EFFECT KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT AND PERFORMANCE AT THE KENYA REVENUE AUTHORITY

Purpose: The real challenge is the use of technology to continuously promote KM uptake in organizations with a different culture, more so government institutions, ensuring at the same time that knowledge creation, sharing and usage becomes more efficient and transparent.. The general objective of the study was to evaluate effect knowledge management and performance at the Kenya revenue authority. Methodology: The paper used a desk study review methodology where relevant empirical literature was reviewed to identify main themes and to extract knowledge gaps. Findings: The study concludes that, majority of the respondents agree that knowledge sharing through the KM portal reduces the knowledge accessibility process which saves on man-hour. It 66 also concludes that using the KM portal reduces the knowledge transfer rate within KRA. Also on-line KM sharing process improves efficiency in transferring critical knowledge within KRA and has improved knowledge creating and sharing levels. It is less expensive to do on-line knowledge sharing than the traditional methods. Finally, knowledge management has helped KRA in improving performance while also helping KRA to control of the knowledge management process. The study further concludes that indeed knowledge management leveraged on technology has a positive relationship with organizational performance. This implies that with the adoption of knowledge management based on technology, performance is likely to be enhanced. Recommendations: There is a need for KRA Kenya Revenue Authority to sensitize the employees on the KM systems it has in place and how they will be of advantage to them in terms of increasing their output levels. Given the positive response from the employees that they are willing to embrace knowledge creation, sharing and usage in the long term, there is need for Kenya Revenue Authority to keep on developing new systems and improving on the existing ones on a need to need basis. The new systems and improved existing ones will ensure that KM leveraged on technology is sustainable and thus the performance levels will improve

Demystifying teaching, learning and research through institutional repositories in higher learning institutions in Kenya

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to provide an analysis of ways in which teaching, learning and research can be demystified in higher institutions of learning (HILs). Over the last decade, HILs around the world have faced various transformations to adapt to new opportunities for knowledge dissemination and utilization. Many benefits are gained from implementation of the platform including visibility, status and increased reputation. Despite the high uptake of institutional repositories (IRs) to guide teaching, learning and research of higher institutions learning's digital resources more effectively, little has been written on how IRs can be used for effective teaching, learning and research in higher institutions of learning.Design/methodology/approachUsing analytical method, this paper analysed and presented various thematical issues on IRs in relation to its efficacy, while proposing solutions for its sustainability.FindingsThe paper found that most universities have embraced IRs as an option for increasing their visibility, status and researchers' relevance in the knowledge world. It is the conclusion of the study that IRs are currently recognized as an essential infrastructure to respond to the higher institutions of learning challenges in the digital world.Practical implicationsThis paper provides higher institutions of learning an opportunity to prepare their IRs to demystify teaching, learning and research. Since IRs will make it possible to access variety of information at any time whenever required.Social implicationsKnowledge accessibility and utilization bring about social change in the society.Originality/valueLittle has been documented on how IRs can be used for effective teaching, teaching, learning and research in HILs. This paper provides an analysis of ways in which teaching, learning and research can be demystified in these institutions. Thus, it contributes new knowledge on demystifying teaching, learning and research through IRs in HILs.

Industrial Design of Electric Machines Supported with Knowledge-Based Engineering Systems

The demand for electric machines has increased in the last decade, mainly due to applications that try to make a full transition from fuel to electricity. These applications encounter the need for tailor-made electric machines that must meet demanding requirements. Therefore, it is necessary for small-medium companies to adopt new technologies offering customized products fulfilling the customers’ requirements according to their investment capacity, simplify their development process, and reduce computational time to achieve a feasible design in shorter periods. Furthermore, they must find ways to retain know-how that is typically kept within each designer to retrieve it or transfer it to new designers. This paper presents a framework with an implementation example of a knowledge-based engineering (KBE) system to design industrial electric machines to support this issue. The devised KBE system groups the main functionalities that provide the best outcome for an electric machine designer as development-process traceability, knowledge accessibility, automation of tasks, and intelligent support. The results show that if the company effectively applies these functionalities, they can leverage the attributes of KBE systems to shorten time-to-market. They can also ensure not losing all knowledge, information, and data through the whole development process.

Situated Embodiment: When Physical Weight Does and Does Not Inform Judgments of Importance

Bodily sensations impact metaphorically related judgments. Are such effects obligatory or do they follow the logic of knowledge accessibility? If the latter, the impact of sensory information should be moderated by the accessibility of the related metaphor at the time of sensory experience. We manipulated whether “importance” was on participants’ minds when they held a physically heavy versus light book. Participants held the book while making an importance judgment versus returned it before making the judgment (Study 1) or learned prior to holding the book that the study was about “importance evaluations” versus “graphics evaluations” (Study 2). In both studies, the same book was judged more important when its heft was increased but only when importance was on participants’ minds at the time of sensory experience. We conclude that sensory experiences only impact metaphorically related judgments when the applicable metaphor is highly accessible at the time of experience.

Situated embodiment: When physical weight does and does not inform judgments of importance

Bodily sensations impact metaphorically related judgments. Are such effects obligatory or do they follow the logic of knowledge accessibility? If the latter, the impact of sensory information should be moderated by the accessibility of the related metaphor at the time of sensory experience. We manipulated whether “importance” was on participants’ minds when they held a physically heavy vs. light book. Participants held the book while making an importance judgment vs. returned it before making the judgment (Study 1) or learned prior to holding the book that the study was about “importance evaluations” vs. “graphics evaluations” (Study 2). In both studies, the same book was judged more important when its heft was increased, but only when importance was on participants’ minds at the time of sensory experience. We conclude that sensory experiences only impact metaphorically-related judgments when the applicable metaphor is highly accessible at the time of experience.

PEMANFAATAN HUTAN ADAT OLEH MASYARAKAT SUKU SOUG DI KABUPATEN MANOKWARI SELATAN

The purpose of this study was to identify the customary community forest of Soug tribe of Arfak in using customary forest resources surrounding Tobou forest. Through the study, how the forest assessed, local culture, forest preservation, transfer knowledge, accessibility, and infrastructure towards the existence of Tobou customary forest. The descriptive method was used to qualitative data. In order to obtain data, interview, and field observation was applied. In terms of customary forest use around Tobou, there were numbers of conserving land types such as garden opening, extracting both, timber and non-timber forest products, important value and trust, co-benefit interaction among social and biophysical co-benefit as a whole ecosystem component and customary role community. It turned out that social bonds among community strata were glaringly seen through customary roles as it has been indicated strongly in Arfak ethnic.