Dissertations / Theses: 'Knowledge policy'

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Vavra, Curtiss John. "Policy Knowledge Communication in Nursing." ScholarWorks, 2019. https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/7440.

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Evidence-based practices in nursing improve patient outcomes, decrease healthcare costs, and can be implemented with policies and procedures. However, there is limited literature describing how nurses acquire policy knowledge, the dissemination of which may require a significant investment of resources by a hospital. The purpose of this study was to learn more about how nurses obtain policy knowledge. Rogers's diffusion of innovations theory guided the examination of communication channels and how they relate to the formation of policy knowledge. The research questions were designed to gather information on the relationship of policy communication channels, demographic factors, and the frequency of document access in policy knowledge formation. This correlational study, using select subscales of the Policy Communication Index, was conducted to examine how nurses create and communicate policy knowledge. The sample included 22 nurses who practice at the bedside in a small hospital. Data sources included an anonymous online survey and frequency of policy access data. Data analyses included multiple regression, Pearson's r correlation, and Spearman's correlation of the data. The results showed that nurses report meeting discussions are the primary source of policy knowledge rather than written documents. A subset of participants who supplied an employee identification number showed a strong correlation with electronically distributed. Based on these results, nursing leaders can concentrate policy knowledge dissemination through meetings and safety huddles. The positive social change implication of this study includes better practices to convey evidence-based policy knowledge to nurses practicing at the bedside.

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Bjerhem, Elin. "Knowledge is Power -About Swedish Politicians' Knowledge Concerning Migration Policy." Thesis, Malmö högskola, Institutionen för globala politiska studier (GPS), 2010. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:mau:diva-21123.

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Abstract:This thesis deals with Swedish politicians and their knowledge concerning migration policy. It investigates what knowledge the politicians have and from where they collect their knowledge on the mentioned topic. The study also investigates the politicians’ role as mediators of knowledge and the possible responsibilities connected to such a role.The main source for data has been interviews with six Swedish politicians, all members of parties, represented in the Swedish Parliament. To understand and be able to explain the results found, Sociology of Knowledge has been used as theoretical framework.The result of the thesis is that politicians in general, possess very little knowledge concerning migration policy. But, the current presence of the Swedish right wing party, Sverigedemokraterna, has changed the social code of the institutions that the politicians are members of and therefore many politicians have realized that they are in need of more knowledge, on the discussed topic. It was also found that the politicians have an important role as mediators of knowledge to the members of society. This role is connected to a responsibility of being correct and truthful in the statements made.

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Huang, Biao 1970. "Global Knowledge Network." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2001. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/8660.

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Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Technology and Policy Program, 2001. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 112-115). The convergence of Digital Economy, Globalization, and Knowledge-based Economy, creates the potential for Global Knowledge Networks and e-Knowledge Commerce. "The e-knowledge markets will grow to be a $1 trillion global micro-economy by 2010," estimated by Kaieteur Institute For Knowledge Management in 2000. The next wave of growth is likely to be associated with E-Knowledge Commerce, far exceeding the ECommerce. However, up to date, significant disconnections exist among Digital Economy, Knowledge-based Economy, and Globalization. e-Knowledge Commerce is too new to have business models to exist in either the business world or literatures. This thesis tries to fill this significant gap, by focusing on a new type of global institutional development, known as Global Knowledge Network, by defining its characteristic features and formulating the relevant 'best business models.' More specifically, this thesis (a) determines and formulates business models relevant for different types of e-Knowledge Commerce, and (b) explores how to develop the functionality of a Global Knowledge Network such as Global System for Sustainable Development (GSSD) in the context of e-Knowledge Commerce. Furthermore, this thesis examines the policy and legal issues in e-Knowledge Commerce & Global Knowledge Network, such as intellectual property right, customer privacy, digital trusted system, security such as firewalls, encryption, watermark, etc. Finally, draws conclusions about e-Knowledge Commerce & Global Knowledge Network and provides some recommendations for further research work. by Biao Huang. S.M.

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Tödtling, Franz, Michaela Trippl, and Lukas Lengauer. "Towards regional knowledge economics. Routes and policy options." Institut für Regional- und Umweltwirtschaft, WU Vienna University of Economics and Business, 2008. http://epub.wu.ac.at/266/1/document.pdf.

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In recent years a move towards knowledge economies has been observed in many advanced countries. Knowledge based sectors and related activities have been expanding rapidly. However, the preconditions for developing such activities differ strongly between types of regions, depending on their location conditions, firm structure and institutional fabric. The regional innovation systems (RIS) approach captures such different settings in a useful way, allowing us to distinguish e.g. between well endowed and networked, fragmented and thin RIS. Using this approach we will study which conditions, potentials and barriers exist in different types of RIS for developing knowledge based industries and activities, and which routes and policy options might be adequate in different regional settings. We investigate these questions at first conceptually, drawing on the literature on RIS, and location and clustering of knowledge based sectors. Empirically we will present evidence on three regions in Austria (Vienna, Upper Austria and Salzburg) representing different types of RIS. Based on the conceptual findings we will compare these regions regarding their RIS characteristics, their preconditions for and strengths of knowledge based sectors focussing in particular on the ICT sector. Furthermore we will analyse routes and policy options for developing knowledge based sectors for such different types of regions. (author´s abstract) Series: SRE - Discussion Papers

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Wong, Susan. "Regional development and telecommunications policy in Western Australia : accessing knowledge to inform policy through complexity and action research /." Wong, Susan (2006) Regional development and telecommunications policy in Western Australia: accessing knowledge to inform policy through complexity and action research. PhD thesis, Murdoch University, 2006. http://researchrepository.murdoch.edu.au/455/.

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This study explores how governments use knowledge to inform telecommunications policy-making and policy-implementation in regional development. It focuses on epistemological aspects and assumptions made within the parameters of Enlightenment thinking or the Newtonian paradigm, also known as the classical scientit1c paradigm. It argues that lmowledge formed within this paradigm, usually generated at a distance, has been individ,uated, detached, segmented and abstracted. 'Individuation' focuses on individuals and things rather than communities and processes. 'Detachment' separates the subjective mind from the objective environment to produce reliable information. 'Segmentation' produces validity of information by parsing the objective environment from its social and historical context. 'Abstraction' allows objectivity and systematisation of information. When used to inform policy, such knowledge creates a narrow 'standardising gaze' that 'disciplines' communities to conform to dominant social behaviour and beliefs. Case studies are used to demonstrate that the two major models of development, as products ofthis paradigm, employ this gaze rendering replicability difficult ifnot impossible. These models are the top-down and bottom-up approach that are epitomised by the Silicon Valley model and telecentre moveluent respectively. How this gaze inhibits/facilitates development in policy implementation is then examined in the Goldfields Esperance region in Western Australia. An holistic approach using cotnplex adaptive systems is used to understand the multidisciplinary aspects involved in development. This is combined with action research, a reflexive methodology. Action research has the ability to access local knowledge to provide data and evaluation in situ rather than on a post hoc basis. The findings demonstrate that complex systems analysis and action research provide a modus operandi that: a) recognises the interplay of various factors (such as power relations, economic cycle, social and political institutions) at different levels of the system; b) recognises time, context and path-dependence of regional development; c) provides a filter that minimises the 'standardising gaze' and d) gives an access to knowledge and insight to local issues, which can facilitate policy implementation of development that is sympathetic to regional communities.

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Raghavan, Amrith 1976. "Re-engineering knowledge networks for development." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2004. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/17661.

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Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, Technology and Policy Program, 2004. Includes bibliographical references. This thesis examines the evolution of Internet based knowledge networks (e-knowledge networks) in the domain of sustainable development. The objective of this thesis is to use an engineering systems approach to understand knowledge networks, identify the barriers to their sustainability and recommend strategies for re-engineering them. e-Knowledge Networks refer to the set of Internet based tools and platforms that support communication, collaboration and group decision-making processes amongst groups of individuals. e-knowledge networks are particularly important in the context of international development initiatives that recognize that knowledge is the key to technological change and sustainable economic development. This thesis is intended to aid knowledge network managers and researchers in their efforts towards making their knowledge networks sustainable. The thesis addresses in depth the most important barrier towards a knowledge network's sustainability- the problem of collective action among the participants of a knowledge network. It takes the view that knowledge is a public good, and a knowledge network would face the problem of under provision of this public good due the problem of free-riding and lack of mechanisms to mobilize collective action. This thesis provides guidelines and recommendations for the restructuring of incentives and organizational policies and the re-engineering of the technology to overcome this barrier. The thesis first outlines a framework and taxonomy for describing different knowledge network configurations and maps out the state of existence of important knowledge networks existing in the sustainable development domain within this framework. It then provides individual and comparative (cont.) studies of two important knowledge networks related to sustainable development- the MIT developed Global System for Sustainable Development (GSSD) and the Development Gateway's Knowledge Network. The engineering systems approach used in this thesis enables the study of each of the sub-systems that make up a knowledge network- the human subsystem, the technological subsystem and the institutional subsystem. This is done with the view towards providing insights into the structure of the network and the network of relationships that develop within a Knowledge Network, determining the motivations that drives the creators and the participants and the incentives that have been engineered into the technological and organizational policies to meet these motivations and assessing the quality, quantity and the evolution of knowledge and the throughput of participants in the network. A detailed description of each of the subsystems is provided and the interrelationships amongst them are analyzed and the result is synthesized to develop an integrated framework for the assessment of knowledge networks. by Amrith Raghavan. S.M.

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Amakali, Tangi Rebekka. "Inclusive design policy implementation : an organizational knowledge creation perspective." Thesis, University of Reading, 2017. http://centaur.reading.ac.uk/75515/.

