Merging Knowledge Research Articles

Dimensional metrology of micro parts by optical three-dimensional profilometry and areal surface topography analysis

A novel approach is proposed for the characterization of critical dimensions and geometric errors, suitable for application to micro-fabricated parts and devices characterized as step-like structured surfaces. The approach is based on acquiring areal maps with a high-precision optical three-dimensional profilometer and on processing topography data with novel techniques obtained by merging knowledge and algorithms from surface metrology, dimensional metrology and computer vision/image processing. Thin-foil laser targets for ion acceleration experiments are selected as the test subject. The main issues related to general applicability and metrological performance of the methodology are identified and discussed.

The use of areal surface topography analysis for the inspection of micro-fabricated thin foil laser targets for ion acceleration

This paper proposes a novel approach to the characterization of critical dimensions and geometric form error at micro and sub-micrometric scales, suitable for application to micro-fabricated parts and devices. Thin foil laser targets for ion acceleration experiments are selected as the test subject in this instance. The approach is based on acquiring areal maps with a high-precision 3D optical interferometric profilometer and on processing the surface topography data with novel techniques obtained by merging knowledge and algorithms from surface metrology, dimensional metrology and computer vision/image processing for quality inspection. This new approach allows quantitative measurement results for the thin foil laser target to be obtained, and shows promise for being applied to a wide array of similar problems involving quality inspection of micro-parts and devices, and to structured surfaces in general.

“Five Co‐s” in innovating: a practice‐based view

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to frame innovation as a process of co‐creation according to a practice‐based view.Design/methodology/approachThe paper focuses on the innovation practices that occurred within the web contexts of ten companies. In accordance with netnography research, data include preliminary studies of the web‐based context, naturalistic observations of the community and the activities of its members, and direct interactions with the members of the innovating community.FindingsThis work proposes the integration of innovation, practice and the emerging co‐creation research. The paper develops the five “Co‐s” model including: co‐ideation, co‐valuation, co‐design, co‐test and co‐launch. Each “Co‐“ represents a phase of the innovation process resulting from dynamic and on‐going interactions among resources, actions, and a group of actors who are interrelated via a dense network. Within each “Co‐“, the authors identify practices and elements of practices.Practical implicationsA firm's managers should influence co‐creation opportunities by contributing to script practices. These managers should be able to consider more clearly the full options of co‐creation activities and be involved in designing and responding to co‐creation initiatives. They should also understand that each phase could provide an opportunity for collaboration that enhances the value of co‐creation. In this manner, managers could orchestrate multiple resources (e.g., actors, actions tools and output language).Originality/valueThis work brings innovation into the realm of practice by moving the focus from the outcome to the process –, i.e. from innovation as a new artefact to the act of innovating. In this context, innovating is the system of on‐going co‐creation practices performed by people who merge knowledge, actions, tools, languages and artefacts to create something new and better. In this view, innovators are carriers of practices.

Towards linguistic descriptions of phenomena

This paper deals with the development of computational systems that are able to provide users with meaningful linguistic descriptions of phenomena, i.e., of occurrences, circumstances, or facts that are perceptible by their senses. Current technology allows computers to provide users with a great amount of data about a phenomenon in few seconds, nevertheless the problem consists of interpreting this overwhelming amount of information in a practical and meaningful way. This contribution is organized around the concept of Granular Linguistic Model of a Phenomenon where we combine ideas from two fields, namely, Computational Theory of Perceptions and Systemic Functional Linguistics. We describe the main components of a computational system for generating meaningful linguistic descriptions of phenomena. We illustrate the use of this new type of computational application with a practical example. In our opinion, these ideas are the starting point of an encouraging research line based on merging knowledge taken from the two mentioned disciplines.

A Review of Medicinal Plant Patents

Medicinal plant formulations have been used in traditional medicines for thousands of years. Plant-based medicine is still a major source of new drug leads and herbal treatments are highly lucrative in the international marketplace. The intellectual property issues for medicinal plant formulas are complicated for numerous reasons. Many of the patents are attempting to emulate the pharmaceutical model of composition patents that as we will discuss, is usually not an appropriate approach for medicinal plants. This paper does not seek to be an exhaustive review but rather provide an overview of the many aspects of medicinal plant patents, a topic of considerable future growth. Our experience has been that the merging of modern and traditional knowledge leads to unexpected correlations, elucidations and insights with tremendous potential for patentable discovery. A continuation of the dialogue on indigenous intellectual property rights will benefit from the inclusion of an increased diversity of voices that have the ability to recognize the mutual and often complementary abilities of traditional and modern sciences. The question is not how to simplify the complexity but rather how to embrace the complexity from the traditional medicine worldview with the tools of science. Keywords: Medicinal plant patent, traditional medicine, herbal medicine, biopiracy, PUBLIC HEALTH, Herbal treatments, Allopathic

