Here we are at the end of another challenging year. I would like to announce some recent news to the readers that should bring major improvements to visibility and presentation of the journal.

Firstly, this year we joined Crossref organization and from now on, we will use our own DOI prefix for future publications and other benefits this organization provides (e.g., Similarity Check service for plagiarism detection). This will most certainly increase the visibility of the journal and enhance the efficiency in detecting plagiarism issues in received submissions during early evaluation process.

Secondly, we introduced a brand new website of the journal that will enable better presentation and easier navigation to the users. We are devoted to continual improving the quality of the publication process in the forthcoming years.

In this journal issue, we bring you four original research papers covering a wide spectrum of applications in electronics based systems.

The first paper entitled “Peer-to-Peer Energy Trading in a Micro-grid Using Internet of Things and Blockchain,” authored by M. Baig, M. Iqbal, M. Jamil, and J. Khan, proposes a hardware and software setup for peer-to-peer (P2P) energy trading system in a micro-grid using Internet of Things and blockchain technologies. The authors described a P2P trading model and its architecture and compared it to existing P2P energy trading platforms. They demonstrated the benefits of using open-source platform and presented some real-life scenarios on a simplified use case.

In the paper “Prediction Model of Soil Electrical Conductivity Based on ELM Optimized by Bald Eagle Search Algorithm,” by Y. Huang, H. Jiang, W. Wang, and D. Sun, the authors proposed a prediction model for soil electrical conductivity based on extreme learning machine (ELM) optimized by bald eagle search (BES) algorithm. In the experiments, they showed that proposed prediction model obtains more accurate results with respect to mean-square error and coefficient of determination metrics when compared to existing models reported by other researchers.

The paper “Single Event Effect Analysis of SiGe Low Noise Amplifier,” authored by M. Bouhouche and S. Latreche, analyzes the single event transient (SET) response of low noise amplifier (LNA) designed using SiGe heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBT). The presented results show that the use of inverse mode SiGe HBT for strike device can effectively improve the SET tolerance of studied LNA.

Finally, the paper “A Current Mode Universal Filter and a Single Resistance Controlled Oscillator Employing only Grounded Passive Elements: Applications of VDCC,” by T. Arora, explores the possible applications of voltage differencing current conveyor (VDCC), as a current-mode universal filter and a sinusoidal oscillator. In addition to CMOS simulation results obtained using Cadence PSPICE software, the proposed circuits were verified experimentally using off-the-shelf integrated circuits.

I thank the authors for their contribution to this issue of the journal and to all the reviewers who participated in the editorial process by providing valuable comments in timely manner to the editors and the authors.