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Open Access
Article
Publication date: 14 October 2022

Thomas W. Jackson and Ian Richard Hodgkinson

In the pursuit of net-zero, the decarbonization activities of organizations are a critical feature of any sustainability strategy. However, government policy and recent…

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Abstract

Purpose

In the pursuit of net-zero, the decarbonization activities of organizations are a critical feature of any sustainability strategy. However, government policy and recent technological innovations do not address the digital carbon footprint of organizations. The paper aims to present the concept of single-use dark data and how knowledge reuse by organizations is a means to digital decarbonization.

Design/methodology/approach

Businesses in all sectors must contribute to reducing digital carbon emissions globally, and to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first to examine “how” from a knowledge (re)use perspective. Drawing on insights from the knowledge creation process, the paper presents a set of pathways to greater knowledge reuse for the reduction of organizations’ digital carbon footprint.

Findings

Businesses continually collect, process and store knowledge but generally fail to reuse these knowledge assets – referred to as dark data. Consequently, this dark data has a huge impact on energy use and global emissions. This model is the first to show explicit pathways that businesses can follow to sustainable knowledge practices.

Practical implications

If businesses are to be proactive in their collective pursuit of net-zero, then it becomes paramount that reducing the digital carbon footprint becomes a key sustainability target. The paper presents how this might be accomplished, offering practical and actionable guidance to businesses for digital decarbonization.

Originality/value

Two critical questions are facing businesses: how can decarbonization be achieved? And can it be achieved at a low-cost? Awareness of the damaging impact digitalization may be having on the environment is in its infancy, yet knowledge reuse is a proactive and cost-effective route to reduce carbon emissions, which is explored in the paper.

Article
Publication date: 20 December 2023

Changbiao Zhong, Rui Huang, Yunlong Duan, Tianxin Sunguo and Alberto Dello Strologo

To adapt to the rapidly changing market environment, firms must constantly adjust and change their knowledge base to develop new technologies. The purpose of this paper is to…

Abstract

Purpose

To adapt to the rapidly changing market environment, firms must constantly adjust and change their knowledge base to develop new technologies. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the improvement path of firms’ breakthrough innovation from the perspective of knowledge recombination in the context of dynamic change in the knowledge base. By analyzing the influencing mechanism of environmental dynamism on the relationship between the two, this paper provides a theoretical foundation for managers to make knowledge recombination decisions under a dynamic external environment while further enriching the firm’s innovation achievements.

Design/methodology/approach

Using data from 220 manufacturing firms listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen A-share stock from 2010 to 2018, an extensive panel data set was constructed to investigate the effect of knowledge recombination, which was divided into recombination creation and recombination reuse, on firms’ breakthrough innovation. In addition, the authors differentiated environmental dynamism as market dynamism and technological dynamism and then examined its moderating role in the above relationships.

Findings

The research results show that various recombination behaviors of knowledge elements have a differentiated effect on firms’ breakthrough innovation presented as follows: Knowledge recombination creation is significantly positively correlated with firms’ breakthrough innovation, while knowledge recombination reuse is significantly negatively correlated with firms’ breakthrough innovation. In addition, environmental dynamism has a considerable moderating effect between knowledge recombination and firms’ breakthrough innovation further, emphasizing that the moderating effect on different types of knowledge recombination behaviors is significantly distinct.

Research limitations/implications

First, given that this study refers to several Chinese noted databases to collect second-hand data for empirical analysis, future research could use first-hand data by collecting questionnaire survey and interview to provide a more practical and detailed research conclusion. Second, the authors focused on the contextual variable to explore the moderating role of environmental dynamism on the relationship between knowledge recombination and breakthrough innovation. Nevertheless, the indirect effects of other internal factors were not discussed. The authors advocate future studies to involve other moderators from employee social and phycological perspectives, such as trust in colleagues in the proposed theoretical models in this study.

Practical implications

This study is conducive for managers to attach great attention to knowledge management practices in the firm and to understand the critical role of knowledge recombination in affecting innovation performance under dynamic environmental changes. Moreover, this study provides practical guidance and serves as a reference for firms to strengthen their knowledge recombination ability as full utilization of existing knowledge elements and exploration of new knowledge values.

