Search results for: technical and scientific knowledge

Authors: Rahul Malhotra, Anu Malhotra, Veena Bana

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Information and Communication Technology (ICT) plays an imperative part in enhancing the quality of life, together with education. This research work is an important consequence to endow with substantiation for the effective use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) tools for educational rationale. Perspective teachers and students of technical education from various regions of Rajasthan participated in the survey based research work. Condensed from the analysis and interpretations of the data collected from Perspective teachers and students of technical education from various regions of Rajasthan, it is inevitable that use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for educational purpose can augment student’s creativity and achievement ability. The Chi-Square statistics produce the evidence of the effective use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in enhancing the creativity and achievement ability of the perspective teachers and students of technical education.

Keywords: ICT, education, creativity, elusive frame

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Authors: Daniela Greven, Kathrin Endres, Shugana Sundralingam

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The use of chatbots has hardly been established in B2B companies to date and involves various challenges. The goal of this paper is to identify the biggest obstacles to the successful implementation of chatbots in B2B companies and to develop measures to overcome them. The obstacles are identified by conducting expert interviews within the framework of Eisenhardt's case study research. These are examined through a socio-technical analysis focusing on people, technology, and organization. By means of systematic literature research and in-depth interviews with German chatbot providers and customers of chatbots, measures for overcoming the obstacles are identified. Using interviews with experts from German chatbot providers, the responsible stakeholders of each measure according to the RASCI Responsibility Matrix are identified. The study shows that there are major obstacles in all areas of a socio-technical system that can cause the implementation of a chatbot to fail. A total of 44 implementation obstacles and 58 measures to overcome these obstacles are identified. The study shows that there are major obstacles in the areas of people, technology, and organization of a socio-technical system that can cause the implementation of a chatbot to fail. A holistic view is therefore essential. The results provide firms with a guideline on how to overcome potential obstacles during chatbot implementation in B2B customer service.

Keywords: chatbots, socio-technical analysis, B2B customer service, implementation success factors

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Authors: Cristian Matti, Valerie Fowles, Eva Enyedi, Piotr Pogorzelski

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The system mapping process can be defined as a knowledge service where a team of facilitators, experts and practitioners facilitate a guided conversation, enable the exchange of information and support an iterative curation process. System mapping processes rely on science-based tools to introduce and simplify a variety of components and concepts of socio-technical systems through metaphors while facilitating an interactive dialogue process to enable the design of co-created maps. System maps work then as “artifacts” to provide information and focus the conversation into specific areas around the defined challenge and related decision-making process. Knowledge management facilitates the curation of that data gathered during the system mapping sessions through practices of documentation and subsequent knowledge co-production for which common practices from data science are applied to identify new patterns, hidden insights, recurrent loops and unexpected elements. This study presents empirical evidence on the application of these techniques to explore mechanisms by which visual tools provide guiding principles to portray system components, key variables and types of data through the lens of climate change. In addition, data science facilitates the structuring of elements that allow the analysis of layers of information through affinity and clustering analysis and, therefore, develop simple indicators for supporting the decision-making process. This paper addresses methodological and empirical elements on the horizontal learning process that integrate system mapping through visual tools, interpretation, cognitive transformation and analysis. The process is designed to introduce practitioners to simple iterative and inclusive processes that create actionable knowledge and enable a shared understanding of the system in which they are embedded.

Keywords: indicators, knowledge management, system mapping, visual tools

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Authors: Said Al Saifi

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This paper proposes a conceptual model for understanding the impact of organisational culture on knowledge management processes and their link with organisational performance. It is suggested that organisational culture should be assessed as a multi-level construct comprising artifacts, espoused beliefs and values, and underlying assumptions. A holistic view of organisational culture and knowledge management processes, and their link with organisational performance, is presented. A comprehensive review of previous literature was undertaken in the development of the conceptual model. Taken together, the literature and the proposed model reveal possible relationships between organisational culture, knowledge management processes, and organisational performance. Potential implications of organisational culture levels for the creation, sharing, and application of knowledge are elaborated. In addition, the paper offers possible new insight into the impact of organisational culture on various knowledge management processes and their link with organisational performance. A number of possible relationships between organisational culture factors, knowledge management processes, and their link with organisational performance were employed to examine such relationships. The research model highlights the multi-level components of organisational culture. These are: the artifacts, the espoused beliefs and values, and the underlying assumptions. Through a conceptualisation of the relationships between organisational culture, knowledge management processes, and organisational performance, the study provides practical guidance for practitioners during the implementation of knowledge management processes. The focus of previous research on knowledge management has been on understanding organisational culture from the limited perspective of promoting knowledge creation and sharing. This paper proposes a more comprehensive approach to understanding organisational culture in that it draws on artifacts, espoused beliefs and values, and underlying assumptions, and reveals their impact on the creation, sharing, and application of knowledge which can affect overall organisational performance.

