Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2008. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 166-182). / The target subject of Natural Resources Planning (NRP) includes various systems and their elements, all of which are centered around the natural resource system. Given this characteristic complexity and a high degree of uncertainty, it is impossible to holistically understand the entire target system of NRP. Therefore, collecting the knowledge and experiences of all the stakeholders in all associated systems and then drawing a more adaptive agreement are regarded as the best method for dealing with this complexity and uncertainty. However, varying interests and values among stakeholders often lead to generation of deep conflicts and further prevent them from moving the process forward. The core problem lies in finding out how to reach consensus by managing conflicts arising from various group interactions; this necessitated the creation of appropriate heuristics with guidelines and framework. However, the current implementation of the appropriate and comprehensive heuristics like the Consensus Building approach faces various challenges regarding time and cost. In this thesis, I introduce the Decision Support System (DSS), which has previously been developed and utilized mainly in the management field, for providing a new platform for conducting a participatory process and facilitating the process by mitigating current challenges. I examined the various functions and aspects of multiple DSSs that could be beneficial to the process of NRP. / (cont.) Moreover, along with advanced Information Technology, (1) various heuristic guidelines and framework designed to effectively and efficiently reap the benefits of collaboration and (2) system perspective methodologies that can give comprehensive insights across the system and be used to make stakeholder deliberations are closely examined. In particular, concerning the integrated features of DSS that could potentially be specialized for the NRP participatory process, diverse efforts to incorporate system perspective methodology with other analysis tools or to embed participatory heuristics in the IT platform are more rigorously investigated. The thesis discovered various overlapping areas among the three different areas of research and propose that these can be used in effectively arranging them for further collaboration in the development of the integrated DSS specialized for the participatory process in NRP (NRP-DSS). Finally, the thesis recommends a summarized list of the necessary conditions and challenges involved in developing NRP-DSS. / by Hye Yeon Park. / S.M.

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2012. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 151-159). / Charged by the Chairman of the Joints Chief of Staff, the authors were members of a study to develop innovative recommendations for transforming the military enterprise to better manage post-traumatic stress and related conditions in support of service members and their families. The authors first began their study by performing a stakeholder analysis to understand the unmet needs of stakeholders across the enterprise. By assessing stakeholder values across the life cycle, we found that there was a strong need to improve the continuity of care and accessibility of services for service members and their families, in particular for the Reserve Component and National Guard population. Therefore, the authors investigated the role of technology to serve as a force extender to improve access and timeliness of care to psychological health care services. Specifically, they utilized a systems approach to evaluate the current state of telehealth within the Military Health System. By utilizing the enterprise lenses of strategy, policy, organization, services, processes, infrastructure, and knowledge to analyze the current state of telebehavioral health, they proposed a future state architecture for telehealth delivery. They highlight seven enterprise requirements for developing this future state architecture: 1. MEDCOM shall establish a core funding stream as a line item to support TH service line. 2. MEDCOM Telehealth Service line shall develop standard TBH metrics for deployment across the enterprise 3. MEDCOM Telehealth Service line shall identify eligible populations across the enterprise that could benefit from the expanded access that TBH services provide. 4. MEDCOM Telehealth Service line shall develop an enterprise solution that supports seamless flow of operational information and the electronic health record. 5. MEDCOM Telehealth Service line shall revisit specific policies that are presenting barriers to telehealth growth and sustainability. 6. MEDCOM Telehealth Service line shall encourage learning and best practice sharing across the Army TH enterprise. 7. MEDCOM Telehealth Service line shall collaborate with other Army governance organizations to develop a mobile health strategy and pilot projects for the Army enterprise. / by Andrea K. Ippolito. / S.M.

Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2015. / "June 2015." Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (pages 55-57). / Patient safety has become a critical concept in healthcare as clinicians seek to provide quality healthcare to every patient in a healthcare system that has grown far more complex than the days of the independent doctor and his black bag making house calls. Accidents in present-day healthcare systems are complicated, with environmental factors, interactions between clinicians, and the pressures exerted by managerial decisions all contributing to these medical mishaps. Despite this complexity, accidents are analyzed using simplistic and outdated techniques modeling systems as mere linear chains of events, when the reality lies far from those neat cause and effect relationships. Further compounding efforts to promote patient safety is the reliance on reactive approaches to safety, waiting for accidents to occur before enacting changes, like a dangerous game of whack-a-mole. What little work is done in prospective hazard analysis tends to be concentrated in niche areas and relies heavily on older analytic techniques. This thesis demonstrates the use of systems theory based accident and hazard analysis techniques, CAST and STPA respectively, in healthcare systems. It shows proof of concept applications in two distinct fields of healthcare, accident analyses in cardiac surgery and a prospective hazard analysis in a radiation oncology process. These techniques were very amenable to adaptation to healthcare applications. The accident analyses a rich set of accident causal factors leading to a large number of strong design options to prevent future accidents. The hazard analysis identified 84 potential unsafe controls and over 200 possible causal scenarios requiring a design change to create a safer system. This work sets up future work into direct comparisons with other hazard and accident analysis techniques applied in the healthcare domain as well as larger scale studies to understand the potential impact on patient safety. Finally, this work highlights the growing role for system and safety engineers in the healthcare field to help deal with the complexity of ensuring that every patient receives safe and effective healthcare. / by Aubrey Samost. / S.M.

