28 February 2018

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Wireless and Mobile Computing

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Wireless and Mobile Computing are now available here for free:
  • Performance evaluation of modified hybrid handover scheme in LTE fast moving rail networks
  • Pattern matching algorithms for encrypted non-static texts
  • MIMO-OFDM technique with IDMA scheme for underwater wireless communication
  • A distortionless approach for PAPR reduction using SC-FDMA-IDMA in acoustic environment
  • The establishment of spatial distribution model of Shanghai historical landscape island
  • Spectral detection with multistage granularity bands using filter bank techniques for CR applications
  • Hardware co-simulation for a low complexity PAPR reduction scheme on an FPGA
  • Efficient public auditing for data migration across cloud systems
  • Strip wrinkling detection based on feature extraction and sparse representation
  • Dynamic route prediction with the magnetic field strength for indoor positioning
  • Energy efficient networks: recent research and future challenges

Special issue published: "Applied Logistics Management"

International Journal of Applied Management Science 10(1) 2018
  • Personalised information services for bikers
  • Examination of importance and range of comprehensive service for refrigerated containers in seaports
  • Multi-criteria approach for assessing the logistics performance of industrial purchase: empirical study of Tunisian manufacturing company
  • Healthcare decision support tool: multi-agent system for bed management
  • Price timing in new markets with strategic consumers

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Applied Management Science

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Applied Management Science are now available here for free:
  • Using fuzzy AHP and fuzzy TOPSIS for strategic analysis measurement of service quality in banking industry
  • Analysis of lead time effects on VMI system: system dynamics approach
  • Capacity coordination in a service supply chain
  • A new approach for building a strategy map based on digraph theory

27 February 2018

Inderscience journals to publish expanded papers from 3rd International Conference on Management in Emerging Markets (ICMEM) 2018

Extended versions of papers presented at the 3rd International Conference on Management in Emerging Markets (8-10 August 2018, Bali, Indonesia) will be published by the following journals:

Special issue published: "Bioscience and Computational Methods"

International Journal of Biomedical Engineering and Technology 26(3/4) 2018
  • Novel energy efficient predictive link quality based reliable routing for wireless multimedia bio-sensor networks in bio-medical invention research and bionic utilities monitoring application
  • An intelligent technique for uniquely recognising face and finger image using learning vector quantisation (LVQ)-based template key generation
  • Identity and access management as a service in e-healthcare cloud
  • Dual tree complex wavelet transform incorporating SVD and bilateral filter for image denoising
  • Tri-texture feature extraction and region growing-level set segmentation in breast cancer diagnosis
  • Denoising of images using principal component analysis and undecimated dual tree complex wavelet transform
  • Pharmacovigilance predictive analysis using NLP-based cloud
  • Burst communication by using self-adaptive buffer allocation with energy-efficient in-body sensor networks
  • Biclustering of gene expression data using biclustering iterative signature algorithm and biclustering coherent column
  • Automatic glioblastoma multiforme detection using hybrid-SVM with improved particle swarm optimisation
  • Quantifying speech signal of deaf speakers with territory specific utterances to understand the acoustic characteristics
  • Adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system for classification of mammographic image using electromagnetism-like optimisation
  • An enhanced filtering-based approach to approximate volumetric ambient occlusion

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Accounting and Finance

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Accounting and Finance are now available here for free:
  • The role of accounting literature and professional training in enhancing common life-based characteristics held by a forensic accountant (an empirical investigation)
  • Stock market crashes shocks and real economy in Tunisia
  • Financial literacy of cocoa farmers in Ghana
  • Estimating risk premium and volatility persistence in Malaysian stock market

26 February 2018

International Journal of Business and Globalisation to publish expanded papers from Leadership in Organizations: Contemporary Concerns and Key Developments (LIOCCKD 2018)

Extended versions of papers presented at the Leadership in Organizations: Contemporary Concerns and Key Developments (22-23 March 2018, New-Delhi, India) will be published by the International Journal of Business and Globalisation.

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Financial Services Management

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Financial Services Management are now available here for free:
  • Internal branding in Agriculture Bank of Iran: an application of Rusbult's investment model
  • Shareholder activism by hedge funds in a concentrated ownership environment: an empirical study for Germany
  • Analysis of the QQQ spot and option volatility behaviour around the QQQ move from AMEX to NASDAQ
  • Corporate governance: what about Islamic banks?
  • Post-service recovery customer satisfaction in Indian retail banking: a qualitative perspective

Special issue published: "Present and Futuristic Manufacturing"

International Journal of Additive and Subtractive Materials Manufacturing 1(3/4) 2017

  • Experimental investigation on drilling of borosilicate glass using micro-USM with and without tool rotation: a comparative study
  • Effects of parameters on burr heights and diametral error in dry drilling
  • Machining of hardened AISI H-13 steel using minimum quantity eco-friendly cutting fluid
  • Parametric optimisation for micro electric discharge drilling process
  • Estimation of cutting forces in conventional and ultrasonic-vibration assisted turning using inverse modelling
  • Experimental study and empirical modelling of laser surface finishing of silicon carbide
  • An experimental study of surface roughness in double tool turning process
  • Influence of glycerin-air dielectric medium on near-dry EDM of titanium alloy
  • Fabrication of micro-features on 304 stainless steel (SS-304) using Nd:YAG laser beam micro-machining
  • Process modelling and investigations in to the electrochemical discharge drilling of soda-lime-silica-glass
  • Delamination study on newly formulated Ni-P coated glass fibre/nanowire - reinforced polymer composite using Grey relational analysis

International Journal of Computational Systems Engineering to publish expanded papers from International Conference in Communication, Devices and Networking (ICCDN 2018)

Extended versions of papers presented at the International Conference in Communication, Devices and Networking (2-3 June, 2018, Sikkim, India) will be published by the International Journal of Computational Systems Engineering.

