513,589 research outputs found
An Example from Switzerland
This article is based on comparative anthropological fieldwork conducted in
the Alpine region of Switzerland on sustainable environmental knowledge about
natural hazards related to climate change. It examines ways to complement the
normative and technological practices of risk management by using local
knowledge to improve the resilience of affected communities against climate-
related risks. The study shows how agricultural practices and knowledge may
contribute to sustainable behavior towards nature and the environment. It
explores how local environmental knowledge, perceptions, and handling
strategies of climate-related risks may be integrated within a renewed concept
of environmental sustainability. Participatory GIS mapping (PGIS) is the
primary research method used. Based on applied visual anthropological methods,
PGIS is a cartographical approach that integrates local perceptions and
strategies of action drawn from interviews and participant observation. This
approach enables improved communication of local knowledge and contributes to
interdisciplinary cooperation between different academic fields, such as
social anthropology, geography, and civil-engineering in the context of
technological risk management. The approach encourages the active
participation of local people in the process of sustainable risk management
through the integration of cultural meanings and local knowledge about the
sustainable management of sensitive natural environments
Processpatching: defining new methods in aRt&D
In the context of a rapidly changing domain of contemporary electronic art practice- where the speed of technological innovation and the topicality of art 'process as research' methods are both under constant revision- the process of collaboration between art, computer science and engineering is an important addition to existing 'R&D'. Scholarly as well as practical exploration of artistic methods, viewed in relation to the field of new technology, can be seen to enable and foster innovation in both the conceptualisation and practice of the electronic arts. At the same time, citing new media art in the context of technological innovation brings a mix of scientific and engineering issues to the fore and thereby demands an extended functionality that may lead to R&D, as technology attempts to take account of aesthetic and social considerations in its re-development. This new field of new media or electronic art R&D is different from research and development aimed at practical applications of new technologies as we see them in everyday life. A next step for Research and Development in Art (aRt&D) is a formalisation of the associated work methods, as an essential ingredient for interdisciplinary collaboration.
This study investigates how electronic art patches together processes and methods from the arts, engineering and computer science environments. It provides a framework describing the electronic art methods to improve collaboration by informing others about one's artistic research and development approach. This investigation is positioned in the electronic art laboratory where new alliances with other disciplines are established. It provides information about the practical and theoretical aspects of the research and development processes of artists. The investigation addresses fundamental questions about the 'research and development methods' (discussed and defined at length in these pages), of artists who are involved in interdisciplinary collaborations amongst and between the fields of Art, Computer Science, and Engineering. The breadth of the fields studied necessarily forced a tight focus on specific issues in the literature, addressed herein through a series of focused case studies which demonstrate the points of synergy and divergence between the fields of artistic research and development, in a wider art&D' context. The artistic methods proposed in this research include references from a broad set of fields (e. g. Technology, Media Arts, Theatre and Performance, Systems Theories, the Humanities, and Design Practice) relevant to and intrinsically intertwined with this project and its placement in an interdisciplinary knowledge domain.
The aRt&D Matrix provides a complete overview of the observed research and development methods in electronic arts, including references to related disciplines and methods from other fields. The new Matrix developed and offered in this thesis also provides an instrument for analysing the interdisciplinary collaboration process that exclusively reflects the information we need for the overview of the team constellation. The tool is used to inform the collaborators about the backgrounds of the other participants and thus about the expected methods and approaches. It provides a map of the bodies of knowledge and expertise represented in any given cross-disciplinary team, and thus aims to lay the groundwork for a future aRt&D framework of use to future scholars and practitioners alike
SPECIAL ISSUE: New Insights into Meaning Construction and Knowledge Representation
The ten papers that have been selected for publication in this special issue entitled “New Insights into Meaning Construction and Knowledge Representation” present the outcomes of recent relevant investigations conducted both within Spain and international contexts, and which have been supported by research projects related to various aspects of meaning and knowledge representation. In particular, the findings presented in this volume combine insights from theoretical and computational linguistics in the context of natural language understanding, with parallel studies conducted within the realm of cognitive linguistics with special reference to the role of metaphor and other cognitive operations in meaning construction. Many of the contributions that are presented here are examples of the integration and collaboration between linguistics and other diverse fields such as Natural Language Processing (NLP), semantic memory loss disorders, aeronautic engineering or computer science, that reveal the need to link contemporary linguistics to other arenas that may have a direct and significant impact on society..
