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Air pollution and early deaths in the United States : attribution of PM₂.₅ exposure to emissions species, time, location and sector | Combustion emissions constitute the largest source of anthropogenic emissions in the US. They lead to the degradation of air quality and human health, by contributing to the formation of fine particulate matter (PM2 .5 ), which is harmful to human health. Previous work computed the population PM2 .5 exposure and number... |
Staging construction | In a reality at once distant and imminent, the Lost Languages and Other Voices exhibit features stories of stone, tree, and jig. Suspended between a zero-waste utopia where out-of-commission buildings are efficiently stripped for parts, pulverized, and recast into new buildings and a preserved world where the size of c... |
Mapping the core regulatory circuitry of embryonic stem cells | Embryonic stem (ES) cells are of tremendous biological interest because they have the capacity, termed pluripotency, to generate any cell type of the adult organism. Our lab is interested in understanding the genetic circuitry that governs pluripotency. For my thesis work I have contributed to a team effort to deduce t... |
An advanced driver warning framework incorporating educational warnings | Car accidents are a serious problem. The measures currently being taken are not very successful in preventing accidents. To reduce the number of accidents, driver support and warning systems are built. Part of their solution is the use of education, in the form of educational warning systems. However, issuing warnings ... |
Delivery of biomolecules into mammalian cells using anthrax toxin | The intracellular delivery of biomolecules into mammalian cells is a major challenge due to the plasma membrane, which acts as a barrier between the extracellular environment and intracellular components. Recently, a non-toxic delivery platform derived from anthrax lethal toxin has been developed to overcome this chall... |
Free Research Extension to the iCampus-MIT Online Assessment Tool | MIT is currently developing a web-based service for the large-scale assessment of student writing (iMOAT.net). This service contains a database of useful data, particularly texts of student essays that should be available for research and collaboration purposes. In this thesis, I propose a high level design for an inte... |
Percolation and homogenization theories for heterogeneous materials | Most materials produced by Nature and by human beings are heterogeneous. They contain domains of different states, structures, compositions, or material phases. How these different domains are distributed in space, or in other words, how they connect to one another, determines their macroscopic properties to a large de... |
Multi-stakeholder contribution to biotechnology environmental assessment | Environmental assessments, such as those for biotechnology applications, are typically conducted by small groups of expert assessors, but scholars and practitioners are increasingly interested in involving diverse stakeholders. In addition to other reasons for broader involvement, researchers have proposed that stakeho... |
Analysis of U.S. transportation research & development | Infrastructure systems are central to quality of life and economic competitiveness in nations worldwide, but daunting challenges stand in the way of providing systems capable of delivering needed infrastructure services. In the United States, the transportation system, which is widely considered to be the nation's larg... |
The Chinatown stories : investigating water (in)justice through transmedia urban design in the L.A. River | Presenting a case study of the L.A. River, this thesis analyzes the L.A. River revitalization master plans from 1996 and the subsequent efforts by public and private entities to create "an equitable, natural river." It demonstrates that the current urban design framework neglects to take a finegrained approach to disti... |
A hair bundle proteomics approach to discovering actin regulatory proteins in inner ear stereocilia | Because there is little knowledge in the areas of stereocilia development, maintenance, and function in the hearing system, I decided to pursue a proteomics-based approach to discover proteins that play a role in stereocilia function. I employed a modified "twist-off" technique to isolate hair bundle proteins, and I de... |
A lower crustal perspective on the stabilization and reactivation of continental lithosphere in the western Canadian shield | New geochronological, thermochronological, geological and isotopic data from an extensive (> 20,000 km²) exposure of high-pressure granulites (0.8 to > 1.5 GPa, >750 ⁰C) in the East Lake Athabasca region of the Snowbird tectonic zone provide important constraints on the stabilization, reactivation and exhumation of con... |