22 February 2018

Research Picks Weekly – 22 Feb 2018

Twitter for social dialogue
Twitter has become one of the most popular forms of social communication in just over a decade online. It is particularly important in the socio-political arena where opinions can be diverted by prominent users including public figures, celebrities, and politicians themselves. It provides an essentially live means by which the public can receive news and views and share their own. A new investigation by researchers in South Korea suggests that in contrast to conventional media, news outlets, and communications tools, users perceive Twitter as a place where conversation happens. Moreover, conversational activity is more strongly correlated with the degree to which a user is involved in civic engagement as opposed to being associated with liberal tendencies. This suggests that Twitter is recognised as a community space where social interactions take place. In other words, Twitter is not only a means of information diffusion but also a dialogical space in a social community.
Hwang, Y. (2018) ‘What does the Twitter mean for the traditional media users?’, Int. J. Mobile Communications, Vol. 16, No. 2, pp.190–208. DOI: 10.1504/IJMC.2018.089759

Mindfulness and creativity

Mindfulness is a psychological technique whereby one focuses on the present moment and the current experience rather than dwelling on the past or ruminating on the future. It perhaps has its roots in the philosophy of some religions, in particular Buddhism. It has become a useful and entirely secular tool with the aim of helping people improve their personal wellbeing and mental health. Of course, the philosophy of concentrating on the here and how, letting go of the past, and letting the future look after itself is common throughout human thinking. Nevertheless, researchers in Jordan have now looked at the role of mindfulness in strategic creativity within an organization. Their statistical analysis of employee survey results suggests that self-training and development mindfulness can boost a person’s creative energies and this will ultimately reflect positively on development within the organization itself.
Al-Zu’bi, H.A. (2018) ‘The role of mindfulness in strategic creativity: an empirical investigation’, Int. J. Business Innovation and Research, Vol. 15, No. 3, pp.269–276. DOI: 10.1504/IJBIR.2018.089748

Avoiding selfish peers
Peer-to-peer networks, commonly known as P2P networks, came to the fore through the concept of file sharing. This facilitated the illicit sharing of copyright materials. However, P2P networks have many legitimate functions such as allowing stakeholders in any kind of collaborative effort to share large amounts of information, hefty files, updates and other materials efficiently without the burden of serving those files being on a single central repository. However, as with any kind of sharing the optimal functioning of a P2P system relies on none of the peers being selfish in their behaviour. Researchers in China are now developing a swarm intelligence learning model that can adapt to incentive protocols in a P2P network to ensure individual peers remain equal across the system. Given that P2P networks are self-organising and self-sufficient, this should overcome selfish actions among peers, which would otherwise remain a major problem to the efficient functioning of the network.
Wang, Z. (2018) ‘A swarm intelligence learning model of adaptive incentive protocols for P2P networks’, Int. J. Communication Networks and Distributed Systems, Vol. 20, No. 2, pp.168–189. DOI: 10.1504/IJCNDS.2018.089770

The best mobile phone for the market
Researchers in Indonesia are looking at mobile phone characteristics that might allow the design of a device that could be presented to the local market optimally. Free trade is one of the major challenges facing any nation as the world continues to globalise. Ultimately, markets will simply follow the most prominent and well-advertised device in the realm of mobile phones, for instance. However, at the local level, certain features and design characteristics may not be best suited to the people the device is sold to and there may well be a better design that would suit a particular society and culture. One might imagine that in a vast and growing market present by a country such as Indonesia there is plenty of room for products to rival the big names from South Korea and the USA, for instance. Indeed, new research suggests that at the local level there is great dissatisfaction with available products and that there is a large niche market that could be opened for something designed specifically for customers in Indonesia. The same outlook might exist in other developing markets.
Siringoringo, H. and Thaeras, H.O. (2018) ‘Perceived quality of mobile cell phones: an initiative to develop local product’, Int. J. Business Innovation and Research, Vol. 15, No. 3, pp.320–339. DOI: 10.1504/IJBIR.2018.089751

20 February 2018

Inderscience is media partner for 48Volt power Supply And Electrification Forum 2018

Inderscience is a media partner for 48Volt power Supply And Electrification Forum (17-18 October 2018, Berlin, Germany).

The journals involved are:

Inderscience is media partner for Digital Factory Forum 2018

Inderscience is a media partner for Digital Factory Forum (12-13 September 2018, Berlin, Germany).

The journals involved are:

Inderscience is media partner for Wind Power Big Data and Internet of Things Forum 2018

Inderscience is a media partner for Wind Power Big Data and Internet of Things Forum (26-27 June 2018, Prague, Czech Republic).

The journals involved are:

Winners of International Journal of Masonry Research and Innovation's Best Paper Awards 2016/2017 available for free

The winners of the International Journal of Masonry Research and Innovation's Best Paper Awards 2016/2017 are available here as sample articles:

Best Paper Awards 2016
  • 1st place and winner (8.00 Pts): Alessio Pierdicca, Francesco Clementi, Daniela Isidori, Enrico Concettoni, Cristina Cristalli, Stefano Lenci, Numerical model upgrading of a historical masonry palace monitored with a wireless sensor network, Vol. 1(1), pp. 74-98. DOI: 10.1504/IJMRI.2016.074748
  • 2nd place (7.75 Pts): Gábor Lengyel, Katalin Bagi, Horizontal reaction components of pointed vaults, Vol. 1(4), pp. 398-420. DOI: 10.1504/IJMRI.2016.10002047
  • 3rd place (7.50 Pts): NebojÅ¡a Mojsilovic, Amir Hosein Salmanpour, Masonry walls subjected to in-plane cyclic loading: application of digital image correlation for deformation field measurement, Vol. 1(2), pp. 165-187. DOI: 10.1504/IJMRI.2016.077473 
Best Paper Awards 2017
  • 1st place and winner (8.75 Pts): Ernest Bernat-Maso, Christian Escrig, Lluis Gil. Study of the compressive response of masonry using non-conventional joint materials, Vol. 2(1), pp. 83-103. DOI: 10.1504/IJMRI.2017.10003271
  • 2nd place (8.50 Pts): Maria Letizia Raffa, Frédéric Lebon, Raffaella Rizzoni, On modelling brick/mortar interface via a St. Venant-Kirchhoff orthotropic soft interface. Part II: in silico analysis, Vol. 2(4), pp. 259-273. DOI: 10.1504/IJMRI.2017.10008288
  • 3rd place (8.25 Pts): Michele Betti, Andrea Borghini, Alberto Ciavattone, Sonia Boschi, Emanuele Del Monte, Andrea Vignoli, Assessment of the seismic risk of the museum of Casa Vasari in Arezzo (Italy), Vol. 2(2/3), pp. 107-133. DOI: 10.1504/IJMRI.2017.10006804



19 February 2018

Inderscience is media partner for Advanced Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence in Drug Discovery and Development 2018

Inderscience is a media partner for Advanced Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence in Drug Discovery and Development (19-20 June 2018, Berlin Germany).

