On the value of information in system design: A framework for understanding and aiding designers

Computer-based decision support systems for designers are considered. The nature of system design is discussed in terms of alternative philosophies, processes and methods. The design task is characterized as a form of problem solving, which leads to discussion of types of design problem and designer/problem-solver, as well as training of designers/problem-solvers. This general background serves as a basis for analyzing information requirements for design. The value of information is defined as having three attributes: (1) reduction of uncertainty, (2) task relevance and (3) appropriateness of form. These attributes, in conjunction with characterizations of stages/tasks of design and approaches to stages/tasks, are used to determine information requirements and the consequent nature of information seeking. The results of this requirements analysis are employed as a basis for consideration of computer-aided information seeking. Types of information/aiding discussed include: facts, fantasies and feedback, as well as adaptive aiding and training, all of which are espoused as the key elements of flexible systems for computer-aided design and computer-aided engineering.     

学术期刊利益相关者分析及竞争力提升策略

【目的】 准确识别和科学分类学术期刊利益相关者,为学术期刊采取有效策略动员各方主体、提升竞争力提供参考。【方法】 借鉴Mitchell的利益相关者分析法,从合法性、权力性和紧急性三个属性出发,对学术期刊利益相关者进行界定、分类和管理。【结果】 识别出10个学术期刊利益相关者,并将其划分为确定型、预期型和潜在型三类,分别构成学术期刊竞争力提升的核心层、支持层和扩展层。【结论】 学术期刊应当基于多元利益相关者组合不断提升竞争力。对于核心层的确定型利益相关者,采取积极调动型策略;对于支持层的预期型利益相关者,采取合作型策略;对于扩展层的潜在型利益相关者,采取维持型策略。与此同时,应强化利益相关者利益协调与整合机制。     

From symbolic values to symbolic innovation: Internet-memes and innovation

Innovation studies has largely focused on technological assets, while leaving other sources and forms of innovation less tackled. Among this neglected corpus, this article stresses the important role played by symbolic value in the consumption and production processes of innovative goods and services. I explore especially Internet-memes that represent iconic productions of the Internet ‘lead culture’, which embed significant symbolic values. This article therefore, refers to the economic sociology and innovation management literature to emphasise the force of these creations of symbolic value by culture-lead communities, through their production of Internet-memes. I argue that Internet-memes represent a widespread source of innovation in various sectors (from cultural industries to less expect ones like finance). While exploratory, the present study extends the debate on the nature of innovation, its symbolic and cultural aspects and its diffusion processes. It ultimately suggests potential new paths for innovation policies to tackle these new forms of innovations.     

Absorptive capacity for need knowledge: Antecedents and effects for employee innovativeness

Innovation occurs when knowledge about unmet customer needs intersects with knowledge about technological solutions. Both knowledge types are often located outside the firm and need to be absorbed in order for innovation to occur. While there has been extensive research into absorptive capacity for solution knowledge, a necessary complement ? absorptive capacity for new customer needs ? has been neglected. In an individual-level study of 864 employees from a home appliance firm, we show that need absorptive capacity is theoretically and empirically distinct from solution absorptive capacity, and that both are positively associated with employee innovativeness. Interestingly, we find asymmetric extra-domain effects: prior solution knowledge is positively related to need absorptive capacity (cross-pollination effect), while prior need knowledge is negatively related to solution absorptive capacity (attenuation effect). We contrast the cognitive underpinnings of the two absorptive capacity types, contributing to emerging scholarly thinking on the domain-specificity and micro foundations of absorptive capacity.     

Too busy to help: Antecedents and outcomes of interactional justice in web-based service encounters

Customer service is an important aspect of virtually all organizations. Thus, many try to find ways to improve it. Web-based live-chat support services are one promising means toward this end. However, such services and their success factors have been rarely studied. This study bridges this gap. It builds on justice and service marketing theories, and examines key factors that drive intentions to continue using web-based live-chat support services and to provide positive word-of-mouth. The results suggest that these outcomes are increased through interactional justice perceptions, which are diminished by the perceived busyness of the service provider. It is also suggested that the latter effect is moderated by the duration of the live-chat session; when the session is long the effect is stronger. Data collected from 86 users of a library web-based live-chat service were analyzed with structural equation modeling (SEM) techniques and support this view. Implications for research and practice are discussed.     

