Positioning knowledge: schools of thought and new knowledge creation

A useful level of analysis for the study of innovation may be what we call “knowledge communities”—intellectually cohesive, organic inter-organizational forms. Formal organizations like firms are excellent at promoting cooperation, but knowledge communities are superior at fostering collaboration—the most important process in innovation. Rather than focusing on what encourages performance in formal organizations, we study what characteristics encourage aggregate superior performance in informal knowledge communities in computer science. Specifically, we explore the way knowledge communities both draw on past knowledge, as seen in citations, and use rhetoric, as found in writing, to seek a basis for differential success. We find that when using knowledge successful knowledge communities draw from a broad range of sources and are extremely flexible in changing and adapting. In marked contrast, when using rhetoric successful knowledge communities tend to use very similar vocabularies and language that does not move or adapt over time and is not unique or esoteric compared to the vocabulary of other communities. A better understanding of how inter-organizational collaborative network structures encourage innovation is important to understanding what drives innovation and how to promote it.     

Transfer and distribution of knowledge creation activities of bio-scientists in knowledge space

In order to explore the rule of knowledge creation activities at both temporal and spatial scales, this paper makes statistical analysis of the time interval and spatial displacement of consecutive knowledge creation activities of high-yield, low-yield, and ASFP (all the scientists published at least four papers), respectively. The research shows that, for high-yield scientists, the time interval of knowledge creation activities obeys heavy-tailed distribution and embodies bursting features, with both long-time silence and intensive burst of creation activities. The time interval distribution of low-yield scientists is approximate to exponential distribution, and is often randomly and occasionally distributed. For ASFP, the spatial distribution of creation activities also embodies heavy-tailed features, where their activities are intensively confined to a certain knowledge field, and where long-distance exploration across the knowledge fields has also been made in knowledge creation activities.     

Bidirectional relationship between network position and knowledge creation in Scientometrics

Based on the 3100 papers published in the international journal Scientometrics retrieved from Web of Science database over the period 1996–2015, we utilize three-stage least squares (3SLS) to investigate the bidirectional relationship between authors’ network position and knowledge creation. Furthermore, our research is of great benefit to better understanding of the interplay of knowledge and collaboration networks on knowledge creation. The empirical results confirm that the prolific co-authorship and international co-authorship have positive and significant effects on the knowledge creation. The results from the 3SLS estimation models using the number of publications and citations as dependent variables also show that the structural holes of an author in the collaboration networks and her/his knowledge elements in knowledge networks have positive effects on her/his knowledge creation. These findings suggest that structural capital of an author and his/her knowledge elements are important influence factors of the quantity and quality of research output. The results of the models in this paper suggest that authors with better performance in knowledge creation are more likely to attract collaborators and occupy structural holes. In summary, we fill the research gap in exploring the bidirectional relationship between authors’ network positions (in terms of degree centrality and structural holes) and research output.     

Sensorless evaluation of the ideal timing for oil-change

Forschung im Ingenieurwesen - Customer demands for a cost-effective and demand-oriented determination of the oil change time for gears have led to the development of a new method...     

Measurement and evaluation of two-phase flow parameters

The fuzzy set theory and the flow-imaging technique were applied to measure the flow pattern and void fraction of two-phase flow. The flow pattern was identified online by using `fuzzy identification', and an instrument system based on the flow-imaging technique was developed for online flow pattern measurement as well. The void fraction was evaluated online by `fuzzy multifactorial evaluation'. The void fraction was also measured online by an instrument system based on the flow-imaging technique. The experimental results show that the developed methods are satisfactory     

微小pVTt法气体流量标准装置的性能评估及验证

pVTt法气体流量标准装置是国内外普遍使用的原级气体流量标准装置,主要用于音速喷嘴流量计的检测。附加体积处质量变化和泄漏量的准确评估是制约微小pVTt法气体流量标准装置测量准确度水平的关键因素。该文首先就附加体积处质量变化和泄漏量对微小pVTt法气体流量标准装置测量结果的影响进行理论分析,确定标准装置的不确定度;其次,以3支小音速喷嘴作为传递标准,对100 L pVTt法气体流量标准装置与2 m3 pVTt标准装置及德国物理技术研究院(PTB)的气体流量标准装置进行比对,比对结果的良好一致性可验证分析方法的可行性及装置的不确定度水平。     