The journals involved are:

Special issue published: "Wireless Network Technologies and Applications"

International Journal of High Performance Computing and Networking 11(2) 2018
  • Checkpointing distributed application running on mobile ad hoc networks
  • Cluster-based routing protocol using traffic information
  • Detection and mitigation of pulse-delay attacks in pairwise-secured wireless sensor networks
  • PSCAR: a proactive-optimal-path selection with coordinator agents assisted routing for vehicular ad hoc networks
  • EAHKM+: energy-aware secure clustering scheme in wireless sensor networks
  • RPSE - reenactment of data using polynomial-variant cryptographic scheme in sensor environment
  • Compact UWB BPF with notch-band using SIR and DGS

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Heavy Vehicle Systems

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Heavy Vehicle Systems are now available here for free:
  • Comprehensive path and attitude control of articulated vehicles for varying vehicle conditions
  • Optimisation and comparison of different powertrain layouts for parallel hybrid electric vehicles equipped with continuous transmission
  • Optimal torque distribution strategy for dual traction motors in a series hybrid electric intra-city bus
  • Second-law efficiency and performance of a diesel generator using marine fuel blended with aspire methyl ester

Inderscience is media partner for Asthma & COPD 2018

Inderscience is a media partner for Asthma & COPD (11-12 April 2018, London, UK).

The journals involved are:

15 February 2018

Research Picks Weekly – 15 Feb 2018

Smarter with a smartphone
Is the widespread adoption of smartphones that allow us to communicate, share multimedia and engage with other people, groups, and organisations improving our lives or compromising our mental health and wellbeing? A new study by researchers in Germany of college student smartphone use offers some new clues. Mobile broadband devices have created an unprecedented means of communication and those who promote the tools and apps that run on such devices suggest that they can do nothing but enhance the user’s social capital and psychological wellbeing. It seems that social capital among young students is boosted in several ways by smartphone use.
“Is smartphone creating a better life? Exploring the relationships of the smartphone practices, social capital and psychological well-being among college students” Hua Pang, Int J Adv Media Commun, 2017, 7, 205-224; http://doi.org/10.1504/IJAMC.2017.10010331

Is Big Brother watching?

In George Orwell’s novel “1984”, the state is always monitoring its citizens’ activities. With the rise of closed-circuit television (CCTV), internet tracking software, and our predilection for always being connected with smart devices, it is likely that surveillance sits somewhere close to that ubiquitous older sibling that is perpetually tallying our behaviour, good and bad. To quote from recent research from Spain: “The massive presence of cameras in the public space is not neutral in terms of rights and freedoms.” Are there adequate guarantees of citizens’ rights in the face of rapidly advancing technological development, such as face recognition. CCTV can track, process, and disseminate information, which when tied to mobile phone signals, accounts, Wi-Fi data and location services, including GPS, could significantly compromise our personal freedom and privacy. The common riposte that one should not worry if one has nothing to hide is a non-sequitur, we all have personal matters that are perfectly legitimate that we would not wish politicians, bank managers, shopkeepers, and all and sundry to know about. Legal systems have simply not kept pace with the technological change, it may be that privacy is being compromised on every street corner and at every turn.
“Video surveillance, public space and fundamental rights”, Asunción De La Iglesia Chamarro, Int J Human Rights Constitut Studies; https://doi.org/10.1504/IJHRCS.2017.10010784

Thingiverse

Thingiverse is a web-based repository of files for 3D printing a vast range of objects. Hobbyists, “makers” and DIY technologists use the database to find files to allow them to print the objects they need for their projects. A recent study has reviewed a random selection of the thousands of files using existing open source software. Analysis of the metadata for thousands of files reveals that the common sharing model is a creative commons – attribution – share alike licence. In other words, users of the files can legitimately use them as long as they credit the original creator of the file among other commitments, which makes it a very useful tool for amateurs and perhaps professional users alike.
“Thingiverse: review and analysis of available files”, Felix W. Baumann and Dieter Roller, Int J Rapid Manuf, 2018, 7, 83-89; https://doi.org/10.1504/IJRAPIDM.2018.10010829

Crowdsourcing business knowledge

Tacit knowledge externalisation (TKE) is a critical process in business decision-making, innovation, and problem-solving. Research from India suggests that an internal crowdsourcing workflow could be exploited because it would be generic and flexible structure to allow that knowledge to flow outwards. “The workflow comprises crowd creation, crowd opinion, crowd voting, crowd wisdom and crowd learning phases, which encompass knowledge elicitation, sharing and utilisation activities that occur during the externalisation process,” the team reports. Now, they have used the ASP.NET web application “TKApp” to demonstrate proof of principle with a start-up company. Also, because the core logic of the workflow they have developed is a SOAP-based web service it is now deployed publicly and so could be used by any enterprise in their TKE efforts, which then allows know-how that is not-communicable through everyday language to be shared to the benefit of the enterprise involved and its stakeholders.
“A web 2.0-based internal crowdsourcing solution for tacit knowledge externalisation in enterprises”, Shreyas Suresh Rao and Ashalatha Nayak, Int J Web Eng Technol, 2017, 12, 297-327; http://doi.org/10.1504/IJWET.2017.089690

14 February 2018

Inderscience is media partner for BioTech Pharma Summit 2018

Inderscience is a media partner for BioTech Pharma Summit (22-23 March 2018, Porto, Portugal).

The journals involved are:
More information on this event is available here.


Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Strategic Business Alliances

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Strategic Business Alliances are now available here for free:
  • Transaction cost-based motives for multisourcing in information technology
  • The study of workplace spirituality and job outcomes in Indian information technology industry
  • A matter of survival: proposition of a framework to expand the quantity of partners in inter-organisational networks
  • Marriage versus strategic alliance: soft and hard dissatisfaction and failure factors
  • An integrated framework of joint venture success

Inderscience journals to publish expanded papers from 10th International Scientific Conference "New Challenges of Economic and Business Development: Productivity and Economic Growth"

Extended versions of papers presented at the 10th International Scientific Conference "New Challenges of Economic and Business Development: Productivity and Economic Growth" (10-12 May 2018, Riga, Latvia) will be published by the following journals:

13 February 2018

Inderscience is media partner for Skin Microbiome Congress 2018

Inderscience is a media partner for Skin Microbiome Congress (30-31 May 2018, Boston, USA).