The evolution of argumentation mining: From models to social media and emerging tools

Argumentation mining is a rising subject in the computational linguistics domain focusing on extracting structured arguments from natural text, often from unstructured or noisy text. The initial approaches on modeling arguments was aiming to identify a flawless argument on specific fields (Law, Scientific Papers) serving specific needs (completeness, effectiveness). With the emerge of Web 2.0 and the explosion in the use of social media both the diffusion of the data and the argument structure have changed. In this survey article, we bridge the gap between theoretical approaches of argumentation mining and pragmatic schemes that satisfy the needs of social media generated data, recognizing the need for adapting more flexible and expandable schemes, capable to adjust to the argumentation conditions that exist in social media. We review, compare, and classify existing approaches, techniques and tools, identifying the positive outcome of combining tasks and features, and eventually propose a conceptual architecture framework. The proposed theoretical framework is an argumentation mining scheme able to identify the distinct sub-tasks and capture the needs of social media text, revealing the need for adopting more flexible and extensible frameworks.     

Microfluidics-based devices: New tools for studying cancer and cancer stem cell migration

Cell movement is highly sensitive to stimuli from the extracellular matrix and media. Receptors on the plasma membrane in cells can activate signal transduction pathways that change the mechanical behavior of a cell by reorganizing motion-related organelles. Cancer cells change their migration mechanisms in response to different environments more robustly than noncancer cells. Therefore, therapeutic approaches to immobilize cancer cells via inhibition of the related signal transduction pathways rely on a better understanding of cell migration mechanisms. In recent years, engineers have been working with biologists to apply microfluidics technology to study cell migration. As opposed to conventional cultures on dishes, microfluidics deals with the manipulation of fluids that are geometrically constrained to a submillimeter scale. Such small scales offer a number of advantages including cost effectiveness, low consumption of reagents, high sensitivity, high spatiotemporal resolution, and laminar flow. Therefore, microfluidics has a potential as a new platform to study cell migration. In this review, we summarized recent progress on the application of microfluidics in cancer and other cell migration researches. These studies have enhanced our understanding of cell migration and cancer invasion as well as their responses to subtle variations in their microenvironment. We hope that this review will serve as an interdisciplinary guidance for both biologists and engineers as they further develop the microfluidic toolbox toward applications in cancer research.     

Not all technologies are created equal for stakeholders: Constituency statutes,firm stakeholder orientation and investments in technology generality

Previous research has analyzed the effect of stakeholder orientation on the amount of technological investment firms make but has ignored its effect on the characteristics of that investment. To address this gap, we explored the impact of stakeholder orientation on the degree of generality of a firm's technological investment. More general technologies (i.e., technologies easily deployable in a wider range of industries) are more likely to promote major changes in the firm's scope. However, these changes undermine the value of stakeholders’ past relationship-specific investments, which are tailored to a certain firm scope. Therefore, more stakeholder-oriented firms will invest in less general technological assets to reduce stakeholder concerns and opposition. This negative effect will be stronger in more uncertain industries, where stakeholders are more concerned that firms might use technology generality to change their scope following the realization of previously unforeseen contingencies. However, it will be weaker in more competitive industries, where stakeholders tend to make less relationship-specific investments and are less concerned with changes in firm scope triggered by an increase in technology generality. We test our hypotheses by exploiting the enactment of constituency statutes in 34 U.S. states during the period 1976–2000 as a plausibly exogenous variation in firms’ stakeholder orientation.     

