Search results for: knowledge economy indexes

Authors: John Ayisi, Gideon M. Kivengea, George A. Ombakho

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In this emerging era of knowledge economy, universities, as major centres of learning and research, are becoming increasingly important as sources of ideas, knowledge, skills, innovation and technological advances. These ideas can be turned into new products, processes and systems needed to drive their respective national economies, and thus placing universities at the centre of the national innovation systems. Thus, commercialization of research outputs from universities to industry has become an area of strong policy interest in African countries. To assess the level of commercialization of research outputs in Kenyan universities, a standardized questionnaire covering seven sub-sections, namely: University Commercialization Environment, Management of Commercialization Activities, Commercialization Office, Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs), Early Stage Financing and Venture Capital; Industrial Linkages; and Technology Parks and Incubators was administered among a few selected public and private universities. Results show that all the universities have a strategic plan; though not all have innovation and commercialization as part of it. Half the nineteen surveyed universities indicated they have created designated offices for fostering commercialization. Majority have guidelines on IPRs which advocate IP to be co-owned by researcher/university. University-industry linkages are weak. Most universities are taking precursory steps to incentivise and encourage entrepreneurial activities among their academic staff and students, even though the level of resources devoted to them is low. It is recommended that building capacity in entrepreneurship among staff and students and committing more resources to R&D activities hold potential to increased commercialization of university research outputs.

Keywords: commercialization, knowledge, R&D, university

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Authors: K. Durairaj, I. N. Umar

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The asynchronous discussion forum is one of the most widely used activities in learning management system environment. Online forum allows participants to interact, construct knowledge, and can be used to complement face to face sessions in blended learning courses. However, to what extent do the students perceive the benefits or advantages of forum remain to be seen. Through content and social network analyses, instructors will be able to gauge the students’ engagement and knowledge construction level. Thus, this study aims to analyze the students’ level of knowledge construction and their participation level that occur through online discussion. It also attempts to investigate the relationship between the level of knowledge construction and their social interaction patterns. The sample involves 23 students undertaking a master course in one public university in Malaysia. The asynchronous discussion forum was conducted for three weeks as part of the course requirement. The finding indicates that the level of knowledge construction is quite low. Also, the density value of 0.11 indicating that the overall communication among the participants in the forum is low. This study reveals that strong and significant correlations between SNA measures (in-degree centrality, out-degree centrality) and level of knowledge construction. Thus, allocating these active students in a different groups aids the interactive discussion takes place. Finally, based upon the findings, some recommendations to increase students’ level of knowledge construction and also for further research are proposed.

Keywords: asynchronous discussion forums, content analysis, knowledge construction, social network analysis

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Authors: Yihao Kuang, Bowen Ding

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With the increasing scale and complexity of knowledge graph, modern knowledge graph contains more and more types of entity, relationship, and attribute information. Therefore, in recent years, it has been a trend for knowledge graph inference to use reinforcement learning to deal with large-scale, incomplete, and noisy knowledge graphs and improve the inference effect and interpretability. The Proximal Policy Optimization (PPO) algorithm utilizes a near-end strategy optimization approach. This allows for more extensive updates of policy parameters while constraining the update extent to maintain training stability. This characteristic enables PPOs to converge to improved strategies more rapidly, often demonstrating enhanced performance early in the training process. Furthermore, PPO has the advantage of offline learning, effectively utilizing historical experience data for training and enhancing sample utilization. This means that even with limited resources, PPOs can efficiently train for reinforcement learning tasks. Based on these characteristics, this paper aims to obtain a better and more efficient inference effect by introducing PPO into knowledge inference technology.

Keywords: reinforcement learning, PPO, knowledge inference

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Authors: Narges Sadat Myrmousavy, Maryam Eslampanah

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The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between social capital and knowledge sharing is the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance. They are descriptive correlation study. The study sample consisted of all the experts in the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance helping professionals headquarters in Tehran in the summer period is 2012, the number is 650. Random sampling is targeted. The sample size is 400. The data collection tool was a questionnaire that was used for the preparation of a standard questionnaire. They also examine the assumptions of the regression coefficient for the relationship between variables in order to investigate the main hypothesis test is used. The findings suggest that the structural and knowledge-sharing between components, there is a direct relationship. The components of the relationship between Impression management and knowledge sharing, there is a direct relationship. There was no significant relationship between Individual pro-social motives and knowledge sharing. Both components of the cognitive aspects of open mindedness and competence are directly related with knowledge sharing. Finally, the comparison between the different dimensions of social capital, the largest of its structure, and its relationship with knowledge sharing is the least relation.

