Applying information technology (IT) to support or magnify a competitive business strategy has been recognized which IT had adopted by enterprises. Many examples of various enterprises illustrate applying IT to create and sustain competitive advantage. Applying information strategy is becoming a trend for success and also for coping with dramatic environmental changing.The Institute of Medicine (IOM) brought patient safety issue into the public attention in its 1999 report “To Err is Human”. It is estimated those medical errors responsible for 44,000 and 98,000 deaths in the United States per year. Medical errors are causing patient’s death, permanent loss of health functions, etc.. Facing on these errors, main strategy for preventing errors is applying IT strategy. Many studies and surveys show that information technology can effectively reduce the rate of medical care errors and adverse events, up to 50%.Thus, information technology plays the role as a gatekeeper for promoting and protecting patient safety in various fields of medical care. The object of this thesis is from historical review to explore various IT strategies adopted by hospitals to improve patient safety and to explore of Taiwan hospitals applying patient safety information technologies to pursue patient safety and its contribution. We are designing this research by three phases. Phase I study, various of SCI literature review from 1990 to 2005 and in-depth interview with physicians, administrators from hospital was used to collect the data. Phase II study; from previous literature reviewed, the model and comments will gather from Phase I interviews to develop a structured questionnaire. Phase III study, In order to reduce the probability of misinterpretation, a Delphi approach was used to further revise and validate the extended framework, which has been synthesized from Phase I and Phase II study. Patient safety has become an important trend and international health facilities operation guidelines. Therefore, hospitals need a well-developed plan to implement in the near future by steps to achieve risk free hospital for patient treatment. We are happy to share our findings to hospitals and learn more on what we can do to make the hospital a safer place for all type of errors.Hospitals not only pursuing a patient safety goal by innovative information technologies but also diffusing, assiminating as a trend of enhance patient safety era. Key Words: Patient Safety, Medical Error, RFID, Electronic Medical Record.

With a number of advantages hitherto unrecognized, nanoparticle-stabilized emulsions and foams have recently been proposed for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) applications. Long-distance transport of nanoparticles is a prerequisite for any such EOR applications. The transport of the particles is limited by the degree to which the particles are retained by the porous medium. In this work, experiments that quantify the retention and provide insight into the mechanisms for nanoparticle retention in porous media are described. Sedimentary rock samples (Boise sandstone and Texas Cream limestone) were crushed into single grains and sieved into narrow grain size fractions. In some cases, clay (kaolinite or illite) was added to the Boise sandstone samples. These grain samples were packed into long (1 ft – 15 ft) slim tubes (ID = 0.93 cm) to create unconsolidated sandpack columns. The columns were injected with aqueous dispersions of silica-cored nanoparticle (with and without surface coating) and flushed with brine. The nanoparticle effluent concentration history was measured and the nanoparticle recovery was calculated as a percentage of the injected nanoparticle dispersion. Fifty experiments were performed in this fashion, varying different experimental parameters while maintaining others constant to allow direct comparisons between experiments. The parameters analyzed in this thesis are: specific surface area of the porous medium, lithology, brine salinity, interstitial velocity, residence time, column length, and temperature. Our results indicate that retention is not severe, with an 8% average of the injected amount, for all our experiments. From the parameters analyzed, specific surface area was the most influential variable, with a linear effect on nanoparticle retention independently of lithology. Salinity increased nanoparticle retention slightly and delayed nanoparticle arrival. Velocity, residence time and length are coupled parameters and were studied jointly; they had a minor effect on retention. Temperature had a marginal effect, as we observed an approximate 2% increase in retention at 80°C compared to 21°C. Both surface coated and bare silica nanoparticles were successfully transported, so surface coating does not appear to be a prerequisite for transport for the particle and rock systems studied. / text

