User Profiling and Knowledge Extraction For Tourism

O sector do turismo é uma área francamente em crescimento em Portugal e que tem desenvolvido a sua divulgação e estratégia de marketing. Contudo, apenas se prende com indicadores de desempenho e de oferta instalada (número de quartos, hotéis, voos, estadias), deixando os indicadores estatísticos em segundo plano. De acordo com o “ Travel & tourism Competitiveness Report 2013”, do World Economic Forum, classifica Portugal em 72º lugar no que respeita à qualidade e cobertura da informação estatística, disponível para o sector do Turismo. Refira-se que Espanha ocupa o 3º lugar. Uma estratégia de mercado, sem base analítica, que sustente um quadro de orientações específico e objetivo, com relevante conhecimento dos mercados alvo, dificilmente é compreensível ou até mesmo materializável. A implementação de uma estrutura de Business Intelligence que permita a realização de um levantamento e tratamento de dados que possibilite relacionar e sustentar os resultados obtidos no sector do turismo revela-se fundamental e crucial, para que sejam criadas estratégias de mercado. Essas estratégias são realizadas a partir da informação dos turistas que nos visitam, e dos potenciais turistas, para que possam ser cativados no futuro. A análise das características e dos padrões comportamentais dos turistas permite definir perfis distintos e assim detetar as tendências de mercado, de forma a promover a oferta dos produtos e serviços mais adequados. O conhecimento obtido permite, por um lado criar e disponibilizar os produtos mais atrativos para oferecer aos turistas e por outro informá-los, de uma forma direcionada, da existência desses produtos. Assim, a associação de uma recomendação personalizada que, com base no conhecimento de perfis do turista proceda ao aconselhamento dos melhores produtos, revela-se como uma ferramenta essencial na captação e expansão de mercado.

Reconceptualising public spaces of (IN)equality: sensing and creating layers of visibility

Tese apresentada para cumprimento dos requisitos necessários à obtenção do grau de Doutor em Geografia e Planeamento Territorial - Especialidade: Geografia Humana

Framework for the semantic alignment of enterprise’s domain knowledge

Nowadays, the consumption of goods and services on the Internet are increasing in a constant motion. Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) mostly from the traditional industry sectors are usually make business in weak and fragile market sectors, where customized products and services prevail. To survive and compete in the actual markets they have to readjust their business strategies by creating new manufacturing processes and establishing new business networks through new technological approaches. In order to compete with big enterprises, these partnerships aim the sharing of resources, knowledge and strategies to boost the sector’s business consolidation through the creation of dynamic manufacturing networks. To facilitate such demand, it is proposed the development of a centralized information system, which allows enterprises to select and create dynamic manufacturing networks that would have the capability to monitor all the manufacturing process, including the assembly, packaging and distribution phases. Even the networking partners that come from the same area have multi and heterogeneous representations of the same knowledge, denoting their own view of the domain. Thus, different conceptual, semantic, and consequently, diverse lexically knowledge representations may occur in the network, causing non-transparent sharing of information and interoperability inconsistencies. The creation of a framework supported by a tool that in a flexible way would enable the identification, classification and resolution of such semantic heterogeneities is required. This tool will support the network in the semantic mapping establishments, to facilitate the various enterprises information systems integration.

Augmenting spaces and creating interactive experiences using video camera networks

