Humanity is creating huge amounts of data every day, billions of emails and social media updates, new websites, documents, images, and scientific and commercial big data amounting to petabytes of storage needs and beyond. It is well recognised that nucleic acids, the RNA and DNA that encode the proteins needed to build living things are seemingly quite efficient in storing information and so taking inspiration from this realm, a team from India writes in the International Journal of Nano and Biomaterials how extended nucleic acid memory (NAM) might be the future of data storage technology.
By comparison, a computer hard disk has an information storage capacity of 10 to the 13 bits of data per cubic centimetre, that’s about 1.25 terabytes. NAM has the potential to store a million times that amount in the same volume, 1,250,000 terabytes, or 1250 petabytes, 1.25 exabytes. If we consider the information contained in the “big four” of the internet – Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and Facebook – that is the sum of all the data they have storable in a single cubic centimetre of NAM.
Saptarshi Biswas of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, at the Meghnad Saha Institute of Technology, in Kolkata, India, and colleagues Subhrapratim Nath, Jamuna Kanta Sing, and Subir Kumar Sarkar of Jadavpur University have now developed a new encoding approach allowing them to talk of extended NAM. Their method efficiently maps binary data on to a hybrid system of standard as well as using non-standard genetic nucleotides (in addition to the familiar G, A, T, and C (guanosine, adenosine, thymine, and cytosine, of DNA) to achieve a higher data capacity. The natural pairing up of the GATC bases in DNA is what gives us the double-helix and allows information to be encoded for the production of proteins whether in a fungus, a bacterium, a rose, or a human being.
The team has added two new non-standard nucleotides, to give them additional pairings Ds-Px (thienylimidazopyridine and a nitropropynylpyrrole) and Im-Na (an imidazopyrimidine and a naphthyridine). These are very stable units to complement the pairings of A-T and C-G in a natural nucleic acid. They are also highly selective in such a molecule, specifically DNA. This could potentially take the hypothetical storage capacity of that single cubic centimetre of NAM to several times the 1.25 exabyte value mentioned above. Indeed, the team writes that extended RAM would have a capacity of more than 630 exabytes per gram of DNA, which assuming DNA has a density of 1.7 grams per cubic centimetre is more more than 370 exabytes per cubic centimetre of extended NAM. that’s almost 300 times the total information held by the big four of the internet today.
Biswas, S., Nath, S., Sing, J.K. and Sarkar, S.K. (2020) ‘Extended nucleic acid memory as the future of data storage technology’, Int. J. Nano and Biomaterials, Vol. 9, Nos. 1/2, pp.2–17.
29 May 2020
28 May 2020
Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Nano and Biomaterials
The following sample articles from the International Journal of Nano and Biomaterials are now available here for free:
- Theoretical study of anisotropic tunnelling conductance in iron-based orbitally ordered superconductors
- Development of self-assembled polygalacturonic acid-peptide composites and their interactions with mesenchymal stem cells for potential applications in tendon tissue engineering
- The theoretical study of the correlation between band filling and Coulomb interaction in the charge gap of graphene-on-substrate in paramagnetic limit
- The tight-binding model study of the role of electron occupancy on the ferromagnetic gap in graphene-on-substrate
- Microscopic study of the role of second nearest neighbour spin density wave coupling and electron hopping on superconducting gap
- Theoretical study of anisotropy in orbital and antiferromagnetic spin orderings in CMR manganites
- The study of thermal properties of f-electron systems in the ferromagnetic state
- Synthesis of high surface area boehmite and alumina by using walnut shell as template
Special issue published: "Impact of Nanotechnology on Devices for Integrated Circuits"
International Journal of Nano and Biomaterials 9(1/2) 2020
- Extended nucleic acid memory as the future of data storage technology
- Role of stress/strain mapping and random dopant fluctuation in advanced CMOS process technology nodes
- Strain engineering in AlGaN/GaN HEMTs for performance enhancement
- Controlled hardware architecture for fractal image compression
- All optical four bit two's complement generator and single bit comparator using reflective semiconductor optical amplifier
- Polysaccharide capped antibacterial silver nanoparticles synthesis using green chemistry
- Investigation on microstructures and phases of Fe-Ga alloy films deposited by magnetron sputtering
Research pick: The true cost of R&D - "How companies respond to growing research costs: cost control or value creation?"
