Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Knowledge construction'

The ever-expanding boundary of knowledge for social work practice confronts social work practitioners with a great variety of theories and approaches which are incommensurable with each other and esoteric that renders the relationship between social work knowledge and practice problematic. To resolve this epistemological issue, proponents of the 'scientific designer-practitioner model' advocate production of scientifically proven intervention approaches for social workers' application to practice. However, the adherents of 'heuristic perspective on social work' pinpoint that the actual social work practice situations are too complex and indefinite to be. covered by codified knowledge; instead, they maintain that social workers should think like a researcher to produce and use their own practice theory/wisdom (knowledge construction) through generating and testing hypotheses in the course of intervention. Through the 'practice perspective on social work', I criticize them of misplacing emphasis on practitioners' cognitive process as to knowledge construction within intervention and suggest to investigate the infrastructure of knowledge co-construction by both social workers and service users within intervention conversation. Through the lens of conversation analysis, six transcribed interviews between social workers and their service users have been closely examined. The core epistemic activities (episactivities), some elementary conversational actions (episgears) of knowledge co-construction and some of the strategies (epistechniques) employed by social workers to handle hurdles (episbottlenecks) arising in the process of knowledge co-construction are identified. These findings imply a new set of basic conversational skills for social work which may contribute to the resolution of the epistemological issue of social work. I term them 'epistemically informed intervention'.

This paper researches the theoretical background needed for the implementation of literary texts with multicultural themes for use in EFL courses in Sweden and it offers several concrete didactical solutions for multicultural reading. The theory of multicultural education by J. A. Banks is presented with focus on the dimension of knowledge construction. The processes that are examined are the learning processes in the zone of proximal development by Vygotsky (1986), the concept of scaffolding by Woods, Bruner & Ross (1976) and the process of perspective-taking by Thein & Sloan (2013). These processes each employ a three-step sequence that moves students from their existing knowledge to new knowledge and revised personal opinions. The teacher’s role is to provide support during the learning process. The second part of the paper suggests different activities for the multicultural reading of a novel, used to make the process of multicultural knowledge construction and scaffolding visible. Teacher support includes text reduction, book discussion and language analysis. Discussion points found in Love Medicine start with revising the stereotypical images, discovering how personal experience influences knowledge or how ethnicity influences professional career choices. When teachers and students read literary texts with multicultural themes, students’ racial prejudice can be reduced (Banks 2004) and their ethical attitudes become more open (Thein & Sloan 2013). The literary work chosen for framing in the theory is Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich. The paper ends with a reflection over the limitations of multicultural reading projects.

Thesis (Eng.D.)--City University of Hong Kong, 2009.
"Submitted to Department of Manufacturing Engineering and Engineering Management in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Engineering Doctorate. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Dept. of Computer Science, 2004.
Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 66-01, Section: A, page: 0012. Chairman: David B. Leake. Title from dissertation home page (viewed Oct. 12, 2006).

The purpose of this thesis is to contribute a corpus for sentence level interpretation of biomedical language. The available corpora for the biomedical domain are small in terms of amount of text and predicates. Besides that these corpora are developed rather intuitively. In this effort which we call BioOntoFN, we created a corpus from the domain knowledge provided by an ontology. By doing this we believe that we can provide a rough set of rules to create corpora from ontologies. Besides that we also designed an annotation tool specifically for building our corpus. We built a corpus for biological transport events. The ontology we used is the piece of Gene Ontology pertaining to transport, the term transport GO: 0006810 and all of its child concepts, which could be called a sub-ontology. The annotation of the corpus follows the rules of FrameNet and the output is annotated text that is in an XML format similar to that of FrameNet. The text for the corpus is taken from abstracts of MEDLINE articles. The annotation tool is a GUI created using Java.

This study relates corpus-driven discourse analysis to the concept of collaborative knowledge construction. It demonstrates that the traditional synchronic perspective of meaning in corpus linguistics needs to be complemented by a diachronic dimension. The fundamental assumption underlying this work is that knowledge is understood not within the traditional epistemological framework but from a radical social epistemological perspective, and that incremental knowledge about an object of the discourse corresponds to continual change of meaning of the lexical item that stands for it. This stance is based on the assumption of the discourse as a self-referential system that uses paraphrase as a key device to construct new knowledge. Knowledge is thus seen as the result of collaboration between the members of a discourse community. The thesis presents, in great detail, case studies of asynchronous computer-mediated communication that allow a comprehensive categorisation of a wide range of paraphrase types. It also investigates overt and covert signs of intertextuality linking a new paraphrase to previous contributions. The study then discusses ways in which these new insights concerning the process of collaborative knowledge construction can have an impact on teaching methodologies.

The value of project knowledge to the management of a current project is considered crucial to successful project delivery. However, knowledge capture and retrieval suffers from a number of deficiencies, which may result in the loss of huge amount of knowledge and difficulties in retrieving captured knowledge. This study aims to develop a reliable framework for the capture and retrieval of organisational knowledge for use in construction projects. Adopting an empiricist methodology, it includes a survey conducted to investigate the current practice, and semi-structured interviews to explore best practice. The results obtained are used as a foundation for a framework that can assist construction companies to avoid the loss of project knowledge and increase performance and innovation in projects. The findings indicate that project review (PR) is the most appropriate method for achieving knowledge capture; in addition, this should be conducted in a systematic and precise way and results should be presented in the form of instructions or in a checklist format, forming short and precise insights. For quick and efficient retrieval knowledge must be categorised based on project management processes and activities, using an IT system with components designed to manage knowledge and locate experts. Nevertheless; the framework developed suggested that regardless of the effectiveness of the approach to knowledge capture and retrieval, without a knowledge-sharing environment the application will not benefit from these methods. Open culture and resources are critical for providing a knowledge-sharing environment and that leadership has to sustain project knowledge capture and retrieval, providing full support for its application. The framework has been evaluated by academics and practitioners who are experts in their field. The results have indicated that the framework and its components are both applicable and effective.