Keywords: social capital, knowledge sharing, ministry of culture and Islamic guidance (Iran), open mindedness, pro-social motives

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Authors: Eric Ng, Freddy W. Wagey, Frank M. M. Wagey

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Background: Cervical cancer is the fourth most common cancer in women worldwide and the most common cancer in many low- and middle-income countries. The main causes are the lack of prevention programs and effective therapy, as well as the lack of knowledge about cervical cancer and awareness for early detection. The Pap smear test and visual inspection with acetic acid (VIA) allow the cervical lesion to be detected so that progression to cervical cancer can be avoided. Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the knowledge of Pap smear test and VIA in cervical cancer patients. Methodology: A total of 67 cervical cancer patients in Manado who volunteered to participate in the research were identified as the sample. The data were collected during the month of November 2019-January 2020 with a questionnaire about the respondents' knowledge relating to Pap smear test and VIA. Questionnaire data were analysed using descriptive statistics. Results: Knowledge of pap smear among cervical cancer patients were good in 9 respondents (13.4%), moderate in 20 respondents (29.9%), and bad in 38 respondents (56.7%), whereas the knowledge of VIA was good in 13 respondents (19.4%), moderate in 15 respondents (22.4%), and bad in 39 respondents (58.2%). Conclusion: Majority of cervical cancer patients in Manado still had bad knowledge about Pap smear tests and VIA.

Keywords: cervical cancer, knowledge, pap smear test, visual inspection with acetic acid

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Authors: Jasmin Cowin

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Augmented reality digital technologies, big data, and the need for a teacher workforce able to meet the demands of a knowledge-based society are poised to lead to major changes in the field of education. This paper explores applications and educational use cases of augmented reality digital technologies for educational organizations during the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The Fourth Industrial Revolution requires vision, flexibility, and innovative educational conduits by governments and educational institutions to remain competitive in a global economy. Educational organizations will need to focus on teaching in and for a digital age to continue offering academic knowledge relevant to 21st-century markets and changing labor force needs. Implementation of contemporary disciplines will need to be embodied through learners’ active knowledge-making experiences while embracing ubiquitous accessibility. The power of distributed ledger technology promises major streamlining for educational record-keeping, degree conferrals, and authenticity guarantees. Augmented reality digital technologies hold the potential to restructure educational philosophies and their underpinning pedagogies thereby transforming modes of delivery. Structural changes in education and governmental planning are already increasing through intelligent systems and big data. Reimagining and redesigning education on a broad scale is required to plan and implement governmental and institutional changes to harness innovative technologies while moving away from the big schooling machine.

Keywords: fourth industrial revolution, artificial intelligence, big data, education, augmented reality digital technologies, distributed ledger technology

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Authors: Vladyslav Povoroznyuk, Larysa Martynyuk, Iryna Syzonenko, Liliya Martynyuk

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Osteoporosis is one of the important problems in postmenopausal women due to an increased risk of sudden and unexpected fractures. This study is aimed to determine the connection between bone mineral density (BMD) and trabecular bone score (TBS) in Ukrainian women suffering from metabolic syndrome. Participating in the study, 566 menopausal women aged 50-79 year-old were examined and divided into two groups: Group A included 336 women with no obesity (BMI ≤ 29.9 kg/m²), and Group B – 230 women with metabolic syndrome (diagnosis according to IDF criteria, 2005). Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry was used for measuring of lumbar spine (L1-L4), femoral neck, total body and forearm BMD and bone quality indexes (last according to Med-Imaps installation). Data were analyzed using Statistical Package 6.0. A significant increase of lumbar spine (L1-L4), femoral neck, total body and ultradistal radius BMD was found in women with metabolic syndrome compared to those without obesity (p < 0.001) both in their totality and in groups of 50-59 years, 60-69 years, and 70-79 years. TBS was significantly higher in non-obese women compared to metabolic syndrome patients of 50-59 years and in the general sample (p < 0.05). Analysis showed significant positive correlation between body mass index (BMI) and BMD at all levels. Significant negative correlation between BMI and TBS (L1-L4) was established. Despite the fact that BMD indexes were significantly higher in women with metabolic syndrome, the frequency of vertebral and non-vertebral fractures did not differ significantly in the groups of patients.

