arabia, explain that among the many millions, if not billions, of financial transactions carried out every day, a worrying proportion will be associated with money laundering. Identifying such illegal transactions is difficult especially as the criminals carrying out such transactions are well aware of the tools used by banks and financiers to spot suspicious money movements and as such can usually obfuscate the activity very efficiently.

The team has devised a way to profile individual users and to flag up activity that is genuinely suspicious without the false positives that might otherwise interfere with genuine banking and other financial transactions members of the public might carry out entirely legitimately.

“The approach works based on the dynamic behaviour of customer transactions that measures the customer’s own transaction history, profile features and identifies suspicious transactions,” the team writes. They have tested the approach against realistic data and validated the result with confirmed suspicious customers. The dynamic approach has an accuracy of well over 90 percent, which exceeds that seen with statistical models based on pre-defined rules, the team concludes.

Shaikh, A.K. and Nazir, A. (2020) ‘A novel dynamic approach to identifying suspicious customers in money transactions’, Int. J. Business Intelligence and Data Mining, Vol. 17, No. 2, pp.143–158.

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Financial Services Management

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

• Role of Islamic banking in financial inclusiveness in Pakistan: promise, performance and prospects
• Managing market innovation for competitive advantage: how external dynamics hold sway for financial services
• The impact of Sukuk financing on economic growth: the case of GCC countries
• Management of working capital - the Achilles heel of small and medium enterprises: the case of Greece
• Does capital structure matter? Reflection on capital structure irrelevance theory: Modigliani-Miller theorem (MM 1958)
• Factors affecting environmental performance: evidence from banking sector in Bangladesh
• Price discovery of one security traded in several markets around the world
• Performance evaluation of equity mutual funds using data envelopment analysis

New Editor for International Journal of Knowledge Science and Engineering

Associate Prof. Jianxin Li from Deakin University in Australia has been appointed to take over editorship of the International Journal of Knowledge Science and Engineering.

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Business Performance and Supply Chain Modelling

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Business Performance and Supply Chain Modelling are now available here for free:

• Evaluation of manufacturing unit location in Russia - European trade and logistics perspective
• Greening of humanitarian supply chain with focus on logistics
• Inventory policies for maximum fixed life-time product with quadratic demand under permissible delay in payments for a single supplier-two retailers
• Postponement and international transfer in global supply chains

Research pick: Guerrilla marketing - "From dancing on the street to dating online: evaluating guerrilla street marketing performance"

How do marketing professionals evaluate the success or otherwise of their guerilla marketing campaigns? That is the question addressed in the International Journal of Internet Marketing and Advertising.

Thérèse Roux of the Department of Marketing, Logistics and Sport Management at Tshwane University of Technology in Pretoria, South Africa and Marcel Saucet of the University of San Diego in California, USA, explain how consumers are exposed to a wide range of advertising and media every day with countless brands vying for attention. Many advertisers have, for several years, incorporated out-of-home media channels such as guerrilla street marketing to try and grab customer attention through surprising, bewildering, and otherwise novel campaigns.

There have been numerous high-profile examples of guerilla marketing in recent years: Japanese vehicle manufacturer Toyota launched its new RAV4 Hybrid car by creating a gigantic outdoor climbing wall in the in the middle of Times Square in New York City and allowed novice climbers to have a go. Swedish home furniture and fittings retailer Ikea opened a pop-up DIY restaurant in London where locals could prepare family dinners under the supervision of celebrity chefs. Commuters in Colombia were encouraged by sportswear and equipment company Reebok to join an exercise session in pop-up-gymnasiums within bus shelters.

The team has reviewed the research literature as well as interviewing marketing communications professionals from large internationally recognised agencies as well as smaller independent guerrilla marketing companies. “Professionals carefully and purposefully select appropriate environments and combine distinctive instruments to track cognitive, affective and behavioural responses,” the team writes. In that context, they have found that the effects of guerrilla street marketing are moving from performance at the street level to acquiring and quantifying online diffusion. They add that their work, which is among the first such investigation, will help improve our understanding of the practices of experienced professionals and identify practical techniques that can be used to evaluate contemporary street guerrilla marketing.

Savvy marketing agencies have already recognized that a guerilla marketing campaign on the street has the potential to “go viral” on social media and extend the reach way beyond those who see it live to the millions who might view videos and photos of such an event captured by the public or even those involved in the campaign. The team suggests that we are now seeing an evolution from asking a limited number of customers to be involved, figuratively speaking, in “dancing in the street” to providing a point of interest and engagement for global, online “socializing” that will hopefully boost brand reach and engagement, and on the bottom line, sales of the product or service being marketed.

Roux, T. and Saucet, M. (2020) ‘From dancing on the street to dating online: evaluating guerrilla street marketing performance’, Int. J. Internet Marketing and Advertising, Vol. 14, No. 3, pp.336–359.

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

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

• Nuclear power plants in India: achieving clean and green energy
• A multi-group extended linear discontinuous method for fixed-source discrete ordinates problems in slab geometry
• Calculation for gamma ray buildup factor for aluminium, graphite and lead
• Fuel loading, criticality and control rod worth calculations of the Triga Mark III reactor using Serpent and MCNP
• Feasibility study for production of 99Mo and 99mTc by the neutron activation of 98Mo in the MNSR reactor
• Semi-empirical formula for photon energy absorption buildup factors of elements and compounds
• A preliminary comparative study between oxide and metallic fuelled ASTRID-like reactor under a B&B strategy

Special issue published: "Current Trends and Developments in International Financial Integration and Trade"

International Journal of Monetary Economics and Finance 13(3) 2020

• Profit-shifting through Panama Papers destinations: a case study for the Czech Republic
• Equity markets and investment patterns: the network perspective
• Cultural distance and Thailand's foreign direct investment attractiveness
• Transformation of labour relations in the context of global economic and social risks
• Static or adaptive? the month-of-the-year and intra-month effects in African stock markets
• Financial reporting quality: the case of Czech and German listed companies
• Do managements tell us the whole truth and nothing but the truth? Impact of textual sentiment in financial disclosure to future firm performance and market response in Thailand
• Can an integrated reporting system in Thai context create sustainable value to users?
• Achieving earnings target through real activities manipulation: lesson from stock exchange of Thailand
• Corporate governance and voluntary disclosures: a story about corporate transparency from Indonesia
• The effect of three types of agency problems on the firm performance: evidence from Indonesia
• Socio-economic, information and communication technology, and banking performance for financial inclusion index in Indonesia
• Media promotion, Islamic religiosity and Muslim community perception towards charitable giving of cash waqf
• Effects of innovation factors on SME performance: study on SMEs in food and beverages centers in Cimahi, Indonesia

Research pick: Hybrid measures to beat phish - "Phish webpage classification using hybrid algorithm of machine learning and statistical induction ratios"

A hybrid algorithm that used machine learning to feed off statistical induction ratios can spot malicious web pages known as phishing sites and so alert unwary users to the possibility that their data, privacy or security may be compromised before they access such sites Details are published in the International Journal of Data Mining, Modelling and Management.

