Thesis: S.M. in Engineering and Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, System Design and Management Program, 2017. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (pages 75-79). / Blockchain is a distributed ledger technology that records exchanges of value between parties securely, permanently, and in an easily verifiable manner. It is the technology underlying cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. Although initially used for financial transactions, blockchain's applications extend beyond finance and can impact a wide variety of industries. One such application is in supply chain management. With multiple stakeholders and business transactions, supply chains are inherently complex. Many challenges exist, including the lack of transparency and traceability, difficulty in managing risks and disruptions, and the need to build trust and reputation. Blockchain technology ushers in the potential to solve these challenges through the use of smart contracts. Smart contracts are digital agreements between transacting parties that are written in computer code and deployed to the blockchain, where they will self-execute when predetermined conditions are met. They reduce complexity in a supply chain through automated verification and execution of the multiple business transactions involved. A decentralized, immutable record also ensures all stakeholders have equal access to information and helps build trust. Smart contracts improve the transparency, traceability and efficiency of a supply chain, allowing it to be more agile while strengthening relationships among stakeholders. In this thesis, I create a proof-of-concept to explore the application of smart contracts in supply chain management. The proof-of-concept consists of three smart contracts, coded in Solidity, that can be integrated to determine the provenance of goods, track the chain of custody as goods flow through a supply chain, automatically execute payment upon fulfillment of criteria, and maintain an open database of stakeholders with a score indicating their reputation. I validate the proof-of-concept using the Ethereum platform, which was specially conceived for smart contract and decentralized application development. Preliminary testing shows that the contracts are able to interact with one another and execute their functions as intended. Further testing is necessary to evaluate the performance of the contracts on the live Ethereum network, and integration with smart sensors should be explored to create a more viable real-world solution. / by Angwei Law. / S.M. in Engineering and Management

Title: The Determination of a Set of Terrain Units fro Durham County, Ontario, Using Aerial Photographs, Author: Jane Law, Location: Thode / <p>This study attempts to evolve a methodology for defining terrain types from vertical aerial photographs; to determine the extent to which aerial photographs can serve as a basis for terrain unit mapping; to produce a classification of terrain types for the Durham County and by so doing to provide a small contribution towards the knowledge about the study area.</p> / Thesis / Master of Science (MS)

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Approximately 10% of pregnant women take antidepressants. Prenatal exposure to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), a class of antidepressants, has been shown to alter serotonergic signaling in the brain. However, the effects of SSRIs on peripheral serotonin (5HT) synthesis and/or signaling have largely been ignored. Serotonin in the gut is critical for intestinal function and dysregulation of this pathway is associated with intestinal disease. Therefore, the goal of this study was to determine the effects of perinatal exposure to the SSRI fluoxetine (Prozac®) on intestinal health in the offspring. Dams were given vehicle or fluoxetine hydrochloride (FLX 10 mg/kg/d; N=15) for 2 weeks prior to mating until weaning. We assessed markers of serotonergic signaling, inflammation, and composition of the gut microbiota in the offspring. Male offspring of fluoxetine-treated dams had significantly elevated serum levels of 5-HT and decreased expression of the 5HT2A receptor and MAO. In female offspring there was no effect of SSRI exposure to alter any components of serotonergic signaling. Although we did not find any evidence of increased inflammation following fluoxetine exposure, there were significant alterations in the composition of the gut microbiota in the exposed offspring. Male offspring of SSRIs-exposed mothers had changes in key components of the gut serotonergic system in association with elevated levels of serum 5-HT and alterations in the gut microbiota in adulthood. The impact of these changes on intestinal health and the reasons for the sex specific effects remain to be determined. / Thesis / Master of Science in Medical Sciences (MSMS)

In this study, job analyses were made of twenty-two individual record keepers working in over two-thirds of the Roanoke businesses employing twenty-five or more office employees. / Master of Science

