The French defence industry in the knowledge management era: A historical overview and evidence from empirical data

In the defence industry the recent development of a ‘market for technology’, the creation of new European high-technology companies as well as transformations in government agencies have driven firms to reposition their technological and organizational skills. Our objective is to show that the transformations that have occurred in the past 10 years have not only redefined skills and the organization of production, but also have given a more strategic place to knowledge management (KM) practices. We provide a contextual and historical overview based on qualitative interviews, in order to better understand the relation between KM and innovative behaviour in this industry. We build an original industrial and technological database comprising various samples that provides quantitative information concerning KM and innovative practices. The results of the statistical analysis reveal the specificity of firms in this industry. Taking account of the size of these firms and their technological intensity, we show that the behaviour of defence industry firms in terms of KM practices, differs from that of other firms. This is evident from their technological performance, and innovation and patenting intensity. This structural tendency is explained as an innovative behaviour in the French national innovation system rather than merely a ‘trend’.     

Scientific misconduct at an elite medical institute: The role of competing institutional logics and fragmented control

The incidence of revealed fraud and dishonesty in academia is on the rise, and so is the number of studies seeking to explain scientific misconduct. This paper builds on the concepts of competing logics and institutional fields to analyze a serious case of medical and scientific misconduct at a leading research institute, Karolinska in Sweden, home to the Nobel Prize in Medicine.By distinguishing between a market-oriented, a medical and an academic logic, the study analyzes how various actors ? executives, research leaders, co-authors, journal editors, medical doctors, science bloggers, investigative journalists and documentary filmmakers ? sustained or tried to expose the misconduct. Despite repeated warnings from patient-responsible doctors and external academic reviewers, Karolinska protected the surgeon, Paolo Macchiarini, until a documentary film at the Swedish national public TV exposed the fraud which led to public inquiries and proposals for a new national ethics legislation.The analysis illustrates the power of a market-oriented logic focused on brand and image at the research institute and at a leading journal, but also the perseverance of the logics of scientific scrutiny and medical care among practicing doctors and independent academics although the carriers of these logics were less well organized than the carriers of the market-oriented logic. Furthermore, the analysis shows the problem of fragmented control in the academic institutional field. The discussion of remedies compares the Karolinska case, where media actors were instrumental in sanctioning the perpetrators, with a similar instance of medical misconduct at Duke in the US where the government agency (ORI) intervened and shows the limitations of both types of actors. The conclusion highlights the importance of studying misconduct management and institution-building in different fields to develop effective remedies.     

The psychology of elite cycling: a systematic review

This systematic review sought to synthesise what is currently known about the psychology of elite cycling. Nine electronic databases were searched in March 2017 for studies reporting an empirical test of any psychological construct in an elite cycling sample. Fourteen studies (total n = 427) met inclusion criteria. Eight studies were coded as having high risk of bias. Themes extracted included mood, anxiety, self-confidence, pain, and cognitive function. Few studies had similar objectives meaning that in many instances findings could not be synthesised in a meaningful way. Nevertheless, there was some cross-study evidence that elite cyclists have more positive mood states (relative to normative scores), pre-race anxiety impairs performance (among male cyclists), and associative strategies are perceived as helpful for pain management. Among single studies coded as having low risk of bias, evidence suggests that implicit beliefs affect decision making performance, elite cyclists are less susceptible to mental fatigue (than non-elite cyclists), and better leadership skills relates to greater social labouring. Limitations include non-standardisation of measures, lack of follow-up data, small sample sizes, and overall poor research quality. The findings of this systematic review might be used to inform research and theory development on the psychology of elite endurance cycling.     

Visuelle Bewegungskontrolle geführter Kraftübungen bei jungen Erwachsenen und Senioren

In the context of strength training in rehabilitation, visual movement control can be helpful to ensure correct movements. However, there are only a few studies that deal with the effectiveness of feedback during resistance exercises. To investigate the effect of feedback during guided exercise, 18 young adults (28.8?±?5.5 years) and 12 senior citizens (67.9?±?4.1 years) were tested. Subjects performed shoulder press exercises (3 sets, 15 repetitions) with and without visual movement control in a randomized order. On day 1, the subjects trained without load, and on day 2 they trained at 50% of their single repetition maximum. Joint articulation at the elbow was recorded using elbow extension and flexion. Autocorrelation was used to determine the reproducibility of movements. Subjects achieved better reproducibility of the movement with feedback than without (χ²?=?19.73; p?<?0.001). There was no effect of the load on motion accuracy (p?>?0.05), but the age group showed a significant effect (χ²?=?6.00; p?=?0.014). The younger group shows a higher degree of movement accuracy. In summary, visual movement control is useful in guided exercises to control movement execution. In clinical setting, this may be a way to control the motion performance of guided strength exercises and to ensure purposeful muscle work. Further studies should clarify the effect of visual feedback on the movement quality in unguided strength exercises.     

