Shared Knowledge Base Research Articles

TrottingPal: designing for mobility, personalization and collaboration at the trotting track

This paper describes an applied research project where the aim was to investigate the culture of trotting spectators and to explore how mobile information technology could be used to support these spectators at the trotting track. The research project was conducted in three phases. The first phase was an ethnographically inspired field study at a Swedish trotting track. The second phase applied the knowledge from phase one to inform the design of an overall architecture for a system supporting trotting spectators. The prototype system TrottingPal was developed. The third phase was a preliminary evaluation of TrottingPal involving a group of experienced spectators. The results of the research include three main characteristics of spectators. First, the study clearly indicates extensive mobility among the spectators, which stems from the process of gathering relevant trotting information from various sources located at different places at the track. Second, personalization of trotting information has been found to be important, since there is a great diversity in what spectators consider to be relevant and valid information. Third, the trotting track offers a rich environment of event information, in terms of other spectators that possess valuable knowledge about competitors, conditions, etc. Groups of spectators collaborate through exchanging information to create a shared knowledge base in order to place their bets. The preliminary evaluation of the prototype TrottingPal indicated that it is likely to be accepted as a tool for spectators at the trotting track.

Consensus and variation between speech and language therapists in the assessment and selection of preschool children for intervention: a body of knowledge or idiosyncratic decisions?

The aim was to investigate consensus between speech and language therapists (SLT) during the initial assessment of preschool children. A multimethod design was used. The qualitative component provided SLT's own views of the process as the starting point for the study. Data were generated from semistructured interviews and focus group discussions. The interviews investigated factors considered during an initial assessment of a preschool child. The focus groups discussed the process and content of a videotaped initial assessment carried out by the author. Quantitative data was generated from six case analyses and from a card sorting exercise. In the former, SLT were asked to record important features of newly referred cases. In the latter, SLT sorted statements about preschool children according to a simple concern/not concerned decision. Data collection tasks and analysis took place successively to build a composite and triangulated picture. The main subjects were 11 SLT, experienced in childrens' work with a further six acting as a broader reference group. The results show an interacting pattern of consensus and variation. SLT agreed about the relative priority of children, categories that informed the assessment; they made similar interpretations of incoming information. There was variation in their preferred assessment methods, in the thresholds of concern and in the interventions offered. Sources of variation that were identified included individual confidence in and access to assessments, personal levels of concern and in the approach to the SLT's role, as well as the influence of workplace policies. The study concluded that, consensus and variation both exist within the context of SLT's initial assessment of preschool children, but that there are discernible patterns to the variation. While such variation may be inevitable, it is suggested that any variation should be made explicit and used to challenge and develop the shared knowledge base of the speech and language therapy profession.

Consensus and variation between speech and language therapists in the assessment and selection of preschool children for intervention: a body of knowledge or idiosyncratic decisions?

The aim was to investigate consensus between speech and language therapists (SLT) during the initial assessment of preschool children. A multimethod design was used. The qualitative component provided SLT's own views of the process as the starting point for the study. Data were generated from semistructured interviews and focus group discussions. The interviews investigated factors considered during an initial assessment of a preschool child. The focus groups discussed the process and content of a videotaped initial assessment carried out by the author. Quantitative data was generated from six case analyses and from a card sorting exercise. In the former, SLT were asked to record important features of newly referred cases. In the latter, SLT sorted statements about preschool children according to a simple concern/not concerned decision. Data collection tasks and analysis took place successively to build a composite and triangulated picture. The main subjects were 11 SLT, experienced in childrens' work with a further six acting as a broader reference group. The results show an interacting pattern of consensus and variation. SLT agreed about the relative priority of children, categories that informed the assessment; they made similar interpretations of incoming information. There was variation in their preferred assessment methods, in the thresholds of concern and in the interventions offered. Sources of variation that were identified included individual confidence in and access to assessments, personal levels of concern and in the approach to the SLT's role, as well as the influence of workplace policies. The study concluded that, consensus and variation both exist within the context of SLT's initial assessment of preschool children, but that there are discernible patterns to the variation. While such variation may be inevitable, it is suggested that any variation should be made explicit and used to challenge and develop the shared knowledge base of the speech and language therapy profession.

