Browsing by Subject "Technological innovations"

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
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    Development of a design methodology and application to advance the field of highly mobile robotics
    (2011-05) Pace, Patrick Wayne; Wood, Kristin L.; Wood, John J.
    Developing innovative ideas as part of engineering design can be limited by the field of technology and the engineer's or design team's understanding of the field. Without sufficient understanding of an emerging technical field, ideation may be hampered by reinventing the proverbial wheel or by a lack of knowledge of the underlying physical principles and state of technology. The research presented here seeks to develop a tool and methodology intended to strengthen a designer’s or design team’s understanding of a field and relevant technologies in order to foster creative and innovative solutions. The presented inductive methodology consists of conducting a thorough review of existing relevant developing or commercially available technologies in order to obtain characteristic property data to be used as a basis of understanding. Analysis of the plotted data may lead to understanding existing trends, identifying voids where opportunities exist to expand the design space and general insights into the field. The effectiveness of using empirical data to look for innovation is investigated in the domain of highly mobile robots. Senior cadets from USAFA and UT Austin perform concept generation sessions before and after utilizing the proposed methodology to validate the effectiveness of the approach. The study at UT Austin validates the proposed methodology by measuring the quantity, quality, and novelty of the concepts generated before and after exposure to the methodology. These experiments demonstrate that state-of-technology design tools provide an effective foundation and platform for designers to generate a larger quantity of concepts. To further investigate the effectiveness of the proposed methodology, it is used to develop a device within the field of highly mobile robotics. There exist applications of highly mobile robots which require innovative solutions with regard to overcoming obstacles, payload capacity, energy storage and minimizing power requirements. The methodology allows for the development of innovative concepts, and the embodiment and manufacture of a particular solution. The mechanical design solutions to multiple design challenges are presented, and the prototyped device proves capable of expanding the existing design space in terms of its performance with respect to the metrics mentioned above.
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    Diffusion process: a behavioral approach towards examining the speed of diffusion of an industrial innovation
    (Texas Tech University, 1982-08) Lund, Daulatram Balramdas
    Not available
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    Technology, ideology, and emergent communicative practices among the Navajo
    (2006-08) Peterson, Leighton Craig; Sherzer, Joel; Strong, Pauline Turner, 1953-
    This dissertation examines emerging cultural attitudes, language ideologies, and discursive practices among Navajos and Navajo speakers through the lens of new media technologies on the Navajo Nation. New media such as cell phones and the Internet are significant features of contemporary Navajo communities, and act as both a context for and medium of linguistic and cultural vitality and transformation. They have opened new spaces for Navajo language use, generated emergent uses of the Navajo language, and increased the spaces of language contact and change. This dissertation explores the ways in which ideologies of language and technology have shifted and converged, and describes multiple instances of the transformative nature of technology through the mediation of communities. New technologies do not exist in a vacuum, and novel practices emerge from a wide range of existing observable styles, registers, and norms in Navajo communities. Significant are the shifting geographies of communication, expansion of social networks, and increased circulation of bilingual Navajo hane’, or publicly shared “tellings” in the form of stories, jokes, and information that accompany them. This work analyzes the appearance of new media technologies in contemporary Navajo society within broader discourses of modernity and narratives of progress about, and among, Navajo communities. New technology is not incommensurate with existing practice; rather, emergent practices are part of the broader circulation of Navajo identities, defined here as a process linked to social activities, and emergent practices index the ways in which some Navajos are “doing” community in unexpected ways and unexpected places. New expressive forms and genres have appeared, including a migration to English emails by previously monolingual, illiterate elders, the transition of traditionally oral genres to widely circulated emails, and the appearance of locally created bilingual hip-hop music. These are crucial developments that have immediate implications for Navajo language vitality and cultural continuity.
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    The development of landmine warfare
    (Texas Tech University, 2002-12) Youngblood, Norman E.
    This dissertation traces the technical, tactical, and ethical developments in landmine warfare from its genesis some 3 000 years ago through the present. It is based largely on primary sources and relies heavily on government documents and military manuals. Landmine warfare developed from two disparate areas. The first, dating to at least the Assyrian Empire, involved digging a tunnel under a fortification in order to collapse its walls. The second is the use of pit-traps, caltrops, and other devices to form a defensive barrier and deny an enemy access to an area. The first modern pressure-sensitive landmine was developed by Immanuel Nobel in the 1850s and first used during the Crimean War. Confederate Brigadier General Gabriel Rains copied Nobel's design during the American Civil War, and variants of Nobel's fuse are still in use. While landmines were used as part of fortification defenses after the American Civil War, the use of landmines did not become widespread until World War II. World War Two saw the development of cheap, easy-to deploy landmines and air-delivered minefields. Previous armies had typically used fewer than 100 landmines to secure a defensive position. In contrast, during the battle of Kursk in World War II, Soviet forces deployed over a half million landmines to secure their defenses. Despite some debate during the American Civil War as to where it was appropriate to use landmines, the use of landmines per se was not really questioned until the 1980s. In large part, this was a reaction to the millions of landmines used in the wars of insurgency and civil wars following World War II. Millions of these landmines are still active, and landmines injure an average of 24,000 people every year. In 1997, representatives of 122 countries signed the Ottawa Convention and promised to stop using antipersonnel mines and to destroy their existing stockpiles of antipersonnel mines. Some countries, including the United States, have not signed the treaty, however, and the use both antipersonnel and antitank mines is still standard practice for many militaries.
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    The growth of museum infrastructure in west Texas through the late twentieth century
    (Texas Tech University, 2004-08) Purcell, Mary Elizabeth
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