Keywords: knowledge application, knowledge creation, knowledge management, knowledge sharing, organisational culture, organisational performance

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Authors: M. J. Alcedo, K. Ito, K. Maeda

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Measuring animal welfare is a newly emerging area of research and it needs multi-disciplinary way to do it. Due to the diversity of what constitutes the definition of animal welfare, different methods and models were developed and mostly conducted in semi and commercial farms in developed countries. Few studies have been conducted in developing countries and in backyard livestock operation. Recognizing that majority of livestock operations are categorized as backyard in developing countries, it is crucial to come up with parameters that can assess the welfare of the animal in the backyard level. This research had made use of stockmanship competence as the proxy indicator to assess animal welfare. Stockmanship competence in this study refers to the capacity of the animal owner to ensure the welfare of their animal by providing their needs for growth and reproduction. The Philippine recommend on goat production, tips on goat raising and goat scientific literatures were used as references to come up with indicators that are known to be important in meeting the needs of the animal and ensuring its welfare. Scores from -1 to +2 were assigned depending on how close it is of satisfying the animal’s need. It is hoped that this assessment method could contribute to the growing body of knowledge on animal welfare and can be utilized as logical and scientific framework in assessing welfare in backyard goat operation. It is suggested that further study needs to be conducted to refine and standardize indicators and identify other indicators for goat welfare assessment.

Keywords: backyard goat production, stockmanship competence, animal welfare, Philippines

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Authors: H. Emari, Z. Emari

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The main objective of this research was to determine the dimensions of service quality in the banking industry of Iran. For this purpose, the study empirically examined the European perspective suggesting that service quality consists of three dimensions, technical, functional and image. This research is an applied research and its strategy is casual strategy. A standard questionnaire was used for collecting the data. 287 customers of Melli Bank of Northwest were selected through cluster sampling and were studied. The results from a banking service sample revealed that the overall service quality is influenced more by a consumer’s perception of technical quality than functional quality. Accordingly, the Gronroos model is a more appropriate representation of service quality than the American perspective with its limited concentration on the dimension of functional quality in the banking industry of Iran. So, knowing the key dimensions of the quality of services in this industry and planning for their improvement can increase the satisfaction of customers and productivity of this industry.

Keywords: technical quality, functional quality, banking, image, mediating role

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Authors: Marchant Van Der Schyff

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South Africa remains one of the most dangerous places for women – lesbians in particular – to live freely and safely, where a culture of patriarchy and a lack of socio-economic opportunity are ubiquitous throughout its communities. While the Internet has given a wider platform to provide insights to issues plaguing lesbians, very little information exists regarding the elements used in the construction of these online reports. This is not only due to the lack of language required to contextualise lesbian issues, but also persistent institutional and societal homophobia. This article describes the technical frames used in the online news reporting of four case studies of ‘queercide’. Through using a thematic coding sheet, data was collected from 70 online articles purposively selected based on priori population characteristics. The study found technical elements, such as the length of online reports, credible sources used, ‘code driven’-, and ‘user driven’ elements which were identified in the coded online articles. From the conclusions some clear trends emerged enabling the construction of a Venn-type diagram which present insights to how the murder of lesbians (referred to as ‘queercide’ in the article) is being reported on by online news media compared to the contemporary theoretical discussions on how these cases should be reported on.

Keywords: journalism, lesbian murder, queercide, technical frames, reporting, online

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Authors: Khalid Alasim

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This study investigated Saudi Arabian elementary school teachers’ knowledge of strategies to teach reading components to hard-of-hearing students. The study focused on four of the five reading components the National Reading Panel (NPR, 2000) identified: phonemic awareness; phonics; vocabulary, and reading comprehension, and explored the relationship between teachers’ demographic characteristics and their knowledge of the strategies as well. An explanatory sequential mixed methods design was used that included two phases. The quantitative phase examined the knowledge of these Arabic reading components among 89 elementary school teachers of hard-of-hearing students, and the qualitative phase consisted of interviews with 10 teachers. The results indicated that the teachers have a great deal of knowledge (above the mean score) of strategies to teach reading components. Specifically, teachers’ knowledge of strategies to teach the vocabulary component was the highest. The results also showed no significant association between teachers’ demographic characteristics and their knowledge of strategies to teach reading components. The qualitative analysis revealed two themes: 1) teachers’ lack of basic knowledge of strategies to teach reading components, and 2) the absence of in-service courses and training programs in reading for teachers.

