The role of farmers in technology generation and diffusion has long been identified as a key dimension in publicly funded international agricultural research. This thesis uses a case study approach to document actual research and diffusion practices andlheir outcomes, and from these it draws conclusions for research policy. The thesis compares the effects of new technology, the research processes that generated it, and the diffusion processes that promoted and disseminated it, in three countries. Particular attention is given to farmer participation and related issues deemed critical to effective research and diffusion. The technology in question is True Potato Seed, a radical alternative means for potato propagation to tuber seed, researched and promoted by the International Potato Centre in collaboration with national research institutes since 1978. The case study countries are India, Egypt, and Indonesia. Extensive quantitative and qualitative farmer surveys provide the first detailed assessment of TPS benefits, their distribntion, and likely TPS adoption. Secondary data, documentation, and in-depth interviews with key actors permit an analysis of the significant activities, decisions, and players that shaped TPS research and diffusion processes. The farmer survey evidence indicates that TPS outcomes are problematic in each country. It also reveals cases of inadequately justified TPS research and promotion largely due to a poor awareness by scientists and research managers of farmers' conditions. This thesis demonstrates that a powerful countervailing force to the pursuit of unproductive research lies in the early and effective involvement of farmers in the research process. This allows for critical weaknesses to come to light after experimentation by farmers under their own conditions of production. The inevitable geographical and institutional decentralisation that this entails, fosters a greater level of research responsiveness and an environment in which alternatives to formal extension, including farmer dissemination networks, may be stimulated and encouraged where appropriate. However, regardless of the rhetoric regarding farmer participatory approaches at an organisational level, the extent to which these are borne out in practice depends largely upon the philosophies of the key individuals who shape and direct research and promotion processes.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Illinois State University, 2005. / Title from title page screen, viewed September 27, 2006. Dissertation Committee: Karen S. Coats (chair), C. Anita Tarr, Nancy D. Tolson. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 142-149) and abstract. Also available in print.

No / This paper argues that the technology life cycle literature is confused and incomplete. This literature is first reviewed with consideration of the related concepts of the life cycles for industries and products. By exploring the inter-relationships between these, an integrated view of the technology life cycle is produced. A new conceptualization of the technology life cycle is then proposed. This is represented as a model that incorporates three different levels for technology application, paradigm and generation. The model shows how separate paradigms emerge over time to achieve a given application. It traces the eras of ferment and incremental change and shows how technology generations evolve within these. It also depicts how the eras are separated by the emergence of a dominant design, and how paradigms are replaced at a technological discontinuity. By adopting this structure, the model can demarcate the evolution of technologies at varying levels of granularity from the specific products in which they may be manifest to the industries in which they are exploited. By taking technology as the unit of analysis the model departs from previous work, which has adopted a product-based perspective predominantly. The paper discusses the managerial and research implications associated with the technology life cycle, and indicates how these inform future research directions. As well as contributing to academic knowledge, the results of this research are of value to those who make decisions about the development, exploitation and use of technology including technology developers, engineers, technologists, R & D managers, and designers.

This thesis investigates the effects of low temperatures on Silicon Germanium (SiGe) Hterojunction Bipolar Transistors (HBT) BiCMOS technology. A comprehensive set of dc measurements were taken on first, second, third and fourth generation IBM SiGe technology over a range of temperatures (room temperature to 43K for first generation, and room temperature to 15K for the rest). This work is unique in the sense that this sort of comprehensive study of dc characteristics on four SiGe HBT technology generations over a wide range of temperatures has never been done before to the best of the authors knowledge.

Thesis (Master of Strategic Studies) -- Army War College, 2006. / Title from title screen (viewed , 2008). "March 8, 2006". "ADA448999"--URL.. Includes bibliographical references. Also issued in paper format.