Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Simulation and Process Modelling

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Simulation and Process Modelling are now available here for free:

• Coloured Petri net for modelling and improving emergency department based on the simulation model
• Simulation-based structural design of diesel generator mufflers and their performance analysis
• Modelling, simulation and resource optimisation of complex development project by fusion of multiple-domain matrix and coloured Petri nets methods
• Cogent: a coherence-driven cognitive agent modelling and experimentation framework
• The structure optimisation of hydraulic mechanical screw pump
• Swarm intelligent algorithm for re-entrant hybrid flow shop scheduling problems
• Stability-based model for evacuation system using agent-based social simulation and Monte Carlo method

Special issue published: "Theory, Methodology and Application of Modelling and Simulation"

International Journal of Simulation and Process Modelling 15(1/2) 2020

• Modelling and application of laparoscopic simulation system for panhysterectomy
• Seamless development in Java of distributed real-time systems using actors
• Research on NOx emission of coal-fired unit based on multi-model clustering ensemble
• Decision supporting for ship collision avoidance in restricted waters
• Simulation modelling and analysis of balance mechanisms of innovation search in innovation network
• Modelling and simulation of intelligent collision avoidance based on ship domain
• Validating trustworthy service composition through VIPLE and pi-calculus
• Two-sided M-Bayesian limits of credibility of reliability parameters in the case of zero-failure data and a case study
• Modelling of ship collision avoidance behaviours based on AIS data
• Fast fractal image retrieval algorithm based on HV partition
• Large-scale text classification with deeper and wider convolution neural network
• Real-time health status evaluation for electric power equipment based on cloud model
• A novel method of reactive voltage optimisation for photovoltaic systems
• XML-based DEVS modelling and simulation tracking
• Energy consumption models in dialysis clinics for agent-based decision support
• Optimisation of customer satisfaction index model for business hall of operator

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Behavioural and Healthcare Research

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

• Application of the analytical hierarchy process to optimisation of healthcare financing
• Elderly depression in senior care facilities: primary causes, effects, and mitigation
• Geophagic behaviour and factors influencing it among pregnant women: a case study of Nakuru Municipality, Kenya
• The role of EEG signal processing in detection of neurocognitive disorders
• Hospitals and war: medical departments and personnel

Research pick: Internet addiction and quality of life - "Neuroticism and quality of life: the mediating role of internet addiction"

Quality of life is an ancient concept dating back to at least Aristotle, although the philosopher equated a good life or doing tasks well with happiness, rather than what we refer to today as quality of life. There is much talk of mental health and wellbeing today and the purported problems of neuroticism and addictive behaviour. Nowhere does this seem to be more sharply in relief than when we talk of internet addiction and how this might be modulated by the neurotic type personality and be detrimental to quality of life.

Writing in the International Journal of Behavioural and Healthcare Research, a team from Iran discusses exactly how so-called internet addiction can have an effect on people of a neurotic disposition and their quality of life. Fundamentally, their study shows that neuroticism as a personality trait can lead to avoidance of everyday life as a coping mechanism and this is commonly manifest in dependency and addiction to the internet and perhaps more obviously online social media.

“Our results indicate that those [students] who score high in neuroticism are more prone to move towards addictive behaviour such as internet addiction,” the team writes. This corroborates earlier independent work and also resinforces the idea that neuroticism is usually accompanied by an avoidance of face to face communication with other people. The internet and online social media lend themselves heavily to this behaviour. The team adds that overuse of the technology required to engage with the internet – computers and mobile phones, for instance – often do not lend themselves to appropriate posture nor physical activity and in many cases lead to avoidable repetitive strain injury, all of which can have a negative impact on quality of life.

Khayyer, Z., Najinia, M.A. and Harandi, R.J. (2019) ‘Neuroticism and quality of life: the mediating role of internet addiction’, Int. J. Behavioural and Healthcare Research, Vol. 7, No. 1, pp.37–48.