Photonic quantum computers and communication systems | Quantum information processors have been proposed to solve classically intractable or unsolvable problems in computing, sensing, and secure communication. There has been growing interest in photonic implementations of quantum processors as they offer relatively long coherence lengths, precise state manipulation, and ef... |
Narrative tactics for making other worlds possible | Be they childhood games of make-believe, sophisticated literary projects, or political inventions (a "Great America") authors have taken advantage of a world-building imagination creating their own worlds, and theorizing what they were doing. From the 1960s onwards, fictional worlds were studied from a philosophical po... |
Feasibility studies for quantum computation with spectral hole burning media | In this thesis I consider a scheme for quantum computation in which quantum bits (qubits) are stored in individual spectral holes of an in homogeneously broadened medium, such as a cryogenically cooled crystal of Pr:Y2 SiO 3 . Qubits are transferred between spectral holes by virtue of mutual coupling of the atoms to a ... |
Unprocessed rice husk ash as a partial replacement of cement for low-cost concrete | Cement is a very valuable commodity as it can be used to construct structurally sound buildings and infrastructure. However, in many developing countries cement is expensive due to the unavailability of local resources to produce enough cement in-country to meet the demand for this material, and therefore it has to be ... |
Network architecture for a chemical sensor network | A real-time continuous chemical sensor network can obtain detailed data to analyze the dynamic behavior of water systems such as a lake. The behaviors of interest to us in Upper Mystic Lake are the effects of stratification on methane water chemistry and the results of water mixing between layers. To monitor the water ... |
Robust, risk-sensitive, and data-driven control of Markov Decision Processes | Markov Decision Processes (MDPs) model problems of sequential decision-making under uncertainty. They have been studied and applied extensively. Nonetheless, there are two major barriers that still hinder the applicability of MDPs to many more practical decision making problems: * The decision maker is often lacking a ... |
Analysis of ultra-narrow ferromagnetic domain walls | A mathematical analysis of ultra-narrow ferromagnetic domain walls was undertaken, with graphical plots coded in the programming language TrueBASIC. An intrinsic inter-atomic potential stemming from the breakdown of the continuum approximation of matter is calculated and its contribution to the coercive force of hard m... |
Reducibility and computational lower bounds for problems with planted sparse structure | Recently, research in unsupervised learning has gravitated towards exploring statistical-computational gaps induced by sparsity. A line of work initiated by Berthet and Rigollet has aimed to explain these gaps through reductions to conjecturally hard problems from complexity theory. However, the delicate nature of aver... |
Management of a high mix production system with interdependent demands : modeling of stochastic demands and the concept of virtual profit as a decomposition tool | An optimized framework for the inventory control of a high mix production system has been designed in order to guarantee the optimal mix of items in stock in presence of correlated demands. The Virtual Profit concept was developed to measure the criticality of an item in presence of correlated demands. The introduction... |
Using mass media to bring engineering principles to young audiences to inspire interest and pursuit of future engineering or technologically based careers | In the progression of this thesis document, an idea for an episode of an educational and interactive television show has been explored and developed. The direction of this episode will fit into the aforementioned educational television show format (which will be further described and discussed in subsequent sections of... |
Best practices for venture philanthropy collaborations between disease-focused foundations and for-profit life science companies by Joanne Chang. | The history of private philanthropy in the US has been dominated by family foundations with arms-length philanthropy practices that largely existed in separation from commercial enterprise and business operations. This paper looks at emerging organizational and funding models being used in a wide range of disease areas... |
Electric vehicle technology in Kathmandu, Nepal : a closer look at development | Electric vehicle (EV) development in the Kathmandu Valley began in 1993 as a response to the urgency of a severe air pollution situation. The dynamics of government intervention, non-governmental organization advocacy, international donor support, and private sector involvement all shaped EV implementation in various w... |
Parallel implementations of dynamic traffic assignment models and algorithms for dynamic shortest path problems | This thesis aims at the development of faster Dynamic Traffic Assignment (DTA) models to meet the computational efficiency required by real world applications. A DTA model can be decomposed into several sub-models, of which the most time consuming ones are the dynamic network loading model and the user's route choice m... |