The journals involved are:

Inderscience journals accepted by Norwegian Register for Scientific Journals, Series and Publishers

Inderscience Publishers are pleased to announce that the following journals have been accepted by and listed in the Norwegian Register for Scientific Journals, Series and Publishers:

Inderscience is media partner for Future Armoured Vehicle Weapon Systems 2018

Inderscience is a media partner for Future Armoured Vehicle Weapon Systems (5-6 June 2018, London, UK).

The journals involved are:
More information on this event is available here.


12 February 2018

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Aerodynamics

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Aerodynamics are now available here for free:
  • Leading edge vortex development on a pitch-up airfoil
  • Aerodynamic and aerothermodynamic analysis of high-speed earth re-entry capsule
  • Earth re-entry capsule CFD simulations taking into account surface roughness and mass injection at the wall

Inderscience is media partner for Close Air Support 2018

Inderscience is a media partner for Close Air Support 2018 (6-7 June 2018, London, UK).

The journals involved are:
More information on this event is available here.


Fake news and the public vote

In recent political processes with potential global impact, such as the 2016 US presidential elections in which Donald Trump was made President and the UK Referendum result that will ultimately lead to Britain’s exit, Brexit, from the European Union, it seems that “fake news” has played a critical role in manipulating public opinion and thus the final outcome. Writing in the International Journal of Web-Based Communities, Greek researchers have analysed the effect of the social media platform, Twitter, on an earlier instance of bad rumours, the referendum in Greece that would have led to Grexit, but ultimately did not.

Dimitrios Kydros of the Department of Accounting and Finance at T.E.I. of Central Macedonia, in Serres, Greece, has social  network  analysis  to investigate  the patterns  in  the data  surrounding rumours spread in serious  economic  situations. Kydros analysed the keyword “Grexit” and looked at how Twitter updates using this term changed with time in the run-up to a proposed referendum in 2015. Kydros attempted to distinguish between tweets from Greece and abroad and looked for clusters and communities sharing information about Grexit.

In attempting this analysis, Kydros was hoping to find out whether something other than the received economic wisdom that economics is driven by the scarcity of resources, supply and demand, and production costs, or whether other factors were driving the decisions of individuals in making choices that might affect them through national and international economic shifts, such as a country departing the European Union. He suggests that with the advent of 24-hour access to news and instantaneous communication either through email or across social media and social networks that financial or political news spreads and influences decision makers at all levels within organisations and at the individual and private level much more efficiently than in the past.

As such, those organization or people who are nodes and hubs in the network might be able to influence popular decisions more than traditional media. Moreover, if the opinions, perspective and political viewpoint of those hubs are aligned with a particular agenda, which may or may not be coincident with particular sectors of the media or politics, then their use of what might be termed “fake news” might influence popular decisions for better or for worse. Such effects are well-known through history, of course, and are usually referred to by the term propaganda. However, as we are all increasingly aware, instantaneous one-ton-one and one-to-many, and even many-to-one communications are very efficient with the ubiquity of the internet and perpetual connectivity for a huge proportion of the population.

Filtering news to preclude the spread of “fake news” might at first glance appear a desirable process, but who is to police such filtering, who is to decide what is and isn’t fake news? If the hubs are controlling the spread of information then it is one hub’s word against another’s as to what is genuine information that a reasonable person might trust and what is wholly propaganda that side-steps evidence and facts.

“Fortunately, even though the outcome of the Referendum was a straight road to a Grexit, the Greek political leaders were brave enough to put it aside and negotiate a new economic program for Greece,” Kydros says. “It seems that in such big questions, almost everybody (inland and abroad) has something to say. Twitter by its nature is an extremely fast and penetrating medium but due to its character limit it cannot carry integrated messages.” He adds that “It is now generally understood that some people or groups of people may use Twitter in order to lobby on special issues. Users, followers, and the general public should be aware of such situations and be conscious to double check not only the messages but also the corresponding Twitter updates and the general context.”
Kydros adds that we should teach children even as young as primary school age, “to realize that not everything that is said or written is true or accurate!”

Kydros, D. (2018) ‘Twitting bad rumours – the grexit case’, Int. J. Web Based Communities; DOI: 10.1504/IJWBC.2018.10010848.

Free sample articles newly available from Interdisciplinary Environmental Review

The following sample articles from the Interdisciplinary Environmental Review are now available here for free:
  • Seabed dynamics in a coastal embayment
  • Experimental investigation on ground source heat pump system
  • Urban air pollution control: selection of trees for ecological monitoring using anticipated performance indices in a medium-size urban area in Southwest Nigeria
  • Analysing environmental problems in textiles by LCA approach
  • Exploring the social acceptance of biomass power
  • Proposed noise pollution protection device
  • Environment sustainability awareness model for IT SMEs

Standing room only

The promotion of active workstations, such as standing desks and even treadmills in the office has been promoted by manufacturers recently with claims of better physical health, improved posture, even reduced mental stress, and a general boost to wellbeing. A new study by researchers in Finland suggests that many of the proposed benefits and claims are little more than marketing hyperbole.

Markus Makkonen, Minna Silvennoinen, Tuula Nousiainen, Arto Pesola, and Mikko Vesisenaho of the University of Jyvaskyla, explain that several studies in recent years have added to warnings about the perils of prolonged sedentary behaviour on our health and wellbeing. These studies have ultimately led to a new sector of ergonomics and thence products aimed at improving work posture and other factors. The team points out that one particular field of work seems more stereotypically prone to issues associated with being sedentary in the workplace and that is the software industry. As such, the team has investigated a small cohort of individuals in this sector to see whether or not there are benefits to standing workstations.

The team has investigated the physical activity, mental alertness, stress, and musculoskeletal strain in employees of a large software company in Finland. The employees completed a questionnaire and participated in the Firstbeat Lifestyle Assessment service.

The team found that the benefits of standing at work over sitting for workers in this industry were not at all as clear-cut as the marketing hype for standing workstations might suggest. “the findings of this study suggest that the use of standing instead of sitting workstations results in only modest promotions of physical activity,” the team reports. Moreover, the change “does not have an effect on mental alertness.” Indeed, standing to work seems to shift the stress-recovery balance more towards stress than recovery. They did see a decrease in musculoskeletal strain in the user’s neck and shoulders, although stress and strain were raised in the legs and feet. Interestingly, the use of standing workstations did not have an impact on work posture comfort or workstation satisfaction, the team found.

The modest physical improvements to health – heart rate increased by 4.2 beats per minute on average, a rise in VO2 of 0.3 ml per kg body mass per minute, and in an extra 6.1 kilocalories burned per hour and marginally reduced upper body tension – would have to be offset against the increased risk of varicose veins, common in those who stand for long periods, and perhaps lower back problem exacerbated by always being upright.