Hiba Zuhair of Al-Nahrain University, in Baghdad, Iraq, and Ali Selamat of the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), Johor, Malaysia, explain how there are some very powerful machine learning systems that can detect phishing sites. However, the criminal creators of such websites are rather wily and there are always novel page structures and coding that might be missed by such protection systems on the day when the new malware site is first launched and the early unwitting users get hooked. To preclude users falling for such zero-hour phishing sites there is an urgent need for an adaptive approach that can spot the problem even with novel sites.

As such, “Phishing induction must be boosted up with the extraction of new features, the selection of robust subsets of decisive features, the active learning of classifiers on a big webpage stream,” the team writes. Their two-pronged algorithmic defence provides a more holistic way to detect phishing sites. They have demonstrated efficacy against existing machines learning-based anti-phishing techniques. The team hopes that their analysis of earlier approaches and the method they suggest could provide a new “taxonomy” for the development of more effective still protection against this ubiquitous security problem in the digital realm.

Zuhair, H. and Selamat, A. (2020) ‘Phish webpage classification using hybrid algorithm of machine learning and statistical induction ratios’, Int. J. Data Mining, Modelling and Management, Vol. 12, No. 3, pp.255–276.

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

International Journal of Advanced Intelligence Paradigms 17(1/2) 2020

• Enhancement of enterprise resource planning system by analysing feasibility and critical factors
• Best-case, worst-case and mean integral-square-errors for reduction of continuous interval systems
• Residential load scheduling considering maximum demand using binary particle swarm optimisation
• Scalable information retrieval system in semantic web by query expansion and ontological-based LSA ranking similarity measurement
• Multi-objective multi-join query optimisation using modified grey wolf optimisation
• 2n factorial design of view of thermal images for detection correlation coefficient variants factors of object for environmental issues
• Speech-based automatic personality trait prediction analysis
• Factors influencing effectiveness of testing applications in cloud using regression testing: a statistical analysis
• Nature of life and survivability of women and men with breast cancer
• Multi-layer composites shielding for electromagnetic radiation protection
• Optimisation of training samples in recognition of overlapping speech and identification of speaker in a two speakers situation
• Image classification using higher-order statistics-based ICA for NOAA multispectral satellite image

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

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

• Evaluating the strategic potential of AMT in Indian manufacturing industries
• Dealing with quality uncertainty in the supply chains of perishable agricultural produce: consideration of buyer-supplier geographical distance and the choice of procurement channel
• Beyond relational diversity: managing workplace diversity and team composition with Indian psycho-philosophy
• A new model of pairing for innovation in management higher education: implications for the management field
• Achieving waste-free manufacturing processes through an effective series link production system

Special issue published: "Big Data Analytics and Business Intelligence"

International Journal of Business Intelligence and Data Mining 17(2) 2020

• A novel dynamic approach to identifying suspicious customers in money transactions
• Fibonacci retracement pattern recognition for forecasting foreign exchange market
• ScrAnViz: a tool for analytics and visualisation of unstructured data
• Implementation of multi node Hadoop virtual cluster on open stack cloud environments
• Impact of clustering on quality of recommendation in cluster-based collaborative filtering: an empirical study
• Mining big data streams using business analytics tools: a bird's eye view on MOA and SAMOA
• Weighted neuro-fuzzy hybrid algorithm for channel equalisation in time varying channel
• Decision tree classifier for university single rate tuition fee system

Research pick: Breaking brand - "Social break up: why consumers hide and unlike brands on Facebook"

Back in the day, if you liked a brand, you bought and used its products, perhaps mentioning or even recommending to friends and family. Today, the ubiquity of social media means that consumers have so many additional, albeit online, ways in which to “interact” and “engage” with a brand beyond simply using the product. One might post photos of the brand in action on a personal blog, photo or video site, such as Instagram or Youtube, one might offer updates and critique on platforms like Twitter, and, of course, there is the possibility of endless opportunities for liking, following, and commenting with and about a brand on Facebook.

Now, researchers from Korea and the USA writing in the International Journal of Internet Marketing and Advertising, discuss why some consumers ultimately disengage with some brands they once showed allegiance to on Facebook. They discuss the notion of advertising avoidance and one’s shift in the consumer-brand relationship not only in the context of hiding content that is no longer wanted but also as a means of direct self-expression.

A former brand fan that friends and family knew “liked” a brand summarily “unliking” it may be seen as a change in attitude or personal identity. Of course, the rationale may be perceived information overload, attitude towards social media marketing in general, but there is a certain element that pushes the brand detachment as social-identity expression, the team suggests.

Kwon, E.S., Kim, E. and Chung, Y.J. (2020) ‘Social break up: why consumers hide and unlike brands on Facebook’, Int. J. Internet Marketing and Advertising, Vol. 14, No. 3, pp.299–317.

International Journal of Auditing Technology to invite expanded papers from XXIII Seminários em Administração for potential publication

Extended versions of papers presented at the XXIII Seminários em Administração (25 November 2020, Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil) will be invited for review and potential publication by the International Journal of Auditing Technology.

Research pick: Less work, more play - "The impacts of increasing leisure time on subjective health and life satisfaction"

In the current global situation many people have been forced to rethink what we previously referred to as a work-life balance. There was much pressure from good mental health advocates for us to opt for more leisure time if that were a possibility. Now, in the time of the global coronavirus pandemic, we can see new ways to look at leisure time with a perspective on life satisfaction. However, in research carried out before Covid-19, Yen-Lien Kuo and Tzu-Hsiu Huang of the Department of Economics at National Cheng Kung University in Tainan City, Taiwan, investigated the relationships between working hours and changes in time spent on leisure and sports activities, as well as perceived health status, and individual life satisfaction.