Keywords: knowledge, reading, components, hard-of-hearing, phonology, vocabulary

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Authors: Christianah Oyelekan Oyewole, Adeniyi Temitope Adetunji

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Earlier researchers acknowledge the significance of knowledge sharing among employees in improving their responsiveness when dealing with unpredicted situations. Effective leadership styles have been known to impact employee knowledge-sharing behavior within an organisation positively. The role of influential leaders in knowledge sharing is accomplished through enhanced social networks and technology. However, preliminary research pointed to a lack of clear conclusions from recently published studies on the impact of effective leadership styles on knowledge-sharing behaviour among employees. The present study addressed this problem through a structured literature review. The review demonstrated that knowledge managers incorporate incentives and reward systems with their leadership styles to influence knowledge-sharing behaviour among employees positively. There was ample evidence that rational, innovative, stable and participatory organisational cultures combined with supportive and command leadership enhance employee intention for knowledge sharing in the organisation. The analysis revealed that transformational, transactional, and mentor leadership styles enhance employees’ knowledge-sharing behavior. Overall, it was resolved that the relationship between knowledge-sharing behavior among employees and leadership styles is mediated by the ability of the organisation to prioritize employee development.

Keywords: leadership styles, knowledge sharing, transactional leadership, transformational leadership, mentor leadership, team performance, team productivity, motivation, and creativity

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Authors: Irina-Emily Hansen, Ola Jon Mork

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The European economic growth strategy and supporting it framework for research and innovation highlight the importance of nurturing new open innovation in order to strengthen Europe’s competitiveness. One of the main approaches to enhance innovation in European society is the Triple Helix model that centres on science- industry collaboration where the universities are assigned the managerial role. In spite of the defined collaboration strategy, the collaboration between academics and in-dustry in Europe has still many challenges. Many of them are explained by culture difference: academic culture aims towards scientific knowledge, while businesses are oriented towards pro-duction and profitable results; also execution of collaborative projects is seen differently by part-ners involved. That proves that traditional management strategies applied to collaboration between researchers and businesses are not effective. There is a need for dynamic strategies that can support the interaction between researchers and industry intensifying knowledge co-creation and contributing to development of national innovation system (NIS) by incorporating individual, organizational and inter-organizational learning. In order to find a good subject to follow, the researchers of a given paper have investigated one of the most rapidly developing knowledge-based, innovation society, Singapore. Singapore does not dispose much land- or sea- resources that normally provide income for any country. Therefore, Singapore was forced to think differently and build society on resources that are available: talented people and knowledge. Singapore has during the last twenty years developed attracting high rated university camps, research institutions and leading industrial companies from all over the world. This article elucidates and elaborates Singapore’s national innovation strategies from Knowledge Management perspective. The research is done on the variety of organizations that enable and support knowledge development in this state: governmental research and development (R&D) centers in universities, private talent incubators for entrepreneurs, and industrial companies with own R&D departments. The research methods are based on presentations, documents, and visits at a number of universities, research institutes, innovation parks, governmental institutions, industrial companies and innovation exhibitions in Singapore. In addition, a literature review of science articles is made regarding the topic. The first finding is that objectives of collaboration between researchers, entrepreneurs and industry in Singapore correspond primary goals of the state: knowledge- and economy growth. There are common objectives for all stakeholders on all national levels. The second finding is that Singapore has enabled system on a national level that supports innovation the entire way from fostering or capturing the new knowledge, providing knowledge exchange and co-creation to application of it in real-life. The conclusion is that innovation means not only new idea, but also the enabling mechanism for its execution and the marked-oriented approach in order that new knowledge can be absorbed in society. The future research can be done with regards to application of Singapore knowledge management strategy in innovation to European countries.