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The built environment plays an important role in ensuring inclusive access, making a provision for the wider population, especially disabled people, in accessing goods, work, education, facilities, services, health and housing. There are currently 11 million registered disabled people in the UK and the number is expected to rise in the coming years. The majority of this population faces challenges within the built environment due to physical barriers, some of which can be eliminated during the design stages. The DDA 1995, now part of the Equality Act 2010, was brought in by the UK Government to eradicate these barriers and led to Planning Policy Statement 1 in 2005 (also known as PPS1, which replaced by the National Planning Policy Framework in 2012) and Building Regulation Part M 1987, 2000, 2004 and 2010. All of these are designed to minimise disability discrimination by calling for reasonable provision for inclusive access within the built environment. Yet the literature review for this thesis suggests that designs that are not inclusively designed are still being granted permission. Furthermore, the literature review highlights: the limited understanding of inclusive design policy implementation amongst policy actors; the lack of clear policy documents, and; the weak influence of policy in decision-making. This research aims to examine how policy actors gain an understanding of the inclusive design policy implementation process necessary to assess the accessibility of the designs. To understand the research aim an Organizational Knowledge Creation Theory was introduced. In addition, a qualitative methods approach is adopted. The qualitative component involved semi-structured face-to-face interviews with thirteen policy actors from four selected case studies which are Local Authorities, underpinned by an analysis of the inclusive design policy document for each case study. The findings highlighted three main issues: poor knowledge creation on inclusive design; lack of organizational vision of the inclusive environment, and; access officers’ poor involvement in knowledge creation. This thesis makes a number of recommendations for improving the current understanding of inclusive design policy implementation amongst policy actors.

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Monngakgotla, Oabona C. "Policy makers knowledge and practices of intellectual property rights on indigenous knowledge systems in Botswana." Pretoria : [s.n.], 2007. http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-07222008-123004/.

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Sato, Atsuko. "Beyond boundaries Japan, knowledge, and transnational networks in global atmospheric politics /." Thesis, University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2002. http://catalog.hathitrust.org/api/volumes/oclc/53965208.html.

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Lim, Shung Yar 1979. "Global knowledge networking for the multinational enterprise." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2003. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/17563.

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Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, Technology and Policy Program, 2003. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 122-126). This thesis proposes a technology strategy that is formulated to serve as the foundation for a holistic. global knowledge networking strategy for multinational enterprises (MNEs). This thesis is framed in the context of the increasing salience of knowledge for all enterprises, everywhere, today. The uncertainties of the marketplace, global e-business opportunities born of the Internet revolution, and the paradigmatic shifts in thought on organizational design have amplified the demand for the right knowledge of the right kind at the right time. The multi-dimensional nature of knowledge and the complexities of enterprise activities are compounded by the fact that enterprises today are increasingly globalized and seeking to globally expand its activities. The capabilities to acquire quality-controlled knowledge within the necessary time-horizons, and the capabilities to leverage and diffuse acquired knowledge throughout the organization have become critical. However, the mechanisms by which to perform and enable these functions are not strategically integrated across the organization, and on a global basis. This thesis focuses on the knowledge network as a mechanism and as a process by which to coordinate innovation and learning for enterprises and enterprise-value-networks on a global basis. While knowledge networks have been formed in both non-profit and for-profit sectors, this thesis will be concerned solely with knowledge networks for businesses. Knowledge networks can be analyzed into technology and human elements, but often there is no coordinating strategy that synthesizes both elements into integrative solutions that can capture the value of knowledge for the enterprise. The hypothesis . guiding this thesis is that existing models of knowledge networking are not sufficiently holistic. and proposes an integrated knowledge networking strategy that leverages both technology infrastructure and human competencies in meeting organizational knowledge requirements. The emergent nature of strategically initiated knowledge networks in business can adapt knowledge networking solutions that have been developed in the non-profit sector. One such framework for knowledge networking from the non-profit sector is the GSSD (Global System for Sustainable Development) initiative, developed in MIT with partners in academic institutions around the world, is one such methodology that aims to facilitate knowledge flows and knowledge sharing on a global scale. This thesis (a) develops a technology strategy that adapts the GSSD framework for enterprises that operate on a global scale, (b) illustrates its conceptual feasibility by proposing several designs for GSSD-E, or GSSD for the enterprise, and (c) applies the designs to a test case. The test case is a conceptual implementation of the GSSD-E design for Sony Environmental Management Systems. The thesis concludes by suggesting further possible directions in researching GSSD-E possibilities. by Shung Yar Lim. S.M.

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Seaton, Roger A. F. "Technology, knowledge translation and policy : conceptual frameworks and case-studies." Thesis, Cranfield University, 1997. http://hdl.handle.net/1826/3460.

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The aim of this thesis is to develop, present and then demonstrate conceptual structures that link together an apparently heterogeneous range of research activity about technology in situations which are the subject of decision-making and policy formulation. Technology is considered to be knowledge as applied in organisations, communities, policy contexts and so on. It thus takes in not only the physical processes and output of the engineering sciences but also the new forms of organisation which use that output, their impacts on, and interactions with, people at large and with the so-called natural systems in which those people are embedded and with which they also interact. Methodologically many of the research publications which this thesis incorporates approach technology related issues and problems from the bottom up, from the most microscopic level of the individual human actor, the smallest feasible level of natural and engineered systems. It is an attempt to redress the top down perspectives which dominate technology and science policy formulation and decision making. This approach often requires research interaction at the level of the individual person or at the lowest level of physical and biological activity relevant to the issue at hand and the appropriate techniques for such interaction are debated and demonstrated. The principles of "translation" or "mapping" which are capable of being applied to a range of interactions between different domains (physically engineered, diverse individuals and knowledge) are developed. The thesis then shows how the representation of responses of people to products and services has evolved and begins to focus on organisations as suppliers of those products and processes. Technology is articulated as knowledge in the context of technology transfer into organisations and the thesis shows how those ideas evolved into the concept of knowledge dynamics in organisations. The problems of interactions which involve bio- physical systems as well as engineered systems and people and the issues of sustainability and policy relevant research are introduced. The nature of integrative interdisciplinary research about these issues is presented as a form of knowledge dynamics. The thesis shows how the concepts above can be used to distinguish between policy and decision relevant issues, and how they help to provide a conceptual framework within which the similarities and differences between knowledge policy in organisations and science research policy can be compared. Thus it is a series of interdisciplinary explorations into complex decision and policy relevant situations in which technology, in the form of knowledge and as the study of interaction between the designed physical world, people, organisations and natural systems, is a constant theme.

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Backhouse, Peter. "Medical knowledge, medical power : doctors and health policy in Australia /." Title page, contents and abstract only, 1994. http://web4.library.adelaide.edu.au/theses/09PH/09phb126.pdf.

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Sarikaki, Alexandra. "Fertility decline in Greece : knowledge gaps in fertility policy debates." Thesis, Cardiff University, 2005. http://orca.cf.ac.uk/55401/.

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Greece is typical of the European experience vis-a-vis fertility decline. Its total fertility rates (TFR) fell below the population replacement level of 2.1 in 1981 and now remains at 1.3. A review of the fertility policy debates in Europe and in Greece, in particular, reveals that policy debates and discourses are biased with unfounded assumptions and judgements regarding causes and consequences of fertility decline. A review of existing literature and the researcher's own empirical work presents sufficient evidence to support this conclusion. In addition, a comparison of such political and institutional perspectives with the fertility experiences and perspectives of a sample population in Greece finds that the institutional perspectives are not always adequately informed of the ground realities. It is therefore concluded that significant informational gaps are present in Greek fertility policy debates. It is also theorised that such knowledge vacuums are one of the reasons why policy initiatives fail to deliver.

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Whitman, Geoff Peter. "Environmental knowledge and policy construction : the English less favoured areas." Thesis, University of Newcastle Upon Tyne, 2006. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.427299.

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Daga, Enrico. "Knowledge components and methods for policy propagation in data flows." Thesis, Open University, 2018. http://oro.open.ac.uk/55762/.

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Data-oriented systems and applications are at the centre of current developments of the World Wide Web (WWW). On the Web of Data (WoD), information sources can be accessed and processed for many purposes. Users need to be aware of any licences or terms of use, which are associated with the data sources they want to use. Conversely, publishers need support in assigning the appropriate policies alongside the data they distribute. In this work, we tackle the problem of policy propagation in data flows - an expression that refers to the way data is consumed, manipulated and produced within processes. We pose the question of what kind of components are required, and how they can be acquired, managed, and deployed, to support users on deciding what policies propagate to the output of a data-intensive system from the ones associated with its input. We observe three scenarios: applications of the Semantic Web, workflow reuse in Open Science, and the exploitation of urban data in City Data Hubs. Starting from the analysis of Semantic Web applications, we propose a data-centric approach to semantically describe processes as data flows: the Datanode ontology, which comprises a hierarchy of the possible relations between data objects. By means of Policy Propagation Rules, it is possible to link data flow steps and policies derivable from semantic descriptions of data licences. We show how these components can be designed, how they can be effectively managed, and how to reason efficiently with them. In a second phase, the developed components are verified using a Smart City Data Hub as a case study, where we developed an end-to-end solution for policy propagation. Finally, we evaluate our approach and report on a user study aimed at assessing both the quality and the value of the proposed solution.

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Malik, Ali. "Democracy and epistocracy reconciled? : the Scottish Police Authority and police governance in Scotland after 2012." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/25843.

