Thesis (Ph.D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Program in Science, Technology and Society, 1999. / Vita. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 254-273). / The dissertation is an historical study of the interactions between technologists and museums in the late nineteenth United States, the role of international expositions-such as Philadelphia in 1876 and Chicago in 1893-in these interactions, and the rise of technology collections in those museums. Through archival sources, as well as published primary and secondary source material, the dissertation examines the role of engineers and the public in creating technological collections in museums dominated by natural history specimens. It focuses on intersections between industry, engineers, international expositions, and museums in the nineteenth century by considering the cases of the Smithsonian's National Museum and the Field Columbian Museum. This research explores technology and its cultural roles, how technology related to or differed from other aspects of American culture, and how this may have precluded the establishment of a national museum dedicated to mechanical arts, technology and America's inventor citizens, even while some engineers brokered a place for technological collections to develop. Despite objections and a lack of support from the higher administration within the museums, mechanical and technological collections developed. In an era of enthusiasm for technology, invention, and mechanics, forces outside the museums pushed the development of the collections. In particular, a group of engineers, as curators and exhibit designers; played roles in the celebration of technological achievement and at the expositions, in the attempts to establish mechanical arts and technology collections at the two prominent museums, and in the connections between technologists and museums that proved essential to the development of the collections. In addition, pressure from a public audience enthused about technology and machines aided such collections by influencing museum administration. This dissertation argues that engineers became mediators between the museum world and the world of engineering by brokering the culture of technology and securing a subordinate, yet permanent place for technology within the museum world. Key issues in the negotiation and brokering include the nature of the culture of technology, the professionalization process of engineers and their need for social status and cultural recognition, and the place of technology in nineteenth century lives and hierarchies. / by Linda Eikmeier Endersby. / Ph.D.

Thesis (S.M.M.O.T.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, Management of Technology Program, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 73-74). / This thesis investigates the emerging market for wireless information services caused by the convergence of Internet, information and telecommunication technologies. Portals and content and application providers are now entering a market previously controlled and dominated by the wireless network providers. This thesis starts with a description of this new value chain and a discussion of the power of each of the participants. This is followed by an overview of the market size and the projections for the future, together with a description of services currently available around the world and associated business models. A case study on wireless financial services follows next, to illustrate what might happen and be available in other industries in the near future. I developed three scenarios for the wireless Internet services the next three years: ** A closed case: The Wireless Network As A Toll Road ** Status quo: Internet and Commerce Without Wires, Why The Hype? ** An open case: New Unique and Value-added Offerings Create New Markets I used interviews with leading industry expert to validate these scenarios. There was a general consensus among the experts and managers that my most optimistic and pessimistic scenarios represent the likely range of possible future outcomes. The majority believes we will move from the current closed (i.e. the pessimistic) case to the open model (i.e. the optimistic scenario) ending up somewhere close to the open case. The experts believed that the open model would eventually "win" due to technical improvements and competitive pressure. Based on this, I arrived at ten strategies for successful market penetration of wireless information services. The top three are; act quickly to gain first-mover advantages, enter into profit sharing because this is a complex and networked marketplace, and thirdly address unspoken and subtle needs. The main challenges facing the players in this market are: ** They have to share the ownership and responsibility of the customer experience ** The need for developing open standards together to fuel the growth of the market ** That the timing of the products and services must be right the first time. / by Andres Svadberg Hatloy. / S.M.M.O.T.