SciFinance: A Program Synthesis Tool for Financial Modeling

The SciFinance software synthesis system, licensed to major investment banks, automates programming for financial risk-management activities -- from algorithms research to production pricing to risk control. SciFinance's high-level, extensible specification language, aspen, lets quantitative analysts generate code from concise model descriptions written in application-specific and mathematical terminology; typically, a page or less produces thousands of lines of c. aspen's abstractions help analysts focus on their primary tasks -- model description, validation, and analysis -- rather than on programming details. Compared with manual programming, automation produces codes that are more sophisticated, accurate, and consistent. Analysts develop models within a day that previously took weeks or were not even attempted. SciFinance extends a system that generates scientific computing codes in a variety of target languages. The implementation integrates an object-oriented knowledge base, refinement and optimization rules, computer algebra, and a planning system. The shared knowledge base is used by the specification checker, synthesis system, and information portal.

Computer Mediated Communication in Elementary Social Studies Methods: An Examination of Students' Perceptions and Perspectives

What are the benefits and results of using computer mediated communication (CMC) in preservice social studies methods courses across universities? This question is being explored through an analysis of preservice social studies teachers' web-based asynchronous dialogue. This inquiry involved an investigation of perceptions and perspectives of social studies methods students from two universities following their participation in a semester-long online dialogue exchange. A number of research studies have concluded that CMC substantially increases communication between teachers and students and among class participants (Hartman, & Zuvbrow, 1994; Schrum, 1995). CMC also empowers students to accept greater control and facilitates the construction of a shared knowledge base. This qualitative study examines current research in the field of educational telecommunications through the lens of the social studies methods course. The findings reveal the benefits and drawbacks of using CMC in methods courses between two universities and provide recommendations for effective future implementation.

Integrating Web-Based Documents, Shared Knowledge Bases, and Information Retrieval for User Help

We describe a prototype system, IKARUS, with which we investigated the potential of integrating web-based documents, shared knowledge bases, and information retrieval for improving knowledge storage and retrieval. As an example, we discuss how to implement both a user manual and an online help system as one system. The following technologies are combined: a web-based design, a frame-based knowledge engine, use of an advanced full-text search engine, and simple techniques to control terminology. We have combined graphical browsing with several unusual forms of text retrieval—for example, to the sentence and paragraph level.

Managing design information in enterprise-wide CAD using `smart drawings'

Information sharing is critical to any design team. The availability of design information, such as component databases, memos and correspondence, CAD models and simulation results, all accessible through a computer network, drives the design process. However, accessibility does not necessarily connote useability. To bring information sharing into the service of supporting design requires integration. We describe a framework for managing CAD-based design information in enterprise-wide networked design environments. By merging the processes of design documentation and design data management through the concept of `smart drawings', we characterize the development of a shared knowledge base for exchanging product information among multi-disciplinary design teams. The combination of relational database and document management technology enables the use of the CAD-based information as a single front-end to the design tools and for manipulating design data. The knowledge base is formed by associating CAD models to related documents and embedding significant semantic content in the domain model rather than in the application programs that use the database. The availability of design information is then accessed through an information repository in a client/server environment. The system was deployed and tested in an industrial, multi-disciplinary facilities design and management project.

A computer-mediated support system for project-based learning

Project-based learning places demands on learners and instructors that challenge the traditional practices and support structures of schools. Learning from doing complex, challenging, and authentic projects requires resourcefulness and planning by the student, new forms of knowledge representation in school, expanded mechanisms for collaboration and communication, and support for reflection and authentic assessment. This article describes a computer-mediated learning-support system designed as a suite of integrated, internet-based client-server tools to provide (a) intelligent support both for the processes of doing a project and for learning from doing a project, and (b) a shared dynamic knowledge base for working and learning in a community supporting project-based education. The article describes the architecture of the system, its current state of development, and findings from an initial deployment. This articulation of the system components and findings can benefit several groups. It can help (a) educators envisioning the role of technology in augmenting authentic forms of learning, (b) developers of other support systems as they compare features and implications, and (c) researchers as they frame questions about human-computer interactions in learning systems.