Keywords: bone mineral density, trabecular bone score, metabolic syndrome, fracture

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Authors: Sylvia Villarreal, Edna Bravo

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Knowledge management focuses on coordinating technologies, people, processes, and structures to generate a competitive advantage and considering that networks are perceived as mechanisms for knowledge creation and transfer, this research presents the stages and practices related to the creation of knowledge networks. The methodology started with a literature review adapted from the systematic literature review (SLR). The descriptive analysis includes variables such as approach (conceptual or practical), industry, knowledge management processes and mythologies (qualitative or quantitative), etc. The content analysis includes identification of reference cases. These cases were characterized based on variables as scope, creation goal, years, network approach, actors and creation methodology. It was possible to do a comparative analysis to determinate similarities and differences in these cases documented in knowledge network scientific literature. Consequently, it was shown that even the need and impact of knowledge networks in organizations, the initial guidelines for their creation are not documented, so there is not a guide of good practices and lessons learned. The reference cases are from industries as energy, education, creative, automotive and textile. Their common points are the human approach; it is oriented to interactions to facilitate the appropriation of knowledge, explicit and tacit. The stages of every case are analyzed to propose the main successful elements.

Keywords: creation, knowledge management, network, stages

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Authors: Muhammad Abdul Basit Memon

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The importance of organizational knowledge sharing and knowledge management has been documented in numerous research studies in available literature, since knowledge sharing has been recognized as a founding pillar for superior organizational performance and a source of gaining competitive advantage. Built on this, most of the successful organizations perceive knowledge management and knowledge sharing as a concern of high strategic importance and spend huge amounts on the effective management and sharing of organizational knowledge. However, despite some very serious endeavors, many firms fail to capitalize on the benefits of knowledge sharing because of being unaware of the individual characteristics, interpersonal, organizational and contextual factors that influence knowledge sharing; simply the antecedent to knowledge sharing. The extant literature on antecedents to knowledge sharing, offers a range of antecedents mentioned in a number of research articles and research studies. Some of the previous studies about antecedents to knowledge sharing, studied antecedents to knowledge sharing regarding inter-organizational knowledge transfer; others focused on inter and intra organizational knowledge sharing and still others investigated organizational factors. Some of the organizational antecedents to KS can relate to the characteristics and underlying aspects of knowledge being shared e.g., specificity and complexity of the underlying knowledge to be transferred; others relate to specific organizational characteristics e.g., age and size of the organization, decentralization and absorptive capacity of the firm and still others relate to the social relations and networks of organizations such as social ties, trusting relationships, and value systems. In the same way some researchers have highlighted on only one aspect like organizational commitment, transformational leadership, knowledge-centred culture, learning and performance orientation and social network-based relationships in the organizations. A bulk of the existing research articles on antecedents to knowledge sharing has mainly discussed organizational or environmental factors affecting knowledge sharing. However, the focus, later on, shifted towards the analysis of individuals or personal determinants as antecedents for the individual’s engagement in knowledge sharing activities, like personality traits, attitude and self efficacy etc. For example, employees’ goal orientations (i.e. learning orientation or performance orientation is an important individual antecedent of knowledge sharing behaviour. While being consistent with the existing literature therefore, the antecedents to knowledge sharing can be classified as being individual and organizational. This paper is an endeavor to discuss a conceptual framework of the individual and organizational antecedents to knowledge sharing in the light of the available literature and empirical evidence. This model not only can help in getting familiarity and comprehension on the subject matter by presenting a holistic view of the antecedents to knowledge sharing as discussed in the literature, but can also help the business managers and especially human resource managers to find insights about the salient features of organizational knowledge sharing. Moreover, this paper can help provide a ground for research students and academicians to conduct both qualitative as well and quantitative research and design an instrument for conducting survey on the topic of individual and organizational antecedents to knowledge sharing.

Keywords: antecedents to knowledge sharing, knowledge management, individual and organizational, organizational knowledge sharing

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Authors: Innocent Felix Idoko

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The development of indigenous entrepreneurship is critical to the achievement of sustainable development in the internationalized economy. Sustainable development implies a continuous stimulus of growth and improvement of an economy in a fairly stable manner. The paradigms of a globalization are numerous to mention. However, to a great extent, these are trade-offs and dilemmas for indigenous entrepreneurship, particularly in the developing economies with infant industries that are essentially crucial to development. This paper analyses the pros and cons of globalization as relates to the complementary role of both foreign and indigenous entrepreneurs, the conflict of values between globalization and protectionism for local entrepreneurship. Using analytical and descriptive approach, the views of academicians, research fellows, literature reviews and both the theories of the mercantilists and those of free trade mainstream economists, and the G20, the paper concludes that there is a legitimate need for protectionism for domestic entrepreneurship in the developing economies as doing otherwise amount to stifling them.

