Special issue: "Noise, Vibration and Reliability in Vehicle Systems"

International Journal of Vehicle Noise and Vibration 9(3/4) 2013

• A computational fluid dynamics study of crosswind effects on vehicle A-pillar aero-acoustics
• Analytical and experimental study on bending vibration of internal combustion engines shafting system based on wave equations
• Optimisation of acoustical comfort in vehicle cabin using the goal programming
• Noise annoyance fuzzy index in passenger car cabin
• Study on steering wheel shimmy with clearance of kingpin
• A three-dimensional CFD approach for prediction of noise reduction of mufflers without mean flow
• Sound treatment and structural optimisation for acoustic performance of front dash with sound contribution
• A survey of wheel tyre cavity resonance noise
• Energy harvesting from suspension systems using regenerative force actuators
• Beam model for tyre tread block dynamics

Special issue: "Contemporary Issues in Real Financial Sectors and Economic Development"

International Journal of Economic Policy in Emerging Economies 6(2) 2013

Extended versions of papers presented at the 2013 SIBR-UniKL Conference on Interdisciplinary Business and Economic Research.

• The impact of credit and liquidity risk on bank financial performance: the case of Indonesian Conventional Bank with total asset above 10 trillion Rupiah
• Time-varying betas in Central and Eastern European markets: a bivariate BEKK GARCH approach
• Interfirm collaboration in a cultural context: insight from the research on the ICT industry in Poland
• Service-dominant logic and procurement in Africa: lessons learned from a development agenda in Ghana
• Globalisation and development: challenges for developing countries
• Immigrant entrepreneurship in the Milan metropolitan area: results from an empirical analysis
• Global leaders success relies on their competencies and predictors of their leadership potential
• The evolution of worker autonomy in the modern and postmodern eras of business management

New Editor for the International Journal of Process Management and Benchmarking

Professor Angappa Gunasekaran, from the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth in the USA, has been appointed as the new Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Process Management and Benchmarking.

Special issue: "Public Policies and Agent Behaviour"

International Journal of Public Policy 9(3) 2013

• Employment effects and renewable energy policies: applying input-output methodology to Portugal
• Explaining the interrelations between health, education and standards of living in Portugal. A simultaneous equation approach
• The impact of European enlargement on the direction and prospects of Brussels exports
• The new economic rationale for corporate limited liability
• Bribing behaviour by firm attributes: an empirical analysis

Call for papers: "Applied Optimisation"

For a special issue of the International Journal of Engineering Management and Economics.

Optimisation provides effective solutions for many practical situations such as logistics and transportation, production, water resources and scheduling problems.

The aim of this special issue is to present applied research in optimisation that underlines the benefits of solving decision problems by means of either exact of heuristics approaches. Theoretical, empirical and practical contributions are welcome, along with surveys.

The issue will carry revised and substantially extended versions of selected papers presented at the International Conference on Modeling, Simulation and Applied Optimization (ICMSAO’2013), but we also strongly encourage researchers unable to participate in the conference to submit articles for this call.

Suitable topics include but are not limited to:

• Applied optimisation
• Exact and heuristic approaches
• Convex and non-convex models solutions
• Case studies

Important Dates
Submission of manuscripts: 31 December, 2013

Special issue: "e-Service Innovation and Usage in Emerging Economy"

International Journal of Services Technology and Management 19(4/5/6) 2013

Expanded versions of papers presented at the Eleventh Wuhan International Conference on E-Business
(WHICEB 2012).

• Do the characteristics of online consumer reviews bias buyers' purchase intention and product perception? A perspective of review quantity, review quality and negative review sequence
• Exploring the factors motivating e-service users' WOM behaviour
• Investigating Facebook and Google usage in Taiwan's college students
• Research on financial coordinated supervision platform and supervision strategy for online payment under paperless trade
• An empirical study on the impact of non-tradable share reform on ownership structure and agency costs

Additional Papers

• Understanding the effects of service redesign on patient-time in an emergency department
• Measuring the customer's perception of service quality using SERVQUAL in public services
• What can influence the consumers' online word-of-mouth? An online gaming perspective
• Marketing for remote area using an experience-based tourism website destination

Call for papers: "Combinatorial Optimisation"

For a special issue of the International Journal of Engineering Management and Economics.

Combinatorial (or discrete) optimisation is one of the most active topics in the area of operations research. Combinatorial optimisation constitutes the synergy between applied mathematics, computer science and management science. Furthermore, combinatorial optimisation is a very challenging research field that is encountered in various real-life areas.

