Inderscience journals to invite expanded papers from 2nd Nordic International Business, Export Marketing and Tourism Conference 2020 for potential publication

Extended versions of papers presented at the 2nd Nordic International Business, Export Marketing and Tourism Conference 2020 (7-8 November 2020, online event (via Zoom)) will be invited for review and potential publication by the following journals:

• International Journal of Export Marketing
• Nordic Journal of Tourism

Special issue published: "Biomedical Applications of Nanotechnology"

International Journal of Nanotechnology 17(2/3/4/5/6) 2020

• Advanced nursing recovery therapy in the field of nanotechnology based on tetracycline hydrochloride type drugs
• Study on the safety of efficacy analysis of common personal care products based on nanotechnology innovation
• Research on healthcare and external medicine based on nano biochip technology
• Treatment and research of skin healthcare based on nanosilver ion material technology
• Study on tumour health examination nursing screening based on nanometre probe technology
• Preparation of chitin carbon nanotubes composites and their study on cellular nerve signal transmission and nerve regeneration
• Molecular mechanics of skeletal muscle biomechanics and its application in human lower limb active rehabilitation
• Application of SERS active substrate prepared by nanotechnology in ophthalmic care
• The effect of nanoligament combined with sports rehabilitation training on the treatment of patients with ligament injury
• Nanominerals and their environmental effects
• Discovery of nanoscale dissolution structure of monoclinic pyrite in jadeite quartzite from mesoscopic perspective
• Effect of nano-ligament combined with sports rehabilitation training on the treatment effect of ligament injury patients
• Graphene-based nanomaterials combined with early exercise rehabilitation training in the treatment of patients with infectious bone defects
• Preparation of optically functional nanofibres and their optical properties under electrospinning technology
• Preparation of nanofibre material based on electrospinning technology and its application in rehabilitation of lower limb joint motion
• Application research of nanovideo creation technology in modern art
• Application of nanopigment watercolour fine art in painting
• Application of environmentally friendly nanomaterials based on nitrogen oxide catalytic purification of automobile exhaust
• Study on the application of nanotube combined exercise rehabilitation therapy in the treatment of knee arthritis patients
• Effect of nanoligament combined with sports rehabilitation training on the treatment of patients with ligament injury
• Damage analysis of nano-flexible solid wood composite environmental protection floor on basketball players during training
• Application and biosafety of nano-copper in sports engineering
• Application of Bi2Te3 nanomaterial-modified fabric sensors in dance training
• Application of nanomagnetic bead-based DEHP detection and Doppler ultrasound in diagnosis of prenatal foetal malformations

Special issue published: "Innovation and Sustainability to Compete in the International Arena. What are the Key Success Drivers in the Wine Industry?" [includes free Open Access article]

International Journal of Globalisation and Small Business 11(4) 2020

• The process of succession and its impact on sustainability: an empirical study within family wineries in Cyprus
• Economic sustainability of quality wine districts in the South of Italy. The case of Vulture
• Digital marketing strategies in the Italian wine sector
• The impact of foreign capital on profitability: the case of Portuguese manufacturing SMEs

New Editor for International Journal of Built Environment and Asset Management

Dr. Jian Sun from Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the USA has been appointed to take over editorship of the International Journal of Built Environment and Asset Management.

Research pick: Sustaining the bright sparks - "Keeping the spark alive: preventing burnout at work while increasing work engagement"

Ambitious, talented, and diligent employees can suffer from burnout in any workplace. Their enthusiasm and energy can wane. Keeping the spark alive is, to a degree, the job of management hoping to retain such workers, ensure good mental health among their staff, and avoid the kind of problems that can ultimately lead to failure within or even across an organisation.

Organisations rely on the enthusiasm and engagement of their workforce for success. This puts a lot of pressure on leaders to retain talented employees and to develop this talent in new ways to encourage them to achieve the organisation’s business growth objectives. Unfortunately, recent research suggests that the spark has died a little in many organisation as employees feel increasingly burned out and disengaged from their work. This is nowhere truer than in the healthcare industry.

Writing in the International Journal of Management Practice, a team from Turkey discusses how this spark might be sustained through improved employee engagement with their work. Uğur Yozgat of Nisantasi University in İstanbul, Turkey and colleague Elif Bilginoğlu, discuss how potent leadership within an organization can light the spark in workers. The researchers also point out that the same sparking leaders can be there to help employee burnout and improve staff retention.