Investigation of relaxor ferroelectrics | This thesis develops phonon-polariton based THz spectroscopy and uses this technique to make the first THz frequency dielectric measurements of a relaxor ferroelectric crystal, in particular KTao0.982Nb0.018O3 (KTN 1.8). THz spectroscopy has emerged as an important probe for a wide variety of systems with the developme... |
Overcoming barriers to participation in training : lessons from the home health care workers of 1199/SEIU, New York's Health and Human Services Union | This thesis explores the barriers to participation in the 1199 Home Care Industry Bill Michelson Education Fund (Home Care Education Fund). The Home Care Education Fund is structured as a Taft-Hartley, joint labor-management training fund to provide skills upgrading opportunities to unionized home care workers. It is t... |
A room temperature optomechanical squeezer | Decades of advancement in technologies pertaining to interferometric measurements have made it possible for us to make the first ever direct observation of gravitational waves (GWs). These GW emitted from violent events in the distant universe bring us crucial information about the nature of matter and gravity. In orde... |
Investigation of electromagnetic welding | We propose several methodologies to study and optimize the electromagnetic process for Electromagnetic Forming (EMF) and Welding (EMW), thereby lowering the necessary process energy up to a factor of three and lengthening the life-time of EMW compression coils. We present a new theoretical approach to calculate a so-ca... |
Phase transformations and microstructural design of lithiated metal anodes for lithium-ion rechargeable batteries | There has been great recent interest in lithium storage at the anode of Li-ion rechargeable battery by alloying with metals such as Al, Sn, and Sb, or metalloids such as Si, as an alternative to the intercalation of graphite. This is due to the intrinsically high gravimetric and volumetric energy densities of this type... |
Modulation of innate immune signaling pathways by the intracellular pathogen Toxoplasma gondii | Toxoplasma gondii, an obligate intracellular protozoan parasite, is one of the most successful eukaryotic pathogens. It can infect virtually any warm-blooded animal, including humans, in whom it can cause serious disease. Its success is likely due to its ability to modulate host immune responses and host innate immune ... |
Building representations from natural language | In this thesis, I describe a system I built that produces instantiated representations from descriptions embedded in natural language. For example, in the sentence 'The girl walked to the table', my system produces a description of movement along a path (the girl moves on a path to the table), instantiating a general p... |
Energy consumption and smart growth in Massachusetts : does smart growth make a difference? | With the environmental crisis involving climate change fast approaching, all potential mitigation techniques must be explored and implemented. A key approach comes from the power towns and cities have to influence land use and building standards in their jurisdiction. This thesis uses a scenario planning approach to ex... |
Rescuing endangered knowledge : a systems approach | This research involves the identification and definition of"Endangered Knowledge" and outlines a tool that a firm can use to identify, capture, and reutilizes endangered knowledge. Endangered knowledge (EK) is valuable knowledge firms acquire during product development that has a high potential to be erased from a firm... |
computer model for acoustic propagation around conical seamounts | This paper demonstrates a technique for computing the long-range sound pressure field around a penetrable conical seamount. The pressure field is generated by a harmonic point source. The seamount is positioned in a vertically stratified ocean. It is modeled as an outgrowth of the sediment layer covering the ocean bott... |
Point by point gain calibration of the DMTPC | Since 1975 a growing body of astronomical evidence has given increasing credibility to the existence of dark matter. Once a simple proposition by Fritz Zwicky to explain discrepancies in the virial motion of galaxy clusters, dark matter can now explain galactic rotation curves, the hierarchical structure of the univers... |
Development of a pointing, acquisition, and tracking system for a nanosatellite laser communications module | Launch opportunities for small satellites are rapidly growing and their technical capabilities are improving. Several commercial constellations of small satellites for Earth imaging and scientific observation are making their way onto orbit, increasing the need for high bandwidth data downlink. Obtaining regulatory lic... |
