The acquisition of tacit knowledge in China: An empirical analysis of the ‘supplier-side individual level’ and ‘recipient-side’ factors

The

A note on ‘trade-off and compatibility between performance: definitions and empirical evidence’

This paper improves on a novel methodology advanced in order to assess deterministically (i.e., precisely) compromises and compatibilities between manufacturing capabilities in individual firms. We extend the original proposal to include more recent theoretical developments arguing that both trade-offs and compatibilities (e.g., cumulative capabilities) can be observed in a relationship between two or more competitive criteria. This means that as opposed to widely-accepted views, trade-offs and compatibilities can be complementary, and not necessarily mutually exclusive, when explaining relationships between various competitive criteria. As such, our improved methodology and rationale can assess the existence of both trade-offs and compatibilities between multiple capabilities utilising a single framework. Opportunities for novel research that uses our methodology are also offered.     

Dickens and ‘photography’ in ‘household words’

Abstract

The January 1981 issue of History of Photography (Vol. 5, No. 1 , p. 51), Lindsay Lambert writes: ‘The following article [‘Photography, 1853’] appeared in Household Words (19th March 1853). The journal was edited by Charles Dickens, and since the article carries no other by-line, it may well have been written by the editor himself’.     

与助动词‘たぃ’相对应的‘か’和的‘を’使用规律

学生下企业实训后回到学校,在一次感想交流会上有一位同学讲了这样一个问题：有一次问某个日方人员晚上去哪里吗？有何打算？他说：     

‘Princess’ Alice

Abstract

Burr Mcintosh had an enviable job as a photographer; at the turn of the century, he was called the ‘special photographer … to [a popular] Theodore Roosevelt’¹. With such credentials, Mcintosh accompanied William Howard Taft's Republican peace entourage to the Philippines and to China in 1905, bathing in the knowledge that his calling and appointment were secure. He was obviously smitten by ‘the Princess’, Alice Roosevelt, Teddy's headstrong daughter, and took every opportunity to photograph her with the other politicos on the junket. Alice mentions these events m her autobiography, Crowded Hours     

Scientific group leaders’ authorship preferences: an empirical investigation

Leaders are important for scientific groups. Authors of a research paper whose names are listed in the byline first, last, or as the corresponding author are often considered particularly important to that paper. The authorship preferences of scientific group leaders are examined for seven research fields and 11 geographic locations. There are some similarities and differences among research fields and geographic locations in listing group leaders. In the fields of “Mathematics” and “Physics, Particles & Fields”, although the custom is for papers to list authors alphabetically, scientific group leaders from Egypt and Shanghai typically list their names first or last in the byline, the same as group leaders in other research fields. Opposite to the group leaders from other locations, leaders from Egypt often appear as the first authors. Scientific group leaders who are listed first in the byline typically also serve as the corresponding authors. For group leaders who are listed last in the byline, the proportion also serving as corresponding authors changes significantly. Accordingly, the proportion of papers in which group leaders are corresponding authors varies considerably among different research fields and geographic locations. The meaning of authorship for research group leaders is discussed in the end from the perspective of their roles in paper production.     

‘Smart’ consumer goods

‘Smart’ technologies, which encompass both ‘smart’ materials and structures, are creating a sea-change in engineering practice. Their fusion of conventional structural materials with aspects of information technology, offerss the prospect of engineering systems which can sense their local environment, interpret changes in this environment and respond appropriately. Demonstrator projects exist world-wide exploring the range of possible applications for ‘smart’ technologies in sectors ranging from aerospace and civil engineering to automobile and marine. A common feature of such programmes is their use of relatively sophisticated technologies, examples including the use of fibre optic techniques for sensing and actuation based on functional materials such as piezoceramics, electro- and magnetostrictives and shape-memory alloys. The use of such advanced technologies is symptomatic of the strong technology push which has dominated the development of this field.     

The ‘Peccavi’ Photographs

Abstract

Among the holdings of the Asiatic Library of Bombay, there is a major album entitled Sind Photographs, which has become known to the initiated under the title ‘Peccavi Photographs’, in memory of a delicious political pun¹. All the photographs are portraits, with captions neatly inscribed. None is signed, but one bears the imprint ‘Photo by Capt. Houghton’, which was sufficient to provide researchers with an important clue as to their origin.     

‘Examples of posing’

Abstract

EXAMPLE is proverbially better than precept. ‘Things seen are mightier than things heard’. If this be generally true in relation to manners and morals, it is very specially true in matters of art. The sight of one good picture affords more instruction than many chapters on composition and chiaroscuro or the balance of lines and tones. In relation to posing the human figure, example is an imperative element of all instruction; and variety of example is necessary to suggest varied possibilities of effect, even to fertile minds. There is no piece of advice we have more frequently urged upon the photographic student than this: lose no opportunity of studying the works of great artists and note how their effects of grace, ease, beauty and dignity are secured. Sir Joshua Reynolds has pointed out the great value of this study, and told of his own mode of pursuing it, making an accurate analysis of the proportions of light and shade present, and of their mode of distribution. The aim of this mode of study is to fill the mind with a knowledge of effects, so as to afford material for suggestion in producing original work, not with a series of memoranda to guide the memory in producing imitations. In photography, fortunately, slavish imitation of paintings is scarcely possible, for few artists have painted their pictures so that the effects all come within the range of photographic possibility.     

The usage of ‘theory’ and ‘model’ in scientific conceptualization

The results of a survey are reported and interpreted, pertaining to the way scientists use the terms theory and model to conceptualize the scientific information and ideas they deal with. Initially the assessment of the importance of a new theoretical approach in science is done to a large extent on the basis of the conceptual structure of the new approach, but later the predictive power plays an increasingly more important role. It is suggested that results like those in this study might perhaps be used to critically evaluate new theoretical approaches in science even at the time of their conception.     

Flexible job-shop scheduling problems with ‘AND’/‘OR’ precedence constraints

The purpose of this research is to solve flexible job-shop scheduling problems with ‘AND’/‘OR’ precedence constraints in the operations. We first formulate the problem as a Mixed-Integer Linear Program (MILP). The MILP can be used to compute optimal solutions for small-sized problems. We also developed a heuristic algorithm that can obtain a good solution for the problem regardless of its size. Moreover, we have developed a representation and schedule builder that always produces a legal and feasible solution for the problem, and developed genetic and tabu search algorithms based on the proposed schedule builder. The results of the computational experiments show that the developed meta-heuristics are very effective.     

Foreign subsidiaries’ learning from local environments: An empirical test

Abstract and Key Results