Fundamentally, they analysed data from the Taiwan Social Change Survey and were able to show that longer working hours almost inevitably led to significantly lower life satisfaction whereas more leisure time improved subjective health measures and enhanced life satisfaction markedly. There was a caveat in terms of health. In that those in full-time work tended to be healthier than those were not. However, there was still the potential to improve mental health by boosting life satisfaction when employees were able to have more leisure time at the expense of working hours.

For Taiwan in particular, it is as a nation third in the league tables for longest working hours among Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. It had been suggested in much earlier work that people with long working hours and inadequate recovery time see various problems accumulate over time and become chronic reactions. Work and leisure time may have been upturned in recent months because of pandemic lockdown and other factors. However, part of the new-normal may well see an increased need to balance work and leisure without trying to cram more hours into the day by reducing working hours. We already know that many more people can work from home and avoid the daily commute. This research suggests that government-led initiatives, particularly in Taiwan could drive this forward to the benefit of employees and perhaps even for employers.

Kuo, Y-L. and Huang, T-H. (2020) ‘The impacts of increasing leisure time on subjective health and life satisfaction‘, Int. J. Happiness and Development, Vol. 6, No. 1, pp.26-40.

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Happiness and Development

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

• Perceptions of ethnic residents' satisfaction: a quest towards the sustainable development of public space in Nigeria
• Psychosocial factors and psychological well-being in Ilaje oil-producing community, Niger-Delta region of Ondo State, Nigeria
• External flows and inclusive human development in Sub-Saharan Africa
• An examination of happiness between race, gender and school classification: an echo boomer analysis
• Factors associated with happiness among college students: do academic self-efficacy and stress predict happiness?
• Happiness, economic growth and air pollution: an empirical investigation

Research pick: Self-healing concrete - "Effect of calcium lactate and Bacillus subtilis bacteria on properties of concrete and self-healing of cracks"

The almost ubiquitous construction material we know as concrete has high compressive strength but low tensile strength. In order to overcome this problem, reinforced concrete was developed. Unfortunately, reinforced concrete more readily succumbs to corrosion particularly from water ingress so there is a need to develop ways to improve the formulation of reinforced concrete and perhaps to develop additives that allow the self-healing of cracks and fissures that grow so that a structure might be saved from complete deterioration.

Writing in the International Journal of Structural Engineering, a team from the National Institute of Technology, in Raipur, India, explain that there are two major causes of deterioration: carbonation-induced corrosion and chloride-induced corrosion. “Through the random distribution of pore spaces in concrete, aggressive substances, such as carbon dioxide, chloride, moisture, and oxygen may penetrate the structure,” the team explains. This, in turn, can break down the protective layer around reinforcing steel bars within the structure leading to their corrosion and ultimate failure.

In terms of the chemistry of the initial corrosion process involving carbonation. The initial alkalinity arising from the hydration process of cement protects the concrete formed from corrosion. However, carbon dioxide ingress leads to reactions with calcium compounds in the concrete which generates calcium carbonate and lowers the alkalinity making the material more acidic, unstable, and thus susceptible to degradation.

Other researchers have already shown that adding Bacillus subtilis bacteria to the cement formulation can have a protective effect. The team has now shown that calcium lactate can boost the benefits of the microbes by reducing the carbonation rate. It also improves the compressive strength of the concrete. Moreover, the living bacteria can refill and repair microscopic cracks within the structure to a degree allowing concrete to self-heal. This was observed in the laboratory by the team using scanning electron microscopy.

Vijay, K. and Murmu, M. (2020) ‘Effect of calcium lactate and Bacillus subtilis bacteria on properties of concrete and self-healing of cracks’, Int. J. Structural Engineering, Vol. 10, No. 3, pp.217–231.

Research pick: Stay-at-home workers - "Telecommuting potential analysis"

Working from home has become part of the so-called “new normal” for many people during the Covid-19 pandemic. However, there has been a move underway towards increased telecommuting for many years. Writing in the Global Business and Economics Review a research team from Portugal has set out to explore the potential of telecommuting in terms of productivity and quality of life gains, cost savings for workers and employers, and perhaps even environmental improvements through reduced transport pollution.

Commuting generates enormous economic, social, and environmental costs, although it has been the conventional approach to “going out to work” since the industrial revolution if not before. There are some benefits, of course, but largely these are often outweighed by infrastructure and transport requirements and ultimately increased use of energy and resources and an increase in pollution and carbon emissions. However, with a big shift to online services and the increased use of information technology in this so-called digital age many traditional jobs can readily be performed from the home at least some of the time if not the whole of the working week. Obviously, some jobs, such as construction and manual factory work, farming, and healthcare can rarely be reduced to the working from home paradigm.

Deveani Babu, Nelson Ramalho, and Pedro Falcao of the University Institute of Lisbon suggest that increasing the level of telecommuting across various sectors is entirely feasible. Moreover, given the global pandemic that emerged since the time of their review, it is likely that we will garner more evidence for the personal and societal benefits of this form of working. Our unwitting experiment caused by the pandemic might also offer insights into previously unknown problems with telecommuting too.

Babu, D., Ramalho, N. and Falcao, P.F. (2020) ‘Telecommuting potential analysis’, Global Business and Economics Review, Vol. 23, No. 1, pp.100–124.

New Editor for International Journal of Nuclear Law

Associate Prof. Jakub Handrlica from Charles University in the Czech Republic has been appointed to take over editorship of the International Journal of Nuclear Law.

Research pick: Lyre, lyre – there’s an app for that! - "On digitising the Greek music tradition: simulation of the Cretan lyre for mobile devices"

Forget Captain Corelli’s stringed instrument and Zorba the Greek’s theme tune, a team writing in the International Journal of Arts and Technology is investigating whether it might be possible to digitize the Greek music tradition by simulating the Cretan lyre for a mobile device application.

Dimitrios Margounakis, Georgios Tsotakos, and Andreas Floros of the School of Science and Technology, at the Hellenic Open University, Greece and the Ionian University, Corfu, point out that playing the Cretan lyre involves an intriguing technique using a bow and the development of a simulation has not been undertaken previously.