Study of SACD in Portugal | The challenges brought on by the increasing complexity of electronic products, and the criticality of the materials these devices contain, present an opportunity for maximizing the economic and societal benefits derived from recovery and recycling. Small appliances and computer devices (SACD), including mobile phones, ... |
The synthesis and investigation of the electronic properties of crown ether, [2]-catenane, and [2]-rotaxane architectures | Scope. The body of work described in this thesis focuses on the synthesis of donor-acceptor architectures of the pseudorotaxane, rotaxane, and catenane genres. The binding constants of thiophene and phenylene-ethynylene based crown ethers are determined via fluorescence quenching titrations, in an attempt to correlate ... |
Advantages of using high speed sintering as a rapid manufacturing alternative in footwear applications | Rapid manufacturing is a family of technologies that employ additive layer deposition techniques to construct parts from computer based design models.[2] These parts can then be used as prototypes or finished goods. One type of rapid manufacturing technology, Selective Laser Sintering, only allows for a point-by-point ... |
Investigation of a SACK approach for ex vivo expansion of human HSCs | Ex vivo expansion of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) is a long-standing challenge faced by both researchers and clinicians. To date, no robust, efficient method for the pure, ex vivo expansion of human HSCs has been demonstrated. Previous methods primarily induced the expansion of committed hematopoietic progenitor cel... |
Development of a risk management system for consumables used in biopharmaceutical manufacturing | Injectable drugs, like those manufactured by the BioPharmOps group of Novartis Pharmaceuticals AG, must conform to strict guidelines for purity and potency. Recent non-conformances of critical supplied consumables have revealed potential business and patient safety risks for biotechnology manufacturers worldwide. As a ... |
Enabling and inhibiting urban development : a case study of Lahore Improvement Trust as a late colonial institution | This thesis examines the Lahore Improvement Trust in relation to the urban development of the city of Lahore in mid-twentieth century. LIT was responsible for most major urban development in the city from 1936 up until 1975, when it metamorphosed into the Lahore Development Authority. However, its impact on Lahore's ur... |
Fault detection algorithms for spacecraft monitoring and environmental sensing | Constellations of hundreds of low-Earth orbiting small satellites are currently being designed and built. Operators plan to provide data and media distribution services as well as imaging and weather observations. As our society increases its dependence on satellite services for communication and navigation, there is a... |
Vorticity transfer through rapid area change | Extensive studies have been conducted on the use of biomimetic foils for propulsion and maneuvering of vehicles. These studies, however, mostly focuses on the use of sinusoidal motion similar to bird flapping or fish swimming to generate the necessary forces. Few studies have been conducted to investigate the generatio... |
Abdominal vacuum lift as an aid to diagnosing abdominal adhesions | The internal organs are designed to move freely and slide over one another during normal body movement. The abdominal organs, however, have a tendency to adhere to the abdominal cavity (peritoneum) and other abdominal organs after surgery or infection. These adhesions can cause pain, discomfort , inflammation, anxiety,... |
Primitive computations in phrase construction | The Minimalist Program in current linguistic theory seeks to explain linguistic structure in terms of economy principles, under the assumption that the human language faculty is a perfect system that performs only enough work to satisfy interface requirements. We consider processing costs as a property of syntactic com... |
A multilayer network approach to quantifying biologically-derived systematic risk in biomedical finance | Sharply rising disease prevalence and associated healthcare costs are placing an increasingly significant economic burden on society. Biomedical research and industry have struggled to adequately address this challenge, as evidenced by the stagnation and even decline of new therapeutics development success rates. Recen... |
Geographic location and geographic prediction performance benefits for infrastructureless wireless networks | The field of infrastructureless wireless networks (IWNs) is a broad and varied research area with a history of different assumption sets and methods of analysis. Much of the focus in the area of IWNs has been on connectivity and throughput/energy/delay (T/E/D) tradeoffs, which are important and valuable metrics. When s... |
In vitro models for airway epithelial cell culture | This work is about the development of a physiologically relevant model of the human airway. Various factors such as the cell model, physiochemical factors such as the cell substrate properties including its stiffness, shear stress, stretch, the air-liquid interface and the biochemical factors in the medium influence th... |
