This paper attempts to chart potential courses for federal regulation of emerging technologies in the United States, and its near-future implications for the development and proliferation of NBIC technologies in a transhumanist context. Drawing on significant regulatory actions by the FDA and FCC throughout the twentieth century, relevant historical regulatory trends are identified and extrapolated broadly across the next two to three decades. The importance of the NBIC paradigm is discussed in detail, alongside several examples of both current and potential NBIC technologies with transhumanist applications. It ultimately concludes that, in spite of recent congressional dysfunctions and lack of political will, the groundwork that has already been laid by major federal regulatory agencies well in advance of the wide commercialization of NBIC products is a promising sign for the eventual establishment of responsible and flexible regulatory schema for NBIC technologies.

This thesis applies the neo-functionalist theory of integration to a study of the European technology policy, taking the BRITE-EURAM programme as a case study. A three- level mode of analysis is used to examine actor behaviour: actors at the micro-level, national technology systems, and the European-level institutions. The study makes a comparative analysis of participation by two of the European member states, the United Kingdom and Spain, to examine the community building processes that operated in each. The national institutional system in which economic actors operate influences their behaviour, and the analysis of the European technology collaboration identified the political changes that took place within the context of particular national institutional systems. One variable that is key to the process of integration is the technological capability of the national system. At the supranational level, the ideology and ideas underpinning technology policy created a market-based community, excluding other interests. The effect is to compromise any attempt to upgrade the common interest through directing technology policy towards economic and social cohesion.

This thesis examines the guidance that is being given to developing nations that are rapidly deploying information and communication technologies. It studied the African countries of Rwanda and Tunisia to draw lessons of the situation and potential methods of improving the situation. The thesis found that developing nations are often recommended to implement a conglomeration of existing rules and regulations found in other countries especially in European countries and in the United States. Developing countries are also recommended to create national CERTs, organizations of cybersecurity experts to coordinate a nation to respond to cyber incidents. The proposed rules and regulations are largely irrelevant for developing nations and the proposed missions of a CERT do not match the needs of those countries. In promoting better guidance, the thesis identifies and discusses several challenges. It finds policy makers in developing nations are aware of the cyber threat, and that the cyber threat is different and often smaller in less ICT developed nations even if they are using similar equipment and software. To help craft better recommendations, the thesis identifies the benefits of ICT especially in agriculture, education and government. These benefits are analyzed to determine whether they would be protected by current guidance and the analysis determines that protecting ICT use in government should be the priority. In crafting future guidance the challenges are that nations have differences in ICT architecture and ICT use, and developing nations have fewer resources but also they have different resources to use. Another such difference is the common lack of a private cybersecurity sector and different expectations of government. This thesis concludes with discussing unexpected results. The first is Rwandan policy makers desire good enough security and have a higher risk tolerance concerning cyber threats than is found in more developed nations. In addition, open source software can be a potential way to reduce the cost of cyberspace defense and this thesis makes an initial investigation. The lesson of the thesis is that cybersecurity strategy is not a one size fits all and so it must be customized for each country.

This research uses data collected from a university campus network via Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) monitoring and from the largest public BitTorrent tracker to characterize the extent of unauthorized transfers of copyrighted content using Peer-to-Peer (P2P) and to evaluate the effectiveness and limitations of DPI in detection of such activity, both to provide a perspective of how much copyright infringement happens using P2P and to inform those seeking to deploy DPI technology. Use of P2P and transfers of copyrighted content were widespread on campus. In Spring 2008, 40% of students living on campus were detected using a P2P protocol, 70% of which were observed attempting to transfer copyrighted material. In late 2010, we estimate that over 800 million copies of content were transferred globally using BitTorrent per day, with an estimated number of transferred songs 13.1 times greater than worldwide sales of songs, and estimated number of transferred movies 6.8 times greater than worldwide box-office sales and 16.4 times greater than U.S. DVD and Blu-ray sales. Most transfers were from a small number of very popular titles that were widely available for sale. We found no evidence that use of P2P to transfer content without violating copyright was common both on campus and global BitTorrent. This indicates that copyright law is violated frequently using P2P, and while we cannot quantify how P2P transfers translate to lost sales, it is reasonable to assume some sales are lost due to P2P. Focusing on effectiveness of DPI, after a couple weeks of monitoring DPI found up to 80% of detected P2P users attempting to transfer copyrighted content. In the short term, DPI could be effective to assess which network users transfer copyrighted content using P2P given some weeks of monitoring. However, limitations such as not being able to detect users of encrypted P2P can reduce DPIʼs effectiveness in the long term. Using behavioral classifiers that we implemented and that can detect encrypted BitTorrent from traffic summaries, we found students shifting from unencrypted to encrypted BitTorrent in the 2007-2008 academic year. If this trend continues, effectiveness of DPI for enforcement can be significantly hindered

