A revised perspective on Disruptive Innovation - Exploring Value, Networks and Business models

The concept of disruptive innovation has received much attention in recent years. These innovations can be defined as offering an initially lower performance while at the same time bringing some new attributes to the market. This thesis aims to develop and extend existing theory on disruptive innovation with an emphasis on business models and value networks.Previous work in this area has shown that incumbents are often toppled by entrants when disruptive innovations are introduced since these technologies are not initially demanded by the established firms’ customers. Much attention has been devoted to how disruptive innovations emerge in low-end segments and in new markets. However, more knowledge is needed about whether and how they can prosper inside an incumbent firm’s established market segment. Moreover, the challenges related to these innovations have increasingly been framed as related to the business model of firms, but little is known regarding how and why this is the case.Drawing upon data from several case studies, the empirical findings in this dissertation suggest that disruptive innovations may prosper in a segment where incumbents are already present. They do so by compensating the lower traditional performance with some new ways of creating value, for instance by removing labor or changing activities inside the customer’s organization. These findings in turn suggest that this theory needs to focus more on how different performance dimensions create value. Additionally, it is argued that a more nuanced conceptualization of customers and networks is needed. When regarding customers as a collection of actors with different competencies and incentives, it becomes clear that disruptive innovations are problematic even when a firm’s existing customers demand them. These innovations may be incompatible with the different activities and incentives of some actors, which may result in a barrier to adoption. Disruptive innovation can therefore be regarded as a business model challenge in the sense that the new value creation and distribution distorts the firm’s surrounding constellation of actors. Firms need to change their network, but struggle to do so since business models transcend their boundaries and they are therefore forced to act under conditions of interdependence

Seismotectonic, structural, volcanologic, and geomorphic study of New Zealand; indigenous forest assessment in New Zealand; mapping, land use, and environmental studies in New Zealand, volume 1

The author has identified the following significant results. Results of the atmospheric extinction measurements show clearly the greater opacity of the atmosphere in MSS band 4 which is due to Rayleigh scattering. Atmospheric water vapor absorbs strongly in a wide region between 900 nm and 1000 nm, and this results in a consistently higher extinction coefficient than would otherwise be expected in MSS band 7. The short term fluctuations tend to be greater in band 7 than in the other bands, and this effect is probably due to variations of water vapor concentration in the instrument line of sight. These high extinction coefficients and short term fluctuations in band 7 were observed at Menindee which is in a semi-desert region in western New South Wales

Land use and pollution patterns on the Great Lakes

The author has identified the following significant results. The final mapping of the large watersheds of the Manitowoc and the Oconto was done using the 25% sampling approach. Comparisons were made with earlier strip mapping efforts of the Oconto and Manitowoc watersheds. Regional differences were noted. Strip mapping of the Oconto resulted in overestimation of the amount of agricultural land compared to the random sampling method. For the Manitowoc, the strip mapping approach produced a slight underestimate of agricultural land, and an overestimate of the forest category

National Space Science Data Center (NSSDC) Data Listing

Satellite and nonsatellite data available from the National Space Science Data Center are listed. The Satellite Data listing includes the spacecraft name, launch date, and an alphabetical list of experiments. The Non-Satellite Data listing contains ground based data, models, computer routines, and composite spacecraft data. The data set name, data form code, quantity of data, and the time space covered are included in the data sets of both listings where appropriate. Geodetic tracking data sets are also included

Data catalog series for space science and applications flight missions. Volume 4A: Descriptions of meteorological and terrestrial applications spacecraft and investigations

The National Space Science Data Center (NSSDC) provides data from and information about space science and applications flight investigations in support of additional studies beyond those performed as the principal part of any flight mission. The Earth-orbiting spacecraft for investigations of the earth and its atmosphere is discussed. Geodetic tracking data are included in this category. The principal subject areas presented are meteorology and earth resources survey, and the spacecraft selection is made according to those subjects. All experiments on board the spacecraft are described. No attempt is made to reference investigations that are related to the above disciplines, but that are described in other volumes of this series

Analysis of turbulence and vortex structures by flow mapping

The technique of Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) flow mapping is reviewed and comparisons made with Laser Doppler Anemometry (LDA). Results are presented showing the application of PlV to the determination of coherent structures in grid-generated turbulence and theoretical expressions are presented for the errors associated with the computation of statistical parameters. Measurements are also presented showing the vortex structure in the wake of a model wind turbine. These studies have revealed fundamental inadequacies in existing computer codes used by the wind turbine industry

A history of NASA remote sensing contributions to archaeology

During its long history of developing and deploying remote sensing instruments, NASA has provided scientific data that have benefitted a variety of scientific applications among them archaeology. Multispectral and hyperspectral instruments mounted on orbiting and sub-orbital platforms have provided new and important information for the discovery, delineation and analysis of archaeological sites worldwide. Since the early 1970s, several of the ten NASA centers have collaborated with archaeologists to refine and validate the use of active and passive remote sensing for archaeological use. The Stennis Space Center (SSC), located in Mississippi USA has been the NASA leader in archaeological research. Together with colleagues from Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), SSC scientists have provided the archaeological community with useful images and sophisticated processing that have pushed the technological frontiers of archaeological research and applications. Successful projects include identifying prehistoric roads in Chaco canyon, identifying sites from the Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery exploration, and assessing prehistoric settlement patterns in southeast Louisiana. The Scientific Data Purchase (SDP) stimulated commercial companies to collect archaeological data. At present, NASA formally solicits “space archaeology” proposals through its Earth Science Directorate and continues to assist archaeologists and cultural resource managers in doing their work more efficiently and effectively. This paper focuses on passive remote sensing and does not consider the significant contributions made by NASA active sensors. Hyperspectral data offers new opportunities for future archaeological discoveries

Vision, revelation, violence: technology and expanded perception within photographic history.

This article considers photography’s role as a visual technology and the consequent effects of expanded frames of knowledge. At the very moment human vision and memory were called into profound doubt, photography provided a mechanical, prosthetic extension to perceptual experience. However, as a technology, it contains the potential for both revelation and control. In this article, photography is considered as a technique that: expands human perception; inscribes its own mechanical operations into new visual forms, therefore enframing and encoding visible knowledge; and can be harnessed as a disciplinary instrument and technique of power. As a consequence, photography's revealing of hitherto invisible dimensions of reality unfolds within a history of revelation, spectacle and power