**2.1 Tacit and explicit knowledge**

290 New Research on Knowledge Management Models and Methods

Others argue their own points of view about knowledge and point out that it also occupies itself of creating an environment and a culture in which knowledge can evolve (Davenport & Prusak 1998; Wenger, 1998; Wenger & Snyder, 2000). For example, already in 1996

The emphasis of encoding in the KM literature probably reflects the predominance of the vision of information systems: many articles have been focused on the development and implementation of the KM databases, of tools –for example, decision supporting tools- and techniques despite the recognition, now very wide, that most spectacular improvements in

The lack of a rigorous definition and the aggressive promotion of technologists, has lead many people to point out that knowledge management is a fashion-like subject. Although the subject clearly exhibits the features of a fashion issue (Davenport & Grover, 2001), and even can be analyzed from the fashion perspective (Raub & Ruling, 2001), the consultancy firm TFPL (1999) considers that is probable that concepts and values of the knowledge management practice are deeply-rooted in the basic managing processes of the

*Knowledge management models.* Because of the divergence of points of view, opinions and ideas having the general motto of the knowledge management, it is necessary to identify a set of structures that allow that subjects make sense, a challenge that have been assumed by different researchers. An example, frequently cited, is that of Earl (2001), who proposes

**TECHNOCRATICS ECONOMICS BEHAVIOURAL**

**based Commercial Company-**

Technology Maps Processes Incomes Networks Space Mentality Bases Directories Flows Goods Agreements Interchang Abilities Coding Conectivity Capacity Marketing Collaboration Interconexión Inventiveness

These schools identify the types of strategies that use the companies for knowledge management, and Earl categorizes them in three large types: Technocratic, Economical and Behavioral. The approach of Technocratic ones is to manage the knowledge through the information or management of the technologies that support and condition the employees in their daily tasks; the Economical ones explicitly have the goal of produce incomes by exploiting knowledge like an asset; the approach of the Behavioral ones is to manage the knowledge from a behavior-based perspective, in which they manage and encourage to directors and managers for creating, sharing and proactively using the knowledge resources

While these schools provide a useful classification of specific approaches, mainly in the issues related to how is used technology within a knowledge management initiative, it is considered that they do not achieve the emphasis of the epistemological base of the strategies of knowledge management, particularly because they do not efficiently classify the social aspects. Earl's social interaction model only is fully applied in the spatial school, which is centered in using the space the exchange of knowledge, like a chat in which is discussed about how to cool the water, o when builds are designed for knowledge exchange (Schultze & Boland, 2000; Ward & Holtham, 2000). However, many authors think that

**Related Spatial Strategical**

the KM capacity in the next ten year will be in the human and managing issues.

seven strategic schools for knowledge management, as can be seen in Table 1.

Davenport et al. criticize the technologies approaches for KM:

companies.

(Earl, 2001).

**Systems Cartographic Engineering-**

Table 1. Schools of Knowledge Management by Earl (2001)

The following is an "official" definition of its differentiation:

On the one hand tacit knowledge is personal, context-specific and for this reason it is difficult to formalize and to communicate. The explicit knowledge is "codified", on the other hand, has to do with knowledge that can be transmitted in a formal and systematic language…Therefore, scientific objectivity is not the only source of knowledge. Much of our knowledge is the result of our determined effort to relate ourselves with the world… (Nonaka & Takeuchi, 1995, pp. 59-60).

The explicit knowledge requires being not subjective and can lie on databases, written reports, among others. In addition to this tacit knowledge subdivides itself in two categories not fully different:

Tacit knowledge includes cognitive and technical elements… mental models, cognitive elements, like schemes, paradigms, perspectives, beliefs and points of view, which help individuals to perceive and define its world. Opposite to that, knowledge technical elements include concrete know-how, jobs and abilities. This is important because cognitive elements of tacit knowledge are referred to single pictures of reality and to visions for the future; this is "what it is" and "what should be" (Nonaka & Takeuchi, 1995, p. 60).

It is important take notice that technical skills are mainly body-related skills.


**3. Phenolic compounds in caatinga plant species: methods for obtaining, characterizing and purifying**

Phenolic compounds are a group of substances easily found in nature, present in several plant species [22]. In this group are flavonoids, tannins, coumarins and other phenolic acids that are essential for the development of plants, acting mainly in the protection of stress caused by the environment, such as insects, infections, UV radiation, among others [23]. They are metabolites with increasing pharmacological interest, among the activities attributed to them are anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and antibacterial [24]. The chemical structure of these chemical species has similarities as well as specificities.