The team sees several practical implications of their research. Fundamentally, they say, it is the sparking leaders within an organization who must generate the energy and ignite the enthusiasm in their subordinates and so boost engagement, reduce burnout, bolster organizational morale for the mutual benefit of employees and employer.

Bilginoğlu, E. and Yozgat, U. (2020) ‘Keeping the spark alive: preventing burnout at work while increasing work engagement’, Int. J. Management Practice, Vol. 13, No. 6, pp.698–712.

International Journal of Financial Innovation in Banking to invite expanded papers from International Conference "New Challenges in the Banking System: the Role of Distributed Ledger Technology" for potential publication

Extended versions of papers presented at the International Conference "New Challenges in the Banking System: the Role of Distributed Ledger Technology" (16-18 December 2020, International Virtual Conference organised by The Sapienza University of Rome) will be invited for review and potential publication by the International Journal of Financial Innovation in Banking.

Special issue published: "Biomedical Applications of Nanotechnology"

International Journal of Nanotechnology 17(2/3/4/5/6) 2020

• Advanced nursing recovery therapy in the field of nanotechnology based on tetracycline hydrochloride type drugs
• Study on the safety of efficacy analysis of common personal care products based on nanotechnology innovation
• Research on healthcare and external medicine based on nano biochip technology
• Treatment and research of skin healthcare based on nanosilver ion material technology
• Study on tumour health examination nursing screening based on nanometre probe technology
• Preparation of chitin carbon nanotubes composites and their study on cellular nerve signal transmission and nerve regeneration
• Molecular mechanics of skeletal muscle biomechanics and its application in human lower limb active rehabilitation
• Application of SERS active substrate prepared by nanotechnology in ophthalmic care
• The effect of nanoligament combined with sports rehabilitation training on the treatment of patients with ligament injury
• Nanominerals and their environmental effects
• Discovery of nanoscale dissolution structure of monoclinic pyrite in jadeite quartzite from mesoscopic perspective
• Effect of nano-ligament combined with sports rehabilitation training on the treatment effect of ligament injury patients
• Graphene-based nanomaterials combined with early exercise rehabilitation training in the treatment of patients with infectious bone defects
• Preparation of optically functional nanofibres and their optical properties under electrospinning technology
• Application research of nanovideo creation technology in modern art
• Application of nanopigment watercolour fine art in painting
• Application of environmentally friendly nanomaterials based on nitrogen oxide catalytic purification of automobile exhaust
• Study on the application of nanotube combined exercise rehabilitation therapy in the treatment of knee arthritis patients
• Effect of nanoligament combined with sports rehabilitation training on the treatment of patients with ligament injury
• Damage analysis of nano-flexible solid wood composite environmental protection floor on basketball players during training
• Application and biosafety of nano-copper in sports engineering
• Application of Bi2Te3 nanomaterial-modified fabric sensors in dance training
• Application of nanomagnetic bead-based DEHP detection and Doppler ultrasound in diagnosis of prenatal foetal malformations

Research pick: Monitoring waterlogging - "Urban waterlogging monitoring and early warning based on video images"

Video monitoring of the degree to which roads in the urban environment become waterlogged during periods of enduring, heavy rain, could be used as an early warning for imminent flooding, according to new research published in the International Journal of Embedded Systems.

Fengchang Xue, Juan Tian, and Xiaoyi of the Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology and Yan Yan of the Meteorological Bureau of Liangyuan District in Shangqiu, China, explain that flood disasters cannot be predicted in a timely manner simply using conventional remote sensing imagery. They suggest that real-time monitoring of predictive markers such as the degree to which the land in a given urban environment is becoming waterlogged would allow a more sophisticated approach to flood prediction to be taken.

The team has employed an image difference operation and support vector machine (SVM) algorithm to help them develop a continuous monitoring and early warning system for flooding. This could be used to save lives in the face of a significant flood as well as helping reduce damage to buildings and other infrastructure. The team adds that most towns and cities already have video surveillance for crime prevention in place at street corners and on roads. The video feed from these systems of closed-circuit television (CCTV) could be adapted readily for monitoring of waterlogging.

Xue, F., Tian, J., Song, X. and Yan, Y. (2020) ‘Urban waterlogging monitoring and early warning based on video images’, Int. J. Embedded Systems, Vol. 13, No. 4, pp.380–386.

