Universities have long been involved in knowledge transfer activities. Yet the last 30 years have seen major changes in the governance of university–industry interactions. Knowledge transfer has become a strategic issue: as a source of funding for university research and (rightly or wrongly) as a policy tool for economic development. Universities vary enormously in the extent to which they promote and succeed in commercializing academic research. The identification of clear-cut models of governance for university–industry interactions and (...) knowledge transfer processes is not straightforward. The purpose of this article is to critically discuss university knowledge transfer models and review the recent developments in the literature on research collaborations, intellectual property rights and spin-offs, those forms of knowledge transfer that are more formalized and have been institutionalized in recent years. The article also addresses the role played by university knowledge transfer organizations in promoting commercialization of research results. (shrink)

Knowledge hiding is known to have negative consequences on organizational performance. The existing literature mainly focuses on the identification of antecedents and consequences of knowledge hiding. The studies pertaining to the top management role in creating a culture that stops concealing knowledge within an organization are limited. To fill that gap, the paper empirically address the knowledge sharing culture and to explore the management support to avoid knowledge hiding culture in an organization. This (...) study based on an empirical study carried out in a United Kingdom-based laboratory within a high-tech global corporation, in which the atmosphere appeared conducive to knowledge sharing, and knowledge transfer appeared voluntary and spontaneous. The paper seeks to address why members of the case organization is reluctant about knowledge hiding among themselves. The study reveals that the management role is important in creating a culture that help discourage employees to withhold knowledge. The paper identifies the actions that top management takes to stop concealing knowledge within an organization. This study has provided several contributions. The findings of the study may be useful to managers and practitioners. For managers, this paper presents some important organizational factors that can be nurtured to avoid a knowledge-hiding culture in the organization. They can also take the management actions of the case organization as lessons to create a culture that encourage their employees to avoid knowledge hiding behavior. (shrink)

The study aimed to identify the knowledge management processes and their role in achieving competitive advantage at Al-Quds Open University. The study was based on the descriptive analytical method, and the study population consists of academic and administrative staff in each of the branches of Al-Quds Open University in (Tulkarm, Nablus and Jenin). The researchers selected a sample of the study population by the intentional non-probability method, the size of (70) employees. A questionnaire was prepared and supervised by a (...) number of specialists in order to obtain the results of the study. The study concluded that there is a positive direct relationship, that is, the higher the degree of application of knowledge management processes, the greater the degree of competitive advantage. Knowledge Technology came first with a score of 80.02% on all items. Competitive advantage came second with 81.74%. In the third place came "knowledge generation" where the total score on all paragraphs in this area (78.24%). In the fourth place, "knowledge transfer" (77.21%). "Developing and storing knowledge" came in fifth place (77.13%). "Acquisition of knowledge" came in sixth place (76.45%). Knowledge Organization ranked seventh (74.26%). The study recommended that the university should enable the employees to benefit from the experiences and expertise available to help generate knowledge. The University encourages the creation of knowledge through the system of incentives and open the way for creators to apply their creations and spread and invest in excellence and creativity. The university should design work performance levels based on the integration of knowledge and organize it according to policies that support freedom of research. The need for Palestinian universities to adopt a knowledge management approach. The need to adopt a system of incentives that rewards cognitive efforts, and give workers enough freedom to enable them to apply their knowledge. (shrink)

Technology transfer is the movement of technical and organizational skills, knowledge, and methods from one individual or organization to another for economic purposes. This process usually involves a group that possesses specialized technical skills and technology that transfers it to a target group of receptors who do not possess those skills, and who cannot create that technology themselves.