Thesis (M. Eng. in Logistics)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2009. / "June 2009." / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 80-82). / The World Food Programme (WFP), the United Nations food agency, has recently acquired the difficult task of transporting aid into the Somali region of Ethiopia. The political instability, rebel activity, ethnic tensions, and poor infrastructure in the area endanger and delay the flow of commodities through the WFP's supply chain. In this thesis, we explore and analyze the role that these threats play in the WFP's aid distribution in the Somali region. Specifically, we measure the impact of insecurity in the WFP's distribution system, study the current methods that the WFP employs to mitigate risks, and investigate possible precautionary technologies to improve security in this resource constrained environment. Our research suggests that while many tools can enhance security, the organizational measures aiming to increase responsibility and trust between all involved supply chain stakeholders ultimately prove to have a stronger impact on the overall safety of aid-distribution. Finally, though our research has focused mainly on the WFP, we believe that all similarly situated humanitarian organizations will find our analysis applicable. / by Vidya Chander and Lauren Shear. / M.Eng.in Logistics

Thesis (M. Eng. in Logistics)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 93-97). / This thesis looks at how supply chains of Aftermarket Products and Services are structured. The study includes an overall examination of the Aftermarket Function, as well as an overview and examination of Aftermarket Supply Chains in four different industries. The study includes general data about the four industries (Computers, Telecommunications Equipment, Automotive and Aerospace), along with examination of practices that are used in these industries. Finally, the thesis compares and contrasts the practices used in the industries and identifies underlying principles that unifies these otherwise diverse practices. / by Petros Englezos. / M.Eng.in Logistics

Thesis: Ph. D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2014. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (pages 119-129). / Governments around the world are investing significant resources in the development and expansion of logistics clusters. This dissertation analyzes the cluster phenomenon focusing on four topics. First, it develops a methodology to identify clusters and applies it to the context of the US. By analyzing the case of logistics clusters, this thesis contributes to a more general debate in the industrial clusters literature: while many authors see industrial clusters growing, others see them dispersing. Evidence of increasing concentration of the logistics industry in clusters in the US over time is tested and documented. In addition, some evidence that logistics activities in counties inside clusters show higher growth than in counties outside clusters is found. Second, this thesis studies the relationship between freight accessibility and logistics employment in the US. It develops an accessibility measure based on a gravity model, focusing on four different modes of transportation: road, rail, air, and maritime. Using a Partial Least Squares model, these four different freight accessibility measures are combined into two constructs, continental and intercontinental freight accessibility, and then analyzed against logistics employment. Results show that highly accessible counties attract more logistics employment than other counties. The analyses also show that it is important to control for the effect of population, since it explains the most variation in the logistics employment across counties. Third, this dissertation also analyzes the benefits of logistics clusters, possibly explaining their continuous growth and wide popularity among both private agents and policy makers during the last decade. Using interview data and grounded theory, four major driving forces that may explain their growing presence are identified: collaboration, value added services, upward mobility and job creation at different levels. Finally, using a quantitative approach this thesis analyzes two major effects of agglomeration on firms located within logistics clusters: more collaboration and the provision of more value added services. Using survey data and structural equation modeling these hypotheses are tested using information from the Zaragoza (Spain) Logistics Cluster. The results show that companies located in logistics clusters do collaborate more and offer more value added services than companies that are not agglomerated. / by Liliana Rivera. / Ph. D.

Thesis: M. Eng. in Logistics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2015. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (pages 67-71). / Pharmaceutical companies operating in Africa are well positioned to contribute to the United Nations' ongoing efforts to improve access to medicine in Africa. This thesis explores how access to finance for businesses in the Ugandan private pharmaceutical supply chain affects access to medicine for end patients. Specifically, we consider three components of access to medicine-payment affordability, on-shelf availability, and geographic accessibility-and how each might be affected by supply chain financing. For payment affordability, we leverage field data via interviews with two distributors, two wholesalers and ten retail pharmacies in Uganda. We use the data to model free cash flows; the estimates gathered from interviewees are modeled with PERT distributions to capture variability in cash flows. For on-shelf availability, we explore methods of categorizing operational uncertainties associated with demand and working capital to inform how financing can improve on-shelf availability. For geographic accessibility, we analyze density in each district of retail pharmacies and financial lending institutions using data visualization. Our analyses reveal several key findings. First, retailers suffer substantial working capital constraints leading to constant product stockouts. Increasing access to working capital for retailers, combined with supply chain management training, may help mitigate stockouts and increase accessibility of medicines for patients. Second, literature on operational uncertainty and disruptions provides a framework for how to allocate financing to help improve on-shelf availability. Finally, a substantial portion of Uganda is still largely underserved in terms of pharmaceutical retail outlets and financial lending services. Our analyses fill a gap in the literature concerning how to approach improving patient access to medicine by financing pharmaceutical supply chain improvements. Our analyses serve as a basis for pharmaceutical companies looking to contribute to improving access to medicine in Africa. / by Charles Alexander Dokmo and Nipun Rajni Patel. / M. Eng. in Logistics