“Contemporary multi-touch-based mobile smart phones have a range of sensory input capabilities, making realistic simulation of musical instruments feasible,” the team writes.

They suggest that their app has a recreational and educational aspect as well as a conservation perspective in terms of musical culture. Users employ the same gestures as a real-life player would make to produce the notes and tones of the instrument in a mobile device.

The team adds that their app has embedded within it instructional information allowing even a novice to reconstruct well-known traditional melodies quickly. Moreover, the timbre of the lyre can be overlaid with the sound of the lute to create an even more interesting overall sound. Additionally, many players in Crete use a bow that has bells on, sounds that might also be incorporated into the app, the team reports. So, while the music may not have all of the accoutrements of some simulated instruments apps it will soon have the bells if not the whistles.

Margounakis, D., Tsotakos, G. and Floros, A. (2020) ‘On digitising the Greek music tradition: simulation of the Cretan lyre for mobile devices’, Int. J. Arts and Technology, Vol. 12, No. 2, pp.103–117.

 

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Vehicle Systems Modelling and Testing

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Vehicle Systems Modelling and Testing are now available here for free:

• A design methodology for space frame through parametric study of torsional stiffness
• Performance test and analysis of key components of pure electric vehicles
• E-bikes for steep roads: mid drive and hub drive motor efficiency comparison
• Integrated vehicle dynamic controls using active rear wheel steering and four wheel braking
• Analytical modelling of twist beam axles

Research pick: The thermodynamics of Covid-19 - "Energetic and exergetic costs of COVID-19 infection on the body of a patient"

When you catch a virus it will hijack your metabolic processes for its own replication. The virus, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) which is at the heart of the current global pandemic of the associated disease Covid-19 is no exception. It hooks into the body’s cellular processes leaching energy and exergy (energy that does work) so that it can duplicate its genetic code and build the proteins it needs to create copies of itself. Obviously, such an energy drain gives rise to some of the symptoms while others are caused by the body’s immune response that attempts to stop the virus in its tracks.

Writing in the International Journal of Exergy, a research team from Turkey explains how this novel coronavirus first reported in late 2019, causes a cluster of symptoms not commonly seen in other viral infections: severe pneumonia, pulmonary inflammation, and fibrosis. These symptoms reduce gas exchange between the air sacs, the alveoli, within the lungs, and the blood capillaries that carry oxygen away from the lungs and around the body. As such, patients experience diminished oxygenation of their blood haemoglobin. This then has an effect on metabolic rate.

If metabolic rate falls by one third, then in thermodynamic terms the fall in exergetic and energetic magnitude associated with the damage can be 0.46 and 0.45 Watt per kilogram of body weight, respectively. If the decline is a two-thirds decrease, the exergetic and energetic magnitude of the damage can be 0.92 and 0.90 W/kg, the team reports. Those are the figures for an 18-year old patient. For a putatively more vulnerable 70-year old, they would need to generate almost a fifth as much energy or exergy to compensate for the damage caused by the metabolic decline. This, partly explains why it is harder for older patients to cope with this virus and why they suffer worse symptoms. Additionally, if they have other underlying health conditions such as diabetes or lung disease, then the burden is even greater.

Having such information in hand will not only assists in our understanding of the progression and prognosis of this novel disease but may well point to improving how we treat it to save patients from severe morbidity or even mortality.

Yilmaz, B., Ercan, S., Akduman, S. and Özilgen, M. (2020) ‘Energetic and exergetic costs of COVID-19 infection on the body of a patient’, Int. J. Exergy, Vol. 32, No. 3, pp.314–327.

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Migration and Border Studies

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

• Whose needs count in situations of forced displacement? Revaluing older people and addressing their exclusion from research and humanitarian programmes
• Contestations of the heart: Mexican migrant women and transnational loving from rural Ontario
• Seasonal agricultural workers and the habitus of mobile precarity
• Confronting myths: agricultural citizenship and temporary foreign worker programs
• Borders for profit: transnational social exclusion and the production of the NAFTA border
• Pushing the US-Mexico border south: United States' immigration policing throughout the Americas
• Underground Railroads and coyote conductors: brokering clandestine passages, then and now
• 'Come out and live on your land again': sovereignty, borders and the Unist'ot'en camp

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Critical Computer-Based Systems

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Critical Computer-Based Systems are now available here for free:

• AltaRica 3.0 in ten modelling patterns
• Survey on international standards and best practices for patch management of complex industrial control systems: the critical infrastructure of particle accelerators case study
• Formal methods in dynamic software updating: a survey
• A methodology for assuring the safety and security of critical infrastructure based on STPA and Event-B
• Fully encrypted high-speed microprocessor architecture: the secret computer in simulation
• A versatile approach for ranking and modelling of non-functional requirements

Special issue published: "Freedom, Technology, Surveillance: Paradoxes in the Making"

International Journal of Migration and Border Studies 6(1/2) 2020

• The crafting of a paradox: Schengen inside and out
• The civil paradox: Swedish arms production and export and the role of emerging security technologies
• The power elite of security research in Europe: from competitiveness and external stability to dataveillance and societal security
• The socio-genesis of a guild of 'digital technologies' justifying transnational interoperable databases in the name of security and border purposes: a reframing of the field of security professionals?
• The interoperability controversy or how to fail successfully: lessons from Europe
• Freedom, technology and surveillance: everyday paradoxes on the EU-Morocco border
• Engaging migrant careworkers: examining cases of exploitation by recruitment agencies in Quebec, Canada

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

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

• The need for systemic analysis and design methodology of medical equipments
• Audio encryption - a chaos-based data byte scrambling technique
• A theory of interactional systems: semantic connections and relational contextics
• A novel method combining fuzzy SVM and sampling for imbalanced classification

New Editor for International Journal of Technology Marketing

Dr. Peter Bican from Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg in Spain has been appointed to take over editorship of the International Journal of Technology Marketing. The previous Editor in Chief, Prof. Philipp A. Rauschnabel of Universität der Bundeswehr München, Germany, will remain with the journal on its Editorial Board.

Research pick: Coronavirus and carbon emissions - "Covid 19 impact on atmospheric CO 2 concentration"

The emergence of a novel coronavirus towards the end of 2019 that has led to the major ongoing Covid-19 pandemic has already taken its toll on people’s lives, healthcare systems, and the commercial world.

