Research pick: An easier life for the giant squid - "Thermodynamic assessment of information transmission in squid’s giant axon may explain why squid populations thrive with global warming"

A cold-blood marine animal, such as the giant squid, Architeuthis, might be one of the few beneficiaries of global warming. Given that its axonic activity is limited by the environmental temperature at which it finds itself, even small increases can lead to a reduction in entropy making living fundamentally easier for the squid, according to research published in the International Journal of Global Warming.

Bahar Hazal Yalçınkaya of the Department of Genetics and Bioengineering at Yeditepe University, in Istanbul, Turkey, Mustafa Özilgen of the Department of Food Engineering there, and Bayram Yılmaz of the Department of Physiology at Yeditepe University Hospital, also in Istanbul, point out that there are several types of creature that have been shown to thrive in the face of global warming. For instance, there is evidence that many pest species, weeds, and parasites fare better in the face of climate change. And, in the marine environment, it seems so do squid.

The team has looked at why this might be the case for the latter. Their thermodynamic analysis of information transmission in the squid giant axon, or nerve cell, shows a definitely lower increase in entropy when the environmental temperature rose. The team suggests this is reflected in an easier life for the squid at a higher temperature, offering an explanation as to why they might thrive under global warming conditions.

Yalçınkaya, B.H., Yılmaz, B. and Özilgen, M. (2019) ‘Thermodynamic assessment of information transmission in squid’s giant axon may explain why squid populations thrive with global warming’, Int. J. Global Warming, Vol. 19, No. 3, pp.233–250.

New Editor for International Journal of Chinese Culture and Management

Prof. Yu Xiong from Northumbria University in the UK has been appointed to take over editorship of the International Journal of Chinese Culture and Management.

Research pick: Self-optimising communication - "Design of an autonomic communication system"

A statistical approach could be used to allow a communication system to carry out self-optimisation, according to research published in the International Journal of Autonomous and Adaptive Communications Systems.

Jose Aguilar, Kristell Aguilar, and José Torres of the Universidad de Los Andes, in Mérida, Venezuela, have proposed an autonomic communication system based on a Bayesian network and an ontology, which allows the system itself to make reconfiguration decisions. The ontology provides the necessary knowledge about performance factors and the relationships within the network. The statistical system then adjusts factors within the system to optimise performance based on that knowledge, acting as a stochastic reasoning mechanism.

The team has demonstrated in simulations how their approach improves performance significantly particularly for scenarios where there are high reconfiguration requirements. The adaptive self-optimising approach improves flow rate, reduces loss rate, and minimises delay within the system.

Aguilar, J., Aguilar, K. and Torres, J. (2019) ‘Design of an autonomic communication system’, Int. J. Autonomous and Adaptive Communications Systems, Vol. 12, No. 4, pp.299–330.

Special issue published: "Intelligent Computing and Sustainable Systems"

International Journal of Computational Complexity and Intelligent Algorithms 1(2) 2019

• Scheming a new algorithm for dynamic price prediction of vegetable commodities using statistical price prediction technique
• Algorithm design, software simulation and mathematical modelling of subthreshold leakage current in CMOS circuits
• Improved low power implicit pulse triggered flip-flop with reduced power dissipation
• Big data analytics framework to analyse student's performance
• Layout detection using computer vision

Additional papers

• Complexity verification through design and analysis of computer experiments
• GIS-based design and analysis of preventive health management system for vehicles using ANFIS

International Journal of Bioinformatics Research and Applications to invite expanded papers from 1st International Applied Bioinformatics Conference for potential publication

Extended versions of papers presented at the 1st International Applied Bioinformatics Conference (1-3 October 2020, Istanbul University, Istanbul, Turkey) will be invited for review and potential publication by the International Journal of Bioinformatics Research and Applications.

Research pick: Improving eHealth from Australia to Germany - "Success factors for national eHealth strategies: a comparative analysis of the Australian and German eHealth system"

Researchers from Australia and Germany have compared the national eHealth strategies in their respective countries and the compared and contrasted findings are combined in their report in the International Journal of Networking and Virtual Organisations.

Isabella Eigner, Andreas Hamper, and Freimut Bodendorf of FAU Erlangen-Nuremberg, and Nilmini Wickramasinghe of Deakin University, Burwood, Victoria, explain how the healthcare systems of the two countries share many traits in insurance and management and how both nations have initiated strategies to utilise information and communications technology (ICT) in healthcare, so-called eHealth. The aim being to improve healthcare by using digital services and raising service efficiency, reducing costs, and most importantly improving and patient outcomes as a result.