Problems of combinatorial optimisation arise in various applications, including production systems, communication networks, logistical systems, airline crew scheduling, maintenance and reliability, corporate planning, computer-aided design, service systems, database query design, cellular telephone frequency assignment, strategic planning, supply chain management, resource allocation problems and computational biology. Motivated by their practical interest, numerous research teams have studied theoretical and applied aspects of combinatorial optimisation using various methods based upon exact and/or approximate approaches.

Theoretical and/or empirical contributions that make a significant contribution to this field are welcome.

The issue will carry revised and substantially extended versions of selected papers presented at the International Conference on Modeling, Simulation and Applied Optimization (ICMSAO’2013), but we also strongly encourage researchers unable to participate in the conference to submit articles for this call.

Suitable topics include but are not limited to:

• Metaheuristic algorithms
• Exact algorithms
• Cutting and packing
• Polyhedral theory
• Computational complexity
• Graph and network algorithms
• Linear and integer programming
• Interior point methods
• Constraint programming
• Frequency assignment
• Location
• Network design
• Production and logistics scheduling
• Timetabling
• Vehicle routing and scheduling
• Computational biology
• Computational complexity

Important Dates
Submission of manuscripts: 31 December, 2013

Special issue: "Pricing and Revenue Strategy in the Sport Industry"

International Journal of Revenue Management 7(2) 2013

• Integrating geographic information systems (GIS) into sport business practice and research
• Using a stated choice model to test the viability of new sport event ticket packages
• Price tiers as antecedents of event quality in the sport industry
• Conceptually meeting expectations of Generation Y by building personalised-customised hybrid bundles to target action sports consumers
• How incentives affect web-based survey response rates of athletic program donors
• Creating revenue via Organisational 'Brandpression' Management (OBpM): a marriage of brand management and impression management in professional sport

Special issue: "Interconnections of Wireless Sensor Networks"

International Journal of Communication Networks and Distributed Systems 11(2) 2013

• Key establishment protocols for secure communication in clustered sensor networks
• A reliable and flexible data gathering protocol for battery limited wireless sensor networks
• SWiFiNet: a real field WSN testbed
• Repellent voids for improving geographical routing efficiency in wireless sensor networks
• GMCA: a greedy multilevel clustering algorithm for data gathering in wireless sensor networks
• Minimalist security and privacy schemes based on enhanced AES for integrated WISP sensor networks

Call for papers: "New Trends in Operations Management"

For a special issue of the International Journal of Engineering Management and Economics.

Operations management aims at creating the highest level of efficiency within an organisation by planning and controlling the process of converting materials and labour into goods and services.

Several problems of this field have recently attracted a lot of attention due to the consideration of new constraints or technologies as well as other contexts of applications. For example, a lot of researchers are especially interested in operations in services systems such as healthcare systems; other studies are concerned with integrating environmental and social constraints into operations and supply chain management; many papers focus on the impact of collaboration between supply chain actors; some authors have studied the effects of using RFID technology in the supply chain.

The purpose of this special issue is to advance the current state of knowledge in these areas and to add significant value to relevant real-world practices. Theoretical and/or empirical contributions that make a significant contribution to this field are welcome.

The issue will carry revised and substantially extended versions of selected papers presented at the International Conference on Modeling, Simulation and Applied Optimization (ICMSAO’2013), but we also strongly encourage researchers unable to participate in the conference to submit articles for this call.

Suitable topics include but are not limited to:

• Production management
• Inventory management
• Quality management
• Planning and scheduling problems
• Location and layout problems
• Vehicle routing problems
• Green operations
• Modelling and analysis of service systems: healthcare systems, call centres, etc.
• Impact of new technologies on operations management problems

Important Dates
Submission of manuscripts: 31 December, 2013

Special issue: "When Innovation Meets Sustainability Challenges"

International Journal of Technology Management 63(1/2) 2013

Includes expanded versions of papers presented at the XXII ISPIM Conference 2011.

• Collaborative business modelling for systemic and sustainability innovations
• Business model innovation for sustainable energy: how German municipal utilities invest in offshore wind energy
• Firms' transition to green product service system innovators: cases from the mobility sector
• Framing the role of design in transformation of consumption practices: beyond the designer-product-user triad
• Ecodesign in South African firms - how feasible?

Additional Paper

• Sources of information for organisational innovation: a sector comparative approach

Special issue: "Radar Sensor Networks"

International Journal of Sensor Networks 13(4) 2013

Expanded versions of papers presented at the International Conference of Communications, Signal Processing, and Systems (CSPS) 2012.