Keywords: developing countries, entrepreneurship, globalization, infant-industries, protectionism, sustainable development

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Authors: Sharvari Parikh

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Climate change has always been looked upon as a threat. Increased use of fossil fuels, depletion of bio diversity, certain human activities, rising levels of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions are the factors that have caused climate change. Climate change is creating new risks and aggravating the existing ones. The paper focuses on breaking the stereotypical perception of climate change and draws attention towards the constructive side of it. Researches around the world have concluded that climate change has provided us with many untapped opportunities. The next 15 years will be crucial, as it is in our hands whether we are able to grab these opportunities or just let the situation get worse. The world stands at a stage where we cannot think of making a choice between averting climate change and promoting growth and development. In fact, the solution to climate change itself has got economic opportunities. The data evidences from the paper show how we can create the opportunity to improve the lives of the world’s population at large through structural change which will promote environment friendly investments. Rising Investment in green energy and increased demand of climate friendly products has got ample of employment opportunities. Old technologies and machinery which are employed today lack efficiency and demand huge maintenance because of which we face high production cost. This can be drastically brought down by adaptation of Green technologies which are more accessible and affordable. Overall GDP of the world has been heavily affected in aggravating the problems arising out of increasing weather problems. Shifting to green economy can not only eliminate these costs but also build a sound economy. Accelerating the economy in direction of low-carbon future can lessen the burdens such as subsidies for fossil fuels, several public debts, unemployment, poverty, reduce healthcare expenses etc. It is clear that the world will be dragged into the ‘Darker phase’ if the current trends of fossil fuels and carbon are being consumed. Switching to Green economy is the only way in which we can lift the world from darker phase. Climate change has opened the gates for ‘Green and Clean economy’. It will also bring countries of the world together in achieving the common goal of Green Economy.

Keywords: climate change, economic opportunities, green economy, green technology

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Authors: Michael Ayodeji Boyede

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Studies have shown that workers’ job performance is very low in Nigeria, especially in the food and beverage industry. This trend had been partially attributed to low workers’ self-efficacy, poor self-knowledge, lack of empathy and poor psychological well-being. The descriptive survey design was adopted. Four factories were purposively selected from three states in Southwestern, Nigeria (Lagos, Ogun and Oyo States). Proportionate random sampling techniques were used in selecting 1,820 junior and supervisory cadre workers in Nestle Plc (369), Coca-Cola Plc (392), Cadbury Plc (443) and Nigeria Breweries (616). The five research instruments used were: Workers’ self-efficacy (r=0.81), Workers’ self-knowledge (r=0.78), Workers’ empathy (r=0.74), Workers’ psychological well-being (r=0.70) and Workers’ performance rating (r=0.72) scales. Quantitative data were analysed using Pearson product moment correlation, Multiple regression at 0.05 level of significance. Findings show that there were significant relationships between Workers’ job performance and self-efficacy (r=.56), self-knowledge (r=.54), Empathy (r=.55) and Psychological Well-being (r=.69) respectively. Self-efficacy, self-knowledge, empathy and psychological well-being jointly predict workers’ job performance (F (4,1815) = 491.05) accounting for 52.0% of its variance. Psychological well-being (B=.52). Self-efficacy (B=.10), self-knowledge (B=.11), empathy (B=. 09) had predictive relative weights on workers’ job performance. Inadequate knowledge and training of the supervisors led to a mismatch of workers thereby reducing workers’ job performance. High self-efficacy, empathy, psychological well-being and good self-knowledge influence workers job performance in the food and beverage industry. Based on the finding employers of labour should provide work environment that would enhance and promote the development of these factors among the workers.

Keywords: self-efficacy, self-knowledge, empathy, psychological well-being, job performance

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Authors: Raliatu Mohammed Kashim

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The study investigated primary school teachers conceptual and procedural knowledge of rational numbers to determine how it effects on pupil’s achievement on rational number. Specifically, primary school teachers’ level of conceptual and procedural knowledge about rational number and its effects on their pupils understanding of rational number in primary school was explored. The study was carried out in Bauchi state of Nigeria, Using a multistage design. The first stage was a descriptive design. The second stage involves a pre-test post-test only quasi experiment design. The population of the study comprises of six mathematics teachers holding the Nigerian Certificate in Education (NCE) teaching primary six and their two hundred and ten pupils in intact class. Two instrument namely Conceptual and Procedural knowledge Test (CPKT) and Rational number Achievement Test (RAT) were used for data collection. Data collected was analyzed using ANCOVA and Scheffe’s Test. The result revealed a significant differences between pupils taught by teachers with high conceptual and procedural knowledge and those target by teachers with low conceptual and procedural knowledge.