Flavonoids, tricyclic compounds with an arrangement of 15 atoms, have activities both in the species where they occur and in a medicinal way, regarding protection

#### *Brazilian Caatinga: Phenolic Contents, Industrial and Therapeutic Applications DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.99223*

against various pathogens, including fungi and bacteria, in addition to viruses and insects; photoprotection and antioxidant action, mainly, also acting as anti-inflammatories, through enzymatic modulation. Tannins are characterized by their astringency, which guarantees, in the species in which they are observed, defense against predators, beside antioxidant and antimicrobial activity, in addition of the ability to combine itself with macromolecules such as proteins to form insoluble complexes [25]. Their structures can be viewed in **Figure 3**.

Coumarins also have antioxidant effects and in plants they act as enzyme inhibitors, in the control of plant growth, in respiration, photosynthesis and in defense against infections and their biological applications are associated with their ability to make non-covalent interactions with protein structures, having a broad spectrum of biological activities, including the synthesis of a potent anticoagulant, warfarin. This is the most popular application of coumarins in medical sciences, which have served as a basis for new research that pursues the development of new synthetic alternatives with better response and fewer side effects, such as risks of bleeding when using these drugs [26].

The extraction is one of the first stages of studies with medicinal plants, being extremely important in the results obtained, as it interferes in the qualitative and quantitative tests of the metabolites, playing a fundamental role in the result of the processing of pharmaceutical and food products. This stage can suffer interference from several factors such as temperature, extraction time, solvent and part of the plant used, besides seasonal effects, considering that environmental aspects can bring modifications in the final chemistry composition of the species [27]. Before that, it is necessary to proceed the identification of the species to be studied by confirming botanical parameters, including macro and microscopic tests, considering the possibility of mistakes, due to morphological and even synonymic similarities of the popular names of these species [27]. From then on, a phytochemical study begins, which must go through extraction processes that can be identified in **Figure 4**.

In order to promote a higher yield of these resources extracted from plants, to guarantee their use at the technological level, whether for medicinal, food or in the production chain, in general, studies appear with the objective of optimizing, mainly, methods of extraction, addressing issues such as solvent, temperature, pH, quantity of material, standardization of new techniques and procedures or updating of protocols already in use [28]. The extraction time is one of the parameters that is often optimized, considering that the longer the extraction time, higher the difficulty

**Figure 3.** *Structural representation of tannins (A) and flavonoids (B).* *Phenolic Compounds - Chemistry, Synthesis, Diversity, Non-Conventional Industrial...*

#### **Figure 4.**

*Classical methods in the stages of studies with medicinal plants.*

to apply the method on a large scale, beside the potential material loss due to degradation, since these compounds, being antioxidants, also end up undergoing degradation by the action of light [29].

To assist in the quantification of phenolic compounds, it is possible to use simple spectrophotometer techniques, favoring efficiency of the process and also reducing costs at this stage, maintaining the quality of the analysis. For the research of flavonoids, the standard for performing the calibration curve is rutin. For tannins, tannic acid can be used as a standard and the coumarins, can be analyzed through the Borntrager reaction with a calibration curve using 1,2-benzopyrone as a standard [30].


Mohammad Salim

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter Mohammad Salim Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.74868

**Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan**

#### **Abstract**

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) is the North Western Province of Pakistan lying between 31° 15′ and 36°57′ North latitude and 69° 5′ and 74° 7′ East longitude. It covers a land area of 74,521 Km2 . Great altitudinal range (174–7690 m) diverse temperatures (sub zero to 51°C) and varied rainfall (100–1200 mm) have given rise to a great diversity in habitat with an equally diverse fauna. The Province inhabits 100 species of mammals, 456 species of birds, 48 species of reptiles and 4500 species of plants. Chiroptera is one of the least studied mammalian order in KP. Tall hollow trees, old haunted buildings, inhospitable rock crevices and deep dark caves comprising critical bat habitat are perhaps a valid reason for limited research and studies on bats. Myths and bad omens associated with the nocturnal behavior of bats play an important role in keeping away the non-serious researchers. Literature search reveals that Chiroptera fauna of KP comprises of 4 families, 13 genera, and 29 species. These bats recorded in KP include fruit bats, mouse-tailed bats, vampire bats, horseshoe bats, leaf nosed bats, house bats, serotine bats and pipistrelle bats. This species diversity is a result of diversified habitat and the overlap of Oriental and Palearctic zoogeographic regions in the province. Conservation status of bats in KP is highly unsatisfying. A number of threats loom around bats. These include habitat loss, scarcity of food, slow rate of reproduction, and depredation by animals and birds, killing for medicine, high tension electric transmission lines, killing by fruit farmers, lack of awareness and absence of conducive conservation policy at Government level. The study recommends comprehensive bat research and surveys, habitat analysis, reconfirmation of bat taxonomy, development of bat call library and conservation awareness campaign. The Government of KP should conduct an analysis of the bat distribution, status and adapt a conservation and management policy for bats. The bats should accordingly be listed in the KP Wildlife Law 2015.

**Keywords:** Chiroptera, diversity, distribution, conservation, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan

© 2018 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

© 2016 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.