Thesis (S.M.M.O.T.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, Management of Technology Program, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 68-76). / In many high technology industries, incumbents routinely find themselves loosing to new entrants as well as established competitors in the battle for leadership across successive generations of new technology. However, the demise of the incumbent is most typically associated with the entry of start-up firms particularly in settings with minimal complementary assets, few intellectual property rights and limited technical expertise. This thesis will explore a different competitive setting - the U.S. Government's unclassified satellite competitions - an arena characterized by deep technical skills, strong and lasting complementary assets and robust IP. Given these strengths, we would expect to find that incumbents would successfully win most competitions. In fact, according to newly gathered data, satellite producers for the U.S. Government have historically experienced an almost 90% loss rate in follow-on satellites competitions. This pattern is prevalent in satellite competitions undertaken by the National Aeronautical and Space Administration (NASA), the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the United States Air Force (USAF) and the United Stated Navy (USN). / (cont.) The winners of these competitions are not to new entrants into the satellite business, but rather they are other established aerospace companies - suggesting that it is more than "organizational newness" that leads to success and more than age that leads to obsolescence. Anecdotal drivers of this trend abound, however, there is no systematic examination of the satellite industry and few settings in which the loss of incumbents to other large and established firms have been extensively analyzed. This thesis is an attempt to unravel the puzzling and repeated loss of incumbents to organizations that are in many ways very similar in terms of size, bureaucracy, technology etc. and yet which seem to be able to out-compete the winners of prior competitions over 90% of the time. This thesis argues that three factors drive this trend: 1. Non-incumbents leverage new architecture innovations to provide superior performance 2. Non-incumbent management encourages pursuit of architectural innovation 3. Non-incumbent optimistic bias enables aggressive bidding to win. / by Paul Scearce. / S.M.M.O.T.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, Technology, Management, and Policy Program, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 165-168). / A change in government policy can send waves of crippling impacts through the design and development of publicly funded complex engineering systems. Thus it is important for system architects and designers to understand the interaction of policy with their systems, and to strive for policy robustness in their systems. To be policy robust is to successfully pass through policy changes that might arise during the course of system development in order to bring the system into operational use. The goal of this thesis research is to enable the creation of policy robust system architectures and designs through making policy an active consideration in the engineering systems architecting and design process. Qualitative and quantitative analysis methods are brought to bear on the problem using space systems as the application domain, and a process is set down through which policy can become an active consideration instead of a static constraint. Unique contributions of this thesis in the qualitative analysis of policy robust systems include new heuristics describing the interaction of policy and publicly funded engineering systems, as well as impact flow path diagrams for tracing policy interactions with technical engineering system parameters. Quantitative contributions include general relationships for the behavior of engineering system architecture sets under downward annual budget policy pressure, and the application of real options to measure the value of designing an engineering system to be policy robust to budget policy instabilities. Lastly, this research presents the first comprehensive quantification of U.S. space launch policy economic costs, and contributes relationships for estimating these costs on new space systems. / (cont.) The analysis techniques presented in this thesis for assessing and insuring policy robustness can be applied as early as the conceptualization phase of system architecting and design, and the earlier they are applied in the process, the greater the benefits that can be derived. As the architecture and system design solidify, time and opportunities are lost to tailor a system for policy robustness. / by Annalisa L. Weigel. / Ph.D.

Thesis (S.M.M.O.T.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, Management of Technology Program, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 95-103). / The business model of selling software bundled with hardware is called the appliance model. As hardware becomes less and less expensive and open source software is being offered for free, the traditional business model of selling packaged software is being threatened. This disruption in the software industry is forcing software vendors to consider other business models such as advertising-based, transaction-based, software-as-a-service or appliance-based models in order to create additional value for customers. Most of these models have existed in variants for decades but are now gaining in popularity due to factors such as changing cost structures or the Internet as a delivery channel. This thesis analyzes the economic drivers and barriers for the appliance model for both the consumer and enterprise software industry segments. Important drivers of the appliance model for both of these sectors are hardware commoditization, open source software and vertical integration in order to capture margins. In the enterprise software segment the complexity of traditional software integration and operation including unpredictability of total cost of ownership, rising IT personnel cost and maintenance fees are driving the adoption of the appliance model. / (cont.) In the consumer software segment, ease of use, limited battery life, disintermediated distribution and prestige are important economic factors. The appliance model also has a number of economic disadvantages that hinder its adoption. Among these are the additional competencies that a company needs to build, supply chain and distribution costs, as well as inflexibility and inconvenience for the customer. Decision criteria for companies considering adopting the appliance model are also discussed. Industry examples in the consumer and enterprise software segment are examined and specific companies are used as case studies. Among these are the digital music player, digital video recorder, router and enterprise search markets. The possible implementation paths for software companies transitioning to the appliance model are proposed and the virtual appliance model as a next adoption step is discussed. / by Bettina Hein. / S.M.M.O.T.