Thesis (M. Eng. in Logistics)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2012. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 67-69). / Most companies aim for perfect on-time delivery from suppliers, since late deliveries can cause supply disruptions and raise the cost of inventory, transportation and coordination. But this assumes that companies do not incur expenses in increasing or maintaining supplier performance. Our thesis looks at the problem faced by those companies that do invest in suppliers to help them achieve a desired performance level. In these special cases, a perfect target may no longer yield the minimum cost incurred over a performance spectrum. Our thesis provides a framework that companies can use to determine an optimal target for timely deliveries by comparing the cost implications of different supplier performance levels. We pursue an empirical approach, using the data and metrics of an industrial equipment manufacturer that uses a hit-or-miss performance measure to evaluate on-time supplier deliveries. Within the scope of this performance management system, we determine the relevant cost categories. Using regression analysis, we create models projecting each category's expected behavior based on data we collect. Combining the models allows us to calculate a system optimal point at which the incremental cost of supplier development towards an improved performance target matches the benefit derived from avoided supply disruption. This performance target minimizes the total cost of the performance management system. While our framework is calibrated to a specific company, the models we create are general enough to be adapted by companies facing similar problems. By laying out our treatment of costs, we hope to make it feasible for other companies to calculate a target that makes sense: one that suppliers can achieve and purchasers can afford. / by Maximilian L. Hurd and Izak W. J. van Rensburg. / M.Eng.in Logistics

Thesis (S.M. in Technology and Policy)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2013. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 85-97). / The continued usage of poor pedagogies in K-12 classrooms, despite large pressures for teachers to change their practice, points towards systematic barriers to change. In the last few decades, there has been a national focus to improve Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) Education. Driven by their concern for developing their future workforce, science and technology companies have invested billions of dollars in improving student outcomes. Further, the federal and state governments have responded by adopting new policies meant to improve student performance. Promising new pedagogies, such as Project Based Learning or the Flipped Classroom, have been developed alongside new technologies to complement them. Yet despite this support, pedagogical practice has not drastically changed and students are primarily taught through lectures and homework sets. This thesis argues that teachers do not adopt new pedagogies because they are under short-term pressure to improve test scores, often face an uphill battle against their school culture and/or do not have deep enough pedagogical or content expertise. A causal model of pedagogical implementation barriers is developed using the results of in-depth surveys and interviews of administrators, principals and teachers. Within this model, critical points of leverage are identified that can interrupt the negative feedback loops creating pedagogical lock-in, and three case studies of international attempts at pedagogical reform are presented to illustrate effective strategies to utilize these leverage points. General policy recommendations are then developed that will remove the current system of pressures and incentives for teachers to use rote memorization and incentivize use of more effective pedagogies. / by Mackenzie Douglas Hird. / S.M.in Technology and Policy

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2008. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 185-188). / Systems Engineers often conduct decision analysis in order to provide decision makers with a quantifiable means to make decisions. However, the field of Systems Engineering is often criticized for focusing on processes and requirements instead of the actual system. As a result, it limits the decision maker's ability to understand the system's properties and behaviors. This research enhances an existing decision methodology in order to maintain holistic thinking and provide decision makers with measureable information that result in better decisions. This thesis explores commercial, off the shelf systems in order to provide a potential solution to a backpackable, lethal unmanned aircraft system (UAS). It first employs the Systems Decision Process which is a widely applicable decision method that focuses on system function and requirements in order to select an optimal solution. The System Decision Process utilizes the additive value model. The additive value model is a universally accepted quantitative approach for evaluating a candidate solution space in order to determine a best solution. This research then applies Flexibility Analysis in order to enhance the System Decision Process. Flexibility Analysis is a three step process developed by the researcher. The first step involves decomposing and modeling the UAS as a system of systems. The next step introduces the Requirements Flexibility Graph as a structured technique which incorporates stakeholder levels of acceptability along with the engineers' stochastic estimates of a system's changeability with respect to constraints. / (cont.) The final step replaces preference weighting in the additive value model with potential value. Potential value is a quantifiable measure of a system's flexibility. It supplies decision makers with information about a system's inherent value and allows them to allocate resources to those system attributes that provide the most value return. Finally, a realized value score informs the decision maker of the resulting value of changing the system from the status quo to a future state. / by Chris H. Bachmann. / S.M.