The team points out that while Australia has focused on a platform-based approach, which was originally known as the “personally controlled electronic health record”, Germany has introduced a mandatory “electronic health card” for people with public health insurance. Their comparison of the effects of such steps in each country reveals the pros and cons of each approach in the context of two different nations, which might be used to improve the implementation of eHealth strategies elsewhere or offer the necessary detail to allow those already in place in Australia, Germany, and other countries to be improved.

Eigner, I., Hamper, A., Wickramasinghe, N. and Bodendorf, F. (2019) ‘Success factors for national eHealth strategies: a comparative analysis of the Australian and German eHealth system’, Int. J. Networking and Virtual Organisations, Vol. 21, No. 4, pp.399–424.

Special issue published: "Privacy-Preserving, Secure, Intelligent E-Government Services"

International Journal of Electronic Governance 11(3/4) 2019

• The Interslavic language as a tool for supporting e-democracy in Central and Eastern Europe
• Big data in political communication: implications for group privacy
• Transparency-enabling information systems: trust relations and privacy concerns in open governance
• Enhancing university students' privacy literacy through an educational intervention: a Greek case-study
• Anonymity in social networks: the case of anonymous social media
• Authenticated academic services through eIDAS
• Redefining freedom of speech in the digital environment from an EU law perspective

Special issue published: "Innovative Techniques in Bridge Condition Assessment and Identification Subjected to Moving Loads"

International Journal of Lifecycle Performance Engineering 3(3/4) 2019

• Uncertainty analysis of the subway vehicle-track coupling system with fuzzy variables
• Two-step method for bridge modal mass identification using synchronously measured bridge and vehicle dynamic responses
• Research on moving load identification based on measured acceleration and strain signals
• Estimation of bridge surface profile from moving vehicle accelerations by means of moving force identification - an experimental field study
• The application of drive-by bridge damage detection based on continuous SSMA to the field experimental data
• Safety evaluation method of composite girder cable-stayed bridge based on structural health monitoring system
• Significance of structural vibrations on the flow rates and pressures inside a silo during discharge

Research pick: Reviewing a sustainable global future - "Urban planning and sustainable cities"

A review of the state-of-the-art in urban planning for sustainable cities has been undertaken by Rosario Adapon Turvey of Lakehead Universit in Orillia, Ontario, Canada. Details are reported in the International Journal of the Sustainable Society and suggest that challenges and current perspectives discerned from the research literature might point the way towards a sustainable future based on a thorough understanding of the trends and developments taking place around the world.

“Recent intellectual inquiry has centred on the conceptualisation and knowledge production in creating sustainable cities,” Turvey explains, while pointing out that although the current review may not be exhaustive it does reveal the current progress. The ultimate goal, she writes, is to provide local authorities, practitioners and/or city governments with some perspective and guidance in working towards urban sustainability in the future.

Research into sustainability has grown considerably in the last few decades. Indeed, great rigour has emerged since the 1980s and the discipline is maturing quickly. “Sustainability has been taken as a planning concept that had its beginnings in ecological thinking and economics and now widely applied to studies in urban development,” she adds. Of course, by turns, it has been considered an oxymoron, overworked jargon, and hyperbole. Nevertheless, there is a pressing need to focus on sustainability if we are to surmount many of the problems of fuel and water supply, food security, and to address the problems we face as climate change becomes an increasingly pressing reality.

“As environmental concerns become part of development discourses, there is a need for optimism in the eventual refinement of the process to create ‘sustainable cities’ in the future,” Turvey concludes.

Turvey, R.A. (2019) ‘Urban planning and sustainable cities’, Int. J. Sustainable Society, Vol. 11, No. 3, pp.139–161.

New Editor for International Journal of Electronic Healthcare

Associate Prof. James Ma from the University of Colorado in the USA has been appointed to take over editorship of the International Journal of Electronic Healthcare.

Research pick: Ant-based troll detection - "Detection of threatening user accounts on Twitter social media database"

Uncovering trolls and malicious or spammy accounts on social media is increasingly difficult as the miscreants find more and more ways to camouflage themselves as seemingly legitimate. Writing in the International Journal of Intelligent Engineering Informatics, researchers in India have developed an algorithm based on ant-colony optimisation that can effectively detect accounts that represent a threat to normal users.