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This thesis examines the emergent role of the Scottish Police Authority (SPA) in delivering organisational accountability of the Police Service of Scotland, following reform in 2012. The Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012 amalgamated the eight local police forces into a single force, ‘Police Scotland’, and replaced the concomitant local police authorities, responsible for maintaining and governing those forces, into a national governing body: the SPA. The study draws on a broad range of qualitative data that includes official policy documents, selected minutes of public meetings held by the Justice Committee, and the SPA, inspection reports by HMICS and Audit Scotland, and interviews with a cross-section of stakeholders including a former Minister, senior police officers, members of the SPA, and MSPs. This study chronicles the inception and early development of the SPA, and critically assesses the SPA’s emergent accountability processes in relation to the perennial problems of police governance. Firstly, the doctrine of operational independence of chief constables, rooted in the traditional, and to-date “sacrosanct”, notion of constabulary independence (Reiner, 2013: 169), makes organisational accountability of the police a complicated and contested matter (Lustgarten, 1986; Walker, 2000; Donnelly and Scott, 2002a; Jones, 2008; Reiner, 2010). Secondly, there is a perpetual debate about whether the governance of police should be situated within local government structures, or delivered through central government. There is consensus among policing scholars that the persistent trend towards greater centralisation, coupled with the operational independence doctrine, curtailed the performance of the local police boards and their ability to hold chief constables to account (Walker, 2000; Donnelly and Scott, 2002a; Scott, 2011; Reiner, 2013). Amidst the tussle between central and local political actors for democratic control of the police, the recent policy discourse in Scotland, that led to the reforms and the creation of the SPA, has highlighted that the governance of the police requires expertise, skills and capacities, which the previous local police authorities lacked (Tomkins, 2009; Laing and Fossey, 2011). In light of the persistent difficulties of democratic governance, and the creation of the SPA as an expert body, the study presents an original conceptual framework outlining an ‘epistocratic and deliberative’ approach to police governance. The framework seeks to reconcile democracy and expertise and offers a prescriptive solution to resolve the underlying problems of police governance. The study applies the notion of epistocracy or knowledge-based rule (Estlund, 2003, 2008) to the role of experts in institutional settings (Holst, 2012; Holst and Mollander, 2014). Conceiving the SPA as an institutional epistocracy, it is argued that such an arrangement needs to be underpinned by the right Composition, and that it needs Power, and Autonomy in order to function effectively and independently. It is further argued that principles of Deliberation, including reasoning and justification, can further strengthen epistocratic governance arrangements, as well as providing a crucial democratic dimension. The analysis of the SPA provides a strong empirical basis for the framework. The study shows that while the SPA was created as a professional body of experts, it was unable to resolve the underlying problems of police governance in its first three years. This was due to inadequacies in its composition resulting from insufficient expertise and a lack of training for new board members, differing interpretations of its role and statutory powers, and external pressures and impositions resulting in a lack of autonomy. Looking to recent developments, the study suggests that deliberative principles are now implicit in the SPA’s approach to more proactive scrutiny, which has started to serve to alleviate some shortcomings and problems it encountered in its formative years. However, the study concludes that further strengthening of the SPA’s composition, clarity around its role and powers, greater autonomy, and explicit focus on deliberative principles is needed.

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Benjamin, Elissa M. "Response-to-Intervention: Understanding General Education Teacher Knowledge and Implementation." Digital Archive @ GSU, 2011. http://digitalarchive.gsu.edu/eps_diss/78.

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The new IDEIA (2004) mandates regarding the implementation of Response-to-Intervention (RtI) present challenges for general education teachers. The law dictates the implementation of Response-to-Intervention, which requires the application of a pyramid of interventions for students failing to make adequate yearly progress in response to general education programs. Response-to-Intervention regulations redefine general education teacher roles, increase responsibilities regarding instructional interventions for at-risk learners, and change the process used to determine qualification for specific learning disability (SLD). A qualitative case study investigates how three general educators in a rural public elementary school understand and implement Response-to-Intervention policy. The study also examines teacher descriptions of the influence policy implementation on instructional practices for at-risk students. Data collection methods include structured and unstructured interviews, videotaped classroom observations, Teacher Performance Record data, lesson plans, and relevant RtI artifacts to advance understanding of RtI implementation in relation to the particular research site and study participants. Focusing on a single site allowed the researcher to develop holistic descriptions of contextual situations to inform future RtI implementation, as well as improve professional development and instructional practices for students involved in the RtI process. Study results provide a framework for understanding how elementary school teachers negotiate RtI implementation in the general education setting. The findings report personal influences on implementation, environmental supports for implementation, and positive and negative consequences of implementation. The study concludes with recommendations for local education agencies (LEA), administrators, and professional learning, as well as suggestions for future research.

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Posner, Stephen Mark. "The impact of ecosystem services knowledge on decisions." ScholarWorks @ UVM, 2015. http://scholarworks.uvm.edu/graddis/413.

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The need to protect diverse biological resources from ongoing development pressures is one of today's most pressing environmental challenges. In response, "ecosystem services" has emerged as a conservation framework that links human economies and natural systems through the benefits that people receive from nature. In this dissertation, I investigate the science-policy interface of ecosystem services in order to understand the use of ecosystem service decision support tools and evaluate the pathways through which ecosystem services knowledge impacts decisions. In the first paper, I track an ecosystem service valuation project in California to evaluate how the project changes the social capacity to make conservation-oriented decisions and how decision-makers intend to use ecosystem services knowledge. In a second project, I analyze a global sample of cases and identify factors that can explain the impact of ecosystem services knowledge on decisions. I find that the perceived legitimacy of knowledge (whether it is unbiased and representative of many diverse viewpoints) is an important determinant of whether the knowledge impacts policy processes and decisions. For the third project, I focus on the global use of spatial ecosystem service models. I analyze country-level factors that are associated with use and the effect of practitioner trainings on the uptake of these decision support tools. Taken together, this research critically evaluates how ecosystem service interventions perform. The results can inform the design of boundary organizations that effectively link conservation science with policy action, and guide strategic efforts to protect, restore, and enhance ecosystem services.

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Grünfelder, Manon, and Angelika Hartner. "What influences Knowledge Sharing?" Thesis, Umeå universitet, Företagsekonomi, 2013. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-73531.

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In the competitive environment, organizational knowledge became one of the most valuable strategic resources for a company. Indeed, it is said to be the only resource that cannot be imitated, and thus, that provides a reliable competitive advantage. Hence, knowledge management has become a highly investigated field of study. In fact, knowledge sharing, one of the facets of knowledge management is considered as a helpful leverage within a company’s strategy. Knowledge sharing has been studied widely, it is found to be a powerful process to ensure that the developed knowledge within the company is kept in the company and made usable. Even though knowledge sharing has been investigated by researchers, when looking at the practices within organizations, it appears that those are not as efficient as they could be, due to organizational, technical, as well as individual hindrances that affect the establishment of such processes. This thesis aims to increase the understanding of which factors influence individuals’ sharing behavior and which role a knowledge sharing policy takes. Therefore, interviews have been conducted with the employees within the communications department of the Alstom group. Alstom France is multinational company, which is providing transportation and energy producing solutions; this implies that the communication is a support function and needs to work efficient, which makes the matter of knowledge sharing even more important. It was found that the strategic importance of knowledge sharing is highly acknowledged within Alstom, since the company has introduced a knowledge transfer department, which has released the “Alstom Knowledge Management Transfer Handbook”, the company’s internal knowledge sharing policy. It provides a guideline for the managers within the departments. The perceived motivations and hindrances to share knowledge are mainly about the manager’s role, language and the team culture.

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Hayward, Sally. "Knowledge and skills in the global economy : the case of the European biotechnology industry." Thesis, Nottingham Trent University, 1997. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.363460.

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This thesis examines the suggestion that the Western economies are witnessing the globalisation of markets, production, finance and knowledge which has placed severe limits on the economic role of national governments, and that effective public policy is now restricted to the promotion of education and training which is the chief determinant of national competitiveness in the new global, knowledge-intensive economy. In practice, governments have become heavy supporters of knowledgeintensive industries through policies aimed mainly at upgrading human capital. This view of the role of economic policy amounts to a new academic and policy orthodoxy and is subject to critical examination in this thesis. This thesis contends that some convergence of economic systems has occurred with national economic development enmeshed in a global economy in which some positions are more rewarding than others. At the same time, the nation-state remains central to shaping industrial activity. Nowhere is this argument more true than in `high technology or `knowledgeintensive' sectors where increasing returns apply and where government policies continue to play a critical role in determining industrial development. These arguments are examined through a case study of skills and training issues in European biotechnology - purportedly a sector exposed to processes of globalisation. The study reveals the explanatory limits of the new orthodoxy. It reveals a picture of biotechnology in which economic development is far more complex than originally assumed at the beginning of the skill shortage study. The economic validity of the argument that investments in skills and training are a panacea to improving productivity in a knowledge-intensive industries and are thus the key to the economicprosperity of nations is criticised. It is shown how popular assumptions in relation to the scientific labour market are misplaced and inappropriate. The development of the sector is shown to have been heavily influenced by the operation of national structures and the ways in which these have structured the level and nature of demand for the industry's products and the availability of investment finance for new technologies. Significant changes in the dimensions of national biotechnology industries are acknowledged to have occurred through the globalisation of capital and markets, but the role of the national environment and of the strategic choices of governments in developing the sector are seen to have been highly influential in shaping the dynamics of the industry. Although the failure of the European biotechnology industry to develop at the pace originally envisaged has been attributed to skill shortages, it is argued that the pace of economic development in this sector has been influenced also by the power of national and transnational social groups, differential access to knowledge and finance - in short by the combination of the institutional characteristics of national societies and the emerging power of transnational movements

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Ghosal, Somnath. "Non-timber forest products in West Bengal : knowledge, livelihoods and policy." Thesis, University of Nottingham, 2010. http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/11429/.