Keywords: knowledge management strategy, national innovation system, research industry and business collaboration, knowledge enabling

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Authors: Martin Böhmer, Agatha Dabrowski, Boris Otto

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The trend of digitization significantly changes the role of data for enterprises. Data turn from an enabler to an intangible organizational asset that requires management and qualifies as a tradeable good. The idea of a networked economy has gained momentum in the data domain as collaborative approaches for data management emerge. Traditional organizational knowledge consequently needs to be extended by comprehensive knowledge about data. The knowledge about data is vital for organizations to ensure that data quality requirements are met and data can be effectively utilized and sovereignly governed. As this specific knowledge has been paid little attention to so far by academics, the aim of the research presented in this paper is to conceptualize it by proposing a “data knowledge model”. Relevant model entities have been identified based on a design science research (DSR) approach that iteratively integrates insights of various industry case studies and literature research.

Keywords: data management, digitization, industry 4.0, knowledge engineering, metamodel

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Authors: Mounir Kehal, Adel Al Araifi

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The post-globalisation epoch has placed businesses everywhere in new and different competitive situations where knowledgeable, effective and efficient behaviour has come to provide the competitive and comparative edge. Enterprises have turned to explicit- and even conceptualising on tacit- Knowledge Management to elaborate a systematic approach to develop and sustain the Intellectual Capital needed to succeed. To be able to do that, you have to be able to visualize your organization as consisting of nothing but knowledge and knowledge flows, whilst being presented in a graphical and visual framework, referred to as automated organizational cartography. Hence, creating the ability of further actively classifying existing organizational content evolving from and within data feeds, in an algorithmic manner, potentially giving insightful schemes and dynamics by which organizational know-how is visualised. It is discussed and elaborated on most recent and applicable definitions and classifications of knowledge management, representing a wide range of views from mechanistic (systematic, data driven) to a more socially (psychologically, cognitive/metadata driven) orientated. More elaborate continuum models, for knowledge acquisition and reasoning purposes, are being used for effectively representing the domain of information that an end user may contain in their decision making process for utilization of available organizational intellectual resources (i.e. Autocart). In this paper we present likewise an empirical research study conducted previously to try and explore knowledge diffusion in a specialist knowledge domain.

Keywords: knowledge management, knowledge maps, knowledge diffusion, organizational cartography

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Authors: Christopher Restall

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field causing attraction between mixed charges of matter during charge exchanges with antimatter. This asymmetry is caused from none-trinary quark amount variation in matter and anti-matter during entropy progression. This document explains how a circularity critique exercise assessed scientific knowledge and develop a unified theory from the information collected. The circularity critique, creates greater intuition leaps than an individual would naturally, the information collected can be integrated and assessed thoroughly for correctness.

Keywords: unified theory of everything, gravity, quantum gravity, standard model

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Authors: I.Hussain, A. Gulzar

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Knowledge sharing is very important in organizations for their future progress and survival. This study investigates the impact of destructive leadership (abusive supervision) on knowledge sharing in employees. Further, the authors want to investigate a context variable (group cohesion) and explore its cross level influence on the relationship of abusive supervision and knowledge sharing. Conservation of resource theory (COR) claims loss of psychological capital (an internal positive resource) in employees due to abusive supervision and hence decrease occurs in knowledge sharing. This study tests psychological capital as mediator and group cohesion as moderator in relationship of abusive supervision and knowledge sharing. Data was collected from 239 respondents from more than 40 different organizations and 50 different groups from all over Pakistan. Results show that abusive supervision has negative effect on knowledge sharing through reduction in psychological capital of employees, and increased group cohesion in employees reduces this negative effect improving psychological capital in employees.

Keywords: abusive supervision, knowledge sharing, psychological capital, group cohesion, conservation of resources

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Authors: Nermin Sökmen

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An effort estimation model is needed for software-intensive projects that consist of hardware, embedded software or some combination of the two, as well as high level software solutions. This paper first focuses on functional decomposition techniques to measure functional complexity of a computer system and investigates its impact on system development effort. Later, it examines effects of technical difficulty and design team capability factors in order to construct the best effort estimation model. With using traditional regression analysis technique, the study develops a system development effort estimation model which takes functional complexity, technical difficulty and design team capability factors as input parameters. Finally, the assumptions of the model are tested.