With increasing emphasis on technology in schools, the importance of technology policies is great. This study investigated policies for four 1:1 secondary schools in Texas (schools with a ratio of one computing device per student), particularly with respect to the relationship of those policies to practice. The purpose of the study was to determine the current status of the National Education Technology Standards (NETS) essential conditions as reflected in policy and the relationship of those conditions to practice as measured through levels of technology usage and teaching innovation. Schools were selected through purposive, criterion sampling. Open-ended interviews were conducted with twelve participants (principals, technology directors, and superintendents). Policies were rated by campus principals and the researcher using a rubric based on the NETS essential conditions. Finally, surveys of proficiency and readiness measures were collected from 156 teachers using the School Technology and Readiness (STaR) instrument and the Levels of Teaching Innovation (LoTI) instrument. Interviews were transcribed and coded using structural and frequency coding. Policies were analyzed using magnitude coding and policy ratings. A qualitative analysis determined patterns between policy and practice. Quantitative data collected from surveys were measured against policy ratings and magnitude coding using bivariate correlation methods in SPSS. Quantitative analysis revealed two statistically significant relationships between policy and reported levels of practice in the classroom. Qualitative elements of the study from interviews and policy ratings revealed six findings that may explain a lack of correlation between policy and practice: a lack of ability for leadership to identify 1:1 program policy; lack among school leaders of perceived relationship between policy and practice; a belief among leaders that they are communicating policy to stakeholders even though they demonstrated difficulty in articulating policy; an inability to identify specific research-based theoretical foundations in policy; a lack of meaningful measurement of practices; and a lack of leadership at the same school to interpret policy similarly. A seventh finding revealed potential patterns between conditions that are addressed extensively in policy and evidence of those conditions in practice. Qualitative findings, in particular, contribute insights into disconnections between policy and practice in 1:1 settings.

Molecular nanotechnology has matured in the last thirty-nine years from the germ of an idea by a Nobel Laureate physicist to a rapidly growing international research site with more than $1 billion dollars in annual investment. Although only recently accepted as "mainstream" by the R&D community, nanotechnology research is now populated by eminent researchers in such fields as physics, chemistry, molecular biology, and computer science. Refereed journal articles appear with increasing frequency. The National Academy of Sciences, the RAND Corporation, the Department of Defense, and the National Science Foundation have recently issued reports calling for more structure and organization in nanotechnology research to improve synergy and research efficiency. Others insist that centralization would restrict independent approaches, one of which might be the best path to follow. This thesis addresses the following issues for the emerging field of molecular nanotechnology: • The field is extensive, growing, and in need of policy review. • The parties responsible for strategic science and technology policy in the United States as well as the current infrastructure for R&D funding are identified. • External evaluators have appraised our current policy and found it lacking in some key respects. • There are substantive issues that might be considered by American policymakers in assessing nanotechnology policy strategies. • We need to find a way to reconcile the sometimes conflicting aims of peer review and interdisciplinarity. • A workable framework for a national nanotechnology program is identified. / Master of Science

Introduction: Previous literature indicates that standard economic analysis is often not well suited for the evaluation of research investments, necessitating the use of other methods. This work uses a mixed methods approach to investigate the economic value relationship between academia and industry, towards a holistic understanding of how research benefits arise and can be measured to provide greater insight into the drivers of the system, its sustainability, and economic competitiveness. Methods: Each of the pillars of the National Innovation System (NIS) model, adapted to assess the economic value relationship between academia and industry, were evaluated. The first research element (government) focused on the macroeconomic and regulatory context by evaluating the federal SBIR/STTR programs through an in-depth case study. The second element focused on the education and training system (academia) by assessing how technology transfer offices at universities measure research value. The final element of the study (industry) focused on communication infrastructures by investigating the digital tools used by medical technology firms to accelerate innovation beyond organizational boundaries. The academia and industry research elements each consisted of document review and semi-structured interviews. Results: While the federal SBIR/STTR programs were found to be a significant catalyst for the academic-industry economic value relationship, especially at the most crucial proof-of-concept stage, policy discrepancies between stakeholders might affect the desired program outcomes. Consensus measures and metrics were identified for both academia and industry, which inform the product and factor market conditions that drive academic-industry innovation capacity. In many cases, challenges behind these measures were also raised, highlighting the need for sensitivity to institutional mission, culture and other conditions when applying these measures. Valuation differences were also found to exist between public and private universities in entrepreneurial engagement and economic development. Conclusions: The measurement categories across both academia and industry describe adequate, dependable resources as the overarching product market theme and a talented and interconnected workforce as the overarching factor market theme. Taken together, they lead to more effective knowledge generation and diffusion, as well as a more informed NIS model with specific and practical utility for the economic value relationship between academia and industry. / Steven Ceulemans