Mestrado em Engenharia de Computadores e Telemática
Taking into account the overwhelming number of biomedical publications being produced, the effort required for a user to efficiently explore those publications in order to establish relationships between a wide range of concepts is staggering. This dissertation presents GRACE, a web-based platform that provides an advanced graphical exploration interface that allows users to traverse the biomedical domain in order to find explicit and latent associations between annotated biomedical concepts belonging to a variety of semantic types (e.g., Genes, Proteins, Disorders, Procedures and Anatomy). The knowledge base utilized is a collection of MEDLINE articles with English abstracts. These annotations are then stored in an efficient data storage that allows for complex queries and high-performance data delivery. Concept relationship are inferred through statistical analysis, applying association measures to annotated terms. These processes grant the graphical interface the ability to create, in real-time, a data visualization in the form of a graph for the exploration of these biomedical concept relationships.
Tendo em conta o crescimento do número de publicações biomédicas a serem produzidas todos os anos, o esforço exigido para que um utilizador consiga, de uma forma eficiente, explorar estas publicações para conseguir estabelecer associações entre um conjunto alargado de conceitos torna esta tarefa exaustiva. Nesta disertação apresentamos uma plataforma web chamada GRACE, que providencia uma interface gráfica de exploração que permite aos utilizadores navegar pelo domínio biomédico em busca de associações explícitas ou latentes entre conceitos biomédicos pertencentes a uma variedade de domínios semânticos (i.e., Genes, Proteínas, Doenças, Procedimentos e Anatomia). A base de conhecimento usada é uma coleção de artigos MEDLINE com resumos escritos na língua inglesa. Estas anotações são armazenadas numa base de dados que permite pesquisas complexas e obtenção de dados com alta performance. As relações entre conceitos são inferidas a partir de análise estatística, aplicando medidas de associações entre os conceitos anotados. Estes processos permitem à interface gráfica criar, em tempo real, uma visualização de dados, na forma de um grafo, para a exploração destas relações entre conceitos do domínio biomédico.

The objective of this thesis is to assemble the knowledge base which reflects the expertise of the building contractor as it relates to activity scoping and sequencing work for highrise residential construction projects. To facilitate the acquisition of practical construction scheduling knowledge, computerized project management capabilities were implemented into a medium size general building contractor, J.C. Scott Construction Ltd. of Vancouver. This company was used to represent the industry standards from which the knowledge is extracted. The process by which the computerized system was implemented and used in the field to acquire the knowledge is documented so that an understanding is gained regarding the nature of the acquired data. The knowledge acquired from the study is represented in the form of rule-based data and stored in databases structured for use in a knowledge-based expert system.
Applied Science, Faculty of
Civil Engineering, Department of
Graduate

The objectives of this thesis are to investigate, formulate, and structure the problem of methods selection, and apply a Knowledge-Based Expert System (KBES) approach. A complete, conceptual KBES framework for the methods selection problem is proposed and selected aspects of it were implemented using NExpert Object. Defined hierarchically, a conceptual method frame consists of the following attributes: design element, construction strategy, construction resources, and construction process model. The roles of the KBES control strategy are to first specify a method and then rank it versus others. In so doing, the control strategy is applied at two levels: a preliminary feasibility level, and a detailed feasibility level. The former is used to reduce the number of available methods and rank them for processing by the latter. The preliminary feasibility part constitutes declarative knowledge with high level premises. The detailed feasibility level, develops the attributes of the method. This component contains empirical, analytical, and procedural knowledge that draws on the civil engineering knowledge domains of design, analysis and construction. Because the notion of a frame is a useful way of identifying the attributes of a construction method, a conceptual frame is used throughout to demonstrate the build-up of the method attributes through preliminary, then detailed feasibility. An expert system called CMSA (Construction Methods Selection Assistant) was developed to implement a subset of the proposed solution approach with Cut-and-Cover tunnelling as the problem domain. CMSA, as designed, constitutes a methods selection shell that can be applied to other domains. It entails a solution paradigm of Suggest, Design, Predict, and Analyze operators. CMSA incorporates previous experience (shallow knowledge) as well as algorithmic procedures (deep knowledge). Key elements central to CMSA knowledge base include risk, design technical feasibility, resources compatibility, cost and time performance measures, and regulatory constraints. Allowance is made for modelling project context variables. A range of geotechnical conditions were treated for the example problem domain. The KBES framework proposed for the methods selection problem shows promise for tackling this ill-structured problem, helping to organize site experience, and contributing to productivity improvement.
Applied Science, Faculty of
Civil Engineering, Department of
Graduate

Construction is a project-based industry and construction supply chains generally work with a unique product in every project. Commonly, project organizations are reconfigured for each project. This means that construction supply chains are characterised by various practices and disjointed relationships, with the result that construction supply chain actors generally have transient relationships rather than long term risk sharing partnerships. A consequence of this is the lack of trust between construction clients, designers, main contractors and suppliers. Because the construction supply chain works as a disparate collection of separate organisations rather than as a unified team, the supply chain suffers from lack of integration. Knowledge flow in construction supply chains are hindered due to the reasons such as inadequate adaptation to collaborative procurement type projects, inadequate collaboration between the downstream and upstream supply chain, lack of interoperability of the design tools, lack of well structured SCM process and lack of well developed knowledge management applications. These characteristics of the construction supply chains are the main reasons for its low efficiency and productivity in project delivery. There is a need for the development of appropriate systems to ensure the effective diffusion of knowledge such that each actor of the supply chain adds value to the project delivery process. This is expected to result in the creation of knowledge chains in construction. It is believed that construction supply chain management (SCM), when integrated with knowledge management (KM), can successfully address the major problems of the industry The main aim of this research was to develop a framework to transform construction supply chains into knowledge chains . To reach this aim, the research first provided an overview of practices and issues in SCM across a range of industry sectors including construction, aerospace, and automotive industries. It discusses research and developments in the field of SCM and KM in construction industry, the key SCM issues with a knowledge flow focus, and the best practices from other industries to improve the construction supply chains. Furthermore, the results of the company specific and project specific case studies conducted in aerospace and construction industry supply chains are presented. These results include the key SC problems, key issues related to knowledge flow and the presentation of knowledge requirements of each supply chain actor. Following the data analysis process, a framework to transform the construction supply chain into a knowledge chain taking full cognisance of both the technical and social aspects of KM was presented. The main purpose of the knowledge chain framework was to enable construction bid managers/project managers to plan and manage the project knowledge flow in the supply chain and organise activities, meetings and tasks to improve SCM and KM throughout the supply chain in an integrated procurement type (PFI) project life cycle. The knowledge chain framework was intended to depict the knowledge flow in the construction supply chain specifically, and to offer guidance for specific business processes to transform the supply chains into knowledge chains. Finally, this research focused on the evaluation of the framework through industry practitioners and researchers. An evaluation of the Framework was conducted via workshop followed by a questionnaire comprising industry experts. The findings indicated that adoption of the Framework in construction project lifecycle could contribute towards more efficient and effective management of knowledge flow, standardisation and integration of SCM and KM processes, better coordination and integration of the SC, improved consistency and visibility of the processes, and successful delivery of strategic projects. The overall research process contributed the construction research in many perspectives such as introduction of knowledge chain concept for construction supply chains; comparative analysis of the SCM practices in different industry sectors, identification of best practices for construction supply chains, better demonstration of the maturity level and critical factors of the SCM within the construction industry, demonstration of the KC framework which integrates the supply chain process and knowledge sharing within a single framework which covers all the recent trends in the construction industry like collaborative procurement route projects, creation of better integrated SCs, applications like off site construction and BIM where all supply chain management and knowledge management should take place.