• A 3D imaging technique for circular radar sensor networks based on radon transform
• An efficient multi-objective evolutionary algorithm for energy-aware QoS routing in wireless sensor network
• Trench-Zohar inversion for SAR sensor network 3-D imaging based on compressive sensing
• Routing approach based on rate of transmission failure in ZigBee networks with changing mobility
• Throughput optimisation in sensor network-aided cognitive radio
• Time-frequency analysis of terahertz radar signal for vital signs sensing based on radar sensor

Call for papers: "Supply Chain Management"

For a special issue of the International Journal of Engineering Management and Economics.

Supply chain management in the broadest sense is a major cost element in both discrete and process industries as well as dealing with distribution and controlling goods and/or humans. Supply chain management is now being recognised as the management of key business processes.

Research in these areas promises both economic and social benefits such as lowering production and delivery costs, higher product quality and quality of life, and fewer injuries. In this context, concentration is on, but not limited to, the following areas: transportation operations and safety, maritime transportation and logistics, transportation security, transportation and inter-modal planning, cargo loading, containerisation, palletising, automated terminals, highway management, high seas transshipment, cruise line loading, unloading and control and cargo shipping simulation. Quality, cost effectiveness, security and delivery time are the drivers. Modern design theory, simulation, quantitative techniques, data mining, wireless technology, embedded and distributed technologies are just a few of the disciplines needed to help and enhance this research areas.

Overall, this research has the potential to yield significant cost savings to global industries and will eventually enhance their efforts in becoming more competitive in the global economic arena.

This special issue aims to collect recent original contributions related to managerial complexity in supply chain management. Theoretical and/or empirical contributions that make a significant contribution to this field are welcome.

The issue will carry revised and substantially extended versions of selected papers presented at the International Conference on Modeling, Simulation and Applied Optimization (ICMSAO’2013), but we also strongly encourage researchers unable to participate in the conference to submit articles for this call.

Suitable topics include but are not limited to:

• Transportation operations and safety
• Maritime transportation and logistics
• Transportation security
• Transportation and inter-modal planning
• Cargo loading
• Containerisation
• Palletising
• Automated terminals
• Cruise line loading, unloading and control
• Cargo shipping simulation

Important Dates
Submission deadline: 31 October, 2015

First issue: International Journal of Quantitative Research in Education (free sample issue available)

The International Journal of Quantitative Research in Education aims to enhance the practice and theory of quantitative research in education. In this journal, education is defined in the broadest sense of the word, to include settings outside the school. IJQRE publishes peer-reviewed, empirical research employing a variety of quantitative methods and approaches, including but not limited to surveys, cross sectional studies, longitudinal research, structural equation modelling, multilevel modelling and Rasch modelling.

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

Call for papers: "Transport"

For a special issue of the International Journal of Engineering Management and Economics.

A sustainable and competitive transport system is an essential part to the well-being of every society. But the health and competitiveness of a transport system starts at the sub-system level where components, processes and well-managed externalities – whether they are safety-oriented or operations-oriented – are all engineered and/or managed to optimally function in concert within the overall transport system, be it at the local or national network level.

This special issue will focus on innovative approaches to designing, operating or managing the subcomponents of a transport system to achieve levels necessary for its competitiveness and sustainability.

The issue will be of interest to academics and practitioners involved in putting transport systems in place to meet their demands. Papers are solicited on the management and operation of different aspects of transport systems. Papers that demonstrate innovative applications and/or solutions of optimisation algorithms, innovative designs of physical components or policies aimed at managing safety or operations and integration of practices and designs are invited.

The issue will carry revised and substantially extended versions of selected papers presented at the International Conference on Modeling, Simulation and Applied Optimization (ICMSAO’2013), but we also strongly encourage researchers unable to participate in the conference to submit articles for this call.

Suitable topics include but are not limited to:

• Control and management of mixed traffic
• Design of system components for safety
• Freight and passenger traffic routing
• Transport network design
• Control design of signalised networks
• Modelling and design of measures of effectiveness (MOE)
• Integration of computation and communication technologies into transport systems
• Context-sensitive design and operation of transport system components
• Innovative maintenance strategies and practices
• Public transit signal priority control
• Driver behaviour and control
• Control of congested networks
• Transport in supply chains
• Eco-friendly transport design
• Energy-efficient transport operation/design
• Transport resource allocation and management
• Equitable transport operations and designs
• Transport investment strategies
• Other related topics

Important Dates
Submission of manuscripts: 31 January, 2014
Notification of final acceptance: 1 June, 2014

Special issue: "Knowledge and Intelligence in Distributed Systems"

International Journal of Bio-Inspired Computation 5(4) 2013

Includes expanded versions of papers presented at the 5th International Symposium on Intelligent Distributed Computing (IDC 2011).

