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.     

A partial binary tree DEA-DA cyclic classification model for decision makers in complex multi-attribute large-group interval-valued intuitionistic fuzzy decision-making problems

This paper proposes the idea of combining “interest groups” with the practical decision information to classify the decision makers (DMs) in complex multi-attribute large-group decision-making (CMALGDM) problems in interval-valued intuitionistic fuzzy (IVIF) environment. It constructs a partial binary tree DEA-DA cyclic classification model to achieve the multiple groups’ classification of DMs. Not only does this method provide references for the classification of DMs when the decision information is known, but it also lays foundations for DMs’ effective weight determination and the aggregation of decision information. First, this paper normalizes all of the cost attributes into benefit attributes to avoid the wrong decision result. Second, it employs the C-OWA operator to transform IVIF number (IVIFN) samples into single-valued samples. With respect to this transformation, this paper provides the corresponding BUM functions of DMs according to their risk attitudes; therefore, the preference information of DMs can be more objectively aggregated. Third, this paper adopts the partial binary tree DEA-DA cyclic classification model to present an accurate classification of DMs. Thus, for each interest group, group members with different interest preferences can be distinguished and distributed to the appropriate groups. Finally, to show the feasibility and validity of the model, we give an illustrative example.     

Evaluation of the provincial competitiveness of the Chinese high-tech industry using an improved TOPSIS method

Evaluation of the competitiveness of high-tech industry is a technical decision-making issue involving multiple criteria. It is also a practical path to promote a country’s competitiveness. However, the competitiveness indicators in high-tech industry often act and react upon one another. Moreover, different dimensions and indicator weights also affect the evaluation results. In this paper, the Mahalanobis distance is used to improve the traditional technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS). The improved TOPSIS method has the following properties: (1) an improved relative closeness which is invariant after non-singular linear transformation, and (2) the weighted Mahalanobis distance is the same as the weighted Euclidean distance when the indicators are uncorrelated. The new method is applied to evaluate the competitiveness of the Chinese high-tech industry using data from 2011. Consideration of the correlation between indicators improves the evaluation results (in terms of sorting and closeness) to a certain extent compared to the traditional TOPSIS method. The top five provinces are: Guangdong, Jiangsu, Shanghai, Beijing, and Shandong. This finding reflects the practical linkage among provinces and softens the closeness value, consistent with reality.     

Synthesis of a Kind of Temperature-responsive Cell Culture Surface for Corneal Sheet

In this study,acrylic acid(AA) and 4-azidoaniline were used to modify poly(N-isopropylacrylamide)(NIPAAm) in order to fabricate temperature-responsive surface for corneal epithelia cell adhesion and detachment.First,NIPAAm was copolymerized with acrylic acid.Then,the copolymer was coupled with azidoaniline to synthesize AzPhPIA,derivative of p(NIPAAm-co-AA),which possesses both thermo-and photo-sensitivities.Second,the synthesized copolymer was characterized by high performance liquid chromatography(HPLC),F...     

Gold extraction by chlorination using a pyrometallurgical process

The feasibility to recover the gold present in alluvial material, by means of a chlorination process, using chlorine as a reactive agent, has been studied. The influence of temperature and reaction time was studied through changes in the reactant solid. The techniques used to characterize the mineral samples and the reaction residues were stereomicroscopy, X-ray diffraction, X-ray fluorescence and scanning electronic microscopy. Results indicate that gold extraction is favored by increasing, both, the temperature and the reaction time. The best recovery values were of 98.23% at 873 K and 3600 s and of 98.73% at 873 K and 5400 s, with very low attack of the matrix containing the metal. The powder of pure gold was not chlorinated at this temperature level.     

Alkaline aluminum phosphate glasses for thermal ion-exchanged optical waveguide

Alkaline aluminum phosphate glasses (NMAP) with excellent chemical durability for thermal ion-exchanged optical waveguide have been designed and investigated. The transition temperature Tg (470 °C) is higher than the ion-exchange temperature (390 °C), which is favorable to sustain the stability of the glass structure for planar waveguide fabrication. The effective diffusion coefficient D_e of K⁺–Na⁺ ion exchange in NMAP glasses is 0.110 μm²/min, indicating that ion exchange can be achieved efficiently in the optical glasses. Single-mode channel waveguide has been fabricated on Er³⁺/Yb³⁺ doped NMAP glass substrate by standard micro-fabrication and K⁺–Na⁺ ion exchange. The mode field diameter is 9.6 μm in the horizontal direction and 6.0 μm in the vertical direction, respectively, indicating an excellent overlap with a standard single-mode fiber. Judd–Ofelt intensity parameter Ω₂ is 5.47 × 10⁻²⁰ cm², implying a strong asymmetrical and covalent environment around Er³⁺ in the optical glasses. The full width at half maximum and maximum stimulated emission cross section of the ⁴I_13/2 → ⁴I_15/2 are 30 nm and 6.80 × 10⁻²¹ cm², respectively, demonstrating that the phosphate glasses are potential glass candidates in developing compact optoelectronic devices. Pr³⁺, Tm³⁺ and Ho³⁺ doped NMAP glasses are promising candidates to fabricate waveguide amplifiers and lasers operating at special telecommunication windows.     