This research addresses the problem of creating interactive experiences to encourage people to explore spaces. Besides the obvious spaces to visit, such as museums or art galleries, spaces that people visit can be, for example, a supermarket or a restaurant. As technology evolves, people become more demanding in the way they use it and expect better forms of interaction with the space that surrounds them. Interaction with the space allows information to be transmitted to the visitors in a friendly way, leading visitors to explore it and gain knowledge. Systems to provide better experiences while exploring spaces demand hardware and software that is not in the reach of every space owner either because of the cost or inconvenience of the installation, that can damage artefacts or the space environment. We propose a system adaptable to the spaces, that uses a video camera network and a wi-fi network present at the space (or that can be installed) to provide means to support interactive experiences using the visitor’s mobile device. The system is composed of an infrastructure (called vuSpot), a language grammar used to describe interactions at a space (called XploreDescription), a visual tool used to design interactive experiences (called XploreBuilder) and a tool used to create interactive experiences (called urSpace). By using XploreBuilder, a tool built of top of vuSpot, a user with little or no experience in programming can define a space and design interactive experiences. This tool generates a description of the space and of the interactions at that space (that complies with the XploreDescription grammar). These descriptions can be given to urSpace, another tool built of top of vuSpot, that creates the interactive experience application. With this system we explore new forms of interaction and use mobile devices and pico projectors to deliver additional information to the users leading to the creation of interactive experiences. The several components are presented as well as the results of the respective user tests, which were positive. The design and implementation becomes cheaper, faster, more flexible and, since it does not depend on the knowledge of a programming language, accessible for the general public.

Creating and using a non-dedicated HPC cluster with ParallelKnoppix

This note describes ParallelKnoppix, a bootable CD that allows econometricians with average knowledge of computers to create and begin using a high performance computing cluster for parallel computing in very little time. The computers used may be heterogeneous machines, and clusters of up to 200 nodes are supported. When the cluster is shut down, all machines are in their original state, so their temporary use in the cluster does not interfere with their normal uses. An example shows how a Monte Carlo study of a bootstrap test procedure may be done in parallel. Using a cluster of 20 nodes, the example runs approximately 20 times faster than it does on a single computer.

Educational Group Practices in Primary Care: Interaction Between Professionals, Users and Knowledge

OBJECTIVE To investigate the concept understood by Family Healthcare Strategy (ESF) professionals of knowledge, education and subjects participating in learning activities. METHOD Qualitative study carried out with the ESF professionals with university degree, members of the healthcare staff who undertook educational health group activities at Basic Healthcare Units (UBS) in Belo Horizonte. The following triangulation techniques were used: participant observation, photos and field notes; interviews with professionals; and document analysis. RESULTS We identified three interaction patterns that are different from each other. Firstly, the professional questions, listens and provides information to users, trusting in the transmission of knowledge; secondly, the professional questions and listens, trusting that users can learn from each other; thirdly, the professional questions, listens, discusses and produces knowledge with users, both teaching and learning from each other. CONCLUSION There are educational practices that include unique methods capable of creating a militant space for citizenship engagement.

Creating a research network for a successful e-portfolio design and implementation

The presence of e-portfolios in educational centres, companies and administrations has emergedstrongly during the last years by creating very different practices coming from different objectives and purposes. This situation has led researchers and practitioners to design and implement e-portfolios with little reference to previous knowledge of them; consequently, developments are disparate with many of the processes and dimensions used both in development and use being unnecessary complex. In order to minimize the inconveniences, unify these developmental processes and improve the resultsof implementation and use of e-portfolios, it seemed necessary to create a network of researchers, teachers and trainers coming from different universities and institutions of different kinds who are interested in the investigation and the practice of e-portfolios in Spain. Therefore, The Network on e-portfoliowas created in 2006, funded by the Spanish Ministry of Education and led by the UniversitatOberta de Catalunya. Besides the goals associatedwith the creation of this network and which wewanted to share with other European researchers and experts of other continents, we will also present in this paper some data concerned with the first study carried out on the use of e-portfolios in our country that shows where we are and which trends are the most important for the near future.

Supporting the Management of the Knowledge Flow from the Customers in CRM through a VCE

Knowledge flow from the customers is an important resource for a company and therefore it should engage its customers in knowledge co-creation. Through providing a virtual customer environment (VCE) as knowledge creation and sharing platform a company can obtain this type of knowledge, which is important for strategic purposes. In the VCE the members of the virtual customer community (VCC) create and share knowledge individually and collectively in diverse roles, utilizing many interaction facilities. Creating a functional VCE is not either easy or quick task and a company needs to analyze various issues carefully. Providing such a VCE in which customers want to share their experiences and insights is however worth of considering, since it brings many benefits for the company. In this research the main benefit is stated as the supportative role of the VCE in the better management of the knowledge flow from the customers.