Makkonen, M., Silvennoinen, M., Nousiainen, T., Pesola, A.J. and Vesisenaho, M. (2017) ‘To sit or to stand, that is the question: examining the effects of work posture change on the well-being at work of software professionals‘, Int. J. Networking and Virtual Organisations, Vol. 17, No. 4, pp.371-391.

10 February 2018

Special issue published: "Business Development: An Essential Factor in Corporate Growth"

International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management 22(1/2) 2018

  • It's all about growth - an empirical status report of business development
  • Making planning work: insights from business development
  • Firm characteristics, financial variables and types of innovation: influence in Spanish firms' survival
  • Innovation propensity and international development of small and medium firms: the moderating effects of corporate governance structure
  • Initial and further business development: highlights from business model, open innovation, and knowledge management perspectives
  • Opportunity recognition by international high-technology start-up and growth photonics firms
  • Strategy and professional identity of VSE owner-managers
  • The ambivalent influence of a business developer's social ties in a multinational company

9 February 2018

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Rapid Manufacturing

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Rapid Manufacturing are now available here for free:
  • Application of additive manufacturing to the digital restoration of archaeological artefacts
  • Assessing the challenges and issues in entry-level additive manufacturing machine
  • The parametric making of geometry: the Platonic solids
  • Fabrication of biocompatible enclosures for an electronic implant using 3D printing
  • Calibration of a numerical model for heat transfer and fluid flow in an extruder

Special issue published: "Fundamental Rights Conflicts in Public Spaces"

International Journal of Human Rights and Constitutional Studies 5(3/4) 2017
  • Public spaces and the exercise of fundamental rights in Spain following the approval of the organic law for the protection of public safetyVideo surveillance, public space and fundamental rights
  • The democratic function of education: how to solve some conflicts in the educational public space
  • (In)equality on grounds of sex/gender in the (welfare state's) public space
  • Hate speech in public space: a view from the North American doctrine of clear and present danger
  • Rethinking emergencies and constitutional rights in a time of terror threat in the Czech Republic: a need for recalibration of emergency law?
  • Modi's policy transition from Look East to Act East: a new initiative

New Editor for International Journal of Business Governance and Ethics

Dr. Stuart Farquhar from the University of Wolverhampton in the UK has been appointed to take over editorship of the International Journal of Business Governance and Ethics.

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management are now available here for free:
  • Craft by you: acquiring consumer's idea to the product development for handicraft business in Thailand
  • Innovation diffusion, licensing and corporate entrepreneurship - a conceptual review
  • Small, young firm flexibility and performance in the context of disruptive innovations
  • When incubators evolve: new models to assist innovative entrepreneurs
  • Entrepreneurial design: the role of design as driver of entrepreneurial opportunity generation and assessment
  • Empirical evidence on the entrepreneurial mind of the female graduate-to-be in Malaysia
  • Pathways towards the entrepreneurial university for creating entrepreneurial engineers: an Italian case
  • Entrepreneurship: an evolving conceptual framework

8 February 2018

Inderscience is media partner for World Vaccine Congress Washington 2018

Inderscience is a media partner for World Vaccine Congress Washington 2018 (2-5 April 2018, Washington, USA).

The journals involved are:




Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Knowledge Management Studies

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Knowledge Management Studies are now available here for free:
  • Art of learning for knowledge sharing: a case study of Parisar Asha
  • Managing key polarities in a post-crisis organisational learning initiative
  • Organisational metacognition: creating a culture of intentioned learning
  • Managing the transfer of aerospace knowledge
  • Knowledge management process at BHEL: a case study
  • Mapping public procurement practices in India
  • Teaching and learning business ethics in a multicultural group
  • Action research: a process for developing professional capacity within a community of practice
  • Identifying teaching best practices for accounting courses using appreciative inquiry
  • Business models for research-based spin-offs: the strategic entrepreneurship perspective
  • Challenges in academic commercialisation: a case study of the scientists' experiences
  • Phoenix rises from the ashes: creating and destructing value through reflection

New Editor for International Journal of Quality and Innovation

Associate Professor Marc Lim from Swinburne University of Technology in Australia and Malaysia has been appointed to take over editorship of the International Journal of Quality and Innovation.

Research Picks Weekly – 8 February 2018

Sweet solution to carbon spheres
Carbon particles of regular spherical shape are useful in a wide range of technologies. An aqueous heat treatment, hydrothermal, process can be used to convert natural glucose into such particles with diameters in the range 90 to 490 nanometres. The process takes place at between 170 and 190 degrees Celsius over the course of 1 to 6 hours. The resulting carbon spheres can then be hardened by carbonizing them. The size of the hard carbon spheres produced increases exponentially with reaction temperature and time, but in almost linear fashion in terms of glucose concentration. “The results provide a route to controllably synthesise the carbon spheres in an array of sizes and dispersity by adjusting parameters,” the researchers report.
“Size controllable synthesis of hard carbon spheres from aqueous D-glucose”, Guanggui Cheng; Joseph Cremaldi; Jianning Ding; Yang Su; Yueheng Zhang; Noshir S. Pesika; Ying Wang, Int J Mater Struct Integ, 2017, 11, 213 – 228; http://dx.doi.org/10.1504/IJMSI.2017.10010801

Crowdflower data blooms

It should be possible to data mine updates on social media sites, such as Twitter, to check the veracity of information on another online source, such as Wikipedia, according to new research from a team in Italy. The researchers propose a model using crowdsourcing to disambiguate and decide on the accuracy of a given Wikipedia page based on Twitter updates associated with specific terms. The team used Crowdflower instead of Amazon Mechanical Turk for its flexibility and the greater number of channels. By then manually removing “spam” the team was able to home in with a confidence level of 1 on each information spot.
“A crowdsourced system for user studies in information extraction”, Zohreh Khojasteh-Ghamari, Int J Knowledge Eng Soft Data Paradigms, 2017, 6; https://doi.org/10.1504/IJKESDP.2017.089506