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The theme of this research is the conservation of open dry-deciduous forest areas of West Bengal, India, through the socio-economic progress of forest dwellers. The use of Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFPs) is manifold in the livelihood of this area. Systematic and sustainable harvesting of NTFPs could improve the standard of living of forest dwellers and play an important role in the conservation of forest ecosystems. The research was conducted in Purulia, Bankura and West Midnapur districts, in the south-western part of West Bengal, India. Firewood is the main source of fuel for the forest fringe dwellers of these three districts. Due to the high demand firewood harvesting is an important occupation for a large number of forest communities. The incessant collection of firewood is adversely affecting forest cover and the type and quality of plant species. In this circumstance, sustainable and systematic harvesting of NTFPs can play a potential role in creating job opportunities for forest dwellers. The enhancement of organised NTFP marketing channels could improve the economy and thus reduce the major dependence on firewood. Therefore, the aim of the thesis is to examine NTFPs-based economic development of forest fringe dwellers and to protect the forest cover. The thesis starts with a brief introduction to NTFPs and its present importance in forest livelihoods in India (with reference to West Bengal) and in international context, highlighting work by geographers, forest researchers, economists and sociologists who are becoming more interested on NTFPs and forest livelihoods from their respective disciplinary perspectives. To have an idea about NTFPs based forest livelihood of West Bengal, it is necessary to study the geo-physical features of the State and the study area. This will reveal the reasons why this area has been selected for this research. A variety of complementary sources and methodologies were used for the collection and analysis of data and information. Detailed archival research at the British Library, London provides insight into the pre-colonial and colonial NTFP-based forest livelihoods of the Presidency of Bengal. An exploration of the socio-cultural characteristics of forest communities through interviews and surveys helped to reveal the use and importance of NTFPs. After collection of NTFPs, it is necessary to store those products for gradation and value-addition. The research reveals that the organised markets are quite away from forest villages. Therefore, the knowledge of systematic and sustainable collection and storage of NTFPs needs to be enhanced at the grassroots level. After the collection and processing of NTFPs, the most important thing is marketing. Through the organised marketing system, forest dwellers can earn more money selling the same amount of products. It was discovered that a large number of intermediaries are involved in the NTFPs business and these intermediaries often try to purchase NTFPs from actual collectors at a very low price and then sell them at a high price. The reasons for the presence of middlemen and how the formal marketing channels can be stronger than the present informal channels were all revealed to be important issues which bolster the formal marketing channels, in which actual collectors might earn reasonable price for their collected NTFPs. It is argued that the efficient and sustainable harvesting of NTFPs can promote opportunities for marginal forest dwellers of these three districts. The increasing production of value-added products from different NTFPs can improve the economic status of these forest dwellers and will reduce rampant demolition of forest resources. The socio-economic improvement can also shift forest dwellers to other professions, which will reduce the dependency on forestry and subsequently it will help to promote the dry-deciduous forest ecology. Therefore, the research begins with an investigation of historical perspective of human-forest interactions in the Presidency of Bengal and subsequently explores the contemporary forest-based livelihoods of the socio-economically deprived forest fringe dwellers in the dry-deciduous forest areas of West Bengal. The research draws on interdisciplinary areas including historical geography with reference of indigenous knowledge regarding forest products, development geography of the forest-based livelihoods and economic geography of the systematic and sustainable harvesting of NTFPs for the enhancement of formal marketing channels. The study demonstrates that there is a need for intensive research at the grassroots level that will address all the aspects of NTFPs and forest livelihoods, before devising any precise NTFP policy to improve the status of forest livelihoods through the sustainable harvesting of forest products.

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Ellis, David. "Policy information needs and uses : knowledge dissemination and new telematic technologies." Virtual Press, 1989. http://liblink.bsu.edu/uhtbin/catkey/543985.

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I report the findings of an original empirical study of population policy information needs and modes of information dissemination and use among policymakers in the Asia-Pacific region. Data were obtained through a survey of readers of a population journal. Respondents' information needs and uses are analyzed. The findings help answer broad questions about development-related social-scientific information needs and uses among policymakers. An assessment of the potential contribution of new telematic technologies to information dissemination and use in the 1990s, based upon the survey findings and a review of the literature on telematic applications, is presented.Ball State UniversityMuncie, IN 47306 Center for Information and Communication Sciences

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Trippl, Michaela, Joshua von Gabain, and Franz Tödtling. "Policy agents as catalysts of knowledge links in the biotechnology sector." Institut für Regional- und Umweltwirtschaft, WU Vienna University of Economics and Business, 2006. http://epub.wu.ac.at/1742/1/document.pdf.

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The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of public policy in promoting interorganisational knowledge links in the biotechnology sector. Despite the significance of such interactions and the policy efforts devoted to them, there is a limited understanding of how different initiatives from various policy levels contribute to the formation of specific knowledge linkages within the biotechnology industry. The paper identifies four main types of knowledge exchange, including market relations, spillovers, formal co-operations and informal networking. Drawing on evidence from the Vienna biotechnology cluster we intend to show how national and regional policy programmes and government actions function as mechanisms to stimulate the establishment of such interactions. (author's abstract) Series: SRE - Discussion Papers

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Ladi, Stella. "Globalization, Europeanisation and policy transfer : a comparative study of knowledge institutions." Thesis, University of York, 2002. http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/10817/.

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com, suheureux@gmail, and Susan Wong. "Regional Development and Telecommunications Policy in Western Australia: Accessing knowledge to inform policy through complexity and action research." Murdoch University, 2006. http://wwwlib.murdoch.edu.au/adt/browse/view/adt-MU20070427.120905.

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This study explores how governments use knowledge to inform telecommunications policy-making and policy-implementation in regional development. It focuses on epistemological aspects and assumptions made within the parameters of Enlightenment thinking or the Newtonian paradigm, also known as the classical scientit1c paradigm. It argues that lmowledge formed within this paradigm, usually generated at a distance, has been individ,uated, detached, segmented and abstracted. 'Individuation' focuses on individuals and things rather than communities and processes. 'Detachment' separates the subjective mind from the objective environment to produce reliable information. 'Segmentation' produces validity of information by parsing the objective environment from its social and historical context. 'Abstraction' allows objectivity and systematisation of information. When used to inform policy, such knowledge creates a narrow 'standardising gaze' that 'disciplines' communities to conform to dominant social behaviour and beliefs. Case studies are used to demonstrate that the two major models of development, as products ofthis paradigm, employ this gaze rendering replicability difficult ifnot impossible. These models are the top-down and bottom-up approach that are epitomised by the Silicon Valley model and telecentre moveluent respectively. How this gaze inhibits/facilitates development in policy implementation is then examined in the Goldfields Esperance region in Western Australia. An holistic approach using cotnplex adaptive systems is used to understand the multidisciplinary aspects involved in development. This is combined with action research, a reflexive methodology. Action research has the ability to access local knowledge to provide data and evaluation in situ rather than on a post hoc basis. The findings demonstrate that complex systems analysis and action research provide a modus operandi that: a) recognises the interplay of various factors (such as power relations, economic cycle, social and political institutions) at different levels of the system; b) recognises time, context and path-dependence of regional development; c) provides a filter that minimises the 'standardising gaze' and d) gives an access to knowledge and insight to local issues, which can facilitate policy implementation of development that is sympathetic to regional communities.

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Grewal, Baljit Singh. "Neoliberalism and discourse case studies of knowledge policies in the Asia-Pacific : a thesis submitted to Auckland University of Technology in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), 2008." Click here to access this resource online, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/10292/407.

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Rajagopal, Anand 1979. "A knowledge services roadmay for online learning." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2005. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/30200.

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Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering; and, (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, Technology and Policy Program, 2005. Includes bibliographical references (p. 76-78). In today's society, there is a need for organizations to have a robust knowledge infrastructure in place, so that they can create or acquire knowledge; store knowledge; disseminate knowledge, and protect and manage their knowledge assets. However, with advances in the publishing media, our ability to generate information has far exceeded our abilities to find, review and understand it, thus leading to "Information Overload". Information overload refers to the inability to extract needed knowledge from existing information due to the volume of information, or lack of understanding of information and its whereabouts, or efficient ways to locate relevant information. These issues could be addressed by having efficient Knowledge Management Systems/Knowledge Services, so that people can create and understand available information, and have services to help them learn effectively and make better decisions. To tackle the new information needs, the use of technologies such as Weblog Services (weblog-enabled knowledge services) offer opportunities for decentralized knowledge creation and dissemination; as such tools put the authors in charge of knowledge creation process without any administration-enforced policies. Learning environments are also typically characterized by challenges such as barriers to use, quality control and relevance issues, or issues of credibility of information. These issues are effectively tackled by weblog services since weblogs are often open source and need no training for authoring. In addition, favorite blogs act as information filters or "bird dogs" and point at useful information. Feedback incorporated in weblog services makes people react and learn "interactively" and also enhances credibility and trust in information. (cont.) Weblog services can also share published content through the process of Content Syndication, and thus offer an insight into knowledge assets in the timeliest of ways. This thesis report describes certain weblog services implementations carried out at MIT. Results of such implementations have emphasized the applications of such weblog (knowledge) services in knowledge sharing and online learning. However, there are certain issues to be addressed in weblog services such as privacy and intellectual property issues, as well as resolution of organizational tussles in the domain of content syndication standards. by Anand Rajagopal. S.M.

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Maasdorp, Christiaan Hendrik. "Structure, wellspring or content? : a conceptual analysis of the notion of tacit knowledge in knowledge management theory." Thesis, Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2004. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/50109.