Data science for engineering design: State of the art and future directions
Abstract Engineering design (ED) is the process of solving technical problems within requirements and constraints to create new artifacts. Data science (DS) is the inter-disciplinary field that uses computational systems to extract knowledge from structured and unstructured data. The synergies between these two fields have a long story and throughout the past decades, ED has increasingly benefited from an integration with DS. We present a literature review at the intersection between ED and DS, identifying the tools, algorithms and data sources that show the most potential in contributing to ED, and identifying a set of challenges that future data scientists and designers should tackle, to maximize the potential of DS in supporting effective and efficient designs. A rigorous scoping review approach has been supported by Natural Language Processing techniques, in order to offer a review of research across two fuzzy-confining disciplines. The paper identifies challenges related to the two fields of research and to their interfaces. The main gaps in the literature revolve around the adaptation of computational techniques to be applied in the peculiar context of design, the identification of data sources to boost design research and a proper featurization of this data. The challenges have been classified considering their impacts on ED phases and applicability of DS methods, giving a map for future research across the fields. The scoping review shows that to fully take advantage of DS tools there must be an increase in the collaboration between design practitioners and researchers in order to open new data driven opportunities
An investigation on skeleton-based top-down modelling approaches of complex industrial product
In industry, today's approach to assembly design is still largely based on a bottom-up approach which, in contrast with the most advanced top-down techniques, is unfit to deal with very large and complex products. The reason for this lies in the high number of relationships to be established between parts and in the lack of a high-level control of the assembly design. This makes the management of design changes a labor-intensive process and the capture of design intent difficult to achieve. The paper, referring to the most advanced research fields of Concurrent Engineering and Knowledge-Based Engineering, focuses on a top-down modelling approach based on skeleton, which constitutes the most natural but still scarcely exploited way to attain a high reactivity to design modifications. Through the application of suitable methodologies, such as that one for a SKeLeton geometry-based Assembly Context Definition (SKL-ACD), the skeleton is also able to capture and codify assembly process engineering information since the early phases of the product development process. With the purpose of promoting the knowledge of these skeleton-based modelling techniques, that have a great relevance for training professional, technical and mechanical engineers, this paper implements the SKL-ACD methodology to an industrial case study in order to identify, with a unique and repeatable workflow, the reference geometrical entities and the mutual relationships to embed into the product skeleton. The skeleton types and the related fields of use are also described, placing particular emphasis on problems or shortcomings still not resolved, especially in consideration of the need to assist the designer in defining the impact of a parameter on assembly modification and in avoiding loops while defining formulas. A new tool, in the form of a multilayer graph, is finally proposed that is able to display and differentiate clearly the formulas, the design parameters and the impact of their modification on skeleton entities and members of the assembly
Employability skills developed by non-traditional students along their undergraduate program
This paper was developed in the context of the European project EMPLOY (Enhancing
the employability of non-traditional students in higher education, Erasmus Plus Program
2015-2017), a qualitative, interdisciplinary and biographical research focusing on nontraditional
university students and graduates from six European countries (Sweden,
Poland, United Kingdom, Ireland, Portugal and Spain). The project aims are, among
others: a) to understand the employability from the perspective of students and graduates;
b) to increase knowledge and understanding of the factors that promote or hinder
employability; c) to explore the impact of age, gender, social class, ethnicity and disability
in employment prospects of students; etc.