This paper analyzes the founding rate of bioengineering departments in the United States. It takes the density dependence model from organizational ecology literature as the starting point of the analysis. This model predicts that founding rates of organizational populations are driven by population density, which represents processes of legitimation and competition, and by external environmental factors. The analysis finds support for density dependence predictions about the effect of population density on the founding rate of bioengineering departments. Further, this analysis finds that funding from the Whitaker Foundation has a significant positive impact on the founding rate of departments. The density dependence model is based on assumptions that individual actors are limited in their ability to act strategically and that competition is diffuse. In light of these assumptions and the threat to validity that would be posed if they were incorrect, the paper presents a discussion of strategic interaction and direct competition. I use an acceleration analysis comparison to conduct an initial study of the existence of endogenous interaction within the population of bioengineering departments. I find evidence of endogenous interaction through a process of cumulative social learning.

This is a study of the design and development of an Organisational Software Package (OSP). It particularly focuses on the ambitions and supplier strategy of building a ‘generic software solution’ (i.e., a software system that in principle can be used by everyone). The study is located in the distinctive context provided by China, with its particular history and in a period of rapid economic reform. The starting point of this research is the apparent empirical and theoretical gap in the social study of Organisational Software Packages, in which the construction of standard solutions and the supply side of the technology's story have been largely overlooked. Moving beyond conventional information system design perspectives, this thesis draws upon concepts developed within the Social Shaping of Technology (SST) perspective, adopting an interdisciplinary approach to analyse the creation and evolution of OSPs, which enables us to address both the dynamism and continuity of these developments. In order to avoid the shortcomings of snapshot studies, we applied the concepts of ‘social learning’ and in particular the ‘biography’ of software package to examine the evolution of the OSP supply as the supplier developed its product and market strategy over a number of product cycles. Lastly, we applied Rip’s (Rip and Kemp 1998) technological transitional model to explore the influence of both the broad socio-economic context and institutional arrangements on the OSPs' development, as well as the contribution of these and related changes to changing the setting of technology. Methodologically, an extremely detailed longitudinal and contextual analysis has been undertaken through a qualitative historical case study of the evolution of a Chinese software package from 1998- 2005 in the context of China, triangulating different methods: interviewing, document analysis and participant observation. The empirical findings of this study firstly show that achieving the ‘generic’ is not an impossible goal but is rather an evolutionary process which is filled with struggles and tensions. OSP suppliers are forced to maintain a strategic balance between a range of contextual factors with technical, financial and social dimensions. Secondly, and perhaps the key contribution of this study, is the complex multi-locus and multi-layered account it offers of the OSP innovation process, according to which the supplier learns about the representation of users and use in both ‘local’ and ‘community design’ spaces with different approaches and foci through interaction with user organisations and other social players. The findings show that OSP suppliers are required to readjust their relationships with user organisations and establish cycles that move between seeking to achieve the economic imperative through standardisation and seeking to accommodate local user requirements. Thirdly, while this empirical study confirms some observations that have been made about packaged OSP production in western countries, it also reveals some specifically Chinese characters. These particular features of the development process which were identified in the Chinese PDM development were framed (using the terminology of Rip’s transitional model) by the unstable landscape and socio-technical regimes. Finally, this case study also throws light on the applicability of SST in developing countries and on the policy and practice of China’s future technology development.

It is widely accepted that small and new firms are important in creating income and employment. Their flexible structure enables them to adapt quickly to changes in economic environment and technology. The main purpose of this thesis is to evaluate whether the Technology Development Centers (TEKMERs) established by the Small and Medium Size Industry Development Organization (KOSGEB) in Turkey encourage new firm creation in high-technology sectors and boost the performance of small and new firms both in terms of economic and technological aspects. Information on 48 on- and 41 off-incubator firms is gathered through face-to-face interviews to compare and contrast those that benefit from incubators with those that do not. The data set also covers information on 79 on- and 61 off-incubator founders. Our findings indicate that TEKMERs are important in supporting start-ups in their vulnerable stages and help them to survive. There are profound differences between on- and off-incubator firms regarding their economic performance, highly in favor of on-incubator firms, but the same cannot be put forward concerning technological performance. The claim that the founders of on-incubator firms are more educated is not supported by the data.