Special issue published: "Qualitative and Quantitative Research in Management"

International Journal of Society Systems Science 12(1) 2020

• Psychosocial safety climate and burnout among academicians: the mediating role of work engagement
• Assessing recent pattern of gold price volatility in Malaysia (2005-2018)
• The impact of emotional intelligence on ambidextrous behaviours in small and medium enterprises in Malaysia
• Establishing the validity and reliability of Kuwait resources of nation branding model
• Development of an individual work performance and work design questionnaire
• The individual competencies and organisational ambidextrous: Indonesian SMEs perspective

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Society Systems Science

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

• Bayesian SEM analyses the cyber crime awareness in India
• Reliability and validity of the Rosenberg self-esteem scale among university students of Bangladesh
• A study on impact of students perceived service quality on brand performance of self-financing engineering institutions
• A simulation design for the regional lock-in effect of urbanisation in Taiwan

Special issue on: "Socio-Emotional Wealth and Entrepreneurial Performance of Family Firms"

International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business 40(1) 2020

• The influence of socio-emotional wealth on firm financial performance: evidence from small and medium privately held family businesses
• Unpacking socio-emotional wealth: exploring the origins of affective endowment in founder firms
• Socio-emotional wealth and innovativeness in Italian family firms: what happens when the leader is a latest-generation member?
• Values as antecedents of socio-emotional wealth behaviour in family firms
• Entrepreneurial orientation and innovation success in family firms
• Exploring the side effects of socio-emotional wealth. A multilevel analysis approach to the dysfunctional dynamics in family business succession

Research pick: No driving required - "Human or machine driving? Comparing autonomous with traditional vehicles value curves and motives to use a car"

Researchers from Brazil and France have undertaken a review of the value curves and motivations implicit in the choice between autonomous and traditional vehicles. Their findings suggest that self-driving cars will eventually become more and more widespread and as they do the concepts of affective attributes and symbolism associated with conventional driving will be usurped by instrumental attributes. Fabio Antonialli of the Universidade Federal de Lavras, in Lavras, Brazil, and colleagues provide details of their work in the World Review of Intermodal Transportation Research.

Although in some sense, autonomous vehicles remain something of a futuristic option, many vehicles already have cruise control, steering correction, emergency braking systems, and self-parking features. Autonomous vehicles, which are essentially robot vehicles are used in logistics and agriculture in many parts of the world. It is perhaps only a matter of time before a much greater proportion of road users are no longer drivers, but simply passengers in their vehicles. Autonomous vehicles will hopefully provide accessibility to transport for people in need, boost efficiency, reduce costs and time, improve comfort, and reduce road traffic accidents caused by errant driving.

The transition will occur when the attributes of traditional vehicles are no longer seen as essential and the functionality and features of autonomous vehicles displace those not only in the vehicles themselves but in the popular perception of driving and cars. It is likely that autonomous taxis are likely to represent the biggest wave of uptake and will represent a vast investment opportunity, the team suggests. There is “a massive growth opportunity for technology players or automakers that are able to piece together a successful autonomous strategy,” the team writes.

Antonialli, F., Cavazza, B.H., Gandia, R.M., Nicolaï, I., de Miranda Neto, A., Sugano, J.Y. and Zambalde, A.L. (2020) ‘Human or machine driving? Comparing autonomous with traditional vehicles value curves and motives to use a car’, World Review of Intermodal Transportation Research, Vol. 9, No. 2, pp.137–156.

Research pick: Blood supply security in a disaster - "Blood supply chain risks in disasters – a fault tree analysis approach"

When natural or other disaster strikes there is usually an enormous increase in demand for donated blood and blood products for those who have suffered serious injury. Writing in the International Journal of Modelling in Operations Management, a team from Iran has taken a fault-tree analysis approach to understanding risks to the chain of blood supply.

The study involves the design of a process map that shows the workflow of the blood supply chain visually from donation to distribution. This, then allows the team to look at the risks associated with each step and activity from donor to hospital. The researchers can then pluck out each significant risk and work out a probability of supply chain failure and so identify the most vulnerable parts of the process.

The blood supply chain has four main processes: blood collection, product processing, laboratory testing, and storage and distribution of blood products.

The team’s work could help eliminate certain serious risks while other risks might be mitigated rather than precluded and the process still function. “Proper planning and accurate prediction of the amount of required equipment at the time of disaster would decrease this risk and can control its impact on the blood supply chain,” the team adds. Ultimately, the risk will depend on the exact nature of the disaster in hand. But, anything that can be done to reduce the overall impact on human lives is welcome.

Abtahi, A-R., Zenouz, R.Y., Ghaderian, M-R. and Aghaie, A. (2019) ‘Blood supply chain risks in disasters – a fault tree analysis approach’, Int. J. Modelling in Operations Management, Vol. 7, No. 4, pp.269-283.

Free open access article available: "Psychological capital, task autonomy and innovative work behaviour among public organisation employees"

The following paper, "Psychological capital, task autonomy and innovative work behaviour among public organisation employees" (International Journal of Work Organisation and Emotion
 10(4) 2019), is freely available for download as an open access article.