La tesi si incentra sull’applicazione del diritto europeo in materia alimentare. L’elaborato prende il via dall’analisi degli obiettivi fondamentali e degli strumenti principali del diritto alimentare, del suo sviluppo storico e delle questioni che ha affrontato. L’applicazione del diritto alimentare è studiata esaminando il sistema dei controlli nell’Unione europea e la correlata implementazione sia da parte degli Operatori del settore alimentare sia da parte delle Autorità Competenti in due Stati membri (Italia e Olanda). Vengono, altresì, esaminati casi pratici in cui sono state rintracciate problematiche nell’applicazione del diritto alimentare o che hanno dimostrato le debolezze del sistema nel gestire le varie violazioni attinenti gli alimenti. Lo studio intende inoltre dimostrare le carenze del sistema normativo sviluppando un concetto teoretico quale quello delle violazioni dovute al “fattore umano” e del loro impatto sugli interessi economici dei consumatori. La tesi, quindi, si focalizza sugli strumenti più idonei alla gestione di violazioni di questa tipologia esaminando la legislazione recentemente adottata e prendendo in considerazione, altresì, le possibili soluzioni che possono derivare dai differenti approcci degli Stati membri e l’opportunità di utilizzare, parallelamente a regole ed attività svolte dalle Autorità competenti, standard privati. / The thesis analyses enforcement of EU food law. The analysis starts by concentrating on the EU Food Law central objectives and basic tools, its historical development and the issues it has aimed to face. Food Law Enforcement is analysed by examining food control systems in the European Union and their implementation by Food Business Operators as well as by the Competent Authorities in two Member States (Italy and The Netherlands). Cases are scrutinised where problems of enforcement or weaknesses of the system have come to light in dealing with various possible violations which concern food. The dissertation aims to show the shortcomings of the legal system and to contribute to solving them by developing a theoretical concept: that of behavioural infringements due to the human factor and of their impact on consumer economic interests. The dissertation, therefore, focuses on the most suitable instruments in dealing with these infringements by examining the newly adopted legislation and by looking at what can be learnt from different approaches chosen in the two Member States studies, including that of combining the Competent Authorities rules and activities to those of Private schemes.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-12T15:57:17Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 arquivo3161_1.pdf: 1109714 bytes, checksum: 63bb826b538cafab9528cb9cb8274bdc (MD5) license.txt: 1748 bytes, checksum: 8a4605be74aa9ea9d79846c1fba20a33 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008 / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico / Com a adoção pelo mercado dos processadores de nucleos multiplos, o uso de threads em Java se torna cada vez mais proveitoso. O desenvolvimento de sistemas paralelos e, entretanto, uma tarefa que poucos desenvolvedores estão capacitados a enfrentar. Dado esse contexto, foi desenvolvida uma abordagem de paralelizaçaao de programas java baseada em leis de transformação, com o intuito de facilitar esse processo e permitir uma paralelização sistemática. O primeiro passo da abordagem utiliza leis de transformação para converter um programa Java em uma forma normal que utiliza um conjunto restrito de recursos da linguagem. Neste passo, foram definidas leis de transformação adaptadas de trabalhos anteriores, assim como novas leis foram propostas. A partir de um programa na forma normal, são utilizadas regras de transformação focadas em introduzir paralelismo. Após a aplicação dessas regras de acordo com a estretégia desenvolvida, um programa paralelo e produzido. Dois casos de estudo foram realizados para validar a abordagem: calculo de series de Fourier e o algoritmo de criptografia IDEA. Ambos códigos foram obtidos do Java Grande Benchmark Suite. A execução dos estudos de caso comprova o êxito da abordagem em melhorar a performance do cóodigo original

La legge italiana in materia di immigrazione e come questa costringa lo straniero a tentare di raggiungere uno status regolare attraverso l'illegalità è il tema affrontato nello scritto. Ciò discende da alcune caratteristiche del sistema di ingresso in Italia, dall'applicazione della normative effettuata da una burocrazia lenta ed inefficiente ed infine a causa di alcune caratteristiche del mercato del lavoro. Le legge italiana in materia di immigrazione viene così a produrre irregolarità istituzionale . Avendo di fronte a questo scenario, lo straniero entra in modo irregolare, trova lavoro nell'economia informale e dopo cerca di sistemare le carte . Utilizza l'illegalità per raggiungere la legalità. Il successo delle strategie adottate dipende in larga parte dalla capacità dello straniero di comprendere le caratteristiche essenziali del paese in cui si trova e sfruttare così le opportunità possibili. Cercando la via per la regolarità, lo straniero scopre le caratteristiche fondanti dell'Italian way of life. / The topic concerns how Italian Immigration Law tends to force foreigners to win legal status through illegality, due to some of its features and its implementation and due to the characteristics of the Italian labour market. Italian Immigration law tends to produce institutionalized irregularity . Given this scenario, foreigners enter illegally, find a job in the underground economy and then try to "fix the papers" once in Italy. They use illegality to become legal. The success of the adopted strategies largely depends on the ability of migrants to understand the essential features of the host country and to exploit the available opportunities. And looking for a way to legality they reveal the essential features of Italian way of life.