A Cognitive Systems Framework for Creative Problem Solving

This thesis provides a theoretical framework for a wide variety of types of cognitively-inspired creative problem solving. The framework (CreaCogs) is formalized and its various creative processes detailed. The framework is put to the test in a few computational implementations: a solver to the Remote Associates Test - comRAT-C, its adaptation to the visual domain - comRAT-V, and an object replacement and object composition system in a household domain - OROC. The performance and process of these implementations are then (i) compared to human answers and performance in creativity tests or (ii) assessed with the same toolkit that would be used to assess human answers. A set of practical insight problems with objects are given to human participants in a think aloud protocol, which is then encoded and compared to the framework. The experiments and data analysis show that the framework is successful in computationally modeling creative problem solving across a wide variety of tasks

New Fundamental Technologies in Data Mining

The progress of data mining technology and large public popularity establish a need for a comprehensive text on the subject. The series of books entitled by "Data Mining" address the need by presenting in-depth description of novel mining algorithms and many useful applications. In addition to understanding each section deeply, the two books present useful hints and strategies to solving problems in the following chapters. The contributing authors have highlighted many future research directions that will foster multi-disciplinary collaborations and hence will lead to significant development in the field of data mining

Fourth Conference on Artificial Intelligence for Space Applications

Proceedings of a conference held in Huntsville, Alabama, on November 15-16, 1988. The Fourth Conference on Artificial Intelligence for Space Applications brings together diverse technical and scientific work in order to help those who employ AI methods in space applications to identify common goals and to address issues of general interest in the AI community. Topics include the following: space applications of expert systems in fault diagnostics, in telemetry monitoring and data collection, in design and systems integration; and in planning and scheduling; knowledge representation, capture, verification, and management; robotics and vision; adaptive learning; and automatic programming

On smart and natural language technology support of strategy work

This research explores how natural language processing of text, which is in electronic format, might be exploited to benefit strategic business planning in companies. It entails considering devices for making sense of huge, complex and dynamic data for decision making in a complex and dynamic world. It entails grasping managers' true requirements. Text that is in electronic format abounds. The Internet is continuing its phenomenal growth. Strategic decision-makers in companies struggle with making sense, keeping up with and taking advantage of the emerging world. Theoretical and technological advances in many fields of inquiry, from strategy to information technology, give rise to new promises for computer support of strategic managerial work. Management of knowledge and computer processing of natural language format text are among these. After surveying the field of strategy for its requirements and the state of art some alternative solutions are considered. A partial solution that was actually built is described together with experiments performed with it. Feedback solicited and obtained from managers with help of the concrete existence of the partial solution is then examined and analysed thoroughly. Ideas related to the use of systems based on language and knowledge technology have been developed and many issues identified. This together with managerial feedback forms a base for creating strategy support systems in the future.reviewe

Reconceptualising knowledge seeking in knowledge management: towards a knowledge seeking process model

Promoting knowledge sharing has long been regarded as a very important aspect of the management of knowledge. However, knowledge sharing has its challenges due to the special nature of knowledge. Based on this, the researcher argues that it is knowledge seeking rather than knowledge sharing that plays a crucial role in knowledge management. However, there is no clear definition for knowledge seeking in existing literature. In the few studies of knowledge seeking research, knowledge has been viewed as a noun and as such knowledge seeking has been seen as no different to information seeking. The aim of this research has been to explore the knowledge seeking process in the workplace in order to conceptualise knowledge seeking by developing a theoretical model. A review of the literature concerning knowledge seeking has been conducted in order to clarify the concept of knowledge seeking. From the interpretivist’s perspective, a qualitative research approach has been taken, in which sense-making theory is employed as a methodological guide. Time-line interviews were carried out with construction engineers in China to collect primary data, and Template analysis was utilized. Based on the literature, this thesis defined knowledge seeking as a learning process, which consists of three major themes: experiential learning, information seeking and problem solving, based on which a preliminary framework was developed. Twenty six engineers were successfully interviewed. The findings from the data confirmed the links between the themes. Further codes were also identified to develop a final template, which evolved to a theoretical model illustrating the knowledge seeking process in the workplace. By promoting knowledge seeking rather than knowledge sharing, this research contributed innovatory insight into existing KM research. The new concept of knowledge seeking and the theoretical model developed thereafter contribute to knowledge by providing a theoretical framework for further research in this area. The specific combination of time-line interviews and template analysis has demonstrated good results in this research. Collecting primary data from China, this research applied Western theories onto engineers within a Chinese context, which has contributed to KM research in China. These contributions will result in many practical implications for KM practices

The best interests of the child in intercountry adoption: a constructivist and comparative account

This thesis examines the motivations for states to become involved in intercountry adoption. This includes both states that send children in intercountry adoption and states that receive children. The thesis explores the dynamic cycle of events that lead states to intercountry adoption participation. It then explores the ramifications of those for the application and interpretation of the ‘best interests of the child’ standard. This thesis includes empirical work through data gathered by interviews and analysed by constructivist grounded theory methodology. It also includes a comparative analysis of seven different states involved in intercountry adoption. The comparative analysis is again undertaken with the use of constructivist grounded theory methodology. The thesis presents a theory that explains state motivation to engage in intercountry adoption and the effects that these have on the normative meaning that is given to the ‘best interests of the child’ legal standard when used in intercountry adoption. This thesis makes an original contribution of knowledge by examining the motivation of states to enter into intercountry adoption and providing a theory that traces the pathways of how states become involved. It makes further original contributions to knowledge by examining how these motivations impact the normative meaning given to the standard in domestic, international and transnational settings. Yet another original contribution to knowledge is in providing a theory and network map of the normative meanings that are ascribed to the standard in an intercountry adoption setting