Dynamically orthogonal field equations for stochastic fluid flows and particle dynamics | In the past decades an increasing number of problems in continuum theory have been treated using stochastic dynamical theories. This is because dynamical systems governing real processes always contain some elements characterized by uncertainty or stochasticity. Uncertainties may arise in the system parameters, the bou... |
impact and potential role of multinational corporations in achieving sustainability in Developing countries | This thesis aims to assess the activities and influence of automotive multinational corporations (MNCs) in developing countries as it relates to the concept of "total sustainability" within three countries: Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico. It is an innovative perspective of the systemic sustainability issues incorporated... |
SVM algorithms : analysis and applications | Support Vector Machines (SVMs) have attracted recent attention as a learning technique to attack classification problems. The goal of my thesis work is to improve computational algorithms as well as the mathematical understanding of SVMs, so that they can be easily applied to real problems. SVMs solve classification pr... |
Fields of rationality of cuspidal automorphic representations | This thesis examines questions related to the growth of fields of rationality of cuspidal automorphic representations in families. Specifically, if F is a family of cuspidal automorphic representations with fixed central character, prescribed behavior at the Archimedean places, and such that the finite component [pi] [... |
Simultaneous positron emission tomography/functional magnetic resonance imaging for imaging neuroreceptor dynamics | Whole-brain neuroimaging is a key technique for studying brain function and connectivity. Recent advances in combining two imaging modalities - magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and positron emission tomography (PET) - into one integrated scanner, have created the opportunity to explore the underlying neurochemistry of ... |
Reference-frame theory and stability region generation | Electricity provides the foundation for many of today's technological advances. The desire for energy security, a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions and a diversification of resources are all motivations for changes in how electricity is generated and transmitted. Recent alternatives to traditional centralized power... |
Fundamental studies of heterostructured oxide thin film electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction at high temperatures | Searching for active and cost-effective catalysts for oxygen electrocatalysis is essential for the development of efficient clean electrochemical energy technologies. Perovskite oxides are active for surface oxygen exchange at evaluated temperatures and they are used commonly in solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) or electro... |
Human-automation interaction for lunar landing aimpoint redesignation | Human-automation interactions are a critical area of research in systems with modem automation. The decision-making portion of tasks presents a special challenge for human-automation interactions because of the many factors that play a role in the decision-making process. This is prominent in human spaceflight, where t... |
Point of departure : landscape, memory and change as passage for design | This thesis is the exploration of the natural and cultural environment through design. The natural landscape is a richly complex system reliant on interdependencies, change, and renewal. It is laden with multiple, even contradictory interpretations, yet it is one of intimate associations and often pastoral repose. Unli... |
The Postal Service Pension System and alternative methods for providing long-term financial welfare to retirees | The United States Postal Service continues to face difficult financial conditions, due primarily to electronic diversion of mail volume. The largest component of the Postal Service's cost structure is labor, with retirement benefits representing a significant portion of those costs. This thesis provides a historical re... |
Multiple sensor acquisition board for wearable computing | The wearable multiple sensor acquisition device is targeted as the primary sensor hub for the next revision of the MIThril wearable computer architecture. The device provides 3-axis acceleration sensing, infrared transmission and reception of Tag IDs, and a 16kHz 8bit audio stream. To be usable for wearable application... |
Transportation linear referencing toolboxes : a 'reflective practitioner's' design approach | Seventy percent of the data of a typical transportation agency (e.g., bridges, accidents, etc.) has location as a primary reference. A Linear Referencing System (LRS) is the main way of identifying the location of this data and providing a storage key for it in a database. LRS is based on a one-dimensional offset on a ... |