Towards medical knowmetrics: representing and computing medical knowledge using semantic predications as the knowledge unit and the uncertainty as the knowledge context

In China, Prof. Hongzhou Zhao and Zeyuan Liu are the pioneers of the concept “knowledge unit” and “knowmetrics” for measuring knowledge. However, the definition on “computable knowledge object” remains controversial so far in different fields. For example, it is defined as (1) quantitative scientific concept in natural science and engineering, (2) knowledge point in the field of education research, and (3) semantic predications, i.e., Subject-Predicate-Object (SPO) triples in biomedical fields. The Semantic MEDLINE Database (SemMedDB), a high-quality public repository of SPO triples extracted from medical literature, provides a basic data infrastructure for measuring medical knowledge. In general, the study of extracting SPO triples as computable knowledge unit from unstructured scientific text has been overwhelmingly focusing on scientific knowledge per se. Since the SPO triples would be possibly extracted from hypothetical, speculative statements or even conflicting and contradictory assertions, the knowledge status (i.e., the uncertainty), which serves as an integral and critical part of scientific knowledge has been largely overlooked. This article aims to put forward a framework for Medical Knowmetrics using the SPO triples as the knowledge unit and the uncertainty as the knowledge context. The lung cancer publications dataset is used to validate the proposed framework. The uncertainty of medical knowledge and how its status evolves over time indirectly reflect the strength of competing knowledge claims, and the probability of certainty for a given SPO triple. We try to discuss the new insights using the uncertainty-centric approaches to detect research fronts, and identify knowledge claims with high certainty level, in order to improve the efficacy of knowledge-driven decision support.

     

Effect of collaboration network structure on knowledge creation and technological performance: the case of biotechnology in Canada

Many of the novel ideas that lead to scientific publications or yield technological advances are the result of collaborations among scientists or inventors. Although various aspects of collaboration networks have been examined, the impact of many network characteristics on knowledge creation and innovation production remains unclear due to the inconsistency of the conclusions from various research studies. One such network structure, called small world, has recently attracted much theoretical attention as it has been suggested that it can enhance the information transmission efficiency among the network actors. However, the existing empirical studies have failed to provide consistent results regarding the effect of small-world network properties on network performance in terms of its scientific and technological productivity. In this paper, using the data on 29 years of journal publications and patents in the field of biotechnology in Canada, the network of scientists’ collaboration activities has been constructed based on their co-authorships in scientific articles. Various structural properties of this network have been measured and the relationships between the network structure and knowledge creation, and quantity and quality of technological performance have been examined. We found that the structure of the co-authorship network of Canadian biotechnology scientists has a significant effect on the knowledge and innovation production, but it produced no impact on the quality of patents generated by these scientists.     

Material flow system model evaluation and improvement

We introduce here a framework for the evaluation of material flow system models diagnosis of model performance problems, selection of model improvement actions and the implementation of these actions. Many of the actions in this model evaluation and redesign process cannot be modelled through specific procedures. Whenever this is the case we encourage the involvement of the designer by providing decision support, e.g. in determining whether the model performance is actually met and in selecting model improvement actions. In situations in which design tasks can be automated, the framework allows the integration of design tools that can take over these tasks. We present strategies for addressing tasks within the evaluation and redesign process as well as their implementation. The concepts presented are implemented in a design workstation for material flow systems.     

The Red Queen in organizational creation and development

We synthesize organization learning theory and organizationalecology to predict systematic patterns in the founding and growthof organizations over time. Our central argument is that competitiontriggers organizational learning, which in turn intensifiescompetition that again triggers an adaptive response. We modelthis self-exciting dynamic—sometimes referred to as the‘Red Queen’ in general evolutionary theory—toexplain organizational founding and growth rates among the thousandsof retail banks that have operated in Illinois at any time from1900–1993. We find strong evidence that Red Queen evolutionled some organizations to grow quickly and to place strong competitivepressure on rivals. Red Queen evolution also helped establishbarriers to entry. However, this same evolutionary process appearsto make organizations more susceptible to ‘competencytraps’, ultimately slowing their growth rates and invitingnew market entry. Organizations confronted by a widely varyingdistribution of competitors grow more slowly and are more likelyto face new entrants. Overall, the results suggest that processesof organizational creation and growth emerge from ecologiesof learning organizations. More generally, we discuss the useof ecological theory and models to study the empirical consequencesof organizational learning.     

