The Noetic Prism

Definitions of ‘knowledge’ and its relationships with ‘data’ and ‘information’ are varied, inconsistent and often contradictory. In particular the traditional hierarchy of data-information-knowledge and its various revisions do not stand up to close scrutiny. We suggest that the problem lies in a flawed analysis that sees data, information and knowledge as separable concepts that are transformed into one another through processing. We propose instead that we can describe collectively all of the materials of computation as ‘noetica’, and that the terms data, information and knowledge can be reconceptualised as late-binding, purpose-determined aspects of the same body of material. Changes in complexity of noetica occur due to value-adding through the imposition of three different principles: increase in aggregation (granularity), increase in set relatedness (shape), and increase in contextualisation through the formation of networks (scope). We present a new model in which granularity, shape and scope are seen as the three vertices of a triangular prism, and show that all value-adding through computation can be seen as movement within the prism space. We show how the conceptual framework of the noetic prism provides a new and comprehensive analysis of the foundations of computing and information systems, and how it can provide a fresh analysis of many of the common problems in the management of intellectual resources

The cat's cradle network

In this paper we will argue that the representation of context in knowledge management is appropriately served by the representation of the knowledge networks in an historicised form. Characterising context as essentially extra to any particular knowledge representation, we argue that another dimension to these be modelled, rather than simply elaborating a form in its own terms. We present the formalism of the cat's cradle network, and show how it can be represented by an extension of the Pathfinder associative network that includes this temporal dimension, and allows evolutions of understandings to be traced. Grounding its semantics in communities of practice ensures utility and cohesiveness, which is lost when mere externalities of a representation are communicated in fully fledged forms. The scheme is general and subsumes other formalisms for knowledge representation. The cat's cradle network enables us to model such community-based social constructs as pattern languages, shared memory and patterns of trust and reliance, by placing their establishment in a structure that shows their essential temporality

Just below the surface: developing knowledge management systems using the paradigm of the noetic prism

In this paper we examine how the principles embodied in the paradigm of the noetic prism can illuminate the construction of knowledge management systems. We draw on the formalism of the prism to examine three successful tools: frames, spreadsheets and databases, and show how their power and also their shortcomings arise from their domain representation, and how any organisational system based on integration of these tools and conversion between them is inevitably lossy. We suggest how a late-binding, hybrid knowledge based management system (KBMS) could be designed that draws on the lessons learnt from these tools, by maintaining noetica at an atomic level and storing the combinatory processes necessary to create higher level structure as the need arises. We outline the “just-below-the-surface” systems design, and describe its implementation in an enterprise-wide knowledge-based system that has all of the conventional office automation features

A knowledge development lifecycle for reflective practice

Reflective practice is valuable because of its potential for continuous improvement through feedback and learning. Conventional models of knowledge practice however do not explicitly include reflection as part of the practice, nor locate it in a developmental cycle. They focus on modelling in a knowledge plane which itself is contextualised by active knowing processes, and ignore the influence of power in their activity models. Further, many models focus on either an artefact or a process view, resulting from a conceptual disconnect between knowledge and knowing, and failure to relate passive to active views. Using the idea of higher order loops that govern knowledge development processes, in this paper we propose a conceptualisation of a reflective Knowledge Development Life Cycle (KDLC). This explicitly includes the investigator and the organisation itself as dynamic components of a systemic process and is suited to either a constructivist or realist epistemological stance. We describe the stages required in the KDLC and discuss their significance. Finally we show how incorporation of reflection into process enables dynamic interplay between the knowing and the knowledge in the organisation

The mass and dynamical state of Abell 2218

Abell 2218 is one of a handful of clusters in which X-ray and lensing analyses of the cluster mass are in strong disagreement. It is also a system for which X-ray data and radio measurements of the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich decrement have been combined in an attempt to constrain the Hubble constant. However, in the absence of reliable information on the temperature structure of the intracluster gas, most analyses have been carried out under the assumption of isothermality. We combine X-ray data from the ROSAT PSPC and the ASCA GIS instruments, enabling us to fit non-isothermal models, and investigate the impact that this has on the X-ray derived mass and the predicted Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect. We find that a strongly non-isothermal model for the intracluster gas, which implies a central cusp in the cluster mass distribution, is consistent with the available X-ray data and compatible with the lensing results. At r<1 arcmin, there is strong evidence to suggest that the cluster departs from a simple relaxed model. We analyse the dynamics of the galaxies and find that the central galaxy velocity dispersion is too high to allow a physical solution for the galaxy orbits. The quality of the radio and X-ray data do not at present allow very restrictive constraints to be placed on H_0. It is apparent that earlier analyses have under-estimated the uncertainties involved. However, values greater than 50 km/s/Mpc are preferred when lensing constraints are taken into account.Comment: 16 pages, 9 postscript figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

Report of the Higgs Working Group of the Tevatron Run 2 SUSY/Higgs Workshop

This report presents the theoretical analysis relevant for Higgs physics at the upgraded Tevatron collider and documents the Higgs Working Group simulations to estimate the discovery reach in Run 2 for the Standard Model and MSSM Higgs bosons. Based on a simple detector simulation, we have determined the integrated luminosity necessary to discover the SM Higgs in the mass range 100-190 GeV. The first phase of the Run 2 Higgs search, with a total integrated luminosity of 2 fb-1 per detector, will provide a 95% CL exclusion sensitivity comparable to that expected at the end of the LEP2 run. With 10 fb-1 per detector, this exclusion will extend up to Higgs masses of 180 GeV, and a tantalizing 3 sigma effect will be visible if the Higgs mass lies below 125 GeV. With 25 fb-1 of integrated luminosity per detector, evidence for SM Higgs production at the 3 sigma level is possible for Higgs masses up to 180 GeV. However, the discovery reach is much less impressive for achieving a 5 sigma Higgs boson signal. Even with 30 fb-1 per detector, only Higgs bosons with masses up to about 130 GeV can be detected with 5 sigma significance. These results can also be re-interpreted in the MSSM framework and yield the required luminosities to discover at least one Higgs boson of the MSSM Higgs sector. With 5-10 fb-1 of data per detector, it will be possible to exclude at 95% CL nearly the entire MSSM Higgs parameter space, whereas 20-30 fb-1 is required to obtain a 5 sigma Higgs discovery over a significant portion of the parameter space. Moreover, in one interesting region of the MSSM parameter space (at large tan(beta)), the associated production of a Higgs boson and a b b-bar pair is significantly enhanced and provides potential for discovering a non-SM-like Higgs boson in Run 2.Comment: 185 pages, 124 figures, 55 table

Cohesion of BaReH9_9 and BaMnH9_9: Density Functional Calculations and Prediction of (MnH9)2−_9)^{2-} Salts

Density functional calculations are used to calculate the structural and electronic properties of BaReH$_9$ and to analyze the bonding in this compound. The high coordination in BaReH$_9$ is due to bonding between Re 5$d$ states and states of $d$-like symmetry formed from combinations of H $s$ orbitals in the H$_9$ cage. This explains the structure of the material, its short bond lengths and other physical properties, such as the high band gap. We compare with results for hypothetical BaMnH$_9$, which we find to have similar bonding and cohesion to the Re compound. This suggests that it may be possible to synthesize (MnH$_9)^{2-}$ salts. Depending on the particular cation, such salts may have exceptionally high hydrogen contents, in excess of 10 weight