This paper reports results of an empirical examination of the facilitating role of experimentation and socialisation in enhancing individual knowledge and performance in decision making. A laboratory experiment was conducted using 28 graduate students as voluntary subjects. Performance of actual subjects was compared with that of their nominal naive and optimal counterparts. Results indicate that both opportunities for independent experimentation and socialisation among subjects significantly facilitated individual knowledge enhancement and led to improved decision performance. Subjects encouraged to interact with others tended to make better quality decisions than those who individually experimented with the decision task. Both performed better than notional naive subjects who applied random walk decision strategy. However, the results indicate room for further improvement. Subjects failed to reach performance of notional optimal counterparts who used linear decision strategy. The results also suggest the need for a holistic approach to managing knowledge by combining and integrating various initiatives to create even higher levels of knowledge and performance.

This paper reports the results of an empirical examination of the effects of personal experience and social interaction on individual knowledge and performance in a specific decision making task context. The study revealed a differential effect of increased experience on the quality of participants' decisions. In particular, increased experience did not result in significant decision improvement in the non-interactive social environment, but did so in the interactive social environment. The study also revealed that social interaction was beneficial irrespective of personal experience, and led to better performance at both low and high experience levels. The results suggest that individuals may benefit from, in combination, opportunities for personal experimentation and social interaction with others. These results may be useful to all those responsible for planning knowledge management strategies aimed at enhancing knowledge creation and utilization. Includes two tables and one figure. (Contains 48 references.) (Author) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. THE ROLE OF PERSONAL EXPERIENCE AND °,7g. SOCIAL INTERACTION IN KNOWLEDGE CREATION AND UTILISATION

Major intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH) and cystic leucomalacia (PVL) are major causes of mortality and neurologic morbidity in premature infants that are strongly associated with long-term neurodevelopmental sequelae. Preterm babies ventilated by intermittent positive pressure ventilation are in higher risk for this type of lesion. We studied incidence of major intraventricular bleeding (with ventricular dilatation and parenchymal involvement) and cystic periventricular leucomalacia in 79 preterm babies who required mechanical ventilation for respiratory-distress syndrome (RDS), admitted on Department of Neonatology of the Pediatric University Hospital in Sarajevo from February 1999. to May 2000. Thirty-five babies were classified as less than 32 weeks of gestation. Major intraventricular hemorrhage and cystic leucomalacia were documented in 5 babies (10.2%) of 49 survivors. Two babies developed posthemmoragic hydrocephalus and required shunting. Severe brain damage was more common in ventilated infants with gestational age with (32 weeks of gestation (23.5%) compared with the babies > 32 weeks of gestation (2.9%). The severity of RDS also correlated with an increased risk of severe IVH.

The pulmonary complications (PC) during mechanical ventilation were caused by barotrauma, infection, oxygen toxicity and excessive pulmonary extravascular fluid. The most frequent manifestations are: pneumothorax, pulmonary haemorrhage and lobar or segmental athelectasis. This is a retrospective study conducted between 1.1.1990 till 31.8.2000. The aim of this study was to evaluate the frequency of the pulmonary complications during mechanical ventilation in 163 ventilated neonates, as well as the relation towards gestational age, birth weight, primary disease and the outcome. The most common causes for mechanical ventilation were: hyaline membrane disease in 95 (58.3%) preterm babies, perinatal asphyxia in 26 (16%) and less frequent conditions such as: apnea, congenital heart diseases, neonatal infections and surgical cases. 25/163 (15.3%) ventilated pts have developed pneumothorax, 29 (17.7%) athelectasis and 14 (8.5%) pts had pulmonarly haemorrhage. The pulmonary complications were more frequent in preterm newborns with significant influence at the duration of the ventilation and the outcome. However, pulmonary complications could not be completely avoid, so we would like to underline the importance of preventive measures with the aim of decreasing PC incidence.