Innovation, entrepreneurship and outsourcing: essays on the use of knowledge in business environments

Innovació, emprenedoria i subcontractació són els pilars temàtics de la present tesi doctoral. L'ús del coneixement per part de les empreses representa l'element comú d'aquestes temàtiques. Les evidències empíriques provenen principalment del món empresarial, però es complementen amb les del món acadèmic com a principal proveïdor de coneixement a la societat actual, la finalitat de la qual és crear riquesa i benestar socioeconòmic. L'objectiu principal d'aquesta tesi doctoral és contribuir a les diferents àrees de recerca. La primera, gestió de la innovació, més concretament innovació organitzativa, reflexionant sobre la seva importància i monitorització a través d'enquestes. Tot seguit, un exemple d'innovació organitzativa -treball en equip- s'analitza en profunditat, així com també els seus determinants. La segona, analitza el procés de transició d'una universitat tradicional cap a una universitat emprenedora, començant per la fase de disseny fins a l'actualitat contemplant la seva funcionalitat i eficiència en el marc de les institucions públiques de recerca d'Europa. I la tercera, descriu les barreres que les empreses han de fer front a l'hora de cooperar, en general, i amb universitats, en particular. La mateixa mostra d'empreses gasela també serveix per analitzar la decisió de fer-o-comprar. El resum d'aquests resultats, les conclusions, així com les futures línies de recerca finalitzen el treball.

A hybrid approach of knowledge-based reasoning for structural assessment

La idea básica de detección de defectos basada en vibraciones en Monitorización de la Salud Estructural (SHM), es que el defecto altera las propiedades de rigidez, masa o disipación de energía de un sistema, el cual, altera la respuesta dinámica del mismo. Dentro del contexto de reconocimiento de patrones, esta tesis presenta una metodología híbrida de razonamiento para evaluar los defectos en las estructuras, combinando el uso de un modelo de la estructura y/o experimentos previos con el esquema de razonamiento basado en el conocimiento para evaluar si el defecto está presente, su gravedad y su localización. La metodología involucra algunos elementos relacionados con análisis de vibraciones, matemáticas (wavelets, control de procesos estadístico), análisis y procesamiento de señales y/o patrones (razonamiento basado en casos, redes auto-organizativas), estructuras inteligentes y detección de defectos. Las técnicas son validadas numérica y experimentalmente considerando corrosión, pérdida de masa, acumulación de masa e impactos. Las estructuras usadas durante este trabajo son: una estructura tipo cercha voladiza, una viga de aluminio, dos secciones de tubería y una parte del ala de un avión comercial.

Integration of knowledge-based, qualitative and numeric tools for real time dynamic systems supervision

The proposal presented in this thesis is to provide designers of knowledge based supervisory systems of dynamic systems with a framework to facilitate their tasks avoiding interface problems among tools, data flow and management. The approach is thought to be useful to both control and process engineers in assisting their tasks. The use of AI technologies to diagnose and perform control loops and, of course, assist process supervisory tasks such as fault detection and diagnose, are in the scope of this work. Special effort has been put in integration of tools for assisting expert supervisory systems design. With this aim the experience of Computer Aided Control Systems Design (CACSD) frameworks have been analysed and used to design a Computer Aided Supervisory Systems (CASSD) framework. In this sense, some basic facilities are required to be available in this proposed framework: ·

Eye tracking data representation and visualization : on information and communication studies at CETAC.MEDIA

Eye tracking has become a preponderant technique in the evaluation of user interaction and behaviour with study objects in defined contexts. Common eye tracking related data representation techniques offer valuable input regarding user interaction and eye gaze behaviour, namely through fixations and saccades measurement. However, these and other techniques may be insufficient for the representation of acquired data in specific studies, namely because of the complexity of the study object being analysed. This paper intends to contribute with a summary of data representation and information visualization techniques used in data analysis within different contexts (advertising, websites, television news and video games). Additionally, several methodological approaches are presented in this paper, which resulted from several studies developed and under development at CETAC.MEDIA - Communication Sciences and Technologies Research Centre. In the studies described, traditional data representation techniques were insufficient. As a result, new approaches were necessary and therefore, new forms of representing data, based on common techniques were developed with the objective of improving communication and information strategies. In each of these studies, a brief summary of the contribution to their respective area will be presented, as well as the data representation techniques used and some of the acquired results.