Keywords: functional complexity, functional decomposition, development effort, technical difficulty, design team capability, regression analysis

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Authors: Kopila Shrestha

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Adolescent sexual reproductive health is one of the most important issues in the world. Reproductive ability is taking place at an earlier age and adolescents are indulging in risk taking behaviors day by day. A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in Kathmandu valley to assess the knowledge regarding sexual and reproductive health among adolescent. Total of 200 respondents were selected through non-probability convenient sampling technique. Self-administered written questionnaires using semi-structured questions were used. The collected data were analyzed by using descriptive statistics such as frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation and inferential statistics such as Chi-square test. The findings revealed that most of the respondents had adequate knowledge regarding transmission and protection of HIV/AIDs and STIs but still some respondents had a misconception regarding it. Few respondents had knowledge regarding legal age for marriage and the minimum age for first child bearing. The statistical analysis revealed that the total mean knowledge score with standard deviation was 45.02±8.674. Nearly half of the respondents (49.5%) had a moderate level of knowledge, followed by an inadequate level of knowledge 29.5% and adequate level of knowledge 21.0% regarding sexual and reproductive health. There was significant association of level of knowledge with area of residence (p-value .002) but no association with age (p-value .067), sex (p-value .999), religion (p-value .082) and ethnicity (p-value .114). Nearly half of the participants possess some knowledge about sexual and reproductive health but still effective educational intervention is required in higher secondary school to encourage more sensible and healthy behaviour.

Keywords: adolescents, higher secondary school, knowledge, sexual and reproductive health

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Authors: Bilal Ahmed

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Rehabilitation of congenital and acquired maxillofacial defects is always a challenging clinical scenario. These defects pose major physiological and psychological threat not only to the patient but to the entire family. There has been an enormous scientific development in maxillofacial rehabilitation with the advent of CAD CAM, 3-D scanning, Osseo-integrated implants and improved restorative materials. There are also specialized centers with latest diagnostic and treatment facilities in the developed countries. However, in certain clinical case scenarios, conventional prosthodontic principles are still the gold standards. Similarly in a less developed world, financial and technical constraints are factors affecting treatment planning and final outcomes. However, we can do a lot of benefits to the affected human beings, even with use of simple and cost-effective conventional prosthodontic techniques and materials. These treatment strategies may sometimes be considered as intermediate or temporary options, but with regular follow-up maintenance these can be used on a definitive basis.

Keywords: maxillofacial defects, obturators, prosthodontics, medical and health sciences

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Authors: Jagul Huma Lashari, Arabella Bhutto

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Last few years have shown increased an interest of researchers in knowledge and technology transfer. However, facts show fewer types of knowledge transfer practices in the developing countries. This article focuses on assessment transfer channels of academic research produced by highly qualified academicians working in universities in Sindh offering degrees in field of an Environment in Sindh Pakistan. The academic field has been chosen because in field of the environment there is alarming need of research into practice for sustainable development. Using case study approach; in this research qualitative interviews have been conducted from PhD faculty members working in the universities offering degrees in field of environment. Obtained data is analyzed using descriptive statistics and chi-square test with the help of statistical packages for social sciences (SPSS). Research explored 31 channels of academic knowledge transfer from detailed review of literature and exploratory interviews with participants. Identified knowledge transfer channels have been grouped together in 6 groups of knowledge transfer channels; As knowledge transfer through publications, networking, mobility of researchers, joint research, intellectual property and co-operations. Results revealed that academic knowledge have been transferred through publications, networking, and co-operation. However, less number of academic knowledge has been transferred through groups of knowledge transfer channels such as Intellectual Property and joint research.

Keywords: environment, research knowledge, transfer channels, universities

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Authors: Sofiane Bendoukha, Daniel Moldt, Hayat Bendoukha

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Workflow concepts are essential for the development of remote sensing applications. They can help users to manage and process satellite data and execute scientific experiments on distributed resources. The objective of this paper is to introduce an approach for the specification and the execution of complex scientific workflows in Cloud-like environments. The approach strives to support scientists during the modeling, the deployment and the monitoring of their workflows. This work takes advantage from Petri nets and more pointedly the so-called reference nets formalism, which provides a robust modeling/implementation technique. RENEWGRASS is a tool that we implemented and integrated into the Petri nets editor and simulator RENEW. It provides an easy way to support not experienced scientists during the specification of their workflows. It allows both modeling and enactment of image processing workflows from the remote sensing domain. Our case study is related to the implementation of vegetation indecies. We have implemented the Normalized Differences Vegetation Index (NDVI) workflow. Additionally, we explore the integration possibilities of the Cloud technology as a supplementary layer for the deployment of the current implementation. For this purpose, we discuss migration patterns of data and applications and propose an architecture.