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, Technology and Policy Program, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 143-157). / Traffic congestion is becoming a serious problem. As a solution, advanced traveler information systems (ATIS) mitigate traffic congestion by providing real-time traffic information to travelers. ATIS includes various applications such as radio traffic reporting services and websites. Among those, this thesis focuses on more advanced real-time traffic information systems, which provide sophisticated traffic information to drivers via in-vehicle devices such as car navigation systems: we call them ATISN (advanced traveler information systems for vehicles). ATISN has a high potential to mitigate traffic congestion and improve travel for individual drivers. However, in some countries, ATISN has not been accepted well by drivers. To improve this situation, three questions motivate this study: (1) why does ATISN in some parts of the world have more penetration than in others, (2) what can be done to increase the penetration of ATISN, and (3) what kinds of strategic alliances among stakeholders can help to make better ATISNs. This thesis compares three countries, the U.S., Germany, and Japan, by a qualitative analysis of the system dynamics methodology to clarify reasons which have been causing differences in the penetration. / (cont.) Additionally, a new supply chain model based on McQueen's model is used. Furthermore, stakeholder analysis and case studies regarding stakeholder alliances in current ATISNs and highway service operators' strategies for alliances are conducted. In conclusion, from a macro-perspective analysis, many prominent factors in the dynamics of ATISN penetration are found, such as public investment in a public-driven ATISN, the in-vehicle device market, and two-way communication technology development. Furthermore, from analysis for alliances among stakeholders, no absolute best alliances but many possibilities to create alliances for ATISN are clarified, and the use of ATISN as a differentiation tool is suggested as one option worth considering. / b y Yoshihiko Sugawara. / S.M.

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, Technology and Policy Program, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 131-143). / The airport industry is changing. Once understood as stand-alone public infrastructures, many modern airports now operate within privatized multi-airport systems and contend with previously unknown competitive pressures. As a result, many of the same airports which once enjoyed natural monopolies and government protections must now compete with secondary facilities both for airline patronage and for passenger traffic. Further, changes in the airline industry such as the success of the low-cost carrier, ongoing consolidation, and possible changes to the hub structure now threaten to impose new demands on airport services. In this environment, airport owners are being made to tackle not only significant uncertainty in traffic levels and passenger demand but also the sometimes conflicting needs of varying airline customers. By referencing the experiences of airports across Europe and the US, this paper seeks to highlight strategies for confronting these uncertainties. In particular, research conclusions focus on providing flexible responses that may prove useful given the continued growth of multi-airport systems, expansion of low-cost carriers, and associated industry restructuring. To this end, this thesis presents methodologies for evaluating the financial benefits which may be accrued through applying real options principles at new and developing airports. Two evaluative models, one focused on the construction of airport runway systems and the other on airport terminal design, are presented. Each model - as developed by the author - is designed to permit the simple application of economic and decision analyses in order to gauge the possibility of success in terms of airport cost, accessibility, and patronage. / (cont.) The models are therefore particularly useful for the preliminary evaluation of various airport development strategies, especially within educational contexts. The development of a second major airport outside of Lisbon provides the central case study. / by Richard-Duane Chambers. / S.M.