An ontology-enabled user interface for simulation model construction and visualization

The purpose of an ontology is to structurally define knowledge about a topic. For the practice of simulation, ontologies have been demonstrated to be useful across a variety of techniques ranging from formally defining the components of dynamic models and capturing key simulation domain constraints to interrelating dynamic model components and geometry in order to visualize a phenomenon. We have created a methodology that requires domain ontologies to be rendered in the human-interface layer in support of the construction of dynamic models and their corresponding visualizations. We hypothesize that this methodology will provide a novel and accessible way to author visualizations and a framework for creating new teaching tools that merge concrete and abstract knowledge. A case study of our methodology is performed by applying our software prototype to simulation and visualization in the domain of healthcare, specifically cardiovascular physiology

Evaluating Cluster Preservation in Frequent Itemset Integration for Distributed Databases

Medical sciences are rapidly emerging as a data rich discipline where the amount of databases and their dimensionality increases exponentially with time. Data integration algorithms often rely upon discovering embedded, useful, and novel relationships between feature attributes that describe the data. Such algorithms require data integration prior to knowledge discovery, which can lack the timeliness, scalability, robustness, and reliability of discovered knowledge. Knowledge integration algorithms offer pattern discovery on segmented and distributed databases but require sophisticated methods for pattern merging and evaluating integration quality. We propose a unique computational framework for discovering and integrating frequent sets of features from distributed databases and then exploiting them for unsupervised learning from the integrated space. Assorted indices of cluster quality are used to assess the accuracy of knowledge merging. The approach preserves significant cluster quality under various cluster distributions and noise conditions. Exhaustive experimentation is performed to further evaluate the scalability and robustness of the proposed methodology.

Merging Textual Knowledge Represented by Element Fuzzy Cognitive Maps

Importance degree and difference degree of keywords in different topics have been measured by the associated weights in Element Fuzzy Cognitive Maps (E-FCMs) which can represent textual knowledge effectively . Logic “ and” operation is introduced to roughly evaluate the similarities between the mass E-FCMs in order to form the similar sets of textual knowledge. Based on the associated weight measuring and the logic operation, an E-FCMs-based knowledge merging algorithm is proposed to inspect the noisy and the redundancy information hidden in the original E-FCMs belonging to one similar set. A formula obtained through F-measure is employed as an indicator to measure the loss of textual information during the merging process of E-FCMs. The merging algorithm and the indicator provide a concise representation of text ual knowledge that can be used in understanding-based automatic text classification and clustering, as well as relevant knowledge aggregation and integration. The proposed algorithm will ha ve very good application prospects in future .

Merging Europe – Merging Knowledge The EFORT 2010 Congress in Madrid

Merging Europe – Merging Knowledge The EFORT 2010 Congress in Madrid

Preface to the International Pike Symposium: merging knowledge of ecology, biology, and management for a circumpolar species

The pike (Esox lucius Linnaeus 1758), or northern pike in North America, is a well-known fish species to anglers, managers, and scientists. As the only northern hemisphere circumpolar species represented in the family Esocidae, pike are studied in many different countries and cultures. The pike’s broad distribution in rivers and lakes throughout Eurasia and North America, trophic position as a top carnivore, effects on prey communities, and value in recreational and commercial fisheries, highlight its importance over countless, and varied aquatic systems. Complexity surrounds this species, with concern over the status of natural pike populations in some areas of its range, as well as its effects on ecosystems and fish communities, where it is endemic or has been introduced. Altered recruitment processes associated with changes and losses in critical habitats and flow regime characteristics, water quality declines, and climate change threatens this species worldwide. A general interest exists in the role of pike in fish communities and aquatic systems as well as in the effective management of recreational and commercial fisheries. Much can be learned from a symposium with a comprehensive focus by experts regarding pike life history, behavior, habitat use and requirements, population dynamics, physiology, role in ecology, and management issues. This symposium was envisioned by a group of scientists at the 2004 conference ‘‘Behavior and ecology of freshwater fish: linking ecology and individual behavior’’ hosted by the Danish Institute for Freshwater Research in Silkeborg, Denmark. Such an opportunity was given at the 136th annual meeting of the American Fisheries Society in Lake Placid 2006. A two-day symposium entitled ‘‘International Pike Symposium: merging knowledge of ecology, biology, and management for a circumpolar species’’ comprised 28 presentations by researchers from seven countries covering a variety of pike topics, and two panel discussions on the management and the ecology of pike. The objective of this symposium was to create and facilitate information exchanges regarding northern Guest editors: J. M. Farrell, C. Skov, M. Mingelbier, T. Margenau & J. E. Cooper International Pike Symposium: Merging Knowledge of Ecology, Biology, and Management for a Circumpolar Species

Current and future directions for pike ecology and management: a summary and synthesis