Keywords: cloud computing, scientific workflows, petri nets, RENEWGRASS

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Authors: Sérgio J. Teixeira, João J. Ferreira

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Tourism frequently gets identified as one of the sectors with the greatest potential for expansion on a global scale and hence conveying the importance of attempting to better understand the regional factors of competitiveness prevailing in this sector. This study’s objective essentially strives to provide a mapping of the scientific publications and the intellectual knowledge therein contained while conveying past research trends and identifying potential future lines of research in the fields of regional competitiveness and tourism innovation. This correspondingly deploys a systematic review of the literature in keeping with the bibliometric approach based upon VOSviewer software, with a particular focus on drafting maps for visualising the underlying intellectual structure. This type of analysis encapsulates the number of articles published and their annual number of citations for the period between 1900 and 2016 as registered by the Web of Science database. The results demonstrate how the intellectual structure on regional competitiveness divides essentially into three major categories: regional competitiveness, tourism innovation, and tourism clusters. Thus, the main contribution of this study arises out of identifying the main research trends in this field and the respective shortcomings and specific needs for future scientific research in the field of regional competitiveness and innovation in tourism.

Keywords: regional competitiveness, tourism cluster, bibliometric studies, tourism innovation, systematic review

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Authors: Said Abdullah Al Saifi

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The goal of this research is to examine the impact of trust, motivation, and national culture on knowledge sharing within the context of electronic mail. This study is quantitative and survey based. In order to conduct the research, 200 students from a leading university in New Zealand were chosen randomly to participate in a questionnaire survey. Motivation and trust were found to be significantly and positively related to knowledge sharing. The research findings illustrated that face saving, face gaining, and individualism positively moderates the relationship between motivation and knowledge sharing. In addition, collectivism culture negatively moderates the relationship between motivation and knowledge sharing. Moreover, the research findings reveal that face saving, individualism, and collectivism culture positively moderate the relationship between trust and knowledge sharing. In addition, face gaining culture negatively moderates the relationship between trust and knowledge sharing. This study sets out several implications for researchers and practitioners. The study produces an integrative model that shows how attributes of national culture impact knowledge sharing through the use of emails. A better understanding of the relationship between knowledge sharing and trust, motivation, and national culture differences will increase individuals’ ability to make wise choices when sharing knowledge with those from different cultures.

Keywords: knowledge sharing, motivation, national culture, trust

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Authors: Karin Schakib-Ekbatan, Annette Roser

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According to the Federal Government’s plans, the German building stock should be virtually climate neutral by 2050. Thus, the “EnEff.Gebäude.2050” funding initiative was launched, complementing the projects of the Energy Transition Construction research initiative. Beyond the construction and renovation of individual buildings, solutions must be found at the neighborhood level. The subject of the presented pilot project is a building ensemble from the Wilhelminian period in Munich, which is planned to be refurbished based on a socially compatible, energy-saving, innovative-technical modernization concept. The building ensemble, with about 200 apartments, is part of the building cooperative. To create an optimized network and possible synergies between researchers and projects of the funding initiative, a Scientific Accompanying Research was established for cross-project analyses of findings and results in order to identify further research needs and trends. Thus, the project is characterized by an interdisciplinary approach that combines constructional, technical, and socio-scientific expertise based on a participatory understanding of research by involving the tenants at an early stage. The research focus is on getting insights into the tenants’ comfort requirements, attitudes, and energy-related behaviour. Both qualitative and quantitative methods are applied based on the Technology-Acceptance-Model (TAM). The core of the refurbishment strategy is a wall heating system intended to replace conventional radiators. A wall heating provides comfortable and consistent radiant heat instead of convection heat, which often causes drafts and dust turbulence. Besides comfort and health, the advantage of wall heating systems is an energy-saving operation. All apartments would be supplied by a uniform basic temperature control system (around perceived room temperature of 18 °C resp. 64,4 °F), which could be adapted to individual preferences via individual heating options (e. g. infrared heating). The new heating system would affect the furnishing of the walls, in terms of not allowing the wall surface to be covered too much with cupboards or pictures. Measurements and simulations of the energy consumption of an installed wall heating system are currently being carried out in a show apartment in this neighborhood to investigate energy-related, economical aspects as well as thermal comfort. In March, interviews were conducted with a total of 12 people in 10 households. The interviews were analyzed by MAXQDA. The main issue of the interview was the fear of reduced self-efficacy within their own walls (not having sufficient individual control over the room temperature or being very limited in furnishing). Other issues concerned the impact that the construction works might have on their daily life, such as noise or dirt. Despite their basically positive attitude towards a climate-friendly refurbishment concept, tenants were very concerned about the further development of the project and they expressed a great need for information events. The results of the interviews will be used for project-internal discussions on technical and psychological aspects of the refurbishment strategy in order to design accompanying workshops with the tenants as well as to prepare a written survey involving all households of the neighbourhood.