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Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2004. ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The thesis is a conceptual analysis of the concept of tacit knowledge. The analysis consist of comparing the function of the concept of tacit knowledge in a number of selected theories from its origin in the philosophy of Michael Polanyi, through its introduction to organisation theory and its eventual application in knowledge management theory. Inthe work of Michael Polanyi the concept of tacit knowledge functions as the logical structure underlying all forms of knowledge. In terms of Polanyi tacit and explicit knowledge are not two separable phenomena, because all knowledge is rooted in the act of tacit integration. Ikujiro Nonaka adapted Polanyi's epistemology and within his framework the concept of tacit knowledge signifies the unstructured subjective realm that is the wellspring of individual creativity. Nonaka asserts firstly, that the phenomenon of tacit knowledge is a knowledge content that is distinct from explicit knowledge content and secondly, that it is possible to convert the one type of knowledge into the other. Nonaka's model includes a spiral process of interaction in which tacit knowledge is converted into explicit knowledge and back into tacit knowledge again. The last chapter relates the conclusions reached upon the comparison of the function of the concept in the theories of Nonaka and Polanyi, with its reception in knowledge management theory. It is argued that in knowledge management the concept of tacit knowledge denotes knowledge content that cannot be communicated as information. It is also shown how Nonaka' s model was integrated into a sender receiver model of communication, thus incorporating it into the information processing paradigm. It is furthermore conjectured that the concept of tacit knowledge forms part of an attempt to bridge an epistemological gap facing the discourse on organisational knowledge. Lastly, it is concluded that it appears to be impossible to use the concept of tacit knowledge to overcome this epistemological problem, without an ontological shift away from the information processing paradigm. AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die tesis is 'n konseptuele analise van die konsep van implisiete ('tacit') kennis. Die analise bestaan uit 'n vergelyking van die funksie van die konsep van implisiete kennis in 'n aantal geselekteerde teorieë, van die oorsprong van die term in die filosofie van Michael Polanyi, deur die aanpassing van die konsep in organisasie teorie, tot die toepassing daarvan in kennisbestuursteorie. In die werk van Polanyi funksioneer die konsep as die logiese struktuur wat die onderbou van alle vorme van kennis is. In terme van Polanyi is implisiete en eksplisiete kennis nie twee aparte fenomene nie, want alle kennis is gewortel in die askie van implisiete integrasie. Ikujiro Nonaka het Polanyi se epistemologie aangepas en binne sy raamwerk funksioneer die begrip as 'n beskrywing van die ongestruktureerde subjektiewe domein wat die bron van individuele kreatiwiteit is. Volgens Nonaka is die fenomeen van implisiete kennis eerstens 'n kennisinhoud wat onderskeibaar is van eksplisiete kennisinhoud, en tweedens dat dit moontlik is om die een soort kennis om te skakel in die ander en omgekeerd. Nonaka se model sluit 'n spiral-proses van interaksie in waarin implisiete kennis omgeskakel word na eksplisiete kennis en weer terug in implisiete kennis. Die laaste hoofstuk belig die ontvangs van die konsep van implisiete kennis in kennisbestuursteorie teen die agtergrond van die vergelyking van die funksionering van die konsep in die teorieë van Polanyi en Nonaka. Daar word geargumenteer dat in kennisbestuursteorie die konsep verwys na kennisinhoud wat nie geredelik omgeskakel kan word na informasie en dus gekommunikeer kan word nie. Daar word getoon hoe Nonaka se model met 'n sender-ontvanger kommunikasie-model geïntegreer word en dus geïnkorporeer word in die informasie prossesseringsparadigma. Verder word gespekuleer dat die konsep gebruik word in 'n poging om 'n epistemologiese gaping in die diskoers rondom organisatoriese kennis te oorbrug. Laastens is die slotsom dat dit blyk onmoontlik te wees om die konsep van implisiete kennis te gebruik om die epistemologiese probleem op te los, sonder 'n fundamentele ontologiese skuif weg vanaf die informasie prossesseringsparadigma.

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Lam, Man-wing Edwin, and 林文榮. "The HKSAR knowledge-based economy: promotion and inclusion." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 2006. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B36451927.

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Coburn, Jason. "Street science : the fusing of local and professional knowledge in environmental policy." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2002. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/8522.

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Thesis (Ph.D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 2002. Includes bibliographical references (p. 280-300). his dissertation analyzes how local knowledge improves environmental decisions. The premise is that controlling pollution and addressing public health disparities are not problems that professionals alone can solve. Concerned lay publics, especially low-income populations and people of color that experience the greatest environmental health risks, are demanding a greater role in describing, researching and prescribing solutions for the hazards they face. Seeking environmental justice, these communities are demanding to "speak for themselves," often drawing on their first hand experience-here called local knowledge -to challenge expert-lay distinctions and how professionals define and prioritize which problems warrant attention. Community participation in environmental decisions is putting pressure on policy-makers to find new ways of fusing the expertise of professional scientists with insights from the local knowledge of communities. This dissertation asks how the local knowledge of community members can improve environmental decision-making? In answering this question, I explore the ways residents of the Greenpoint/Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, are organizing and using their knowledge of local environmental and health hazards to both improve local conditions and influence the judgments of professionals. In particular, this study analyzes how local knowledge was fused with professional insight in four neighborhood environmental health problems: (cont.) (1) risks from subsistence fish diets; (2) asthma afflicting the Latino population; (3) childhood lead poisoning; and, (4) the mapping of air pollution sources. Through these cases, I describe local knowledge, reveal how it differs from professional knowledge, show the different contributions it makes to environmental politics, and highlight some conditions that contribute to the successful professional uptake of local knowledge. Ultimately, I show that local knowledge can improve environmental policy making in at least four ways: a) epistemology - adding to the knowledge base of environmental policy; b) procedural democracy - including new and previously silenced voices; c) efficiency - providing low cost policy solutions; and, e) distributive justice - highlighting inequitable distributions of environmental burdens. by Jason Coburn. Ph.D.

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Seshasai, Satwiksai 1980. "Managing global software development teams : technology and policy proposals for knowledge sharing." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2005. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/32291.

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Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, Technology and Policy Program, 2005. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 94-97). This thesis uses an in-depth case study, with integrated data analysis, to compare and contrast globally distributed and co-located software teams within the IBM Corporation. Important differences in information sharing, collaboration and other behaviors were observed, along with a range of innovations in work operations. Technology and policy implications that draw on the benefits of each model are identified. The development of this thesis began with a seminar that was conducted at MIT to invite stakeholders in various areas of knowledge-based offshore outsourcing to discuss strategic, economic, organizational and technical issues raised in various environments. Large and small firms, various industries, and various business models were covered. The context provided by these stakeholders was used to design an in-depth case study at IBM, with the focus on a matched pair of software teams, which were studied for a period of one year. Both software teams were identical in aspects such as product scope, team size and domain; however, they differed in the key aspect that one team's members all work on the same hallway while the other team's members are geographically dispersed among multiple locations in the United States and India Quantitative technical data from the source control system of each team, the software problem report database, frequency and content of group emails, weekly meetings, and individual interviews were combined with qualitative data from stakeholder interviews to distinguish key benefits and challenges of each model. The quantitative measures gauged data such as frequency and methods of collaboration, social and technical networks, and differences in handling strategic and tactical decisions. (cont.) The qualitative interviews discussed stakeholder perceptions of the quantitative data, and their motivations for decisions related to knowledge sharing. Key findings from the data include a number of observations about specific forms of knowledge sharing which differentiate the two teams. The distributed team used electronic mail as a forum for discussion which peaked around project deadlines, while the collocated team relied on e-mail as an announcement mechanism. Team meetings for the distributed team were much more tactical and task oriented in nature than meetings of the collocated team. With regard to the technical project itself, developers on the collocated team shared source code to a much greater extent, however status input to the software problem report database was much more interactive on the distributed team. This thesis is also important for pioneering highly precise indicators of team interactions based on the coding of archival data derived from e-mail, telephone, meeting and other interactions. The methods developed hold great promise for further studies of design teams, as well as a feedback tool that could be highly valuable for these teams. A number of emerging themes were found in the data analysis, which suggest that lessons from this study need not only apply to cases where geographic distribution is a factor. The teams consistently showed that the same technologies, processes and stages of the project lifecycle can be handled very differently based upon context. Also, social relationships and dominant individuals on a team can have an impact on technical productivity. (cont.) Finally, the evidence in this case suggested that geographic structure need not define destiny, and in some cases geographic structure can be used as an asset. The data analysis points to preliminary technology policy implications at the individual, team, organization, and national levels. At the individual level, it is recommended that workers in distributed teams alter work hours to devote a few minutes after-hours to synchronous communication with team members in different time zones - something that happened more often among the members of the co-located team. On the other hand, in a collocated team, it is recommended that the team use software tools to discover technical expertise that is more formally recorded among the members of the distributed team. At the team level, specific added value gained unintentionally from one geographic structure - such as greater documentation of decisions on a distributed team - can be achieved in co-located teams. At the organizational level, this thesis provides methods for assessing an organization's tacit knowledge capital at a much more granular level than tabulating patents or licenses. A number of institutions such as corporate training and development departments, labor unions, professional associations and government education and training initiatives may be impacted by the changes to workforce training and work methods suggested by this thesis. (cont.) At the national level, lessons from these teams demonstrate that the drivers for policy decisions related to offshore outsourcing need to be adapted in knowledge-based industries which have the potential for globally shared tasks, and export regulations dealing with intellectual property exchange in global software teams need to account for the daily trade of IP in geographically distributed teams. As the thesis focused on one in-depth case study, a significant effort is made to propose future research directions which can validate the proposals with broader data collection. by Satwiksai Seshasai. S.M.

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Sharman, Amelia. "Climate change as a knowledge controversy : investigating debates over science and policy." Thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London), 2015. http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/3239/.

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Understanding climate change as a knowledge controversy, this thesis provides new insights into the form, value and impact of the climate change debate on science and policy processes. Based on 99 interviews in New Zealand and the United Kingdom as well as social network analysis, it provides an original contribution to knowledge by identifying previously unknown sites of knowledge contestation within the climate change debate, in addition to contributory factors, and potential solutions to, debate polarisation. It also addresses a fundamental gap in the literature regarding the impact of controversy on the production of scientific knowledge and policy decision-making. This thesis comprises five standalone papers (Chapters 2-6) which together explore climate change as a knowledge controversy using frameworks from science and technology studies, sociology and geography. Chapter 2 finds that the most central blogs within the climate sceptical blogosphere predominantly focus on the scientific element of the climate debate. It argues that by acting as an alternative public site of expertise, the blogosphere may be playing a central role in perpetuating doubt regarding the scientific basis for climate change policymaking. Chapter 3 suggests that the binary and dualistic format of labels used within the climate debate such as “denier” or “alarmist” contribute towards polarisation by reducing possibilities for constructive dialogue. Chapter 4 investigates rationales for debate participation and argues that identifying and emphasising commonalities between previously polarised individuals may serve to reduce antagonism within the climate change debate. Chapter 5 investigates the impact of controversy on the production of scientific knowledge and finds that climate scientists identify substantial impacts on their agency as scientists, but not on scientific practice. It argues that this distinction indicates that boundarymaking may be understood as a more active and explicit process under conditions of controversy. Finally, Chapter 6 introduces the concept of post-decisional logics of inaction, emphasising the role of place in determining the influence of controversial knowledge claims on climate change policymaking. These findings make explicit the underlying politics of knowledge inherent within the climate change debate, and emphasise the need for a more attentive consideration of the role of knowledge, place and performativity in contested science and policy environments.

