Acquiring and Harnessing Verb Knowledge for Multilingual Natural Language Processing

Advances in representation learning have enabled natural language processing models to derive non-negligible linguistic information directly from text corpora in an unsupervised fashion. However, this signal is underused in downstream tasks, where they tend to fall back on superficial cues and heuristics to solve the problem at hand. Further progress relies on identifying and filling the gaps in linguistic knowledge captured in their parameters. The objective of this thesis is to address these challenges focusing on the issues of resource scarcity, interpretability, and lexical knowledge injection, with an emphasis on the category of verbs. To this end, I propose a novel paradigm for efficient acquisition of lexical knowledge leveraging native speakers’ intuitions about verb meaning to support development and downstream performance of NLP models across languages. First, I investigate the potential of acquiring semantic verb classes from non-experts through manual clustering. This subsequently informs the development of a two-phase semantic dataset creation methodology, which combines semantic clustering with fine-grained semantic similarity judgments collected through spatial arrangements of lexical stimuli. The method is tested on English and then applied to a typologically diverse sample of languages to produce the first large-scale multilingual verb dataset of this kind. I demonstrate its utility as a diagnostic tool by carrying out a comprehensive evaluation of state-of-the-art NLP models, probing representation quality across languages and domains of verb meaning, and shedding light on their deficiencies. Subsequently, I directly address these shortcomings by injecting lexical knowledge into large pretrained language models. I demonstrate that external manually curated information about verbs’ lexical properties can support data-driven models in tasks where accurate verb processing is key. Moreover, I examine the potential of extending these benefits from resource-rich to resource-poor languages through translation-based transfer. The results emphasise the usefulness of human-generated lexical knowledge in supporting NLP models and suggest that time-efficient construction of lexicons similar to those developed in this work, especially in under-resourced languages, can play an important role in boosting their linguistic capacity.ESRC Doctoral Fellowship [ES/J500033/1], ERC Consolidator Grant LEXICAL [648909

Where Can Capabilities Come From? How the Content of Network Ties Affects Capability Acquisition

While strategy researchers have devoted considerable attention to the role of firm-specific capabilities in the pursuit of competitive advantage, less attention has been directed at how firms obtain these capabilities from outside a firm's boundaries. This study analyzes how firms' network ties represent one important source of capability acquisition. Theoretically, we go beyond the traditional focus on network structure and offer a novel contingency model that specifies how differences in the content of network ties (e.g., buyer-supplier, equity, and director ties) will differentially affect the process of R&D capability acquisition. Empirically, we also seek to provide an original contribution to the capabilities literature by utilizing a stochastic frontier estimation to rigorously measure firm capabilities, and we demonstrate the value of this approach using longitudinal data on business groups in emerging economies. The supportive results of our analysis show that the effect of network ties on the acquisition of new affiliate capabilities is clearly and predictably contingent on the content of the ties.

Using ICT tools to manage knowledge: a student perspective in determining the quality of education

Within the e-learning context of a university, technology has the potential to facilitate the knowledge interaction between the source (instructor) and the recipient (students). From a literature review, it can be concluded that prior studies have not explored the types of channels that encourage knowledge transfer in this environment. For example, how explicit knowledge travels through the e-learning environment and goes through interaction processes and is received and acquired is largely unknown. According to Alavi & Leidner (2001), Information and Communication Technology (ICT) can help speed up the processes of transferring knowledge from those who have knowledge to those seeking knowledge. Within the university context, technologies such as email, Internet, IRC chat, bulletin boards and tools such as WebCT and BlackBoard have the potential to facilitate the transfer of knowledge and act as a link between source and recipient. Effective knowledge transfer has to consider effective knowledge acquisition, which are therefore inexplicably linked. Nonaka's spiral model addresses knowledge acquisition through spiraling processes in which an individual would be able to convert tacit knowledge to explicit knowledge and vice versa. According to Nonaka & Takeuchi (1995) there are four types of interaction, which give way to the conversion of one form of knowledge into another, namely tacit-to-tacit, tacit-to-explicit, explicit-to-tacit and explicit-to-explicit. In an academic environment, this can be studied as the source, either transferring tacit or explicit knowledge, and similarly as the recipient, receiving knowledge either in tacit or explicit form. Nonaka & Takeuchi (1995) also refer to this as the SECI model, where SECI stands for Socialisation, Externalisation, Combination and Internalisation. This 'Research in Progress' reports the outcomes of a study undertaken to understand how and to what extent knowledge spiraling processes and accompanying characteristics of SECI can be ICT-enabled to contribute towards the studying and learning processes for university education. A survey instrument was developed for this purpose and it is currently undergoing peer-review and other customary validity and reliability tests. Once the instrument is validated, it will be administered on about 50 tertiary students. It is hoped that the results obtained from this survey will be reported in the QIK 2005 conference

Towards a knowledge management assessment tool : the operations management perspective

Copyright and all rights therein are retained by the authors. All persons copying this information are expected to adhere to the terms and conditions invoked by each author's copyright. These works may not be re-posted without the explicit permission of the copyright holdersPractitioners are often confused by the wide range of Knowledge Management (KM) solutions that researchers and consultants offer. Part of this confusion is because they cannot determine how these solutions fit into their existing KM systems. KM assessment should be the starting point for any KM initiative yet extant literature provides little guidance in this area. In this paper we propose a tool that organisations can use to assess their Knowledge Management (KM) practices in order for them to make informed decisions and invest wisely. To that end we propose the Operations perspective of KM which encapsulates existing thinking. Our proposal goes further to outline key elements that a KM assessment tool must have and review existing tools against these elements. The KM assessment tool proposed in this paper has its roots in Quality literature and is ideal for assessing as well as designing KM systemsFinal Published versio