Special issue published: "Mobile Networks and Information Systems Security"

International Journal of Internet Technology and Secured Transactions 10(6) 2020

• Assessing node mobility impact on routing performances in MANETs
• A scatter search algorithm to configure service function chaining
• Enhancing multipath routing using an efficient multicriteria sorting technique
• Towards an agent-based framework for urban traffic congestion management

Additional papers

• Efficient and secured information transfer for congestion avoidance and collision detection in vehicular ad hoc networks (V2V) methodology
• New hybrid framework to detect phishing web pages, based on rules and variant selection of features
• Parallel visible light communication system using video camera and LED for communicating and indoor positioning

Special issue published: "Knowledge Sharing to Ensure Sustainable and Competitive Business Models in the Agri-Food Industry"

Journal for Global Business Advancement 13(2) 2020

• Communities of practice and value co-creation: the motivational engagement system of the Italian consortia
• Investigating the role of community of practice for sharing knowledge in agriculture sector
• The relationship between strategic orientation, the degree of innovation and the financial efficiency in the food industry
• The practices of small and medium-sized agricultural businesses affecting sustainability and food security
• The dynamics of Italian competitive positioning in the Mediterranean Bluefin tuna industry
• Market structure and supply chain strategies in the global agricultural commodity industry: a comparison between EU and USA

Research pick: Finding phish faster - "New hybrid framework to detect phishing web pages, based on rules and variant selection of features"

A new approach to detecting malicious websites, known as phishing sites, is revealed in the International Journal of Internet Technology and Secured Transactions.

Phishing sites can steal personal information such as logins and bank details, breach your privacy, and even enlist your computer and other internet devices into networks of computers to perpetuate themselves or other malware. Links to phishing sites and pages are often embedded in emails and other communications and disguised as legitimate messages from a trusted source, such as one’s bank, utility provider, shop, or other business or organization. They are often very well disguised and even experienced users are occasionally hooked and suckered into clicking such links. Other phishing attacks might exploit hacked websites, banner ads, and even a user misspelling a legitimate website address.

Now, Youness Mourtaji and Mohammed Bouhorma of The University of Abdelmalek Essaadi, in Tangier, Morocco, and Daniyal Alghazzawi of the King Abdulaziz University, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, have adopted a hybrid framework that allows them to detect a phishing site or page. A positive detection would then be used to block the link before the user is duped into following the link in their application and their data and connection being compromised.

The team’s tests and comparisons with other approaches show over 99 percent accuracy with the hybrid approach that utilizes both a static and a dynamic detection process. This compares to just over 80 percent accuracy with the static or dynamic processes running alone. The process is a lot faster than at least two well-known antivirus packages that have built-in phishing protection.

Mourtaji, Y., Bouhorma, M. and Alghazzawi, D. (2020) ‘New hybrid framework to detect phishing web pages, based on rules and variant selection of features’, Int. J. Internet Technology and Secured Transactions, Vol. 10, No. 6, pp.740–757.

Special issue published: "Sustainability Practices Among SMEs in Emerging Economies"

World Review of Entrepreneurship, Management and Sustainable Development 16(5) 2020

• Towards a sustainable agenda: enhancing green entrepreneurship image among manufacturing SMEs
• Internal stakeholders' perspective on lean energy and environmental sustainability: the case of Notre Dame University - Louaize
• Does going green really pay off? A sustainability performance view
• The role of CSR oriented organisational culture in eco-innovation practices
• Examining the push factors for adoption of automation in a Malaysian manufacturing SME

Special issue published: "Managing Financial and Investment Opportunities in Emerging Markets"

Afro-Asian Journal of Finance and Accounting 10(4) 2020

• The effect of audit committee characteristics on earnings management: the case of Indonesia
• Relationship between debt maturity and IPO: the case of Indonesian firms
• Investigation on leveraging effect of women directors on board to R&D investment and firms' financial performance in the context of developing countries: evidence from Indonesia
• Should Indonesia adopt a basket currency regime?

Additional papers

• Macroprudential policy and financing behaviour in emerging markets: bank-level evidence from Indonesian dual banking
• Day of the week effect anomaly in Dhaka Stock Exchange post crisis period: evidence from Bangladesh capital market
• Analysing the stability of bankruptcy prediction models
• The effect of dividend payouts on future earnings
• Operating performance and earnings management in Egypt

Special issue published: "Sustainable Computing and Wireless Networks"

International Journal of Networking and Virtual Organisations 23(4) 2020

• Improving the dissemination of messages in MANETs through an optimal carrier
• Robust intrusion detection system based on fuzzy C means clustering scheme implemented in IoT-based wireless sensor networks
• Design and investigations of novel compact RSS antenna for ultra-wide band applications
• An improved vertical handoff decision based on the modular neural network with fuzzy logic for wireless heterogeneous network
• A novel adaptive fuzzy-based sliding mode control for channel state estimation in cognitive radio for reduction of interference
• Non-orthogonal filter bank multi carrier systems with higher overlap factor filters for 5G communications and beyond
• Filter-based optimal transmission path scheduling in MIMO LTE and LTE-A networks

Research pick: Science key to economic resilience after Covid - "Investing in innovative and productive capabilities for resilient economies in a post-COVID-19 world"

The global economic situation in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic is becoming one of the deepest social crises the world has ever experienced. In the International Journal of Technological Learning, Innovation and Development, researchers discuss how technology and innovation might be used to make the society and the economy resilient to the trauma.