The memristor is an emerging nano-device. Low power operation, high density, scalability, non-volatility, and compatibility with CMOS Technology have made it a promising technology for memory, Boolean implementation, computing, and logic systems. This dissertation focuses on testing and design of such applications. In particular, we investigate on testing of memristor-based memories, design of memristive implementation of Boolean functions, and reliability and design of neuromorphic computing such as neural network. In addition, we show how to modify threshold logic gates to implement more functions. Although memristor is a promising emerging technology but is prone to defects due to uncertainties in nanoscale fabrication. Fast March tests are proposed in Chapter 2 that benefit from fast write operations. The test application time is reduced significantly while simultaneously reducing the average test energy per cell. Experimental evaluation in 45 nm technology show a speed-up of approximately 70% with a decrease in energy by approximately 40%. DfT schemes are proposed to implement the new test methods. In Chapter 3, an Integer Linear Programming based framework to identify current-mode threshold logic functions is presented. It is shown that threshold logic functions can be implemented in CMOS-based current mode logic with reduced transistor count when the input weights are not restricted to be integers. Experimental results show that many more functions can be implemented with predetermined hardware overhead, and the hardware requirement of a large percentage of existing threshold functions is reduced when comparing to the traditional CMOS-based threshold logic implementation. In Chapter 4, a new method to implement threshold logic functions using memristors is presented. This method benefits from the high range of memristor’s resistivity which is used to define different weight values, and reduces significantly the transistor count. The proposed approach implements many more functions as threshold logic gates when comparing to existing implementations. Experimental results in 45 nm technology show that the proposed memristive approach implements threshold logic gates with less area and power consumption. Finally, Chapter 5 focuses on current-based designs for neural networks. CMOS aging impacts the total synaptic current and this impacts the accuracy. Chapter 5 introduces an enhanced memristive crossbar array (MCA) based analog neural network architecture to improve reliability due to the aging effect. A built-in current-based calibration circuit is introduced to restore the total synaptic current. The calibration circuit is a current sensor that receives the ideal reference current for non-aged column and restores the reduced sensed current at each column to the ideal value. Experimental results show that the proposed approach restores the currents with less than 1% precision, and the area overhead is negligible.

xv, 183 p. : ill. A print copy of this thesis is available through the UO Libraries. Search the library catalog for the location and call number. / Entrepreneurs seeking to commercialize science-based technologies face considerable challenges including uncertain environments, policy makers and investors' ignorance, and public opposition and ethical concerns. Most research exploring the emergence of technologies assumes the existence of accepted uses or products, despite the fact that efforts to commercialize science-based technologies often begin before specific applications exist. We have little empirical evidence of how individuals and organizations influence the earliest development of technologies. To address this gap, I conduct a real-time, seven-year, qualitative study of the nanotechnology venture investing community. The study draws on extensive archival data, participant observation of a complete series of annual nanotechnology investing conferences, and case studies of the three venture capital (VC) firms specializing in nanotechnology through the period of the study. The cases are based on semi-structured and website archives. I document the emergence of competing nanotechnology frames in the period prior to the identification of product applications. I identify three sequential activities of nanotechnology business proponents: constructing a socio-semiotic space, positioning as experts within the space, and translating scientific, opposition and futuristic discourse for a target audience. I introduce the concept of a socio-semiotic space and develop a model reflecting the three activities to explain the process through which technology proponents project a business frame to support the commercialization of science-based technologies. This dissertation contributes to our knowledge of technology evolution by focusing on the understudied period of early emergence and the sociopolitical process of technology framing. I contribute to our knowledge of how science discoveries become the basis for fields of commercial activity. The findings of this dissertation provide knowledge that can assist business people and policy makers seeking to develop science- based technologies and the fields that emerge around them. / Committee in charge: Alan Meyer, Chairperson, Management; Richard Steers, Member, Management; Richard Mowday, Member, Management; John Orbell, Outside Member, Political Science

abstract: In vitro, or cultured, meat refers to edible skeletal muscle and fat tissue grown from animal stem cells in a laboratory or factory. It is essentially meat that does not require an animal to be killed. Although it is still in the research phase of development, claims of its potential benefits range from reducing the environmental impacts of food production to improving human health. However, technologies powerful enough to address such significant challenges often come with unintended consequences and a host of costs and benefits that seldom accrue to the same actors. In extreme cases, they can even be destabilizing to social, institutional, economic, and cultural systems. This investigation explores the sustainability implications of cultured meat before commercial facilities are established, unintended consequences are realized, and undesirable effects become reified and locked in. The study utilizes expert focus groups to explore the social implications, life cycle analysis to project the environmental implications, and economic input-output assessment to explore tradeoffs between conventionally-produced meat and factory-grown food products. The results suggest that, should cultured meat be widely adopted by consumers, food is likely to be increasingly a product of human design, perhaps becoming integrated into existing human institutions such as health care delivery and education. Environmentally, cultured meat could require smaller quantities of agricultural inputs and land than livestock. However, those avoided costs could come at the expense of more intensive energy use as biological processes are replaced with industrial systems. Finally, the research found that, since livestock production is a driver of significant economic activity, shifting away from traditional meat production in favor of cultured meat production could result in a net economic contraction. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Civil and Environmental Engineering 2014