Anecdotal evidence early in the “lockdowns” imposed by many governments seemed to suggest that pollution levels fell as road and air traffic density fell considerably and people began working from home across the world’s major cities. Consumption of certain products also fell off although initial demand for essentials was high as people panicked and stocked up on food and other supplies. However, as lockdowns are eased, there is now an increased use of plastics for disposable personal protection and in shops, homes, and the workplace, and for packaging to help reduce the spread of the virus.

In the face of such a pandemic, it is as if climate change and pollution have been figuratively put on the back burner as serious concerns for humanity. However, Alberto Boretti of the College of Engineering at the Prince Mohammad Bin Fahd University, in Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia, writing in the International Journal of Global Warming, has looked at carbon dioxide levels during the shutdown. Indeed, emissions have fallen considerably as airlines have been grounded, factories shut down, businesses closed, and citizens confined in their homes.

He suggests our current reduced activity over the last few months at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic could give us novel data to demonstrate exactly how anthropogenic are carbon emissions. In 2014, the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) expressed how it is 95% certain that humans are the main cause of current global warming. But, there are denialists and detractors. The data shows there has not been a fall in carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere since lockdown, natural drivers as the temperature rises and seasonal variation seem to obscure any effect on such a short timescale. The process of global warming itself is known to increase carbon dioxide emissions from natural sources.

“While we cannot legislate for natural changes, it seems appropriate to better identify every environmental and societal threats to availability of water, food, energy, plus health and ecosystems conservation; then optimise mitigation and adaptation strategies according to the relative risks of the various threats,” the team writes.

Boretti, A. (2020) ‘Covid 19 impact on atmospheric CO 2 concentration’, Int. J. Global Warming, Vol. 21, No. 3, pp.317–323.

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Technological Learning, Innovation and Development

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Technological Learning, Innovation and Development are now available here for free:

• Technological learning in inter-firm collaborations: a review and research agenda
• How much of Raymond Vernon's product cycle thesis is still relevant today: evidence from the integrated circuits industry
• Export competitiveness and industrial development: a study of an apparel value chain in a small island developing state
• Are African micro- and small enterprises misunderstood? Unpacking the relationship between work organisation, capability development and innovation

Research pick: Testing times - "Automatic generation of questions from DBpedia"

Writing quiz-type tests in education can be time-consuming and given the nature of education and home learning during the current coronavirus pandemic, teachers and carers alike need more efficient and straightforward ways to produce quizzes to evaluate learning in their student charges.

New work published in the International Journal of Control Engineering Education and Life-Long Learning suggests that quiz questions could be generated automatically from DBpedia. DBpedia is a project that extracts structured content from Wikipedia and makes it available on the World Wide Web. Users can semantically query relationships and properties of Wikipedia resources, including links to other related datasets.

Oscar Rodríguez Rocha, Catherine Faron Zucker, Alain Giboin, and Aurelie Lagarrigue of the Universite Cote d’Azur, in France, explain that test questions must be generated in compliance with the knowledge and skills necessary to master a specific subject and be appropriate for the school year being tested and in accord with official educational standards. They have now demonstrated how pertinent information can be pulled from a structured database that fits these criteria. Question-generating methods can then be applied automatically to the knowledge scraped in this way to produce the questions and answers for a school quiz.

The educator can curate the information and questions manually to ensure they are wholly appropriate to the students. The automated part of the system can reduce the educator burden considerably freeing up time for less mundane work with the students while at the same time providing an invaluable and validated assessment tool.

Rodríguez Rocha, O., Zucker, C.F., Giboin, A. and Lagarrigue, A. (2020) ‘Automatic generation of questions from DBpedia’, Int. J. Continuing Engineering Education and Life-Long Learning, Vol. 30, No. 3, pp.276–294.

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Higher Education and Sustainability

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Higher Education and Sustainability are now available here for free:

• University access and 'comparative disadvantage' in Nigeria: a reflection on the criticality of equity for sustainable development
• A tracer study on employability of business and economics graduates at Bahir Dar University
• A know your student analysis: a case study on the students of a higher education institute in India
• Role of the success of cloud computing in MOOC in online education environment
• Prior knowledge and academic performance in first year accounting course
  

Special issue published: "The Unplanned Side Effects in Web-Based Communities"

International Journal of Web Based Communities 16(3) 2020

• Characterising social structural and linguistic behaviours of subgroup interactions: a case of online health communities for postpartum depression on Facebook
• Structural equation modelling for influencing virtual community networks
• Digital games get viral on social media: a social network analysis of Pokémon Go on Twitter
• Influencing the influencers: the case of retailers' social shopping platforms
• Youth internet consumption in Ecuador: indicators of the national digital generation

Research pick: Having a laugh - "Laughter signature: a novel biometric trait for person identification"

The popular view of biometric security often invokes fingerprint readers, iris or retinal scans, and voice-activated systems. However, any unique human characteristic whether the shape of one’s ears, the whole face, the pattern of blood vessels in the back of the hand, walking pattern, heart rhythm or even how one types at a keyboard, might be used to provide a secure signature of login. Some traits are easier to analyse than others and some, such as fingerprints, can be spoofed.

Research published in the International Journal of Biometrics has taken an amusing trait to demonstrate how the way a person laughs might be used in biometrics.

Comfort Oluwaseyi Folorunso, Olumuyiwa Sunday Asaolu, and Oluwatoyin Popoola of the Systems Engineering Department at the University of Lagos in Akoka, Lagos, Nigeria, points out that people can recognise other people by the unique nature of their laughter, perhaps in an even more obvious way than their voice. Moreover, while many people are adept at impersonating the voices of other people, mimicking someone’s laugh is far more difficult. The team has now used statistical analyses of the various audible frequencies present in a person’s laugh to create a digital signature for each unique laugh.

Tests on the approach show their prototype recognition algorithm to be 90 percent accurate, which compares very favourably with the 65% accuracy of a conventional Gaussian model. However, combining their algorithm with the Gaussian approach can boost accuracy overall by more than 5 percent.

“Laughter has thus been shown to be a viable biometric feature for person identification which can be embedded into artificial intelligence systems in diverse applications,” the team concludes.

Folorunso, C.O., Asaolu, O.S. and Popoola, O.P. (2020) ‘Laughter signature: a novel biometric trait for person identification’, Int. J. Biometrics, Vol. 12, No. 3, pp.283–300.