Originality/value

Primarily, from the perspective of dynamic changes in the knowledge base, this paper explores how the knowledge recombination behaviors affect firms’ breakthrough innovation, thereby enriching and extending the relationship theory between knowledge recombination capabilities and breakthrough innovation, while new and valuable ideas are provided in the study of issues related to the firms’ breakthrough innovation; Moreover, this study analyzes the moderating effects of diverse types of environmental dynamism on the relationship between knowledge recombination and firms’ breakthrough innovation from a multi-dimensional perspective proposing that the moderating effects of environmental dynamism on different knowledge recombination behaviors are distinct.

Details

Journal of Knowledge Management, vol. 28 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1367-3270

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 11 August 2021

Jeremy S. Liang

This study aims to develop a synthetic knowledge repository consisted of interrelated Web Ontology Language.

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to develop a synthetic knowledge repository consisted of interrelated Web Ontology Language.

Design/methodology/approach

The ontology composes the main framework to categorize data of product life cycle with eco-design mode (PLC-EDM) and automatically infer specialists’ knowledge for data confirmation, eventually assisting the utilizations and generation of strategies toward decision-making

Findings

(i) utilization of a novel model with ontology mode for information reuse cross the different eco-design applications; (ii) generation of a sound platform toward life cycle evaluation; and (iii) implementation of the PLC-EDM model along the product generation process.

Research limitations/implications

It cannot substitute an evaluation tool of life cycle. Certainly, this model does not predict the “target and range” and/or the depiction of the “utility module” that are basic activities in life cycle assessments as characterized through the international organization for standardization regulations.

Practical implications

As portion of this framework, a prototype Web application is presented which is applied to produce, reuse and verify knowledge of product life cycle.

Social implications

By counting upon the ontology, the information conducted by the utilization is certainly semantically represented to promote the data sharing among various participants and tools. Besides, the data can be verified against possible faults by inferring over the ontology. Hence, a feasible way to a popular topic in the domain of eco-design applications extension in the industry.

Originality/value

The goals are: to lean on rigid modeling principles; and to promote the interoperability and diffusion of the ontology toward particular utilization demands.

Details

Journal of Engineering, Design and Technology , vol. 21 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1726-0531

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 28 July 2022

Xiaoyan Jiang, Sai Wang, Yong Liu, Bo Xia, Martin Skitmore, Madhav Nepal and Amir Naser Ghanbaripour

With the increasing complexity of public–private partnership (PPP) projects, the amount of data generated during the construction process is massive. This paper aims to develop a…

Abstract

Purpose

With the increasing complexity of public–private partnership (PPP) projects, the amount of data generated during the construction process is massive. This paper aims to develop a new information management method to cope with the risk problems involved in dealing with such data, based on domain ontologies of the construction industry, to help manage PPP risks, share and reuse risk knowledge.

Design/methodology/approach

Risk knowledge concepts are acquired and summarized through PPP failure cases and an extensive literature review to establish a domain framework for risk knowledge using ontology technology to help manage PPP risks.

Findings

The results indicate that the risk ontology is capable of capturing key concepts and relationships involved in managing PPP risks and can be used to facilitate knowledge reuse and storage beneficial to risk management.

Research limitations/implications

The classes in the risk knowledge ontology model constructed in this research do not yet cover all the information in PPP project risks and need to be further extended. Moreover, only the framework and basic methods needed are developed, while the construction of a working ontology model and the relationship between implicit and explicit knowledge is a complicated process that requires repeated modifications and evaluations before it can be implemented.

Practical implications

The ontology provides a basis for turning PPP risk information into risk knowledge to allow the effective sharing and communication of project risks between different project stakeholders. It can also have the potential to help reduce the dependence on subjectivity by mining, using and storing tacit knowledge in the risk management process.

Originality/value

The apparent suitability of the nine classes of PPP risk knowledge (project model, risk type, risk occurrence stage, risk source, risk consequence, risk likelihood, risk carrier, risk management measures and risk case) is identified, and the proposed construction method and steps for a complete domain ontology for PPP risk management are unique. A combination of criteria- and task-based evaluations is also developed for assessing the PPP risk ontology for the first time.