This dissertation addresses the fundamental problem of how to build computing systems for the nanoscale. With CMOS reaching fundamental limits, emerging nanomaterials such as semiconductor nanowires, carbon nanotubes, graphene etc. have been proposed as promising alternatives. However, nanoelectronics research has largely focused on a `device-first' mindset without adequately addressing system-level capabilities, challenges for integration and scalable assembly. In this dissertation, we propose to develop an integrated nano-fabric, (broadly defined as nanostructures/devices in conjunction with paradigms for assembly, inter-connection and circuit styles), as opposed to approaches that focus on MOSFET replacement devices as the ultimate goal. In the `fabric-centric' mindset, design choices at individual levels are made compatible with the fabric as a whole and minimize challenges for nanomanufacturing while achieving system-level benefits vs. scaled CMOS. We present semiconductor nanowire based nano-fabrics incorporating these fabric-centric principles called NASICs and N3ASICs and discuss how we have taken them from initial design to experimental prototype. Manufacturing challenges are mitigated through careful design choices at multiple levels of abstraction. Regular fabrics with limited customization mitigate overlay alignment requirements. Cross-nanowire FET devices and interconnect are assembled together as part of the uniform regular fabric without the need for arbitrary fine-grain interconnection at the nanoscale, routing or device sizing. Unconventional circuit styles are devised that are compatible with regular fabric layouts and eliminate the requirement for using complementary devices. Core fabric concepts are introduced and validated. Detailed analyses on device-circuit co-design and optimization, cascading, noise and parameter variation are presented. Benchmarking of nanowire processor designs vs. equivalent scaled 16nm CMOS shows up to 22X area, 30X power benefits at comparable performance, and with overlay precision that is achievable with present-day technology. Building on the extensive manufacturing-friendly fabric framework, we present recent experimental efforts and key milestones that have been attained towards realizing a proof-of-concept prototype at dimensions of 30nm and below.

This dissertation consists of three studies that collectively investigate the factors influencing the consumer adoption intention towards emerging healthcare technologies. Essay 1 systematically reviews the extent literature on healthcare technology adoption and serves as the theoretical foundation of the dissertation. It investigates different models that have been previously applied to study healthcare technology acceptance. Meta-analysis method is used to quantitatively synthesize the findings from prior empirical studies. Essay 2 posits, develops, and tests a comprehensive biotechnology acceptance model from the end-user's perspective. Two new constructs, namely, perceived risk and trust in technology, are integrated into the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology. Research hypotheses are tested using survey data and partial least square – structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). Essay 3 extends the findings from the Essay 2 and further investigates the consumer's trust initiation and its effect on behavioral adoption intention. To achieve this purpose, Essay 3 posits and develops a trust model. Survey data allows testing the model using PLS-SEM. The models developed in this dissertation reflect significant modifications specific to the healthcare context. The findings provide value for academia, practitioners, and policymakers.

Ce travail de thèse a pour objectif la mise en place d’un processus d’intelligence économique au sein d’une start-up proposant une technologie émergente. Dans ce cas d’étude, nous avons mis en évidence une double émergence : l’environnement nouveau et l’entreprise en construction.Dans un premier temps, nous mobilisons un cadre analytique original pour le processus d’intelligence économique : les TIS – Technological Innovation Systems. Cette grille de lecture propose une analyse dynamique du système d’innovation de l’entreprise à travers la structure et les interactions auxquelles les acteurs du système prennent part. Dans un deuxième temps, nous abordons l’intérêt de considérer les éléments intrinsèques de la start-up pour la mise en place d’un processus d’intelligence économique. Notre compréhension des éléments spécifiques de la start-up, comme sa structure adhocratique, a permis dans un troisième temps, l’implémentation d’outils cohérents avec la prégnance de la dimension humaine et les ressources que l’entreprise peut mobiliser. Nous avons organisé la création de connaissances à partir du cycle de l’information, proposé une première évaluation du processus d’intelligence économique en place et déduit les prolongements envisagés. Dans un quatrième temps, nous nous sommes focalisés sur l’utilisation du brevet pour la compréhension de notre domaine technologique.Réalisée dans une démarche de recherche-action (menée dans le cadre d’une convention CIFRE), cette thèse expose l’expérimentation de notre méthode d’intelligence économique au sein de Poietis, start-up française de bioimpression. / This thesis aims to implement a competitive intelligence process within a start-up that develops an emerging technology. A double emergence has been identified: the environment of the company and the company itself.First, we call upon an original analytical framework for competitive intelligence: Technological Innovation Systems (TIS). This framework allows for a dynamic analysis of the innovation system of the company through the structure and the interactions between the agents within the system. Second, we address the benefit of taking into the account the intrinsic characteristics of the company for the implementation of a competitive intelligence process. Our understanding of specific elements of the start-up, its adhocratic structure for instance, has allowed in a third step to implement tools in line with the importance of the human dimension and the resources that the company can mobilize.We organized the creation of knowledge from the information cycle, suggest a first evaluation of the competitive intelligence process and deduced the considered extensions.Finally, we focused on the use of patent for the understanding of a technological domain.Carried out in an action research approach (conducted as part of a CIFRE contract), this thesis shows the test of our method of technology intelligence within Poietis, a French bioprinting start-up.