Keywords: energy efficiency, interviews, participation, refurbishment, residential buildings

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Authors: Ilzira A. Minigalieva

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Assessment of cumulative health risks associated with the widely observed combined exposures to two or more metals and their compounds on the organism in industrial or general environment, as well as respective regulatory and technical risk management decision-making have presumably the theoretical and experimental toxicology of mixtures as their reliable scientific basis. Analysis of relevant literature and our own experience proves, however, that there is no full match between these different practices. Moreover, some of the contradictions between them are of a fundamental nature. This unsatisfactory state of things may be explained not only by unavoidable simplifications characteristic of the methodologies of risk assessment and permissible exposure standards setting but also by the extreme intrinsic complexity of the combined toxicity theory, the most essential issues of which are considered and briefly discussed in this paper.

Keywords: toxic metals, nanoparticles, typology of combined toxicity, mathematical modeling, health risk assessment and management

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Authors: Harald Lang, Michael Bader, A. Buchroithner

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Holistic methods covering the development process as a whole – e.g. systems engineering – have established themselves in product design. However, technical product optimization, representing improvements in efficiency and/or minimization of loss, usually applies to single components of a system. A holistic approach is being defined based on a hierarchical point of view of systems engineering. This is subsequently presented using the example of an electromechanical flywheel energy storage system for automotive applications.

Keywords: design, product development, product optimization, systems engineering

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Authors: Jyoti Singh, Ahmed Stifi, Sascha Gentes

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The process of construction significantly contributes to high level of risks, complexity and uncertainties leading to cost and time overrun, customer dissatisfaction etc. lean construction is important as it is a comprehensive system of tools and concepts focusing on moving closer to customer satisfaction by understanding the process, identifying the waste and eliminating it. The proposed work includes identification of knowledge areas from lean perspective, lean tools/concepts used in lean construction and establishing a relationship matrix between knowledge areas and lean tools/concepts, thus developing and building up a lean construction body of knowledge (LCBOK), i.e. a guide to lean construction, aiming to provide guidelines to manage individual projects and also helping construction industry to minimise waste and maximize value to the customer. In this study, we identified 8 knowledge areas and 62 lean tools/concepts from lean perspective and also one tool can help to manage two or more knowledge areas.

Keywords: knowledge areas, lean body matrix, lean construction, lean tools

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Authors: Collence Takaingenhamo Chisita, Munyaradzi Shoko

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Library and Information Science Schools play significant roles in socio–economic transformation but in most cases they are downplayed or overshadowed by other institutions, and professions. Currently Zimbabwe boasts of high literacy rate in Africa and this success would have been impossible without the contributions of library schools and related institutions. Libraries and librarians are at the epicentre of socio-economic development and their role cannot be downplayed. It is out of this context that the writer will explore the extent to which library schools are contributing towards socio-economic transformation, for example, human capital development and facilitating access to information. The writer will seek to explain and clarify how LIS schools are engaged in socio-economic transformation through supporting education and culture through community engagement. The paper will examine the LIS education models, for example, general education and Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) or Competency Based Education and Training (CBET). It will also seek to find out how LIS Schools are contributing to the information/knowledge economy through education, training and research. The writer will also seek to find out how LIS Education is responding to socio-economic and political dynamics in Zimbabwe amidst forces of globalisation and cultural identities. Furthermore, the writer will explore the extent to which LIS education can help to reposition Zimbabwe in the global knowledge economy. The author will examine how LIS schools integrate culture and technology.

Keywords: development, information/knowledge economy, culture, empowerment, collaboration, globalisation

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Authors: Ezrah Kipkirui Tonui, George Otieno Orwa

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A survey of 138 farmers was conducted in Rift valley, Kenya, in November and December 2013 in three counties (Uasin-gishu, Elgeyo-marakwet, and Tranzoia) to determine public knowledge and attitude towards genetically modified (GM) maize. Above two third (70%) of the respondents had knowledge of GM maize, mostly those educated and male. Female was found to be having low knowledge on GM maize. Public acknowledged the technology’s potential positive impacts, with more than 90% willing to adopt and more than 98% willing to buy GM seedlings at any given price. A small percentage less than 3% were of a negative opinion about willing to buy and adopt GM seeds. We conclude that GM technology has a role to play in food security in Kenya. However, the public needs more information about the technology, which can be provided through established sources of information and training. Finally, public knowledge and attitude on GM maize should be studied on a regular basis, and the survey population broadened to 47 counties.