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Fan, Rebecca C. "Governing indigenous knowledge? : a study of international law, policy, and human rights." Thesis, University of Essex, 2015. http://repository.essex.ac.uk/16538/.

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The story of indigenous peoples’ knowledge systems, also known as indigenous knowledge (hereafter IK), is a complex one tangled with different and sometimes conflicting interests, values, and interpretations from a variety of disciplines, or specialized fields. A number of international treaty and trade agreements that want to ‘harness’ IK also turned it into an object of global governance, as this PhD study argues. This study also argues that the well-being of IK has gradually emerged as a global agenda for sustainable development and intergenerational justice, which constitute the defining characteristics of contemporary discourse of heritage. Consequently, IK issues and debates have become more versatile and multifaceted with a widening scope and mounting stakes. This is a sociological and legal study of knowledge that analyses the epistemological struggle resulting from different understandings of the nature and purpose of IK, which has causal relationship with the inadequacies of the governing regimes documented in this study. This study argues that such struggle and inadequacy form the core problem for IK governance. Furthermore, this study takes a novel approach guided by indigenous peoples’ epistemology, which represents ties between ecology, landscape, and people in a web of connections, to argue that IK is a cross-cutting subject and a form of emplaced knowledge. Hence it is not simply a property issue or debate as most literature tends to focus on. This study further argues that what constitutes the cornerstone of IK claims by indigenous peoples is essentially biocultural diversity that nurtured and sustained IK as well as IK-holder communities as distinct peoples. Through an interdisciplinary approach of synergy and synthesis, this study developed a number of original ideas and frameworks to analyse this complex story of IK. By doing so, this study shows how IK is a challenging subject that is inevitably political; it is also tangled with inherently heterogenetic and incoherent regimes of governance, from intellectual property and trade to environmental governance and development to natural and cultural heritage and human rights. This study takes these regimes as sites of inquiry in the tradition of critical theory to further unpack and problematize the development imperative and the private-property-based system exercised by these regimes. Finally, this study concludes that IK governance can make or break vulnerable groups like indigenous peoples to a point of prosperity or deeper poverty and extinction. Therefore, it requires particular care with an integrated approach. This study aims to fill an important gap in the literature with recommendations for future policy and research.

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Munro, Benjamin. "The lost innocence of ethanol: power, knowledge, discourse, and U.S. biofuel policy." Diss., Kansas State University, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/2097/18794.

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Doctor of Philosophy Department of Geography Lisa Harrington In the United States, rationales for corn ethanol policies have included national energy security, air pollution abatement, clean technology development, and climate change mitigation. The ostensible benefits of corn ethanol have been used to justify the transfer of federal funds toward corn and ethanol production subsidies, consumption mandates, and import restrictions, plus substantial research and development efforts. Public and private sector funding has also focused on efforts to commercially develop biofuels from advanced technology using cellulosic biomass. Despite decades of public and commercial interest, cellulosic ethanol has failed to commercialize, corn ethanol remains heavily dependent on subsidies, and each of the alleged benefits of ethanol has been hotly disputed. This research examines the links between interest groups and rationales for biofuel policies. Drawing from Foucauldian discourse analysis, the research identifies key discourses supporting and opposed to biofuel development, and their relation to broader issues in environmental and energy politics. This approach involved a detailed review of newspaper archives, policy documents, Congressional bills, committee hearings and debates, governmental and non-governmental reports, and scientific research findings. It reveals how a powerful coalition of agricultural interests succeeded in harnessing biofuel discourses to popular public and political environmental and energy concerns. The primary discourses identified were Environmental Bureaucracy, Free Markets, Ecological Modernization, and Limits. A common element in the first three of these was Techno-Optimism. A Limits discourse opposed ethanol expansion, primarily based on a narrative of competition for agricultural land, and stood apart from other discourses in its mistrust of science and technology to resolve environmental problems. The research concludes that Foucauldian discourse analysis provides a useful tool for examining key shifts in policy debates, for clarifying the relationship between scientific knowledge and discursive power, for understanding divisions within environmental discourse, and for revealing the importance of scale in environmental public policy process.

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Teplitskiy, Mikhail. "Judgments of scientific quality and their effects on published knowledge and its diffusion." Thesis, The University of Chicago, 2016. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=10129530.

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Collaborative efforts like modern scientific research depend on methods to evaluate and absorb participants’ contributions, and at the research frontier this evaluative step is often accomplished through the peer review of grants and manuscripts. With billions of dollars and space in prestigious journals hinging on the decisions of reviewers, the review system has attracted consistent scrutiny. Many of the thousands of studies scrutinizing peer review focus on the reliability, validity, and fairness of the reviewers’ decisions. Largely absent in this debate about peer review’s internal practices are the consequences of these practices for the character and diffusion of published knowledge. This dissertation shifts the focus to the consequences of peer review practices through four case studies. The first case investigates the negotiation of revisions authors of quantitative sociological manuscripts undertake during peer review and reveals that substantial changes concern primarily manuscripts’ theoretical framing, while the data analyses remain relatively stable. The case argues that the greater relative value placed on data and analysis over frames incentivizes investment into the former over the latter. The second case interrogates the common practice of using post-publication citations to evaluate the validity of review decisions. Analysis of the reviews of manuscripts submitted to the American Sociological Review from 1977 to 1981 and the manuscripts’ subsequent citations reveals no relationship. However, reviewers’ comments show that reviewers focused on the soundness of the manuscripts’ arguments, not their potential impact. The case shows that a review process that results in publications of variable impact is not necessarily a failing of peer review, but rather a consequence of reviewers and citers draw on different dimensions of value. The third case study examines the consequences for quantitative sociology of the common bias for positive findings in peer review. Using hundreds of studies that use the General Social Survey, the published statistical relationships are perturbed by slight changes to the model specifications. Results show that at the time of publication, results are relatively robust to this perturbation. Additionally, the published relationships are estimated using waves of the Survey that appeared after publication. Results indicate that published findings are weakened much more by social change. The last case focuses on the consequences of scientific peer review judgments outside of the sphere of science. By measuring rates at which millions of scientific journals are used as sources in Wikipedia, the largest online encyclopedia, I show that Wikipedia editors preferentially use high impact and the more accessible (open access) journals. The case shows that increased accessibility of the scientific literature improves its diffusion to the lay public and that a status ordering that review practices establish in one sphere, science, may be exported wholesale to a disparate context, Wikipedia.

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Taneja, Abhinav 1975. "Knowledge organization and content generation in knowledgemediaries." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2000. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/8875.

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Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Technology and Policy Program; and, (S.B.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2000. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 115-116). by Abhinav Taneja. S.B. S.M.

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Shakeel, Hani Umar 1973. "Community knowledge sharing : an Internet application to support communications across literacy levels." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2001. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/8677.

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Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Technology and Policy Program, 2001. Includes bibliographical references (p. 94-98). This thesis presents Community Knowledge Sharing (CKS), an Internet-enabled asynchronous messaging system designed for use in the developing world. The system is motivated by a desire to expand the benefits of network connectivity deeply into rural areas, breaking down barriers within and between communities. Recognizing that large segments of the population in rural communities have low levels of literacy, CKS implements a multi-literate design in which the system can be customized based on the abilities and preferences of the user. Three research areas are explored. The primary research area is to understand whether multi-literate interfaces can expand access to technology. Second, the study explores concerns that users of the system hire around security and trust. Third, the study identifies the types of information used and demanded by a sample user group. An evaluation of CKS has been conducted in Bohechio, an agricultural town in the Dominican Republic. Participants were drawn to cover a range of ages, educational backgrounds and literacy skill levels. With regards to multi-literacy and access, it is found that low literate users prefer iconic interfaces, speech synthesis is not effective, and literate users are willing to create text and audio content. On security and trust, the study finds that in the context of networked message systems rural people have different security requirements, and need to trust both the communications channel and content. Lastly, in discussions on information it is found that health, news, commercial and family information is in the greatest use and greatest demand in the community. CKS is a modest first step at developing an appropriate messaging environment for the developing world. Policy recommendations are drawn to inform future technology design and evaluation efforts. Developers of information technologies for use in the developing world should design iconic interfaces for low literate users, not rely on speech synthesis technologies, collaborate with communities, and balance cost, security and accessibility in their technology design. Evaluation of these technologies should take a longer-term approach in order to ensure that participants understand the application being tested. by Hani Umar Shakeel. S.M.

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Soliman, Iman. "The role of the public and knowledge management as determinants of environmental policy formulation in developing countries : the case of Egypt /." Thesis, Connect to Dissertations & Theses @ Tufts University, 2003.

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Submitted to the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. Thesis (Ph.D.)--Tufts University, 2003. Adviser: William R. Moomaw. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 271-277). Access restricted to members of the Tufts University community. Also available via the World Wide Web;

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Di, Maio Paola. "Toward shared system knowledge : an empirical study of knowledge sharing policy and practice in systems engineering research in the UK." Thesis, University of Strathclyde, 2012. http://oleg.lib.strath.ac.uk:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=23698.