An analysis of case studies of research and development intensive companies published in the International Journal of Technology Management reveals that companies do not necessarily perceive R&D as a cost, per se. The international team reports and assesses the different strategies companies can employ to respond to growing research costs. Because on the bottom line, R&D is a cost.
Their work shows that companies do see the expense of R&D as a secondary factor. “The main drivers of research investments are based on the expected value of innovations, risk and strategic competence development, and anticipating uncertainty concerning the kind of research that might be needed in the future,” the team writes.
Karl-Heinz Leitner of the Center for Innovation Systems and Policy, at the AIT Austrian Institute of Technology, in Vienna and the Center for Entrepreneurship and Applied Business Studies at the University of Graz, also in Austria, and colleagues in Italy, The Netherlands, and the USA, emphasise that while there is a large body of research literature on studying the different strategies that might be used to exploit R&D investments, researchers actually know little about the relative importance of controlling costs. Their analysis of case studies of European and US firms that are R&D intensive reveals much about how R&D costs are perceived.
They found that “value creation” is the predominant emphasis of R&D managers and cost does not appear to be a key factor in directing and managing R&D nor in their response to growing R&D costs. However, there is no binary decision to be made between cost control and value creation. They conclude that it is important for R&D managers to develop dynamic capabilities and business models that can adjust the company’s R&D agenda to the changing technological, market and regulatory environment.
Leitner, K-H., Poti, B.M., Wintjes, R.J.M. and Youtie, J. (2020) ‘How companies respond to growing research costs: cost control or value creation?’, Int. J. Technology Management, Vol. 82, No. 1, pp.1–25.
Their work shows that companies do see the expense of R&D as a secondary factor. “The main drivers of research investments are based on the expected value of innovations, risk and strategic competence development, and anticipating uncertainty concerning the kind of research that might be needed in the future,” the team writes.
Karl-Heinz Leitner of the Center for Innovation Systems and Policy, at the AIT Austrian Institute of Technology, in Vienna and the Center for Entrepreneurship and Applied Business Studies at the University of Graz, also in Austria, and colleagues in Italy, The Netherlands, and the USA, emphasise that while there is a large body of research literature on studying the different strategies that might be used to exploit R&D investments, researchers actually know little about the relative importance of controlling costs. Their analysis of case studies of European and US firms that are R&D intensive reveals much about how R&D costs are perceived.
They found that “value creation” is the predominant emphasis of R&D managers and cost does not appear to be a key factor in directing and managing R&D nor in their response to growing R&D costs. However, there is no binary decision to be made between cost control and value creation. They conclude that it is important for R&D managers to develop dynamic capabilities and business models that can adjust the company’s R&D agenda to the changing technological, market and regulatory environment.
Leitner, K-H., Poti, B.M., Wintjes, R.J.M. and Youtie, J. (2020) ‘How companies respond to growing research costs: cost control or value creation?’, Int. J. Technology Management, Vol. 82, No. 1, pp.1–25.
27 May 2020
Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Technology Management
The following sample articles from the International Journal of Technology Management are now available here for free:
- Corporate returns to subsidised R&D projects: direct grants vs. tax credit financing
- Investigating technological strategy and relevance of knowledge domains in R&D collaborations
- Citation impact of public and private funding on nanotechnology-related publications
- Are innovation resources and capabilities enough to make businesses sustainable? An empirical study of leading sustainable innovative firms
Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Computational Materials Science and Surface Engineering
The following sample articles from the International Journal of Computational Materials Science and Surface Engineering are now available here for free:
- Mathematical model and optimisation for tensile strength of human hair reinforced polyester composites
- Comparative study on effects of slurry erosive parameters on plasma sprayed flyash-Al2O3 and flyash-SiC composite coatings on Al6061 alloy
- Effect of Ni content and brazing temperature on the self-joining of ZrB2-SiC
- The simulation for ultrasonic testing based on frequency-phase coded excitation
- Numerical analysis of stress-induced and concentration-dependent carbon diffusion in low-temperature surface carburisation of 316L stainless steel
- Deformation control study on H-beam welded by a finite element model
- Latest developments in virtual casting of lightweight metals
Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Corporate Governance
The following sample articles from the International Journal of Corporate Governance are now available here for free:
- The nexus between effective corporate monitoring and CEO compensation
- Does corporate governance influence the working capital management of firms: evidence from India
- Corporate governance in India - battle of stakes
- Disclosures of unethical practices: framework for the promotion of whistle-blowing in Nigeria's corporate governance
Research pick: Tightening up facial biometrics - "Face spoof detection using feature map superposition and CNN"
Facial biometrics for security applications is an important modern technology. Unfortunately, there is the possibility of “spoofing” a person’s face to the sensor or detection system through the use of a photograph or even video presented to the security system. A team from China has now developed a counter-measure that could preclude face spoofing and make such biometric security systems far less prone to abuse. The team reports details in the International Journal of Computational Science and Engineering.