In spite of the fact that university graduates are in better conditions when accessing to the
labor market, non-traditional students might experience special difficulties related to their
specific characteristics. We lack of disaggregated information related to employment
rates for higher education graduates and there is not specific research which deepens in
the transition process of non-traditional groups. Our study is concerned with identifying
which employability skills have been developed by non-traditional students during their
stay at the University of Seville. For this purpose we consider the formal learning
associated to their syllabuses, the extracurricular training they have been involved in, as
well as the previous work experiences.
We have carried out seven biographical in-depth interviews with students of the
University of Seville (4 females, 3 males), all of them studying degrees in different areas
of knowledge: Pedagogy, Philosophy, Mechanical Engineering, Pharmacy, Biology and
Business Management. All participants were in the final year of their undergraduate
program. In addition, all of them represented different characteristics of non-traditional
students: adult and mature students (3), immigrants (2) and learners with low economic
and cultural capital (2).
As for the results and following the classification of professional competences raised by
Bunk (1994), we note that through the university syllabuses students developed the
methodological competence, that is the reaction from previous experiences and problem
solving skills. However, work experience and extracurricular activities promoted social
competence, one that enables them to collaborate with others in a communicative and
constructive way, showing interpersonal understanding. In addition, in the three training
fields, the specific skills or qualifications of the job, technical competence, were also
developed.
Finally, it can be noted that in the three areas considered in our analysis, there is a lack in
the development of the participatory competence, which refers to coordination and
organisational skills, leadership and ability to make decisions and take responsibility.Unión Europea 2014-1-UK01-KA203-00184
Quantitative assessment of concept maps for conceptualizing domain ontologies: a case of Quran
The use of graphical knowledge representation formalisms with a representational vocabulary agreement of terms of conceptualization of the universe of discourse is a new high potential approach in the ontology engineering and knowledge management context. Initially, concept maps were used in the fields of education and learning. After that, it became popular in other areas due to its flexible and intuitive nature. It was also proven as a useful tool to improve communication in corporate environment. In the field of ontologies, concept maps were explored to be used to facilitate different aspects of ontology development. An essential reason behind this motivation is the structural resemblance of concept maps with the hierarchical structure of ontologies. This research aims to demonstrate quantitative evaluation of 4 different hypotheses related to the effectiveness of using concept maps for ontology conceptualization. The domain of Quran was selected for the purpose of this study and it was conducted in collaboration with the experts from the Centre of Quranic Research, Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The results of the hypotheses demonstrated that concept mapping was easy to learn and implement for the majority of the participants. Most of them experienced improvement in domain knowledge regarding the vocabularies used to refer to the structure of organization of the Quran, namely Juz, Surah, Ayats, tafsir, Malay translation, English translation, and relationships among these entities. Therefore, concept maps instilled the element of learning through the conceptualization process and provided a platform for participants to resolve conflicting opinions and ambiguities of terms used immediately
On the know-how package
The technological heritage is one of the most valuable assets of any R&D organisation. Although the technology is all pervasive, its development and application are still fraught with problems for both users and manufacturers. Technology, however, does not work in isolation. It
necessarily acts in conjunction with one another and adds value as an integrated system.The integration of technology, however, does not happen by itself. It rather needs conscious efforts to differentiate with respect to
what should be integrated with what and for which purpose. It thus entails the interaction between the world of 'Research', the world of 'Manufacture and Product Application' and the world of IPR and its protection.