Time, Knowledge, and Action: The Effect of Trauma upon Community Capacity for Action

This article explores the relationship between time, knowledge, and action under the urgent conditions of disaster. We inquire into the conditions under which a community is able to give timely response to a catastrophic event. Such events require interorganizational communication, coordination, and a shared knowledge base to support action. We report findings from an international, interdisciplinary study of medical response following the March 13, 1992, earthquake in Erzincan, Turkey. Data are presented from a survey of representative organizational actors who were engaged in disaster response operations and lay persons who observed the response. In the case of Erzincan, the effect of trauma, communicated across multiple ties of family, friendship, and business in the community, had a disabling effect on the community's capacity to respond to the urgent needs of its citizens. Further, national efforts dependent upon knowledge of the community were inhibited by local trauma. We conclude that national capacity for timely, effective response to disaster depends upon the initial condition of training, communications, and infrastructure that are in place at the community level prior to the disaster.

Increasing the Communicative Competence of Foreign Language Students Through the FL Chatroom

ABSTRACT The popular online “chatroom” can be incorporated into course syllabi of foreign language courses as a regular homework assignment to encourage students to use the target language actively and frequently. By scheduling regular visits to an FL‐specific chatroom, the FL instructor can greatly increase the amount of time students spend communicating in the target language. The FL chatroom allows the instructor and students to continue more in‐depth discussions–grammatical, cultural, and literary–outside of the classroom. Further, these discussions can be opened up to include other sections and classes, as well as guests from outside the institution. Thus, students from all levels of language learning can benefit from a shared knowledge base.

The computer revolution in science: steps towards the realization of computer-supported discovery environments

The tools that scientists use in their search processes together form so-called discovery environments. The promise of artificial intelligence and other branches of computer science is to radically transform conventional discovery environments by equipping scientists with a range of powerful computer tools including large-scale, shared knowledge bases and discovery programs. We will describe the future computer-supported discovery environments that may result, and illustrate by means of a realistic scenario how scientists come to new discoveries in these environments. In order to make the step from the current generation of discovery tools to computer-supported discovery environments like the one presented in the scenario, developers should realize that such environments are large-scale sociotechnical systems. They should not just focus on isolated computer programs, but also pay attention to the question how these programs will be used and maintained by scientists in research practices. In order to help developers of discovery programs in achieving the integration of their tools in discovery environments, we will formulate a set of guidelines that developers could follow.

A learning team in the making

This paper draws on the evaluation of a research and action project based in an inner city doctor's practice, which aimed to promote team working and to empower health workers and local people to respond to the health implications of poverty. Dechant, Marsick and Kasl's (1993) emerging ideas for a model of team learning are used to provide a conceptual framework for a discussion of key findings from the project which was informed by Blackburn's (1992a) team training handbook. Given current interest in the importance of learning for organisations and individuals but the relative lack of attention paid to date to learning in teams, analysis of the application of Blackburn's ideas in practice makes a potentially useful contribution to the understanding of how teams of health and social care staff may develop a shared knowledge base and work more collectively on issues of major concern to local people.

Building knowledge base management systems

Advanced applications in fields such as CAD, software engineering, real-time process control, corporate repositories and digital libraries require the construction, efficient access and management of large, shared knowledge bases. Such knowledge bases cannot be built using existing tools such as expert system shells, because these do not scale up, nor can they be built in terms of existing database technology, because such technology does not support the rich representational structure and inference mechanisms required for knowledge-based systems. This paper proposes a generic architecture for a knowledge base management system intended for such applications. The architecture assumes an object-oriented knowledge representation language with an assertional sublanguage used to express constraints and rules. It also provides for general-purpose deductive inference and special-purpose temporal reasoning. Results reported in the paper address several knowledge base management issues. For storage management, a new method is proposed for generating a logical schema for a given knowledge base. Query processing algorithms are offered for semantic and physical query optimization, along with an enhanced cost model for query cost estimation. On concurrency control, the paper describes a novel concurrency control policy which takes advantage of knowledge base structure and is shown to outperform two-phase locking for highly structured knowledge bases and update-intensive transactions. Finally, algorithms for compilation and efficient processing of constraints and rules during knowledge base operations are described. The paper describes original results, including novel data structures and algorithms, as well as preliminary performance evaluation data. Based on these results, we conclude that knowledge base management systems which can accommodate large knowledge bases are feasible.

