Advancing the hydrogen safety knowledge base

The concepts of Communities of Practice (CoP) have been used for centuries all over the world to affect knowledge and information exchange, even more so in African Communities. Previous researchers have explored the efficacy of CoPs as a medium for knowledge management and exchange and have tended to focus on the educational sector in developed countries. Although, some literature mentions the far-reaching applications of CoPs in other sectors and its possible application in developing regions, there is still a lack of research in this area. The research gap becomes even more significant when seeking empirical data on the impact of information technology (IT) in knowledge and information exchange amongst CoPs of African Women and the value (social capital) that diverse forms of IT can have on CoPs in Africa. This PhD research therefore seeks to fill this research gap by investigating the impact of feature phones vs smart phones on a CoP of African Business Women using Nigeria as a case study. This offers a variety of opportunities to improve the socio-economic state of the country and region. CoPs are part of the fibre of the social structure in Africa. They exist informally and formally and have historically been known to be causative factors for socio-economic growth. This research therefore seeks to observe how these two (CoPs and Mobile Phones) socio­economic change causal factors interplay with each other, focusing on how "Value" (Social Capital) is created in CoPs female businesswomen through feature Phones vs smart phones. This research utilizes a novel tool for assessing value creation in communities and networks - the Wenger's Value Creation assessment framework. A picture of value created with CoPs using feature phones vs CoPs using smart phones is created using Wenger's Value Creation framework. Both Qualitative (Ethnography) and Quantitative (Surveys) approaches are used in this study.

This study throws light on the outline of innovation taking place in Indian Food Processing SMEs with a special focus on open Innovation taking place in these SMEs and the exchange of information or knowledge taking place between inside-out and outside-in parties for the purpose of innovation. In addition, puts special focus on describing how SMEs’ product innovation output related with the effect of outside-in and inside-out exchange of knowledge and information. Further, it analyzes how expenditure on innovation and collaborating with outside parties can help in the predicting product innovation output of Indian Food Processing SMEs. The analysis was done with the help of Jamovi to find out regression between the dependent variable- “Product innovation output” & independent variables- “Extent of openness”, “Inhouse R& D expenditure”, “Purchase of R&D from outside sources”, “Acquiring knowledge from outside sources” and control variable- “Indian Food Processing SMEs”. And towards the end, it contains the summary of the survey done, which suggested that Indian Food Processing SMEs are proactively involved themselves in inside R&D in comparison to the outside R&D and buying or taking license from outside sources. Other than these activities, one more pointer came as a takeaway from the study, product innovation is performed more in comparison to process innovation by the Indian Food Processing SMEs.

Knowledge translation (KT) was traditionally framed as a problem of moving research results into policy and practice. The impetus for the flow of knowledge originated with researchers constructing new knowledge and seeing its utility, or with policymakers and administrators seeing problems in practice and looking to researchers for solutions. In the 1970s, a shift in focus away from knowledge use was exemplified by Caplan’s (1979) two-communities theory, which posits that researchers and policymakers comprise two different communities with two different languages (Jacobson, Butterill, & Goering, 2003). A shift back to knowledge use with a new focus on user-centered design is evident in more recent KT models that provide frameworks for researcher and user interaction in order to build better understanding between diverse groups. The flow of knowledge from its construction in one context to its use in another context has been variously termed knowledge translation, knowledge exchange, knowledge transfer, research transfer, technology transfer, knowledge transformation, knowledge dissemination, knowledge mobilization, knowledge utilization, and research utilization. The terms are often used synonymously, but a specific term is sometimes used because it highlights a particular component of the knowledge flow process. For example, knowledge exchange implies a sharing of information between partners of equal value and focuses on the movement of knowledge between them, whereas research utilization implies the transformation of research results into usable knowledge and focuses on embedding the usable knowledge in practice. Information technologies have the potential to support knowledge translation in powerful ways. Key processes in the translation of knowledge include: (1) knowledge creation, management, and dissemination; (2) recognition of links between existing knowledge and its potential application to problems or practice; (3) translation into usable knowledge in practice; and (4) change in practice. Information technologies are a natural solution for these knowledge translation processes. For example, group and social software such as blogs and wikis support collaborative construction and sharing of knowledge; knowledge management systems support capture, storage, accessibility, and maintenance of constructed knowledge; and most Internet-based technologies support dissemination of information. Well-designed virtual communities provide online environments for the kinds of human interaction that enable collaborative exploration of ideas, that foster recognition of potential links between existing knowledge and its application to solve problems or change practice, and that inspire people to transform their practice. Data mining and artificial intelligence techniques can be used to enhance identification of potential links between knowledge in one context and problems in another context.