Achieving the best glass former in a binary Gd–Co alloy system

In this work, the best glass former in a binary Gd–Co alloy system has been designed by thermodynamic parameter γ^⁎, which has been proved to be valid in the prediction of glass forming ability (GFA) of other binary alloys. A metastable phase has been observed in some Gd–Co melt-spun ribbons and its composition has been ascertained. By analyzing the effect of the metastable phase on the GFA of the Gd–Co binary alloys, we predict the Gd₅₀Co₅₀ alloy as the best glass former in the binary alloy system. The prediction has been confirmed by the experimental results, proving the validity of the parameter γ^⁎ in the Gd–Co binary alloys.     

Mechanical behavior of Ce0.9Gd0.1O1.95-La0.6Sr0.4Co0.2Fe0.8O3−δ oxygen electrode with a coral microstructure for solid oxide fuel cell and solid oxide electrolyzer cell

The objective of this work is to investigate the mechanical behavior of CGO-LSCF composite developed by electrostatic spray deposition as an oxygen electrode for Solid Oxide Fuel Cell and Solid Oxide Electrolysis Cell. The coating is characterized by a highly porous morphology designated coral microstructure. Its mechanical behavior was studied by scratch and ultramicroindentation tests and a model of material degradation under progressive compressive loading has been proposed. The coral's damage mechanism involves three regimes: at very low loads stresses are concentrated at the tips of individual corals that fracture and fill the spaces between corals (regime I); as load increases, generalized fracture of the corals occurs and the material starts compacting into an increasingly dense layer (regime II); finally, at the highest loads, the material behaves like an almost fully dense (regime III). As load increases during testing porosity decreases from about 60 to about 5 vol% in the compacted material. The transitions between regimes are associated to increases in the contact stress and the same damage mechanism is found during scratching and indentation. Hardness increases from about 2–100 MPa, while the Young's modulus varies in the range 1–18 GPa, as the porosity decreases. Calculations of the real contact pressure during loading allowed estimating a yield stress of 83 MPa that can be considered as a low limit for the materials fracture strength.     

Spatial pattern of population mobility among cities in China: Case study of the National Day plus Mid-Autumn Festival based on Tencent migration data

Population migration, social check-in, vehicle navigation, and other spatial behavior big data have become vital carriers characterizing users' spatial behavior. “Tencent Migration” big data can real-timely, dynamically, completely and systematically record population flow routs using LBS device. Through gathering residents daily mobility among 299 cities in China during the period of “National Day–Mid-Autumn Festival” (NDMAF) vacation (from September 30 to October 8) in 2017 in “Tencent Migration” and defining three periods with “travel period, journey period, return period”, this paper is designed to analyze and explore the characteristics and spatial patterns of daily flow mobility cities from the perspective of population daily mobility distribution levels, flow distribution layers network aggregation, spatial patterns and characteristics of the complex structure of the flow network. Results show that “Tencent migration” big data clearly discovers the temporal-spatial pattern of population mobility in China during the period of NDMAF. The net inflow of population showed a diamond shaped with cross frame support in each period, the four nodes of the diamond contain Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Xi'an. Main mobility assembling centers are distributed in the urban agglomerations of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Delta and Chengdu-Chongqing, and those centers have strong coherence with those urban hierarchies. Most cities are in a state of “relative equilibrium” in the population flow, and clear hierarchical structure and level distinction can be identified. Spatial patterns of population mobility present obvious core-periphery structures. The Dali-Hegang line exhibits a significant network of spatial differences in terms of boundary divisions. In this context, the spatial distribution of urban network could be summarized as “dense in the East and sparse in the West”, and the core linkages of urban network could be characterized as “parallel in the East and series in the West”. The whole network exhibits a typical “small world” network characteristic, which shows that China's urban population flow network has high connectivity and accessibility during the period of NDMAF. The network has a distinct “community” structure in the local area, including 2 national communities, 2 regional communities and 3 local-level communities.