Search results

The linguistic and computational complexities of machine translation are not always apparent to all users or potential purchasers of systems. As a consequence, they are sometimes unable to distinguish between the failings of particular systems and the problems which the best system would have. In this article I shall attempt to outline the difficulties encountered by computers in translating from one natural language into another. This is an introductory paper for those unfamiliar with what computers can and cannot achieve in this field.

In the 1980s the dominant framework of MT was essentially ‘rule‐based’, e.g. the linguistics‐based approaches of Ariane, METAL, Eurotra, etc.; or the knowledge‐based approaches at Carnegie Mellon University and elsewhere. New approaches of the 1990s are based on large text corpora, the alignment of bilingual texts, the use of statistical methods and the use of parallel corpora for ‘example‐based’ translation. The problems of building large monolingual and bilingual lexical databases and of generating good quality output have come to the fore. In the past most systems were intended to be general‐purpose; now most are designed for specialized applications, e.g. restricted to controlled languages, to a sublanguage or to a specific domain, to a particular organization or to a particular user‐type. In addition, the field is widening with research under way on speech translation, on systems for monolingual users not knowing target languages, on systems for multilingual generation directly from structured databases, and in general for uses other than those traditionally associated with translation services.

Secchi and Cowley (2016, 2018) propose a Radical approach to Organizational Cognition (ROC) as a way of studying cognitive processes in organizations. What distinguishes ROC from the established research on Organizational Cognition is that it remains faithful to radical, anti-representationalist principles of contemporary cognitive science. However, it is imperative for proponents of ROC to legitimize their approach by considering how it differs from the established research approach of Distributed Cognition (DCog). DCog is a potential contender to ROC in that it not only counters classical approaches to cognition but also provides valuable insights into cognition in organizational settings.

The paper adopts a conceptual/theoretical approach that expands Secchi and Cowley's introduction of ROC.

The paper shows that DCog research presupposes a task-specification requirement, which entails that cognitive tasks are well-defined. Consequently, DCog research neglects cases of organizational becoming where tasks cannot be clearly demarcated for the or are well-known to the organization. This is the case with the introduction of novel tasks or technical devices. Moreover, the paper elaborates on ROC's 3M model by linking it with insights from the literature on organizational change. Thus, it explores how organizing can be explored as an emergent phenomenon that involves micro, meso and macro domain dynamics, which are shaped by synoptic and performative changes.

The present paper explores new grounds for ROC by not only expanding on its core model but also showing its potential for informing organizational theory and radical cognitive science research.

BABS AUTUMN CONFERENCE 1992 — The Joining Environment. Date: 14–15 October 1992 Venue: Post House, Coventry The BABS 1992 Autumn Conference The Joining Environment, to be held at the Forte Posthouse Coventry on 14–15 October 1992, will provide a venue for discussion of advances in joining technology, focusing in particular on soldering, brazing and diffusion bonding practices which may also involve environmental considerations.

By one of those coincidences that seem to abound in academic life and are probably not coincidences at all, we have recently found ourselves, quite suddenly, in possession of a very great deal of information about the language barrier and about the information requirements of the social sciences. This is a consequence of two recent publications: the Sheffield report on two years of intensive work on the language barrier in an academic community and Bath University Library's INFROSS report. The former looks at the language barrier from the point of view of all disciplines, including the social sciences; the latter looks at the information requirements and problems of social scientists from a very comprehensive point of view and includes amongst the problems that of the language barrier. The two reports therefore complement one another very well, and in my paper this evening I propose to draw on both of them, in an attempt to look at the language barrier from the social scientist's point of view. I shall normally draw more heavily on the Sheffield report than that of Bath—mainly because it is the one with which I am most familiar—though when I came to look at possible solutions, the Bath findings will certainly carry a good deal of weight, as you will see.

This paper aims to examine the role of learning orientation in building brand equity for B2B firms. The present research proposes that learning orientation contributes to the development of innovation and marketing capabilities and, in turn, leads to enhanced industrial brand equity. Furthermore, the moderating effect of firm size in these processes is investigated.

The hypotheses are tested by administering a survey with a set of managers of manufacturing firms in China.

Innovation capability and marketing capability serve as the mediators between learning orientation and industrial brand equity. The mediating path through innovation capability is stronger for small firms than for large firms.

Learning orientation provides a cultural base for B2B firms to cultivate brand equity. Measurement of industrial brand equity and contingency of its effect requires further investigation.

To transform learning-oriented culture into brand equity, firms need to develop and manage innovation and marketing capabilities. The learning orientation–innovation capability route is more beneficial for small firms.