Epidemiologic concerns for ergonomists: illustrations from the musculoskeletal disorder literature.

Ergonomics and epidemiology are unique fields that share some common interests. Epidemiologic methods are increasingly being utilized in ergonomic studies of the work-related risk factors of musculoskeletal disorders. This multidisciplinary approach requires a shared knowledge base and understanding of the methodology of both disciplines. In this paper, basic epidemiologic concepts are introduced. Examples from the upper extremity musculoskeletal disorder literature are used to illustrate study design issues and to suggest improved study methods. Epidemiologic design problems including selection bias (healthy worker survivor effect), misclassification, and confounding are discussed. Prospective research designs are described as a feasible approach for the study of these disorders. Increased collaboration between ergonomists and epidemiologists is encouraged to improve progress towards the reduction of workplace injuries and illnesses.

Teachers and speech and language therapists working together: a training package

ABSTRACT A training package entitled ‘Teachers and Speech and Language Therapists Working Together’ was devised as part of a new mainstream school‐based speech and language therapy service. The package was developed and run by the speech and language therapy department for teachers who were or who would be working alongside therapists. In order for the new service to be effective, good collaboration with education staff was identified as being essential. Teaching staff (though the use of questionnaires) and speech and language therapists identified that in order to achieve successful collaboration it was necessary for skills and knowledge to be shared, with a view to: (1) Increasing teachers' awareness and understanding of communication difficulties; (2) Improving teachers' understanding of the role of the speech and language therapist; (3) Determining what information and advice teachers would find most helpful; and (4) Exploring ways of incorporating speech and language therapy aims into the school curriculum. A six‐session course was planned following consultation with the Local Education Authority's Learning Support Services and teachers who had experience of working alongside speech and language therapists. A two‐way learning process was felt to be vital and sessions were therefore designed to be interactive. The course first ran during the summer term 1993, and has run termly since then. It has been evaluated on each occasion via questionnaires completed by course participants. This process of evaluation has led to both the content and the presentation methods being changed. The changes have included removing items which teachers did not rate as useful and replacing them with more practical activities; making more time to discuss general strategies; increasing the use of video and refining presentation skills. Comments on the questionnaires have shown that participants found most of the content to be useful or very useful. All participants who completed questionnaires stated that they felt either more or much more confident about working with speech and language impaired children. The outcomes of running the course, as measured by questionnaire and therapists' feedback, are: (1) An increased profile for speech and language therapists within schools; (2) Therapists increasing their ability to provide advice which can readily be implemented as part of classroom routines; (3) More effective collaboration between speech and language therapists and education staff due to teachers' increased confidence in their ability to reinforce therapy targets across the curriculum, and an improved shared knowledge base leading to greater ease of joint working; and (4) Identification of the need for more practical training for Learning Assistants.

A Critique of the Metaphor of Distillation in “Toward a Knowledge Base for School Learning”