Fei Gu, Zhihua Xia, Jianwei Fei, Chengsheng Yuan, and Qiang Zhang of Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, explain how anti-spoofing technology usually looks to illumination differences, colour differences, or textures differences to spot issues with the presented face to determine whether or not the face is a photo or video rather than a live human in front of the security camera. However, even these approaches are vulnerable.
In order to make a stronger anti-spoofing system, the team has proposed a method based on various feature maps and convolution neural networks for photo and video replay attacks. They explain that facial contour and specularly reflected features are taken into account when verifying a face so that depth and width can be determined, aspects of a living face that are not present in a photograph. Their proof of principle shows remarkable performance against multiple datasets and shows that the method can defend not only photo attack, but also video replay attack with a very low error rate.
Gu, F., Xia, Z., Fei, J., Yuan, C. and Zhang, Q. (2020) ‘Face spoof detection using feature map superposition and CNN’, Int. J. Computational Science and Engineering, Vol. 22, Nos. 2/3, pp.355–363.
Fei Gu, Zhihua Xia, Jianwei Fei, Chengsheng Yuan, and Qiang Zhang of Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, explain how anti-spoofing technology usually looks to illumination differences, colour differences, or textures differences to spot issues with the presented face to determine whether or not the face is a photo or video rather than a live human in front of the security camera. However, even these approaches are vulnerable.
In order to make a stronger anti-spoofing system, the team has proposed a method based on various feature maps and convolution neural networks for photo and video replay attacks. They explain that facial contour and specularly reflected features are taken into account when verifying a face so that depth and width can be determined, aspects of a living face that are not present in a photograph. Their proof of principle shows remarkable performance against multiple datasets and shows that the method can defend not only photo attack, but also video replay attack with a very low error rate.
Gu, F., Xia, Z., Fei, J., Yuan, C. and Zhang, Q. (2020) ‘Face spoof detection using feature map superposition and CNN’, Int. J. Computational Science and Engineering, Vol. 22, Nos. 2/3, pp.355–363.
26 May 2020
Research pick: Negapedia - "To beat or not to beat: uncovering the world social battles with Wikipedia"
The rules surrounding information have changed with the ongoing development of the digital world. Information has become accessible to almost everyone around the world, any time of the day or night, at the touch of a mobile phone screen or the click of a mouse.
Writing in the International Journal of Big Data Intelligence, a team from Italy, reiterates this point and points out that at this stage in the evolution of those rules there are now a handful of central hubs providing almost all of the information that the vast majority of the population accesses: the major search engines, such as Google and Baidu, the big social media networks, Facebook and Twitters, and a few other repositories, such as Wikipedia and their more local equivalents in Russia, China, and other parts of the world that have certain barriers to globalization.
Massimo Marchior and Enrico Bonetti Vieno of the University of Padua, explain how a system like Wikipedia has many pros but also various cons. It has been enormously successful as a dynamic, online alternative to conventional encyclopedia. However, the distributed nature of its content, sources, and editors, also gives rise to some problems. Fundamentally, the team writes “everybody can contribute and so also manipulate information in a way that is practically invisible to the general public.”
They describe the “Negapedia” system, which is an online public service that offers a more complete picture of the underlying layers of Wikipedia. It involves big data analysis and the need to overcome information overload, but it also offers novel insights into the important issue of Wikipedia categorisation, analysing the problem of presenting general users with easy and meaningful category information. Negapedia can, the team reports, reveal the social turbulence that underlies much of the content and the editorial battles that take place, particularly surrounding controversial subjects, such as politics, religion, conspiracy theories, and activism and advocacy.
