O encadeamento de conceitos representados por conhecimento, sua gestão e, contida nesta, sua preservação representa um tema instigante, visto que, por questões de competitividade mercadológica, tem sido transformado em recurso estratégico e, tornado corporativo, um ativo indispensável à produtividade. Quando pensado no ramo da produção de software, com a necessária adequação de escalabilidade a um tipo diferenciado de manufatura, alicerçada em produção criativa em uma extensão maior do que o percebido por outros ramos, e que necessita da engenharia e sua padronização para romper fronteiras do amadorismo, torna-se mais instigante ainda, a ponto de ser tomado como tema para uma pesquisa. Este trabalho procura abranger questões de importância para organizações, principalmente as que caracterizam-se como empresas voltadas à fabricação de software, trabalhando suas definições e as de seus processos produtivos e focando os papéis que desempenham o conhecimento e o duo-processo ensinagem-aprendizagem para suas administrações, visando permitir estruturação e gestão de saberes, competências e habilidades. A pesquisa buscou a observância de um modelo conceitual, extraído de literatura formal e experiência docente, e a verificação de sua aplicabilidade e aderência em ambientes reais de produção de software sob conceito de fábrica. Foram selecionadas algumas empresas detentoras de certificações de qualidade, que lhes garante respeito a padrões e formalismos, para experimentar o modelo que propõe servir a iniciativas de preservação do conhecimento. / The linkage of concepts represented by knowledge, its management and its preservation (preservation contained in management) represents an encouraging theme because it has been transformed in a strategic resource and an indispensable asset to productivity, by matters of market competitiveness. When considering the branch of the software production, with the necessary scalability adaptation to a differentiated type of manufacture, based on creative production in a larger extension than noticed by other branches, and that needs the engineering and standardization to break borders of amateurism, it becomes even exciting to the point of being taken as a theme for research. This work aims at including subjects of importance for organizations, mainly the ones that are characterized as software production companies, working with definitions and productive processes and focusing on the roles that carry out the knowledge and the teaching-learning duo-process for the improvement of their administrations, seeking to allow structuring and administration knowledge, competences and abilities. The research looked for the observance of a conceptual model, extracted from formal literature and educational experience, and the verification of its applicability and adherence in real atmospheres of software production from a factory concept. Some qualified companies that guarantee respect to patterns and formalisms were selected to try the model that intends to serve to initiatives of preservation of knowledge.

Submitted by Marco Antonio Oliveira da Silva (maosilva@ipen.br) on 2016-12-21T16:22:52Z No. of bitstreams: 0 / Made available in DSpace on 2016-12-21T16:22:52Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Este trabalho documenta o processo de desenvolvimento de um software didático-interativo para síntese e visualização de estruturas cristalinas intitulado CrystalWalk (CW). Sua criação foi justificada inicialmente pela percepção, colhida junto a atores sociais, de deficiências nas ferramentas de ensino-aprendizagem relacionadas ao estudo de estruturas cristalinas de materiais. Posteriormente, um levantamento do estado da arte dos softwares cristalográficos existentes revelou oportunidades para o desenvolvimento de um novo software com preocupação eminentemente didática. Na especificação e elaboração do CW, foram preconizados os princípios do software livre, da acessibilidade e da democratização do conhecimento. Adotou-se o estado da arte de tecnologias e serviços para desenvolvimento de aplicações web interativas, tais como plataforma HTML5/WebGL, arquiteturas orientadas a serviços (SOA) e sistemas distribuídos responsivos, resilientes e elásticos. Para facilitar o entendimento e a síntese de estruturas cristalinas, foi proposto um inédito processo passo a passo baseado no conceito \"rede + motivo = estrutura cristalina\", que exige a participação ativa e consciente do usuário. Inseriu-se também uma ferramenta denominada \"narrativa didática\", por meio por meio da qual o usuário registra sequências de visualização acompanhadas de anotações e que podem ser compartilhadas múltiplas narrativas permitem atender a diferentes perfis de aprendizagem. Também foram incorporadas com sucesso funcionalidades didáticas eficazes para garantir plena acessibilidade aos recursos do CW e para aumentar seu alcance social, tais como o suporte à interação avançada e às tecnologias de interface de realidade virtual, o suporte à impressão 3D e a oferta de uma plataforma de publicação online. Na avaliação dos produtos gerados, o principal critério foi o atendimento às demandas dos atores sociais, que foram empoderados ao final do processo. O CW é a primeira plataforma a superar a maioria dos problemas apontados e das limitações encontradas nos instrumentos didáticos existentes sobre a temática deste trabalho, impactando positivamente o acesso e a democratização do conhecimento, por meio da construção coletiva, do estímulo à colaboração e da autonomia e independência tecnológicas. / Tese (Doutorado em Tecnologia Nuclear) / IPEN/T / Instituto de Pesquisas Energéticas e Nucleares - IPEN-CNEN/SP

O encadeamento de conceitos representados por conhecimento, sua gestão e, contida nesta, sua preservação representa um tema instigante, visto que, por questões de competitividade mercadológica, tem sido transformado em recurso estratégico e, tornado corporativo, um ativo indispensável à produtividade. Quando pensado no ramo da produção de software, com a necessária adequação de escalabilidade a um tipo diferenciado de manufatura, alicerçada em produção criativa em uma extensão maior do que o percebido por outros ramos, e que necessita da engenharia e sua padronização para romper fronteiras do amadorismo, torna-se mais instigante ainda, a ponto de ser tomado como tema para uma pesquisa. Este trabalho procura abranger questões de importância para organizações, principalmente as que caracterizam-se como empresas voltadas à fabricação de software, trabalhando suas definições e as de seus processos produtivos e focando os papéis que desempenham o conhecimento e o duo-processo ensinagem-aprendizagem para suas administrações, visando permitir estruturação e gestão de saberes, competências e habilidades. A pesquisa buscou a observância de um modelo conceitual, extraído de literatura formal e experiência docente, e a verificação de sua aplicabilidade e aderência em ambientes reais de produção de software sob conceito de fábrica. Foram selecionadas algumas empresas detentoras de certificações de qualidade, que lhes garante respeito a padrões e formalismos, para experimentar o modelo que propõe servir a iniciativas de preservação do conhecimento. / The linkage of concepts represented by knowledge, its management and its preservation (preservation contained in management) represents an encouraging theme because it has been transformed in a strategic resource and an indispensable asset to productivity, by matters of market competitiveness. When considering the branch of the software production, with the necessary scalability adaptation to a differentiated type of manufacture, based on creative production in a larger extension than noticed by other branches, and that needs the engineering and standardization to break borders of amateurism, it becomes even exciting to the point of being taken as a theme for research. This work aims at including subjects of importance for organizations, mainly the ones that are characterized as software production companies, working with definitions and productive processes and focusing on the roles that carry out the knowledge and the teaching-learning duo-process for the improvement of their administrations, seeking to allow structuring and administration knowledge, competences and abilities. The research looked for the observance of a conceptual model, extracted from formal literature and educational experience, and the verification of its applicability and adherence in real atmospheres of software production from a factory concept. Some qualified companies that guarantee respect to patterns and formalisms were selected to try the model that intends to serve to initiatives of preservation of knowledge.