Practice of knowledge management is often characterized by obstacles to creation, distribution, and transfer of knowledge from specific groups of settings. Obstacles or constraints to attempts to constitute knowledge as an organizational resource have been previously dealt within the context of organizational learning perspectives; however, there still remain barriers toward making learning available and all-pervasive throughout organizations. This is often as a result of two important factors: (i) bureaucratic and hierarchical forms of organization; and (ii) (...) owing to the situated and tacit character of knowledge. This paper is a result of theoretical exploration aimed at addressing these core issues, and proposes solutions to manage constraints and remove obstacles to knowledge management, as well as means to codify the tacit character of knowledge. The research offers a view that although it is reasonable to value knowledge in financial or economic terms, it is also important to consider the problems which make it difficult to extract and transfer knowledge within specific organizational settings. Addressing the issue of rising competitive pressure for innovation, this paper proposes several solutions to enable lateral flows of knowledge-sharing by overcoming the factors that affect acquisition of, and creation and distribution of knowledge across fluid social boundaries. (shrink)

Certain research strands can yield “forbidden knowledge”. This term refers to knowledge that is considered too sensitive, dangerous or taboo to be produced or shared. Discourses about such publication restrictions are already entrenched in scientific fields like IT security, synthetic biology or nuclear physics research. This paper makes the case for transferring this discourse to machine learning research. Some machine learning applications can very easily be misused and unfold harmful consequences, for instance, with regard to generative video or (...) text synthesis, personality analysis, behavior manipulation, software vulnerability detection and the like. Up till now, the machine learning research community embraces the idea of open access. However, this is opposed to precautionary efforts to prevent the malicious use of machine learning applications. Information about or from such applications may, if improperly disclosed, cause harm to people, organizations or whole societies. Hence, the goal of this work is to outline deliberations on how to deal with questions concerning the dissemination of such information. It proposes a tentative ethical framework for the machine learning community on how to deal with forbidden knowledge and dual-use applications. (shrink)

Religion, as a phenomenon that is as old as humanity, has continued to exist in one way or another wherever humans exist. At the core of religion are the principles of faith consisting of divinity, belief in the afterlife and belief in prophethood. When we look at the History of Religions, in almost all religions, when religion first emerged, there was no need for any institution to maintain religious life in a healthy way, but in later periods, protecting religion against (...) attacks from outside, responding to new demands, 'socialization', which are important tasks in social life. The need for institutional organization has emerged for reasons such as being able to fulfill issues such as 'distributing justice' and 'managing religious rites' in a regular and orderly manner, meeting the need to resolve disputes between people through religious means, increasing its followers and encountering different cultures by spreading over wide geographies. All religions have established some institutions to meet these needs. In today's Turkey, in order to respond to the religious needs of the Muslim community and to ensure continuity in religious services without creating any institutional gaps, the Presidency of Religious Affairs, today known as the Presidency of Religious Affairs, was established within the budget of the Prime Ministry and affiliated to the Prime Ministry, with Law No. 429. The Presidency of Religious Affairs has been fulfilling its duties related to the principles of worship, morality and belief, which are the three basic components of the Islamic religion, in line with the objectives specified in the law, without interruption since the day it was established. In the history of Islamic thought, sects are evaluated in two categories: fiqh-practical and religious-political. Firstly, sects whose religious aspects came to the fore were formed. The beginning of the formation of sects such as Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi and Hanbali, which are called fiqh sects and talk about the rules and principles of worship and how to perform worship, coincides with the second century of Hijri and later periods. It is extremely important that religious officials who provide religious services to people of all ages and strata have a reasonable level of knowledge on theological issues as well as their knowledge of practical/fiqh sects. Religious officials, affiliated with DIB, provide multi-dimensional religious services in many different areas, especially mosques and Quran courses. In Turkish society, the most important source of information about religious issues for a large segment of the population is either the imam hatip or muezzin trustee in the neighborhood mosque, the Quran course instructor in the Quran course, or the preachers they reach through different channels such as 190 alo. In line with the information they receive, their religious perceptions are shaped and they continue their religious lives. In this study, it is aimed to reveal the basic views of religious sects and their knowledge levels of religious officials, who have a very important impact on shaping the religious lives of large masses of people. The study group of the research consists of religious officials working in the religious services class working under the Malatya provincial mufti between September 2020 and February 2021. The sample group of the research consists of 401 religious officials working as preachers, Quran course instructors, imam hatip and muezzin trustees under the Malatya provincial mufti's office. The method used in the research was simple random sampling, where each officer had an equal chance. The main purpose of simple random sampling is; The aim is to obtain more objective data by including each individual in the universe with an equal chance in the sample group. In the study, data was obtained with a two-part survey form prepared by the researcher by paying attention to all necessary stages. Both content analysis and descriptive analysis were used to analyze the data obtained. The data was collected by sending a survey link to the participants via Google form due to force majeure conditions arising from the pandemic. Additionally, official permissions were received from the Presidency of Religious Affairs. The collected data was transferred to the SPSS program and interpreted by subjecting it to various tests and was presented visually through tables. As a result of the study, the findings were interpreted by comparing them with similar and opposing studies, and at the end, some suggestions were given for both researchers and practitioners. At the end of the research, it was understood that the level of knowledge of the religious officials who participated in the research regarding the basic views of the theological sects, even if it was at an acceptable level for some sects, was generally not at the expected level and that they did not have sufficient bookish knowledge. (shrink)