There are several challenging engineering and management problems that occur on construction sites. Failure in managing construction site problems results in a high proportion of rework, defects, delays, disputes and cost overruns on construction projects. In site management, knowledge is often embedded not only in documents and repositories but also in organisational routines, processes, practices and norms. However, site management teams still do not have a systematic approach to managing knowledge. Knowledge management (KM) processes can effectively be used to enable construction site managers deal with on-site problems and risks in a systematic and efficient way. With regard to these problems, the aim of this research was to investigate the improvement of construction site management practices through the integration of knowledge management processes. The research methodology adopted consisted of several methods. A literature review on site management practices and knowledge management as first undertaken . This was followed by case studies involving five construction sites which sought to investigate the key problems of site management practices and to examine existing knowledge management practices on the construction site. They also explored how KM processes could improve current site management practices. The cases tudy findings underpinned by literature results were used to develop a conceptual framework to managing construction knowledge that is entrenched in site management processes. The integrated K&4 framework (incorporating both proactive and reactive approaches) was intended to enable site managers to adopt a knowledge management approach to addressing site management problems. The framework was encapsulated in a computer-based prototype system (developed using Microsoft Visual Basic) to simplify the use of the integrated KM framework and provide construction organisations with a practical tool. Evaluation of the prototype system was carried out by industry practitioners and construction researchers to assess its appropriateness and functionality. It was established that the prototype system was highly effective in enabling site managers to address site management problems from a knowledge management perspective. Several benefits of the system were also identified. It is concluded that construction site management practices can be improved if the knowledge dimensions of the problems are well understood and appropriately managed. This research has developed an integrated KM framework that provides a structured approach to achieving this. The framework is simple to use, requires a relatively short time to implement, is scalable to any type of project and can easily be deployed on any construction site. Knowledge gains economic value when it is used to solve problems, explore opportunities and make decisions. The developed prototype system is expected to increase the ability of the site manager to learn from previous experience and to better address any site management problems that may occur. It also enables the site manager to be proactive in minimising the number of problems that occur on the construction site and to reduce the impact of those that do occur.

CONSELHO NACIONAL DE DESENVOLVIMENTO CIENTÍFICO E TECNOLÓGICO
Essa dissertação de mestrado aborda as relações da poesia com a psicanálise buscando compreender a importância da primeira para a construção teórica da segunda. Assim, num primeiro momento buscou-se traçar um breve percurso acerca da poesia, para depois se adentrar a obra de Freud interrogando por que ele citou tanto os poetas. Nesse sentido, a diferenciação entre processos primários e secundários, além das noções de facilitação (Bahnung) e a posteriori (Nächtraglichkeit) são investigadas como mportantes para uma articulação em torno da originariedade poética. Num segundo momento da dissertação, a partir da noção derridiana de différance, questiona-se o uso da poesia como exemplo ilustrativo da efetividade de uma teoria. Essa discussão é feita a partir do seminário de Lacan sobre o conto The Purloined Letter de E.A.Poe e sua conclusão de que uma carta sempre chega ao seu destino.
This MSc dissertation focus is on the relationship of poetry and psychoanalysis, seeking to understand the importance of the first for the theoretical construction of the second. Thus, initially a brief tour on poetry is made, and then we enter the work of Freud questioning why he quoted the poets so often. Accordingly, the distinction between primary and secondary processes, in addition to the concepts of facilitation (Bahnung) and deffered action (Nachträglichkeit) are investigated as important concepts to approach poetry originality. In a second moment of dissertation, from the Derrida`s notion of difference, the use of poetry as an illustrative example of the effectiveness of a theory is questioned. This discussion takes as its starting point the seminar of Lacan on The Purloined Letter of E. A. Poe and its conclusion that a letter always reaches its destination.

With the rapid advance of information technologies, human beings increasingly rely on computers to accumulate, process, and make use of data. Knowledge discovery techniques have been proposed to automatically search large volumes of data for patterns. Knowledge discovery often requires a set of relevant features to represent the specific domain. My dissertation presents a framework of feature engineering for knowledge discovery, including feature construction, feature selection, and feature consolidation.Five essays in my dissertation present novel approaches to construct, select, or consolidate features in various applications. Feature construction is used to derive new features when relevant features are unknown. Chapter 2 focuses on constructing informative features from a relational database. I introduce a probabilistic relational model-based approach to construct personal and social features for identity matching. Experiments on a criminal dataset showed that social features can improve the matching performance. Chapter 3 focuses on identifying good features for knowledge discovery from text. Four types of writeprint features are constructed and shown effective for authorship analysis of online messages. Feature selection is aimed at identifying a subset of significant features from a high dimensional feature space. Chapter 4 presents a framework of feature selection techniques. This essay focuses on identifying marker genes for microarray-based cancer classification. Our experiments on gene array datasets showed excellent performance for optimal search-based gene subset selection. Feature consolidation is aimed at integrating features from diverse data sources or in heterogeneous representations. Chapter 5 presents a Bayesian framework to integrate gene functional relations extracted from heterogeneous data sources such as gene expression profiles, biological literature, and genome sequences. Chapter 6 focuses on kernel-based methods to capture and consolidate information in heterogeneous data representations. I design and compare different kernels for relation extraction from biomedical literature. Experiments show good performances of tree kernels and composite kernels for biomedical relation extraction.These five essays together compose a framework of feature engineering and present different techniques to construct, select, and consolidate relevant features. This feature engineering framework contributes to the domain of information systems by improving the effectiveness, efficiency, and interpretability of knowledge discovery.

This thesis investigates how groups of learners use asynchronous dialogue to build shared knowledge together over time. To do this, it takes a sociocultural approach, with a situated focus on learners' social and temporal settings as well as on the tools they employ. It utilises concepts developed to support understanding of knowledge co-construction in face- to-face environments, particularly the social modes of thinking identified by Mercer and his colleagues (Mercer, 1995, 2000, 2002; Mercer & Littleton, 2007; Mercer & Wegerif, 1999) and the improvable objects described by Wells (1999). Analysis shows that, over short periods of time, groups of learners construct shared vocabulary, history and understanding slowly through the use of a series of discursive devices including those identified here as 'constructive synthesis', the 'proposal pattern' and 'powerful synthesis'. Over longer periods they may engage in 'attached dialogue', a form of asynchronous dialogue that is mediated by improvable objects. The development of these improvable objects involves learners engaging in exploratory dialogue that builds into progressive discourse, a coordinated form of co-reasoning in language. While doing this, they actively work to avoid unproductive interaction by consistently shifting responsibility from the individual to the group. Previous studies have suggested that asynchronous dialogue may act to limit learners to cumulative exchanges (Littleton & Whitelock, 2005; Wegerif, 1998). The analysis over time presented here shows that asynchronous exchanges are enriched by the use of textual affordances that are not available in speech. In the case of attached dialogue, groups of learners are prompted to share knowledge, challenge ideas, justify opinions, evaluate evidence and consider options in a reasoned and equitable way. They do this more successfully when their co-construction of knowledge is not solely task-focused but also focuses on tool use and on the development of social knowledge about the group.

