Strategic Knowledge Measurement and Management

Knowledge and intellectual capital are now recognized as vital resources for organizational survival and competitive advantage. A vast array of knowledge measures has evolved, spanning many disciplines. This chapter reviews knowledge measures focusing on groups of individuals (such as teams, business and organizations), as they reflect the stock or flow of knowledge, as well as enabling processes that enhance knowledge stocks and flows. The chapter emphasizes the importance of organizational value chains, pivotal talent pools and the link between knowledge and competitive success, in understanding the significance of today’s knowledge measures, and opportunities for future research and practice to enhance them

Modernization of Education Contents of Muhammadiyah, Nahdlatul Ulama, and Al Jam’iyatul Washliyah 1900-1942 in North Sumatera

This study aims to reveal how the process of modernization of education content on the organization Muhammadiyah, Nahdlatul Ulama and Al Jam'iyatul Washliyah years 1900-1942. The issues raised are: (1) how the historical background in modernizing education content of the three organizations; (2), how the modernization process of these organizations to arrange their education content; (3), how the these organizations dissemination of education content on the subjects. This is solved by historical method comprising the steps of: heuristics; second, verification; interpretation; historiography, and social history. The findings research informs: First, the three organizations have the same background in determining the education content, those are, first; the spirit leaders spreading Islam in accupation situation by orienting on Islamic education of the occupation, second; the intellectual contact internally an externally to conceive and build on the progress of Islamic education. Third; The strong desire to equate Islamic education progress with the western progress (colonization), fourth; The desire to realize the equality social among communities in receiving education and the world of work. The second finding is; the same formulate of education content material Islamic teaching that originated from AD and ART, but have different ways depending on modern education content. Muhammadiyah with revolutionary and Nahdlatul Ulama with evolutionary, and Al Jam'iyatul Washliyah with situasionery. the third finding is; the similarities of education content modernization process using a common and religious material. However they have differences on the distribution of the content in the subjects, Muhammadiyah is innovative and NahdlatulUlama is creative and Al Jam’iyatul Washliyah is very selective

A laminar organization for selective cortico-cortical communication

The neocortex is central to mammalian cognitive ability, playing critical roles in sensory perception, motor skills and executive function. This thin, layered structure comprises distinct, functionally specialized areas that communicate with each other through the axons of pyramidal neurons. For the hundreds of such cortico-cortical pathways to underlie diverse functions, their cellular and synaptic architectures must differ so that they result in distinct computations at the target projection neurons. In what ways do these pathways differ? By originating and terminating in different laminae, and by selectively targeting specific populations of excitatory and inhibitory neurons, these “interareal” pathways can differentially control the timing and strength of synaptic inputs onto individual neurons, resulting in layer-specific computations. Due to the rapid development in transgenic techniques, the mouse has emerged as a powerful mammalian model for understanding the rules by which cortical circuits organize and function. Here we review our understanding of how cortical lamination constrains long-range communication in the mammalian brain, with an emphasis on the mouse visual cortical network. We discuss the laminar architecture underlying interareal communication, the role of neocortical layers in organizing the balance of excitatory and inhibitory actions, and highlight the structure and function of layer 1 in mouse visual cortex

Strategic Marketing Management in the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry:a Theoretical Framework

The purpose of this paper is to review the literature on strategic marketing management .. This study adopted a expost facto research methodology to examine the strategic marketing management literature in an attempt to attain their desired level of performance. The overall findings suggest that strategic marketing is a driver of organizational positioning in a dynamic environment, and that it helps to enhance the development of new product/service for existing markets. These findings, along with other interesting findings of the study, are discussed. From the empirical and anecdotal managerial evidence as well as from the literature implications are drawn for the efficient and effective strategic marketing practices in the Nigerian oil and gas industry. Based on the findings of the study, the concepts and principles of total quality management within a holistic framework it is recommended that (i) efforts should be made by organizational marketers towards understanding the relevant economic factors that affect both clients’ behaviour and the strategic options that may be adopted to cope with such behaviours; ((ii) in a constantly changing business environment, firms can adopt different strategic marketing practices since the yardstick is the enhancement of business performance