Using Critical Discourse Analysis to Address the Gaps, Exclusions and Oversights in Active Citizenship Education

There is great concern that active citizenship policies, curriculum and/or pedagogy are not working effectively, and many researchers are seeking ways to engage students more in public affairs and political realities. In this dissertation, I explore the captivating universe of active citizenship education and the discourses that propel it, using critical theory, documentary method and critical discourse analysis. I analyze over 400 documents that directly or indirectly relate to citizenship education to determine where we have been, where we currently are, and where we ought to go with active citizenship education. As a result of my research, I discovered that the discourses that originally constructed notions of the citizen, citizenship and the rights of the citizen (e.g., Socrates, Michavelli, Rousseau, Jefferson, Roosevelt, and Martin Luther King, Jr.) differed, but they often shared themes of self-reflection, critique, and emancipation. Unfortunately, these fundamental pillars fell increasingly by the wayside when, for example, globalization spun its web (e.g., mass migration, the Internet, access to faster systems of travel and free trade). Correspondingly, neoliberal discourse penetrated local, state and global systems, and citizenship education like many other aspects of society was altered. A newly designed ‘global’, ‘unregulated’, ‘knowledge society’ claimed a new vision for civil society and thus citizenship and citizenship education. Such discourses became imbedded not only in the corporate world but also in public institutions – education was not immune to this. I discovered that although universal discourses such as sustainability, cooperation, and human rights are promoted in secondary citizenship education via social studies curriculum, little of this discourse is instituted in policy, curriculum and pedagogy. Students are not being given many classroom opportunities to become reflective, engaged and empowered citizens with the capacity to shape society and challenge institutionalized oppressions such as racism, poverty, sexism, ageism, and classism. Based on moral, ethical and democratic imperatives, I present recommendations on how to move forward to create the citizenship education programs youth deserve. I provide guiding principles, a navigational illustration, and an exemplar of what a revised citizenship education curriculum might look like

Hidden Histories and Multiple Meanings: The Richard Dennett Collection at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter.

Associated forthcoming publication by same author about another Congo collection connected with Richard Dennett and Mary Kingsley: ‘Hidden Charms: Writing, On, Around and About a Congo Collection at the Pitt Rivers Museum.’ Journal of Museum Ethnography, no.25, (2012).Ethnographic collections in western museums such as the Royal Albert Memorial Museum (RAMM) carry many meanings, but by definition, they represent an intercultural encounter. This history of this encounter is often lost, overlooked, or obscured, and yet it has bearing on how the objects in the collection have been interpreted and understood. This thesis uncovers the hidden history of one particular collection in the RAMM and examines the multiple meanings that have been attributed to the objects in the collection over time. The Richard Dennett Collection was made in Africa in the years when European powers began to colonise the Congo basin. Richard Edward Dennett (1857-1921) worked as a trader in the Lower Congo between 1879 and 1902. The collection was accessioned by the RAMM in 1889. The research contextualises the collection by making a close analysis of primary source material which was produced by the collector and by his contemporaries, and includes publications, correspondence, photographs and illustrations which have been studied in museums and archives in Europe and North America. Dennett was personally involved with key events in the colonial history of this part of Africa but he also studied the indigenous BaKongo community, recording his observations about their political and material culture. As a result he became involved in the institutions of anthropology and folklore in Britain which were attempting to explain, classify and interpret such cultures. Through examining Dennett’s history this research has been able to explore the Congo context, the indigenous society, and those European institutions which collected and interpreted BaKongo collections. The research has added considerably to the museum’s knowledge about this collection and its collector, and the study responds to the practical imperative implicit in a Collaborative Doctoral Project, by proposing a small temporary exhibition in the RAMM to explore these histories and meanings. In making this proposal the research considers the current curatorial debate concerning responsible approaches to colonial collections, and assesses some of the strategies that are being employed in museums today.AHR

Multi-perspective modelling for knowledge management and knowledge engineering

ii It seems almost self-evident that “knowledge management ” and “knowledge engineering” should be related disciplines that may share techniques and methods between them. However, attempts by knowledge engineers to apply their techniques to knowledge management have been praised by some and derided by others, who claim that knowledge engineers have a fundamentally wrong concept of what “knowledge management” is. The critics also point to specific weaknesses of knowledge engineering, notably the lack of a broad context for the knowledge. Knowledge engineering has suffered some criticism from within its own ranks, too, particularly of the “rapid prototyping ” approach, in which acquired knowledge was encoded directly into an iteratively developed computer system. This approach was indeed rapid, but when used to deliver a final system, it became nearly impossible to verify and validate the system or to maintain it. A solution to this has come in the form of knowledge engineering methodology, and particularly in the CommonKAD