Bringing considerations of situated action to bear on the paradigm of cognitive modeling: the 2002 Benjamin Franklin Medal in computer and cognitive science presented to Lucy Suchman

The work of Lucy Suchman produced a paradigmatic shift in the cognitive science community by creating an awareness of the role of context in human cognition. Prior to that, cognitive scientists attempting to create interactive computer systems¹ believed that if the system had a good likeness of its user's knowledge of the world it could understand and therefore successfully respond to its user's needs. As a result, cognitive scientists attempted to supply to computer systems the knowledge, or plans, that users brought to bear when solving problems so that the computer systems could examine that knowledge and predict what users needed to know.Suchman argued that problem-solving did not proceed simply by applying plans of action. Rather, she showed that plans were but one of the resources that people use in problem-solving: plans help people decide what features of the environment to attend to in order to attain their goals.Suchman then extended this insight in a way that created a new field of research. She took the position that interactive systems need to match the context-driven way in which people use technologies in their work environments. As a result, she developed the methodology of ethnographically based design. In this method, working prototypes are developed and designers follow users to see what their work and their work contexts are like, as users try out the prototypes in their daily work environments.Using this approach, Suchman uncovered previously unnoticed creative and improvisational abilities common in the workplace. Further, she suggested systems that would enhance, rather than quash, these ways of working.Suchman's approach, now used in academia and industry both in the US and throughout Europe, has impacted significantly on the design of computer systems in a wide range of domains such as space exploration, medical monitoring of elders living on their own, and large-scale document retrieval.     

比较研究各国科研机构论文产出的基尼系数

 洛仑兹曲线和基尼系数是经济学领域的经典指标,在1905年就开始应用于分析收入不平等状况。经济学家和社会学家通过统计某一个群体,例如一个城市或一个国家的居民收入的数据,绘出其对应的洛伦兹曲线并计算基尼系数。基尼系数的数值从0到1,对应着从绝对平均到绝对不平均的情况。有很多相关的研究发现,收入不平等程度和经济发展以及社会进步之间存在一定的关系。除了经济学领域,基尼系数的概念还广泛应用于其他领域的定量分析研究中。本研究尝试将洛仑兹曲线和基尼系数应用于国家的科研究论文产出不平衡状态的研究。在研究中通过科技论文的数量反映各国科技产出的情况。选取的数据来自SCIE 1995—2007年的数据,进行国际比较的对象是中国以及其他10个国家（包括美国、俄罗斯、日本、法国、英国、德国、韩国、印度、巴西和芬兰）,这些国家包括了追赶型的科技后发国家和传统科技强国。通过比较研究发现,传统科技强国的基尼系数相对较小,而快速发展的创新型国家的基尼系数相对较大,而0.6是一个不很确切的分界线。同时一些国家,例如印度、俄罗斯等国家并不符合这个结论。     

提升工装刀具管理系统的思考与实践

文章基于多年工装刀具管理的实践和思考,从生产现场存在的各类问题着手,从基本的库房整合,统一编码,到提升管理水平的五个阶段,运用现代管理技术进行卓有成效的管理,提出一系列的解决方案,对生产系统形成强有力的支持。同时,有效的工装刀具管理还可以消除企业很多的隐形成本,对降低企业运行成本,提高产品竟争力有重要的意义。对于一个中等规模的制造企业,如何结合本企业实际情况,有步骤、分阶段的实施五步提升,具有广泛的指导意义。     

Lean information for lean communication: Analysis of concepts,tools, references,and terms

Communication and information processes are vital in any company. The use of lean manufacturing concepts applied to the communication and information process aims to reduce waste and make the flows leaner and simpler. Lean information is a new strand of lean concepts and applications. The purpose of this study was to analyze quantitatively the publications concerning the subject, outlining an overview for the new research field of lean communication. Aiming for a deeper understanding, the concepts of lean information were applied in a real process. The quantitative analysis was carried out to find the main authors and works, as well as the main terms used in related works. We used the methods of citations works, co-citation references, and co-occurrence of words using the VOSviewer software. This software was primarily designed to analyze bibliometric networks in order to create, visualize, and assess maps based on network data generated from queries in journals. We found a lack of a methodology for the development and implementation of lean information concepts. We observed a gap which had not been addressed yet, that is, mapping communication flows and developing and implementing lean information. Moreover, there was no method for improvement, implementation, and control.     