Sharing practice: problems and possibilities

The last two sections discussed promising application areas of ontologies: knowledge management and electronic commerce in the B2C and B2B areas. This section is devoted to the technological infrastructure that will enable ontologies to be put into practise. I already mentioned the fact that computers currently are shifting from a single isolated devices to entry points into a worldwide network of information exchange and business transactions. Therefore, support in data, information, and knowledge exchange is becoming the key issue in current computer technology. In consequence, there are serious efforts in the direction of a new standard for defining and exchanging data structures. The eXtendible Markup Language XML is a new web standard that provides such facilities. In this section we will therefore investigate XML in detail before we show in Section 6 how it relates to the use of ontologies for information exchange.

The Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDE) is a consortium of member countries around the globe that share their energy research and technology information through ETDE`s database. The Exchange was established in 1987 under the auspices of the International Energy Agency (IEA) and serves all ETDE member countries. The Exchange also collaborates with other entities as appropriate.The International Energy:Subject Thesaurus [ETDE/PUB--2(Rev.2)] contains the standard vocabulary of indexing terms (descriptors) developed and structured to build and maintain energy information databases. Involved in this cooperative task are (1) the technical staff of the U.S. DOE Office of Scientific and technical Information (OSTI) in cooperation with the member countries of the International Energy Agency`s Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDE) and (2) the International Atomic Energy Agency`s International Nuclear Information System (INIS) staff representing the more than 100 countries and organizations t hat record and index information for the international nuclear information community. Because all ETDE member countries are also members of INIS, the contents of INIS`s database are included in ETDE`s database. Indexing terminology is therefore cooperatively standardized for use in both information systems. This structured vocabulary reflects the scope of international energy research and technology programs. The terminology of this thesaurus aids in subject searching on commercial systems, such as the online products offered by Knight-Ridder Information Services and STN International and the CD-ROM products offered by Silver Platter and Knight-Ridder. This thesaurus can also be used with the in-house systems provided by some ETDE member countries. Descriptors are added to the thesaurus as needed (i.e., when a document contains a concept for which there is no adequate term or terms in the thesaurus). More than 28,000 entries appear in this document, which replaced International Energy: Subject Thesaurus [ETDE/PUB--2(Rev.1)].

Perhaps you are a doctoral student, mapping out how to parcel your dissertation; perhaps you are a junior scholar, strategizing your research plan; perhaps you are a senior scholar, who is thinking about what you want to say to the field. No matter what stage you are at as a management researcher, you might be looking to the Academy of Management (AOM) journals as a natural home for any and all of these creative research pursuits. However, it might not always be crystal clear how you should craft your work for the AOM journals, what contribution you might make at each journal, and consequently to which journal you should target your intellectual contributions.
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Accelerated life testing of solar energy materials has been one of the main topics within the former Task X 'Solar Materials Research and Development' of the International Energy Agency (IEA) Solar Heating and Cooling Programme. In the case study of some selective solar absorber coating materials for domestic hot water systems procedures are presented for service time assessment, applicable for example to absorber coating materials. As a continuation of the finalized Task X a working group, 'Materials in Solar Thermal Systems' also in the framework of the International Energy Agency (IEA) 'Solar Heating and Cooling Programme' was initiated. One of the first projects is described here. Its aim is to investigate the conformity of the durability assessment, applied on solar absorber coatings tested by different laboratories. Each lab is working independently, this means there is no information exchange between the labs until the results are on paper. Test samples are delivered by the participants. Four different absorber coatings are identified to be useful for the project. The coating materials as well as the production procedures of the coatings are not relevant for the study, therefore no information is given. The experimental procedures as well as the judgement over the different absorber coatings are described in detail. Some comparisons between individual results of the different labs indicates possible weaknesses and further necessary refinements. Finally, expected costs for the whole procedure are presented.© (1995) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.

