Science, technology, engineering and mathematics: Australia’s future

Presents recommendations for Australia to take a strategic approach to science and its related fields, focusing on: building competitiveness, supporting high quality education and training, maximising research potential and strengthening international engagement. Introduction The global economy is changing. New technologies and smart companies lead. New industries and new sources of wealth are emerging. New skills are required for workers at all levels. Australians must decide whether we will be in the forefront of these changes or be left behind. We have a choice. Our competitiveness cannot be underpinned by our natural resources alone. Nor can we afford to be complacent about our place in the global race. Nations at all levels of development are now focusing on the capabilities required for building new jobs and creating wealth. In partnership with business, they are acting now to secure the skills, investment and international alliances for the future. At the core of almost every agenda is a focus on STEM: science, technology, engineering and mathematics. It is the almost universal preoccupation now shaping economic plans. In other words, the economic plans are designed to support the focus on STEM, rather than limit it. We too need to recognise that prosperity has to be earned; just as opportunity must be embraced. Above all, we need to ensure that our needs and our capabilities are aligned: across government and across the Australian community. It is the knowledge that STEM will offer and the sensible application of that knowledge that are the means to the end: building a stronger Australia with a competitive economy

Didactic Networks: A proposal for e-learning content generation

The Didactic Networks proposed in this paper are based on previous publications in the field of the RSR (Rhetorical-Semantic Relations). The RSR is a set of primitive relations used for building a specific kind of semantic networks for artificial intelligence applications on the web: the RSN (Rhetorical-Semantic Networks). We bring into focus the RSR application in the field of elearning, by defining Didactic Networks as a new set of semantic patterns oriented to the development of eleaming applications. The different lines we offer in our research Jail mainly into three levels: • The most basic one is in the field of computational linguistics and related to Logical Operations on RSR (RSR Inverses and plurals. RSR combinations, etc), once they have been created. The application of Walter Bosma 's results regarding rhetorical distance application and treatment as semantic weighted networks is one of the important issues here. • In parallel, we have been working on the creation of a knowledge representation and storage model and data architecture capable of supporting the definition of knowledge networks based on RSR. • The third strategic line is in the meso-level, the formulation of a molecular structure of knowledge based on the most frequently used patterns. The main contribution at this level is the set of Fundamental Cognitive Networks (FCN) as an application of Novak's mental maps proposal. This paper is part of this third intermediate level, and the Fundamental Didactic Networks (FDN) are the result of the application of rhetorical theoiy procedures to the instructional theory. We have formulated a general set of RSR capable of building discourse, making it possible to express any concept, procedure or principle in terms of knowledge nodes and RSRs. The instructional knowledge can then be elaborated in the same way. This network structure expressing the instructional knowledge in terms of RSR makes the objective of developing web-learning lessons semi-automutkally possible, as well as any other type of utilities oriented towards the exploitation of semantic structure, such as the automatic question answering systems

Absorptive capacity in new ventures: differences among corporate ventures and independent ventures

This paper describes a study of the effects of venture origin on ACAP dimensions addressing two questions: how differently do corporate ventures (CVs) and independent ventures (IVs) build their ACAP? And, what are the effects of these differing ways of building ACAP on the new venture performance (NVP) and strategic variety? In answering these questions, we build on three related theoretical perspectives: resource-based view (Barney, 1991; Peteraf, 1993), knowledge-based theory (Grant, 1996), and the dynamic capabilities approach (Teece et al., 1997; Winter, 2003). Using data from face-to-face interviews and surveys on 140 new ventures, our results show that CVs primarily focus on developing the ACAP processes of acquisition and assimilation of new external knowledge when compared to IVs; and that IVs center their efforts in commercially exploiting the knowledge externally acquired. We did not find evidence of significant differences among CVs and IVs in their strategic variety. Yet, we found that an emphasis on potential ACAP is positively associated with the strategic variety of both CVs and IVs. Finally, our results reveal that ACAP is not directly related to NVP

Investigation of work-practices, skills and everyday challenges of building operators with respect to indoor climate and energy