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Electronic Healthcare

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

• Connecting digital pharma and e-healthcare value networks through product-service design: a conceptual model
• The moderating effect of information technology on the relationship between self-efficacy and self-management for patients with type (2) diabetes in Jordan
• Impact of perceived HIS users' performance on job satisfaction: moderating effect of perceived HIS quality
• Understanding EHRs continuance intention to use from the perspectives of UTAUT: practice environment moderating effect and top management support as predictor variables
• eHealth in India: a model for healthcare accessibility at the 'bottom of the pyramid'

Research pick: Detecting lung cancer sooner rather than later - "An exhaustive study on the lung cancer risk models"

A review of forty research papers that discuss lung cancer detection technologies highlights the gaps in the various approaches to the diagnosis of this potentially lethal disease and reveals how research might be targeted to improve detection and thus prognosis. Writing in the International Journal of Bioinformatics Research and Applications, Malayil Shanid and A. Anitha of the Information & Communication Engineering department at Noorul Islam Centre for Higher Education, in Kanyakumari District, Tamil Nadu, India explain the context of their review and its implications.

Lung cancer is one of the biggest killers of the modern age. Cancer is the second leading cause of death globally and is responsible for an estimated 10 million or so deaths annually, which amounts to 1 in 6 deaths. Of that approximately 10 million cancer deaths, about 1 in 5 is due to lung cancer. As with most cancers, early detection can greatly improve the prognosis of the disease, assuming appropriate treatment is available and undertaken. It also allows less invasive treatments to be employed, particularly reducing the level of surgery required, for instance.

Image processing coupled with machine learning has led to many improvements in the identification of malignant tissue in scan images for a wide range of diseases including lung cancer. The various techniques commonly look to distinguish between benign and malignant lesions seen in the scan. Computerised tomography is the tool of choice for detecting pulmonary nodules that might sit in either camp. A benign nodule can be treated relatively easily in contrast to a malignant one, which may develop rapidly and metastasize if not treated quickly.

Shanid, M. and Anitha, A. (2020) ‘An exhaustive study on the lung cancer risk models’, Int. J. Bioinformatics Research and Applications, Vol. 16, No. 2, pp.151–172.

Special issue published: "Paradigm Shift? The Automotive Industry in Transition to Electric Vehicles"

International Journal of Automotive Technology and Management 20(2) 2020

• Strategic flexibility in shifting to electrification: a real options reasoning perspective on Toyota and Nissan
• Who will control the electric vehicle market?
• The deployment of fuel cell electric vehicles in Japan: revolution or transition?
• Between closure and Industry 4.0: strategies of Japanese automotive manufacturers in Central and Eastern Europe in reaction to labour market changes
• Robot adoption and FDI driven transformation in the automotive industry

Special issue published: "Knowledge Management Technologies in Education"

International Journal of Continuing Engineering Education and Life-Long Learning 30(3) 2020

• Satisfaction ranking of employers towards graduates from higher education institutions: an application of hybrid multiple criteria decision-making approach
• An exploratory study of discrimination toward contract and private faculty teaching in engineering colleges of the border area of Gurdaspur, India
• Multi-agent approach for collaborative authoring and indexing of pedagogical materials
• Automatic generation of questions from DBpedia
• Conceptual clustering of university graduate students' trajectories using formal concept analysis: a case study in Lebanon

Additional papers

• Study on interactive teaching laboratory based on virtual reality
• Modelling of factors of e-learning: an ISM approach
• A comparative study based on OBE for different batches of MCA students

Special issue published: "Knowledge Management Technologies in Education"

International Journal of Continuing Engineering Education and Life-Long Learning 30(3) 2020

• Satisfaction ranking of employers towards graduates from higher education institutions: an application of hybrid multiple criteria decision-making approach
• An exploratory study of discrimination toward contract and private faculty teaching in engineering colleges of the border area of Gurdaspur, India
• Multi-agent approach for collaborative authoring and indexing of pedagogical materials
• Automatic generation of questions from DBpedia
• Conceptual clustering of university graduate students' trajectories using formal concept analysis: a case study in Lebanon
• Study on interactive teaching laboratory based on virtual reality
• A comparative study based on OBE for different batches of MCA students

Research pick: How do you solve a problem like Pereira? - "Pereira problem solving"

How do you solve problems in the face of adversity? The question is perhaps oxymoronic or tautological given that a problem equates to adversity. So, we might as well ask how do you solve problems?

Leandro Ferreira Pereira of the Business Research Unit (BRU-IUL) at ISCTE and José Pedro Santos of Winning Scientific Management in Portugal, explain that one of the current challenges in organisations relates strongly to decision-making in adverse, uncertain, and complex environments. There are many formal approaches to problem solving that managers might use: the fishbone diagram, root cause analysis and five whys, for instance.

Pereira and Santos point out that most of them have significant limitations in how they assess a problem and its causes. As such the team has developed and tested “Pereira problem solving” and compared it with ad hoc approaches used in various organizations. The Pereira approach has a more mathematical stance in problem solving. The team explains that the study was preliminary in nature and utilized convenient samples to test the model. Future work will be broader and compare different business sectors, including energy, telecommunications, banking, and retail.

Pereira, L.F. and Santos, J.P. (2020) ‘Pereira problem solving’, Int. J. Learning and Change, Vol. 12, No. 3, pp.274–283.

Special issue published: "Risk Mitigation and Management Strategies of Multinational Enterprises"

International Journal of Business Continuity and Risk Management 10(2/3) 2020

• Sourcing arrangement of internal audit services: does it matter to the external auditors?
• Assessment of market competition and financial stability of Takaful market in Saudi Arabia and Malaysia
• Limitation factors of whistleblowing practices among public sector internal auditors in Malaysia: in-depth interview study
• Risk management practices of transportation companies: practitioners' perspective
• Interpersonal trust, opportunism and business performance: an empirical evidence of gem dealers in Sri Lanka
• Attitude of construction workers toward labour safety
• Agroforestry as a model of sustainable land use of small-scale private forest: a case study in Sumedang, West Java, Indonesia
• Consumer adoption of mobile payments: a distinctive analysis between China and Malaysia
• Why medical tourists must go to Malaysia!
• Preventing major accidents - changing business as usual
• How would business school students respond if they suspect the boss at work of white-collar crime?

