The ability to successfully engage in adaptive performance is important due to the increasingly dynamic nature of work. The way individuals organize concepts within a performance domain (knowledge structures) has important implications for subsequent performance, including adaptive performance. Past literature has focused on the team knowledge structures and routine or overall performance. It is not evident whether changes in individuals’ knowledge structures after an adaptive performance episode will enhance or impair performance. The current study investigated knowledge structure change and its relationship with individual differences and performance outcomes. The sample contained 185 individuals from a private southern university. There was no evidence of relationships between individual differences or performance outcomes and knowledge structure change. However, the current study contributed to the literature by measuring knowledge structures multiple times and across routine and adaptive performance episodes. Study implications and the potential use of knowledge structures in training design are also discussed.

Personal training is an occupation which requires service and knowledge work. There have been some studies of personal training that have focused on the service dimension of the work of personal trainers but few on the knowledge work entailed in workplace competence. This study focused on “knowledgeable labour” in the field of personal training. A small sample of apprenticed, trained and educated personal trainers was observed at work with their clients in order to investigate whether different learning pathways lead to differences in the forms of knowledge and ways of knowing they use in their workplace practices. A first level of analysis focused on whether there were noticeable differences in the “practical competence” of the trainers -as manifest in their observable practices with their clients. A second level of analysis, explored whether there were more subtle differences in their practices by focusing on the form and content of their exchanges with their clients, and of their reflections in and on their practice. This level of analysis focused on what the South African National Qualifications framework has referred to as “applied competence’ which is grounded in foundational and reflexive competence and is not reducible to what is manifestly or visible in practical activities. It sought to establish whether there were differences in the applied competence of trainers who have qualified through the different learning pathways. The study found that access to a formal knowledge base, and a related ability to reflect explicitly made a difference to the quality of the knowledge that trainers imparted to their clients, to their decision making in practice, and to the quality of explanations and justifications they offered to their clients. These differences point to the need for vocational qualifications that develop reflective practitioners who are able to build bridges work between the science and the client in their situated practices in their workplaces and therefore think on their feet.

In the coming knowledge-based economy era, knowledge structure map (KSM) has becoming more and more important. If learners doing learning without the support of knowledge structure map, it will cause learning alone problem. In order to construct a real KSM, we targeted the MIS domain. By using the National Dissertation and Thesis Abstract System as input source, we first extract different research subjects from keywords and then calculate the relation strength between each keyword pairs. An automatic approach has been developed for constructing KSM for different periods of time. The constructed KSM can help learners to reduce learning alone and provide a good reference for new researchers to seek for related research directions. The proposed method can also be applied to enterprises. They can adopt this method to construct any specific KSM corresponding to their professional domain, the constructed KSM would help new employee to learn better. Furthermore, with the support of KSM, CEO can make a better decision as the KSM would contain internal and external competitive advantages about future directions.

