Knowledge exchange:A strategy for open access success at The University of Hong Kong

The University of Hong Kong’s statement on vision now has three themes:1) Research, 2) teaching & learning, and 3) knowledge exchange(KE). KE emphasizes HKU’s desire to interact with its community for a mutual benefit. A new five-year strategic plan(2009-2014) sets out operational priorities and key indicators to enable knowledge exchange at HKU. Chief among these is the establishment of an exchange hub to make HKU researchers and their research products highly visible. The institutional repository of HKU, the HKU Scholars Hub, developed by its University Libraries, has become this KE exchange hub. Now the Hub includes HKU ResearcherPages, featuring the accomplishments of each HKU professoriate staff. HKU’s policy on knowledge exchange and the HKU ResearcherPages have increased the incentive for faculties, departments, and authors to place more items in open access(OA). This paper will discuss what KE is, the benefits it can bring to the university and its reputation, and how it can increase OA deposit.

Online Vaccine Information in a Knowledge Exchange Social Website (KESW)

Background: The potential for misinformation on usercontrolled Knowledge Exchange Social Websites (KESWs) is concerning since it can actively influence Internet users’ knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors related to childhood vaccinations. Objective: The present study examines the accuracy and predictors of health information posted to a Knowledge Exchange Social Website (KESW). Methods: A sample of 480 answers to childhood vaccination questions were retrieved and rated for accuracy. Multiple logistic regression modeling was used to examine whether answer characteristics (best answer, professional background, statistical information, source disclosure, online link, word count, vaccine stance, and tone) predict accuracy. Results: Overall, only 56.2% of the posted answers were rated as “accurate.” Accuracy varied by topics with between 52.8% - 64.3% being rated as accurate. When Yahoo Answers’ “best answers” were examined, only 49.2% rated as accurate compared to 57.7% of all other answers, a finding attributed to widespread nominations of vaccine misinformation as “best answers” for questions addressing the side effects of vaccines. For all other types of questions, “best answers” were more likely to be accurate. Regression modeling revealed that discussions of personal choices regarding childhood vaccinations predicted the accuracy of posted answers, with those who mentioned vaccinating their own children proving more likely to communicate accurate vaccine information, and those expressing vaccine hesitancy proving more likely to share factually inaccurate statements about vaccines. Conclusion: The high prevalence of misinformation on KESWs suggests that these websites may serve as a vector for spreading vaccine misperceptions. Further research is needed to assess the impact of various KESWs and to develop effective, coordinated responses by public health agencies.

Tributary Medicine System of the Qing Dynasty: A Preliminary Study

Medicine was one of the articles of tribute paid by other countries and kingdoms to the imperial court of the Qing dynasty(1644–1912).The act of paying tributes and the rituals associated with it enhanced communication and helped establish relationships between ancient China and other nations or territories.The imperial court was generous in return,which attracted many countries to pay tributes.This paper analyzes how medicines as tributes played an important role in consolidating the dominant status of ancient China,and in promoting the exchange of knowledge between Chinese and Western medicine.

The Dynamic Knowledge Loop:Inter- and Transdisciplinary Cooperation and Adaptation of Climate Change Knowledge

The‘‘dynamic knowledge loop’’explores processes of knowledge generation,knowledge exchange,and social learning in inter-and transdisciplinary cooperation and relates them to adaptive capacity.Adaptive capacity building can reduce vulnerabilities and enhance the resilience of urban regions towards the impacts of climate change.We use a mix of empirical methods and apply the dynamic knowledge loop as an innovative analytical tool.The added value of inter-and transdisciplinary cooperation concerning knowledge generation and facilitation of social learning is discussed by applying the dynamic knowledge loop to research about a scenario-planning process and a participatory mapping exercise in the urban region of Rostock,Germany.The results demonstrate that the scenario planning process allowed for a consideration of complex interrelations that have the potential for an integration of different influences,perspectives,and knowledge forms.Scenario planning facilitated social learning by creating a platform for integration and exchange of different epistemologies and for considering alternative futures.The participatory mapping exercise demonstrated the scientific value of the integration of local knowledge as well.Building upon these results,we stress the importance of knowledge generation,knowledge exchange,and social learning to build up adaptive capacity through different forms of cooperation between science and practice.