Fernando Santiago of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization UNIDO) in Vienna, Austria, and colleagues suggest that the lessons of history must be learned and now is the time to advocate coordination, cooperation, and investment in science, technology, productive and innovative capabilities. These are all the essential strategic ingredients for facing the problem and building resilience, they suggest. This is especially the case for developing nations, the team adds. Comprehensive and coordinated policies are critical to our response in those countries as with the wider world.

The team writes that “The COVID-19 pandemic is punishing countries that have failed to invest adequately in healthcare systems, particularly issues related to governance, infrastructure, human resources and research.” They add that “As economies begin to reopen, governments should ensure that recovery plans focus more on vital public health structures and how these are supported. This means coming up with innovative solutions and redesigning global supply chains to improve their resilience and transform health challenges into longer-term industrial development opportunities, particularly in developing countries.”

At the time of writing, the pandemic is still very much with us and while the need to “reopen” economies is an increasingly pressing issue there remains the threat of a lethal, uncontrolled virus continuing to wreak havoc on lives and healthcare systems. Of course, science and innovation will underpin the very medical response we need to make directly to the virus if we are to overcome it and reopen beyond a new-normal.

“The COVID-19 pandemic and its rippling socio-economic effects have also accentuated the need for actively revitalising the role of industrial development and productive and innovative capability development,” the team writes. Innovation and development exist as a symbiotic relationship we would do well to remember that as we work our way through the pandemic.

Santiago, F., De Fuentes, C., Peerally, J.A. and Larsen, J. (2020) ‘Investing in innovative and productive capabilities for resilient economies in a post-COVID-19 world’, Int. J. Technological Learning, Innovation and Development, Vol. 12, No. 2, pp.153–167.

Research pick: Sensing carbon monoxide - "MoO3:In2O3 binary oxide thin films as CO gas sensor"

Carbon monoxide is an insidiously toxic gas. It can pervade an enclosed space and causes drowsiness and at sufficiently high concentration is lethal to anyone breathing it. As such, there is a need for efficient and fast-reacting carbon monoxide sensor devices in a variety of industrial, commercial, and domestic settings. Devices are available but a new approach is discussed in the International Journal of Microstructure and Materials Properties that utilises the chemistry of a twin film of molybdenum(VI) oxide and indium(III) oxide layers.

Physicists Nimba Kothawade and Arun Patil of the Arts, Science and Commerce College, and Vikas Deshmane of the SICES Degree College in Maharashtra, India, prepared thin films of MoO₃-In₂O₃ using the spray pyrolysis technique on a glass substrate at 400 degrees Celsius. They characterised their film using X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy.

Once confident of their materials, the team then tested the electrical properties of their various formulations. They found that the resistivity of the films increased with MoO₃ as the dopant in In₂O₃. They found a maximum resistivity of 1.75 × 104 Ωm for 0.3N (MoO₃) and 0.1N (In₂O₃) binary oxide films.

They then tested the dual films gas-sensing characteristics against five different target gases. The film composition ratio 0.3N:0.1N films had 70.50% sensitivity to 300 parts per million (ppm) of carbon monoxide gas at 150 degrees Celsius with high selectivity. The response time, the team reports was 15 seconds and recovery time was just 25 seconds.

Kothawade, N.B., Deshmane, V.V. and Patil, A.V. (2020) ‘MoO₃:In₂O₃ binary oxide thin films as CO gas sensor’, Int. J. Microstructure and Materials Properties, Vol. 15, No. 3, pp.229–241.

Research pick: "Does going green really pay off? A sustainability performance view"

Does going green pay off? Research published in the World Review of Entrepreneurship, Management and Sustainable Development hopes to answer that question from a sustainability performance perspective.

Environmental concerns are changing not only the natural landscape but the economic world too. There is a need to understand how so-called stakeholders can influence and affect the commercial and business world in efforts to address environmental concerns including climate change and fossil fuels, plastic and other pollution, as well as food and water security, and resilience to natural disasters. Moreover, the push to “green” the commercial world is driven by marketing as with anything commercial.

