This paper aims to identify the perceptions of the main stakeholders of IBM about the external communication strategies that have been applied on the potential use of disruptive technologies. A qualitative methodology with a case study approach was applied. Through the homogeneous sampling technique, six semi-structured interviews with stakeholders of IBM and one focus group with 11 university students were conducted. As a result, there is interest in Peruvians to know what disruptive technologies are; however, its dissemination has a commercial focus that is not generating development or relevant solutions in the local market. It is necessary that specialists and the media disseminate information that does motivate their use in a real and effective way.

Integrating digital pedagogy into instruction in a manner that promotes critical thinking and drives increased student achievement and engagement in all classrooms is a goal of many campuses and districts that invest heavily in hardware, software, and professional development on an annual basis. Digital pedagogy goals tend to center around preparing students for the 21st century workforce, promoting instruction that is more engaging, and providing deeper learning for all students; however, achieving these goals is not possible without teachers willing and able to effectively implement instructional technology into the content they are teaching. The conceptual framework consists of digital leadership, teacher engagement, and resources and supports. This case study focused on the district-wide integration of technology into instruction through the elements found in the conceptual framework. Educators, from kindergarten through twelfth grade were surveyed about their attitudes, self-efficacy perceptions and willingness to integrate digital pedagogies into their current teaching practices. The online survey that utilized Likert-like scales to gather demographic information as well educator perceptions on digital integration, teaching philosophy, digital self-efficacy, and leadership's focus and expectations regarding instructional technology. Additional data, from a variety of district documents, was also gathered on leadership, professional development, and infrastructure supports utilized to implement instructional technology.

This study surveys the usage of various justification activities in plants that have adopted advanced manufacturing technology (AMT). Relationships between the usage of these activities and the level of performance of AMT projects are also determined. Our findings suggest that justification approaches and justification criteria preference help to explain the adoption of the more integrated technologies. However, the number of functional departments involved in AMT justification activities is more effective in explaining project performance than the other justification activities. Our results also indicate that the majority of plants are not utilizing discounted cash-flow and probabilistic justification techniques. This study provides some insights into the formation of decision making teams for the justification process. Future research directions in this area are also suggested.

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Graphene base transistors (GBTs) are known to be novel devices mingling outstanding properties of graphene, with the concept of hot electron transistors (HETs). According to theoretical calculations, GBTs were predicted to have over 5 orders of magnitude ON/OFF current ratios and THz frequency range operations. This would in fact lead to potential applications in high speed radio frequency (RF) analog devices. Recently, GBTs’ high gain and more than 4 orders of magnitude ON/OFF current ratios have been experimentally proven. However, GBTs still need further improvements before they can be applied in real electronics devices; and that can be done through thickness and barrier height optimization of the tunneling barrier. In this thesis project, we have studied various gate dielectrics for potential applications as tunneling barriers in GBTs. To accomplish this study, we have gone through two rounds of successful cleanroom fabrication processes, where we fabricated fully functional devices. During the first round, we have developed seven different capacitor structures on 4 inch Si wafers with ALD deposited: Al2O3, TiO2, HfO2, “Al2O3+TiO2 mix”, SiO2/HfO2 stack, SiO2/Al2O3 stack and thermally grown SiO2 dielectrics. Whereas in the second batch, BG-GFET structures were fabricated on chip level, with: 2nm SiO2, 5nm SiO2, 10nm SiO2, (2nm/4.2nm) SiO2/HfO2, (2nm/4.5nm) SiO2/”Al2O3+TiO2 mix”, 6nm “Al2O3+TiO2 mix” and 6.6nm TiO2 bottom gates, onto which a single layer graphene was transferred. We have also carried out electrical characterizations of these successfully fabricated devices and making use the encouraging results obtained, we have investigated the associated current injection mechanisms across each barrier / <p>QC 20150115</p>

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The purpose of this dissertation was to explore the perceived and demonstrated technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) of practicing elementary teachers in an urban charter school setting. Contextual factors that influence teachers' abilities to apply technology integration knowledge were also identified. A qualitative research design with multiple case study strategy was used to study practicing teachers in a charter school setting in two phases. The first phase of the study included nine participants and used the Teachers' Knowledge of Teaching and Technology Survey to garner insight on teachers' perceived technological pedagogical content knowledge. Descriptive statistical procedures were used to calculate a mean score for each subscale of the TPACK components. Of the nine teachers, two teachers volunteered to participate in the second phase of the study in addition to two administrators. Data collection methods included document collection, observations, and interviews. Within-analysis procedures were used to specify each participant as an individual case. Interviews with school administrators provided insight into contextual factors at the school. Lastly, cross-case analysis procedures were used to construct the final narrative. The findings from Phase I indicated teacher scores related to statements concerning technology-related components: technology knowledge (Mean = 3.67, SD =.62), technological content knowledge (Mean = 3.67, SD=.45), technological pedagogical knowledge (Mean = 3.74, SD=.68), and technological pedagogical content knowledge (Mean = 3.6, SD=.94) were neutral. Findings from the within-analysis and cross-case analysis revealed that both teachers used all of the components in practice with limited to no use of technological content knowledge. The findings from the within-analysis and cross-case analysis revealed that teachers: (a) had a solid foundation of technology knowledge, (b) had limited knowledge of technological content knowledge, (c) supported pedagogical goals, and (d) addressed student learning needs. In addition, the findings revealed that contextual factors related to the teachers' use of technology integration knowledge were resource-related. The discussion and implications highlighted the need for professional development and up-to-date resources for teachers in urban charter schools.

Autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) use decentralized, AI-driven decision-making processes to providing material handling capabilities in industrial settings. Essay 1 examines how firms organize and engage to mitigate uncertainty during external technology integration (ETI), using an abductive approach with dyadic customer-supplier data to extend prior ETI models by exploring firm engagement, organizational adaptation, and distinct uncertainty types in AMR ETI projects. Essay 2 applies a grounded theory approach to examine AMR integration, using constant comparison and theoretical sampling to develop core categories explaining how suppliers, customers, and users exchange knowledge impacting AMR integration and project performance. Finally, Essay 3 is a conceptual paper examining the importance of end-user adoption by integrating ETI and technology acceptance model (TAM) frameworks, exploring important relationships between managerial interventions, cognitive constructs, user acceptance, and project success in AMR ETIs. As a whole, these essays contribute to the body of knowledge by extending the breadth and depth of current ETI models, emerging a substantive theory of AMR AIU, and extending TAM by grounding managerial interventions and individual cognitive constructs in an AMR context. Managers can use these frameworks to differentiate AMRs and other autonomous collaborative technology from traditional automation, and develop strategies enabling timely and effective AMR implementation.