Toward a Knowledge Base for School Learning (Wang, Haertel, & Walberg, 1993a) is an inviting title for an academic article. This work represents an attempt to distill a broad cross-section of educational research, academic opinion, and meta-analyses into a comprehensible whole. Unfortunately, the authors never clarify the multiple contours of this knowledge base; thus, one is hard pressed to understand what their broad-based comparison has really yielded. What is clear is that the emerging knowledge base of learning is not unified. Dividing more than 200 educational factors into half a dozen categories, the authors separate the categories into proximal variables, which appear to enhance the learning process, and distal variables, which have less efficacy to improve learning. This critique questions the authors' approach by posing several dilemmas created by their methodology. The result of these dilemmas is that the article's conclusions about distal variables could actually be counterproductive. For example, discouraging changes in education policy (one of the distal variables) could detract from proximal variables such as parent involvement and student-teacher interaction, which the authors recognize as the main agents of school learning. Despite the rigor of the moder statistical methodology utilized to make the necessary comparisons, the task the authors set for themselves was simply too great. The attempt to identify a knowledge base of learning is admirable, but is it realistically achievable? This daunting task seems to lead the researchers to a process (distillation) that is more akin to alchemy than science. Dating, at least, from the work of Aristotle, scientists in the West have pursued the dream of reducing the universe to a set of simple rules that harmoniously explain everything. With the development of Kepler's perfect music of the spheres and later with Newtonian mechanics, humanity came close; yet a simple and elegant explanation of the Universe continues to elude natural scientists. Toward a Knowledge Base of School Learning (Wang et al., 1993a) attempts to accomplish this type of synthesis for a branch of social science. Relying on the process of distillation, the authors have tried to reduce a huge mass of educational thought and research to its essence. Natural science is diverse and sometimes seemingly contradictory. For example, what one experiences at the macrolevel does not necessarily reflect what is true at the molecular level. Nonetheless, the disparate parts of science are linked together in a comprehensible whole through the lingua franca of mathematics. One must doubt whether sophisticated statistical analyses can ever weave together the multiple parts of school-based learning into a similar shared knowledge base.

A persistent store for large shared knowledge bases

A knowledge-base management system (KBMS) with the following goals is proposed: (1) to allow a knowledge engineer to update a knowledge base and have these updates persist on secondary storage, (2) to allow multiple knowledge engineers to have shared access to a knowledge base and modify the knowledge base concurrently, and (3) to maintain consistency of the shared knowledge base as it evolves. At the heart of the KBMS is the version store, which is a persistent storage structure that maintains multiple versions of a knowledge base. Retrieve and update operations are defined on the version store to efficiently access and modify any version. Objects in the version store are clustered to support efficient access of an entire version or some subparts of it. To store the effects of an update requires space proportional to the size of the update and which is independent of the size of the knowledge base. The additional cost of maintaining multiple versions is within a small constant factor of maintaining a single version. >

An intelligent agent framework for enterprise integration

The authors present a framework in which human and intelligent agents (IAs) can interact to facilitate the information flow and decision making in real-world enterprises. Underlying the framework is the notion of an enterprise model that is built by dividing complex enterprise operations into a collection of elementary tasks or activities. Each such task is then modeled in cognitive terms and entrusted to an IA for execution. Tasks that require human involvement are referred to the appropriate person through their personal assistant, a special type of IA that knows how to communicate both with humans, through multimedia interfaces, and with other IAs and the shared knowledge base. The computer-aided software engineering tools supported by a library of activity models permit every individual in an enterprise to model the activities with which they are personally most familiar. The preliminary experimental results suggest that this divide-and-conquer strategy, leading to cognitive models that are buildable and maintainable by end-users, is a viable approach to real-world distributed artificial intelligence.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>

Computer architectures for logic-oriented data/knowledge bases

AbstractKnowledge base management systems (KBMS) are designed to efficiently retrieve and manipulate large shared knowledge bases. A significant subclass of KBMS consisting of a combination of logic programming and database is often called a logic oriented knowledge base system (LOKBS). These systems must possess considerable processing and I/O capabilities so many approaches have been taken to the improvement of their performance. In this paper we review the current performance enhancing hardware approaches for LOKBS. We include parallelism, both in processing and I/O, algorithms, caching, and physical data organizations.

On Kuhn, Popper and teaching technological innovation management

Technological innovation plays a central role in economic growth and sustained research over the past 25 years has yielded an improved understanding of the multidisciplinary technological innovation process. The current concern of Western developed countries to improve their economies has created an educational need to provide courses on technological innovation management to mixed classes of science, engineering and management students. In teaching to students with diverse disciplinary and professional cultures without shared knowledge bases and value systems, it is useful to identify conceptual and methodological commonalities among the disciplines involved in this innovation process. This paper argues that Kuhn's and Popper's seminal contributions to the social psychology and epistemology of science appear to be implicitly reflected in more recent treatments of technological evolution and the pragmatic managerial evaluation of potential innovations. It explores commonalities and suggests that, by identifying them at the beginning of such a course, students can recognize common underlying psychological and methodological foundations to all aspects of the innovation process and aid their identification of future career paths for themselves in high-technology industries.