The Economic anI Racial Implications of the Globalization of Knowledge by Catholic Missionaries in Portuguese India, 16th-18th Centuries

The European Missionaries benefitted from the native Asian sources and knowledge providers much more than it is honestly acknowledged.

The Importance of Relationships for the Produced Knowledge in the Sector of Management Consulting

While the management consulting industry has been largely linked to the knowledge produced within the disciplines of strategic management in the academic field, the truth is that very little literature is produced in terms of research in this area, while the researchers focused more on a set of static techniques to be applied in the development of this field of research concerns. This article seeks to bridge this gap as well, showing by example that the consultancy sector is a true field of opportunities for the study of relationships management. This presentation is thus the aim of contributing both theoretically and empirically in the area of relationships through research in the context of management consulting, trying to visualize how the relationships are manifested in a context of high involvement and personal contact, and what’s the perception that must be taken into consideration by clients and consultants in terms of the benefits of their greater or lesser degree of involvement.

The Importance of Relationships for the Produced Knowledge in the Sector of Management Consulting

While the management consulting industry has been largely linked to the knowledge produced within the disciplines of strategic management in the academic field, the truth is that very little literature is produced in terms of research in this area, while the researchers focused more on a set of static techniques to be applied in the development of this field of research concerns. This article seeks to bridge this gap as well, showing by example that the consultancy sector is a true field of opportunities for the study of relationships management. This presentation is thus the aim of contributing both theoretically and empirically in the area of relationships through research in the context of management consulting, trying to visualize how the relationships are manifested in a context of high involvement and personal contact, and what’s the perception that must be taken into consideration by clients and consultants in terms of the benefits of their greater or lesser degree of involvement.

The “Fashionable Knowledge” of Management Consulting

In the evolution of strategic disciplines much of the knowledge produced has been widely diffused by the management consulting industry. But can this sector be regarded as knowledge intensive activity based on true structure of expertise knowledge? One way to understand if we can consider that sector as a source of knowledge dissemination is realizing its relationship with the market in terms of knowledge, rather than identify only as a set of static techniques to be applied as in most of times they have been doing. This article presents itself as a reflection about the real reasons for the increasing use ofmanagement consulting services, indicating simultaneously that can really be a true field of opportunities for the academic class if the study will focused in the establishment and institutionalization of micropractices (strategy-as-practice) that there are used and its implications in terms of organizational results.

The applicability of The Test of Word Knowledge to hearing-impaired children

This paper evaluates a receptive and expressive vocabulary test, The Test of Word Knowledge, to determine its applicability to deaf students and to compare its results with other vocabulary tests.

Survey of hearing-impaired adults and parents of hearing-impaired children and their knowledge of the Americans with Disabilities Act

This paper discusses the results of a survey about awareness of the American with Disabilities Act.

A consumer survey designed to identify attitudes, knowledge, acceptance, and use of assistive listening devices in public facilities

This paper presents a consumer survey of hearing-impaired persons used to identify their attitudes, knowledge, acceptance, and use of assistive listening devices in public facilities.

Museos de historia y producción de conocimientos: cuestiones para el debate (Debates)

The article thinks over the role of museums in the construction of scientific and historical representations and as a space that connects the forms of visualizing the past and the construction of historic knowledge. Also analyzes the museum as a setting of tension between the visualization and the generation of scientific or historical knowledge; and between the forms of evoking-representing and the sensitive cognitive processes that it activates in museum audiences. This oscillation takes place in the Museo Paulista.