The pike (Esox lucius L.) is an exceptionally well-studied species of fish. Its biology, ecology andmanagement have been targeted in numerous studiesduring several decades (e.g. Crossman & Casselman,1987; Raat, 1988; Craig, 1996 and referencestherein). Being a northern hemisphere circumpolarspecies, pike is the subject of research in manycountries and cultures. A multitude of approaches topike research have accumulated in the literature overthe years. We do not seek to unify the body ofinternational pike research, but rather advocate thediversity of approaches to further the comprehensionof the species and its interactions.Open communication channels between research-ers from different countries or fields of pikeresearch are of utmost importance for the facilita-tion and progression of pike research. This purposewas intended and served at the ‘‘ International Pikesymposium: Merging Knowledge of Ecology, Biol-ogy and Management for a Circumpolar Species’’ ,held at the 136th annual meeting of the AmericanFisheries Society in Lake Placid 2006. The objec-tive of the symposium, ‘‘to create and facilitateinformation exchanges regarding northern pikebiology and management across political and geo-graphic boundaries’’, was certainly met by theparticipants who represented five countries inEurope (Denmark, Germany, Hungary, Swedenand UK), two provinces in Canada and six statesfrom the east to west coast of the US in NorthAmerica. The 28 presentations (Table 1) and twopanel discussions during the symposium covered awide variety of topics encompassing ecology,biology and management of pike. In the currentcontribution, we extract views and themes from thesymposium in an attempt to summarise where pikeresearch is at present, with reflections on where itmay take us. We approach this intricate task byoutlining the symposium communications on theecology and management issues around the pike,some of which are published in this special issue ofHydrobiologia.

Science and technology in standardization: A statistical analysis of merging knowledge structures

The objective of this paper is to depict the knowledge array of standards. This is done by identifying and analyzing external effects, specifically spillover effects. The database used is Perinorm. We use a cluster analysis in order to create groups of technology fields for German standards according to the fields of the International Classification of Standards. Methodologically, the distances between these objects or clusters are defined by the chosen distance measure, which in turn is determined by the sum of their cross references. The applied joining clustering method uses these distances between the objects and allows the data to be mapped within a two dimensional space. The results of this mapping show the existence of structures within the standards data fitting to the well-known structure of patent spillovers.

CONSENSUS-MAKING SUPPORT SYSTEMS DEDICATED TO CREATIVE PROBLEM SOLVING

There are many creative thinking manual methods in the world. They are brainstorming method, brain-writing method, mind mapping, NM method, Equivalent Transformation method, KJ method, etc. Human thinking process for creative problem solving consists of four sub-processes. They are divergent thinking sub-process, convergent thinking sub-process, idea crystallization sub-process, and idea verification sub-process. In accordance with this proposal, most Japanese research and development is centered on this four types of creative thinking manual methods and support systems. In this paper, we describe three types of Group Decision Support Systems (DSSs) for creative problem solving, similar to KJ method. All design philosophy depends on bottom-up decision-making. They are knowledge acquisition support groupware GRAPE, consensus-making support systems Group Coordinator (I) and Group Coordinator (II). The characteristic function of GRAPE is knowledge merging for GRAPE users, and that of Group-Coordinator (I) and Group-Coordinator (II) is tradeoff resolution by sensitivity analysis and adjusting of user requirements by the QDA method, respectively. The systems that we have developed are similar to the KJ method, which is the most popular methodology for creative problem solving in Japan. The essence of our developed methodology and tools is that it boosts intellectual productivity. GRAPE and its successors can speed-up the given group decision making problem by two to three times with respect to the idea crystallization (evaluation and judgment) sub-process.

A split-combination approach to merging knowledge bases in possibilistic logic

We propose an adaptive approach to merging possibilistic knowledge bases that deploys multiple operators instead of a single operator in the merging process. The merging approach consists of two steps: the splitting step and the combination step. The splitting step splits each knowledge base into two subbases and then in the second step, different classes of subbases are combined using different operators. Our merging approach is applied to knowledge bases which are self-consistent and results in a knowledge base which is also consistent. Two operators are proposed based on two different splitting methods. Both operators result in a possibilistic knowledge base which contains more information than that obtained by the t-conorm (such as the maximum) based merging methods. In the flat case, one of the operators provides a good alternative to syntax-based merging operators in classical logic.

A consistency-based framework for merging knowledge bases

We present a framework for expressing various merging operators for belief sets. This framework generalises our earlier work on consistency-based belief revision and contraction. Two primary merging operators are identified: in the first approach, belief sources are consistently combined so that the result of merging knowledge bases K 1 , … , K n is a maximal consistent (if possible) set of formulas comprising the joint knowledge of the knowledge bases. This approach then accords with one's intuitions as to what a “merge” operator should do. The second approach is more akin to a generalised belief revision operator. Knowledge bases K 1 , … , K n are “projected” onto another (in the simplest case the knowledge base where only tautologies are known). Properties of these operators are investigated, primarily by comparing their properties with postulates that have been identified previously in the literature. Notably, the approach is independent of syntax, in that merging knowledge bases K 1 , … , K n is independent of how each K i is expressed. As well, we investigate the role of entailment-based and consistency-based integrity constraints, the interrelationships between these approaches and belief revision, and the expression of further merging operators.