Journal for International Business and Entrepreneurship Development to invite expanded papers from International Conference on Digitalisation as Vehicle for Innovation, Organizational Growth and Effectiveness (ICOBMIT-2020) for potential publication

Extended versions of papers presented at the International Conference on Digitalisation as Vehicle for Innovation, Organizational Growth and Effectiveness (ICOBMIT-2020) (19-20 December 2020, Prestige Institute of Management, Gwalior, (M.P), India) will be invited for review and potential publication by the Journal for International Business and Entrepreneurship Development.

Special issue published: "Strengthening Vocational Education Systems for the Disruptive Innovation Era"

International Journal of Innovation and Learning 28(1) 2020

• Relevance of student productive skills competencies based on construction services needs
• Education indicator evaluation of UI Green Metric of campus sustainability of Faculty of Engineering Universitas Negeri Semarang
• Character learning model in hotel practice learning based on Minahasa local wisdom for students of Tourism Department
• Standard competency gaps of vocational teachers
• Implementation of welat inovasi (innovated welat) (Latino): as an entrepreneurial readiness for Beauty Education Study Program students

Additional papers

• Determinants of students' entrepreneurial intention - a comparative study in Poland and Hong Kong
• Determinants of university research and development outcomes - a study from faculty's perspectives
• Influencing innovativeness of enterprises by selected HRM practices
• Online newspapers in teaching reading in the English classroom at high school

Research pick: What’s that smell? - "A review on the use of air dispersion models for odour assessment"

Unpleasant odours are…well…unpleasant. Sometimes we have to endure the stench but legislation is beginning to recognise that people have a right to not be exposed when they are avoidable. This might apply in the context of the environment local to an industrial plant, water and sewage treatment works, refuse sites and other areas, including the workplace, shopping centres, and places of entertainment.

Maurizio Onofrio, Roberta Spataro, and Serena Botta of the Department of Environment, Land and Infrastructure Engineering (DIATI) at the Politecnico di Torino in Turin, Italy, have looked at the impact of odour in the International Journal of Environment and Pollution. The team points out that the type of odourant, human perception and sensitivity, as well as air dispersal, all affect how the issue of unpleasant odours might be addressed.

The team has specifically examined air dispersion models applied to odour impact assessment. They analysed 69 case studies published over the last decade or so and applied Gaussian modelling to examine and validate the experimental data. Their results show that the models are reliable but can be affected by critical issues, such as particular climate conditions, duration of averaging times and position of important receptors. However, if these factors are known and correctly managed, the models can be extremely useful.

Onofrio, M., Spataro, R. and Botta, S. (2020) ‘A review on the use of air dispersion models for odour assessment’, Int. J. Environment and Pollution, Vol. 67, No. 1, pp.1–21.

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Materials and Product Technology

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

• Influence of powder particles shape and size on the sintered austenitic stainless steel
• A continuous straightening formulation based on minimum curvature variation
• Experimental evaluation of magnetic abrasive finishing process with diamond abrasive
• Deformation and fracture characteristics of complex Al-Si alloy during high speed forging under different processing conditions
• Optimisation of friction stir processing parameters to fabricate AA6063/SiC surface composites using Taguchi technique
• A predictive modelling of nanocomposite coating microhardness based on extremely randomised trees

Special issue published: "Sustainable Development and International Business"

International Journal of Society Systems Science 12(2) 2020

• Enshrined education rights: a three state comparison
• The career women of Kabul and their struggle for an empowered identity
• Sustainable development: perspectives from Canadian jurisprudence on First Nations' Aboriginal rights and title
• Community development model for poverty eradication of indigenous people in Malaysia
• Stakeholders' role in delivering sustainable supply chains in the construction sector

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Powertrains

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

• Improving strength for automotive plastic gears through directional fibre reinforcement
• Computerised symbolic planetary transmission modelling for automotive design
• Effect of tooth profile modification on the durability of planetary hub gears
• Lubricated loaded tooth contact analysis for spur gear pair
• Vibration response from the planetary gear with flexible ring gear

Research pick: Workers engage with the Internet of Things - "Study of enhancing employee engagement at workplace by adopting internet of things"

The concept of an Internet of Things, connected devices, sensors, controllers, and other equipment is rapidly evolving. It has certainly moved on apace since the early whimsical hyperbole surrounding an internet-connected coffee machine or the smart refrigerator. Indeed, the IoT is now pervading almost every business sector. Work published in the International Journal of Business and Systems Research has looked at how employees might become more engaged in IoT technology in the workplace.

Sumi Jha of the National Institute of Industrial Engineering (NITIE), in Mumbai and Preeti Khanna of the School of Business Management at SVKM’s NMIMS, also in Mumbai, India, write that “Employee engagement is pivotal to successful commercial and business performance, where engaged employees are the ‘backbone of good working environments where people are industrious, ethical and accountable’.”

The team has carried out an analysis of human resource management practices and IoT interventions in the context of employee engagement. They also show that in practice, organisations need to continuously realign work practices with IoT to improve employee engagement to the benefit of the various so-called stakeholders associated with that workplace and the business. However, the team’s research also suggests that improving IoT engagement and human resource practices may not be sufficient. “The current model indicates the entire roadmap needs to be redesigned to deal with perceptions from the management as well as the user’s perspective,” the team writes. The point out that the misuse of IoT in the workplace is an important issue that must be addressed.

“It is important to train employees in effective utilisation of IoT and reduce the need for constant monitoring,” the team concludes, “This will enhance employees’ faith in the system and so improve engagement further.”

Jha, S. and Khanna, P. (2020) ‘Study of enhancing employee engagement at workplace by adopting internet of things’, Int. J. Business and Systems Research, Vol. 14, No. 3, pp.341–361.