Husna Ara, Jasmine Ai Leen Yeap, and Siti Hasnah Hassan of the Universiti Sains Malaysia, in Pinang, explain that worldwide organisations have begun to embrace the concept of sustainability and moved towards environmental strategies to this end. The team’s review found that investing in green marketing does not have an immediate positive impact on commercial success despite the growing awareness among consumers of a multitude of environmental concerns. However, it feeds a company’s sustainability agenda and they suggest that by improving environmental and social performance economic benefits will be gleaned while concomitantly helping to address many of the issues we face globally.

Ara, H., Yeap, J.A.L. and Hassan, S.H. (2020) ‘Does going green really pay off? A sustainability performance view’, World Review of Entrepreneurship, Management and Sustainable Development, Vol. 16, No. 5, pp.519–537

Research pick: The language of health and wealth - "The role of English language proficiency on immigrants’ health and economic integration in the USA"

What impact does a person’s proficiency in English as a second language have on their health and economic integration when they settle in the USA? That’s the sensitive issue addressed in new research published in the International Journal of Economics and Business Research.

Ibrahim Niankara of the College of Business at Al Ain University in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates has used the statistical technique of Bayesian Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) estimation to analyse annual earnings and medical care spending for a representative sample of data on immigrant families from the US National Health Interview Surveys (NHIS). There is, the research suggests, a negative correlation, as one might expect. Among immigrants, increased English language proficiency improves earnings propensity and reduces medical care spending.

Niankara points out that according to the United Nation’s International Organization for Migration, the number of refugees, asylum seekers, and internally displaced people across various regions of the world has increased dramatically in recent years. Numbers are in the hundreds of millions and rising with each passing year. He suggests that “policies aimed at raising immigrants’ families English language proficiency in the USA would not only contribute to their effective socio-economic integration but also strengthen the US workforce and economy in the long run.”

Niankara, I. (2020) ‘The role of English language proficiency on immigrants’ health and economic integration in the USA‘, Int. J. Economics and Business Research, Vol. 20, No. 3, pp.255-287.

Research pick: You can tell me by the way I walk - "A comparison of foot kinematics between pregnant and non-pregnant women using the Oxford foot model during walking"

The walking style, or gait, of women in the third trimester of pregnancy changes significantly from that seen in the earlier steps of the pregnancy and is markedly different from that observed in women who are not pregnant. The adaptations are assumed to be in response to the changing weight, posture and balance of the women at that stage. Understanding the changes could be used to help design footwear or physiotherapy to reduce pain caused by the attendant joint redistribution.

Research published in the International Journal of Biomedical Engineering and Technology discusses the study of gait in pregnancy and offers insights into the problems that arise and how they might best be avoided.

Yang Song, Minjun Liang, and Wenlan Lian of the Human Movement Research Center in the Faculty of Sports Science at Ningbo University in Zhejiang, China, examined the walking gait of pregnant and non-pregnant women using foot kinematics and the Oxford foot model. Three-dimensional motion of the forefoot, hindfoot and tibia during walking were recorded using a Vicon motion analysis system and two force platforms were used to record the ground reaction force.

Pregnant women “demonstrated greater plantar flexion and internal rotation of hindfoot and internal tibial rotation during initial contact, greater forefoot eversion and hindfoot external rotation during push off,” the team writes. “Moreover, pregnant women showed greater external tibial rotation than non-pregnant women during toe off and the centre of pressure trajectory moved to the second to third metatarsal at this stage.”

Such detailed findings might help guide physiotherapy if the changes are causing pain or perhaps guide the design of specific footwear or supportive equipment in extreme cases to ameliorate pain and discomfort and reduce the risk of injury or persistent damage to joints.

Song, Y., Liang, M. and Lian, W. (2020) ‘A comparison of foot kinematics between pregnant and non-pregnant women using the Oxford foot model during walking’, Int. J. Biomedical Engineering and Technology, Vol. 34, No. 1, pp.20–30.

Inderscience journals to invite expanded papers from Academy for Global Business Advancement's 17th World Congress for potential publication

Extended versions of papers presented at the Academy for Global Business Advancement's 17th World Congress (2-4 August 2021, Istanbul Gelisim University, Avcılar, Istanbul, Turkey) will be invited for review and potential publication by the following journals:

• Journal for Global Business Advancement
• Journal for International Business and Entrepreneurship Development