Keywords: conceptual knowledge, procedural knowledge, rational numbers, multistage design

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Authors: Alireza Assareh, Fatemeh Havas Beigi, Mohammad Vafaee Yeganeh

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The present study is conducted to investigate the relationship between organizational culture and the establishment of knowledge management in the Central Insurance of Iran. The research results revealed that there is a significant positive relationship between organizational culture and its elements that include management support, organizational belonging, individual innovation, and leadership style and the establishment of knowledge management in the central insurance of Iran and that there isn’t any significant relationship between conflict resolution and the establishment of knowledge management in the central insurance of Iran.

Keywords: organizational culture, knowledge management, central insurance of Iran, individual innovation

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Authors: Marzena Świgoń

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The purpose of this paper is to describe the perceptions of knowledge and information sharing by the Polish academic community. An electronic questionnaire was used to gather opinions of respondents. The presented results are a part of the findings of empirical studies carried out amongst academics from various types of universities and academia located throughout Poland.

Keywords: academics, information sharing, knowledge sharing, scholarly communication

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Authors: Uwera Monique, Bagweneza Vedaste, Rugema Joselyne, Lakshmi Rajeswaran

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Background: Malnutrition contributes significantly to childhood morbidity and mortality. Nurses usually exhibit inadequate knowledge of childhood malnutrition management. Nurses require appropriate knowledge and skills to manage malnutrition using appropriate protocols. Objectives: The general objective of this study was to assess Nurses’ knowledge and practice in the management of childhood malnutrition in selected health centers in Rwanda. The specific objectives were to assess the level of nurses’ knowledge in the management of childhood malnutrition, to determine the level of practice in the management of childhood malnutrition in selected health centers in Rwanda, and to establish the relationship between the demographic profile and nurses’ knowledge in the management of childhood malnutrition in selected health centers in Rwanda. Methods: The study used a descriptive cross-sectional study design and quantitative approach among 196 nurses from 24 health centers in one district. A questionnaire was used to collect data on knowledge and practice towards childhood malnutrition management. The entire population was used, and SPSS version 25 helped to analyze data. Descriptive statistics helped to produce the frequencies and percentages, while chi-square helped to determine the relationship between demographic variables and knowledge and practice scores. Results: The study findings showed that of 196 participants, 48% had a high level of knowledge about malnutrition management with more than 75% score, and 17% and 35% had low and moderate levels of knowledge, respectively. 61% of them had a high level of practice in malnutrition management, as the acceptable score was 75%. 13% had a low level, while 26% had a moderate level of practice. Most socio-demographic characteristics have shown a statistical relationship with the level of knowledge. Conclusion: The study findings revealed that almost half of the nurses had good knowledge of childhood malnutrition management, and this was associated with many socio-demographic data, while more than half had good practice in that aspect. However, some nurses who still have gaps in knowledge and practice require necessary measures to boost these components.

Keywords: nurse, knowledge, practice, childhood malnutrition

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Authors: Oussedik Lydia, Zaouani-Denoux Souâd

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Given the evolution of professions, training is becoming a solution to meet the current requirements of the labor market. Notably, the amount of money invested in training activities is considerable and continuously increasing globally. The justification of this investment becomes an obligation for those responsible for training. Therefore, the impact of training can be measured by the degree to which the knowledge, skills, and attitudes acquired through training are transferred to the workplace. Further, knowledge transfer is fundamental because the objective of any training is to be close to a professional environment in order to improve the productivity of participants. Hence, the need to better understand the knowledge transfer process in order to determine the factors that may influence it. The objective of this research is to understand the process of knowledge transfer that can occur between two contexts: professional training and the workplace, which will provide further insight to identify the environmental factors that can hinder or promote it. By examining participants' perceptions of the training and work contexts, this qualitative approach seeks to understand the knowledge transfer process that occurs between the two contexts. It also aims to identify the factors that influence it. The results will help managers identify environmental factors in the training and work context that may impact knowledge transfer. These results can be used to promote the knowledge transfer process and the performance of the trainees.