Special issue published: "Parallel Computing Methodologies for E-Medicine"

International Journal of Bioinformatics Research and Applications 16(2) 2020

• Intelligent model for diabetic retinopathy diagnosis: a hybridised approach
• An exhaustive study on the lung cancer risk models
• Diagnosis of abdominal mass in ultrasound images using linear collaborative discriminant regression classification
• An empirical study of the big data classification methodologies

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Business Competition and Growth

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

• Non-performing assets and profitability of Indian banks: an econometric study
• Epistemological perspectives in business research: an analytical review
• Towards improving the planning and scheduling of construction projects in the UAE: a review of the human factor
• Development of implementation strategies for offsite construction techniques in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
• Value maximisation strategies for high-tech firms: managing growth across borders

Special issue published: "Advanced Powertrain Technologies for New Energy Vehicles: Modelling, Control and Optimisation"

International Journal of Powertrains 9(1/2) 2020

• Flash boiling hollow-cone fuel spray from a piezoelectric fuel injector under low ambient pressure
• A comparative study of integral order and fractional order models for estimating state-of-charge of lithium-ion battery
• Model-based electric traction drive resolver fault diagnosis for electrified vehicles
• Optimal design of discrete-time fractional-order PID controller for idle speed control of an IC engine
• Modelling and estimation of combustion variability for fast light-off of diesel aftertreatment
• Life cycle assessment study for different options of sustainable mobility, including vehicle conversion
• ANFIS-based hysteresis comparators with intelligent dual observer and speed controller of a direct torque control

Research pick: Simplifying smart security - "Home security alarm system for middle-aged people living alone"

Home security for people who have reached middle age and older is an important concern in China, according to the authors of new research published in the International Journal of Embedded Systems.

Guangyi Ma, Hui Xu, Xijie Zhou, and Wei Sun of the School of Automation at Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology explain how current systems are difficult to setup, costly, have high power consumption, and components that wear out rapidly. They have now designed an alternative that has low power dissipation, convenient operation, and high stability.

The team’s smart security device has standard master controllers to command a camera module, GSM/GPRS module, smoke sensors, flame sensors, and infrared sensors. They explain that the camera module captures live images of monitored areas, which can be transmitted to the user via the GSM module. ZigBee wireless technology is used instead of conventional Wi-Fi to keep power consumption down and reduce the risk of a security breach by a malicious third party.

“Compared with other security systems, the proposed program optimises the interface to make interaction operation easier for middle-aged and older users,” the team writes. Given that the population is “ageing”, there is an increased urgency for such systems that are easy to use and offer the requisite security for older people. This, the team suggests, is especially poignant for the younger generation who are the adult offspring of one-child families.

Ma, G., Xu, H, Zhou, X. and Sun, W. (2020) ‘Home security alarm system for middle-aged people living alone’, Int. J. Embedded Systems, Vol. 13, No. 1, pp.65–73.

International Journal of Green Economics to invite expanded papers from 15th Annual Green Economics Institute's Green Economics Conference for potential publication

Extended versions of papers presented at the 15th Annual Green Economics Institute's Green Economics Conference "Survival Solutions for the Crises: Climate, Economy and Biodiversity Loss" (24-26 July 2020, online on zoom platform) will be invited for review and potential publication by the International Journal of Green Economics.

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Environment and Pollution

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

• Advanced algorithms for studying the impact of climate changes on ozone levels in the atmosphere
• Assessment of fluoride hazard in groundwater of Palghat District, Kerala: a GIS approach
• Applying WRF-CMAQ models for assessment of sulphur and nitrogen deposition in Bulgaria for the years 2016 and 2017
• Global climate driven effects on urban air pollution simulations using very high spatial resolution
• An approach for selection of solid waste disposal sites by rapid impact assessment matrix and environmental performance index analysis
• The method of general heat treatment of waste water from metal manufacture based on photocatalysis
• Analysis of regional climate model simulations for Central Europe as a potential tool to assess weather-related air quality conditions
• Identification of dust transport patterns and sources by using MODIS: a technique developed to discriminate dust and clouds
• On convergence of difference schemes for Dirichlet IBVP for two-dimensional quasilinear parabolic equations
• Assaying SARIMA and generalised regularised regression for particulate matter PM10 modelling and forecasting
• Current trends in nanotechnology for bioremediation
• Urban areas parameterisation for CFD simulation and cities air quality analysis

Free open access article available: "Platform-based sustainable business models: reducing food waste in food services"

The following paper, "Platform-based sustainable business models: reducing food waste in food services" (International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management
24(4/5) 2020), is freely available for download as an open access article.

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

Free open access article available: "Individual investors' satisfaction and loyalty in online securities trading using the technology acceptance model"

The following paper, "Individual investors' satisfaction and loyalty in online securities trading using the technology acceptance model" (International Journal of Management and Decision Making
 19(2) 2020), is freely available for download as an open access article.

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

Research pick: Reducing food waste - "Platform-based sustainable business models: reducing food waste in food services"

Might a platform-based business model be used in the food industry to reduce waste and improve sustainability? That’s the question a research team from Finland sets out to answer in the International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management.

Globally, one-third of food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted, amounting to about 1.3 billion tonnes per year. Given that food waste also equates to wasted water, lost energy, and needless carbon emissions, and pollution. Indeed, the carbon footprint of food waste is about 4.4 million tones of carbon dioxide equivalent each year, which is almost as much as road transport emissions. We must find ways to drastically reduce this figure. Seemingly, it is consumers that contribute to the larger proportion of wasted food rather than it occurring on the side of production, transport, and retail. However, little information is available about food waste from restaurants, cafés, and canteens, and the catering and accommodation services, this alone could also be generating millions of tonnes of food waste.

Malla Mattila, Nina Mesiranta, and Anna Heikkinen of the Faculty of Management and Business at Tampere University explain how food waste is a growing challenge for companies in the food services sector hoping to improve their sustainability credentials. They have examined the research literature in the realm of business sustainability in the developed world and looked at sustainable business models and digital platforms, that might provide guidance for such companies. They specifically scrutinize two real-life business cases that provide digital services and show how they help food service companies to reduce their food waste. The benefits of sustainable business models are wrought in their scalability and attractiveness the team points out.

While the consumer side seems to be the bigger problem, supermarkets and other outlets generate vast tonnages of waste as products pass their “sell-by” dates. As such, there is a wide open niche for mobile device applications that connect consumers to products that are about to expire in a more effective way so that such stock might be purchased rather than it going to waste. However, applications at every step from farm and factory to retail to outlet or home could reduce waste, the research suggests.

Mattila, M., Mesiranta, N. and Heikkinen, A. (2020) ‘Platform-based sustainable business models: reducing food waste in food services’, Int. J. Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management, Vol. 24, Nos. 4/5, pp.249–265.