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

First issue: International Journal of Big Data Management (free sample issue available)

Big data research has attracted considerable academic attention. However, simplifying the data management structure in order to generate optimum insights from large amounts of data is an ongoing management concern. In this context, the International Journal of Big Data Management encourages research at the intersection of strategic management and big data analytics to understand how large amounts of data could systematically and strategically be managed, in order to improve the practical implications of data for managerial decision making, along with socio-economic development.

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

Research pick: Food fighting climate change - "How to benefit from the food waste in the era of global warming?"

Humanity bounces from one crisis to another as history shows us. Food waste and climate change are perhaps part of the same crisis. Now, research published in the International Journal of Global Warming suggests that finding secondary uses for food waste might reduce the overall impact of this problem.

Mustafa Özilgen and colleagues at Yeditepe University, in Istanbul, Turkey, explain how the issue is a self-perpetuating problem: “Global warming increases the food waste; in return, the food waste causes further increase in global warming,” they say. Remedies that have been suggested at least for kitchen waste suggest that burning such waste instead of fossil fuels might help. The team has now used thermodynamic calculations to show that food waste from a fast food outlet after compression and drying to produce one tonne of waste could be used to generate 3.5 gigawatts.

They have estimated that all the fruit and vegetable waste in Turkey, including agricultural waste, could produce 7.2 gigajoules of energy each year. Of course, part of the problem of food waste is the plastic and paper packaging and some of this will be a component of the overall dried and compressed material from the food outlets.

“Our analysis indicates that trying to find a secondary use for food waste is not a feasible process, when compared with electric power production via combustion in a Rankine cycle with regeneration,” the team reports. There may well be niche secondary uses for normally inedible fruit peel, vegetable stems, and other unusable plant materials that do not simply involve burning them for energy, but thermodynamically we would benefit more from burning such food waste instead of fossil fuels.

Gökbulak, S.K., Nazir, S., Tunçel, S. and Özilgen, M. (2020) ‘How to benefit from the food waste in the era of global warming?’, Int. J. Global Warming, Vol. 20, No. 3, pp.216–236.

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Knowledge-Based Development

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Knowledge-Based Development are now available here for free:

• Knowledge creation in knowledge-intensive small and medium sized enterprises
• Application of the triple helix model in the revitalisation of cities: the case of Brazil
• Planning a global knowledge city: experience from Melbourne, Australia
• Areas of innovation in cities: the evolution of 22@Barcelona

Special issue published: "Social Innovation for Knowledge-Based Local Development"

International Journal of Knowledge-Based Development 11(1) 2020

• The role of social innovation for a knowledge-based local development: insights from the literature review
• Sharing cognitive, emotional and spiritual knowledge within smart and connected communities
• Implementing social innovation in real contexts
• Optional and necessary activities: operationalising Jan Gehl's analysis of urban space with Foursquare data
• A minimal viable process and tools for massive participation in urban development
• Knowledge-based social innovation for cultural endeavours revitalising urban structures

Research pick: Connecting Wi-Fi and 5G - "Traffic modelling of an integrated 5G/Wi-Fi network with generally distributed user-dwell times"

It is possible to integrate conventional wireless internet, Wi-Fi with the fifth generation of cellular mobile phone networks, so-called 5G. Writing in the International Journal of Wireless and Mobile Computing, a team from the USA discusses how Wi-Fi traffic can move flexibly between 5G cells and Wi-Fi cells. It does this through overflow, vertical handoff, horizontal handoff, and take-back operations, the team explains.

Shensheng Tang of St Cloud State University, in Minnesota, John O’Rourke of Altec Industries in Joseph, Missouri, and Grace Tang of Central High School, also in St. Joseph have proposed a traffic modelling method that allows for generally distributed user-dwell times.

“We consider an integrated wireless network using 5G cellular architecture as mobility support for Wi-Fi traffic and perform traffic modelling of the integrated architecture with generally distributed user-dwell times. In the integrated architecture, the Wi-Fi traffic takes on complete user mobility,” the team explains.

The researchers add that the same approach to quality assurance might also be extended to 5G integrated with other types of system, such as sensor networks, intelligent vehicle networks, and Internet of Things applications.

Tang, S., O’Rourke, J. and Tang, G. (2020) ‘Traffic modelling of an integrated 5G/Wi-Fi network with generally distributed user-dwell times’, Int. J. Wireless and Mobile Computing, Vol. 18, No. 3, pp.242–254.