This dissertation attempts to contribute to our understanding of how firms can manage and benefit from its research and development (R&D) communities. In the first essay, we examine how established firms can leverage a broad R&D community to invent successfully during the early stage of a technological change. We find significant inventions by incumbents outside the existing dominant designs and relate their success to their willingness to search novel areas, explore scientific knowledge in the public domain, and form alliances with a balanced portfolio of partners. We find support for the hypotheses using data from the global semiconductor industry between 1989 and 2002. In the second essay, we examine a classical choice within an R&D community: cooperation or competition with other firms along a technology supply chain. We find that the answer depends not just on the transaction costs, strength of intellectual property protection rights, and asset cospecialization in the buyers' industries, but also the supplier's knowledge transfer capability and a typical buyer's productivity in developing licensed inventions. For instance, the effect of asset cospecialization on licensing is moderated by the factors that affect the buyers' productivity in developing external technology. Additionally, factors that reduce the buyers' development productivity can be mitigated by the supplier's knowledge transfer capability. We find empirical supports for these predictions using a cross-industry panel dataset of a sample of 345 U.S. small technology-based firms for the 1996-2007 period. In the third essay, I develop two game theoretical models to address how research competition from academic researchers affects firms' openness in disclosing intermediate R&D outcomes. Both models predict that such competition increases the firm's incentive to publish research findings, even though the firm would not have had such an incentive without the presence of the competition. The models also suggest several conditions under which the effect takes place. I further discuss the implications of ownership fragmentation for research materials within the scientific community and academic researchers' engagement in entrepreneurial activities. As implied by my models, these phenomena might instigate withholding of research findings by firms.

Context: Current unsustainable practices have resulted in the depletion of natural resources and a prevailing material scarcity. Urban Mining has emerged in this context and suggests the “mining” of cities or other sources in urban areas to retrieve valuable resources. It raises the topic of how urban mining as a market segment of the construction industry is like today and in the future.  Objective: The thesis sets out to study what firms in the urban mining market segment desires in terms of needs and priorities. Furthermore, what could be prioritized in the future (2030), what future scenarios could be expected and what implications these can have on organizations within the segment and on the construction industry.  Method: A foresight methodology was applied as a framework for the research design. Interview with representatives from 10 firms, including observations of their operations, resulted in a number of mutual needs shared across the urban mining segment. These were prioritized in relative importance based on a questionnaire of 67 respondents representing 44 different firms in Sweden. A combination of these studies and a review of technology trends further enabled the extrapolation of future scenarios.  Results: The findings shows that firms within the urban mining market segment prioritizes and emphasizes needs related concerns in optimization, cost control, safety, environmental and social care today. Needs related to safety, environmental and social care are indicated to remain top prioritized as a result of the future market circumstances. A holistic and lifecycle approach in urban mining practices was deemed of low priority today but was indicated to grow significantly in relative importance in the future.  Conclusion: Technology, urbanization and globalization indicates stricter and more competitive market circumstances in the future. Especially related to safety, lifecycle consideration, environmental, and social care. The research suggests that firms concerned and those operating within the urban mining segment may need to undergo transformational changes in their organization to meet what the market segment expects in the future. Moreover, the findings opens up the possibility for actors and stakeholders concerned with the construction industry to proactively go into a desired future by knowing how the future market could unfold. / Stanford University, ME310: Urban Mining