Keywords: knowledge transfer, professional training, professional training in agriculture, training context, professional context

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Authors: Ilhan Keskin, Hasan Bulent Kantarci

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In this study, one of the tools of Islamic financing known as “Sukuk” a non-interest bearing investment which has started to be implemented in Turkey and the world as a whole is discussed. In order to increase the vitality and efficiency of the economy, by taking lessons from the recent economic crisis new developments in the banking and investment sector are being expanded. The purpose of all investors is to obtain more revenue through the use of capital. The inability of traditional investment tools to meet the expectations of investors and the interest based financial system where one investor benefits at the expense of another there has been the need for a different, reliable and non-interest bearing financial market that is consistent with the Islamic rule. As a result an alternative and more reliable interest free financing tool “Sukuk” rental certificates covering people who are sensitive to Islamic rules, appeal to all segments, hidden remaining capital that contributes to the economy, reduce disparities in income distribution, common risk sharing system of profit and loss sharing has emerged. Today, for the structural countries by examining the state of the world market economy the applicability, enactment and future issues associated with this attractive kind of Islamic finance namely the “Sukuk” market has been explained.

Keywords: Islamic finance, islamic markets, non-interest bearing, rental certificates

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Authors: Mohammad Sadeghi

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The subject matter of this article is the efficiency of current knowledge standard to afford the legal integration regarding criteria and approaches to ISP knowledge standards, to shield ISP and copyright, trademark and other parties’ rights in the online information society. The EU recognizes the knowledge-based liability for intermediaries in the European Directive on Electronic Commerce, but the implication of all parties’ responsibility for combating infringement has been immolated by dominating attention on liability due to the lack of the appropriate legal mechanism to devote each party responsibility. Moreover, there is legal challenge on the applicability of knowledge-based liability on hosting services and information location tools service. The aim of this contribution is to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of ECD knowledge standard through case law with a special emphasis on duty of prevention and constructive knowledge role on internet service providers (ISP s’) to achieve fair balance between all parties rights.

Keywords: internet service providers, liability, copyright infringement, hosting, caching, mere conduit service, notice and takedown, E-commerce Directive

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Authors: Cheryl Teelucksingh

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Toronto is in the midst of an urban development and infrastructure boom. Population growth and concerns about urban sprawl and carbon emissions have led to pressure on the municipal and the provincial governments to re-think urban development. Toronto’s approach to climate change mitigation and adaptation has positioning of the emerging green economy as part of the solution. However, the emerging green economy many not benefit all Torontonians in terms of jobs, improved infrastructure, and enhanced quality of life. Community benefits agreements (CBAs) are comprehensive, negotiated commitments, in which founders and builders of major infrastructure projects formally agree to work with community interest groups based in the community where the development is taking place, toward mutually beneficial environmental and labor market outcomes. When community groups are equitably represented in the process, they stand not only to benefit from the jobs created from the project itself, but also from the longer-term community benefits related to the quality of the completed work, including advocating for communities’ environmental needs. It is believed that green employment initiatives in Toronto should give greater consideration to best practices learned from community benefits agreements. Drawing on the findings of a funded qualitative study in Toronto (Canada), “The Green Gap: Toward Inclusivity in Toronto’s Green Economy” (2013-2016), this paper examines the emergent CBA in Toronto in relation to the development of a light rail transit project. Theoretical and empirical consideration will be given to the research gaps around CBAs, the role of various stakeholders, and discuss the potential for CBAs to gain traction in the Toronto’s urban development context. The narratives of various stakeholders across Toronto’s green economy will be interwoven with a discussion of the CBA model in Toronto and other jurisdictions.

Keywords: green economy in Toronto, equity, community benefits agreements, environmental justice, community sustainability

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Authors: Weidong Xia, Malgorzata Kolotylo, Xuan Tan

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This study examines the key factors that influence general practitioners’ learning and transfer of specialized arthritis knowledge and self-care techniques to patients during normal patient visits. Drawing on the theory of planed behavior and using matched survey data collected from general practitioners before and after training sessions provided by specialized orthopedic physicians, the study suggests that the general practitioner’s intention to use and transfer learned knowledge was influenced mainly by intrinsic motivation, organizational learning culture and absorptive capacity, but was not influenced by extrinsic motivation. The results provide both theoretical and practical implications.

Keywords: empirical study, healthcare knowledge management, patient self-care, physician knowledge transfer

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Authors: Zhengrong Wu, Haibo Yang

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In the context of escalating global climate change and environmental degradation, the complexity and frequency of natural disasters are continually increasing. Confronted with an abundance of information regarding natural disasters, traditional knowledge graph construction methods, which heavily rely on grammatical rules and prior knowledge, demonstrate suboptimal performance in processing complex, multi-source disaster information. This study, drawing upon past natural disaster reports, disaster-related literature in both English and Chinese, and data from various disaster monitoring stations, constructs question-answer templates based on large language models. Utilizing the P-Tune method, the ChatGLM2-6B model is fine-tuned, leading to the development of a disaster knowledge graph based on large language models. This serves as a knowledge database support for disaster emergency response.