The construction industry is facing an alteration of generations in the years to come and even though knowledge transfer has been studied since the 1990’s many companies are still struggling to improve their knowledge strategy. For construction companies this is even more problematic due to the nature of the industry. The construction industry is characterized by project-based organizations where project members are changed in almost every project. Working under similar conditions are consultants, and some consultancies are notable for managing their knowledge well. By benchmarking three notable consultancies against a construction consultancy, some key success factors of the consultancies’ knowledge transfer were found and applied on the construction consultancy. The study is characterized by Hansen et al.’s (1999) codification and personalization strategies, which say that knowledge should either be stored in technical databases or shared through social interaction. A literature review of the three consultancies was conducted and the study of the construction consultancy was based on interviews and observations. The companies’ knowledge processes were then described and categorized into technical and social infrastructure. Where similar strategies have been used in the three consultancies, these have been analyzed to be their key success factors in knowledge management. These factors are summarized as: 1) Clear and standardized routines. 2) User friendly and up-to-date technical systems. 3) Global interaction and collaboration. 4) An organizational culture of knowledge sharing. Based on the four key success factors and previous literature on the subject some suggestions for improvement at the construction company were compiled. Even though the four studied organizations all are management consultants their way of working differs. Since three consultancies were studied it should provide a certain range of advice and recommendations that can be adapted to different organizations. The key success factors analyzed are also mostly connected to large, global organizations working under projected-based conditions, which also should be applicable to numerous companies. The findings are therefore believed to be useful for consultancies as well as construction companies.
Byggindustrin står under de kommande åren inför ett generationsskifte, och trots att kunskapsåterföring har varit ett känt ämne sedan 1990-talet kämpar fortfarande många företag med att förbättra sin kunskapsstrategi. I byggföretag är detta ännu mer problematiskt på grund av industrins natur. Byggindustrin karaktäriseras nämligen av projektbaserade organisationer där projektmedlemmarna byts ut till varje projekt. Konsulter jobbar under liknande förhållanden, och det finns några konsultföretag som är kända för att hantera sin kunskap på ett bra sätt. Genom att jämföra (genom benchmarking) tre kända konsultbolag med ett byggkonsultföretag är några nyckelfaktorer för konsultbolagens framgång i kunskapsåterföring framtagna, och dessa är sedan applicerade på byggkonsultföretaget. Studien präglas av Hansen m. fl.:s (1999) kodifikations- och personaliseringsstrategi, vilka innebär att kunskap antingen ska lagras i tekniska databaser eller delas genom social interaktion. En litteraturstudie av tre kända konsultbolag utfördes och studien av byggkonsultföretaget baserades på intervjuer och observationer. Företagens kunskapsprocesser beskrevs sedan och kategoriserades som teknisk och social infrastruktur. Där liknande strategier observerades i alla tre företagen har dessa analyserats som deras nyckelfaktorer för lyckad hantering av kunskap. Nyckelfaktorerna kan sammanfattas enligt följande: 1) Tydliga och standardiserade rutiner. 2) Användarvänliga och uppdaterade tekniska system. 3) Globalt samarbete och interaktion. 4) En kunskapsspridande företagskultur. Baserat på dessa fyra nyckelfaktorer och även på studerad litteratur i ämnet var några förbättringsförlag till byggkonsultföretaget framtagna. Trots att de fyra företagen alla är managementkonsulter så arbetar de på väldigt olika sätt. Eftersom tre konsultföretag var undersökta så borde det ge en bred variation av förslag som skulle kunna bli anpassade till olika sorters organisationers behov. De analyserade nyckelfaktorerna är framförallt kopplade till stora globala organisationer som arbetar under projektbaserade förhållanden, vilket borde gälla för många typer utav företag. Resultatet borde därför vara användbart för konsultbolag, men även för byggföretag.

Esta tesis estudia, desde una perspectiva crítica, cómo el conocimiento experto y la autoridad del autor se construyen y legitiman a través de la estructura discursiva de los libros populares sobre gestión de empresas (management). Empleando un corpus de un centenar de textos, escogido mediante criterios propios del campo para proporcionar una muestra de obras fuertemente influyentes, se resean algunos de los más importantes de sus aspectos textuales y contextuales. Su estructura se aborda a partir de cinco estudios empíricos, prestando especial atención a la construcción discursiva de la identidad de lector y autor: la naturaleza de los títulos de los libros sobre management, que fija el tono pragmático para la interpretación de la utilidad de los mismos; el uso de estrategias metadiscursivas para fijar y reconocer las expectativas del género, iluminando las expectativas recíprocas de autores y lectores; los patrones de ejemplificación, que muestran cómo es posible la construcción de un discurso altamente persuasivo sin por ello requerir de argumentos universales o aún generales; el uso de narrativas de experiencia personal para afirmar la credibilidad del autor; y el uso estratégico del conocimiento presupuesto para movilizar las inclinaciones y las convicciones de los lectores en temas de fuerte contenido moral. El propósito de estos estudios es proporcionar una aproximación general, de base discursiva, a las formas típicas de persuasión que caracterizan a la literatura popular de gestión, ayudando así a ilustrar las propiedades epistémicas que definen a la disciplina. Estos análisis muestran el carácter altamente idiosincrático de la literatura popular de gestión, que no se deja asimilar con facilidad a los criterios de la escritura académica ni a los de la popularización científica. El posicionamiento de los autores respecto de sus textos, sus temáticas y su audience se interpreta como una función de su posición dentro del campo del management, en el que los intereses y hábitos de diversos grupos profesionales coinciden, se solapan y entran en competencia. La relación de este posicionamiento con el bien descrito caracter ideológico de la gestión de empresas se discute en las conclusiones, así como el valor del análisis del discurso lingüísticamente informado para la crítica de tales ideologias.

High turnover rate of employees in construction cause companies in the sector struggle against knowledge loss. Due to the high competition in the market, companies differentiate by keeping and increasing their intellectual capital generally acknowledged as the main source of competitive advantage. Knowledge Management (KM) is defined as any process or practice of creating, acquiring, capturing, sharing, and using knowledge, wherever it resides, to increase learning and performance by sustaining organisational knowledge. This study investigates the awareness of Knowledge Management (KM), applicability of KM tools and the role of intellectual capital assets to propose a roadmap for companies in the Turkish construction industry. For this purpose, the study employs a combination of a detailed literature survey, interviews with ten leading medium large-scale Turkish construction companies, and the analysis of previous KM research and tools. Results are analysed, possible barriers are determined, benefits are identified, KM techniques are discussed in terms of their applicability and a four-staged model framework is developed and discussed in order to assist the construction firms in KM.

