Ontology modelling methodology for temporal and interdependent applications

The increasing adoption of Semantic Web technology by several classes of applications in recent years, has made ontology engineering a crucial part of application development. Nowadays, the abundant accessibility of interdependent information from multiple resources and representing various fields such as health, transport, and banking etc., further evidence the growing need for utilising ontology for the development of Web applications. While there have been several advances in the adoption of the ontology for application development, less emphasis is being made on the modelling methodologies for representing modern-day application that are characterised by the temporal nature of the data they process, which is captured from multiple sources. Taking into account the benefits of a methodology in the system development, we propose a novel methodology for modelling ontologies representing Context-Aware Temporal and Interdependent Systems (CATIS). CATIS is an ontology development methodology for modelling temporal interdependent applications in order to achieve the desired results when modelling sophisticated applications with temporal and inter dependent attributes to suit today's application requirements

Critical Factors for New Product Developments in SMEs' Virtual Team

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are considered as an engine for economic growth all over the world and especially for developing countries. During the past decade, new product development (NPD) has increasingly been recognized as a critical factor in ensuring the continued survival of SMEs. On the other hand, the rapid rate of market and technological changes has accelerated in the past decade, so this turbulent environment requires new methods and techniques to bring successful new products to the marketplace. Virtual team can be a solution to answer the requested demand. However, literature have shown no significant differences between traditional NPD and virtual NPD in general, whereas NPD in SME’s virtual team has not been systematically investigated in developing countries. This paper aims to bridge this gap by first reviewing the NPD and its relationship with virtuality and then identifies the critical factors of NPD in virtual teams. The statistical method was utilized to perform the required analysis of data from the survey. The results were achieved through factor analysis at the perspective of NPD in some Malaysian and Iranian manufacturing firms (N = 191). The 20 new product development factors were grouped into five higher level constructs. It gives valuable insight and guidelines, which hopefully will help managers of firms in developing countries to consider the main factors in NPD

`Modern` learning methods : rhetoric and reality - further to Sadler-Smith et al

Working in the UK, Sadler-Smith, Down and Lean, in their article &ldquo;&lsquo;Modern&rsquo; learning methods: rhetoric and reality&rdquo;, Personnel Review, Vol. 29 No. 4, 2000, pp. 474-90, have shown that distance learning methods are neither favoured nor perceived as effective by enterprises pursuing training that yields a competitive edge. They have suggested that these methods need to be integrated with other more conventional on-job training methods. This paper, based on Australian research, shows a tension between the requirements of flexible training methods based on distance learning methods, and the characteristics that typify learners and their workplaces. That identified tension is used to suggest how an integration of training methods may be effected in workplaces.<br /

Alternative approaches to education provision for out-of-school youth in Malawi:The case of Complementary Basic Education

Young people in Malawi face many challenges. Primary education is struggling with poor internal efficiency, low quality and poor educational outcomes. Access to post-primary education is limited and highly selective. The majority of young people who exit the formal education system dropout in the primary cycle. Few out-of-school youth have had access to technical, vocational or entrepreneurial training, or the chance to develop key skills to support and sustain livelihoods in the country’s predominantly rural-based economies. Until recently education and skills development for out-of-school youth was given scant attention at the national level. However, in response to growing concerns about the ability to meet Education for All (EFA) targets and to support poverty alleviation strategies, the Malawi government now acknowledges the need for alternative approaches to basic education in order to cater for out-of-school children and youth. In 2006, the Complementary Basic Education (CBE) programme was launched in Malawi, first piloted and then expanded across several rural districts in Malawi. This background paper presents an overview and analysis of the role of Complementary Basic Education in the educational provision for out-of-school youth. In doing so, it focuses on the expectations, participation and outcomes of older learners, as well as the challenges faced in the delivery of curriculum content and practical pre-vocational skills training in light of the differing needs of children and youth. It explores the interface between basic education and skills development and reflects on lessons to be learnt with regard to the design, implementation and mainstreaming of complementary and non-formal education programmes

Critical factors for new product developments in SMEs virtual team

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are considered as an engine for economic growth all over the world and especially for developing countries. During the past decade, new product development (NPD) has increasingly been recognized as a critical factor in ensuring the continued survival of SMEs. On the other hand, the rapid rate of market and technological changes has accelerated in the past decade, so this turbulent environment requires new methods and techniques to bring successful new products to the marketplace. Virtual team can be a solution to answer the requested demand. However, literature have shown no significant differences between traditional NPD and virtual NPD in general, whereas NPD in SME’s virtual team has not been systematically investigated in developing countries. This paper aims to bridge this gap by first reviewing the NPD and its relationship with virtuality and then identifies the critical factors of NPD in virtual teams. The statistical method was utilized to perform the required analysis of data from the survey. The results were achieved through factor analysis at the perspective of NPD in some Malaysian and Iranian manufacturing firms (N = 191). The 20 new product development factors were grouped into five higher level constructs. It gives valuable insight and guidelines, which hopefully will help managers of firms in developing countries to consider the main factors in NPD.Survey findings, new product development, factor analysis, virtual team

‘In the name of capability’: a critical discursive evaluation of competency-based management development

This paper illustrates a number of ways in which competency or capability-based management development (CBMD) can work simultaneously both for and against the interests of organizational agents. It does so by demonstrating how CBMD might usefully be understood as both ideological and quasi-religiously faith-based. These features are shown to provide opportunities for resistance and micro-emancipation alongside those for repression and subordination. The study employs a combination of ‘middle range’ discourse analytical techniques. In the first instance, critical discourse analysis is applied to company documentation to distil the ideological stance of an international organization’s CBMD programme. Critical discursive psychology is then used to assess the ways in which employees’ evaluative accounts both support and resist such stance. The analysis builds upon previous insights from Foucauldian studies of CBMD by foregrounding processes of discursive agency. It also renders more visible and discussible the assumptions and dilemmas that CBMD might imply