Contours of the emergent knowledge society: Theoretical debate and implications for higher education research

The idea of the knowledge society is becoming increasingly dominant in various public and scholarly writings. Several governments have reacted by advocating a further expansion of higher education in order to provide a highly skilled workforce. This seems at odds with views regarding the underutilisation of skills of employed graduates. This paper sketches some major characteristics of the emergent knowledge society from sociological, epistemological and economic viewpoints. Next, it discusses current research on the incidence of overeducation. It is pointed out that measures on overeducation are inaccurate and do not take into account changes in the emergent knowledge societies. The paper concludes with implications for future research on the nature and change of knowledge-based occupations.     

Model-based reasoning in a year 10 classroom

Studies have shown that secondary school students experience difficulties making scientific models meaningful, yet explanatory models are central to the development of scientific understanding. This study investigated the extent and nature of students' model-based reasoning in a laboratory investigation. It was an interpretive study involving a single Year 10 Science class investigating the influence of six factors on electrical resistance. Before commencing their practical investigations students were re-familiarised with the “electron drift” model of metals. Data sources included videotapes of classroom interactions, audiotaped interviews with students, student workbooks showing their experimental procedures and results, and explanations of those results. The research suggests that spontaneous use of the model in explanations increased over the duration of the task but that the explanations were restricted mainly to model-based reasoning with lower order relational mapping. Even after further formal instruction on the model after the initial experimental investigations, many students were still unable to use the model effectively, displaying mainly the same level of reasoning. As model-based reasoning is an important part of learning some aspects of science, it is imperative that science educators take appropriate steps to facilitate the development of such reasoning in appropriate contexts.     

我国独立R&D机构的管理现状和发展趋势--对独立R＆D机构研究与发展管理初步研究

二十年来改革开放和社会主义市场经济建设对我国研究与发展(R＆D)管理产生了重大影响,使R＆D管理发生了深刻变化.本文将讨论我国R＆D管理的状况,并对一个综合研究设计院(BSRI)进行个案研究,以确定R＆D管理面临的主要问题,最后,对今后我国R＆D管理发展趋势进行了初步探讨.     

Antecedents and consequents of student satisfaction in higher technical-vocational education: evidence from Brazil

International Journal for Educational and Vocational Guidance - This article proposes a model of antecedents and consequences of student satisfaction in Higher Technical-Vocational Education (HTVE)...     

On the castor dynamic behavior

In this paper, a model describing the castor three-dimensional dynamic behavior, is presented. A procedure, based on the Udwadia-Kalaba formulation has been implemented to write the castor non-linear motion equations. The model takes into account the flexural and lateral compliance of the castor frame and the phenomena related to the wheel rotation. To prescind from the wheel-road interaction parameters, the hypothesis of no sideslip of the wheel has been adopted but other tire models can be easily implemented. The non-linear system stability is evaluated integrating the motion equations and performing a fitting procedure on the natural steering oscillation.     

Learning,unlearning and internationalisation: Evidence from the pre-export phase

The internationalisation process has been described as a process of learning under which a business increases its commitment abroad as the company acquires knowledge on new markets and on the nature of the process itself. The present work proposes a model that relates the possession of a base of knowledge originated in supra-organisational, organisational and individual sources, as the actively new decision of seeking knowledge related to the start of the exporting activity. Integrating the literature on the pre-export behaviour of the business and the theory of organisational learning, we propose that such relationship is influenced by two dimensions: the export intention and the context of unlearning. The sample included 103 SMEs in the pre-exporting phase. Results support the conception of the process of internationalisation as a process of learning under which a prior base of knowledge is combined with periods of unlearning and a search for new knowledge.     

The influence of personalization on tag query length in social media search

Social content systems contain enormous collections of unstructured user-generated content, annotated by the collaborative effort of regular Internet users. Tag-clouds have become popular interfaces that allow users to query the database of these systems by clicking relevant terms. However, these single click queries are often not expressive enough to effectively retrieve the desired content. Users have to use multiple clicks or type longer queries to satisfy their information need.