Thesis: Ph. D. in History, Anthropology, and Science, Technology and Society (HASTS), Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Program in Science, Technology and Society, 2017. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (pages 158-164). / Modern U.S. traffic safety policy is largely guided by three overarching principles that have influenced governments, industry, and community and citizen activists since the 1940s. The terms, education, engineering, and enforcement, detailed in the Action Program for Traffic Safety were developed by engineers and U.S. federal government traffic safety experts in response to growing concerns around rising traffic fatalities. In these guidelines, and the iterations that developed from them, responsibility for traffic safety shifted between drivers, policy makers, and the automotive industry. My dissertation examines the evolution of traffic safety policy, specifically looking at solutions to reach zero fatalities, over multiple decades. The traffic safety experts, including the auto industry, federal government, and community activists, striving for zero fatalities have reshaped traffic infrastructure, automotive regulation, and consumer perceptions of risky behaviors in an attempt to solve a major public health issue. Broadly following four themes, infrastructure, institutions, technology, and behavior, each chapter highlights how these actors mitigated risks and defined safety in order to find solutions to highway fatalities. To safety-concerned government officials and industry leaders, central actors in the development of federal traffic safety policy, traffic safety encompassed engineering, education, enforcement, citizenship, humanitarian, and moral issues. On the other hand, to women's community and activist groups, like MADD, traffic safety's focus was the education of drivers and pedestrians, and the prevention of crashes through educational and public health approaches. However, to working class white males, government mandated safety was viewed as an infringement upon their freedom as individuals to choose how to be safe and how to define their level of safety, regardless of its effects on others. Through analysis of these narratives emerges a more complete picture of the public health, education, and social policy implications of twentieth century traffic safety, the role of citizen activism in traffic safety policy development at the local, state, and federal levels, and the ways in which the traffic safety solutions have shifted over time. / by Renée Marie Blackburn. / Ph. D. in History, Anthropology, and Science, Technology and Society (HASTS)

Thesis (Ph. D. in History and Social Study of Science and Technology (HASTS))--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Program in Science, Technology and Society, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 320-350). / This dissertation is an examination of intersections of race, pharmaceuticals, and heart disease over the course of the 20th century and today. Each of these parts has had a dynamic history, and when they are invoked together they provide a terrain for arguments about interventions in health and in justice in the present. An enduring aspect of discourses of heart disease over the past century has been articulating connections between characterizations of the modem American way of life and of heart disease. In that process, heart disease research and practice has participated in differentiating Americans, especially by race. This dissertation uses heart disease categories and the drugs prescribed for them as windows into racialized medicine. The chapters are organized in a way that is roughly chronological, beginning with the emergence of cardiology as a specialty just before World War II and the landmark longitudinal Framingham Heart Study that began shortly thereafter. A central chapter tracks the emergence and mobilization of African American hypertension as a disease category since the 1960s. / (cont.) Two final chapters attend to current racial invocations of two pharmaceuticals: thiazide and BiDil. Using methods from critical historiography of race, anthropology, and science studies, this thesis provides an account of race in medicine with interdisciplinary relevance. By attending to continuities and discontinuities over the period, this thesis illustrates that race in heart disease research and practice has been a durable preoccupation. Racialized medicine has used epistemologically eclectic notions of race, drawing variously on heterogeneous aspects that are both material and semiotic. This underlying ambiguity is central to the productivity of the recorded category of race. American practices of medicating race have also been mediating it, arbitrating and intervening on new and renewed articulations of inclusion and difference in democratic and racialized American ways of life. / by Anne Pollock. / Ph.D.in History and Social Study of Science and Technology (HASTS

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, Technology and Policy Program, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references. / This thesis deduces a set of best practices for sustainably scaling up lighting technologies in developing countries with a focus on Bottom-of-the-Pyramid (BOP) communities, whose annual incomes are US $3000 or less (in local purchasing power parity). The best practices are derived from a comparative analysis of two heuristic case studies profiling entrepreneurs based in southern India, who have successfully scaled up lighting technologies in BOP communities. Also discussed is the impact that quality lighting has on our health, safety, socio-economic status and the environment that surrounds us. Not surprisingly the demand for quality artificial lighting is high in these communities, where access is generally limited. SELCO-India, a registered company, sells photovoltaic-based home lighting systems; while THRIVE, a nonprofit organization, sells Light Emitting Diode (LED) lanterns to remote communities in India. Both organizations use alternative models to address the same issue. While the research presented here focuses on the lighting sector in India, it is also proven that the results are applicable in the context of entrepreneurship in BOP communities around the world. / by Pragnya Y. Alekal. / S.M.