Knowledge management research & practice: visions and directions

This editorial paper outlines key directions for knowledge management research and practice. The editorial team presents the results from a small survey of academics and practitioners about the present and future of knowledge management, and the editors include their own informed views on how this journal can help promote scholarly inquiry in the field.     

号码锁的秘密

几十年来,许多人都像《科学美国人》的读者Billy Ellis那样,曾经对日常生活中的一些小事感到纳闷.     

The 2004 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Mechanical Engineering presented to Roger Bacon

The Franklin Institute, Philadelphia, PA, awarded the 2004 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Mechanical Engineering to Roger Bacon for his fundamental research on the production of graphite whiskers and the determination of their microstructure and properties, for his pioneering development efforts in the production of the world's first continuously processed carbon fibers and the world's first high modulus and high-strength carbon fibers, and for his contributions to the development of carbon fibers from alternative starting materials.     

College quality and early adult outcomes

This paper estimates the effects of various college qualities on several early adult outcomes, using panel data from the National Education Longitudinal Study. I compare the results using ordinary least squares with three alternative methods of estimation, including instrumental variables, and the methods used by Dale and Krueger [(2002). Estimating the payoff to attending a more selective college: An application of selection on observables and unobservables. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 117(4), 1491–1528.] and Black and Smith [(2004). How robust is the evidence on the effects of college quality? Evidence from matching. Journal of Econometrics, 121, 99–124.]. I find that college quality does have positive significant effects on most outcomes studied using OLS. While there is some evidence of positive selection bias in the OLS results, the alternative methods rarely produce findings that are significantly different from the OLS estimates. Furthermore, alternative methods have their own limitations, which are discussed. Across methods of estimation, there is solid evidence of positive effects of college quality on college graduation and household income, and weaker evidence of effects on hourly wages.     

One World,One Dream

地震发生了,我们该怎么办?本文Mark为我们讲述了他的祖国——美国对全民防震意识的教育及在技术上所采取的预防性措施,这对我们应该是一个很好的借鉴。当然,地震来临时,政府也应该调集各种有效力量积极行动起来,对受灾群众迅速进行救助,这是一个人性化的政府应该具备的功能,也恰好是中国政府在5?12大地震中所展现出来的让世界人民刮目相看的风采。     

Predictors of Behavior Problems in Three-Year-Old Sons of Alcoholics: Early Evidence for the Onset of Risk

We investigated risk factors in a population-based sample of alcoholic (father) and comparison families with 3-year-old sons. Alcoholic and comparison parents did not differ in socioeconomic status (SES), education, years married, family size, or cognitive functioning. Anti-social behavior and depression were significantly greater in alcoholic parents. High risk children were more impulsive than comparison children, but there were no differences in developmental age, IQ, or behavior problems. A higher percentage of high-risk children were rated in the extreme clinical range for behavior problems than were comparison children. For alcoholic families, mothers' ratings of their children's total behavior problems, externalizing behavior problems, and internalizing behavior problems were predicted by mothers' lifetime alcohol problems, current depression, and family SES. Father variables failed to predict children's behavior problems. Maternal variables were stronger predictors of their 3-year-old sons' problem behaviors than were paternal variables.     

Age and Sex Differences in Performance in an 11‐plus Selective Examination

The aim of the study was to investigate age and sex differences in performance in an 11‐plus selective examination. The sample was made up of 3460 pupils who were born in 1981 and who had sat the examination for the first time. Results based on a data set consisting of raw scores in Maltese, English, mathematics, social studies and religious knowledge showed a strong and consistent age effect in all five attainment measures: performance decreased with age from the ‘oldest’ pupils to the youngest’. In regard to sex differences, girls outperformed boys in Maltese, English and religion, with differences being most marked in the two languages. The performance of the two sexes in mathematics and social studies was very similar, with the boys’ performance being slightly, but not significantly, better. These age and sex effects were also evident in the proportions of pupils who passed or failed the examination. Older pupils tended to be more successful than younger pupils, and girls were more likely to pass the examination than boys.     

Does what you study at age 14–16 matter for educational transitions post-16?

Abstract

This paper considers whether subject choice at 14–16 influences post-16 transitions, taking into account prior academic attainment and school characteristics, and if so, whether this accounts for socioeconomic, gender, and ethnic differences in access to post-16 education. We consider post-16 progression to full-time education, A-levels, and studying two or more facilitating subjects at A-level. We use ‘Next Steps’, a study of 16,000 people born in England in 1989–1990, linked to administrative education records (the National Pupil Database). We find that students pursuing an EBacc-eligible curriculum at 14–16 had a greater probability of progression to all post-16 educational outcomes, while the reverse was true for students taking an applied GCSE subject. Curriculum differences did not explain the social class differences in post-16 progression, but an academic curriculum was equally valuable for working-class as for middle-class pupils. Pursuing an EBacc-eligible curriculum particularly strongly increased the chances of girls and white young people staying in the educational pipeline, whereas applied subjects were particularly detrimental for girls. An EBacc-eligible curriculum at age 14–16 increased the chances of studying subjects preferred by Russell Group universities at A-level.