Information is considered to be the major part of an organization. With the enhancement of technology, the knowledge level is increasing with the passage of time. This increase of information is in volume, velocity, and variety. Extracting meaningful insights is the dire need of an individual from such information and knowledge. Visualization is a key tool and has become one of the most significant platforms for interpreting, extracting, and communicating information. The current study is an endeavour toward (...) data modelling and user knowledge by using a rough set approach for extracting meaningful insights. The technique has used different rough set algorithms such as K-nearest neighbours, decision rules, decomposition tree, and local transfer function classifier for an experimental setup. The approach has found its accuracy for the optimal use of data modelling and user knowledge. The experimental setup of the proposed method is validated by using the dataset available in the UCI web repository. Results of the proposed study show that the model is effective and efficient with an accuracy of 96% for KNN, 87% for decision rules, 91% for decision trees, 85.04% for cross validation architecture, and 94.3% for local transfer function classifier. The validity of the proposed classification algorithms is tested using different performance metrics such as F-score, precision, accuracy, recall, specificity, and misclassification rates. For all these performance metrics, the KNN classifier outperformed, and this high performance shows the applicability of the KNN classifier in the proposed problem. (shrink)

In the last three decades, a cultural perspective has been used to understand scientific knowledge and technology. This relatively new perspective has introduced literature on the ethical dimension to the development of technology, which are embedded in techniques, tools and artifacts. Today, more than ever, there is an urgent need to comprehend the global ramifications of modernization. In this paper, we make an attempt to look at science and technology based on culture, wisdom, ecology and ethical values. We move (...) towards reviewing and consolidating significant literature on philosophy of technology and culture within contemporary times. Furthermore, this article touches upon the transformative power of technologies in relation to modernity. (shrink)

Many engineering corporations are attempting to adapt successful manufacturing quality initiatives to the office environment. These adaptations can be improved by considering the cultural domains in which knowledge is created and transferred. Ethnographic research conducted at a research engineering company identifies several shared cultural domains within the systems engineering group. It is suggested that the elements in these domains be incorporated into quality improvement, new employee training, and career development opportunities. This research identifies technology design as a common concern (...) for both anthropologists and engineers. The nature of emerging technology practice will change to the degree that these and other disciplines interact to shape choices affecting how technology is designed rather than waiting to discuss how it should be used. (shrink)

In the last three decades, a cultural perspective has been used to understand scientific knowledge and technology. This relatively new perspective has introduced literature on the ethical dimension to the development of technology, which are embedded in techniques, tools and artifacts. Today, more than ever, there is an urgent need to comprehend the global ramifications of modernization. In this paper, we make an attempt to look at science and technology based on culture, wisdom, ecology and ethical values. We move (...) towards reviewing and consolidating significant literature on philosophy of technology and culture within contemporary times. Furthermore, this article touches upon the transformative power of technologies in relation to modernity. (shrink)