Keywords: large language model, knowledge graph, disaster, deep learning

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Authors: Yihao Kuang, Bowen Ding

Abstract:

With the increasing scale and complexity of knowledge graph, modern knowledge graph contains more and more types of entity, relationship, and attribute information. Therefore, in recent years, it has been a trend for knowledge graph inference to use reinforcement learning to deal with large-scale, incomplete, and noisy knowledge graph and improve the inference effect and interpretability. The Proximal Policy Optimization (PPO) algorithm utilizes a near-end strategy optimization approach. This allows for more extensive updates of policy parameters while constraining the update extent to maintain training stability. This characteristic enables PPOs to converge to improve strategies more rapidly, often demonstrating enhanced performance early in the training process. Furthermore, PPO has the advantage of offline learning, effectively utilizing historical experience data for training and enhancing sample utilization. This means that even with limited resources, PPOs can efficiently train for reinforcement learning tasks. Based on these characteristics, this paper aims to obtain better and more efficient inference effect by introducing PPO into knowledge inference technology.

Keywords: reinforcement learning, PPO, knowledge inference, supervised learning

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Authors: Mohammad Reza Bagherzadeh, Mohammad Hossein Taheri

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Knowledge management serves as one of the great breakthroughs in information and knowledge era and given its outstanding features, successful organizations tends to adopt it. Therefore, to deal with knowledge management establishment in universities is of special importance. In this regard, the present research aims to shed lights on factors background knowledge management establishment at Islamic Azad University, Behshahr Branch (Northern Iran). Considering three factors information technology system, knowledge process system and organizational culture as a fundamental of knowledge management infrastructure, foregoing factors were evaluated individually. The present research was conducted in descriptive-survey manner and participants included all staffs and faculty members, so that according to Krejcie & Morgan table a sample size proportional to the population size was considered. The measurement tools included survey questionnaire whose reliability was calculated to 0.83 according to Cronbachs alpha. To data analysis, descriptive statistics such as frequency and its percentage tables, column charts, mean, standard deviation and as for inferential statistics Kolomogrov- Smirnov test and single T-test were used. The findings show that despite the good corporate culture as one of the three factors background the establishment of the knowledge management at Islamic Azad University Behshahr Branch, other two ones, including IT systems, and knowledge processes systems are characterized with adverse status. As a result, these factors have caused no necessary conditions for the establishment of Knowledge Management in the university provided.

Keywords: knowledge management, information technology, knowledge processes, organizational culture, educational institutions

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Authors: Sinead Impey, Damon Berry, Selma Furtado, Miriam Galvin, Loretto Grogan, Orla Hardiman, Lucy Hederman, Mark Heverin, Vincent Wade, Linda Douris, Declan O'Sullivan, Gaye Stephens

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Healthcare is a knowledge-rich environment. This knowledge, while valuable, is not always accessible outside the borders of individual clinics. This research aims to address part of this problem (at a study site) by constructing a maximal data set (knowledge artefact) for motor neurone disease (MND). This data set is proposed as an initial knowledge base for a concurrent project to develop an MND patient data platform. It represents the domain knowledge at the study site for the duration of the research (12 months). A knowledge elicitation method was also developed from the lessons learned during this process - the WICKED method. WICKED is an anagram of the words: eliciting and confirming data, information, knowledge, wisdom. But it is also a reference to the concept of wicked problems, which are complex and challenging, as is eliciting expert knowledge. The method was evaluated at a second site, and benefits and limitations were noted. Benefits include that the method provided a systematic way to manage data, information, knowledge and wisdom (DIKW) from various sources, including healthcare specialists and existing data sets. Limitations surrounded the time required and how the data set produced only represents DIKW known during the research period. Future work is underway to address these limitations.

Keywords: healthcare, knowledge acquisition, maximal data sets, action design science

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Authors: Gilbert Makanda

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The problem of the teaching of mathematics is studied using differential equations. A mathematical model for knowledge acquisition in mathematics is developed. In this study we adopt the mathematical model that is normally used for disease modelling in the teaching of mathematics. It is assumed that teaching is 'infecting' students with knowledge thereby spreading this knowledge to the students. It is also assumed that students who gain this knowledge spread it to other students making disease model appropriate to adopt for this problem. The results of this study show that increasing recruitment rates, learning contact with teachers and learning materials improves the number of knowledgeable students. High dropout rates and forgetting taught concepts also negatively affect the number of knowledgeable students. The developed model is then solved using Matlab ODE45 and \verb"lsqnonlin" to estimate parameters for the actual data.

