Why the whole is less than the sum of its parts: Examining knowledge management in acquisitions

This paper seeks to explain why an acquiring organization was unable to leverage the expertise of the acquired organization even though both organizations were highly successful in their own right prior to the acquisition. It offers a knowledge-based perspective by teasing out the essential knowledge attributes pertinent to acquisitions. The research was carried out using an interpretative case study methodology at a Singapore-based multinational organization in the semi-conductor industry. The main data collection method used was face-to-face interviews with some 28 staff from October 2006 to December 2006, almost 2 years after the acquisition exercise. The findings suggest that the lackluster outcome could be traced to three knowledge attributes, namely, accessibility, applicability and cumulativeness. In conclusion, a number of practical and research implications are highlighted.     

Rethinking critical patriotism: a case of constructive patriotism in Social Studies teachers in Singapore

Critical patriotism is an ideal in many liberal Western nations. Few studies, however, explore how teachers understand and teach critical patriotism and the possible tensions arising from its adoption, especially in non-Western contexts. This qualitative case study explores the understandings and practices of two Social Studies teachers from an elite girls’ school in Singapore to understand how they negotiate the tensions that arise when critical thinking and patriotism meet. The findings show that the teachers perceive little contradiction between patriotism and critical thinking and, hence, generally taught in line with democratic citizenship education. They encouraged students to discuss controversial policies, brought in diverse perspectives and challenged the status quo. However, sensitive to the socio-political context in Singapore, they sought consensus instead of contestation, gradual change instead of radical change, in contrast to the spirit of critical patriotism. These findings suggest that in Singapore, where communitarian values are promoted, critical patriotism was expressed differently. Constructive patriotism may be a better term to describe the type of patriotism observed in the teachers.     

Oxygen plasma treatment for reducing hydrophobicity of a sealed polydimethylsiloxane microchannel

Rapid prototyping of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) is often used to build microfluidic devices. However, the inherent hydrophobic nature of the material limits the use of PDMS in many applications. While different methods have been developed to transform the hydrophobic PDMS surface to a hydrophilic surface, the actual implementation proved to be time consuming due to differences in equipment and the need for characterization. This paper reports a simple and easy protocol combining a second extended oxygen plasma treatments and proper storage to produce usable hydrophilic PDMS devices. The results show that at a plasma power of 70 W, an extended treatment of over 5 min would allow the PDMS surface to remain hydrophilic for more than 6 h. Storing the treated PDMS devices in de-ionized water would allow them to maintain their hydrophilicity for weeks. Atomic force microscopy analysis shows that a longer oxygen plasma time produces a smoother surface.     

Stationary principles and potential functions for nonlinear networks

This paper presents a novel graph theoretic approach for deriving various stationary principles for single-element type nonlinear networks. The concepts of total content, co-content and hybrid content are generalized to that of total parametric content for resistive nonlinear networks containing multivalued elements. The results by Brayton and Moser on potential functions for complete m-ports are generalized to non-complete m-ports in terms of three pseudopotential functions; namely, the pseudo-content, pseudo- co-content and the pseudo-hybrid content. The precise criterion for which each of these pseudo-potential functions reduces to a legitimate potential function is shown to be the unique solvability of an implicit set of equations given explicitly in terms of standard topological matrices. Simple circuit theoretic sufficient conditions are given which require merely the positive-definiteness of the incremental resistance matrix of an auxiliary complete current-controlled p-port and the incremental conductance matrix of an auxiliary complete voltage-controlled q-port. These conditions also guarantee that a non-complete dynamic nonlinear network can be represented by a system of normal form differential equations in terms of a single mixed potential function.     

The Development of Diploma in Education Student Teachers’ Mathematics Pedagogical Content Knowledge

Mathematics pedagogical content knowledge (MPCK) of teachers cannot be easily defined but is a complex concept integrating generic pedagogical knowledge, mathematics teaching methodology as well as knowledge of the discipline of mathematics. It is the objective of mathematics methodology courses in teacher preparation programmes to begin the development of MPCK in their pre-service teachers. As part of a research study on the development of MPCK in primary school beginning teachers, a 16-item instrument was developed to measure some aspects of the MPCK for teaching mathematics at primary level. The instrument was administered to the 2003 Intake of the Diploma in Education student teachers at the National Institute of Education, Singapore just at the beginning of their programme. As they completed their methodology course in February 2005, the instrument was administered again. This paper will discuss the findings concerning their performance in these two tests, with reference to the overall performance as well as topic-specific and MPCK construct-specific performance. The findings indicate that student teachers at the beginning of their programmes are generally quite weak in their mathematics pedagogical content knowledge, as might be expected. There was significant improvement in some aspects of their MPCK on completion of their mathematics pedagogy course.     

Automatic testing and assessment of neuroanatomy using a digital brain atlas: Method and development of computer‐ and mobile‐based applications

Preparation of tests and student's assessment by the instructor are time consuming. We address these two tasks in neuroanatomy education by employing a digital media application with a three‐dimensional (3D), interactive, fully segmented, and labeled brain atlas. The anatomical and vascular models in the atlas are linked to Terminologia Anatomica. Because the cerebral models are fully segmented and labeled, our approach enables automatic and random atlas‐derived generation of questions to test location and naming of cerebral structures. This is done in four steps: test individualization by the instructor, test taking by the students at their convenience, automatic student assessment by the application, and communication of the individual assessment to the instructor. A computer‐based application with an interactive 3D atlas and a preliminary mobile‐based application were developed to realize this approach. The application works in two test modes: instructor and student. In the instructor mode, the instructor customizes the test by setting the scope of testing and student performance criteria, which takes a few seconds. In the student mode, the student is tested and automatically assessed. Self‐testing is also feasible at any time and pace. Our approach is automatic both with respect to test generation and student assessment. It is also objective, rapid, and customizable. We believe that this approach is novel from computer‐based, mobile‐based, and atlas‐assisted standpoints. Anat Sci Educ 2:244–252, 2009. © 2009 American Association of Anatomists.     

Factors affecting school choice: What do Malaysian Chinese parents want?

Aiming to explore factors affecting Malaysian Chinese parents in sending their children to either national secondary schools or Chinese independent schools, 494 parents were surveyed using a questionnaire. Results showed that parents who sent their children to Chinese independent schools have different priorities compared to those who sent theirs to national secondary schools—the former are concerned with teachers’ quality, chances of learning the Chinese culture and Mandarin while the latter are concerned with tuition fees and strategic location. In general, the finding that Malaysian Chinese parents take cultural and language factors into account when choosing a suitable school for their children is interesting because both are seldom listed as important.