Everything we do in life involves a connection with information, experience and know-how: together these represent the most valuable of intangible human assets encompassing our history, cultures and wisdom. However, the more easily new technologies gather information, the more we are confronted with our limited capacity to distinguish between what is essential, important or merely ‘nice-to-have’. This article presents the case study of a multilingual Knowledge Management System, the Business enabling e-Platform that gathers and protects tacit knowledge, as (...) the key to developing structured intellectual capital, while acknowledging the urgent need here to integrate Ethics-by-design alongside AI-by-design, in view of the far-reaching consequences involved, for good or ill. It also explains how a beneficial Circular Economy of Knowledge depends on evidence-based answers, and how harmonising taxonomies, terminology and standards promotes global trust as the basis for the unhindered transfer of tacit knowledge between generations in a way that benefits everyone. (shrink)

This paper explores how organizational members use documents to share their knowledge within and across work settings. I suggest that organizational studies of distributed knowledge sharing and information systems would greatly benefit from the linguistic analysis of communicative practices. Specifically, the paper highlights the notion of indexical centering as formulated by the linguistic anthropologist William Hanks and demonstrates its analytical power in studying documenting as a communicative practice. Drawing on a 15-month, multi-sited ethnographic study in several pediatric healthcare (...) settings, the paper focuses on how two doctors compose and use two medical histories found in two distinct medical information systems. The analysis suggests that the doctors use documents to index the temporal, spatial, and participatory dimensions of their knowledge sharing. They do so by indexing, on the one hand, the participants, times and places for their communicative practices and, on the other hand, the participants, times and places of their general care practices. The indexical analysis allows us to perceive documents, as more than mere vessels for knowledge transfer among organizational members, but as an integrated part of how people structure their work practices and situate their knowledge sharing in complex distributed organizational settings. (shrink)

The focus of this article is on international knowledge transfer in religious education as it has been proposed by a recent Manifesto in Europe. Readers are introduced to this Manifesto which also is the starting point of the article. The example of Germany and South Africa is used as a test case for the understanding of international knowledge transfer. The author analyses this understanding on the background of general considerations, among others, concerning unilateral and bilateral forms (...) of transfer, but also the meaning of empirical research in this context before he discusses three examples for German religious education learning from South Africa: human dignity, justice and reconciliation. In the final section of this article, the results of these discussions are connected with the question of what they imply for the understanding of international knowledge transfer in religious education. The author argues for a complex approach which entails a careful balance between the idea of sharing knowledge and doing justice to the contextual nature of research results in the field of religious education. (shrink)

Well-known epistemologies of science have implications for how best to understand knowledge transfer (KT). Yet, to date, no serious attempt has been made explicate these particular implications. This paper infers views about KT from two popular epistemologies; what we characterize as incommensurabilitist views (after Devitt 2001; Bird 2002, 2008; Sankey and Hoyningen-Huene 2013) and voluntarist views (after van Fraassen 1984; Dupré 2001; Chakravartty 2015). We argue views of the former sort define the methodological, ontological, and social conditions under (...) which research operates within ‘different worlds’ (to use Kuhn’s expression), and entail that genuine KTs under those conditions should be difficult or even impossible. By contrast, more liberal voluntarist views recognize epistemological processes that allow for transfers across different sciences even under such conditions. After outlining these antithetical positions, we identify two kinds of KTs of two kinds present in well-known episodes in the history of ecology—specifically, successful model transfers from chemical kinetics and thermodynamics into areas of ecological research—which reveal significant limitations of incommensurabilitist views. We conclude by discussing how the selected examples support a pluralistic voluntarism regarding KT. (shrink)

Knowledge transfer across different contexts has become an increasingly prevalent feature of current science. As such, it is a relevant topic also for history and philosophy of science. This special issue presents a set of papers that study knowledge transfer in various disciplines. The contributions approach the topic from either an integrated history and philosophy of science perspective, 2) a systematic philosophical perspective, or 3) a historical perspective. This overview article is organized in three sections. The (...) introduction provides some background and context of the topic. The second section specifies the three components of knowledge transfer, i.e., knowledge, context, and the transfer process. It motivates our take on this topic and then outlines the central ideas of each paper. The third section reflects on the kinds of methods used to study processes of knowledge transfer. The article concludes by highlighting some of the features of such processes, some of the main challenges and obstacles that those processes involve, and possible ways of dealing with them. (shrink)