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Research started in 2009 as an enquiry in Knowledge Reuse in Systems Engineering, as part of an EPSRC funded project, with the aim to evaluate and improve the mechanisms of knowledge reuse among practitioners. Knowledge segmentation in different Systems Engineering domains, knowledge representation techniques, artifacts and information exchange mechanisms were identified and benchmarked. Despite a wealth of publicly funded research, systems integration with digital environment and despite the apparent adherence of knowledge holders to funding policies the required resources were not accessible due to a complex entanglement of politics, culture, language and unidentified factors such as psychology and prejudice of key stakeholders. The thesis identifies the knowledge representation, exchange and reuse mechanism and technical artifacts used in Engineering practice, as well as non technical challenges that prevent access and reuse to knowledge, especially considering the existence of Open Access policies and in relation to the perspective of a 'knowledge seeker' in the systems engineering knowledge domain. Open Access policies applicable to this domain in the UK are evaluated in the context of a wider regulatory landscape that motivates their existence, specifically monitoring the availability of shared resources such as journal publications as well as other digital mechanisms and knowledge sharing artifacts adopted in technical domains. A unique research methodology is devised that combines mixed method techniques, including FOI (freedom of information) requests. A novel collection instrument and a set of heuristic indicators are developed to support the empirical observation of the gap between 'Open Access policies in theory', corresponding approximately to what the funding body state on their website, and 'Open Access policies in practice', corresponding to the level of adoption of these policies by grant holders in Systems Engineering Research and findability. A systematic review and a meta-analysis of a 100 publicly-funded projects are carried out. The research makes a number of unique contributions, including KAF (Knowledge Audit Framework), a novel approach enabling remote auditing of digital resources, OAM (Open Access Monitor) the first monitoring method and web service for OA, and a core vocabulary for systems engineering knowledge representation. The research concludes demonstrating empirically that in the majority of the audited project publicly-funded by UK research councils, and despite the existence of policies to ensure Open Access, no resources could be located.

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Heaphy, Liam James. "Modelling and translating future urban climate for policy." Thesis, University of Manchester, 2014. https://www.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/en/theses/modelling-and-translating-future-urban-climate-for-policy(2c2ca637-bec2-4f60-884d-5d34fa77fb26).html.

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This thesis looks at the practice of climate modelling at the urban scale in relation to projections of future climate. It responds to the question of how climate models perform in a policy context, and how these models are translated in order to have agency at the urban scale. It considers the means and circumstances through which models are constructed to selectively represent urban realities and potential realities in order to explore and reshape the built environment in response to a changing climate. This thesis is concerned with an interdisciplinary area of research and practice, while at the same time it is based on methodologies originating in science and technology studies which were later applied to architecture and planning, geography, and urban studies. Fieldwork consisted of participant-observation and interviews with three groups of practitioners: firstly, climate impacts modellers forming part of the Adaptation and Resilience in a Changing Climate (ARCC) programme; secondly, planners and adaptation policymakers in the cities of Manchester and London; and thirdly, boundary organisations such as the UK Climate Impacts Programme (UKCIP). Project and climate policy material pertinent to these projects and the case study cities were also analysed in tandem. Of particular interest was the common space shared to researchers and stakeholders where modelling results were explained, contextualised, and interrogated for policy-relevant results. This took the form of stakeholder meetings in which the limits of the models in relation to policy demands could be articulated and mediated. In considering the agency of models in relation to uncertainties, it was found that although generated in a context of applied science, models had a limited effect on policy. As such, the salience of urban climatic risk-based assessment for urban planning is restrained, because it presupposes a quantitative understanding of climate impacts that is only slowly forming due to societal and governmental pressures. This can be related both to the nature of models as sites of exploration and experimentation, and to the distribution of expertise in the climate adaptation community. Although both the research and policy communities operate partly in a common space, models and their associated tools operate at a level of sophistication that policy-makers have difficulty comprehending and integrating into planning policy beyond the level of simple guidance and messages. Adaptation in practice is constrained by a limited understanding of climate uncertainties and urban climatology, evident through the present emphasis on catch-all solutions like green infrastructure and win-win solutions rather than the empowerment of actors and a corresponding distribution of adequate resources. An analysis is provided on the means by which models and maps can shape climate adaptation at scales relevant for cities, based on considerations of how models gain agency through forms of encoded expertise like maps and the types of interaction between science and policy that they imply.

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Hawasly, Majd. "Policy space abstraction for a lifelong learning agent." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/9931.

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This thesis is concerned with policy space abstractions that concisely encode alternative ways of making decisions; dealing with discovery, learning, adaptation and use of these abstractions. This work is motivated by the problem faced by autonomous agents that operate within a domain for long periods of time, hence having to learn to solve many different task instances that share some structural attributes. An example of such a domain is an autonomous robot in a dynamic domestic environment. Such environments raise the need for transfer of knowledge, so as to eliminate the need for long learning trials after deployment. Typically, these tasks would be modelled as sequential decision making problems, including path optimisation for navigation tasks, or Markov Decision Process models for more general tasks. Learning within such models often takes the form of online learning or reinforcement learning. However, handling issues such as knowledge transfer and multiple task instances requires notions of structure and hierarchy, and that raises several questions that form the topic of this thesis – (a) can an agent acquire such hierarchies in policies in an online, incremental manner, (b) can we devise mathematically rigorous ways to abstract policies based on qualitative attributes, (c) when it is inconvenient to employ prolonged trial and error learning, can we devise alternate algorithmic methods for decision making in a lifelong setting? The first contribution of this thesis is an algorithmic method for incrementally acquiring hierarchical policies. Working with the framework of options - temporally extended actions - in reinforcement learning, we present a method for discovering persistent subtasks that define useful options for a particular domain. Our algorithm builds on a probabilistic mixture model in state space to define a generalised and persistent form of ‘bottlenecks’, and suggests suitable policy fragments to make options. In order to continuously update this hierarchy, we devise an incremental process which runs in the background and takes care of proposing and forgetting options. We evaluate this framework in simulated worlds, including the RoboCup 2D simulation league domain. The second contribution of this thesis is in defining abstractions in terms of equivalence classes of trajectories. Utilising recently developed techniques from computational topology, in particular the concept of persistent homology, we show that a library of feasible trajectories could be retracted to representative paths that may be sufficient for reasoning about plans at the abstract level. We present a complete framework, starting from a novel construction of a simplicial complex that describes higher-order connectivity properties of a spatial domain, to methods for computing the homology of this complex at varying resolutions. The resulting abstractions are motion primitives that may be used as topological options, contributing a novel criterion for option discovery. This is validated by experiments in simulated 2D robot navigation, and in manipulation using a physical robot platform. Finally, we develop techniques for solving a family of related, but different, problem instances through policy reuse of a finite policy library acquired over the agent’s lifetime. This represents an alternative approach when traditional methods such as hierarchical reinforcement learning are not computationally feasible. We abstract the policy space using a non-parametric model of performance of policies in multiple task instances, so that decision making is posed as a Bayesian choice regarding what to reuse. This is one approach to transfer learning that is motivated by the needs of practical long-lived systems. We show the merits of such Bayesian policy reuse in simulated real-time interactive systems, including online personalisation and surveillance.

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Rowlands, Ian. "Mapping the knowledge base of information policy : clusters of documents, people and ideas." Thesis, City University London, 1998. http://openaccess.city.ac.uk/7467/.

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This thesis investigates aspects of the intellectual and social structure of the field of information policy through a detailed examination of the serials literature. The aims of the research are to explore how information policy scholarship is organised—in terms of its relation to other fields and disciplines; whether it constitutes a distinct specialty in its own right; and what kinds of institutional structures and arrangements exist to support research and scholarship. In Part One, a literature review identifies previous bibliometric and other studies which are relevant to studies of scholarly disciplines and knowledge communities. It discusses the interdisciplinary problem-oriented nature of information policy and considers some of the modes of enquiry which characterise investigations this area. Part Two consists of a series of experiments carried out on a test collection of 771 periodical articles drawn from the Social science Citation Index The empirical work comprised four linked studies: a bibliometric census study an analysis of document clustering; an author cocit.ation study; and a content analysis. Extensive use was made of multivariate statistical techniques, notably principal components analysis, hierarchical clustering, discriminant and correspondence analysis to identify statistically significant and meaningful patterns and structures within the test collection. The study concludes that information policy is a growing and reasonably distinctive field of study with strong links to library and information science, law, media studies, and the political sciences. It is suggested that the field is not unified and that research is still primarily organised along national and traditional disciplinary lines, with little evidence of significant collaborative activity across institutions or sectors. The research base is highly dispersed, with practitioners playing a major role in the production of knowledge. In institutional terms, the field is very thinly spread, with few signs of concentration.

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Fredericks, Azeza. "Putting indigenous knowledge on the science policy agenda in South Africa, 1994-2002." Thesis, Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/16605.

