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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Learning Technology

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

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

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

International Journal of Embedded Systems 12(4) 2020

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

Additional papers

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

Research pick: "Synthetic signatures and automatic autographs"

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

Autographic for the people

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

Automatic for the pencil

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

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

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

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

International Journal of Embedded Systems 12(4) 2020

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

New Editor for International Journal of Governance and Financial Intermediation

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

International Journal of Innovation and Learning 27(4) 2020

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Business Environment

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Journal for Global Business Advancement 12(5) 2019

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

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

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

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