Improving Intraorganizational Knowledge Sharing

The objective of this research was to find how the critical factors enabling intraorganizational knowledge sharing could be implemented to be part of case organization’s actions. The theoretical framework of the research was constituted based on previous scientific discussions concerning knowledge and its dimensions, knowledge sharing and its linkage to organizational learning. The intraorganizational knowledge sharing critical factors form an essential part of the theoretical framework. The study was a qualitative case study. The data was collected using focus group interviews and analyzed using theme analysis. In the empirical part of the study case organizations characteristics to the intraorganizational knowledge sharing were researched, intraorganizational knowledge sharing goals were mapped and finally improvement actions were suggested. The most significant suggestions were creating an organization wide knowledge sharing strategy, facilitating the development of social networks and communicating the top management support for knowledge sharing activities.

Identifying first graders at risk of reading and writing difficulties : creating a group-based screening tool in kiswahili in Tanzania

Early identification of beginning readers at risk of developing reading and writing difficulties plays an important role in the prevention and provision of appropriate intervention. In Tanzania, as in other countries, there are children in schools who are at risk of developing reading and writing difficulties. Many of these children complete school without being identified and without proper and relevant support. The main language in Tanzania is Kiswahili, a transparent language. Contextually relevant, reliable and valid instruments of identification are needed in Tanzanian schools. This study aimed at the construction and validation of a group-based screening instrument in the Kiswahili language for identifying beginning readers at risk of reading and writing difficulties. In studying the function of the test there was special interest in analyzing the explanatory power of certain contextual factors related to the home and school. Halfway through grade one, 337 children from four purposively selected primary schools in Morogoro municipality were screened with a group test consisting of 7 subscales measuring phonological awareness, word and letter knowledge and spelling. A questionnaire about background factors and the home and school environments related to literacy was also used. The schools were chosen based on performance status (i.e. high, good, average and low performing schools) in order to include variation. For validation, 64 children were chosen from the original sample to take an individual test measuring nonsense word reading, word reading, actual text reading, one-minute reading and writing. School marks from grade one and a follow-up test half way through grade two were also used for validation. The correlations between the results from the group test and the three measures used for validation were very high (.83-.95). Content validity of the group test was established by using items drawn from authorized text books for reading in grade one. Construct validity was analyzed through item analysis and principal component analysis. The difficulty level of most items in both the group test and the follow-up test was good. The items also discriminated well. Principal component analysis revealed one powerful latent dimension (initial literacy factor), accounting for 93% of the variance. This implies that it could be possible to use any set of the subtests of the group test for screening and prediction. The K-Means cluster analysis revealed four clusters: at-risk children, strugglers, readers and good readers. The main concern in this study was with the groups of at-risk children (24%) and strugglers (22%), who need the most assistance. The predictive validity of the group test was analyzed by correlating the measures from the two school years and by cross tabulating grade one and grade two clusters. All the correlations were positive and very high, and 94% of the at-risk children in grade two were already identified in the group test in grade one. The explanatory power of some of the home and school factors was very strong. The number of books at home accounted for 38% of the variance in reading and writing ability measured by the group test. Parents´ reading ability and the support children received at home for schoolwork were also influential factors. Among the studied school factors school attendance had the strongest explanatory power, accounting for 21% of the variance in reading and writing ability. Having been in nursery school was also of importance. Based on the findings in the study a short version of the group test was created. It is suggested for use in the screening processes in grade one aiming at identifying children at risk of reading and writing difficulties in the Tanzanian context. Suggestions for further research as well as for actions for improving the literacy skills of Tanzanian children are presented.