The external acquisition of technological knowledge is a central theme in research on technology management. In this paper it is argued that technological communities may provide a useful unit of analysis to study information and knowledge exchange among scientists and engineers working on a particular research agenda. Based on a worldwide survey of more than 700 individuals engaged in the research and development of neural network technology, the dynamics within that particular community are explored. The primary focus is to compare the characteristics of academic and industrial researchers, with special attention given to the timing of their entry into the field.

The energy sector’s transition from a fossil fuel-based system to an energy-efficient system from renewable sources is recognized as indisputable and undeniable. However, the primary energy that comes from renewable sources today is only 5% of world consumption. Thus, the transition will require a lot of time and effort in the field of international policy. First, effective measures should be taken to increase the use of renewable energy to a level that reduces climate change. The prominent active persons who make decisions at the international level remain the states. International organizations can provide substantial assistance to the states in this area, including the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).Today, IRENA works with the main players and helps to shape their policy. This is evidenced by the agency’s activities, initiatives, and tools. The organization has achieved a major success in the regulation of renewable energy. At the same time, for the developed norms to become universal, the agency should spread its initiatives more evenly around the world. Most modern states need help in improving their renewable energy policy. Such assistance will be easier, based on universal standards of renewable energy. It is in this direction that IRENA works.Focusing on the global development of renewable energy, IRENA is working with international organizations such as the International Energy Agency (IEA) and the United Nations (UN). IRENA is established as an intergovernmental organization that supports the states in their transition to a sustainable energy future and serves as the main platform for international cooperation, a center for the acquired experience, and a repository of policy, technology, resources, and financial knowledge on renewable energy.

The purpose of the study is to reveal the objective transformations that have occurred in information technology. Conceptualization of these transformations is also important. System, information, network and cognitive approaches allow to reveal the main aspects of the development of information technologies - technical and technological, software and hardware, network, communication, cognitive. The article considers the evolution of information technology. The relationship of information technology with its increasing role and importance of information in the life of man and society is analyzed. Information technologies are disclosed as technologies to create, store, record and process information. Technical and technological direction of information technology development is analyzed. The connection of the information technology concept transformation and development of the information society theory, in particular, the theory of post-industrial society, information society, network society, knowledge society and the digital world is revealed. The connection of the information technology concept transformation and the emergence of the media civilization and global information space is also revealed. The article shows that the development of information technology is an important factor in the development of the information society. Technology transition (the electronic computer as a machine) to the modern stage of development of digital technologies is characterized by the formation of a single technical and technological basis for the formation of the information society. The classification of information technology according to its application scope is proposed. Information and communication technologies characterize subject-to-subject interactions, among which pedagogical and political technologies are primarily distinguished. Information space is separate area of information technology application. Information processing technologies in the information space are the basis of modern democratic discourse. An important area of information technology is the information sphere. Information sphere is the sphere of information activity, information exchange and information relations, the regulator of which is the information law. Information security technologies ensure the protection of human rights, society and the state in obtaining objective information. Cybersecurity technologies protect critical infrastructure. The technologies of reality – virtual, cognitive, and augmented – provide the ability of a person’s consciousness and thinking to process and create new information. Identifying the social significance of the technical and technological development of information technologies becomes the basis of recommendations for the implementation of a strategies for the formation of the information society in Ukraine.

Since the principle that the capacity for innovation is a driving force in the growth of firms or other productive systems has been acknowledged, public policies hold to the view that geographical proximity plays a part in the process of the circulation of technology and knowledge, by fostering the kind of face to face relationships needed to establish and maintain a common pool of knowledge. The aim of this article is to question the relevance of these ideas, and enquiring as to whether geographical proximity is really needed for the diffusion and exchange of knowledge. A body of literature (local systems of production and externalities) considers permanent geographical proximity as a necessary condition for the diffusion of knowledge (I) whereas the articles dealing with transmission channels for externalities, show that geographical proximity only influences the innovative performance of firms if there is effective interaction between the agents (II). We show that organisation is the first modality in the transmission of knowledge, and that geographical proximity can be temporary, particularly in the initial phases of the R&D processes. The smaller firms are then more acutely aware to fulfil the need of de geographical proximity (III). This pattern, applied to plant biotechnology (IV), reveals that SME’s related to the AFI and to agriculture are part of a less diversified and more local innovation network than pharmaceutical SME’s and are more involved in frequent and repeated contacts with the clients and the suppliers.