Reconsidering conceptual change from a socio-cultural perspective: analyzing students’ meaning making in genetics in collaborative learning activities

In the learning sciences, students’ understanding of scientific concepts has often been approached in terms of conceptual change. These studies are grounded in a cognitive or a socio-cognitive approach to students’ understanding and imply a focus on the individuals’ mental representations of scientific concepts and ideas. We approach students’ conceptual change from a socio-cultural perspective as they make new meaning in genetics. Adhering to a socio-cultural perspective, we emphasize the discursive and interactional aspects of human learning and understanding. This perspective implies that the focus is on students’ meaning making processes in collaborative learning activities. In the study, we conduct an analysis of a group of students’ who interact while working to solve problems in genetics. In our analyses we emphasize four analytical aspects of the students’ meaning making: (a) the students’ use of resources in problematizing, (b) teacher interventions, (c) changes in interactional accomplishments, and (d) the institutional aspect of meaning making. Our findings suggest that students’ meaning making surrounding genetics concepts relates not only to an epistemic concern but also to an interactional and an institutional concern.

Der Leiter des Fachhochschul-Kollegiums

Ebenso wie beim Fachhochschul-Kollegium selbst, stellen sich beim Leiter des Fachhochschul-Kollegiums eine Reihe von grundlegenden Rechtsfragen, insbesondere zu seiner verfassungs- und hochschulrechtlichen Stellung, seiner Wahl bzw Abberufung, seinen Aufgaben hoheitlicher und nichthoheitlicher Natur, zu verfahrensrechtlichen Problemen und seinem Verhältnis zum Erhalter. Soweit bei dem gegebenen, spärlichen Auslegungsmaterial möglich, wird versucht, Lösungsansätze zu den aufgezeigten Rechtsproblemen zu erarbeiten.     

Emergent achievement segregation in freshmen learning community networks

A common assumption about Freshmen Learning Communities (FLCs) is that academic relationships contribute to students’ success. This study investigates how students in learning communities connect with fellow students for friendship and academic support. Longitudinal social network data across the first year, collected from 95 Dutch students in eight FLCs, measure both social and academic relational choices within and beyond the FLCs. Using stochastic actor-based models, the study tests two competing hypotheses. The alignment hypothesis states that students connect with their similar-achieving friends for both academic and social support, leading to an alignment of both types of networks over time. In contrast, the duality hypothesis states dissimilarity between academic support networks and friendship networks: students should connect with better-achieving fellow students for academic support and to more similar peers for friendship. The data support the alignment hypothesis but not the duality hypothesis; in addition, they show evidence of achievement segregation in FLCs: the higher the students’ achievement level, the more they connect with other students for both academic support and friendship, relating in particular to peers with a similarly high achievement level. The results suggest that lower-achieving students are excluded from the support provided by higher-achieving students and instead ask similar lower achievers for support. They thus cannot benefit optimally from the academic integration FLC offer. The article concludes with recommendations of how to support students in an FLC so that they can reach optimal achievement potential.     

‘What are these researchers doing in my Wikipedia?’: ethical premises and practical judgment in internet-based ethnography

The article ties together codified ethical premises, proceedings of ethical reasoning, and field-specific ethical reflections so to inform the ethnography of an Internet-based collaborative project. It argues that instead of only obeying formal statutes, practical judgment has to account for multiple understandings of ethical issues in the research field as well as for the self-determination of reflexive participants. The article reflects on the heuristics that guided the decisions of a 4-year participant observation in the English-language and German-language editions of Wikipedia. Employing a microsociological perspective, it interrogates the technological, social, and legal implications of publicness and information sensitivity as core ethical concerns among Wikipedia authors. The first problem area of managing accessibility and anonymity contrasts the handling of the technologically available records of activities, disclosures of personal information, and the legal obligations to credit authorship with the authors’ right to work anonymously and the need to shield their identity. The second area confronts the contingent addressability of editors with the demand to assure and maintain informed consent. Taking into account these problem areas, the ethical reasoning on the one hand proposes options for observing and documenting episodes. On the other, it provides advice on the feasibility and the necessity of obtaining informed consent.     

Assessment in Ghana and England: putting reform to the test of practice

Assessment reform, in particular a move towards more school‐based forms of assessment, has become a global phenomenon. Involving teachers more centrally in assessment has often been rationalised by claims derived from the literature on formative assessment, hinging on the enhanced validity of performance assessment and the potential of classroom assessment for improving the quality of learning. This paper draws on work in Ghana and England which suggests that in neither case are the potentialities for improvement being realised. Teachers’ conceptualisation of assessment has been a significant barrier to improvement. We present outlines of participatory research projects to address this problem, where practitioners’ own investigation will be used as a way of addressing the need for changes, rooted both in increased technical expertise and in their own belief systems. The divergent contexts for the projects may enable a deeper evaluation of the potential of this methodology than might have occurred in just one country.