The loss of senior expertise in power line design poses a critical challenge to the sustainable energy transition. Current methods of knowledge transfer fail to prevent the loss of invaluable knowledge necessary for future junior power line designers. Additionally, the rise of informal deployment of generative language models may also threaten to bury hand-written knowledge documents before this knowledge can be extracted, structured, and preserved for future guidance. This thesis proposes a framework where large language models are integrated into knowledge transfer and decision-making guidance for an engineering enterprise. Using this framework, this thesis further explores how data-driven knowledge tools can assist junior design engineers by supporting information retrieval and directing to knowledge sources. The ability of a large language model to retrieve relevant knowledge from an engineering design document was validated by comparing the process of human designers manually completing a similar task. In this evaluation involving six participants and the large language model, responses to questions on mechanical dimensioning of stays for utility poles were ranked by experts. The results showed that the large language model responses were ranked similarly to the junior designers on average. Additionally, a small-scale demonstrative knowledge tool, insights from interviews, literature studies as well as the results from the validation study lead to the conclusion that large language models can assist power line designers via a knowledge tool. Beyond power line design, this thesis contributes to the understanding of how data-driven language models can assist knowledge retrieval and decision-making across other engineering design domains. This work utilizes a professional education document on the mechanical dimensioning of wooden power line poles including an analysis on the wind and weight span’s affect on the dimension of the pole, developed parallel to this work. The original design data from the document supported the tests conducted in this thesis. The professional education document on the mechanical dimensioning of wooden power line poles was developed in parallel to this thesis as a case study supporting the tests with original design data on power line design knowledge. The work also discusses risks and ethical aspects when implementing such a knowledge tool. Risks such as leakage of classified information are emphasized and need comprehensive systems and methods to be avoided. It is therefore highlighted how important it is to carry out the project with care and expertise to avoid damage to companies and society. Local language models or highly trusted AI system providers are recommended to ensure that no sensitive information is leaked to an unwanted third-party. With a high degree of caution and consideration of risks, an effective knowledge tool can contribute to increased efficiency, faster and more sustainable development of power line infrastructure, and thus an faster energy transition. / Förlusten av senior expertis inom kraftledningskonstruktion utgör en kritisk utmaning för den hållbara energiomställningen. Nuvarande metoder för kunskapsöverföring är otillräcklig för att förhindra förlusten av ovärderlig kunskap som är nödvändig för framtida juniora kraftledningsprojektörer. Dessutom kan den ökade informella användingen av generativa språkmodeller hota att begrava mänskligt skrivna kunskapsdokument. Detta arbete presenterar ett ramverk d¨ar storskaliga språkmodeller används för att underlätta kunskapsöverföring och tillhandahålla vägledning vid beslutsfattande inom ingenjörsföretag. Med hjälp av detta ramverk utforskar arbetet ytterligare hur datadrivna kunskapsverktyg kan hjälpa juniora kraftledningskonstrukt¨orer genom att stödja informationsinhämtning med hänvisning till kunskapskällorna. En storskalig språkmodells förmåga att hämta relevant kunskap från ett tekniskt designdokument validerades genom att jämföra processen för mänskliga designers som manuellt slutförde en liknande uppgift. I denna utv¨ardering, som involverade sex deltagare och den storskaliga spr˚akmodellen, rankades svaren på frågor om mekanisk dimensionering av stag för kraftledningsstolpar av experter. Resultaten visade att den storskaliga språkmodellens svar i genomsnitt rankades på liknade nivå som de juniora ingenjörerna. Tillsammans med  ett småskaligt demonstrativt kunskapsverktyg, insikter från intervjuer med kraftledningskonstruktörer, litteraturstudier samt resultat från valideringsstudien dras slutsatsen att storskaliga språkmodeller kan stödja kraftledningskonstruktörer via ett kunskapsverktyg. Utöver kraftledningskonstruktion bidrar detta arbete till förståelsen av hur datadrivna språkmodeller kan hjälpa till med kunskapsinhämtning och beslutsfattande  inom andra tekniska designområden. Arbetet använder ett professionellt utbildningsunderlag om mekanisk dimensionering av kraftledningsstolpar i träkonstruktion, inklusive en analys av vertikala- och horistontella linspannets påverkan på stolpens dimension, utvecklat parallellt med detta arbete. Orginaldesigndata från underlaget stödde de tester som genomfördes. Arbetet belyser även risker och etiska aspekter vid implementering av ett sådant kunskapsverktyg. Risker som läckage av sekretessbelagd information betonas, och omfattande system och metoder behövs för att undvika dem. Därför understryks hur viktigt det är att genomföra liknande projekt med noggrannhet, försiktighet och expertis för att undvika skador på företag och samhälle. Lokala språkmodeller eller API-leverantörer med högt förtroende rekommenderas för att minimera risken att känslig information läcker ut till en oönskad tredje part. Med stor försiktighet och hänsyn till riskerna kan ett effektivt kunskapsverktyg bidra till ökad effektivitet, snabbare och mer hållbar utveckling av kraftledningsinfrastruktur, och därmed en snabbare energiomställning.