• Users' attachment in trust networks: reputation vs. effort
• Modelling distributed network attacks with constraints
• Optimising the semantic web service composition process using bio-inspired methods
• Bootstrapping learning from abstract models in games

Additional Paper

• Route optimisation models and algorithms for hazardous materials transportation under different environments

Special issue: "Engineering Modelling and Imaging Technologies in Biomedical Research Fields"

International Journal of Computational Biology and Drug Design 6(3) 2013

• Transform-invariant feature based functional MR image registration and neural activity modelling
• Functional MR image statistical restoration for neural activity detection using hidden Markov tree model
• Effects of key parameters of impulse noise on prediction of the auditory hazard using AHAAH model
• A contrast enhancement filter for improving stent visibility in interventional X-ray fluoroscopy: an initial study
• Colony size optimisation in colony-based laser imaging for microbial source tracking
• Performance of chemical shift-based water-fat separation with self-calibrated fat spectrum is sensitive to echo times
• Breast tomosynthesis imaging configuration analysis
• Simulation of human renal system

Int. J. of Computational Vision and Robotics to publish expanded papers from ICCVR 2013

Expanded versions of papers presented at the International Conference on Computer Vision and Robotic (18 August 2013, Bhubaneswar, India) will be published by the International Journal of Computational Vision and Robotics.

Special issue: "The Internet of Things: Standard, Technology and Application"

International Journal of Ad Hoc and Ubiquitous Computing 13(3/4) 2013

• Performance analysis of contention access period of IEEE 802.15.3 MAC protocol
• Semantic interactions in the Internet of Things
• Energy-aware distributed scheduling for multimedia streaming over Internet of Things
• Enabling cyber-physical systems with machine-to-machine technologies
• A query-matching mechanism over out-of-order event stream in IOT
• Gatherer: an environmental monitoring application based on IPv6 using wireless sensor networks
• Intelligent context retrieval and management for services in the Internet of Things
• Secure and scalable mobility management scheme for the Internet of Things integration in the future internet architecture

Additional papers

• Minimum interference strong bidirectional topology for wireless sensor networks
• Performance analysis of epidemic routing in DTNs with limited forwarding times and selfish nodes
• Cross-layer lifetime maximisation in wireless multihop networks with network coding

An app leading the blind

A smartphone app could improve travel arrangements and safety for sufferers of the otherwise debilitating sight problem of night blindness.

A smartphone app that keeps track of your location and distance walked from home or hotel and warns you when you are likely to be caught out after dark has been developed by researchers in Pakistan to help sufferers of the debilitating disease night blindness. The app can also help travellers with the disease pinpoint hotels should they find themselves too far from base to get home safely.

The researchers describe details of the smartphone software in a forthcoming issue of the International Journal Mobile Learning and Organisation.

Kamran Ahsan, Obaid Khan and Abdul Salam of the Federal Urdu University of Arts, Science and Technology, in Karachi, explain how night blindness, nyctalopia, afflicts millions and may be present at birth as a genetic disease, arise in childhood through malnutrition or injury or be a symptom of numerous eye diseases. Sufferers find it difficult or impossible to see in low-light conditions and so can be very much at-risk if darkness falls while they are in a strange city or even in their home town. Of course, many people with nyctalopia never venture from their home environment because of their disability.

Ahsan and colleagues have now developed a smartphone app that could provide sufferers with a new vision of the world, allowing them to safely leave their home knowing that their phone is keeping track of their whereabouts and can calculate both the remaining daylight hours available and estimate how long it will take the person to reach their base before nightfall. The application is geo-aware and so knows the time of sunset around the world as well as having access to online mapping software which can offer the potentially vulnerable user with shortcuts back to their base. Moreover, it also has the added benefit of being able to locate nearby hotels should the user need to reach one before darkness falls.

The researchers have had a positive response from sufferers of night blindness who recognise that the smart phone app would be a boon to their lives not only in their hometown but when they travel to other cities.

“Assistive technology for night blindness: a mobile application approach” in Int. J. Mobile Learning and Organisation, 2013, 7, 140-157

An app leading the blind is a post from: David Bradley's Science Spot

via Science Spot http://sciencespot.co.uk/an-app-leading-the-blind.html