State-of-the-art of fast pyrolysis in IEA bioenergy member countries

PurposeThis study aims to theoretically discuss and empirically investigate to what extent the interplay between the domains of knowledge complexity (managerial, strategic and operational) facilitates firm performance and the role of organizational resilience in this relationship.Design/methodology/approachThis paper uses primary data collected from 102 European small and medium-sized firms (SMEs) in Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Spain and the UK during 2012–2015 and 2010–2020. This study corrects for potential data disclosure and technology adoption bias in two survey ways.FindingsFirst, compared to other acumens of knowledge complexity, managerial and operational acumens contribute most the most to a firm’s performance (sales and productivity). Firm resilience positively moderates managerial skills and negatively moderates inter-organizational collaborations. Taking SMEs and their inter-organizational relationships, skills and resilience in focus, considering that they are transitive organizations whose business model is based on innovation and productivity to outcompete larger counterparts it is found that resilience and agility in SMEs are important to leverage the effect of knowledge complexity on firm performance.Research limitations/implicationsOne of the limitations of this study is that SMEs are expected to face more problems in achieving organizational ambidexterity with all three acumens, as they have restricted managerial expertise, less structured procedures and fewer resources than larger firms. In addition to regression analysis which is limited in answering “how” and “why” knowledge complexity is managed within and outside a firm, future research will consider a mixed-method approach of both interviews with high growth SMEs and online surveys. To unveil the role that firm resilience in SMEs and in the volatile environment, future research may focus specifically on firms that lack resources, skills and time, however, continue innovating, commercializing new knowledge and create new jobs.Practical implicationsOne of the most important mechanisms which facilitate the managerial acumen was found to be information technology (IT) investment and management decision-making, exploitation of new information and communication technology trends and markets, innovating business models and driving change management, innovating new mobility and digital technologies, as well as use inter-disciplinary staff and knowledge to influence external stakeholders. The most relevant elements of the operational acumen of knowledge for performance in SMEs are various mechanisms and forms of inter-organizational collaboration such as collaboration on business and IT applications and infrastructure, administration and operations with data and information exchange, collaboration on data availability, accumulation and exchange.Social implicationsThe findings call for innovation policy to account for the need for interactions between various elements of strategic, managerial and operational acumens of knowledge complexity in SMEs. Prime support should be focused on facilitating inter-organizational collaboration and providing “soft support” in the time of agility and adversity. This paper founds that lack of budget, skills and resources would significantly affect a firm’s resilience, potentially “locking in” within an organization.Originality/valueFirst, it emphasizes that the returns from inter-organizational collaboration as part of the operational acumen of knowledge complexity depend upon the firm’s ability to manage infrastructure, mobility and data. The relationship is negatively moderated by firm resilience, which means that the most resilient firms may focus on the exploitation of internal resources and substitute it for inter-organizational collaboration. Second, this study demonstrates that SMEs’ growth and productivity strategy should be management skills and competencies driven, rather than strategy-driven, with strategy facilitating managerial decision-making on business and IT.

Information technology offers great opportunities to radiologists to utilize their expertise in decision support and training. Collaborative approaches in these areas enable physicians to access relevant cases diagnosed by experts from other health care groups. Unfortunately, there is little agreement on a single model of semantic representation and information exchange. In this context, semantic interoperability among heterogeneous groups plays an important role in a collaborative setting. In this paper, we propose a model for semantics integration and knowledge exchange in collaborative environments that feature heterogeneous semantics integration. It provides a computational and visual mechanism to associate synonymous semantics of visual abnormalities related to lung pathologies. We also offer a solution for system level communication that improves the retrieval precision using peer domain expertise. From our experiments we obtained a high degree of matching between different semantics that describe the same visual pattern of lung pathology. Also, our experiments show that, using the knowledge exchange mechanism, the default system setting adjusts well over time to increase the retrieval precision for new users.