Details

Construction Innovation , vol. 23 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1471-4175

Keywords

Content available
Book part
Publication date: 1 December 2023

Margie Foster, Hossein Arvand, Hugh T. Graham and Denise Bedford

Abstract

Details

Knowledge Preservation and Curation
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-83982-930-7

Article
Publication date: 22 July 2022

Ying Tao Chai and Ting-Kwei Wang

Defects in concrete surfaces are inevitably recurring during construction, which needs to be checked and accepted during construction and completion. Traditional manual inspection…

Abstract

Purpose

Defects in concrete surfaces are inevitably recurring during construction, which needs to be checked and accepted during construction and completion. Traditional manual inspection of surface defects requires inspectors to judge, evaluate and make decisions, which requires sufficient experience and is time-consuming and labor-intensive, and the expertise cannot be effectively preserved and transferred. In addition, the evaluation standards of different inspectors are not identical, which may lead to cause discrepancies in inspection results. Although computer vision can achieve defect recognition, there is a gap between the low-level semantics acquired by computer vision and the high-level semantics that humans understand from images. Therefore, computer vision and ontology are combined to achieve intelligent evaluation and decision-making and to bridge the above gap.

Design/methodology/approach

Combining ontology and computer vision, this paper establishes an evaluation and decision-making framework for concrete surface quality. By establishing concrete surface quality ontology model and defect identification quantification model, ontology reasoning technology is used to realize concrete surface quality evaluation and decision-making.

Findings

Computer vision can identify and quantify defects, obtain low-level image semantics, and ontology can structurally express expert knowledge in the field of defects. This proposed framework can automatically identify and quantify defects, and infer the causes, responsibility, severity and repair methods of defects. Through case analysis of various scenarios, the proposed evaluation and decision-making framework is feasible.

Originality/value

This paper establishes an evaluation and decision-making framework for concrete surface quality, so as to improve the standardization and intelligence of surface defect inspection and potentially provide reusable knowledge for inspecting concrete surface quality. The research results in this paper can be used to detect the concrete surface quality, reduce the subjectivity of evaluation and improve the inspection efficiency. In addition, the proposed framework enriches the application scenarios of ontology and computer vision, and to a certain extent bridges the gap between the image features extracted by computer vision and the information that people obtain from images.

Details

Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, vol. 30 no. 10
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0969-9988

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 1 December 2023

Margie Foster, Hossein Arvand, Hugh T. Graham and Denise Bedford

This chapter explores the traditional and evolving practice of preservation. Traditional preservation practices are traced throughout history. Current practice is described as a…

Abstract

Chapter Summary

This chapter explores the traditional and evolving practice of preservation. Traditional preservation practices are traced throughout history. Current practice is described as a foundation from which to understand evolving practices. Traditional preservation has historically focused on tangible assets that take a tangible form we can all see and touch. The traditional practices are compared to the evolving practices of knowledge and intangible resources. The chapter examines why, what, how, when, where we preserve, and who preserves to understand the transition in progress today. The authors make the case that shifting the traditional focus from preserving for the past and evidentiary reasons to preserving for the future to support business challenges is crucial. The authors also tie the need to refocus on historical impediments and challenges to knowledge use and reuse in practical business environments.

Details

Knowledge Preservation and Curation
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-83982-930-7

Article
Publication date: 12 September 2023

Wenjing Wu, Caifeng Wen, Qi Yuan, Qiulan Chen and Yunzhong Cao

Learning from safety accidents and sharing safety knowledge has become an important part of accident prevention and improving construction safety management. Considering the…

Abstract

Purpose

Learning from safety accidents and sharing safety knowledge has become an important part of accident prevention and improving construction safety management. Considering the difficulty of reusing unstructured data in the construction industry, the knowledge in it is difficult to be used directly for safety analysis. The purpose of this paper is to explore the construction of construction safety knowledge representation model and safety accident graph through deep learning methods, extract construction safety knowledge entities through BERT-BiLSTM-CRF model and propose a data management model of data–knowledge–services.

Design/methodology/approach

The ontology model of knowledge representation of construction safety accidents is constructed by integrating entity relation and logic evolution. Then, the database of safety incidents in the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry is established based on the collected construction safety incident reports and related dispute cases. The construction method of construction safety accident knowledge graph is studied, and the precision of BERT-BiLSTM-CRF algorithm in information extraction is verified through comparative experiments. Finally, a safety accident report is used as an example to construct the AEC domain construction safety accident knowledge graph (AEC-KG), which provides visual query knowledge service and verifies the operability of knowledge management.

