Journal Guide

This Journal is established with a view to cater to increased awareness for high quality research in the seamless integration of heterogeneous technologies to formulate bankable solutions to the emergent complex engineering problems.Assurance engineering could be thought of as relating to the provision of higher confidence in the reliable and secure implementation of a system’s critical characteristic features through the espousal of a holistic approach by using a wide variety of cross disciplinary tools and techniques. Successful realization of sustainable and dependable products, systems and services involves an extensive adoption of Reliability, Quality, Safety and Risk related procedures for achieving high assurancelevels of performance: also pivotal are the management issues related to risk and uncertainty that govern the practical constraints encountered in their deployment. It is our intention to provide a platform for the modeling and analysis of large engineering systems, among the other aforementioned allied goals of systems assurance engineering, leading to the enforcement of performance enhancement measures. Achieving a fine balance between theory and practice is the primary focus. The Journal only publishes high quality papers that have passed the rigorous peer review procedure of an archival scientific Journal. The aim is an increasing number of submissions, wide circulation and a high impact factor.

2010 Impact factor now 0.948 Modern systems are becoming more and more complex and sophisticated in their demand for performance, reliability and increasing autonomy. Historically, highly analytic and numeric based methods have sufficed, frequently simplifying the problem to allow analytical tractability. Many manufactured and natural systems (biological, ecological and socio-economic) cannot be adequately represented quantitively alone; qualitations and heuristics, linguistics etc., knowledge is frequently required within a common information-processing framework. A wide range of new theories, methodologies and techniques are required to 'enable' such systems, and thus engineering and integration to deal with these demands. The primary aim of the International Journal of Systems Science is to become world leader in the exciting and demanding field of intelligent systems engineering and its applications. Disclaimer Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the 'Content') contained in its publications. However, Taylor & Francis and its agents and licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness or suitability for any purpose of the Content and disclaim all such representations and warranties whether express or implied to the maximum extent permitted by law. Any views expressed in this publication are the views of the authors and are not the views of Taylor & Francis.

A fundamental, omnipresent feature of the global information age is that cyber-capabilities, e.g. computing, communication and control, are inherently embedded in numerous physical/engineered systems from the nano-world to large-scale systems-of-systems. Many scientific/technological challenges require intensive multidisciplinary studies, calling for new formulations, techniques and innovative solutions from a spectrum of communities in systems engineering/control/communications. IJSCC offers a vibrant discussion forum in this interdisciplinary area, especially communication systems augmented by control techniques and control systems whose components are interconnected via communication networks.

The objectives of IJTM are to develop, promote and coordinate the science and practice of technology management. It also aims to help professionals working in the field, engineering and business educators and policy-makers to contribute, to disseminate information and to learn from each other's work. The international dimension is emphasised in order to overcome cultural and national barriers and to meet the needs of accelerating technological change and changes in the global economy.

The International Journal of Technology and Design Education encourages research and scholarly writing covering all aspects of technology and design education. The journal features critical, review, and comparative studies. In addition, readers will find contributions that draw upon other fields such as historical, philosophical, sociological, or psychological studies that address issues of concern to technology and design education. The Editorial Board views the teaching of technology and design as an emergent rather than an established practice, with many open issues requiring research. Among these issues are the preparation of technology teachers, the assessment of technological competence, and the relationship of technology to other curriculum elements, notably science. There are also significant policy questions that need to be addressed relating to the practice and rationale of curriculum change.

The International Journal of Thermal Sciences is a journal devoted to the publication of fundamental studies on the physics of transfer processes in general, with an emphasis on thermal aspects and also applied research on various processes, energy systems and the environment. Articles are published in English and French, and are subject to peer review.The fundamental subjects considered within the scope of the journal are:• Heat and relevant mass transfer at all scales (nano, micro and macro) and in all types of material (heterogeneous, composites, biological,...) and fluid flow• Forced, natural or mixed convection in reactive or non-reactive media• Single or multi–phase fluid flow with or without phase change• Near–and far–field radiative heat transfer• Combined modes of heat transfer in complex systems (for example, plasmas, biological, geological,...)• Multiscale modellingThe applied research topics include:• Heat exchangers, heat pipes, cooling processes• Transport phenomena taking place in industrial processes (chemical, food and agricultural, metallurgical, space and aeronautical, automobile industries)• Nano–and micro–technology for energy, space, biosystems and devices• Heat transport analysis in advanced systems• Impact of energy–related processes on environment, and emerging energy systemsThe study of thermophysical properties of materials and fluids, thermal measurement techniques, inverse methods, and the developments of experimental methods are within the scope of the International Journal of Thermal Sciences which also covers the modelling, and numerical methods applied to thermal transfer.

The editor takes the bulk of the financial risks of publishing. The profits go mainly to the broadcaster and distributor of books, which are responsible, to canvass the booksellers and take their orders as well as routing the books to bookstores, to fill orders taken. These operations cost the publisher between 50 and 60% of turnover generated by the book. The rest of sales goes to the author (about 10% share of this figure much lower, around 6% for comic books, and can reach 20% or more for best sellers) and the publisher, who can pay, in addition to its employees (editorial assistants, press officers, charged with manufacture, designer, etc..), the entire work of the book (printers, proofreaders, freelance photographers, possibly librarians, etc.. ). The publisher who coordinates the course of the "book chain" and, often, which also establishes the financial plan incorporating the expected costs and expected gains, as in any business.

The International Journal of Uncertainty, Fuzziness and Knowledge-Based Systems is a forum for research on various methodologies for the management of imprecise, vague, uncertain or incomplete information. The aim of the journal is to promote theoretical, methodological or practical works dealing with all kinds of methods to represent and manipulate imperfectly described pieces of knowledge. It is published bimonthly, with worldwide distribution to researchers, engineers, decision-makers, and educators. Topics of interest include but are not limited to:Methods * Representation of Commonsense Knowledge * Knowledge Representation by Fuzzy Sets * Possibility Theory * Fuzzy Logics * Mathematical Theory of Evidence * Bayesian and Probabilistic Methods * Default Reasoning * Nonstandard LogicsDomains of Application * Expert Systems * Decision-Making Systems * Intelligent Control * Pattern Recognition and Cluster Analysis * Image Processing * Robotics * Artificial Neural Networks * Acquisition of Imperfect Knowledge * Information Updating * Conflict Resolution * DatabasesThe journal does not accept papers on pure fuzzy mathematics, such as fuzzy topology or fuzzy algebra.

IJVAS is an established international authoritative reference in the field of vehicle autonomous systems research and development. Such systems aim to increase accident avoidance and road capacity, improve the travel experience by relieving occupants of driving/navigation chores, reduce total vehicle numbers and eliminate some of the services/infrastructure associated with motoring today.

IJVD aims to help engineers and applied scientists engaged in vehicle design and research, to contribute to the field, to disseminate technical information, and to learn from each other's work.

IJVNV has been established as an international authoritative reference in the field. It publishes refereed papers that address vehicle noise and vibration from the perspectives of customers, engineers and manufacturing.

IJVS provides an authoritative source of information in the field of vehicle safety design, research and development. It serves applied scientists, engineers, policy makers and safety advocates with a platform to develop, promote and coordinate the science, technology and practice of vehicle safety. IJVS seeks to establish channels of communication between industry, academy and government in the field of vehicle safety, and also covers subjects of passive/active safety in road traffic as well as traffic-related public health issues.

IJVSMT provides a resource of information for the scientific and engineering community working with ground vehicles. Emphases are placed on novel computational and testing techniques that are used by automotive engineers and scientists.