While a majority of prior literature ignores the impact of organizational culture in driving industrial brand equity, the present research explores learning orientation as a key cultural antecedent of industrial brand equity. A more refined industrial-brand-equity-building mechanism from learning orientation to corporate capabilities and then to brand equity is proposed and tested. The mechanism varies with firm size.

The purpose of this paper is to look at the issues concerning barriers that managers face in relation to participation in training and transfer of training, which have become increasingly important to HRD scholars and practitioners. To date, these areas have largely been examined independently. This paper aims to argue that there is an increasing need to understand and explore these two areas in unison.

Although this paper is primarily conceptual in nature, in order to investigate a model derived from relevant literature, survey data from 137 Canadian employees, mostly from the broader public sector, was examined. These respondents completed a short transfer of training questionnaire three months after a one‐day managerial training programme. In this study, open‐ended questions investigating training barriers are analysed.

The exploratory examination of information from participants of a managerial training programme suggests that the model which links literature on participation in training and transfer of training warrants additional examination. Most significantly, there was substantial overlap between the participation and transfer barriers with the most common barriers being linked to “lack of time” and “unsupportive culture”.

The main limitation of this paper is the relatively small sample size with regard to data concerning barriers to transfer. However, the authors feel that a key implication is that a “bridge of understanding” is created concerning the numerous factors that impact participation in training, transfer of training and the relationships between them. Hence, HRD practitioners and scholars can now use this model to begin to understand how they might improve the overall quality of training programmes and to further explore the relationship between transfer and participation.

The conceptual model developed further integrates the respective literatures pertaining to management training participation and transfer of learning in the workplace. The proposed model shows how barriers to participation can become barriers to transfer and how barriers to transfer from one programme may become barriers to participation to subsequent learning activities.

Some communities in the USA are remarkably better at responding to civic challenges than others. These communities are more competent at marshaling their resources – material and human – in service of their own needs. The authors’ purpose in this paper is to enhance their collective understanding of ideas related to community-driven change and to describe the development of a civic capacity index (CCI), a measure of a community's capacity to respond to civic challenges and disruptions like COVID-19.

The authors used a concept mapping process (akin to grounded theory) to develop the CCI. Using this process, a panel of 34 scholars and practitioners of civic leadership and civic engagement worked together to create measurable descriptors of civic capacity.

The CCI measures dynamic processes related to collective leadership, inclusion of diverse voices, how institutions and coalitions address shared challenges and collaboration among community members. Sample data from several states show the CCI's scales to have high internal reliabilities and to correlate strongly with validation scales such as collective efficacy, social justice and community connectedness. Confirmatory factor analyses support a bifactor model of a general CCI factor and six CCI scales.

With the help of the CCI, civic actors can take advantage of existing civic capacity, understand where it is lacking and build resilience for the future.

To date, most scholars have used qualitative research to determine the elements of civic capacity. The authors wanted to know what civic capacity looks like in sufficient detail to assess the extent to which it is present or not in a community. Other efforts to quantify or assess civic capacity or related ideas are less comprehensive or lack the specificity to provide guidance for building and mobilizing it in communities. This work enhances our understanding of leadership in the civic arena, a little understood aspect of leadership studies.

Convenience and health trends are arguably the two most prevailing consumption trends in the British food market, with single‐adult households as keener followers than many other household types. Two portfolios of food products have been developed as proxies of the twin trends respectively, and the Poisson regression technique is employed to segment these two trend markets. Results confirm some previously held views, challenge others, and make some serendipity that has not been found in previous studies. Marketers are informed of greater accessibility in the health trend market vis‐à‐vis the convenience trend market for segmentation purpose, and are advised to treat the two trend markets as non‐overlapping. A number of future research directions, including a multivariate measure of the aspiration intensity of the two food trends and a measure of the twin trends for a wider range of typical products within the consumer market, are suggested.

This article examines relationships between capitalism and democracy as perceived by contending perspectives within the liberal capitalist‐liberal democratic tradition(s). Bentham and the Mills are taken as initiating both this tradition and the core elements of the debate within it. Pre‐Benthamite theories are first reviewed. Then, after discussion of Bentham and James Mill and of John Stuart Mill, Mill's late nineteenth and early twentieth century successors are examined. We then go on to consider hypotheses concerning the “exceptional” quality of relationships between capitalism and democracy in the United States. The penultimate section of the article adumbrates the main contours of mid‐twentieth century pluralist‐elitist theories. We conclude with a summary.