This contribution presents the salient aspects of the approach of San Miniato to the education of children during childhood. The experience presented is part of a reality characterized by positive economic development, favorable social indicators and a long tradition of investment in education that has led to making the whole community participate and being actively responsible in the development of educational services for children from birth, with diffusion rates, which are much higher than the national and international comparative averages. Starting (...) from an affirmation of the identity of children as active and constructive people and subjects within the experiences that accompany their growth and education, the approach mentioned aims at investing in the organization of the educational space, on a flexible idea of curriculum and on the endeavor to welcome the participation of families while investing in family education. All these aspects - space, curriculum and participation - together become the strength of the project and direct educators to a different role from the traditional one, no longer centered on the perspective of knowledge transfer but rather on the horizon of their construction within a dimension of dialogue and comparison between the points of view brought into play by children and educators. The protagonism recognized to children is reflected in a new protagonism of educators, who transform themselves from simple education technicians into curious researchers open to novelty and to everything that is possible. Over the past twenty years, San Miniato has invested in the development of relationships and exchange with many other companies in the world engaged in the development of quality experiences in children's and educational services, and the BOTTEGA DI GEPPETTO – International Center Gloria Tognetti continues today in this work while honoring the memory of one of the people who most supported the development of the approach as Head of Educational Services of San Miniato from the end of the last century and until her untimely death in 2017. (shrink)

The spontaneous organization of collective activities in animal groups and societies has attracted a considerable amount of attention over the last decade. This kind of coordination often permits group‐living species to achieve collective tasks that are far beyond single individuals' capabilities. In particular, a key benefit lies in the integration of partial knowledge of the environment at the collective level. In this contribution, we discuss various self‐organization phenomena in animal swarms and human crowds from the point of (...) view of information exchange among individuals. In particular, we provide a general description of collective dynamics across species and introduce a classification of these dynamics not only with respect to the way information is transferred among individuals but also with regard to the knowledge processing at the collective level. Finally, we highlight the fact that the individual’s ability to learn from past experiences can have a feedback effect on the collective dynamics, as experienced with the development of behavioral conventions in pedestrian crowds. (shrink)

The interdisciplinary spring school “Language, music, and cognition: Organizing events in time” was held from February 26 to March 2, 2018 at the Institute of Musicology of the University of Cologne. Language, speech, and music as events in time were explored from different perspectives including evolutionary biology, social cognition, developmental psychology, cognitive neuroscience of speech, language, and communication, as well as computational and biological approaches to language and music. There were 10 lectures, 4 workshops, and 1 student poster session. Overall, (...) the spring school investigated language and music as neurocognitive systems and focused on a mechanistic approach exploring the neural substrates underlying musical, linguistic, social, and emotional processes and behaviors. In particular, researchers approached questions concerning cognitive processes, computational procedures, and neural mechanisms underlying the temporal organization of language and music, mainly from two perspectives: one was concerned with syntax or structural representations of language and music as neurocognitive systems (i.e., an intrapersonal perspective), while the other emphasized social interaction and emotions in their communicative function (i.e., an interpersonal perspective). The spring school not only acted as a platform for knowledge transfer and exchange but also generated a number of important research questions as challenges for future investigations. (shrink)