Athletes' use of sport video games to enhance athletic performance | A design feature of contemporary sport video games allows elite athletes to play as themselves in life-like representations of actual sporting events. The relation between playing sport video games and actual physical performance has not yet been established. Drawing on data from interviews and observations of elite at... |
Analysis of MRAM applications | Magnetic Random Access Memory (MRAM) is considered to be the most viable option for nonvolatile memory in the computer industry. This need for nonvolatile computer memory has resulted in the dramatic evolution of MRAM technology in the past ten years. Currently in the latter stages of development, emphasis is being put... |
Design of a fluidic test bed for MEMS piezoelectric energy harvester | This document outlines the basic theory behind generating mathematical models, choosing materials and designing geometries for simulating a 900 mile Alaskan Pipeline. The use of dimensional analysis is useful for simulating the vibration spectrum given off in the pipeline due to turbulent flow of the fluid. In the desi... |
Automated, hands-on apprenticeship program | There are a plethora of medium and small-sized manufacturing companies that do not rely completely on autonomous systems. As a result, it is more economical to use a mixture of human labor and manufacturing robots; however, with the thousands of people who apply for these jobs, many do not have the experience to work a... |
Atmospheric delay modeling for satellite laser altimetry | NASA's Ice, Cloud, and Land Elevation Satellite (ICESat) is a laser altimetry mission with the primary purpose of measuring the mass balance of the ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica. It will provide 5 years of topography measurements of the ice, as well as land and ocean topography. In order to accurate topography... |
Landscapes of convergence : a proposal for exchange at the San Diego-Tijuana border | This thesis addresses the relationship between San Diego, California and Tijuana, Mexico. Although these two cities are part of a single landscape and ecology, they are divided, not only by a physical wall, but very different cultural, social, political and economic realities. This thesis is a proposition about exchang... |
Fables of undiscovered cities | "Space... The final frontier... These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise. Its continuing mission: To explore strange new worlds... To seek out new life; new civilizations... To boldly go where no one has gone before!" -- Jean-Luc Picard, Captain, Starship Enterprise; NCC-1701D. Humans have always felt a primord... |
The development of a prototype Zone-Plate-Array Lithography (ZPAL) system | The research presented in this paper aims to build a Zone-Plate-Array Lithography (ZPAL) prototype tool that will demonstrate the high-resolution, parallel patterning capabilities of the architecture. The experiment will require the integration of micromechanical spatial light modulators with an existing zone-plate-arr... |
Uncovering the variability, regulatory roles and mutation rates of short tandem repeats | Over the past decade, the advent of next-generation DNA sequencing technologies has ushered in an exciting era of biological research. Through large-scale sequencing projects, scientists have begun to unveil the variability and function of millions of DNA mutations called single nucleotide polymorphisms. Despite this r... |
Unobtrusive integration of magnetic generator systems into common footwear | A power generating system was designed to passively harness some of the kinetic energy available during walking. The system included a rotary arm extending down from the sole, which ultimately drove a pair of small electrical generators through a stepped-up gearbox. A one-way clutch mechanism was used to transmit torqu... |
Approaches for identifying consumer preferences for the design of technology products : a case study of residential solar panels | This thesis investigates ways to obtain consumer preferences for technology products to help designers identify the key attributes that contribute to a product's market success. A case study of residential solar PV panels is conducted in the context of the California, USA market within the 2007-2011 time span. First, i... |
Institutional expansion, community relations, and the hospital next door | Hospitals play many roles in a city: alternately, they may be caretakers of the sick, economic engines, intellectual hubs, major employers, and neighbors. This last role has evolved greatly over the last 45 years. The relationship between hospitals and the communities in which they are located has been affected by cons... |
Optimizing inventory levels using financial, lifecycle and forecast variance data | Significant inventory write-offs have recently plagued ATI Technologies, a world leader in graphics and media processors. ATI's product-centric culture has long deterred attention from supply chain efficiency. Given that manufacturing lead time exceeds customer order lead time for its semiconductors, ATI relies heavily... |