Catch a train

A new algorithm can more accurately predict when the next train will arrive at the station by carrying out a statistical analysis of that day’s arrivals and departures and those for trains earlier in the week. The improvement amounts to a better prediction error reduced from 12 seconds to 3 seconds. Such a signal boost may not seem important given the timescales on which passengers board and alight trains, however, improved timings could be used to significantly improve the efficiency of regenerative braking systems employed by modern trains so that braking is optimised according to the trains ahead of each other. The kinetic energy of a braking train behind a departing train can be used to boost the power available to the departing train and thus reduce energy wasted in the braking process. The algorithm employs “portfolio theory” to work its timetable magic.
“Portfolio theory application to prediction correction of train arrival times” Takaaki Yamada and Tatsuhiro Sato, Int J Computat Intelligence Studies, 2017, 6; https://doi.org/10.1504/IJCISTUDIES.2017.089519

Take a bung

Bribery and corruption are on the increase in the developing world where it is estimated that the equivalent of US$400 billion is paid illicitly and illegally to the political elite in those nations. The scale of such corruption suggests that multinational, “Western” companies must be complicit in such transactions in the sense that they essentially facilitate the laundering and banking of this money and ultimately how it is spent. Researchers from Nigeria and the UK suggest that multinational enterprise culture and accounting practices mean that the drive for higher profits is at almost any cost and as such is not constrained by the rule of law nor regulatory activities. The team’s evidence suggests that not only are the multinationals complicit they are actively gaining a competitive advantage by being directly engaged in bribery and corruption. The team makes various suggestions for reform.
“The culpability of accounting practice in promoting bribery and corruption in developing countries” Olatunde Julius Otusanya, Sarah Lauwo Amal Hayati Ahmad-Khair, Int J Econ Account, 2018; https://doi.org/10.1504/IJEA.2017.089387

5 February 2018

Special issue published: "Integrating Modelling and Simulation Tools and Methodologies in Real-World Complex Systems for Solving Multidisciplinary Problems"

International Journal of Simulation and Process Modelling 12(6) 2017
  • Computer aided support for the temperature control in buildings
  • A divide and conquer approach for simulating an airport system
  • Extending Sim# for simulation-based optimisation of semi-automated machinery
  • An intelligent serious game for a multi-device cultural heritage experience
  • Modular construction of compact Petri net models
  • The industrial internet of things and technological innovation in its applications for resources optimisation
  • An empirical investigation of comparative performance of approximate and exact corrections of the bias in Croston's method in forecasting lumpy demand

International Journal of Business Innovation and Research to publish expanded papers from 3rd International Conference on Leadership and Management (ICLM 2018)

Extended versions of papers presented at the 3rd International Conference on Leadership and Management (13-14 August 2018, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) will be published by the International Journal of Business Innovation and Research.

4 February 2018

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Nanotechnology

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Nanotechnology are now available here for free:
  • Development of modifying compounds for multilayer nanostructured coatings for cutting tools
  • The effects of post-growth thermal annealing on the structural and electrical properties of RF-magnetron sputtered ZnO
  • A luminescence study of NaMgF3:Dy3+ and NaMgF3:Nd3+ for applications in radiation dosimetry
  • Tuning the optoelectronic properties of P3EHT block copolymers by surface modification
  • The spontaneous motion of a slug of miscible liquids in a capillary tube
  • Base dependent adsorption of single-stranded homo-oligonucleotides to gold nanoparticles
  • Facile fabrication of carbon nanotube network thin film transistors for device platforms
  • Adsorption effects during the analysis of caffeic acid at PEDOT electrodes
  • Characterisations and DSSC efficiency test of TiO2 nano-films formed by filtered cathodic vacuum arc deposition
  • Protein and polysaccharide conjugates as emerging scaffolds for drug delivery systems
  • Preparation of amphoteric nanocomposite hydrogel under supercritical carbon dioxide and its fast-swelling behaviours
  • Tunable resistive pulse sensing and nanoindentation of pH-responsive expansile nanoparticles
  • Sidechain engineering in anthracene derivatives: towards photofunctional liquid crystals
  • Porous conducting polymer prepared through liquid crystal template for drug delivery
  • Methanol production via CO2 hydrogenation reaction: effect of catalyst support
  • Periodic nanostructure induced on PEN surface by KrF laser irradiation
  • Synthesis, characterisation and antimicrobial effect of starch capped silver sulphide nanoparticles against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus
  • In-situ ellipsometric study of calcium phosphate biomineralisation on organic thin films
  • Probing the spin-glass and magnetoresistance in FeSr2Y1.7Ce0.3Cu2O10-δ
  • Change of magnetic behaviour of nitrogenated carbon nanotubes on chlorination/oxidation
  • Synthesis of magnetic nanoparticles by low-energy dual ion implantation of iron and nickel into silicon dioxide followed by electron beam annealing
  • Template-less and surfactant-free solvent-driven direct synthesis of urchin-like gold nanoparticles in anisole
  • Application of advanced nanoclay material as a chemical fertiliser loss control agent for loss control fertiliser development in Thailand
  • Ablation threshold dependence on incident wavelength during ultrashort pulsed laser ablation
  • Utilisation of agro-waste extract in thermoplastics
  • Two-dimensional diffraction gratings for use with far-field superlenses
  • Structural and morphological evolution of metal oxide nanoparticles synthesised via sol-gel auto-combustion
  • Grain size dependence of tin oxide nanopaste on sintering temperature
  • Hydrothermal synthesis of mixed phase blue titanium dioxide from oxalate stabilised sols
  • Nanoscale mapping of the three-dimensional deformation field within commercial nanodiamonds
  • Modulation of cell adhesion to conductive polymers
  • Graphene antidot lattice transport measurements
  • Demonstration of the use of a photosynthetic microbial fuel cell as an environmental biosensor
  • Resonant absorption in dielectric thin films for humidity sensing
  • Resistance-temperature characteristics of CVD and high strength metallurgical graphene
  • Synthesis and functionalisation of stable 'naked' gold nanoparticles
  • High resolution imaging and analysis of residual elastic strain in an additively manufactured turbine blade
  • Hybrid gas sensor having TiO2 nanotube arrays and SnO2 nanoparticles
  • Nanotoxicity of nanodiamond in two and three dimensional liver models
  • Surface changes of polymer modified by gold nanoparticles
  • Sodium ion conducting NaI-Na3PO4 solid electrolyte with PLLTMEDA as an additive for solid state batteries
  • Ferromagnetism in a diamond-like carbon film after nickel implantation
  • Effect of graphene oxide loading in GO/SiO2/Ag/AgCl photocatalyst
  • Optimisation of DNA hybridisation and toehold strand displacement from magnetic bead surfaces
  • Finite element analysis of thermally actuated medical stent and staple implants using shape memory alloy
  • Multiferroic nanocrystalline BiFeO3 and BiCrO3 thin films prepared by ion beam sputtering
  • The influence of polyethylenimine molecular weight on hydrothermally-synthesised ZnO nanowire morphology
  • Enumeration of colloidal sub-micron particles using tunable resistive pulse sensing
  • Site-specific thrombolytic and anticoagulant biomaterials
  • Effect of medium solvents on crystalline degree and specific surface area of Cu3BiS3 nanoparticles synthesised by biomolecule-assisted hydrothermal and solvothermal methods
  • Soil chemistry influences the phytotoxicity of metal oxide nanoparticles
  • Periodic upright nanopyramid fabricated by ultraviolet curable nanoimprint lithography for thin film solar cells