Focus on sustainable construction brings many requirements and standards to ensure energy efficiency and high indoor environmental quality (IEQ). However, these are mainly used in design phase. Commissioning becomes increasingly common to ensure functionality when building is taken into use. However, buildings are expected to stay in use for many years. It is a building operator, who ensures that building delivers healthy and comfortable environment. It is beyond discussion that his/her skills and professional level affect building’s actual performance. The present study had an objective to investigate work skills, experiences and professional challenges of building operators in Danish office buildings with particular focus on IEQ and energy efficiency. Thirty building operation professionals working in 23 companies were interviewed. The results showed that occupant complaints were a driving factor with respect to IEQ related measures. Knowledge of standards and requirements regarding IEQ turned up to be rather superficial. In most cases, there was a lack of a well-defined operational strategy regarding IEQ. The results show that there is a need to provide a missing link between technological part of building operation and a strategic part defining clear goals and practices.publishedVersio

Redefining Expectations for Place-based Philanthropy

This article discusses how The California Endowment has used a midcourse strategic review to refine Building Healthy Communities, aiming to provide insight for other place-based initiatives and to add to the body of knowledge about how to support transformative community change. With Building Healthy Communities, the endowment is taking a new approach to community change using a dual strategy to build community capacity in 14 places and scale the impact of its local efforts through statewide policy advocacy and communications. In 2013, it commissioned a strategic review to reflect on what it has learned from the first three years of this innovation in place-based work. Through interviews, focus groups, surveys, and document review, examples have emerged of how this unique approach is contributing to community change. The review also surfaced tensions created by the design and implementation of the strategy that could impede progress

“Green Knowledge Community, Beats for Gaza”: Transnational linkages and institutional obstacles to the diffusion of arts and permaculture-based resilience knowledge among youth in Gaza

This article offers insights on how the institutional and material limitations, posed by the Israeli/Egyptian blockage on Gaza, promote learning processes that impact the strategic choices of an activist collective. It uses ethnographic data to explore micro processes of reasoning and decision-making in “Green Knowledge Community, Beats for Gaza”, a network of Palestinian and international group of young activists aiming to promote grassroots-level resilience to Israeli occupation in this Palestinian territory. It analyses the shift from an initial focus on building an arts therapy school, which turned out to be unfeasible due to limitations both of the ground and among potential international donors, to a focus on permaculture, regarded as a strategy that could circumvent those limitations by mobilizing endogenous resources. The collective became progressively aware of the need to direct transnational knowledge diffusion to the support of the struggle for food sovereignty and grassroots economic self-determination through the localizing of agricultural production. This was due to the circumstances of the Israeli military occupation, Israeli/Egyptian blockage and the inclusion of a significant amount of arable land in the Gaza/Israel buffer, as well as to strategic choices of international donors, as well as the Hamas government.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

BRICS Countries And Their Strategic HRD Agenda In 2020

This paper will discuss HRD’s future in BRICS countries, focusing on an 11-point agenda specially designed for them. These nations are building a consortium to tackle HRD issues and enhance their quality of life by addressing issues such as health, safety, inadequate income, widespread hunger, gender inequality, environmental degradation, virulent diseases, and lack of technological expertise. They intend to promote BRICS and build global partnerships for long-term development and sustainability. This paper will also discuss BRICS’ strategic HRD practices that are rapidly achieving their objectives. The BRICS have been investing in knowledge-based projects for many years as they believe that growth requires a knowledge economy. This paper will focus on the BRICS’ nurturing of intellectual capital and evaluates the trend in BRICS’ HRD practices as they follow their knowledge-based 11-point agenda

A Research on the Strategy of Promoting Community-Based Rural Vocational Education

Aimed at building a learning society, it is very urgent to develop vocational education in communities of rural areas. Our peasants need education to be localized, which is in accordance with the direction of the vocational education in communities. According to the relevant data, the present rural education base and peasants’ education desire cause a vital chance for vocational education in rural communities. Based on the status, role and function of rural women, the strategic focus of community vocational education should be put on the cultivation of women who master the knowledge, know how to operate, do well in management and have good ability

Sustainability of the Built Environment [Written Evidence - SBE0060]

The following evidence gathered is of particular relevance to strategic pathway planning towards a decarbonised society where focus is placed on the design of environments rather than the design of buildings only. Building buildings is only one tool within a toolkit capable of improving and enhancing environments. The call for evidence suggests a narrow focus driven by potentially one-dimensional sustainable outcomes such as need for adaptation measures to building with little or no consideration for alternatives to building. Greater focus is needed on evidence that supports alternatives to building; new methods and new measures that account for social and cultural dimensions in evaluating sustainability in the built environment, and the embracing of multiplicity and diversity that allows for reskilling and knowledge-sharing in a meaningful way