O estudo realizado analisou as exportações brasileiras para os dois principais parceiros econômicos na região do Leste e Sudeste Asiático, China e Japão, com o intuito de verificar a evolução da pauta de exportação nacional e a existência de possíveis padrões de especialização quanto à intensidade tecnológica e competitividade. O período de análise compreendeu as décadas de 1990 e 2000. Para atingir o objetivo proposto, empregou-se o modelo de market share constante (CMS) de segundo nível, com a intenção de identificar as principais fontes de crescimento das exportações brasileiras (efeito crescimento do comércio mundial, efeito composição pauta de exportação e efeito competitividade). Utilizou-se também o modelo CMS de Fagerberg e Sollie (1985) atrelado ao método desenvolvido por Batista (2005), com o objetivo de identificar os principais concorrentes dos produtos brasileiros nos mercados chinês e japonês, bem como mensurar os ganhos e perdas de competitividade dos produtos brasileiros. Após a análise do agregado das exportações brasileiras, avaliou-se o perfil destas, por meio do estudo da evolução dos principais setores e capítulos exportados. Uma segunda forma de avaliar o perfil da pauta de exportação brasileira foi pela classificação por intensidade tecnológica, com o propósito de verificar se ao longo dos anos houve um aumento de valor agregado dos produtos exportados para a China e o Japão. Por último, foram classificadas as exportações brasileiras segundo os critérios da matriz de competitividade de Mandeng e Fajnzylberg, com a finalidade de identificar se os padrões de especialização das exportações brasileiras para os mercados selecionados apresentaram uma melhora ou deterioração ao longo do período selecionado. Tal estudo revelou que o Brasil conseguiu nas duas últimas décadas ampliar seu market share e o valor exportado para tais mercados, caracterizando um desempenho positivo / The study analyzes the Brazilian exports to China and Japan, the main economic partners in the region of East and Southeast Asia, in order to verify the evolution of national exports and the existence of possible patterns of specialization considering the technological intensity and the competitiveness. The analysis period was from 1990 to 2010. To reach the goal, was used the CMS model of two-level analysis aiming identify the main sources of export growth (the general rise in world exports, the commodity composition effect and competitiveness effect). The work also adopted the CMS model of Fagerberg and Sollie (1985) linked to the method developed by Batista (2005), in order to identify the major competitors of Brazilian products in Chinese and Japanese markets, as well as measure the competitiveness gains and losses of Brazilian products. Besides the analysis of the aggregate level data of Brazilian exports, disaggregated data was also used to analyze the evolution of the main export sectors and chapters. A second way to evaluate the profile of Brazilian exports was using the classification by technological intensity, in order to verify if there was an increase in value-added product exports to China and Japan. At last but not at least, Brazilian exports were classified according to the competitiveness matrix of Fajnzylberg and Mandeng aiming identify the patterns of specialization of Brazilian exports and if there was an improvement or deterioration of it over the selected period. It was revealed that in the last two decades Brazil has increased its market share and the value exported to China and Japan, achieving a good performance.

by Wong Tak-Kwong. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1994. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 76-81). / Chapter 1 --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter 2 --- Literature Review --- p.7 / Chapter 3 --- R&D Activities and Competing for a Researcher --- p.12 / Chapter 3.1 --- Licensing Decision of a Successful Innovator --- p.16 / Benefits of Firm i with Licensing / Benefits of Firm j with Licensing / Chapter 3.2 --- Competing for the Researcher --- p.23 / Characterization of Equilibrium / Chapter 3.3 --- Concluding Remark --- p.29 / Chapter 4 --- Innovation from An Independent Researcher --- p.30 / Chapter 4.1 --- Licensing with Bargaining --- p.34 / Licensing Decision of the Researcher / Licensing Decision of Firm i / Licensing Decision of Firm j / Chapter 4.2 --- Ownership Re-allocation --- p.44 / Chapter 4.3 --- Concluding Remark --- p.48 / Chapter 5 --- An Analysis of Sequential Innovation --- p.50 / Chapter 5.1 --- Choices of Licensing and Conducting R&D --- p.55 / Decision of the Follower / Licensing by the Successful Innovator / Chapter 5.2 --- Equilibrium of Sequential R&D --- p.65 / Chapter 5.3 --- Simultaneous R&D or Sequential R&D --- p.68 / Chapter 5.4 --- Concluding Remark --- p.74 / Chapter 6 --- Conclusion --- p.75 / Chapter 7 --- Bibliography --- p.76

