Modelling Lobbying Behaviour and Interdisciplinarity Dynamics in Academia

Disciplinary diversity is being recognized today as the key to establish a vibrant academic environment with bigger potential for breakthroughs in research and technology. However, the interaction of several factors including policies, and behavioral attitudes put significant barriers on advancing interdisciplinarity. A "cognitive rigidity" may rise due to reactive academic lobbying favouring inbreeding. Here, we address, analyse and discuss a mathematical model of lobbying and interdisciplinarity dynamics in Academia. The model consists of four coupled non-linear Ordinary Differential Equations simulating the interaction between three types of academic individuals and a state reflecting the rate of knowledge advancement which is related to the level of disciplinary diversity. Our model predicts a rich nonlinear behaviour including multiplicity of states and sustained periodic oscillations resembling the everlasting struggle between the "new" and the "old". The effect of a control policy that inhibits lobbying is also studied. By appropriate adjustment of the model parameters we approximated the jump/phase transitions in breakthroughs in mathematical and molecular biological sciences resulted by the increased flow of Russian scientists in the USA after the dissolution of the Soviet Union starting in 1989, the launch of the Human Genome Project in 1992 and the Internet diffusion starting in 2000

Learning 21st century science in context with mobile technologies

The paper describes a project to support personal inquiry learning with handheld and desktop technology between formal and informal settings. It presents a trial of the technology and learning across a school classroom, sports hall, and library. The main aim of the study was to incorporate inquiry learning activities within an extended school science environment in order to investigate opportunities for technological mediations and to extract initial recommendations for the design of mobile technology to link inquiry learning across different contexts. A critical incident analysis was carried out to identify learning breakdowns and breakthroughs that led to design implications. The main findings are the opportunities that a combination of mobile and fixed technology bring to: manage the formation of groups, display live visualisations of student and teacher data on a shared screen to facilitate motivation and personal relevance, incorporate broader technical support, provide context-specific guidance on the sequence, reasons and aims of learning activities, offer opportunities to micro-sites for reflection and learning in the field, to explicitly support appropriation of data within inquiry and show the relation between specific activities and the general inquiry process

Role of ‘corporate persistence’ and ‘environmental support’ in building breakthrough capability: Empirical investigation of Samsung’s initiatives in memory and microwave oven business

It is now an incontrovertible fact that capabilities are the source of competitive advantage. However, the process through which firms build capabilities over a period of time is only partially understood. Concepts like learning, resource combination, and co-evolution can be categorized as enablers as they support capability formation. On the other hand, concepts like inertia and path dependence can be categorized as restrictors as they constrain the process of capability formation. Combined together, while these concepts hint in the right direction, there is a need to have concepts that explain the process of capability formation holistically. An endeavour towards this objective would require taking into account the role of internal and external events. This paper builds concepts of ‘corporate persistence’ and ‘environmental support’ to explain their role in building breakthrough capability by examining major events in the evolution of two mega high technology business belonging to the Samsung group.

Case studies: understanding players and the contexts in which they play. Workshop on Crossing Domains: Diverse Perspectives on Players

Over recent years, the study of games and players has become an established domain with HCI research. However, while a range of methods has been employed within this area, questions remain as to how to develop in-depth understandings of players and the contexts they play within. Drawing upon the social sciences, this paper proposes case studies as an additional methodology for player research. We discuss the approach by referring to an example of how case studies were used to investigate the relationship between gaming involvement and learning

Technology Transfer Versus Transformation

Research defines technology transfer from the viewpoint of business processes and personnel skills (Rogers, Takegami & Yin, 2001). The focus is on action to adapt and embrace an existing technology to gain efficiency (Gilsing et al., 2011). We examine this phenomenon as innovation based on the ability to transfer existing needs, desires, behaviors, and expectations to new technology. We find technology is adopted when transfer opportunities become manifest and each transfer builds upon its predecessor to create transformation in the long term. This relationship between transfer and transformation gradually builds technology adoption across chasms of the S-curve technology innovation curve

A Mixed Method Approach for Evaluating and Improving the Design of Learning in Puzzle Games

Despite the acknowledgment that learning is a necessary part of all gameplay, the area of Games User Research lacks an established evidence based method through which designers and researchers can understand, assess, and improve how commercial games teach players game-specific skills and information. In this paper, we propose a mixed method procedure that draws together both quantitative and experiential approaches to examine the extent to which players are supported in learning about the game world and mechanics. We demonstrate the method through presenting a case study of the game Portal involving 14 participants, who differed in terms of their gaming expertise. By comparing optimum solutions to puzzles against observed player performance, we illustrate how the method can indicate particular problems with how learning is structured within a game. We argue that the method can highlight where major breakdowns occur and yield design insights that can improve the player experience with puzzle games

Evidences of World`s Technical Revolution 4.0

Over last three centuries industry as it is now has dramatically changed and developed from global urbanization and steam machines to invention of PC with variety of digital devices and spreading of the Internet. The Fourth Industrial Revolution marked by emerging technology breakthroughs in a number of fields, including robotics, artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, biotechnology, the Internet of Things (IoT), 3D printing and autonomous vehicles. The Fourth Industrial Revolution was declared in Davos on “World Economic Forum” in 2016. This statement was built on the Digital Revolution, representing new ways in which technology becomes embedded within societies and even the human body