Lean principle application in the General Motor's product development process with special emphasis on peer reviews | Global Automotive, a large US based, global manufacturer of automobiles, has made significant gains in manufacturing competitiveness, in part through application of a lean manufacturing approach to high volume assembly. A similar approach applied to product development can result in significant improvements in product ... |
Electronic applications of two-dimensional materials | Ubiquitous electronics will be a very important component of future electronics. However, today's approaches to large area, low cost, potentially ubiquitous electronic devices are currently dominated by the low mobility of amorphous silicon and organic semiconductor. Two-dimensional materials are good candidates for ub... |
Design and implementation of an online laboratory for introductory digital systems | In this thesis, I designed and implemented an online, web-based laboratory system for the Introductory Digital Systems Laboratory course at MIT (6.111). The intent is to allow a student access to a 6.111 labkit, program it, and view the results without ever entering the physical lab room. The lab architecture consists ... |
Divalent metal nanoparticles | Metal nanoparticles hold promise for many scientific and technological applications, such as chemical and biological sensors, vehicles for drug delivery, and subdiffraction limit waveguides. To fabricate such devices, a method to position particles in specific locations relative to each other is necessary. Nanoparticle... |
Boardroom network and corporate governance : when who you know contributes to what you know | In this study, I examine whether boardroom centrality has a causal effect on firm performance. If boardroom ties work as a conduit for information about market, industry, feedback on peers' experience, etc., then I expect central boards' corporate decisions to incorporate richer information and, as a result, become mor... |
Lean transformation methodology and implementation in biopharmaceutical operations | Amgen's Operations division is responsible for the production, release and distribution of commercial and clinical products. Due to industry consolidation, impending competition and revenue impacts, Amgen is facing the need to rapidly improve the Operations division and align different manufacturing sites. In order to ... |
Interventions for refugee integration in cities | In recent years, conflict and climate change around the world are not only displacing people at an unprecedented rate but also increasing the years of their displacement. With over 25.4 million refugees globally, the highest number in history, countries are forced to change how they respond to this crisis. In most case... |
Measurement and modeling of brain tissue and engineered polymer response to concentrated impact loading | Our brains are among the most mechanically compliant and structurally complex organs in our bodies. To predict how brain tissue deforms, and to protect it from deforming in ways that reduce our cognitive function, we must be able to measure, model, and ideally replicate brain tissue mechanics. While this is a grand cha... |
Eyes Up : influencing social gaze through play | Autism can be a debilitating condition that affects a person's personal and social affairs throughout their lifetime. With 1 in 110 people diagnosed with an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) [49], it is important that we develop assistive and learning technologies to help them achieve their potential. In this work I descr... |
Framework of non-intrusive load monitoring for shipboard environments | A Non-Intrusive Load Monitor (NILM) measures power at a central point in an electrical network in order to provide real-time energy management and equipment diagnostics. Results are presented from NILM systems installed aboard two US Coast Guard ships. The collected data is used for fault diagnostics and condition-base... |
Mapping urban perception : how do we know where we are? | How do we remember urban space? How can we measure what is remembered? This thesis presents a new approach to study urban spatial perception in an efficient, automated, and scalable way. It explores the use of novel tools developed for online surveys and data visualization. Previous studies in human spatial perception ... |
The evolution prospects of the post-OPA90 Alaskan Oil Trade | In response to the grounding of the Exxon Valdez on March 24, 1989, the United States Congress enacted the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, a series of regulations requiring technical and operational changes in tank vessels trading in U.S. waters with the intention of preventing future spills. Although the effects of OPA90 h... |
Investigating the trade-offs involved in augmenting a DC brushless motor with an active heat sink in order to improve performance. | This thesis seeks to establish solutions to the issue of electric motor heating and the problems it presents for use of these motors in biomechatronic applications. As electric motors are used, their windings heat up and the resulting temperature limits torque. Larger motors may be used to obtain more torque, but this ... |