Incorporation of sticky information and product diversification into static game of open innovation

Platform economics has promoted open innovation through sufficient channels to reveal and exchange knowledge with experts or valued customers.However,innovation also suffers from information stickiness and product diversification risks.In order to design an innovation strategy on a platform,this study incorporated these risks into game models of open innovation and proposed strategies to promote open innovation and welfare through equilibrium analysis.On the basis of the literature analysis of these risks,stochastic pay-off functions were constructed to regulate and stabilize the knowledge exchange flows.From equilibrium analysis of the game models,we conclude that:1)stickiness and diversification are critical factors for open innovation on a platform;2)at the beginning,a broad search is necessary to acquire diverse knowledge;at the middle stage,regulation of knowledge exchange is critical to achieving equilibrium and higher profits;and 3)global welfare could be elevated through adjustment of knowledge size and friction of communication.

Towards the sustainable intensification of agriculture——a systems approach to policy formulation

The sustainable intensification of agriculture involves providing sufficient food and other ecosystem services without going beyond the limits of the earth’s system.Here a project management approach is suggested to help guide agricultural policy to deliver these objectives.The first step is to agree measurable outcomes,integrating formal policy goals with the often much less formal and much more diverse goals of individual farmers.The second step is to assess current performance.Ideally,this will involve the use of farm-scale metrics that can feed into process models that address social and environmental domains as well as production issues that can be benchmarked and upscaled to landscape and country.Some policy goals can be delivered by supporting ad hoc interventions,while others require the redesign of the farming system.A pipeline of research,knowledge and capacity building is needed to ensure the continuous increase in farm performance.System models can help prioritise policy interventions.Formal optimization of land use is only appropriate if the policy goals are clear,and the constraints understood.In practice,the best approach may depend on the scale of action that is required,and on the amount of resource and infrastructure available to generate,implement and manage policy.

Visualisation techniques to support public interpretation of future climate change and land-use choices:a case study from N-E Scotland

Mitigating and adapting to climate change includes a requirement to evaluate the role of future land uses in delivering robust integrated responses that are sensitive to local landscape contexts.In practice,this emphasises the need for community engagement,planning and inclusive decision-making.Community engagement may be potentially facilitated by the use of spatially explicit quantitative scenarios of landuse change in combination with interactive visualisation.This requires a coherent framework to integrate spatial data modelling,analytical capabilities and visualisation tools in a format that will also engage diverse public audiences.These challenges were explored with a case study of virtual landscapes from N-E Scotland that was used to test preferences for scenarios of future land use.Visualisations employed texture-based rendering rather than full photo-realistic rendering to facilitate interactivity and this provided additional scope for audiences to explore multiple future scenarios compared to the present landscape.Interactive voting in a virtual landscape theatre suggested preferences for visual diversity,good stewardship and perceived naturalness that should be considered in developing planned responses to change.Further investigation of preferences was conducted using interactive 3D features located within the landscape.Study findings are reviewed against objectives for inclusive engagement in the Digital Earth agenda and used to make further recommendations on the use of scenarios and visualisation tools.In particular,technical advances in user engagement need to be developed in conjunction with emerging good practice that addresses ethical,behavioural and inclusion issues so that the content is presented in as transparent and unbiased format as possible.

HOW TASK ALLOCATION STRATEGY AFFECTS TEAM PERFOR- MANCE： A COMPUTATIONAL EXPERIMENT

This paper studies how to determine task allocation schemes according to the status and require-ments of various teams, to achieve optimal performance for a knowledge-intensive team （KIT）, whichis different from traditional task assignment. The way to allocate tasks to a team affects task processingand, in turn, influences the team itself after the task is processed. Considering the knowledge require-ment of tasks as a driving force and that knowledge exchange is pivotal, we build a KIT system modelbased on complex adaptive system theory and agent modeling technology, design task allocation strat-egies （TASs） and a team performance measurement scale utilizing computational experiment, and an-alyze how different TASs impact the different performance indicators of KITs. The experimental re-sults show the recommend TAS varies under different conditions, such as the knowledge levels ofmembers, team structures, and tasks to be assigned, particularly when the requirements to the team aredifferent. In conclusion, we put forward a new way of thinking and methodology for real task alloca-tion problems and provide support for allocation decision makers.