by Ling Ho-Ming, Desmond, Yeung Yuk-Lam. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 73-75). / Questionnaire also in Chinese. / ABSTRACT --- p.i / ACKNOWLEDGMENTS --- p.ii / TABLE OF CONTENTS --- p.iii / LIST OF FIGURES & TABLES --- p.vi / Chapter CHAPTER I --- INTRODUCTION --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1 --- Problem Statement --- p.2 / Chapter 1.2 --- Purpose of the study --- p.4 / Chapter 1.3 --- Hypotheses of the Study --- p.5 / Chapter 1.3.1 --- Hypothesis 1 --- p.5 / Chapter 1.3.2 --- Hypothesis 2 --- p.5 / Chapter 1.3.3 --- Hypothesis 3 --- p.6 / Chapter 1.3.4 --- Hypothesis 4 --- p.6 / Chapter 1.3.5 --- Hypothesis 5 --- p.6 / Chapter 1.3.6 --- Hypothesis 6 --- p.7 / Chapter 1.3.7 --- Hypothesis 7 --- p.7 / Chapter CHATPER II --- LITERATURE REVIEW --- p.8 / Chapter 2.1 --- Development of Videoconferencing --- p.8 / Chapter 2.1.1 --- Type of Videoconferencing System --- p.10 / Chapter 2.1.2 --- Application of Videoconferencing System --- p.12 / Chapter 2.1.3 --- Benefits and Costs of Using Videoconferencing --- p.15 / Chapter 2.2 --- Videoconferencing in China --- p.24 / Chapter 2.2.1 --- Background --- p.24 / Chapter 2.2.2 --- Market Situation --- p.26 / Chapter 2.2.3 --- Industry Players --- p.26 / Chapter CHAPTER III --- METHODOLOGY --- p.29 / Chapter 3.1 --- Scope of Study --- p.29 / Chapter 3.2 --- Research Design --- p.33 / Chapter 3.2.1 --- Mail survey --- p.34 / Chapter 3.3 --- Sampling Plan --- p.34 / Chapter 3.3.1 --- Target population --- p.34 / Chapter 3.3.2 --- Sampling method --- p.35 / Chapter 3.3.3 --- Judgment sampling --- p.55 / Chapter 3.3.4 --- Sample size --- p.35 / Chapter 3.4 --- Instrument --- p.36 / Chapter 3.4.1 --- Questionnaire --- p.36 / Chapter 3.4.2 --- Pilot test --- p.37 / Chapter 3.4.3 --- Data Collection --- p.37 / Chapter 3.5 --- Data analysis --- p.38 / Chapter CHAPTER IV --- RESULTS --- p.40 / Chapter 4.1 --- Exploratory Research --- p.40 / Chapter 4.2 --- Descriptive Research --- p.40 / Chapter 4.2.1 --- Respondents' Background Characteristics --- p.41 / Chapter 4.2.2 --- Perceived Degree of Agreement on Benefits of VC --- p.45 / Chapter 4.2.3 --- Perceived Importance of Selection Criteria --- p.46 / Chapter 4.2.4 --- Factor Groupings of Benefits --- p.47 / Chapter 4.2.5 --- Factor Groupings of Criteria --- p.49 / Chapter 4.2.6 --- Relationship Between Overall Employee Size and Office(s) Using VC Equipment --- p.51 / Chapter 4.2.7 --- Relationship Between Average Annual Sales Revenue and Office(s) Using VC Equipment --- p.52 / Chapter 4.2.8 --- Difference in Perceptions Between VC Using Companies and Non-VC Using Companies --- p.52 / Chapter 4.2.9 --- Difference in Perceptions Between Companies Planning to Purchase VC and Companies Not Planning to Purchase VC --- p.52 / Chapter 4.2.10 --- Comparison of Mean Scores for Different Years of Establishment of Shanghai Office --- p.53 / Chapter 4.2.11 --- Comparison of Mean Scores for Different Sized Companies --- p.53 / Chapter 4.2.12 --- Comparison of Mean Scores for Companies with Different Average Annual Sales Revenue --- p.54 / Chapter CHAPTER V --- "DISCUSSION, CONCLUSIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS" --- p.55 / Chapter 5.1 --- Discussion of Survey Findings --- p.55 / Chapter 5.1.1 --- Respondents' Background Characteristics --- p.55 / Chapter 5.1.2 --- Discussion of Benefit Factors --- p.57 / Chapter 5.1.3 --- Discussion of Criteria Factors --- p.58 / Chapter 5.1.4 --- Relationship Between Overall Employee Size and Offtce(s) Using VC Equipment --- p.61 / Chapter 5.1.5 --- Relationship Between Average Annual Sales Revenue and Office(s) Using VC Equipment --- p.61 / Chapter 5.1.6 --- Difference in Perception Among Various Respondents' Characteristics --- p.62 / Chapter 5.2 --- Conclusions --- p.63 / Chapter 5.3 --- Recommendations --- p.65 / Chapter 5.3.1 --- Attractiveness of VC Industry in China --- p.65 / Chapter 5.3.2 --- Suggested Market Positioning --- p.66 / Chapter 5.3.3 --- Suggestions for Future Research Studies --- p.71 / REFERENCES --- p.73 / APPENDIX 1 --- p.76 / APPENDIX 2 --- p.77 / APPENDIX 3 --- p.79 / APPENDIX 4 --- p.83 / APPENDIX 5 --- p.84 / APPENDIX --- p.85 / APPENDIX 7 --- p.86 / APPENDIX 8 --- p.87 / APPENDIX 9 --- p.88 / APPENDIX 10 --- p.89