A One Health Evaluation of the Southern African Centre for Infectious Disease Surveillance

Rooted in the recognition that emerging infectious diseases occur at the interface of human, animal, and ecosystem health, the Southern African Centre for Infectious Disease Surveillance (SACIDS) initiative aims to promote a trans-sectoral approach to address better infectious disease risk management in five countries of the Southern African Development Community. Nine years after SACIDS’ inception, this study aimed to evaluate the program by applying a One Health (OH) evaluation framework developed by the Network for Evaluation of One Health (NEOH). The evaluation included a description of the context and the initiative, illustration of the theory of change, identification of outputs and outcomes, and assessment of the One Healthness. The latter is the sum of characteristics that defines an integrated approach and includes OH thinking, OH planning, OH working, sharing infrastructure, learning infrastructure, and systemic organization. The protocols made available by NEOH were used to develop data collection protocols and identify the study design. The framework relies on a mixed methods approach by combining a descriptive and qualitative assessment with a semi-quantitative evaluation (scoring). Data for the analysis were gathered during a document review, in group and individual interviews and in an online survey. Operational aspects (i.e., OH thinking, planning, and working) were found to be balanced overall with the highest score in the planning dimension, whereas the infrastructure (learning infrastructure, systemic organization, and sharing infrastructure) was high for the first two dimensions, but low for sharing. The OH index calculated was 0.359, and the OH ratio calculated was 1.495. The program was praised for its great innovative energy in a difficult landscape dominated by poor infrastructure and its ability to create awareness for OH and enthuse people for the concept; training of people and networking. Shortcomings were identified regarding the balance of contributions, funds and activities across member countries in the South, lack of data sharing, unequal allocation of resources, top-down management structures, and limited horizontal collaboration. Despite these challenges, SACIDS is perceived to be an effective agent in tackling infectious diseases in an integrated manner

Large-scale network organization in the avian forebrain: a connectivity matrix and theoretical analysis

Many species of birds, including pigeons, possess demonstrable cognitive capacities, and some are capable of cognitive feats matching those of apes. Since mammalian cortex is laminar while the avian telencephalon is nucleated, it is natural to ask whether the brains of these two cognitively capable taxa, despite their apparent anatomical dissimilarities, might exhibit common principles of organisation on some level. Complementing recent investigations of macro-scale brain connectivity in mammals, including humans and macaques, we here present the first large-scale wiring diagram for the forebrain of a bird. Using graph theory, we show that the pigeon telencephalon is organised along similar lines to that of a mammal. Both are modular, small-world networks with a connective core of hub nodes that includes prefrontal-like and hippocampal structures. These hub nodes are, topologically speaking, the most central regions of the pigeon's brain, as well as being the most richly connected, implying a crucial role in information flow. Overall, our analysis suggests that indeed, despite the absence of cortical layers and close to 300 million years of separate evolution, the connectivity of the avian brain conforms to the same organisational principles as the mammalian brain

Organizational Excellence in Palestinian Universities of Gaza Strip

The research aims to identify the organizational excellence in Palestinian universities of Gaza Strip, from the perspective of senior management. The questionnaires were distributed the top senior management in the Palestinian universities, and the study population was (344) employees in senior management in Palestinian universities. A stratified random sample were selected from of employees in the Palestinian universities consist of (182) employees at return rate of (69.2%). SPSS program for analyzing and processing the data was used. The study reached the following results: the senior management agrees largely on the importance of the axis of "Leadership Excellence" and "Excellence service sectors". The senior management agrees moderately about the importance of the axis of the “Knowledge excellence". The study showed that there is a weakness in the employment of scientific research to serve the community, there is weakness in the follow-up of the universities management for the performance of their graduates in the institutions in which they work. Senior management agrees on the importance of the "Organizational Excellence" moderately. The recommendations of study includes: the need to develop principles and fair criteria for the selection of the best candidates for the university and university leaders based on specialization, competence, experience, skills, integrity and not on the basis of favoritism