German technology policy, innovation, and national institutional frameworks

The pattern of innovation in Germany is substantially different from that in the US and the UK. It is argued that German patterns of innovation - incremental innovation in high quality products especially in engineering and chemicals - require long-term capital, highly cooperative unions and powerful employer associations, effective vocational training systems and close long-term cooperation between companies and with research institutes and university departments. (The more radical high-technology innovation typical of the US and the UK benefits by contrast from less regulated market conditions.) These conditions are met by the incentives and constraints of the institutional framework in which companies located in Germany are embedded. It is suggested that German technology policy is appropriate to and important for this pattern of high-quality incremental innovation. Moreover, the institutional framework - especially the role of powerful business associations - can solve the collective action problems to which German-type technology policy would normally be exposed. -- Die Entwicklungsvoraussetzungen für Innovationen in Deutschland unterscheiden sich substantiell von dem entsprechenden Muster in den USA oder in Großbritannien. In dem Papier wird die Meinung vertreten, daß die in Deutschland vorherrschenden Formen von Innovationen - Entwicklungen in kleinen Schritten bei technischen und chemischen Spitzenprodukten - langfristiges Kapital, sehr kooperative Gewerkschaften und mächtige Arbeitgeberverbände, ein effizientes Berufsausbildungssystem und eine enge langfristige Zusammenarbeit zwischen Unternehmen einerseits und Forschungsinstituten bzw. Universitätseinrichtungen andererseits voraussetzt. (Den für die USA und Großbritannien typischen hochtechnologischen Basisinnovationen sind im Gegensatz dazu geringer regulierte Marktbedingungen förderlich.) Diese Bedingungen werden durch die Anreize und Beschränkungen des Institutionengefüges, in dessen Rahmen die Unternehmen in Deutschland arbeiten, erfüllt. Es wird in dem Papier die These vertreten, daß die Technologiepolitik in Deutschland angemessen und wichtig für den beschriebenen Innovationstyp ist. Darüber hinaus kann das Institutionengefüge - vor allem die mächtigen Unternehmensverbände - die collective-action- Probleme lösen, denen die in Deutschland vorherrschende Technologiepolitik normalerweise ausgesetzt wäre.

A Biologist’s View of Individual Cultural Identity for the Study of Cities

The behaviour of urban populations is compared with the systems directing behaviour in individuals. This is both a metaphor and a mechanistic parallel. The biological model draws upon recent developments in brain research and psychological and cultural anthropology. The development and operation of the personal value-system are seen as constituting Identity in an individual, and Culture in a community. A mechanism is proposed by which social attachments between individuals lead to the adoption of new values into the system. The ability to differentiate own group from other is seen as intrinsic and socially necessary, made peaceful by specific values and adversarial by others. Identity development is such a complex process that it cannot be predicted in detail, but explicated in retrospect. A model may be useful in understanding conflicts of values, and how some are modifiable and others not.Identity, Cultural meaning system, Values, Attachment, Social identity theory

The East Asian Industrial Policy Experience: Implications for the Middle East

Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan are regarded as primary examples of countries that have derived great benefits from increasing integration with the international economy, without surrendering national autonomy in the economic or cultural spheres, by pursuing decidedly nonneutral policies with respect to the promotion of specific sectors and activities. This working paper addresses a series of questions in an attempt to assess the relevance of their experiences for the contemporary Middle East: Was industrial policy a major source of growth in these three economies? Can these outcomes be duplicated in the Middle East today, or do special circumstances or changes in the international policy environment prevent replication of the East Asian experience? Given the revealed costs and benefits, is replication advisable? And, if not, are there other, positive lessons that Middle Eastern countries can derive from the experiences of the East Asians?industrial policy, Asia, Middle East

An evolutionary stage model of outsourcing and competence destruction : a Triad comparison of the consumer electronics industry

Outsourcing has gained much prominence in managerial practice and academic discussions in the last two decades or so. Yet, we still do not understand the full implications of outsourcing strategy for corporate performance. Traditionally outsourcing across borders is explained as a cost-cutting exercise, but more recently the core competency argument states that outsourcing also leads to an increased focus, thereby improving effectiveness. However, no general explanation has so far been provided for how outsourcing could lead to deterioration in a firm‟s competence base. We longitudinally analyze three cases of major consumer electronics manufacturers, Emerson Radio from the U.S., Japan‟s Sony and Philips from the Netherlands to understand the dynamic process related to their sourcing strategies. We develop an evolutionary stage model that relates outsourcing to competence development inside the firm and shows that a vicious cycle may emerge. Thus it is appropriate to look not only at how outsourcing is influenced by an organization‟s current set of competences, but also how it alters that set over time. The four stages of the model are offshore sourcing, phasing out, increasing dependence on foreign suppliers, and finally industry exit or outsourcing reduction. The evolutionary stage model helps managers understand for which activities and under which conditions outsourcing across borders is not a viable option. Results suggest that each of these firms had faced a loss of manufacturing competitiveness in its home country, to which it responded by offshoring and then outsourcing production. When a loss of competences occurred, some outsourcing decisions were reversed

Finding the Correct Language: Defining Fragmented Ethnic Identity in the Second Generation Iranian Americans

This research adds depth to current scholarship on second generation immigrant integration within American context and how children of immigrants continue to be ostracized through intergroup and outer group relations. Additionally, this paper brings another immigrant group into the conversation by incorporating concepts and methodologies from the social sciences (psychology, sociology, ethnic studies, and linguistic anthropology), serving as a reminder that language loss is prominent within all immigrant groups.