Asha Kumari and Balkishan Department of Computer Science and Applications at Maharshi Dayanand University, in Rohtak, India, explain that the connections between twitter users are analogous to the pheromone chemical communication between ants and this can be modeled in an algorithm based on how ant colonies behave to reveal the strongest connections in the twitter network and so uncover the accounts that one might deem as threatening to legitimate users.

The team’s tests on their system were successful in terms of precision, recall, f-measure, true-positive rate, and false-positive rate based on 26 features examined by the system played against almost 41500 user accounts attracted to honeypots. Moreover, they report that the approach is superior to existing techniques. The team adds that they hope to be able to improve the system still further by adding so-called machine learning into the algorithm so that it can be trained to better identify threatening accounts based on data from known threats and legitimate accounts.

Kumari, A. and Balkishan (2019) ‘Detection of threatening user accounts on Twitter social media database’, Int. J. Intelligent Engineering Informatics, Vol. 7, No. 5, pp.457–489.

Research pick: Mass customisation - "Willingness to pay and wait for mass customised products"

Are customers willing to pay more for mass customised products? That is the question a research team in Australia hoped to answer in the latest issue of the International Journal of Mass Customisation

Hassan Kalantari of the Department of Science, Engineering and Technology and Lester Johnson of the Department of Management and Marketing at Swinburne University of Technology in Hawthorn, Victoria worked together on the conundrum. The team carried out a conjoint analysis, a market research technique, to see whether there is a trade-off between price, delivery waiting time , type of customisation in the niche market of walking stick sales in Australia. The market may well be niche, but it is large, and moreover, the team suggests that their approach could easily be used to study other mass markets that offer customization of products.

The work hinges on the gradual change that manufacturers have seen in many areas of sales where customers are no longer happy to accept the off-the-shelf products being offered but hope to have bespoke products tailored to their exacting requirements. It is inevitable that without the economies of scale that mass production provides, companies will be forced to charge more for their products, but will customers be willing to pay more?

The team found that customers are indeed willing to pay more for a customised product but are often also willing to wait longer for delivery provided they receive a discount on the price.

Kalantari, H.D. and Johnson, L.W. (2019) ‘Willingness to pay and wait for mass customised products’, Int. J. Mass Customisation, Vol. 5, No. 2, pp.111–129.

Special issue published: "Advances and Challenges of Soft Computing in Data Mining"

International Journal of Computational Systems Engineering 5(5/6) 2019

• A framework for ensemble classification and sensitivity analysis in privacy preserving data mining
• Feed forwarded CT image registration for tumour and cyst detection using rigid transformation with HSV colour segmentation
• A novel relaying approach of combined discrete wavelet transform and artificial neural network-based relaying scheme in a unified power flow controller integrated wind fed transmission line
• Empirical validation of object-oriented metrics on cross-projects with different severity levels
• Inverse kinematic solution of 6-DOF industrial robot using nero-fuzzy technology
• A phase entropy based novel machine learning structure conditioned for classifying ictal and non-ictal signal aimed at proper clinical diagnosis

International Journal of Business Competition and Growth to invite expanded papers from International Conference on Industry 4.0 for potential publication

Extended versions of papers presented at the International Conference on Industry 4.0: Impact of Technology on Business Environment (6 January 2020, Delhi Institute of Advanced Studies, New Delhi, India) will be invited for review and potential publication by the International Journal of Business Competition and Growth.

Special issue published: "Health as the Determining Factor to Sustainable Mobility"

International Journal of Sustainable Society 11(2) 2019

• How to improve the interaction between cyclists and truck drivers
• Associations between perceptions of road safety and active travel for school children and their parents - a health needs assessment
• Improving walkability in Catalonia through a participatory and empowerment model
• Visual perception of speed in drivers with ADHD

Research pick: Water watchdog - "Watch dog system for water management"

Using the Internet of Things for water security – A cluster of internet-enabled devices, including a water-flow sensor, pH sensor, ultrasonic sensor and “PIC” microcontroller, can be used together as a watchdog system for water quality, thanks to work by a team in India who describe details of the system in International Journal of Environment and Waste Management.

R. Jothikumar of Shadan College of Engineering and Technology, in Hyderabad, G. SivaShanmugam of VIT in Tamil Nadu, and S. Susi Department of Shadan Women’s College of Engineering and Technology, also in Hyderabad, explain the growing pressures on water with rising global population, climate change, and increasing pollution. They point out that an Internet of Things (IoT) approach to water quality control could be the answer to many of the problems we face concerning drinking-water supply and ensuring people have security of this vital resource.

