Social change,institutional pressures and knowledge creation: A bibliometric analysis

Contemporary academic environment can be characterized by an overwhelming trend toward enhancing research productivity and knowledge creation. The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of radical social change and subsequent institutional pressures on internationally relevant knowledge creation. The setting examined is business and economics science in Eastern Europe. Using a case study of Slovenian business schools and deploying a bibliometric analysis we find that research productivity is increasing significantly. We note however dilemmas pertaining to the content and quality of knowledge created. Further, we find that international research cooperation has positive quality effects. From a theoretical perspective, we argue that radical social change was not mirrored by such change in normative institutions, whereas recent changes in regulatory institutions seem to have a substantial positive effect on research performance.     

A case study in the meta-reasoning procedure ND

A new technique for improving the efficiency of propositional reasoning procedures is presented. The meta-search procedure, ND, is parameterized by a search procedure P and a real number for controlling the way in which P is applied to the given problem. Experiments using SATO on the domain of Crossword Puzzle Construction (CPC) illustrate the potential for ND. Variations of and future experiments with ND are discussed.     

基于工作流的总体研制流程跟踪管理系统设计

为了满足高密度发射下总体设计研制进程管理的需求,提出并实现了基于工作流技术的总体研制流程跟踪管理系统,协同总体各专业对多任务进行设计,固化了研制流程模板知识库管理,解决了发射任务六大里程碑管理,通过与AVIDM系统计划管理模块和文档管理模块的集成,实现了对整个研制任务所有步骤进行统一跟踪、统一下发到AVIDM项目管理,最终完成研制任务的闭环管理,确保研制进度受控,减少研制风险。     

Global social knowledge management – Understanding barriers for global workers utilizing social software

Utilizing social software as a part of a global knowledge management strategy has raised increasing interest in enterprises as well as in the educational domain. Rather than being proactive, organizations tend to face barriers related to knowledge management after the problems occur. When dealing with social technologies in a distributed setting, organizations and individuals face a variety of barriers currently unrecognized in knowledge management literature. Within the study, we analyze knowledge management literature extending the body of knowledge with barrier analysis regarding global challenges as well as social software. Our focus is especially on knowledge exchange and globally distributed collaboration activities in organizations. We argue for contextualized understanding of the barriers, recognizing the challenges studied in similar activities. The paper concludes with a synthesis of these interrelated components, proposing a Global Social Knowledge Management-barrier framework that demonstrates the wide spectrum of possible challenges in globally distributed, social software supported knowledge management activities.     

Managing projects with distributed and embedded knowledge through interactions

In project-based industries studies show difficulties in extracting, distributing and applying embedded and practice knowledge across structural and organisational boundaries. We focus on interorganisational projects consisting of distributed and embedded knowledge. Interaction becomes important in order to cooperate and share interorganisational and distributed knowledge. The aim of the research is to explore how sharing and generating practice based and distributed knowledge occurs through interaction in interorganisational projects and how this is managed. The study focuses on the design phase and relates traditional design practices to concurrent design practices. In the study we observed six cases of design meetings in the construction and oil and gas industry and performed 31 interviews. The paper contributes with the following: (1) understanding and visualisation of interaction patterns, (2) insight in use of various forms of interaction, and (3) ways of managing distributed and embedded knowledge through interaction.     

Concept maps as the first step in an ontology construction method

A method is proposed to be used as the first step in the ontology acquisition process. This method is based on the use of concept maps as a means of expression for the expert, followed by an application that assists the expert in detailing the structure of the knowledge represented in the map. This application analyses the concept map, taking into account the map topology and key words used by the expert. From this analysis a series of questions are presented to the expert that, when answered, reduce the map ambiguity and identify some common patterns in ontological representations, such as generalizations and mereologic relations. This information can be used by the knowledge engineer during further knowledge acquisition sessions or to direct the expert to a further improvement of the map. The method was tested by a group of volunteers, most of them engineers working at the aerospace sector, and the results suggest that both the use of concept mapping as well as the refining step are acceptable from the point of view of the end user, supporting the claim that this method is viable as an option to reduce some of the difficulties in large scale ontology construction.     

The consumer’s perception of artificial food additives: Influences on acceptance,risk and benefit perceptions

Food additives, such as food colours or sweeteners, play an important part in food supply. For a variety of reasons, some consumers might regard the use of food additives, especially artificial ones, with suspicion; food additives are considered unnatural, unhealthy or even a public health risk. The goal of this study was to investigate consumers’ perceptions and the most essential variables related to the acceptance of food additives. Two versions of a paper-and-pencil questionnaire, one investigating artificial food colours and the other investigating artificial sweeteners, were distributed to a large sample of Swiss German households. The final samples for artificial food colours and artificial sweeteners comprised 506 and 487 participants respectively. The questionnaires contained items on consumers’ acceptance, risk and benefit perception, trust in regulators, knowledge of regulation and their preference for natural products. The relationships between variables were investigated in a path model, which was constructed based on a review of previous literature. The path coefficients suggested that risk and benefit perceptions significantly influence the acceptance of the two selected food additives. The risk and benefit perceptions were influenced by consumers’ knowledge of regulation, their trust in regulators, and their preference for natural products. In the discussion, the study’s findings are examined in terms of their implications for further research and for the development of concrete communication materials.     

Towards a sales assistant using a product knowledge graph

The phenomenal growth in the consumer electronics industry over the last decade is mainly due to rapid advances in integration technologies. The market is ever evolving with new products made available on a frequent basis. However, typically, the average consumer tends to have insufficient knowledge of the features and functions of an electronic device. Although most manufacturers provide product specifications, they are often difficult for consumers to understand and it is hard for customers to grasp the details of a product. This study introduces the concept of a product knowledge graph, which is constructed by transforming a set of data from a product management system and external data. This study overcomes the technical barriers for customers with the use of knowledge graph technologies. To construct large-scale product knowledge, an ontology model is designed and a platform for knowledge extraction and transformation is also developed. Then, a sales assistant called God of Sales is demonstrated. This study provides a novel approach to explaining product features and functions in a comprehensive manner with semantic recommendations.     

HUMAN LIMITATIONS AND VEHICLE DESIGN∗

This paper contains a review of research on road vehicle design in relation to human physiological, anthropometric and psychological factors