Keywords: differential equations, knowledge acquisition, least squares, dynamical systems

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Authors: Mulalo Mushaisano

Abstract:

It has been revealed in the existing literature that specific knowledge management practices can be implemented and utilized in organizations to enable sustaining service innovation. This kind of innovation is of crucial importance in service environments such as institutions of higher education because it allows the delivery of enhanced services which are designed to add value and deliver better services to clients. However, there is a widespread lack of the necessary implementation of essential knowledge practices in higher education institutions owing to a variety of internal challenges and barriers. The primary objective of the study was to identify the essential knowledge management practices required for the enablement of service innovation. The main outcome was the development of a framework of knowledge management practice which can be applied in institutions of higher education to achieve service innovation. The study will address the gap in where existing literature mostly explored the aforementioned processes in the context of commercial and corporate organizations and not in the higher education environment.

Keywords: higher education, innovation, knowledge management, service innovation

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Authors: Luedech Girdwichai, Suwaree Yordchim, Phusit Phukamchanoad

Abstract:

This research is aimed to study about motivation that students of Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University follow and happily live according to Sufficiency Economy Philosophy. Having collected 394 questionnaires, the result showed that most students had great motivation to follow this philosophy in high level, especially in terms of righteousness in profession; besides, students’determination and intention to apply this philosophy in everyday lives were so impressive though students’ families were not ready enough. Each of students, in fact, consulted families for plans of any activities without tiredness and discouragement based on the saying” Where there is a will, there is a way.” On the part of universities lives, students interacted with society and created projects that supported income to the community including exercises, sports, recreational activities, and community services.

Keywords: motivation, livelihood, sufficiency economy philosophy, undergraduate students of Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University

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Authors: Minna-Maari Harmaala, Hanna Harilainen

Abstract:

Estimates of the economic value of transitioning to circular economy models vary but it has been estimated to represent $1 trillion worth of new business into the global economy. In Europe alone, estimates claim that adopting circular-economy principles could not only have environmental and social benefits but also generate a net economic benefit of €1.8 trillion by 2030. Proponents of a circular economy argue that it offers a major opportunity to increase resource productivity, decrease resource dependence and waste, and increase employment and growth. A circular system could improve competitiveness and unleash innovation. Yet, most companies are not capturing these opportunities and thus the even abundant circular opportunities remain uncaptured even though they would seem inherently profitable. Service design in broad terms relates to developing an existing or a new service or service concept with emphasis and focus on the customer experience from the onset of the development process. Service design may even mean starting from scratch and co-creating the service concept entirely with the help of customer involvement. Service design methodologies provide a structured way of incorporating customer understanding and involvement in the process of designing better services with better resonance to customer needs. A business model is a depiction of how the company creates, delivers, and captures value; i.e. how it organizes its business. The process of business model development and adjustment or modification is also called business model innovation. Innovating business models has become a part of business strategy. Our hypothesis is that in addition to linear models still being easier to adopt and often with lower threshold costs, companies lack an understanding of how circular models can be adopted into their business and how customers will be willing and ready to adopt the new circular business models. In our research, we use robust service design methodology to develop circular economy solutions with two case study companies. The aim of the process is to not only develop the service concepts and portfolio, but to demonstrate the willingness to adopt circular solutions exists in the customer base. In addition to service design, we employ business model innovation methods to develop, test, and validate the new circular business models further. The results clearly indicate that amongst the customer groups there are specific customer personas that are willing to adopt and in fact are expecting the companies to take a leading role in the transition towards a circular economy. At the same time, there is a group of indifferents, to whom the idea of circularity provides no added value. In addition, the case studies clearly show what changes adoption of circular economy principles brings to the existing business model and how they can be integrated.

Keywords: business model innovation, circular economy, circular economy business models, service design

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Authors: Martha E. Ikome, John M. Ikome

Abstract:

Intellectual property should be a day-to-day business decision due to its value, but increasingly, a number of institution are still not aware of the importance. Intellectual Property (IP) and its value are often not adequately appreciated. In the increasingly knowledge-driven economy, IP is a key consideration in day-to-day business decisions because new ideas and products appear almost daily in the market, which results in continuous innovation and research. Therefore, this paper will focus on the importance of IP for universities of technology and also further demonstrates how IP can become an economic tool and the challenges faced by these universities in implementing an IP system.

Keywords: intellectual property, institutions, challenges, protection

Procedia PDF Downloads 349