Special issue published: "Agents in The City"

International Journal of Agent-Oriented Software Engineering 6(1) 2018
  • Team PUCRS: a decentralised multi-agent solution for the agents in the city scenario
  • The Flisvos-2016 multi-agent system
  • Multi-agent programming contest 2016
  • Multi-agent programming contest 2016 - the Python-DTU team
  • Multi-agent programming contest 2016: lampe team description
  • BathTUB team description - multi-agent programming contest 2016

3 February 2018

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Trust Management in Computing and Communications

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Trust Management in Computing and Communications are now available here for free:
  • An audio encryption technique through compressive sensing and Arnold transform
  • TFSR: trust factors evaluation-based secure routing protocol for wireless sensor network
  • Privacy landscape in online social networks
  • Mitigating malicious feedback attacks in trust management systems

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Information and Computer Security

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Information and Computer Security are now available here for free:
  • Mitigating selfish, blackhole and wormhole attacks in DTN in a secure, cooperative way
  • Evaluation of puzzle-enabled proxy-assisted denial-of-service protection for web services
  • A secure mobile commerce framework based on community cloud
  • Hierarchical detection of insider attacks in cloud computing systems
  • Virtual machine security
  • Trust delegation-based secure mobile cloud computing framework
  • Robust watermarking technique using back propagation neural network: a security protection mechanism for social applications
  • Dynamic weighted VM load balancing for cloud-analyst

Special issue published: "5th International Workshop on Nanotechnology and Applications (IWNA)"

International Journal of Nanotechnology 15(1/2/3) 2018
  • A RFID-based wireless NH3 gas detector using spin coated carbon nanotubes as sensitive layer
  • Z-axis tuning fork gyroscope having a controlled anti-phase and freestanding architecture: design and fabrication
  • Fluidic platform with embedded differential capacitively coupled contactless conductivity detector for micro-object sensing
  • Filtration of circulating tumour cells MCF-7 in whole blood using non-modified and modified silicon nitride microsieves
  • Recent advances in the development of micropumps, microvalves and micromixers and the integration of carbon electrodes on centrifugal microfluidic platforms
  • Effect of ultraviolet/ozone treatment on the structural and electrical properties of solution-processed piezoelectric thick-film lead-zirconium-titanate
  • One-step hydrothermal synthesis of titanium dioxide decorated on reduced graphene oxide for dye-sensitised solar cells application
  • Reduction of isotropic etch for silicon nanowires created by metal assisted deep reactive ion etching
  • Synthesis of zinc oxide/graphene oxide nanocomposite material for antibacterial application
  • Synthesis of Ag nano/TiO2 by γ-irradiation and optimisation of photocatalytic degradation of Rhodamine B
  • Effect of the seed particles and reductants on the formation of nanosized gold colloid
  • Process characterisation of deep reactive ion etching for microfluidic application
  • 3D laser lithographic fabrication of hollow microneedle mimicking mosquitos and its characterisation
  • Thermosensitive heparin-Pluronic® copolymer as effective dual anticancer drugs delivery system for combination cancer therapy
  • Polymeric chitosan based nanogels as a potential platform for dual targeted drug delivery in cancer therapy
  • Improving gold nanowire-based biosensor sensitivity by changing probe design
  • Application of silicon nanowire for detection and quantitative analysis of alpha-fetoprotein biomarker
  • A versatile approach to synthesise optically active hierarchical ZnS/ZnO heterostructures
  • Microstructure and total oxidising capacity for m-xylene of La1-xCaxCoO3 nanoparticles synthesised by combustion method

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Computational Science and Engineering

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Computational Science and Engineering are now available here for free:
  • Combining the IMM with second order debiased converted measurement for detonation control
  • The risk control evaluation for supply chain based on knowledge management
  • A GPU-based statistical image up-sampling method by using edge templates
  • A resource allocation evolutionary algorithm for OFDM system
  • A scalable Map Reduce tasks scheduling: a threading-based approach
  • A new strategy for bridging the semantic gap in image retrieval
  • Cloud-assisted data management in wireless body area networks
  • Multimodal approach for non-tagged indoor identification and tracking using smart floor and pyroelectric infrared sensors

2 February 2018

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Agent-Oriented Software Engineering

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Agent-Oriented Software Engineering are now available here for free:
  • Applying norms and preferences for designing flexible game rules
  • Meeting the challenges of decentralised embedded applications using multi-agent systems
  • An agent-oriented approach to holistic sustainability reporting

Free sample articles newly available from Progress in Computational Fluid Dynamics, An International Journal

The following sample articles from Progress in Computational Fluid Dynamics, An International Journal are now available here for free:
  • Thermal performance investigation and optimisation of fin type solar air heater - a CFD approach
  • Modelling high Re flow around a 2D cylindrical bluff body using the k-ω (SST) turbulence model
  • Numerical investigation of the heat transfer and pressure drop on tube bundle support plates for inline and staggered arrangements
  • Aeroelastic predictions for steady and unsteady flow characteristics of the HIRENASD wing
  • Feedback filtering in discontinuous Galerkin methods for Euler equations
  • CFD-DEM simulation of fluid suspended particle response behaviour subject to transverse acoustic standing fields

Special issue published: "Innovative Computational Intelligence Methods for Data Sciences and Applications"

International Journal of Computational Intelligence Studies 6(4) 2017
  • Altruistic behaviours-based recommendation system of tourist information from smartphone application to SNS community
  • Adaptive distributed modified extremal optimisation for maximising contact map overlap and its performance evaluation
  • Particle swarm optimisation with dynamic search strategies based on rank correlation
  • Fine tuning of adaptive learning of deep belief network for misclassification and its knowledge acquisition
  • Portfolio theory application to prediction correction of train arrival times
  • An FCA approach to mining quantitative association rules from multi-relational data