La «société de la connaissance» concerne l'ensemble des secteurs productifs. Elle induit une réorganisation des entreprises, qui a des conséquences sur la définition du travail et sur l'établissement de la valeur des firmes. Les enjeux de transfert de connaissances pour le développement sont devenus critiques, comme le montre l'exemple des médicaments. Dans cette situation, une stratégie de verrouillage, par la construction de nouvelles enclosures dans le domaine immatériel est en chantier dans l'ensemble des pays développés. En contrepoint, les nouveaux mouvements (...) sociaux du numérique visent à étendre le domaine public et à construire les biens communs de l'information. Ces mouvements se rapprochent des pays en développement et permettent de définir un nouvel équilibre économique et géopolitique mondial. Deux questions peuvent nous servir de boussole pour inventer les nouvelles formes d'organisation publique de l'ére informationnelle: le critère de l'accès au savoir pour tous et celui de la défense de la vie privée.The "knowledge society" refers to all productive sectors. It induces a reorganization of companies, which has implications for the definition of work and the establishment of the value of firms. Issues of knowledge transfer for development have become critical, as the example of drugs. In this situation, a foreclosure strategy by building new enclosures in the field site is immaterial in all developed countries. In counterpoint, the new social movements aim to extend the digital public domain and build common property information. These movements are similar in developing countries and help to define a new global economic and geopolitical balance. Two questions can serve as a compass to invent new forms of organization of public informational era: the criterion of access to knowledge for all and the defense of privacy. (shrink)

RACINE L and PETRUCKA P. Nursing Inquiry 2011; 18: 12–20 Enhancing decolonization and knowledge transfer in nursing research with non-western populations: examining the congruence between primary healthcare and postcolonial feminist approachesThis article is a call for reflection from two distinct programs of research which converge on common interests pertaining to issues of health, social justice, and globalization. One of the authors has developed a research program related to the health and well-being of non-western populations, while the other author (...) has expanded the field of Aboriginal and international research in Canada and abroad. Based on examples drawn from our respective programs of research, we suggest conciliating the philosophy of primary healthcare to postcolonial feminism for decolonizing research and enhancing knowledge transfer with non-western populations. We contend that applying the theoretical and methodological strengths of these two approaches is a means to decolonize nursing research and to avoid western neocolonization. In conciliating primary health care and postcolonial feminism, the goal is to enhance the pragmatic relevance of postcolonial feminism to generate resistance through transformative research for achieving social justice. In tapping into the synergistic and complementary epistemological assumptions of the philosophy of primary health care and postcolonial ‘feminisms’, nurse researchers reinforce the anti-oppresive goals of postcolonial feminist research. Consequently, this approach may enhance both decolonization and knowledge transfer through strategies like photovoice. (shrink)

This paper outlines an indigenous Indian approach for the training of engineers to fulfil the objective of effective technology transfer to a new site from the mother plant. The approach reflects the courage of conviction to translate the holistic and ancient model of knowledge transfer: the guru-shishya relationship. The requirements of such a model, the practical working out of these requirements, and the views of both shishyas and gurus after the experience are shared with great simplicity.

Previous studies have explored a multitude of factors influencing student learning outcomes based on various theories. Knowledge transfer theory was adopted to develop the antecedents of student learning outcomes in the complete learning process. This study aims to explore the conspicuousness between various factors within the structural model, such as knowledge transfer, student orientation, and absorptive capacity, by combining marketing and management concepts with higher education studies. This study takes Taiwanese University students as its research samples, (...) and purposive sampling is adopted. A total of 873 questionnaires are collected in this study. PLS-SEM was used to verify the structural relationship in data analysis via running of SmartPLS. The results indicate that knowledge transfer and student orientation have significant impacts on students' absorptive capacity and learning outcomes and that students' prior knowledge has a positive moderating effect on the relationship between knowledge transfer and absorptive capacities. Based on these findings, the researchers propose feasible suggestions for related issues and future research. (shrink)

The Politics of Feminist Knowledge Transfer draws together analytical work on gender training and gender expertise. Its chapters critically reflect on the politics of feminist knowledge transfer, understood as an inherently political, dynamic and contested process, the overall aim of which is to transform gendered power relations in pursuit of more equal societies, workplaces, and policies. At its core, the work explores the relationship between gender expertise, gender training, and broader processes of feminist transformation arising from (...) knowledge transfer activities. Examining these in a reflective way, the book brings a primarily practice-based debate into the academic arena. With contributions from authors of diverse backgrounds, including academics, practitioners and representatives of gender training institutions, the editors combine a focus on gender expertise and gender training, with more theory-focused chapters. (shrink)

