Abraham Heschel wrote that a philosopher's primary task was not merely to describe and judge the modes and facts of actual human behavior, but also to examine and understand the meaninq of those descriptions and judgements of modes and facts (Bella, 1978). Our values are critically tied to our structures of reasoning and to be sure are not the domain, only, of our philosophic community. While working on a Political science internship for the office of Technologry Transfer at Oregon State University, in l989, it occurred to me that little thought was given to the value dimension of researching, developing and transferring new technology into our public and private economic sectors. In evaluating the decisions to conduct research or to introduce into our public services and private commercial businesses, new technologies, the values underlying those technologies and their particular application must become essential criteria of any proposed economic or other justification scheme. This thesis will examine this observation and its ramifications in a business organizational, social, political and public administrative and philosophic context then offer some recommendations and draw some conclusions. / Graduation date: 1994

The purpose of this thesis is to analyze Swedish entrepreneurs and how they recognize opportunities in transition economies. In order to reach the intention of thesis, a case study of three Swedish firms have been conducted with interviews. Theoretical framework consists of the entrepreneurship theory, opportunity recognition process and innovations which all are relevant to the study and research questions. The empirical findings include the case firms view on entrepreneurial characteristics, opportunities and innovations. The conclusions of the thesis are that opportunities are recognized by individuals with specific characteristics. Suppliers, customers and agents can influence opportunity recognition process and direction.

Mobile barcode e-invoicing (MBEI) is a novel system that not only reduces companies¡¦ cost on invoice delivery and storage but also enables the government to save money on printing the invoices. Although this is an important policy, no study has examined it from the general public¡¦s perspective. Therefore, this study surveyed a convenience sample of 250 people to investigate factors that may affect the public¡¦s willingness to use MBEI. Based on Rogers¡¦s (1995) diffusion of innovation theory, this study explored the impacts of relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, observability, and habits of using relevant technology on willingness to use MBEI. The results suggest that while relative advantage, compatibility, and complexity are associated with people¡¦s willingness, observability is not. As for the habits of using relevant technology, people with i-bon experience were more willing to use MBEI than those who had never heard about i-bon. But respondents¡¦ usage of membership cards for shopping, the carrying of these membership cards, and the habit of using touch-control mobile devices had no impact on their willingness to adopt MBEI. These results suggest that the government should not only promote its e-invoicing policy more aggressively, but also be alert to the problems that different age groups may encountered when trying to use MBEI.

With the advancement and development of technology and in response to an era of digital convergence and an environment of changing media, every advanced country in the world is eager to promote the digital industries. In order to get connected with the rest of the world, Taiwan has drawn a plan to retrieve all the analog channels in 2010, urging the TV systems in Taiwan to entirely enter the digital era. This research drawing on the perspective of the diffusion of innovations explores the character traits of the early adopters of the Chunghwa telecom MOD services. The researcher utilized demographic variables, individual innovativeness, media use and opinion leader tendencies to exam the character traits of Chunghwa telecom MOD early adopters. This research adopts the research method of questionnaire survey and collects 334 valid questionnaires. Through statistic analyses, the result shows a significant correlation between the early adopter character traits and education level, income, individual innovativeness, opinion leader tendencies and newspaper exposure. With the understanding of the character traits of Chunghwa telecom MOD early adopters, this study helps not only offer the system operators some suggestions on promotion but also expedite the diffusion of digital TV in Taiwan.

This dissertation examines the potential use of intelligent transportation systems (ITS) and alternative transportation systems (ATS) in national parks. Visitors at two of the national park units in California, Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GOGA) and Sequoia and Kings Canyons National Parks (SEKI), were surveyed during May and July 2002 regarding their attitudes and intentions toward a variety of transportation and travel planning items (including ITS and ATS tools). There were three principal areas of inquiry: attitude toward transportation and travel planning tools, likelihood of using transportation and travel planning tools, and the difference between intentions for using tools before arriving at the study parks and while at the study parks. The results revealed several key findings. First, there was substantial support for the relationship between attitudes and intentions. Furthermore, both experience with technology and attitude toward technology were predictive of intention to use technology in the study parks. Third, there was a significant difference between the attitudes and intentions of visitors to an urban park (GOGA) and visitors to a rural park (SEKI). In particular, GOGA respondents perceived alternative transportation (e.g. shuttle, public bus, park and bike) as more appropriate than did SEKI respondents. Fourth, while some support was found for a relationship between one of the ITS goals, safety, and attitude toward ITS tools in national parks, there was no support for the relationship between other ITS and ATS goals (e.g. reduction of congestion) and attitudes toward or intent to use these tools in national parks. Finally, there was a significant difference between the types of tools respondents would use before arriving at and while at the study parks. Technology such as the Internet was more likely to be used before arriving at the parks. Following from diffusion of innovations theory, changes in perception toward these tools, as well as possible changes in the likelihood that they will be used in national parks, may be monitored by future research.

Thesis (M.Ed.)--York University, 2007. Graduate Programme in Education. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 177-183). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:MR32023

Thesis (Ed. D.)--West Virginia University, 2001. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains viii, 132 p. : ill. (some col.). Vita. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 117-130).

Thèse de doctorat : Sciences de gestion : Nantes : 2005. / TRIZ = Teorija Reshenija Izobretateliskih Zadatch (Théorie de Résolution des Problèmes Innovants). Bibliogr. p. 309-323.

Thesis (M. Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 146-152).

Thèse de doctorat : Sociologie : Université Nancy 2 : 2007. / Titre provenant de l'écran-titre.