The recent development of virtual reality (VR) technology carries powerful potential that can be utilised to facilitate the learning of 3D geometry. Therefore, a new approach for teaching and learning of 3D geometry that utilises a virtual reality learning environment (VRLE) is proposed in this research study. This research study aimed to: (a) design and evaluate a VRLE to facilitate the learning of 3D geometry concepts and processes by upper primary school students, and (b) generate theoretical and design principles that will have application both within and beyond the immediate research study. The research methodology employed was design experiments or design-based research. Informed by this methodology, the research design consisted of iterative cycles of developing/revising a conceptual framework, designing/prototyping a VRLE, enacting/evaluating the VRLE, and reflecting/redesigning the research. An initial conceptual framework was generated through extensive literature review to inform the design and evaluation of a VRLE. Based on the conceptual framework, a prototype VRLE named VRMath was then designed and implemented. The enactment and evaluation of VRMath consisted of two iterations. Iteration 1 (six hours/sessions with two students of Year 5 and 6) was conducted using the prototype VRMath (Yeh & Nason, 2004). Based on the findings from Iteration 1, nine learning activities were developed and research protocols (e.g., observation and interview) were revised for Iteration 2. Iteration 2 involved six primary school students (Year 4-5) for eight weeks (two hours/sessions per week). Findings from Iteration 2 confirmed and identified some usability issues of VRMath system and many new ways of thinking and doing 3D geometry when students interacted with VRMath. These have implications on the design of VRMath and the teaching and learning of 3D geometry within the VRMath environment. Justifications about the conceptual framework and students' learning within VRMath were made after the two iterations of enactment and evaluation. The learning activities and VRMath were also revised and redesigned for the preparation of future iterations. After a full cycle of the design-experiments, this research study concluded with a proto-theory (semiotic framework) for the design of and learning within VRLEs, and visions for using VRLEs in mathematic and technology education.

Knowledge management is a broad concept that has been investigated in many disciplines. Tacit knowledge management is more important in construction industry where common issues exist between the design and construction phase. However, most knowledge is embedded in the minds of professions and based on experiences they achieved from project. The successful completion of a project requires a rigorous understanding of each stage of project lifecycle that can be enhanced through integrating knowledge between project members, in terms of capturing and sharing knowledge between project members, and transferring it to the next project. Due to the temporary nature of construction projects, people who work on these project tend to disperse after completion of the project. This means the knowledge and experiences they achieved through project will be wasted, if it is not captured and shared structurally across project. Within this context, the failure to integrate knowledge will result in increasing the possibility of ‘reinventing the wheel’, which means spending more time and cost. The rational that led to this study came as a result of increasing interest in the need for tacit knowledge integration, in terms of capturing, sharing and transferring knowledge, especially within construction project undertaken through the traditional procurement system, because this system is based on the separation of the design and construction phase. The aim of this research is to develop a framework on how to integrate tacit knowledge in terms of capturing, sharing and transferring, within a construction project undertaken through the traditional procurement system. This is done through conducting documentary survey, experts’ survey and case studies sample within the UK construction industry. The documentary survey was used to form researcher’s background information and develop a conceptual framework which would be then taken to real life situation to investigate, gather relevant information and understand the perceptions and values of stakeholders in using knowledge integration within construction projects. Furthermore, an experts’ survey (expert’s interviews) was used to collect qualitative data through interviews with four experts. These experts were from both academia and industry, and they were selected based on their experiences and engagement in the traditional-based construction projects. Multiple-case holistic design was selected for conducting this research, in order to provide credibility to the research outcome. There is only one unit of analysis that is needed to study in order to explore the approaches and techniques that were used by construction organisations for tackling challenges in the process of tacit knowledge integration. Two case studies were selected to reflect the building sector within construction industry. The projects were complex, large and costs over £5m. The selected case studies differ in that one of them is completed project and the other is an ongoing project at construction phase. As most of the problems and errors occurred in project lifecycle are related to designing phase, the cases were selected from same organisation involved at designing phase in order to analyse and compare the process of knowledge integration. Furthermore, an online open-end questionnaire was conducted to collect experts’ opinion on the developed framework. The questionnaire was distributed among 180 experts. In this research the target population was professionals who were involved and experienced in the traditional-based construction project in the UK construction industry. Research findings highlighted three main challenges for integrating tacit knowledge within the traditional construction project which are Organisational Culture, Contractual Boundaries and Knowledge management system (strategies and policies). The Critical Success Factors (CSFs) for tackling these challenges and required techniques for structurally implementing the process of tacit knowledge integration are identified. Furthermore, it is concluded that BIM technology can be used and enhanced the process of tacit knowledge integration, if the two-stage process traditional procurement is adopted. This means construction contractors should be involved in project before the completion of designing phase. Building on the research findings, this research offers a framework, with a guideline, on how to integrate tacit knowledge, in terms of capturing, sharing and transferring, within the traditional construction project.

Structural errors and failures within construction appear to be not reported to other professionals in the industry. This results in little advancement of knowledge and understanding, with the consequence that similar failings are repeated. For example, in 2016 Construction accounted for 6% of the Gross Domestic Product, of this 7% was lost in disputes. There were, however, 30 fatalities. A study of cases from the author’s Practice, into building defects, errors and failures was undertaken. This identified four areas: the education of chartered structural engineers, legislation, the management of construction projects and business ethics, as contributing to errors and failures. A series of open-ended, semi-structured interviews was also undertaken with senior professionals, including the Judiciary, Professors of Engineering, Global Consultants, and Professional Indemnity Insurers. Research findings revealed that technical knowledge is deliberately withheld due to non-disclosure clauses in mediated settlements, and through the practices of global Professional Indemnity Insurers. A Study of pass rates for chartered membership of the Institution of Structural Engineers showed a decrease despite, an increase of academic requirement. Companies that promote Corporate Social Responsibility credentials, often, however, seek the best commercial deal regarding litigation settlement. Furthermore, companies adopt a Friedman business model, which favours shareholders in preference to a Freeman approach, which recognises the interests of all stakeholders. Quality assurance systems used in other industries are not easily and effectively suited to construction practices. This research concludes there is a sound business case to share knowledge, which would reduce claims, increase profits and save lives. Primary legislation must be changed to compel a free exchange of technical knowledge regarding errors and structural failures. A ‘no blame’ repository needs to be established that should help reduce the adversarial nature of the construction industry. Additionally, the suitability of the academic degree curriculum for structural engineers needs to be reassessed.