An additional point of interest that emerges from this study is the connection between controversial information and the level of interest in that subject matter. “We found out that there is in fact correlation between topics of high interest to users and conflict, thus showing that controversy seems to be tightly linked with popularity.” They add that perhaps one aspects drives the other. “To some extent, controversy (negativity) can be seen as a natural phenomenon arising from people interest,” they add.
Marchiori, M. and Vieno, E.B. (2020) ‘To beat or not to beat: uncovering the world social battles with Wikipedia’, Int. J. Big Data Intelligence, Vol. 7, No. 2, pp.110–125.
Writing in the International Journal of Big Data Intelligence, a team from Italy, reiterates this point and points out that at this stage in the evolution of those rules there are now a handful of central hubs providing almost all of the information that the vast majority of the population accesses: the major search engines, such as Google and Baidu, the big social media networks, Facebook and Twitters, and a few other repositories, such as Wikipedia and their more local equivalents in Russia, China, and other parts of the world that have certain barriers to globalization.
Massimo Marchior and Enrico Bonetti Vieno of the University of Padua, explain how a system like Wikipedia has many pros but also various cons. It has been enormously successful as a dynamic, online alternative to conventional encyclopedia. However, the distributed nature of its content, sources, and editors, also gives rise to some problems. Fundamentally, the team writes “everybody can contribute and so also manipulate information in a way that is practically invisible to the general public.”
They describe the “Negapedia” system, which is an online public service that offers a more complete picture of the underlying layers of Wikipedia. It involves big data analysis and the need to overcome information overload, but it also offers novel insights into the important issue of Wikipedia categorisation, analysing the problem of presenting general users with easy and meaningful category information. Negapedia can, the team reports, reveal the social turbulence that underlies much of the content and the editorial battles that take place, particularly surrounding controversial subjects, such as politics, religion, conspiracy theories, and activism and advocacy.
An additional point of interest that emerges from this study is the connection between controversial information and the level of interest in that subject matter. “We found out that there is in fact correlation between topics of high interest to users and conflict, thus showing that controversy seems to be tightly linked with popularity.” They add that perhaps one aspects drives the other. “To some extent, controversy (negativity) can be seen as a natural phenomenon arising from people interest,” they add.
Marchiori, M. and Vieno, E.B. (2020) ‘To beat or not to beat: uncovering the world social battles with Wikipedia’, Int. J. Big Data Intelligence, Vol. 7, No. 2, pp.110–125.
22 May 2020
Research pick: Cockle shells picked to treat dog cancer - "Targeted delivery of doxorubicin-loaded cockle shell-derived CaCO3 aragonite nanoparticles on dogs with solid tumours"
The calcium mineral from which many shellfish, such as cockles, make their shells can be used to form nanoparticles. These nanoparticles can then be “loaded” with small drug molecules, such as anticancer drugs.
Writing in the International Journal of Nanotechnology a team from Malaysia and Nigeria explains how nanoparticles made from the cockleshell material calcium carbonate aragonite can be used to carry the anticancer drug doxorubicin. These drug-loaded nanoparticles have been used to successfully treat dogs with solid tumours.
Treating solid tumours is problematic in cancer therapy because the malignant mass is often inaccessible to conventional anticancer drugs. High doses are needed to attack the tumour, but this comes at a price in terms of side-effects, such as damage to the heart with doxorubicin, for instance. Finding ways to target the tumour with the drug more directly would mean a lower dose could be used and still have the same effect but without the cardiotoxicity.
Cockle shell-derived calcium carbonate has been shown to have potential as a drug-delivery agent by using it to fabricate nanoparticles to carry the drug. The present team has now carried out a prospective single centre, non-blind open clinical trial of repeated doses of the nanocomposite on dogs with solid tumours in their bones over the course of fifteen weeks.
The team reports no major adverse effects and success was seen in treating bone cancer in the dogs with great improvement in the quality of life of the animals.
Danmaigoro, A., Selvarajah, G.T., Mohd Noor, M.H., Mahmud, R., Ahmed, H., Abubakar, M.Z. ‘Targeted delivery of doxorubicin-loaded cockle shell-derived CaCO3 aragonite nanoparticles on dogs with solid tumours’, Int.J.Nanotechnol., Vol 16, Nos. 11/12, pp. 730-749.
Writing in the International Journal of Nanotechnology a team from Malaysia and Nigeria explains how nanoparticles made from the cockleshell material calcium carbonate aragonite can be used to carry the anticancer drug doxorubicin. These drug-loaded nanoparticles have been used to successfully treat dogs with solid tumours.