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Banking, Accounting and Finance

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Banking, Accounting and Finance are now available here for free:
  • Relationship banking and regional SME financing: the case of Wales
  • Contribution of Islamic banks to systemic risk
  • Attributes of audit quality and weak fiscal sustainability countries
  • Accounting quality deferred tax and risk in the banking industry

1 February 2018

Free sample articles newly available from World Review of Intermodal Transportation Research

The following sample articles from the World Review of Intermodal Transportation Research are now available here for free:
  • The last mile, inbound logistics and intermodal high capacity transport - the case of Jula in Sweden
  • Interpretive structural modelling to assess third party logistics providers
  • Warehouse layout implications on picking distance: case of human factor
  • Mode-specific eco-efficiency analysis of the freight transportation in the USA: an integrated life cycle assessment and linear programming approach
  • Causality between economic growth and air transport expansion: empirical evidence from Mexico

Inderscience is media partner for MilSatCom USA 2018

Inderscience is a media partner for MilSatCom USA 2018 (27-28 June 2018, Arlington, Virginia, USA).

The journals involved are:

Special issue published: "Sensor Networks and Cloud Computing – Part 1"

International Journal of Advanced Intelligence Paradigms 10(1/2) 2018
  • Power modelling of sensors for IoT using reinforcement learning
  • Dissection of the experimental outcome of split-protocol
  • Energy saving offloading scheme for mobile cloud computing using CloudSim
  • India's technological climate: a harbinger in resolving and reducing the carbon footprint
  • Increased level of security using DNA steganography
  • False data detection and dynamic selection of aggregator nodes with pair-wise key establishment in homogeneous wireless sensor networks
  • Intelligent sports commentary recommendation system for individual cricket players
  • Health data analytics using scalable logistic regression with stochastic gradient descent
  • Advance intelligence tyre monitoring system using ambient backscatter technology in VANETs
  • A framework to mitigate ARP sniffing attacks by cache poisoning
  • A literature survey on the performance evaluation model of semantics enabled web services
  • Experimental analysis of impact of term weighting schemes on cluster quality
  • Investigation on different clustering techniques in wireless sensor networks

Free sample articles newly available from International Journal of Learning and Change

The following sample articles from the International Journal of Learning and Change are now available here for free:
  • Importance of intelligence for strategic scenario building: the information section role in research and development
  • The essence and phases of the comprehensive system of ensuring the economic security of enterprise
  • Internet banking adoption: case of Lithuania and Latvia
  • A university-industry cooperation model for small and medium enterprises: the case of Chengdu KEDA Optoelectronic Technology Ltd.
  • Challenges and solutions of adopting public electronic services for the needs of Z generation
  • The review of internet marketing use in Latvia's companies

Research Picks Weekly – 1 February 2018

Sea defences go Dutch
Without its flood defences, much of The Netherlands would be reclaimed by the North Sea. Researchers there are asking whether increasing the managerial flexibility of a dyke reinforcement strategy could improve the lifecycle and cost-effectiveness. In the face of climate change and the potential for rising sea levels as polar ice caps melt it is imperative that low-lying nations address the issue well in advance of disaster in order that disaster might be averted. The team has examined two flexible strategies and applied them to models of eight case studies, two sea level rise scenarios, and four discount rates. The results suggest that current engineering practices could be improved if variable design lifetime is also addressed when decisions are being made about reinforcements. It is likely that the same modelling might have applications in addressing the critical sea defence needs of other low-lying countries at serious risk of flooding as sea levels rise.
“Cost-effectiveness analysis of reinforcement strategies for (multifunctional) flood defences”, Fatemeh Anvarifar, Matthijs Kok, Wil Thissen, Chris Zevenbergen, Defne Osmanoglou, and Behrouz Raftari Tangabi (2018) Int J Crit Infrastruct; DOI: 10.1504/IJCIS.2017.089240

Rapid chemical testing
A quick way to classify different chemicals by their cytotoxicity has been developed by researchers in China. The method could be used to screen libraries of novel compounds for their potential as anticancer agents or other pharmaceuticals. The team’s pattern recognition algorithm can determine the Mechanism of Action (MoA) of different chemicals on living cells and so establish dose-response curves for them. “The proposed method enables relatively high throughput screening for chemical recognition at the cellular level,” the team reports.
“Pattern recognition of chemical compounds using multiple dose-response curves”, Jiao Chen, Tianhong Pan, Shan Chen, Xiaobo Zou, and Kaili Xu (2018) Int J Data Mining Bioinformatics; DOI: 10.1504/IJDMB.2017.089283

Plastic soil improver
The terrible and growing impact of plastic waste on the world’s oceans and the environment, in general, has surfaced in recent years. Now, a team in India is investigating the effects of adding one of the most commonly used plastics, the polymer, polythene (known more formally as polyethylene or polyethene), to sandy soils with a view to recycling the waste material from shredded shopping bags as a useful soil additive. Different sizes of shredded polythene have been tested at different ratios in two types of sandy soil and shear tests carried out on the mixtures. Their analyses positively reflect soil improvement due to the inclusion of polythene plastic waste in terms of geotechnical properties such as soil retention during times of drought or flooding.
“A comparative study on the effect of polyethylene plastic waste on sandy soils” Rupanjan Chakraborty,  Rakesh Barman,  Sarbajit Bhattacharyya, and  Kuntal Das (2018) Int J Environ Sus Dev DOI10.1504/IJESD.2018.089276

Testing for heart disease? There might be an app for that
Cardiovascular disease is one of the biggest killers. Now, researchers in South Korea have taken a new approach to diagnosis. They point out that CV disease is usually first diagnosed in a hospital and in the late stage of life. However, modern mobile devices have the potential to analyse newly gleaned data from a person and correlate this with statistical database information regarding gender type, age, height, weight, body mass index, high blood glucose, heart rates, end-systolic and end-diastolic pressure, history of cardiac infarction and angina pectoris. Training a suitable algorithm could then flag those people who are at most risk of CV disease so that they might have a direct physical diagnosis and be offered treatment accordingly.
“A study of mobile CDSS for cardiovascular disease diagnosis”, Ulzii-Orshikh Dorj, Young-Keun Lee, Sang-Seok Yun, Jae-Young Choi, and Malrey Lee (2018) Int. J. Sensor Networks; DOI: 10.1504/IJSNET.2018.10009979