A elaboração de textos por alunos em resposta a questões dissertativas dentro do contexto escolar parece ser a forma mais convencional de se tentar avaliar o que os alunos sabem. O texto que um indivíduo produz procura refletir de forma aproximada a sua estrutura de conhecimentos sobre determinado tema. A leitura e análise de textos são tarefas que exigem um tempo considerável no dia-a-dia de um professor ou pesquisador e, quando há o interesse em conhecer as ideias mais relevantes sobre determinado tema para um grupo de alunos, a tarefa é ainda mais trabalhosa. O principal objetivo desta pesquisa consiste em desenvolver uma metodologia que utiliza ferramentas computacionais para transformar textos escritos por alunos em estruturas gráficas como mapas e redes de conceitos. A utilidade desta metodologia aparece tanto no contexto da pesquisa em ensino quanto na própria prática docente, já que o produto final de sua aplicação pode permitir estabelecer inferências quanto à estrutura de conhecimentos de um grupo de alunos. A investigação ocorreu a partir de dados coletados em duas disciplinas distintas de cursos de graduação do IQ-USP. Os dados coletados referem-se a produções textuais de 42 estudantes em resposta a uma questão que fornecia alguns conceitos pré-estabelecidos. A partir das respostas dos alunos foram realizados testes: (i) com dois softwares de análise de textos para a quantificação das relações entre conceitos; (ii) para verificar a influência na quantificação das relações entre conceitos partindo-se do texto como foi escrito e das proposições extraídas do mesmo e (iii) para a obtenção de diferentes tipos de estruturas gráficas. A partir dos testes realizados, foi possível concluir que o programa Hamlet® é mais eficiente e prático do que o programa ALA-Reader® para os objetivos da presente pesquisa. Além disso, a matriz gerada pelo Hamlet® para quantificar as relações entre conceitos depende essencialmente da estrutura do texto em questão - texto original ou texto modificado. Os três tipos de estruturas gráficas construídos apresentam diferentes focos, porém, podem ser considerados complementares. As redes V+P se mostraram interessantes para análises centradas nos conceitos pré-estabelecidos e fornecidos na questão que originou os textos dos alunos. As redes a partir de corte percentual apresentaram-se como representações bastante úteis para investigações interessadas em fazer um recorte ou destacar os aspectos considerados mais relevantes pelos alunos sobre determinado tema. Os mapas conceituais construídos neste trabalho mostraram-se como representações extremamente valiosas para conhecer a aproximada estrutura de conhecimentos dos grupos de alunos, uma vez que explicitam a natureza das relações proposicionais entre os conceitos. A construção de mapas conceituais partindo-se tanto dos textos originais quanto dos textos modificados permitiu concluir que as estruturas gráficas obtidas dos dois modos se aproximam bastante uma da outra, apresentando alta semelhança. Esta semelhança sugere que a utilização do programa Hamlet® para a obtenção de matrizes que quantificam relações entre conceitos presentes em um texto na forma como foi escrito é eficiente quando comparada ao processo manual e mais demorado de se extraírem proposições de um texto para obter uma matriz. / The drafting of essays by students in response to essay questions in the school context seems to be the most conventional way to assess the students` knowledge. The essay produced by a student seeks to approximately reflect his/her knowledge structure about a certain domain. The reading and the analysis of essays are tasks that require a considerable time in a teacher\'s or researcher\'s routine and, when the interest on knowing the most important ideas about a certain topic is verified in a group of students, the task is even harder. The main objective of this research is to develop a methodology that uses computational tools in order to transform written essays in graphic structures such as concept maps and networks graphs. This methodology could be useful not only for teaching research purposes but also for teaching practice, since the final product of its application may lead to inferences about the knowledge structure of a group of students. The investigation developed herein was based on data collected from two distinct matters of undergraduate IQ-USP. That data refer to written essays of 42 students in response to an essay question provided of some pre-established concepts. From the students\' responses, tests were performed: (i) with two softwares for text analysis with a view of quantifying the relationships between concepts, (ii) to investigate the influence on the quantification of relationships between concepts, from the original text and from the propositions extracted from this original text and (iii) to obtain different types of graphic structures. From the tests that were done, it was possible to conclude that Hamlet® consists in a more efficient and convenient program than ALA-Reader® to the objectives of this research. Furthermore, the array generated by Hamlet® program to quantify the relationships between concepts depends essentially on the structure of the essay - either the original text or the modified text. The three types of graphic structures that were built present different focuses, however, these graphic structures may be considered complementaries. The (V+P) network graphs can be thought as interesting representations that focuses on pre-established concepts that were provided on the essay questions. Network graphs from cutting percentage can be thought as representations that are more useful for investigations interested in making a cut or in highlighting the most relevant aspects of a subject by the students. The concept maps constructed in this paper can be thought as extremely valuable representations to know the approximate knowledge structure of the students groups, since they make clear the nature of the propositional relationships between concepts. The construction of concept maps starting from the original texts and also from the modified texts proved that both graphic structures obtained are very close to each other, being highly similar. This similarity suggests that the use of the Hamlet® program to obtain arrays that quantify relationship between concepts found in an original text is more effective in comparison to manual and time-consuming process of extracting propositions from the original text to obtain an array.