Structural errors and failures within construction appear to be not reported to other professionals in the industry. This results in little advancement of knowledge and understanding, with the consequence that similar failings are repeated. For example, in 2016 Construction accounted for 6% of the Gross Domestic Product, of this 7% was lost in disputes. There were, however, 30 fatalities. A study of cases from the author’s Practice, into building defects, errors and failures was undertaken. This identified four areas: the education of chartered structural engineers, legislation, the management of construction projects and business ethics, as contributing to errors and failures. A series of open-ended, semi-structured interviews was also undertaken with senior professionals, including the Judiciary, Professors of Engineering, Global Consultants, and Professional Indemnity Insurers. Research findings revealed that technical knowledge is deliberately withheld due to non-disclosure clauses in mediated settlements, and through the practices of global Professional Indemnity Insurers. A Study of pass rates for chartered membership of the Institution of Structural Engineers showed a decrease despite, an increase of academic requirement. Companies that promote Corporate Social Responsibility credentials, often, however, seek the best commercial deal regarding litigation settlement. Furthermore, companies adopt a Friedman business model, which favours shareholders in preference to a Freeman approach, which recognises the interests of all stakeholders. Quality assurance systems used in other industries are not easily and effectively suited to construction practices. This research concludes there is a sound business case to share knowledge, which would reduce claims, increase profits and save lives. Primary legislation must be changed to compel a free exchange of technical knowledge regarding errors and structural failures. A ‘no blame’ repository needs to be established that should help reduce the adversarial nature of the construction industry. Additionally, the suitability of the academic degree curriculum for structural engineers needs to be reassessed.

Alliances within construction have increased significantly in number and in the volume of activity they undertake in recent years. Further, communications technologies have progressed to a degree where they can support collaborations across geographic borders. The prevailing literature generally notes that alliances are effective collaborative 'vehicles', which facilitate 'automatic' knowledge sharing. Although writers in the field highlight benefits of developing knowledge sharing as a core capability to create and maintain sustained collaboration and sustainable competitive advantage, a majority of the alliances engage in short-term orientated work processes targeting short-term commercial advantages. This research contextualised this phenomenon within construction alliances and investigated the business logic of developing knowledge sharing as a core capability. First, a conceptual model was developed from a review and synthesis of the relevant literature. The four variables in the conceptual model were: (i) Alliance strategic direction; (ii) Alliance Climate; (iii) Task relatedness of messages communicated through knowledge transfer mechanisms; and (iv) Media richness of knowledge transfer mechanisms. The conceptual model comprised the framework for five interrelated hypotheses. Then, the hypotheses were tested utilising two construction alliance case studies: HN alliance was a project based joint venture alliance between two large international construction contractors and XY alliance is a long-term strategic partnering alliance between a petroleum retailer and a construction project management company. The principal data collection methods used were semi structured interviews for senior executives and structured interviews for the project managers. The principal method used for data analysis was cognitive mapping. The empirical testing of hypotheses revealed that the alliances concentrated on shortterm commercial advantages to the detriment of longer term sustainable competitive advantages. Therefore, initiatives taken to improve high quality interactions among alliance participants and thereby sustain inter-firm relationships have not yielded the anticipated benefits. The study comments on the diagnostic robustness of the initial

Supplemental instruction (SI), a peer assisted learning model, improves course performance, retention, and graduation rates of post-secondary education students. Researchers have questioned if the success of SI is due to students becoming more aware of assessment demands or if SI also promotes construction of new knowledge. The purposes of this case study were to describe techniques utilized by SI peer leaders, explore how sociocognitive learning techniques are implemented, and explore the perceptions of supplemental instruction program stakeholders regarding sociocognitive learning techniques. The research questions focused on what techniques peer leaders are trained to implement and what peer leaders' perceptions of sociocognitive learning techniques are. Piaget's theories on cognitive conflict and construction of knowledge, Vygotsky's theories on zone of proximal development and sociocognitive learning, and Chi's framework on interactive learning provided the conceptual framework for the study. The case study was conducted at a Northeast United States community college, using interviews with SI administrators and peer leaders (n = 8), voice recordings of SI sessions, and review of training material. The constant comparative method analysis of findings suggest that peer leaders trained in traditional tutoring and sociocognitive learning techniques promote construction of knowledge, and while programmatic and peer leader goals align with sociocognitive learning techniques, student goals do not. One recommendation is to clarify the distinction of SI versus traditional tutoring. This study could lead to positive social change by contributing to expanded goals of SI resulting in enhanced quality of learning for student participants at higher education institutions.

The recent development of virtual reality (VR) technology carries powerful potential that can be utilised to facilitate the learning of 3D geometry. Therefore, a new approach for teaching and learning of 3D geometry that utilises a virtual reality learning environment (VRLE) is proposed in this research study. This research study aimed to: (a) design and evaluate a VRLE to facilitate the learning of 3D geometry concepts and processes by upper primary school students, and (b) generate theoretical and design principles that will have application both within and beyond the immediate research study. The research methodology employed was design experiments or design-based research. Informed by this methodology, the research design consisted of iterative cycles of developing/revising a conceptual framework, designing/prototyping a VRLE, enacting/evaluating the VRLE, and reflecting/redesigning the research. An initial conceptual framework was generated through extensive literature review to inform the design and evaluation of a VRLE. Based on the conceptual framework, a prototype VRLE named VRMath was then designed and implemented. The enactment and evaluation of VRMath consisted of two iterations. Iteration 1 (six hours/sessions with two students of Year 5 and 6) was conducted using the prototype VRMath (Yeh & Nason, 2004). Based on the findings from Iteration 1, nine learning activities were developed and research protocols (e.g., observation and interview) were revised for Iteration 2. Iteration 2 involved six primary school students (Year 4-5) for eight weeks (two hours/sessions per week). Findings from Iteration 2 confirmed and identified some usability issues of VRMath system and many new ways of thinking and doing 3D geometry when students interacted with VRMath. These have implications on the design of VRMath and the teaching and learning of 3D geometry within the VRMath environment. Justifications about the conceptual framework and students' learning within VRMath were made after the two iterations of enactment and evaluation. The learning activities and VRMath were also revised and redesigned for the preparation of future iterations. After a full cycle of the design-experiments, this research study concluded with a proto-theory (semiotic framework) for the design of and learning within VRLEs, and visions for using VRLEs in mathematic and technology education.