Treating solid tumours is problematic in cancer therapy because the malignant mass is often inaccessible to conventional anticancer drugs. High doses are needed to attack the tumour, but this comes at a price in terms of side-effects, such as damage to the heart with doxorubicin, for instance. Finding ways to target the tumour with the drug more directly would mean a lower dose could be used and still have the same effect but without the cardiotoxicity.
Cockle shell-derived calcium carbonate has been shown to have potential as a drug-delivery agent by using it to fabricate nanoparticles to carry the drug. The present team has now carried out a prospective single centre, non-blind open clinical trial of repeated doses of the nanocomposite on dogs with solid tumours in their bones over the course of fifteen weeks.
The team reports no major adverse effects and success was seen in treating bone cancer in the dogs with great improvement in the quality of life of the animals.
Danmaigoro, A., Selvarajah, G.T., Mohd Noor, M.H., Mahmud, R., Ahmed, H., Abubakar, M.Z. ‘Targeted delivery of doxorubicin-loaded cockle shell-derived CaCO3 aragonite nanoparticles on dogs with solid tumours’, Int.J.Nanotechnol., Vol 16, Nos. 11/12, pp. 730-749.
21 May 2020
Special issue published: "2nd International Symposium on Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology (i-SAMN) 2018"
International Journal of Nanotechnology 16(11/12) 2019
- Stability enhancement of MWCNT/water nanofluids using PVA surfactant
- Mesoporous carbon film via spin coating soft templating method for supercapacitor electrode
- Effect of firing temperature on surface morphology of nanosized ferrite-based thick film with linseed oil as organic vehicle
- Utilisation of superheated steam in oil palm biomass pretreatment process for reduced chemical use and enhanced cellulose nanofibre production
- Effect of initial concentration of chitosan on the particle size of chitosan nanoparticle
- Gas sensing applications of multilayer graphene grown on Co-Ni/Al2O3 substrate by chemical vapour deposition
- Effect of sintering temperature and piezoelectric coefficient (d33) enhancement on rice husk silica ceramics with BaTiO3 addition
- Cure characteristics, mechanical properties and back face signature of ballistic rubber trauma pack
- Targeted delivery of doxorubicin-loaded cockle shell-derived CaCO3 aragonite nanoparticles on dogs with solid tumours
New Editor for International Journal of International Journal of Organisational Design and Engineering
Prof. Ali Sher from Yorkville University in Canada has been appointed to take over editorship of the International Journal of International Journal of Organisational Design and Engineering.
International Journal of Environmental Technology and Management to publish special issue with Sustaining Tomorrow 2020/2021
International Journal of Environmental Technology and Management will publish a special issue on "Mitigating Climate Change". The special issue will be based on a selection of expanded papers presented at the combined event for the Sustaining Tomorrow 2020 Symposium and Industry Summit (which was sadly cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic) and Mitigating Climate Change 2021 Symposium and Industry Summit, which is still set to go ahead at the University of Windsor, Canada, on 24-25 June, 2021.
Research pick: Is honey as sweet by another name? - "Will direct comparative advertising works for a leading brand? A study of the honey market"
Can direct advertising work for leading brands in an emerging market such as India. The question is answered with respect to the marketing of honey in the International Journal of Comparative Management.
R.K. Srivastava of the University of Mumbai and his team have measured the impact of direct comparative advertisements in eastern culture for honey, a low-involvement product (compared to something like a readymeal). The study used the Elaboration Likelihood Model to explain why Patanjali brand honey has been so much more successful than others and how religious belief and gender affect buying behaviour.
The paper explains that when a product or a brand is contrasted with another brand in an advertisement to show the other brand to be inferior, this is commonly referred to as comparative advertising. Of course, the advertisers tread a thin line between promoting their product as superior and defaming the rival manufacturers. Nevertheless, comparative advertising in the US has been shown to be more effective than standard advertisements in generating attention, message processing, brand awareness, favourable sponsor brand attitudes, and purchase intentions.
Of course, it is important for companies to know whether that relative success might apply in other markets, where gender, religion, class, and other factors may still play a potent role in nudging consumers to a particular brand and not another. Fundamentally, if comparative advertising is shown to be effective, then it might open market inroads for challenger brands in a marketplace essentially monopolised by the bigger players.