Creating possibilities for collective creativity : Brokerage Functions in Practice-Based Innovation

In the network era, creative achievements like innovations are more and more often created in interaction among different actors. The complexity of today‘s problems transcends the individual human mind, requiring not only individual but also collective creativity. In collective creativity, it is impossible to trace the source of new ideas to an individual. Instead, creative activity emerges from the collaboration and contribution of many individuals, thereby blurring the contribution of specific individuals in creating ideas. Collective creativity is often associated with diversity of knowledge, skills, experiences and perspectives. Collaboration between diverse actors thus triggers creativity and gives possibilities for collective creativity. This dissertation investigates collective creativity in the context of practice-based innovation. Practice-based innovation processes are triggered by problem setting in a practical context and conducted in non-linear processes utilising scientific and practical knowledge production and creation in cross-disciplinary innovation networks. In these networks diversity or distances between innovation actors are essential. Innovation potential may be found in exploiting different kinds of distances. This dissertation presents different kinds of distances, such as cognitive, functional and organisational which could be considered as sources of creativity and thus innovation. However, formation and functioning of these kinds of innovation networks can be problematic. Distances between innovating actors may be so great that a special interpretation function is needed – that is, brokerage. This dissertation defines factors that enhance collective creativity in practice-based innovation and especially in the fuzzy front end phase of innovation processes. The first objective of this dissertation is to study individual and collective creativity at the employee level and identify those factors that support individual and collective creativity in the organisation. The second objective is to study how organisations use external knowledge to support collective creativity in their innovation processes in open multi-actor innovation. The third objective is to define how brokerage functions create possibilities for collective creativity especially in the context of practice-based innovation. The research objectives have been studied through five substudies using a case-study strategy. Each substudy highlights various aspects of creativity and collective creativity. The empirical data consist of materials from innovation projects arranged in the Lahti region, Finland, or materials from the development of innovation methods in the Lahti region. The Lahti region has been chosen as the research context because the innovation policy of the region emphasises especially the promotion of practice-based innovations. The results of this dissertation indicate that all possibilities of collective creativity are not utilised in internal operations of organisations. The dissertation introduces several factors that could support collective creativity in organisations. However, creativity as a social construct is understood and experienced differently in different organisations, and these differences should be taken into account when supporting creativity in organisations. The increasing complexity of most potential innovations requires collaborative creative efforts that often exceed the boundaries of the organisation and call for the involvement of external expertise. In practice-based innovation different distances are considered as sources of creativity. This dissertation gives practical implications on how it is possible to exploit different kinds of distances knowingly. It underlines especially the importance of brokerage functions in open, practice-based innovation in order to create possibilities for collective creativity. As a contribution of this dissertation, a model of brokerage functions in practice-based innovation is formulated. According to the model, the results and success of brokerage functions are based on the context of brokerage as well as the roles, tasks, skills and capabilities of brokers. The brokerage functions in practice-based innovation are also possible to divide into social and cognitive brokerage.

Co-creating value with customers as a new approach of entering new market

Global trends associated with development of information technology, globalization, industrial and economic changes are influencing on company and customer domains and thus transforming company-customer relationship. The company centric paradigm with a strong product focus shifts to a customer oriented one with a strong emphasis on customer collaboration. As a result, the customer role changes from a passive observer to an active player. Moreover, global trends contribute to transformation of competitive environment making it tougher and simplifying an access to resources previously considered as unique. All that factors push the companies towards cooperation with customers in order to identify unarticulated needs and finding the best possible solution to existing customer problems. The Master’s Thesis is done for Outotec (Lappeenranta) which considers extension of dewatering business in Russian coal market. Research aims to identify key features of coal preparation and dewatering of fine coal and tailings in Russian preparation plants; analyze the state of Russian coal market and evaluate market potential for Outotec dewatering solutions. The study has a qualitative nature and implements an action research methodology that involves both creation of knowledge and introduction of changes into the system. The base for taking actions is formed by theoretical framework that targets on describing company - customer interaction and has selected co-creation as the most appropriate method of customer involvement. The integration of co-creation approach into an action research cycle allows not only fulfilling the research objectives but also facilitates organizational learning and intraorganizational collaboration, assists in establishing customer contacts and making the first steps into the market, bringing new joint projects to the company and opening real business opportunities.