Keywords: public, knowledge, attitudes, GM maize, Kenya

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Authors: Novita Verayanti Manalu, Alvin Salim

Abstract:

Background: Palliative care is caring holistically for patients and families to improve their quality of life. Experts stated that palliative care could be applied not only for terminally ill cases but also for acute illnesses. Therefore, this study wants to find out the level of knowledge about palliative care of the nurses along with the relationship with attitude and performance. Method: This study applies a cross-sectional survey design and allows the respondents to fill two questionnaires to determine the level of knowledge and attitude toward palliative care, while one questionnaire is filled out by the head nurse to evaluate nurses’ performance. The relationship was analyzed by Spearman rho’s correlation in alpha < 0,05 by SPSS. Results: The majority of respondents were females, aged above 25 years old, and married. Most of the nurses are staff nurses and the ratio of education level is not significantly different. The knowledge level is poor, while the attitude and performance are at an adequate level. Knowledge may affect attitude, but it doesn’t happen toward performance. Conclusion: There is a need for increased knowledge about palliative care to improve attitude and work performance. Future researchers might use this finding as a reference to conduct further study in improving knowledge of palliative care.

Keywords: knowledge, attitude, work performance, palliative care

Procedia PDF Downloads 207

Authors: Sofia Meacham

Abstract:

In this abstract paper, the Domain-Specific Languages (DSL) evaluation will be presented based on existing literature and years of experience developing DSLs for several domains. The domains we worked on ranged from AI, business applications, and finances/accounting to health. In general, DSLs have been utilised in many domains to provide tailored and efficient solutions to address specific problems. Although they are a reputable method among highly technical circles and have also been used by non-technical experts with success, according to our knowledge, there isn’t a commonly accepted method for evaluating them. There are some methods that define criteria that are adaptations from the general software engineering quality criteria. Other literature focuses on the DSL usability aspect of evaluation and applies methods such as Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and goal modeling. All these approaches are either hard to introduce, such as the goal modeling, or seem to ignore the domain-specific focus of the DSLs. From our experience, the DSLs have domain-specificity in their core, and consequently, the methods to evaluate them should also include domain-specific criteria in their core. The domain-specific criteria would require synergy between the domain experts and the DSL developers in the same way that DSLs cannot be developed without domain-experts involvement. Methods from agile and other software engineering practices, such as co-creation workshops, should be further emphasised and explored to facilitate this direction. Concluding, our latest experience and plans for DSLs evaluation will be presented and open for discussion.

Keywords: domain-specific languages, DSL evaluation, DSL usability, DSL quality metrics

Procedia PDF Downloads 104

Authors: Shri Krishna Mishra, Badri Yadav

Abstract:

Effect of collaborative learning on development of process skills and attitude towards science is It rightly said that the destiny of the nation is shaped inside its classroom. Classroom is a place where the pupil and teacher interact purposefully to gain knowledge. Teaching is the principal mode of education. It can be called a transaction between teacher and pupil, in which one transmits knowledge to other. The teaching learning process consists of three important components, the pupils, the teacher and the curriculum; the classroom is the collection of students of their own individual abilities and needs. In the present classroom teaching learners are either persuasive recipient or passive observant. The school environment leading to low-achievement we have to try better to develop in the young mind. Children are the sticks of dynamite, bundles of energy and potential power waiting to be ignited. Guide them carefully to a place where their potentialities and strength will be used to build a better world. Man’s future depends to large extent on scientific advances and development of productive activity. Science is considered as an important subject in school curricular. The education commission (1964-66) has suggested that science education is necessary for all children at school stage. It is essential to develop children’s logical and critical thinking. But these days thinking process and academic achievement of students have been suppressed by competitive environment of our schools. How the students perceive each other and interact with one another is a neglected aspect of instruction. In the constructivist perspective learning in a process of construction of knowledge. Learners actively construct their own knowledge by connecting new ideas to existing ideas on the basis of materials/ activities presented to them (experience).

Keywords: effect of collaborative learning, development of process skills, science education, attitude towards science

Procedia PDF Downloads 285