The high-tech industry is the main force promoting the development of China’s national economy. As its industrial economic strength grows, China’s high-tech industry is increasingly using cross-border mergers and acquisitions as an important way to “go out.” To explore the rules governing the process and operation mechanism of reverse knowledge transfer through the CBM&A of China’s high-tech industry under government intervention, a tripartite evolutionary game model of the government, the parent company, and the subsidiary as the main subjects (...) is constructed in this paper. The strategies adopted by the three subjects in the RKT game process are analysed, and the factors influencing RKT through CBM&A under government intervention are simulated and analysed using Python 3.7 software. The results show that, under government intervention, the parent company and subsidiary have different degrees of influence on each other. Subsidiaries are highly sensitive to the compensation rate of RKT. Positive intervention by the government tends to foster stable cooperation between the parent company and the subsidiary. However, over time, the government gradually relaxes its intervention in the RKT and innovation of multinational companies. (shrink)

Mathematical models and their modeling frameworks developed to advance knowledge in one discipline are sometimes sourced to answer questions or solve problems in another discipline. Studying this aspect of cross-disciplinary transfer of knowledge objects, philosophers of science have weighed in on the question of whether knowledge about how a mathematical model is previously applied in one discipline is necessary for the success of reapplying said model in a different discipline. However, not much has been said about (...) whether the answer to that epistemological question applies to the reapplication of a modeling framework. More generally, regarding the nature of the production of knowledge in science, a metaphysical question remains to be explored whether historical contingencies associated with a mathematical construct have a genuine impact on the nature—as opposed to sociological practices or individual psychology—of advancing scientific knowledge with said construct. Focusing on this metaphysical question, this paper analyzes the use of mathematical logic in the development of the Chomsky hierarchy and subsequent reapplications of said hierarchy; with these examples, this paper develops the notion of “spillovers” as a way to detect cross-disciplinary justifications for better understanding the relations between reapplications of the same mathematical construct across disciplines. (shrink)

In workplace health interventions, engaging management and union decision makers is considered important for the success of the project, yet little research has described the process of making this happen. A case study of a knowledge-transfer process is presented to describe the practices and processes adopted by a knowledge broker who engaged workplace parties in discussions on research on physical and psychosocial factors important for employee health. The process included one-on-one interactions between the knowledge broker and (...) individuals to explain the research, to build trust and credibility, and to explore the applicability of the research to their work (sense making). It also included facilitated group sessions, where the groups explored how the research could solve problems within the workplace (social construction of knowledge). The workplace context offered multiple opportunities that helped and hindered the flow of research. Nevertheless, this intense, sustained, knowledge-transfer intervention noted conceptual, structural, and political knowledge use. (shrink)

This study seeks to understand knowledge transfer practices within the Muslim business community in Edinburgh. It investigates how knowledge transfer practices are managed on a day to day basis, examines the route of development and justification for these practices into meaningful knowledge transfer processes, and explores the underlying perspective of knowledge from the knowledge transfer practitioners view of knowledge transfer practices in a business context. In particular, the study seeks (...) explanations for such practices with reference to both a knowledge-based and a resource-based view of the firm. Due to the multifarious phenomena of knowledge transfer, and to allow a scope necessary to establish epistemological and empirical evidence from literature, a two stage literature review process was adopted. The majority of literature expounds an argument in which knowledge and knowledge transfer processes in a business context are embedded within a set of real world dimensions, based on causal relationships. Literature determines that it is overcoming difficulties with this framework which is critical for a businesses ability to manage, utilise and extract value from multiple internal and external sources of knowledge. Four broad themes were identified, from which most literature supported this argument: Psychological, Organisational, Philosophical and Cultural. Data collection and analysis were carried out in two phases. Phase one was based on ethnographic participant observation which proved unsuccessful due to an underestimation of the complexity of the participants personal perspective and researcher bias. Phase two was informed by the difficulties encountered in phase one and proved successful in capturing meaningful data. (shrink)