The construction industry is characterised as a highly turbulent, rapidly changing, very complex, and extremely competitive environment, with construction activities often being highly knowledge-intensive. Specialised expert knowledge and problem-solving know-how are the real products of knowledge-intensive services, such as design, architecture, surveying and construction. Although construction organisations have been managing knowledge informally for years, their informal approaches are no longer sufficient to cope with the challenges associated with a knowledge economy. New issues attributed to the changes caused by technology, communication, and market advances are emerging, and need to be addressed strategically through effective management of knowledge and innovation. Within the construction industry, there is a growing awareness of the need for managing these challenges through a structured approach to knowledge management (KM), and the alignment of KM with business strategy and existing performance measures. The intention of KM is to link and develop internal capabilities to meet both current and future needs of an organisation. KM is perceived as a process, where KM activities interact with each other and form a process that receives input from its context (i.e. the business environment), and produces output that should be justified by business performance. Therefore, it has been conceptually suggested that through manipulating certain elements of the internal business environment (e.g. structure, strategy, policies, technology), organisations are able to facilitate KM and ultimately improve business performance. However, to date, apart from recent efforts in conceptual model propositions and exploratory studies, empirical understanding of such an input-process output relationship and the interactions among different KM activities in the context of construction is limited. Moreover, a systematic means of assessing the contribution of KM initiatives towards achieving organisational business objectives is lacking hitherto. This research study aims to empirically investigate the issues outlined above. The main objective of the study, therefore, is to empirically develop a strategic KM process framework for linking implemented KM activities to the strategic objectives of construction organisations. In addition, the study intends to provide empirical evidence for the argument that KM activities interact with each other in a cycle pattern; and, through manipulating business environment factors (i.e. the ‘forces’), construction organisations are able to inject ‘power’ into such a KM cycle, and consequently increase the intensity of KM activities, which ultimately improve their capacity to achieve economic gain in the long term. In an effort to achieve the research objective, this study employed both empirical and qualitative approaches to investigate: KM activities applied by construction organisations; the interactions of these activities; the main business environment challenges associated with their implementation; and the strategic contribution of these activities to the overall business performance, particularly within the context of Hong Kong construction organisations. In doing so, a theoretical framework of a strategic KM process was proposed and statistically tested. The measurement scales of the constructs of the framework were developed through both exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. The relationships between the constructs were identified through correlation, regression and structural equation modelling analyses. In addition, a qualitative study approach was used to provide a better understanding of the processes attached to the phenomena under investigation.The findings of this study provide both empirical and qualitative evidence for some essential arguments in the KM literature, in particular, within the construction-specific context. These arguments are firstly, context-specific, tacit knowledge embedded in complex organisational routines and developed from experience, tends to be unique and difficult to imitate, hence is important in developing and preserving rents, or in the protection of an organisation’s core capabilities from competitors’ covetousness (Baumard, 1999). Therefore managing tacit knowledge within an organisation is essential for developing organisational competence (Sveiby, 1997). Secondly, the knowledge related activities help to create knowledge based asset (Argyris and Schön, 1978; Nonaka and Takeuchi, 2004), and the validity of this knowledge asset is reflected by the business performance indicators (Kaplan and Norton, 1996). KM process hence is capable of leveraging organisations’ intellectual capital to achieve organisational objectives (Cavaleri, 2004; Sveiby, 1997). Thirdly, through modifying organisational culture and climate an internal business environment can be cultivated where the activities that create the knowledge asset are encouraged and facilitated (Dalkir, 2005; Debowski, 2006; Stacey, 2001). Key research outcomes are described below. Firstly, the study found KM activities positively contribute to the organisational performance from learning and processes perspective, which serve as the foundation for future economic success; it, therefore, supports the claim of the literature that KM is capable of leveraging intellectual assets to realise desired organisational objectives. In other words, this study finding establishes a link between KM and desired business performance, which previously was empirically unclear, and yet was taken for granted in the KM literature. Secondly, this study established that KM activities interact with each other forming a strategic KM cycle, which implies that increasing the intensity of one type of strategic KM activity helps to push those of the others into a higher level. This means that if ‘power’ can be injected into this KM cycle, through any type of KM activities, the intensity of all other KM activities, along the cycle, can be increased. Moreover, the magnitude of this increase is enlarged with each cycle, forming a spiral pattern. Hence this study provides a unique insight into the interactions between the various KM activities. Further, previous KM studies neglected to consider the dynamic nature of the KM process. This study provided some evidence that organisations need to view KM activities from a strategic perspective, especially since the initial effort may not translate immediately into improved performance. Thirdly, this study revealed the elements of organisational culture and climate that affect the intensity of implemented KM activities. More specifically, the study findings indicate that strategic planing for KM and policies encouraging innovations are the two main ‘forces’ which can be manipulated to create the ‘energy’ that ‘powers-up’ the intensity of KM activities, in particular market knowledge acquisition and tacit knowledge dissemination. Through strengthening the strategic guidance and leadership to KM, as well as encouraging innovation and open communication, this finding suggests that organisations are more able to create a KM friendly internal business environment that helps to increase the intensity of the KM activities. Such effort will undoubtedly ‘power up’ the KM cycle, ultimately contributing to the long term economic success of the organisation. Finally, this study found that, compared to managing explicit knowledge, tacit knowledge management activities are impacted upon by the ‘forces’ of the internal business environment to a much larger degree. In addition, tacit knowledge management activities also form more active interactions; and have stronger predicting powers on the leading business indicators that drive future economic success. The finding reveals the more essential strategic role that tacit knowledge management plays in serving the long-term organisational development objectives. It thus provides evidence for the argument in the literature that much knowledge in the construction industry is both experience-based and tacit, due to the orientation toward unique projects; and as a consequence the tacit knowledge strategy seems more appropriate for the industry. The study also pointed out that medium and large contracting organisations, operating in Hong Kong, focus on KM activities that mainly serve short-term business objectives. This was especially so during the past economic down-turn. The findings revealed a potential for these organisations to derive value from KM implementation. The study also suggested that, through strengthening strategic planning and modifying organisational policies and values for KM, these organisations can push the intensity of the long-term oriented KM activities to a higher level. Ultimately, such actions will help them to achieve better business performance over the long term. Furthermore, KM should be programmed as an integral part of the holistic business management process of the organisation. KM activities should thus be managed in a similar manner to traditional business processes, whereby objectives and aligned measures are developed and continuously evaluated to ascertain their contribution to the organisational performance.
Thesis (PhD Doctorate)
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Griffith School of Engineering
Faculty of Science, Environment, Engineering and Technology
Full Text

Perhaps the quintessential project for an architect is the design of a house. This thesis takes the approach of designing a house by way of a unique construction method. Influenced by the strickbau, or woven wood, method of stacking timber most commonly seen in the Swiss chalet, the project explores materials and details to address the limitations of the strickbau method of construction. The centerpiece of the project is a robust model, which acts as an analogue to the actual construction method.
Master of Architecture