A elaboração de textos por alunos em resposta a questões dissertativas dentro do contexto escolar parece ser a forma mais convencional de se tentar avaliar o que os alunos sabem. O texto que um indivíduo produz procura refletir de forma aproximada a sua estrutura de conhecimentos sobre determinado tema. A leitura e análise de textos são tarefas que exigem um tempo considerável no dia-a-dia de um professor ou pesquisador e, quando há o interesse em conhecer as ideias mais relevantes sobre determinado tema para um grupo de alunos, a tarefa é ainda mais trabalhosa. O principal objetivo desta pesquisa consiste em desenvolver uma metodologia que utiliza ferramentas computacionais para transformar textos escritos por alunos em estruturas gráficas como mapas e redes de conceitos. A utilidade desta metodologia aparece tanto no contexto da pesquisa em ensino quanto na própria prática docente, já que o produto final de sua aplicação pode permitir estabelecer inferências quanto à estrutura de conhecimentos de um grupo de alunos. A investigação ocorreu a partir de dados coletados em duas disciplinas distintas de cursos de graduação do IQ-USP. Os dados coletados referem-se a produções textuais de 42 estudantes em resposta a uma questão que fornecia alguns conceitos pré-estabelecidos. A partir das respostas dos alunos foram realizados testes: (i) com dois softwares de análise de textos para a quantificação das relações entre conceitos; (ii) para verificar a influência na quantificação das relações entre conceitos partindo-se do texto como foi escrito e das proposições extraídas do mesmo e (iii) para a obtenção de diferentes tipos de estruturas gráficas. A partir dos testes realizados, foi possível concluir que o programa Hamlet® é mais eficiente e prático do que o programa ALA-Reader® para os objetivos da presente pesquisa. Além disso, a matriz gerada pelo Hamlet® para quantificar as relações entre conceitos depende essencialmente da estrutura do texto em questão - texto original ou texto modificado. Os três tipos de estruturas gráficas construídos apresentam diferentes focos, porém, podem ser considerados complementares. As redes V+P se mostraram interessantes para análises centradas nos conceitos pré-estabelecidos e fornecidos na questão que originou os textos dos alunos. As redes a partir de corte percentual apresentaram-se como representações bastante úteis para investigações interessadas em fazer um recorte ou destacar os aspectos considerados mais relevantes pelos alunos sobre determinado tema. Os mapas conceituais construídos neste trabalho mostraram-se como representações extremamente valiosas para conhecer a aproximada estrutura de conhecimentos dos grupos de alunos, uma vez que explicitam a natureza das relações proposicionais entre os conceitos. A construção de mapas conceituais partindo-se tanto dos textos originais quanto dos textos modificados permitiu concluir que as estruturas gráficas obtidas dos dois modos se aproximam bastante uma da outra, apresentando alta semelhança. Esta semelhança sugere que a utilização do programa Hamlet® para a obtenção de matrizes que quantificam relações entre conceitos presentes em um texto na forma como foi escrito é eficiente quando comparada ao processo manual e mais demorado de se extraírem proposições de um texto para obter uma matriz. / The drafting of essays by students in response to essay questions in the school context seems to be the most conventional way to assess the students` knowledge. The essay produced by a student seeks to approximately reflect his/her knowledge structure about a certain domain. The reading and the analysis of essays are tasks that require a considerable time in a teacher\'s or researcher\'s routine and, when the interest on knowing the most important ideas about a certain topic is verified in a group of students, the task is even harder. The main objective of this research is to develop a methodology that uses computational tools in order to transform written essays in graphic structures such as concept maps and networks graphs. This methodology could be useful not only for teaching research purposes but also for teaching practice, since the final product of its application may lead to inferences about the knowledge structure of a group of students. The investigation developed herein was based on data collected from two distinct matters of undergraduate IQ-USP. That data refer to written essays of 42 students in response to an essay question provided of some pre-established concepts. From the students\' responses, tests were performed: (i) with two softwares for text analysis with a view of quantifying the relationships between concepts, (ii) to investigate the influence on the quantification of relationships between concepts, from the original text and from the propositions extracted from this original text and (iii) to obtain different types of graphic structures. From the tests that were done, it was possible to conclude that Hamlet® consists in a more efficient and convenient program than ALA-Reader® to the objectives of this research. Furthermore, the array generated by Hamlet® program to quantify the relationships between concepts depends essentially on the structure of the essay - either the original text or the modified text. The three types of graphic structures that were built present different focuses, however, these graphic structures may be considered complementaries. The (V+P) network graphs can be thought as interesting representations that focuses on pre-established concepts that were provided on the essay questions. Network graphs from cutting percentage can be thought as representations that are more useful for investigations interested in making a cut or in highlighting the most relevant aspects of a subject by the students. The concept maps constructed in this paper can be thought as extremely valuable representations to know the approximate knowledge structure of the students groups, since they make clear the nature of the propositional relationships between concepts. The construction of concept maps starting from the original texts and also from the modified texts proved that both graphic structures obtained are very close to each other, being highly similar. This similarity suggests that the use of the Hamlet® program to obtain arrays that quantify relationship between concepts found in an original text is more effective in comparison to manual and time-consuming process of extracting propositions from the original text to obtain an array.