The simple and low-cost system being developed by the team makes water quality assessment and water security widely available without the need for sophisticated technical knowledge. It can facilitate planned water management as well as allowing sources to be assigned to particular outlets depending on demand without compromising the quality of supply for any users. The team also points out that implemented across the globe such an approach would allow monitoring of ponds, lakes, and rivers, as well as water utility facilities and so, might allow us to manage waterways and water sources better for wildlife and ecosystems.

Jothikumar, R., SivaShanmugam, G. and Susi, S. (2019) ‘Watch dog system for water management’, Int. J. Environment and Waste Management, Vol. 24, No. 4, pp.396–404.

Special issue published: "Data-Driven Modelling and Intelligent Computation"

International Journal of Modelling, Identification and Control 32(3/4) 2019

• Parameter estimation algorithm for d-step time delay systems
• Sensor fault signal reconstruction based on sliding mode observer for flight control systems
• The gradient and the Newton iterative modelling methods for an operational amplifier circuit
• Steady flight of miniature fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicle flocking by using biological algorithm
• Modelling arterial blood pressure waveforms for extreme bradycardia and tachycardia by curve fitting with Gaussian functions
• Research on reconfigurable control for a hovering PVTOL aircraft
• Intelligent detection method for tapping omitting of internal thread based on computer vision
• Online soft sensing method based on improved weighted Gaussian model
• Recursive least squares algorithm and stochastic gradient algorithm for feedback nonlinear equation-error systems
• A modified model decomposition identification for bilinear-in-parameter systems
• Multi-mode process monitoring based on multi-block information extraction PCA method with local neighbourhood standardisation
• Multi-innovation parameter and state estimation for multivariable state space systems
• The investigation of an improved ultrasonic tomography reconstruction method for bubble particle identification
• Research on passivity-based control strategy of three-phase current source inverter based on interconnection and damping assignment
• Human behaviour recognition algorithm based on improved DMM and Fisher coding

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Decision Support Systems

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

• Service quality assessment in retail industry: some evidence from supermarkets in Greece
• A tradeoff analysis between socio-economic efficiency and environmental performance of irrigated agriculture
• An intelligent decision support system for managing natural and man-made disasters
• A multi-criteria-based ranking of Greek construction companies listed in Athens Stock Exchange using investment ratios
• Decision support systems and strategic planning: information technology and SMEs' performance
• Development of a decision support tool for analysing the avian conservation measures in semi-arid region
• An agent-based model to explore urban policies, pedestrian behaviour and walkability

Special issue published: "Applications of Hybrid Bio Inspired Algorithms"

International Journal of Computational Intelligence Studies 8(4) 2019

• Fuzzy knowledge-based fractional order PID control implementation with nature inspired algorithms
• Stock price trend prediction with long short-term memory neural networks
• Prediction of air pollution using LSTM-based recurrent neural networks
• Human activity recognition from histogram of spatiotemporal depth features

Research pick: The shadowy world of information technology - "The growing impact of Shadow IT on higher education"

Educational institutions such as universities have for years battled against the rise of “Shadow” Information Technology, software and hardware that their users, whether student or educator, might bring to the establishment and us in conjunction with or instead of on-site equipment controlled by the IT department at the institution.

This shadowy world is a double-edged sword for the institution. On one hand, it means that staff and students can use the equipment and software with which they are familiar to fulfill their respective roles, but on the other, the institution’s IT department has no control on such hardware and software which might represent a security and/or safety risk to other users and the services the IT department provides.

Owen Hall of Pepperdine University in Malibu, California, USA, writing in the International Journal of Information Systems and Management, explains the quandary facing educational establishments and offers a hybrid view that allows user and establishment to utilize Shadow IT, such as personal laptops, tablets, and smartphones and associated software and applications without compromising safety and security. Indeed, such an ameliorating approach might ultimately benefit the institution by reducing the overall burden on IT resources provided the risks are acknowledged and taken into consideration in allowing users to work in the shadows, as it were.

He concludes that constant vigilance and awareness are key to success with such a hybrid approach to IT use but conversely represent the greatest challenge. Moreover, it is critical to educate end-users to the putative problems of their using shadow IT and to demonstrate how resources provided by the university information systems organization might be just as useful to them in their endeavours within the academic world.

Hall Jr., O.P. (2019) ‘The growing impact of Shadow IT on higher education’, Int. J. Information Systems and Management, Vol. 2, No. 1, pp.1–16.