Special issue published: "Advances in Intelligent Information Communication Technologies"

International Journal of Reasoning-based Intelligent Systems 12(2) 2020

• Onboard reasoning and other applications of the logic-based approach to the moving objects intelligent control
• Multi-criteria clustering-based recommendation using Mahalanobis distance
• Fast algorithm of image enhancement based on multi-scale retinex
• Exchanging deep knowledge for fault diagnosis using ontologies
• Multistage approach for automatic spleen segmentation in MRI sequences
• Classification of radar non-homogenous clutter based on statistical features using neural network
• Development of a sit-to-stand assistance chair for elderly people

Special issue published: "Innovative Ways to Enhance Learning Through Technology"

International Journal of Innovation and Learning 27(3) 2020

• Implementation of blended learning in a higher education institution in Albania: an analysis of factors that affect students' learning experience
• Investigating the effectiveness of vocabulary learning tasks from the perspective of the technique feature analysis: the effects of pictorial annotations
• Adaptive e-learning model for learning English as a second/foreign language
• Investigating the use of mobile instant messaging-facilitated 5E-flipped learning: a two-stage study
• The analysis of timeout behaviours in online tests
• Using immersive reality in training nursing students
• Supporting more engaged learning: the case for the 3D printer - a position paper

Special issue published: "Advanced Pattern Recognition and Soft Computing Paradigms"

International Journal of Advanced Intelligence Paradigms 16(1) 2020

• Fuzzy project scheduling with critical path including risk and resource constraints using linear programming
• Using a soft computing method for impedance modelling of Li-ion battery current
• Provide a new clustering scheme based on density to enhance energy efficiency in wireless sensor networks
• OMCM-CAS: organisational model and coordination mechanism for self-adaptation and self-organisation in collective adaptive systems
• The performance comparison of improved continuous mixed P-norm and other adaptive algorithms in sparse system identification
• Energy-aware traffic engineering in IP networks using non-dominated sorting genetic II algorithm
• A comparison of data mining methods for diagnosis and prognosis of heart disease

Research pick: Antibacterial biopolymer, just add silver - "Creation of composites of bacterial cellulose and silver nanoparticles: evaluation of antimicrobial activity and cytotoxicity"

A natural biopolymer, bacterial cellulose, is synthesised by the microbe Gluconacetobacter hansenii. Researchers are intrigued by its properties but one that it lacks in the native state is antibacterial activity and that is something could be useful for a wide range of healthcare and other applications, if only it could be engineered into this natural material.

Now, a team from Russia, has created a composite of bacterial cellulose with silver nanoparticles, which endows the biopolymer with the requisite antibacterial activity. The team describes details in the International Journal of Nanotechnology where they report on antimicrobial activity and cytotoxicity. Tatiana Gromovykh of the I.M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University is the corresponding and first-named author on the paper.

Metal-vapour synthesis was used to embedded nanoparticles of silver metal with diameters of between in 8 and 12 nanometres in the biopolymer. Biological testing showed the composite to be active against three important types of potentially pathogenic bacteria, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, and acid resistant Bacillus coagulans. It had no fungicidal effect against Aspergillus niger nor Candida albicans, however. The findings hint at applications as an antibacterial, but not antifungal, coating for medical devices.

However, additional tests in a different sphere showed that the same composite material had activity in reducing the viability of human melanoma cells and mesenchymal stem cells in laboratory cultures pointing to potential in a novel approach to treating tumours arising from skin cancer. The team suggests that a scaffold with an antitumour effect might one day be fabricated from their composite with this aim.

Gromovykh, T.I., Vasil’kov, A.Yu., Sadykova, V.S., Feldman, N.B., Demchenko, A.G., Lyundup, A.V., Butenko, I.E. and Lutsenko, S.V. (2019) ‘Creation of composites of bacterial cellulose and silver nanoparticles: evaluation of antimicrobial activity and cytotoxicity’, Int. J. Nanotechnol., Vol. 16, Nos. 6/7/8/9/10, pp.408–420.

Special issue published: "Shifting Goal Posts: Transformations in Emerging Markets"

International Journal of Public Sector Performance Management 6(2) 2020

• Sustainable development - goals and challenges ahead in developing countries
• An empirical study on the impact of corporate culture on Singapore-based companies when implementing international business strategy: a Singaporean perspective
• The mindful managers
• Gujarat's developmental trajectory: a comparative HDI study of Ahmedabad, Junagadh and Surat
• Addressing climate change - making the case for big data-based decision making framework
• Do business managers in Singapore consider sustainability a sustainable proposition - construing the perception to overcome challenges?
• Sensory marketing: an innovative marketing strategy to sustain in emerging markets
• Digital marketing: the opportunity and the imperative
• Business strategies during recession: retail sector
• Microfinance and its economic impact on farmers in Mohali district of Punjab
• Competitive advantage: intelligent way of doing business