There is much information on the web, but the overloaded information may cause user¡¦s disorientation. The aim of this research is to address a method for automatically constructing the Knowledge Structure Map with time-line feature, and expect to solve the problems of information overloaded and use¡¦s disorientation by visual interface. In this research, the MIS domain is adopted as apply target and the national Dissertation and Thesis Abstract System as data source. By dealing with the keywords to be the subjects, and performing the Principle Component Analysis and calculating the relation strength for the subjects, the Knowledge Structure Map with time-line feature will finally automatically be implemented. Besides the introduction to the method for implementing the Knowledge Structure Map, the writer also develops an experiment to show the Knowledge Structure Map is very helpful when users are taking tasks of description and procedure knowledge. And finally, the writer utilizes these maps to analyze the knowledge and its evolution and development for Taiwan¡¦s MIS domain. The method of this research can automatically construct Knowledge Structure Map with time-line feature. And the Maps will be useful auxiliary tools in learning, research direction decision and knowledge sharing for the novices, researchers, and people respectively. Besides, the enterprises can also use the method of this research to construct their own internal or external Knowledge Structure Map by applying the existing automatic abstracting and picking-up keywords technologies to extract abstracts and keywords of relative information in their organization. Therefore, the writer will conclude that the method in this research can be easily applied in the field of academic and enterprises, and furthermore to the other organizations.

In this research, a context-aware mobile role playing game is developed to provide users with a series of story decorated quests and allows them to interact with specific real and virtual objects in the real world. The game is designed based on multi-agent architecture, which allows reusable and modular agents and makes the game much more flexible and scalable. The usefulness of the CAM-RPG is evaluated with a comprehensive experiment. The interesting findings are: (1) generated story in CAM-RPG positively influences users' attitude toward game use and increases users' perceived game usefulness; (2) users' game-playing confidence, degree of liking computer games, and attitude toward computer games significantly influence attitudes toward CAM-RPG; and (3) there is no gender difference for users' game acceptance, but users' computer game attitude, time spent playing computer games, and voluntariness of use do significantly influence users' acceptance. / 2012-02

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No description available.

In emergent high technology industries, entrepreneurs and their new ventures play a critical role in enhancing economic growth. In these industries, we can easily see some new ventures grow more rapidly to outperform their competitors. However, looking beyond the surface, new ventures’ growth path is idiosyncratic. More specifically, when growing, new ventures pursue different paths in terms of 1) which technologies they develop, 2) which products they make, and 3) what markets they enter. The question that has struck me is why high-tech new ventures differ on these key strategic choices. Building on literature on entrepreneurship, strategy, industry evolution, and network, this dissertation tries to answer this important question by focusing on intra-firm factors, more specifically, the individual and structural attributes of new ventures. Types of founder experience and new ventures’ knowledge structure are examined in depth. My three studies, each presented as a separate essay herein, investigate how individual (i.e. founder experience) and structural attributes (i.e. knowledge structure) affect key strategic choices regarding i) product market scope (Wernerfelt and Montgomery, 1988), ii) technological search scope (Katila and Ahuja, 2002), and iii) the types of new products (Sanchez and Mahoney, 1996; Henderson and Clark, 1990), respectively. In each, I discuss the relevant theories, methodology, data sources, results and implications. By investigating intra-firm factors that trigger different entrepreneurial strategies, my dissertation responds to an important call – micro-foundation of strategy formation – thus filling a key gap in the entrepreneurship literature. / Business Administration/Strategic Management