Co-creating Value For Smart Phone Operating Systems Via Virtual Discussion Forums

In the traditional way, value is created by manufacturer or producer of a product without engaging the customers. So, traditionally value creation is a monopoly in the part of a manufacturer. After gathering all the raw materials the manufacturers are inserting value to a product. And the inserted value is recognized in the time of consuming the product. In the modern time though there is traditional way of value creation but with the increase of more educated, smart, and technically sound customers the idea of value creation has changed. Now, customers are also contributing in value creation as value co-creator even before the product is consumed. This scenario has been encountered in the thesis with the main purpose of how value is cocreated in smart phone operating systems. The purpose is further divided into the following supobjectives: o What is value co-creation in smart phone operating systems? o Who participates in value co-creation in smart phone operating systems? o What are the procedures that are involved in value co-creation in smart phone operating systems? The research was conducted as a qualitative desk study by observing two of the leading smart phone operating system providers. Data has been collected from the official discussion forum of both the operating system providers. Other general concepts relating to the purpose of the study has been encountered through literature review. The research findings reveal that customers and companies both together co-create value of anticipated level when they communicate and interact with each other. However, most of the time customer to customer interactions, dialogues and discussions that come out in the core conversation help the value co-creation. The value co-creation framework sets up the customer at the main focus of value creation theory. By nullifying the inherited notion that companies only create value within its boundary and provide it to their customers in exchange of currencies. Rationally, it has been commenced that the firms are merely compromising value propositions to its customers. But the value has been co-created in a point where offerings are combined and interacted with customers’ capabilities, knowledge, resources and perceptions. This new perspective has radically altered the prospect of firms towards its customers. Typically customers are now taking part in value cocreation as a crucial member.

Intellectual capital, knowledge management practices and firm performance

Researchers have widely recognised and accepted that firm performance is increasingly related to knowledge-based issues. Two separately developed literature streams, intellectual capital (IC) and knowledge management (KM), have been established as the key discussions related to knowledge-based competitive advantage of the firm. Intellectual capital has provided evidence on the strategic key intangible resources of the firm, which could be deployed to create competitive advantage. Knowledge management, in turn, has focused on the managerial processes and practices which can be used to leverage IC to create competitive advantage. Despite extensive literature on both issues, some notable research gaps remain to be closed. In effect, one major gap within the knowledge management research is the lack of understanding related to its influence on firm performance, while IC researchers have articulated a need to utilise more finegrained conceptual models to better understand the key strategic value-creating resources of the firm. In this dissertation, IC is regarded as the entire intellectual capacity, knowledge and competences of the firm that can be leveraged to achieve sustained competitive advantage. KM practices are defined as organisational and managerial activities that enable the firm to leverage its IC to create value. The objective of this dissertation is to answer the research question: “What is the relationship between intellectual capital, knowledge management practices and firm performance?” Five publications have addressed the research question using different approaches. The first two publications were systematic literature reviews of the extant empirical IC and KM research, which established the current state of understanding regarding the relationship between IC, KM practices and firm performance. Publications III and IV were empirical research articles that assessed the developed conceptual model related to IC, KM practices and firm performance. Finally, Publication V was among the first research papers to merge IC and KM disciplines in order to find out which configurations could yield organisational benefits in terms of innovation and market performance outcomes.

Creating a Generation of Upstanders: Curriculum Resource to Help Ontario Educators Build Safe Schools

This project focuses on the bullying found in the 21st century elementary classrooms, more specifically in grades 4-8. These grades were found to have high levels of bullying because of major shifts in a student’s life that may place a student of this age at risk for problems with their peer relationships (Totura et al., 2009). Supporting the findings in the literature review, this handbook was created for Ontario grade 4-8 classroom teachers. The resource educates teachers on current knowledge of classroom bullying, and provides them with information and resources to share with their students so that they can create a culture of upstanders. Upstanders are students who stand up for the victims of bullying, and have the self-esteem and strategies to stand up to classroom bullies. These upstanders, with the support of their classroom teachers and their peers, will be a force strong enough to build the government-mandated Safe School environment.