Abstract in English / The number of studies focused on the digital preservation of indigenous knowledge has been growing steadily over the years. Despite the growth in this area of research, there is still a lack of information technology tools that preserve and disseminate indigenous knowledge. Indigenous knowledge has been highlighted as an area that can advance sustainable development, and its preservation is therefore of the utmost importance. Indigenous knowledge is mostly present within older generations, and if it is not preserved, this knowledge will die with its custodians. African communities rely heavily on indigenous medicine. A digital platform needs to be explored that can preserve practices relating to these medicines for future generations. Since indigenous knowledge is dynamic and is constantly evolving, there is a need to explore a digital tool that can highlight this dynamic nature. Current methods of preserving indigenous knowledge of medicinal plants were found to be less than effective and marred by constraints such as space and time. The main objective of this study was therefore to develop a model that could be used to guide the design of a new e-learning system aimed at facilitating the preservation of indigenous knowledge of Namibia’s medicinal plants. In this study, e-learning technology was used to determine the requirements for presenting indigenous knowledge of Namibia’s medicinal plants in such a way as to ensure that individuals can internalise and preserve this knowledge. An interpretivist qualitative approach was followed. Data was collected by conducting a literature review and carrying out a survey. A prototype e-learning system was developed and evaluated based on the collected data. It was found that preserving indigenous knowledge of medicinal plants through e-learning would require, among other things, engagement with the relevant knowledge custodians, leveraging multimedia, and offering content in indigenous languages. / School of Computing / M.Sc. (Computing)

Context. Tacit knowledge preservation (TKP) is a critical activity in outsourcing business since there is a high possibility of losing business if the personnel turnover rate is high. Objective: This study investigates TKP techniques from both knowledge management (KM) and software engineer (SE) perspectives followed by a discussion on the practicability of these techniques in software industries. The main aim of this research study is to provide a set of recommendations that assists preserving tacit knowledge in offshore outsourcing vendor organizations. Methods: This research combines a systematic literature review with an industrial survey. A systematic literature review (SLR) was employed to identify the TKP techniques in both KM and SE literature. Quasi-gold standard approach was employed as search strategy in SLR. Further, a survey was conducted with industrial practitioners working in offshore outsourcing software development (OOSD) to validate the findings from SLR and to know the additional TKP techniques. Results: A total of 51 TKP techniques were extracted from SLR and no additional techniques were identified from the survey. These 51 techniques were grouped and categorized into two subgroups namely Socialization and Externalization. A recommendation system and model was proposed to make the TKP process mandatory for every software project in an organization. Conclusions: The research provided a wide set of techniques for preserving tacit knowledge but the major contribution is from KM field whereas a little from SE field. The results of SLR and industrial survey revealed that though a sufficient amount of TKP techniques are available the practicability of these techniques in SE organizations is limited in nature. Therefore, we recommend a Software Engineers Rating (SER) system and model to make the TKP process mandatory in every software project that benefits the organization and also to an employee.

Indigenous Knowledge (IK) is in danger of being obliterated due to a number of factors, such as the lack of interest from younger generations, low life expectancy where people die before transferring it to the next generation and it not being documented. This is due to the fact that IK, by its very nature, is generally known to have been passed on from generation to generation through oral tradition. This qualitative study utilised the organisational knowledge conversion theory to investigate the acquisition, transfer and preservation of IK by traditional healers in the Limpopo Province of South Africa with the view to develop a framework to provide understanding on how IK is acquired, transferred and preserved by traditional healers. The study adopted hermeneutic phenomenology research method and utilised snowball sampling technique to determine the population of this study which consisted of indigenous healers from the Limpopo Province. Data were collected through interviews with traditional healers, observations, as well as document analysis. Data were analysed and interpreted thematically according to the objectives of the study. The study revealed that knowledge of traditional healing is mainly acquired through observations, imitations, following orders and performing tasks practically. In addition to that, collaboration was highlighted as one of the driving forces behind effective transfer and acquisition of knowledge among healers. The major finding to this study was that ancestors are believed to be the ones preserving this knowledge of traditional healing and they pass it down to the chosen ones through dreams, visions and so on. The study concludes that traditional healers also preserved their knowledge orally and commonly shared and acquire knowledge during interactions with other healers. Furthermore, traditional healing is marginalised and not properly regulated in South Africa. It is recommended that key stakeholders should play an active role in ensuring that traditional healing is incorporated into the country’s healthcare system. This way traditional healing can help reduce a heavy burden on public health sector in terms of treating patients. A further study on integrating traditional healing into mainstream healthcare system in South Africa is recommended. / Information Science / D. Litt. et Phil. (Information Science)