A central goal of cognitive science is to develop a general theory of transfer to explain how people use and apply their prior knowledge to solve new problems. Previous work has identified multiple mechanisms of transfer including (but not limited to) analogy, knowledge compilation, and constraint violation. The central hypothesis investigated in the current work is that the particular profile of transfer processes activated for a given situation depends on both (a) the type of (...) class='Hi'>knowledge to be transferred and how it is represented, and (b) the processing demands of the transfer task. This hypothesis was investigated in two laboratory training studies. The results from Experiment 1 show that each mechanism predicts specific behavioural patterns of performance across a common set of transfer tasks. The results from Experiment 2 show that people can adaptively shift between transfer mechanisms depending on their prior knowledge and the characteristics of the task environment. A framework for the development of a general theory of transfer based on multiple mechanisms is proposed and implications of the theory are discussed for measuring and understanding knowledge transfer. (shrink)

In the first decades of the twentieth century, the process of photosynthesis was still a mystery: Plant scientists were able to measure what entered and left a plant, but little was known about the intermediate biochemical and biophysical processes that took place. This state of affairs started to change between the two world wars, when a number of young scientists in Europe and the United States, all of whom identified with the methods and goals of physicochemical biology, selected photosynthesis as (...) a topic of research. The protagonists had much in common: They had studied physics and chemistry (although not necessarily plant physiology) to a high level; they used physicochemical methods to study the basic processes of life; they believed these processes were the same, or very similar, in all life forms; and they were affiliated with institutions that fostered this kind of study. This set of cognitive, methodological, and material resources enabled these protagonists to transfer their knowledge of the concepts and techniques from microbiology and human biochemistry, for example, to the study of plant metabolism. These transfers of knowledge had a great influence on the way in which the biochemistry and biophysics of photosynthesis would be studied over the following decades. Through the use of four historical cases, this paper analyzes these knowledge transfers, as well as the investigative pathways that made them possible. (shrink)

The promises and risks of Artificial Intelligence permeate current policy statements and have attracted much attention by AI governance research. However, most analyses focus exclusively on AI policy on the national and international level, overlooking existing federal governance structures. This is surprising because AI is connected to many policy areas, where the competences are already distributed between the national and subnational level, such as research or economic policy. Addressing this gap, this paper argues that more attention should be dedicated to (...) subnational efforts to shape AI and asks which themes are discussed in subnational AI policy documents with a case study of Germany’s 16 states. Our qualitative analysis of 34 AI policy documents issued on the subnational level demonstrates that subnational efforts focus on knowledge transfer between research and industry actors, the commercialization of AI, different economic identities of the German states, and the incorporation of ethical principles. Because federal states play an active role in AI policy, analysing AI as a policy issue on different levels of government is necessary and will contribute to a better understanding of the developments and implementations of AI strategies in different national contexts. (shrink)

Internet technology has given birth to continuous changes in business model and format innovation. With increasingly critical consumers, blowout development model and format innovation, enterprises are increasingly aware of the importance of customer participation in service innovation. At the same time, the development of information technology provides convenient conditions for communication between enterprises and customers, and online virtual community also provides a platform for customers to participate in the process of enterprise service innovation in an instant. Based on the theory (...) of customer participation, knowledge transfer and service innovation performance, this paper explores the influence mechanism of customer participation in virtual community on service innovation performance, and analyzes the mediating role of knowledge transfer. Through the analysis of the results of the questionnaire, the relevant hypotheses are verified. The results show that customer participation in virtual community has a positive impact on service innovation performance. Customer participation helps enterprises obtain relevant knowledge such as customer needs and reduce barriers to knowledge sharing. In addition, enterprises will acquire customer knowledge about new products, which provides the possibility for the development of new products and services, thereby enhancing the enterprises’ service innovation performance. Knowledge transfer plays a part of mediating role between customer participation and service innovation performance. In the process of enterprises’ service innovation, customers mainly participate in the enterprise by means of knowledge transfer and help the enterprise improve service innovation performance. (shrink)