Patents and publications as sources of novel and inventive knowledge

This paper briefly reviews the knowledge-generation process and explores to what degree technical and scientific knowledge from prior art anticipates novelty or the inventive step of an invention. Inventions are novel if they have not been described (in the public) before, and they are inventive if the technical solution was non-obvious to a skilled person in the field. We employ a novel approach of patent citation analysis to investigate this phenomenon. Since in this context common approaches of such citation analysis are biased (usually, citations are neither exhaustive nor relevant in their entirety), we focus on examination reports of European patent applications and the references given therein. Our findings reveal that particularly technical knowledge comprised in patents serves as a source of novelty, while scientific knowledge frequently stems from multiple scientific papers and accounts for the inventive step. In addition, it is found that in many cases scientific knowledge is of commercial relevance and therefore constitutes more than general background information that aids the technical knowledge generation process.     

The proximate determinants of fertility

The proximate determinants of fertility are the biological and behavioral factors through which socioeconomic and environmental variables operate to influence the rate of childbearing in a population. Three biological proximate variables are identified: permanent sterility, the probability of conception, and intrauterine mortality. Although these variables lower the actual rate of reproduction to far below its potential maximum, they contribute little to trends in fertility. Changes over time in fertility are largely due to changes in the behavioral proximate determinants. The most important of these is the prevalence of contraceptive use, but the duration of breastfeeding, the practice of induced abortion, patterns of union formation, and contraceptive effectiveness are or have been major determinants of levels and trends in fertility in most societies.     

The economics of knowledge: the debate about codification and tacit knowledge

The aim of this paper is to shed some light on the complex relationshipsbetween codified and tacit knowledge. This supposes a firststep is to distinguish clearly the notion of knowledge fromthe notion of information. A model of knowledge as a structureis then proposed from which an analysis of the content, significanceand implications of the tacit dimension of knowledge can bederived. The paper emphasizes the importance of the context,the modes of conversion of knowledge and the role of knowingcommunities when analysing the relationships between tacit andcodified knowledge.     

The contrasting method in noise thermometry as a development of the ideas of P. G. Strelkov

The place of the contrasting method among other methods of noise thermometry and its influence on the development of these methods is determined. The results of an investigation of the thermal characteristics of refractory metals and alloys on samples heated by a current with a direct measurement of their thermal noise and its oscillations are presented.     

Gender stereotype conformity and age as determinants of preschoolers’ injury-risk behaviors

Unintentional injuries continue to be a serious public-health problem for children and are higher for boys than for girls, from infancy through adulthood. Literature on differential socialization concerning risky behaviors and gender stereotypes suggests that sex differences in unintentional injuries could be explained by children's differential feedback to social pressure, leading to behaviors which conform to masculine and feminine stereotypes. We made the prediction that boys’ and girls’ conformity with masculine stereotypes influences injury-risk behaviors among preschoolers. Masculinity score, femininity score, and injury-risk behaviors of 170 3-6-year old children (89 boys and 81 girls) were measured indirectly on two scales filled out by their parents. Results show that boys’ and girls’ injury-risk behaviors are predicted by masculine stereotype conformity and that girls’ masculine behaviors decline with increasing age. These results underline the impact of gender-roles - and of the differential socialization associated with those roles - on sex differences in children's risky behaviors as early as the preschool period.     

The evaluation of grain shapes in silica sands from a simple flow test

Direct methods of estimating particle shape become lengthy if a truly representative sample of a sand is to be examined and are therefore unsuitable for routine use. Thus indirect methods have been developed in which a bulk property of the material, which is strongly influenced by grain shape, is measured in a standard test. The purpose of the work reported in this paper was to seek a correlation between shape parameters obtained by direct examation of individual grains and those derived from simple bulk tests. This work has resulted in a quick reliable method of estimating grain shapes of natural silica sands from a flow rate test.     

评估知识生产绩效的BP神经网络模型

把知识生产划分为批量型知识生产和订单型知识生产两类,绘制了它们的流程,并系统地比较了它们与传统制造行业供应链的差异。针对知识生产的流程更加复杂多变,供应链更新更快且对象更难于量化的特点,提出了批量型和订单型两类知识生产的绩效评估指标体系,在此基础上通过BP神经网络模型,得出了它们的绩优度,为知识生产绩效的评估提供了参考和依据。