Having demonstrated that gender and religion can affect perception of honey brands, the team hopes to now extend their study to other demographic factors such as income, ethnicity, education, occupation, body weight, health condition, and habits and to other commodities.
Srivastava, R.K. (2020) ‘Will direct comparative advertising works for a leading brand? A study of the honey market’, Int. J. Comparative Management, Vol. 3, Nos. 1/2, pp.125–141.
R.K. Srivastava of the University of Mumbai and his team have measured the impact of direct comparative advertisements in eastern culture for honey, a low-involvement product (compared to something like a readymeal). The study used the Elaboration Likelihood Model to explain why Patanjali brand honey has been so much more successful than others and how religious belief and gender affect buying behaviour.
The paper explains that when a product or a brand is contrasted with another brand in an advertisement to show the other brand to be inferior, this is commonly referred to as comparative advertising. Of course, the advertisers tread a thin line between promoting their product as superior and defaming the rival manufacturers. Nevertheless, comparative advertising in the US has been shown to be more effective than standard advertisements in generating attention, message processing, brand awareness, favourable sponsor brand attitudes, and purchase intentions.
Of course, it is important for companies to know whether that relative success might apply in other markets, where gender, religion, class, and other factors may still play a potent role in nudging consumers to a particular brand and not another. Fundamentally, if comparative advertising is shown to be effective, then it might open market inroads for challenger brands in a marketplace essentially monopolised by the bigger players.
Having demonstrated that gender and religion can affect perception of honey brands, the team hopes to now extend their study to other demographic factors such as income, ethnicity, education, occupation, body weight, health condition, and habits and to other commodities.
Srivastava, R.K. (2020) ‘Will direct comparative advertising works for a leading brand? A study of the honey market’, Int. J. Comparative Management, Vol. 3, Nos. 1/2, pp.125–141.
20 May 2020
Special issue published: "Modelling, Simulation and Optimisation of Manufacturing and Production Processes"
International Journal of Simulation and Process Modelling 15(3) 2020
- Modelling and implementation of an intelligent stowage simulator for container ships
- An optimised steelmaking-continuous casting scheduling simulation system with unity 3D
- Bus manufacturing workshop scheduling method with routing buffer
- Test and effect analysis of hydraulic automatic pressure regulating water injection device in Shengli Oilfield
- A study of flexible flow shop scheduling problem with variable processing times based on improved bat algorithm
- Parameter co-evolution mechanism of particle swarm optimisation algorithm
- Simulations of COVID-19 spread by spatial agent-based model and ordinary differential equations
- Bed management considering bed-blocking and elective patient admissions using simulation optimisation
- Using traffic simulation to quantify performance improvement due to vehicular traffic reduction at a university campus
International Journal of Global Energy Issues to publish special issue with Sustaining Tomorrow 2020
International Journal of Global Energy Issues will publish a special issue on "Sustaining Tomorrow Globally". The special issue will be based on a selection of expanded papers that were to be presented at the Sustaining Tomorrow 2020 Symposium and Industry Summit. (The event was sadly cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic). The cancelled conference will be combined with the Mitigating Climate Change 2021 Symposium and Industry Summit, which is still set to go ahead at the University of Windsor, Canada, on 24-25 June, 2021.
Research pick: Gender in the boardroom - "The shape of female board representation"
Christina Öberg of the School of Business at Örebro University in Sweden has investigated the “shape” of female representation in the corporate boardroom. Her findings suggest that representation may not be the issue per se when it comes to gender equality at the highest level in management but rather how well “nested” female board members are and the perception of their roles and rank on the board and the effect of being on more than one board and how those connections are interlocked.
Writing in the International Journal of Comparative Management, Öberg has found that the power of women on boards varies with various different factors. Among those are the existence of few or many interlocks on the board, the number of representations held by the female board member, the fragmented or large network that the female board member is part of, and whether the network consists of direct or indirect links.
Öberg points out that the gender diversity debate has led to a new focus on the question of female board representation. In some countries, this focus has led to welcome legislation. The important point is that for too long representation on corporate boards has not reflected society’s gender composition nor looked to equality. This new work contributes to research on gender diversity by introducing relative power as an important concept related to interlocks on the board and to the shape of interlock networks. There are implications for ensuring that boards represent gender diversity and have equality and also for how directors might benefit from this and be guided by such research in the appointment of board members.