Design analysis of the four-bar Jaipur-Stanford prosthetic knee for Developing countries | Amputees in developing countries face a challenging prospect. Without an adequate prosthesis, they face a lifetime of limited mobility and dependence. Unfortunately, as millions fall below the poverty line and as such do not have access to proper medical and prosthesis care, many must resign themselves to such a lifest... |
System design for a rapid response autonomous aerial surveillance vehicle | The MIT/Draper Technology Development Partnership Project was conceived as a collaborative design and development program between MIT and Draper Laboratory. The overall aims of the two year project were to strengthen ties between the two institutions, to provide students with an opportunity to develop a first-of-a-kind... |
Techniques for the characterization of sedation due to opiate administration | The focus of this thesis is identifying human physiologic markers during opiate sedation for applications in general anesthesia and drug overdose. Under this central topic, three themes are developed: characterizing the neural signature associated with altered consciousness due to opiate administration, characterizing ... |
Cycle-time analysis and improvement using lean methods within a retail distribution center | Fulfillment cycle-time, or the time it takes to pick an item from inventory, pack it into a box, and load it on a truck for shipment, is one of the main inputs in determining how quickly an online retailer can promise customer order delivery. The faster the fulfillment cycle-time, the later an order can be received and... |
Book illumination and architectural decoration : the Mausoleum of Uljaytu in Sultaniyya | This thesis examines the conventions of two-dimensional articulation in architecture and its relationship to book illumination in early fourteenth century Iran. By examining the illuminations in a series of imperial Qurans copied in the first quarter of the fourteenth century and comparing them to the architectural dec... |
Low-rise high density urban housing in Korea | The idea of low-rise high-density urban housing is based on two fundamental objectives: 1) To provide higher density by intensifying land use as urban growth escalates at an unprecedented rate. 2) To reconsider the essential qualities of house - a house with a garden, light and air. Modern high-rise apartments provide ... |
Functional analyses of mitotic microtubule-binding complexes | Mitosis is the process by which a single cell divides to form two identical daughter cells. Each daughter cell must inherit a full complement of the genetic material. Thus, a critical aspect of mitosis is the faithful segregation of each duplicated chromosome. Chromosome segregation is achieved through the attachment o... |
The impact of public housing interventions on a local context | Housing provisions by public agencies for low-income people present a dismal picture in most developing countries. The reasons are typically scarce resources and adoption of high standards, which result in a limited supply of complete dwelling units, inappropriate in their use of resources and, at the same time, not re... |
Effect of auditory peripheral displays on unmanned aerial vehicle operator performance | With advanced autonomy, Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) operations will likely be conducted by single operators controlling multiple UAVs. As operator attention is divided across multiple supervisory tasks, there is a need to support the operator's awareness of the state of the tasks for safe and effective task managemen... |
Vacant land types, patterns, and strategies in post-Katrina New Orleans | There were approximately 17,000 vacant lots in New Orleans in 2012, amounting to over 11 percent of total parcels in the city. Many of these lots have become vacant since Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast in 2005, but many were already empty. The population in parts of the older core of the city significantly declin... |
Across the great divide : chimeras and species boundaries | We have always been fascinated by borderline creatures. Chimeras, hybrids of multiple animals-and sometimes humans-appear repeatedly in mythology across cultures from ancient times to the present. Since the early 1980s, scientists have been creating cross-species chimeras, first combining mouse species that could not i... |
Metamers in memory : predicting pairwise image confusions with deep learning | Previous experiments have examined what causes images to be remembered or forgotten. In these experiments, participants sometimes create false positives when identifying images they have seen before, but the precise cause of these false positives has remained unclear. We examine confusions between individual images as ... |
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