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Thesis (MPhil)--University of Stellenbosch, 2005. ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The study focuses on tracking the developments accompanying the rise of indigenous knowledge (IK) and its positioning on the science policy and national research agenda in South Africa (SA). The historical occasion, the variety of policy developments in a diverse ‘new’ SA and how IK evolved, presented the impetus and context of the study. The objectives of the study were to consider more closely the roles and actions of the participants in the overall process, how they interacted and to identify broad patterns that occurred. Other areas included positioning IK as strategic science and how it was refracted through the national research system. To achieve these objectives, a significant part of the methodology involved a historical reconstruction of developments in IK. The data obtained from this reconstruction provided the basis for further analysis and closer scrutiny of the issues. Reconstructing the history assisted with providing some answers regarding the sources of concern and motivation which led to formulating policy on IK, the processes that advanced IK to its position in 2002, looking at how the various players in the research system were mobilized and how the prelegislative stage of activity determined the outcome of the IK legislative process. In addition to these questions, there was an opportunity to consider Wally’s Serote’s role as ‘moral entrepreneur and to try to understand both his personal trajectory and the role he played in the system. The historical reconstruction provided a periodization comprising three chronological phases, namely • Genesis (1994 – 1996) • Awareness Creation (1997 – 1998) • Programmes and Implementation (1999 – 2002) New policy directions in SA provided a context for positioning IK within strategic science. The leadership and passion displayed by Serote also required an understanding of his personal trajectory and the role he played in the system. IK as strategic science is positioned within framework of the moral entrepreneur’s cycle in a changing system. The historical reconstruction raised the issue of how easy or difficult it is to embed processes and how these processes co-evolve in the system. It also showed how IK was refracted through the national research system. The broad ‘success’ of the IK initiative is discussed with respect to its legislative and policy journey in SA and its current position in the research system. The ‘lesser successful’ side is also discussed in terms of the intended objectives and the eventual outcomes. Protecting IK, a central issue throughout the process, led to struggles and tensions that required rethinking both the policy and epistemic aspects of both western science and IK. AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie studie fokus daarop om dié ontwikkelinge te volg wat deel was van die opkoms van inheemse kennis (IK) en die posisionering daarvan op die agenda vir wetenskapsbeleid en nasionale navorsing in Suid-Afrika (SA). Die historiese gebeurlikhede, die verskeidenheid in beleidsontwikkelinge in 'n diverse "nuwe" SA en die manier waarop IK ontwikkel het, het die stukrag en die konteks vir hierdie studie verskaf. Die doelwitte van die studie was as volg: om die rolle en die aksies van die deelnemers aan die proses as geheel in meer detail te oorweeg; om hulle interaksie waar te neem en om die breë aksiepatrone te identifiseer. Ander ondersoekareas was om IK as strategiese wetenskap te posisioneer en om vas te stel hoe dit deur middel van die nasionale navorsingstelsel gerefrakteer is. Om hierdie doelwitte te kan bereik, het 'n belangrike deel van die metodologie die historiese rekonstruksie van ontwikkelinge in IK behels. Die data wat deur middel van hierdie rekonstruksie verkry is, het die basis voorsien vir die verdere analise en nadere beskouing van die relevante kwessies. Deur die geskiedenis te rekonstrueer kon sommige van die vrae oor die volgende beantwoord word: die oorsprong van sake wat kommer gewek het en die motivering wat gelei het tot die formulering van beleid oor IK; die prosesse wat IK tot die posisie daarvan in 2002 bevorder het deur te kyk hoe die onderskeie rolspelers in die navorsingstelsel gemobiliseer is; en hoe die pre-wetgewende fase van aktiwiteite die uitkoms van die IK-wetgewende proses bepaal het. Bo en behalwe die beantwoording van hierdie vrae, kon Serote se rol as morele entrepreneur ook ondersoek word om sodoende beide sy persoonlike trajektorie en die rol wat hy in die stelsel gespeel het te probeer verstaan. Die historiese rekonstruksie het 'n periodisering, bestaande uit drie chronologiese fases, verskaf, naamlik 􀂃�� Genesis (1994 – 1996) 􀂃�� Skepping van 'n Bewussyn (1997 – 1998) 􀂃�� Programme en Implementering (1999 – 2002) Nuwe beleidsrigtings in Suid-Afrika het 'n konteks verskaf vir die posisionering van IK binne die strategiese wetenskap. Die leierskap en passie wat Serote geopenbaar het, het ook begrip vir sy persoonlike trajektorie en die rol wat hy in die stelsel gespeel het, gevra. IK as 'n strategiese wetenskap is geposisioneer binne-in die raamwerk van die morele entrepreneur se siklus in 'n veranderende stelsel. Die historiese rekonstruksie het die kwessie geopper van hoe maklik of hoe moeilik dit is om prosesse in te bed, en hoe hierdie prosesse saam in die stelsel ontwikkel. Dit het ook gewys hoe IK deur middel van die nasionale navorsingstelsel gerefrakteer is. Die breë "sukses" van die IK-inisiatief word bespreek met betrekking tot die pad wat dit geloop het in die wetgewende en die beleidsvormende proses in Suid-Afrika en die huidige posisie daarvan in die navorsingstelsel. Die "minder suksesvolle" kant word ook bespreek met betrekking tot die vooropgestelde doelwitte en die uiteindelike uitkomste. Die beskerming van IK, 'n sentrale kwessie regdeur die proses, het gelei tot worstelinge en spanninge wat vereis het dat die beleids- én die epistemiese aspekte van beide die westerse wetenskap en IK herbedink moes word.

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Apodaca, Jose Xavier. "Tobacco policy attitudes, smoking health-risk knowledge, and smoking behavior in acculturating Latinos /." Diss., Connect to a 24 p. preview or request complete full text in PDF format. Access restricted to UC campuses, 2000. http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/ucsd/fullcit?p9961766.

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Rose, David Christian. "Nature in a changing climate : knowledge and policy for conservation, England 1990-2011." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 2015. https://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.709441.

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Sadek, Gaafar. "Translation: Rights and Agency - A Public Policy Perspective for Knowledge, Technology and Globalization." Thesis, Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/10393/37362.

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Copyright law relegates translation to a secondary, or derivative, status, which means that publishing a translation requires the permission of the rights holder of the original. This thesis argues for the timeliness of revisiting the translation right by analyzing its foundations and its implications from a transdisciplinary public policy perspective. This is done by first studying the historical and philosophical foundations of copyright law itself where the translation right is housed, revealing questionable philosophical arguments and a colonial past that has created legal path dependencies. The thesis then undertakes an examination of the foundations of the translation right specifically, dubbed “the international issue par excellence,” which confirms the same pattern observed in the development of copyright law. Given the complete absence of the translator’s perspective from all international discussions on the translation right, copyright’s view of translation is then contrasted with recent scholarship in translation theory, with a special focus on the notion of agency(-ies), exposing the incompatibility of these views on translation, and highlighting the importance of including the perspective of translation studies in policies and laws related to translation. The last part of the thesis explores the present-day realities of knowledge societies, digital technologies, and globalization, in order to identify the role of translation today and in the future, while highlighting the tremendous gaps between the have’s and the have-not’s, and the necessity of recognizing the specificities of different societies. Knowledge is the new capital of the world, and the translation right is an impediment to the key role translation can potentially play in allowing societies to participate in the cycle of its consumption and regeneration. Digital technologies are powerful enablers that have allowed those who have leveraged and embraced them, such as the open movement and prosumers of all types, to transform the nature of their interactions with their environment macro- and microstructurally. This has also been reflected in the profession of translation, where collaborative projects are constantly initiated, while the nature of the translator’s work is changing to the point where one seriously doubts whether the provisions of the century-old translation right still apply to it. The discussion on globalization focuses on language in a globalized world, power relations between linguistic communities, and means of preserving linguistic diversity and heritage. The translation right, with its questionable foundations and outdated nature, is an impediment to the potential role of translation (as representative of the public interest) in the world, and must be revisited and at least reduced to the point of constituting balanced public policy. Social development, power relations and the necessity of differentiation (or “otherness”) are running themes throughout the work, which tries to balance between theoretical discussions from various relevant disciplines and reliance on United Nations and other public policy research.

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Denomme, Carolyn Riley. "Benefits of Bounded Diversity: Organizational Learning and Knowledge Transfer in a Multi-Product Manufacturing Environment." Research Showcase @ CMU, 2012. http://repository.cmu.edu/dissertations/191.

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Organizational learning and knowledge transfer are key elements within any firm when considering the firm’s competitive advantage and long-term goals. Yet, the roles of learning and knowledge transfer in a multi-product production setting are not well understood. Production and operations management literature suggests production of a variety of products is largely harmful, yet the organizational learning literature suggests there may be benefits to heterogeneity. This work explores the significance of a multi-product environment on organizational learning and knowledge transfer by studying a US-owned overseas manufacturing facility that is a leading producer of high technology hardware components. The firm produces 5 generations of high-volume focus products as well as a collection of non-focus products [an assortment of small volume products related to the focus products]. We draw on 10 years of firm archival data and qualitative data collected to shed insights into how different levels of product mix (5 generations of a focus product, thousands of minor variations on products to meet customer specifications, and an assortment of small volume products related to the focus product) impact organizational learning differently and why knowledge transfers across some products and not others by examining the role that processes play in these product transitions. Our results reconcile differences between the organizational learning and production and operations management literatures by finding support for both advantages and disadvantages to product mix on the production line depending on the extent of product differences. We find that short-term productivity improves with bounded diversity – specifically, when multiple generations of the same product are produced in the same facility. This positive impact on productivity of having multiple generations of the same product on the line may in part be explained by the firm’s ability to successfully transfer knowledge from older to newer generations of the product, improving long-term productivity, though we find benefits for focus product heterogeneity over and above the benefits from knowledge transfer. In contrast, we find short-term productivity is decreased when the production line is faced with variety across products that are too different from each other (e.g. different form factors) and across minor product variations (i.e. customer-specific product variations).

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Fensterheim, Devin Robert. "Knowledge production at the global frontier : the case of China." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/53057.

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Thesis (S.M. in Technology and Policy)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, Technology and Policy Program, 2009. Includes bibliographical references (p. 127-132). China is increasingly seen as a participant in the global knowledge economy, with recent studies have highlighted the rising number of scientists and engineers educated in Chinese institutions of higher education, and the growing funding allocated to the production of knowledge. Question remains as to whether China is producing scientific knowledge at the global frontier, and whether the production of scientific research in China is globally competitive. Since the end of the Cultural Revolution in 1976, Chinese policymakers have distinguished scientific modernization as essential to long-term economic prosperity and endogenous growth, and, more recently, to addressing the modern socioeconomic and environmental challenges confronting China. The State Council, largely through the Ministry of Science and Technology and Ministry of Education, have invested heavily in universities and research institutes to promote the development of world-class research. To evaluate the state of scientific innovation in China, three bibliometric analyses are conducted. First, United States patents with full or partial Chinese ownership are used to provide a measure of high-impact industrial and applied innovation. Second, all SCI-indexed articles affiliated with at least one Chinese institution are evaluated. Finally, articles published in the journal Nature and subject-specific Nature journals are used as a proxy for high-impact scientific research. The results suggest that while the majority of Chinese scientific research is of low impact, that frontier research is becoming increasingly common in a growing number of Chinese institutions. (cont.) There is evidence of a learning effect, suggesting that China engages in international consortia to participate in frontier research and uses the resulting experience to independently produce frontier knowledge, particularly in the fields of genetics and nanotechnology. by Devin Robert Fensterheim. S.M.in Technology and Policy

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Nightingale, Paul. "Knowledge and technical change : computer simulations and the changing innovation process." Thesis, University of Sussex, 1997. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.388970.

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Dunlop, Claire Alexandra. "Epistemic communities and knowledge interpretation : the case of the European Union and recombinant bovine somatotropin (rBST)." Thesis, University of Strathclyde, 2004. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.288621.

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Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Knowledge policy'

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