In view of the advantages of the potentially opportunistic consequences of global economy, there has been revolution in the market for newer innovative know-how packages. It is vital for our business to be fully acquainted with
the commercial opportunities and costs that have arisen from this. Knowledge packages reflects the knowledge captured by the organisations that create them. These packages basically are expected to comprise knowledge
of the underlying technical foundations, specific engineering fields, managerial processes, details of the manufacturing environment, users, channels
and markets. In reference to the market and context of the application, it,however, leads to the contrasting problems in the management of innovation and its protection. These problems are generally beset with difficulties besides in transferring detailed knowledge, generated by the research and innovation, to the manufacturing site up-stream, to the individuals charged with designing the equipment and to the protection for business development.Intellectual Property Assets can provide the incentives for innovation,
product development and technological changes. It is, however, vital that the organisations get itself fully acquainted with the IPR related issues,understands how IPR are accessible, affordable, accepted and enforced internationally and over all maximise the returns from the knowledge driven economy.The paper intends to discuss the R & D activities that are aimed at the accumulation of specialised expertise in well defined domains and the integration of these domains into coherent system that works well in theapplication context. The paper differentiates the technology integration process with respect to the project and the product performance. The paper illustrates the dependence of technology integration on various factors and describes some observation of the project performance with regard to various Intellectual Property matters including protecting IPRs from infringements and deploying Intellectual Property Assets (IPAs) in business development
Federated Embedded Systems – a review of the literature in related fields
This report is concerned with the vision of smart interconnected objects, a vision that has attracted much attention lately. In this paper, embedded, interconnected, open, and heterogeneous control systems are in focus, formally referred to as Federated Embedded Systems. To place FES into a context, a review of some related research directions is presented. This review includes such concepts as systems of systems, cyber-physical systems, ubiquitous
computing, internet of things, and multi-agent systems. Interestingly, the reviewed fields seem to overlap with each other in an increasing number of ways
Automatic generation of software interfaces for supporting decisionmaking processes. An application of domain engineering & machine learning
[EN] Data analysis is a key process to foster knowledge generation in particular domains
or fields of study. With a strong informative foundation derived from the analysis of
collected data, decision-makers can make strategic choices with the aim of obtaining
valuable benefits in their specific areas of action. However, given the steady growth
of data volumes, data analysis needs to rely on powerful tools to enable knowledge
extraction.
Information dashboards offer a software solution to analyze large volumes of
data visually to identify patterns and relations and make decisions according to the
presented information. But decision-makers may have different goals and,
consequently, different necessities regarding their dashboards. Moreover, the variety
of data sources, structures, and domains can hamper the design and implementation
of these tools.
This Ph.D. Thesis tackles the challenge of improving the development process of
information dashboards and data visualizations while enhancing their quality and
features in terms of personalization, usability, and flexibility, among others.
Several research activities have been carried out to support this thesis. First, a
systematic literature mapping and review was performed to analyze different
methodologies and solutions related to the automatic generation of tailored
information dashboards. The outcomes of the review led to the selection of a modeldriven
approach in combination with the software product line paradigm to deal with
the automatic generation of information dashboards.
In this context, a meta-model was developed following a domain engineering
approach. This meta-model represents the skeleton of information dashboards and
data visualizations through the abstraction of their components and features and has
been the backbone of the subsequent generative pipeline of these tools.
The meta-model and generative pipeline have been tested through their
integration in different scenarios, both theoretical and practical. Regarding the theoretical dimension of the research, the meta-model has been successfully
integrated with other meta-model to support knowledge generation in learning
ecosystems, and as a framework to conceptualize and instantiate information
dashboards in different domains.
In terms of the practical applications, the focus has been put on how to transform
the meta-model into an instance adapted to a specific context, and how to finally
transform this later model into code, i.e., the final, functional product. These practical
scenarios involved the automatic generation of dashboards in the context of a Ph.D.
Programme, the application of Artificial Intelligence algorithms in the process, and
the development of a graphical instantiation platform that combines the meta-model
and the generative pipeline into a visual generation system.
Finally, different case studies have been conducted in the employment and
employability, health, and education domains. The number of applications of the
meta-model in theoretical and practical dimensions and domains is also a result itself.
Every outcome associated to this thesis is driven by the dashboard meta-model, which
also proves its versatility and flexibility when it comes to conceptualize, generate, and
capture knowledge related to dashboards and data visualizations
- …