Öberg, C. (2020) ‘The shape of female board representation’, Int. J. Comparative Management, Vol. 3, Nos. 1/2, pp.53–72.
Writing in the International Journal of Comparative Management, Öberg has found that the power of women on boards varies with various different factors. Among those are the existence of few or many interlocks on the board, the number of representations held by the female board member, the fragmented or large network that the female board member is part of, and whether the network consists of direct or indirect links.
Öberg points out that the gender diversity debate has led to a new focus on the question of female board representation. In some countries, this focus has led to welcome legislation. The important point is that for too long representation on corporate boards has not reflected society’s gender composition nor looked to equality. This new work contributes to research on gender diversity by introducing relative power as an important concept related to interlocks on the board and to the shape of interlock networks. There are implications for ensuring that boards represent gender diversity and have equality and also for how directors might benefit from this and be guided by such research in the appointment of board members.
Öberg, C. (2020) ‘The shape of female board representation’, Int. J. Comparative Management, Vol. 3, Nos. 1/2, pp.53–72.
19 May 2020
Research pick: Modelling the spread of COVID-19 - "Simulations of COVID-19 spread by spatial agent-based model and ordinary differential equations"
New research suggests that a different approach to modelling the spread of the novel coronavirus that causes Covid-19, SARS-CoV-2, could be beneficial for developing new strategies for coping with the ongoing global pandemic. Details are reported in the International Journal of Simulation and Process Modelling.
Shan Bai of the Karlsruhe Institut für Technologie (KIT) in Germany has evaluated how well two approaches to epidemiological modelling – a system of first-order ordinary differential equations (ODEs) and spatial agent-based model (ABM) – work in the face of different interventions. She explains that specific intervention strategies are introduced and the effectiveness of the strategies can be assessed by comparing the results of the models with or without these strategies.
It is now relatively well-known that a proportion of people carrying the virus might have mild symptoms or be apparently asymptomatic but nevertheless shed viral particles in their bodily fluids, specifically saliva and mucus from the respiratory tract. These particles may enter the respiratory tract of other people through various physical mechanisms, such as exposure to a sneeze or cough from the infected party, simply being in close proximity and breathing the same air or touching surfaces that on which infectious droplets have landed followed by transfer from hand to face and thus the eyes, nose or mouth.
The joint mantras of stay socially distanced from other people, do not touch your face, and wash your hands thoroughly and frequently remain good advice in the face of this health crisis. Moreover, given the nature of Bai’s analysis of the situation, she says that “It is thus very important to assess the potential for sustained transmission, taking such infected people into account, in order to thoroughly understand the transmission dynamics of the infection and evaluate the effectiveness of control measures.” This is where solid epidemiological modelling comes into play especially as new knowledge about this emergent virus and the complex disease it causes is obtained.
The spatial ABM integrates several new features to the epidemic models compared to the ODEs-based model, Bai adds. “The implementation of spatial ABM brings novel features to the epidemics modelling: new states being easily incorporated; the parameter illustrating the moving willingness of people; and sub-models for hospital beds to reflect demands of medical resources,” Bai adds. The results suggest that the flexible nature of ABM make it a useful addition to the toolset of epidemic simulation models.
Bai, S. (2020) ‘Simulations of COVID-19 spread by spatial agent-based model and ordinary differential equations’, Int. J. Simulation and Process Modelling, Vol. 15, No. 3, pp.268–277.
Shan Bai of the Karlsruhe Institut für Technologie (KIT) in Germany has evaluated how well two approaches to epidemiological modelling – a system of first-order ordinary differential equations (ODEs) and spatial agent-based model (ABM) – work in the face of different interventions. She explains that specific intervention strategies are introduced and the effectiveness of the strategies can be assessed by comparing the results of the models with or without these strategies.
It is now relatively well-known that a proportion of people carrying the virus might have mild symptoms or be apparently asymptomatic but nevertheless shed viral particles in their bodily fluids, specifically saliva and mucus from the respiratory tract. These particles may enter the respiratory tract of other people through various physical mechanisms, such as exposure to a sneeze or cough from the infected party, simply being in close proximity and breathing the same air or touching surfaces that on which infectious droplets have landed followed by transfer from hand to face and thus the eyes, nose or mouth.