Findings

The experimental results show that the combined BERT-BiLSTM-CRF algorithm has a precision of 84.52%, a recall of 92.35%, and an F1 value of 88.26% in named entity recognition from the AEC domain database. The construction safety knowledge representation model and safety incident knowledge graph realize knowledge visualization.

Originality/value

The proposed framework provides a new knowledge management approach to improve the safety management of practitioners and also enriches the application scenarios of knowledge graph. On the one hand, it innovatively proposes a data application method and knowledge management method of safety accident report that integrates entity relationship and matter evolution logic. On the other hand, the legal adjudication dimension is innovatively added to the knowledge graph in the construction safety field as the basis for the postincident disposal measures of safety accidents, which provides reference for safety managers' decision-making in all aspects.

Details

Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0969-9988

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 19 October 2022

Vladimiro Verre, Darío Milesi and Natalia Petelski

Joint research is pointed out by the literature as a potentially virtuous cooperation scheme to generate learning in the public sphere and beneficial effects in society. The…

Abstract

Purpose

Joint research is pointed out by the literature as a potentially virtuous cooperation scheme to generate learning in the public sphere and beneficial effects in society. The purpose of this study, based on the Argentine experience in the COVID-19 pandemic, is to analyze the network of capacities, relationships and effects generated, over time, by a series of projects financed by the State in 2010, to clarify the link between learning effects and social effects.

Design/methodology/approach

A qualitative methodology focused on the multiple case study method was used. Each case covers joint R&D projects financed 10 years ago by the state that subsequently led to different solutions for COVID-19.

Findings

The work identifies a public learning process that integrates both industry’s contributions and the intellectual dimension of economic benefits and their translation into specific capabilities; conceptualizes the capacities accumulation process as a multiplier of social effects (direct and indirect) that emerge as knowledge is reused; identifies the articulation between different schemes as a condition for learning effects and social effects to manifest over time.

Originality/value

An aspect not studied in the literature is addressed, the relationship between the learning process induced by joint research, in terms of capabilities, and the social effects specifically generated over time. This is taking place in a context, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, where calls from the scientific and academic community to promote science–industry cooperation are multiplying.

Details

Journal of Science and Technology Policy Management, vol. 15 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2053-4620

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 9 August 2022

Dawei Chen, Jianliang Zhou, Pinsheng Duan and Jiaqi Zhang

The outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic has posed severe challenges to infrastructure construction in China. Particularly, the complex technology and high process uncertainty of deep…

Abstract

Purpose

The outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic has posed severe challenges to infrastructure construction in China. Particularly, the complex technology and high process uncertainty of deep foundation pit construction make its safety risk identification a challenging issue of general concern. To address these challenges, Building Information Modeling (BIM) can be used as an important tool to enhance communication and decision-making among stakeholders during the pandemic. The purpose of this study is to propose a knowledge management and BIM-integrated safety risk identification method for deep foundation pit construction to improve the management efficiency of project participants.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper proposes a risk identification method that integrates BIM and knowledge management for deep foundation pit construction. In the framework of knowledge management, the topological relationships between objects in BIM are extracted and visualized in the form of knowledge mapping. After that, formal expressions of codes are established to realize the structured processing of specification provisions and special construction requirements. A comprehensive plug-in for deep foundation pit construction is designed based on the BIM software.

Findings

The proposed method was verified by taking a sub-project in deep foundation pit project construction as an example. The result showed the new method can make full use of the existing specification and special engineering requirements knowledge. In addition, the developed visual BIM plug-in proves the feasibility and applicability of the proposed method, which can help to increase the risk identification efficiency and refinement.

Originality/value

The deep foundation pit safety risk identification is challenged by the confusion of deep foundation pit construction safety knowledge and the complexity of the BIM model. By establishing the standardized expression of normative knowledge and special construction requirements, the efficiency and refinement of risk identification are improved while ensuring the comprehensiveness of results. Moreover, the topology-based risk identification method focuses on the project objects and their relations in the way of network, eliminating the problem of low efficiency from the direct BIM-based risk identification method due to massive data.

Details

Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, vol. 30 no. 8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0969-9988

Keywords

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