Project managers are lacking up-to-date information about the current stage of the work on the site and they are unable to take corrective measures for the planning variations promptly. It is proposed that the method created within this thesis will reduce this problem greatly by supplying project managers with the data they need to understand schedule and cost variances as early as they occur. This gives them the power to step in and act in good time against the problems by identifying the reasons of the variations much earlier. This thesis is one of the attempts within academia about integrating computer based solutions to monitor and visualise construction progress. Photogrammetric measurements offer reliable results at the cost of more human intervention. This approach offers the possibility of using a hand held camera as a measurement tool. This method also offers complete independence from reliance on the planning and design stage information. Hence, it can be used to re-evaluate, or monitor changes during the project life-cycle. Visible physical body of a superstructure level reinforced concrete frame structure consists of walls, floors, beams, and columns. The building regulations and local construction traditions impose the types and the shapes of these structural elements. The manufacturing industry produces building materials such as bricks and floor blocks in standard sizes. Therefore, it can be seen that knowledge about the design criteria of structural elements or the standard sizes of materials available on the market for construction can be used to create 3D models of building components. A Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) code was created to support these theories and presented in this thesis. The code then was tested and proven to be useful. After comparing the manual measurement results against the outcomes of the case study done for testing the proposed model, it has been revealed that the proposed model can produce 3D model of construction with accurate sizes within similar mistake margins which can be achieved manually.

博士
國立師範大學
教育心理與輔導學系
86
The Knowledge Construction of Change and The Change during Knowledge Construction Lin Shiang-June Abstract The research is on the exploration of change. We intent to explore experience of what and how the ''change'' is. The research is as a process toward the knowledge construction of ''change''. Self-narrative study was adopted. In the beginning, we started the research by the ''Second-Order Change'' exploration and intended to have a definition. A coding method was adopted to analyze the change-narrative text. After the analysis, the researcher had a reflection on that research action and find it was not the right way to approach to the subject''s experience. By this reflection, we had a methodological detour to Hermeneutics-Phenomenology research. Instead of defining what ''change'' is, we went back to the subjectivity--the experience themselves. We had two texts to be interpreted: one from the researcher''s autobiography and the other from a female co-researcher''s narrative-interview, who both were professional counselors. Each text was interpreted according two layers: the first for how the subjects framed the change experience from their context; and the second for the recontextualization from social context. The researcher got the knowledge of ''change'' from these narratives interpretation: on the subject''s context layer, ''change'' was referred to the different pattern by way of the ''reframing'' of personal construct; and on the social context layer, ''change'' was referred to the different pattern in the social context by way of the reframing from personal context to social context. Based on the knowledge construction about ''change'', reflection and discussion were proposed.

碩士
國立臺灣科技大學
營建工程系
91
In the field of construction industry, the application of knowledge management is a frontier. Few researches studied the nature of construction industry organization, construction industry economy and the application of knowledge management on construction industry. Obviously, the application and development of knowledge management on construction industry is slower than the other industries. For this reason, it is worth for construction industry aim at and learn follow those have induced knowledge management successfully. This study reviews the literatures related to the knowledge management first. After exploring the history of knowledge management among industries, the critical issues and trend of knowledge management have been evaluated. According to the characteristics of construction industry, the aforementioned critical issues and trend finally been feed back to the construction industry, and then develop the critical issues and trend for construction industry.

碩士
國立交通大學
工學院碩士在職專班營建技術與管理組
94
Knowledge management (KM) has become the most critical organizational strategy for enterprises. This research is a pilot study to develop a generic model using knowledge map for knowledge management in construction enterprise, analyzing and discussing its components, pertinent supplementary techniques, and KM implementation status for construction projects. All these problems can be resolved if businesses have the determination to establish organizational culture focusing on team participation and involvement, increase the creating and innovation of organizational knowledge. This research integrates present KM theoretical literature and practical implementation methodologies to develop with a generic model for KM frameworks integrated with knowledge map. The mind knowledge map is a categorized expression way of knowledge that has creativity strength, different thinking, and logic characteristic. In this research, mind map is proposed and integrated in the application of knowledge management in construction. To translate engineer’s personal tacit knowledge to explicit knowledge, proposed approaches regard to knowledge map contain seven steps is presented combining mind map and constructional characteristic. IDEF approach is selected to assist the knowledge map setting steps. Furthermore, mind management software package is selected to analyze the example. Mind manager is thinking software based on mind mapping technology. This software can be applied to organize the idea, content outline, and show the plan tools. Finally, acceptance degree and function probing of mind map on constructional stage for construction industry’s staff member are investigated through questionnaire. From the statistical results of the investigation questionnaire, both the acceptance degree and function probing are very high satisfactory. The effective inquiry and management way for construction knowledge will be developed to a construction industry application model in the future.

碩士
國立臺灣科技大學
資訊管理系
102
In the age of knowledge-based economy,individual and organization must actively acquire knowledge to create competitive advantage,and the most common method of acquiring knowledge is to learn.The knowledge is defined as consensus of group by social constructivism, and the learn is defined as constructed through the social interactions of group. The Objective of this study is use social constructivism as a basis for the development of a collaborative learning approach, this collaborative learning use concept map to help learners express and present ideas, use anonymous discussion to reduce peer pressure, and through compare the knowledge structure of before studying and after studying to assist participating members know outcome of studying. This study is hoped that through this method can help individuals learn and help organize groups create a consensus on the issue. After experiments in this study, the results show that this method can help learners to improve their knowledge and gather a consensus within the group. And use concept map to express and present ideas is agree with participating members. Overall, participating members expressed satisfaction with the method of this study design. But in the way of use anonymous discussion to reduce peer pressure, mostly members still can feel the presence of peer pressure. So this method still need to improve in follow-up study.

碩士
國立臺灣科技大學
資訊管理系
103
When students learn with group, they often use the way of cooperative learning to learn, However, there may be some problems when they are cooperating, such as bad communication and concluding ideas. Therefore, the problems result in bad learning effectiveness, and losses the meaning of group learning. Thus, according to the literature of knowledge management and organization learning, this study designs the process of knowledge collaborative construction which includes the 3 steps: individual writing, group discussion and groups observation, and implementing the information system for this process. In addition, when students in group learning with system, we help students effectively construct knowledge with drawing the declarative concept man, causal loop diagram and procedural concept map sequentially. The results of this study are as followings: (1) To construct the process of knowledge collaborative construction, it could help students convert tacit knowledge to explicit knowledge, reach a consensus and expand knowledge in progress of group learning. (2) The information system which based on the process of knowledge collaborative construction could support activity of learning, also provide the platform that students can use it to share outcomes and opinions with each other. (3) To design the implementation method of knowledge construction which include 3 drawing phase: draw the declarative concept map, causal loop diagram and procedural concept map, it could make student's declarative knowledge convert to procedural knowledge.