The joint mantras of stay socially distanced from other people, do not touch your face, and wash your hands thoroughly and frequently remain good advice in the face of this health crisis. Moreover, given the nature of Bai’s analysis of the situation, she says that “It is thus very important to assess the potential for sustained transmission, taking such infected people into account, in order to thoroughly understand the transmission dynamics of the infection and evaluate the effectiveness of control measures.” This is where solid epidemiological modelling comes into play especially as new knowledge about this emergent virus and the complex disease it causes is obtained.
The spatial ABM integrates several new features to the epidemic models compared to the ODEs-based model, Bai adds. “The implementation of spatial ABM brings novel features to the epidemics modelling: new states being easily incorporated; the parameter illustrating the moving willingness of people; and sub-models for hospital beds to reflect demands of medical resources,” Bai adds. The results suggest that the flexible nature of ABM make it a useful addition to the toolset of epidemic simulation models.
Bai, S. (2020) ‘Simulations of COVID-19 spread by spatial agent-based model and ordinary differential equations’, Int. J. Simulation and Process Modelling, Vol. 15, No. 3, pp.268–277.
15 May 2020
Research pick: Optimising emergency routes - "Deep characteristics analysis on travel time of emergency traffic"
Research published in the International Journal of Computational Science and Engineering, investigates how optimal routes might be calculated for emergency vehicles responding to a shout.
Jiao Yao, Yaxuan Dai,and Yiling Ni of the University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Jin Wang Changsha University of Science and Technology, both in China, and Jing Zhao of Delft University of Technology, in The Netherlands, look at this issue of queing traffic and how it impedes the movement of emergency vehicles.
The team lists the various types of vehicle they are considering: ambulances, natural disaster rescue vehicles, fire trucks, police vehicles, engineering rescue vehicles, municipal repair vehicles, traffic accident vehicle rescue equipment, evacuation vehicles, and emergency rescue vehicles. They point out that drivers of these vehicles cannot judge the optimal route in real-time as a situation develops and normal and additional traffic moves around the road systems they are attempting to circumnavigate.
The team has simulated three major situations that might unfold in an emergency situation and used a computer to devise a way to work out the more optimal routes that would allow the emergency vehicles to reach the scene quicker. In one situation, their approach gives a time saving of 22.2% but in another they can actually half the time in transit. They ultimately come to the conclusion the traffic lights used only in emergencies are essential to allow vehicles to breach the queues safely and reach the emergency in a timely manner.
Yao, J., Dai, Y., Ni, Y., Wang, J. and Zhao, J. (2020) ‘Deep characteristics analysis on travel time of emergency traffic’, Int. J. Computational Science and Engineering, Vol. 22, No. 1, pp.162–169.
Jiao Yao, Yaxuan Dai,and Yiling Ni of the University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Jin Wang Changsha University of Science and Technology, both in China, and Jing Zhao of Delft University of Technology, in The Netherlands, look at this issue of queing traffic and how it impedes the movement of emergency vehicles.
The team lists the various types of vehicle they are considering: ambulances, natural disaster rescue vehicles, fire trucks, police vehicles, engineering rescue vehicles, municipal repair vehicles, traffic accident vehicle rescue equipment, evacuation vehicles, and emergency rescue vehicles. They point out that drivers of these vehicles cannot judge the optimal route in real-time as a situation develops and normal and additional traffic moves around the road systems they are attempting to circumnavigate.
The team has simulated three major situations that might unfold in an emergency situation and used a computer to devise a way to work out the more optimal routes that would allow the emergency vehicles to reach the scene quicker. In one situation, their approach gives a time saving of 22.2% but in another they can actually half the time in transit. They ultimately come to the conclusion the traffic lights used only in emergencies are essential to allow vehicles to breach the queues safely and reach the emergency in a timely manner.
Yao, J., Dai, Y., Ni, Y., Wang, J. and Zhao, J. (2020) ‘Deep characteristics analysis on travel time of emergency traffic’, Int. J. Computational Science and Engineering, Vol. 22, No. 1, pp.162–169.
14 May 2020
International Journal of Embedded Systems to invite expanded papers from XI Argentine Congress of Embedded Systems (CASE 2020) for potential publication
Extended versions of papers presented at the XI Argentine Congress of Embedded Systems (CASE 2020) (24-26 August 2020) will be invited for review and potential publication by the International Journal of Embedded Systems.
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