基于GVC和利益相关者理论的跨国公司环境绩效审计评价指标体系的构建

基于全球价值链理论和利益相关者理论,从价值链管理维度、资金来源维度、学习成长维度、社会影响维度这四个维度科学的构建了跨国公司环境绩效审计指标体系,最后指出该种构建角度的创新点和不足之处,以推动实践中跨国公司环境绩效审计的发展。     

宁波助力小微企业突破自主创新瓶颈的对策研究——基于500家小微企业的调查

目前,小微企业日益重视自主创新。通过调查浙江省宁波市500家小微企业,运用层次分析法对调查数据进行研究后发现,"研发人才缺乏"、"研发经费紧张"、"融资环境不佳"等障碍是宁波小微企业自主创新的瓶颈。为了帮助小微企业突破自主创新瓶颈,宁波要提升研发人才公共服务质量以改善研发人才缺乏状况,着力减轻小微企业研发经费紧张状况,大力改善小微企业融资环境。     

Ethical values and social care robots for older people: an international qualitative study

Values such as respect for autonomy, safety, enablement, independence, privacy and social connectedness should be reflected in the design of social robots. The same values should affect the process by which robots are introduced into the homes of older people to support independent living. These values may, however, be in tension. We explored what potential users thought about these values, and how the tensions between them could be resolved. With the help of partners in the ACCOMPANY project, 21 focus groups (123 participants) were convened in France, the Netherlands and the UK. These groups consisted of: (i) older people, (ii) informal carers and (iii) formal carers of older people. The participants were asked to discuss scenarios in which there is a conflict between older people and others over how a robot should be used, these conflicts reflecting tensions between values. Participants favoured compromise, persuasion and negotiation as a means of reaching agreement. Roles and related role-norms for the robot were thought relevant to resolving tensions, as were hypothetical agreements between users and robot-providers before the robot is introduced into the home. Participants’ understanding of each of the values—autonomy, safety, enablement, independence, privacy and social connectedness—is reported. Participants tended to agree that autonomy often has priority over the other values, with the exception in certain cases of safety. The second part of the paper discusses how the values could be incorporated into the design of social robots and operationalised in line with the views expressed by the participants.     

Intelligent scientific authoring tools: Interactive data mining for constructive uses of citation networks

Many powerful methods and tools exist for extracting meaning from scientific publications, their texts, and their citation links. However, existing proposals often neglect a fundamental aspect of learning: that understanding and learning require an active and constructive exploration of a domain. In this paper, we describe a new method and a tool that use data mining and interactivity to turn the typical search and retrieve dialogue, in which the user asks questions and a system gives answers, into a dialogue that also involves sense-making, in which the user has to become active by constructing a bibliography and a domain model of the search term(s). This model starts from an automatically generated and annotated clustering solution that is iteratively modified by users. The tool is part of an integrated authoring system covering all phases from search through reading and sense-making to writing. Two evaluation studies demonstrate the usability of this interactive and constructive approach, and they show that clusters and groups represent identifiable sub-topics.     

Toward a theoretical framework for understanding the relationship between situated action and planned action models of behavior in information retrieval contexts: contributions from phenomenology

In human–computer interaction (HCI), a successful interaction sequence can take its own momentum and drift away from what the user has originally planned. However, this does not mean that planned actions play no important role in the overall performance. In this paper, the author tries to construct a line of argument to demonstrate that it is impossible to consider an action without an a priori plan, even according to the phenomenological position taken for granted by the situated action theory. Based on the phenomenological analysis of problematic situations and typification the author argues that, just like “situated-ness”, “planned-ness” of an action should also be understood in the context of the situation. Successful plan can be developed and executed for familiar context. The first part of the paper treats information seeking behavior as a special type of social action and applies Alfred Schutz's phenomenology of sociology to understand the importance and necessity of plan. The second part reports results of a quasi-experiment focusing on plan deviation within an information seeking context. It was found that when the searcher's situation changed from problematic to non-problematic, the degree of plan deviation decreased significantly. These results support the argument proposed in the first part of the paper.