The modern office environment desiccates the eyes?

Eye irritation is a common complaint in the office environment. The purpose of this overview is to merge knowledge within indoor air science, ophthalmology, and occupational health to promote understanding eye irritation symptomatology, the cause of which is still partly unknown. High periocular relative humidity appears to protect the pre-corneal tear film against desiccation and sensory irritating pollutants and reduces the development of eye irritation symptoms. This is particularly relevant for intensive computer work, where the pre-corneal tear film is altered resulting in dry spot formation and eye dryness, in addition to enhanced susceptibility towards sensory irritating pollutants. The workplace, thermal conditions, and work schedule (including breaks) should be planned in such a way to help maintain a normal eye blink frequency to minimize alterations of the pre-corneal tear film. The role of relative humidity on eye irritation symptoms should not be underestimated. Multiple short breaks are justified by the beneficial effect on the pre-corneal tear film. In addition, longer breaks in tasks, which require demanding visual work, should be considered. In addition, air temperature as well as certain alkene oxidation products by ozone may worsen eye irritation symptoms, but the latter factor may be smaller at higher relative humidity.

The conflict detection and resolution in knowledge merging for image annotation

Semantic annotation of images is an important step to support semantic information extraction and retrieval. However, in a multi-annotator environment, various types of conflicts such as converting, merging, and inference conflicts could arise during the annotation. We devised conflict detection patterns based on different data, ontology at different inference levels and proposed the corresponding automatic conflict resolution strategies. We also constructed a simple annotator model to decide whether to trust a given piece of annotation from a given annotator. Finally, we conducted experiments to compare the performance of the automatic conflict resolution approaches during the annotation of images in the celebrity domain by 62 annotators. The experiments showed that the proposed method improved 3/4 annotation accuracy with respect to a naïve annotation system.

Managing changes to integrative technologies the case of biophotonics

During the last decade, a paradigmatic change from specialised technologies to more integrative technologies took place. This change means, that not only cooperation between scientists from different disciplines is necessary, but the merging of organisational routines, cognitive frames and knowledge from technological paradigms with different historical roots, application patterns and 'cultures'. Biophotonics is an example necessitating the integration of competences from biotechnology, optical industries and medical devices and still being in a state of market forecasts. The paper presents an overview of recent approaches in the US, Germany, France and the UK with different political frameworks and private institutional settings. It is an analysis of which institutional solutions are chosen to overcome the barriers to integration, the prerequisites of change in incumbent companies and the relevance of internationalisation. The theoretical analysis is based on an innovation system model integrating organisational learning theories.

Fostering a Healing Presence and Investigating Its Mediators

The purpose of this paper is the exploration and explication of the complex phenomena of "healing presence" and of appropriately supportive theoretical approaches to integrate emerging models for research design. Healing presence is described as an interpersonal, intrapersonal, and transpersonal to transcendent phenomenon that leads to a beneficial, therapeutic, and/or positive spiritual change within another individual (healee) and also within the healer. An integrated framework merging knowledge from diverse fields of research develops the multiple elements of healing presence, the healer, the healee's capacity for response and the healing effect as an entangled phenomenon. A conceptual systemic model is presented, and questions and dilemmas that emerge are delineated. An integrated qualitative–quantitative research design is proposed. A systemic relationship model, which includes the healer, the healee, and persons within the healee's environment is presented. The challenges are substantial, but the research questions are meaningful and worthwhile. The goal is to foster healing at bio-psycho-social-spiritual levels of the human being.

Fostering a healing presence and investigating its mediators.

The purpose of this paper is the exploration and explication of the complex phenomena of "healing presence" and of appropriately supportive theoretical approaches to integrate emerging models for research design. Healing presence is described as an interpersonal, intrapersonal, and transpersonal to transcendent phenomenon that leads to a beneficial, therapeutic, and/or positive spiritual change within another individual (healee) and also within the healer. An integrated framework merging knowledge from diverse fields of research develops the multiple elements of healing presence, the healer, the healee's capacity for response and the healing effect as an entangled phenomenon. A conceptual systemic model is presented, and questions and dilemmas that emerge are delineated. An integrated qualitative-quantitative research design is proposed. A systemic relationship model, which includes the healer, the healee, and persons within the healee's environment is presented. The challenges are substantial, but the research questions are meaningful and worthwhile. The goal is to foster healing at bio-psycho-social-spiritual levels of the human being.