Magnetic and ferroelectric materials have both had a very important impact in our society, not only because of the fascinating science behind the two phenomena, but also as a result of their use in many technological applications. The coupling and coexistence of these two order parameters within the same material opens the door to exiting new functional devices. Materials where magnetism and ferroelectricity coexist are known as multiferroic materials. In this thesis, muon spectroscopy and other complementary experimental techniques, including neutron scattering and resonant ultrasound spectroscopy, are used to investigate two di↵erent multiferroics. Muon and total neutron scattering studies have been performed on BiFeO3, one of the most studied multiferroic materials. Muon measurements reveal an anomaly in the temperature region of 200 - 220 K with a sudden and abrupt change in the muon’s precession frequency that corresponds to a process of muon di↵usion throughout the entire sample. The pair distribution function, calculated from total neutron scattering experiments on the compound, suggest that a change in the local structure of the material involving the bismuth-oxygen bond, in the same temperature region as the muon di↵usion sets in, is a strong indicative that there is a link between two in terms of the muon di↵usion being triggered by these local changes. Also, an extensive analysis and characterisation of the magnetic and ferroelectric properties of Ba4Dy0.87Nb10O30, an entirely new tetragonal tungsten bronze magnetoelectric material, is given. Neutron scattering and dielectric measurements are used to show that this material becomes ferroelectric below 470 K. We use muon spectroscopy and magnetic susceptibility measurements to investigate the magnetic properties of the material. Muon measurements under an applied electric field indicate that there is a strong coupling between the magnetism and ferroelectricity in the material. Resonant ultrasound spectroscopy is use to investigate whether the source of this coupling could be related to strain e↵ects. Magnetic neutron scattering measurements show that there is no long range ordering in the material.

Technological innovation is inescapable if civilisation is to continue in the face of population growth, rising expectations and resource exhaustion. Unfortunately, major innovations, confidently thought to be safe, occasionally fail catastrophically. The fears so engendered are impeding technical progress generally and that of nuclear power in particular. Attempts to allay disquiet about these disastrous Low Probability Events (LPEs) by exhaustive studies of nuclear power plant designs have, so far, been less than successful. The New Treatment adopts instead an approach that, after examination of the LPE in its historical and societal settings, combines theoretical design analysis with construction site and operational realities in pragmatic engineering, the quality of which can be assured by accountable inspection. The LPE is envisaged as a singularity in a stream of largely mundane, but untoward incidents, described as 'Event-noise'. Predictions of the likelihood of plant LPEs by frequency-theory probability are illusory because the LPE is unique and not part of a stable distribution. Again, noise analysis seems to lead to intractable mathematical expressions. While theoretical LPE prognostications depend on the identification of fault sequences in design that can either be designed-out or reduced to plausibly negligible probabilities, the reality of LPE prevention lies with the plant in operation. As absolute safety is unattainable, the approach aims at ensuring that the perceived residual nuclear risk is societally tolerable. An adaption of elementary Catastrophe theory to model the prospective Event-noise field to be experienced by the plant is proposed whereby potential, credible LPEs could be more readily discerned and avoided. In this milieu of increasing sophistication in technology when management in the traditional administrative mold is proving inadequate, the engineer emerges as the proper central decision-maker. The special intellectual capability needed is acquired during his training and experience, a claim that can draw support from new studies in neuropsychology. The Nuclear Installation Inspectorate is cited as an exemplar of a body practising the kind of engineering inspection needed to apprehend those human fallibilities to which most catastrophic failures of technology are due. Nevertheless, such regulatory systems lack accountability and, as Goedel's theorem suggests, cannot assess their own efficiency. Independent appraisal by Signal Detection Theory is suggested as a remedy.

It is commonly accepted that our relation to inanimate objects is different than to biological entities. When movement comes into play, however, this relation can bring about ambiguities and transfigure familiar relationships between the animate and the world of things. This thesis investigates this relationship and the role of movement. The main focus is on humans' perception of movement, in particular how this affects the relationship to technological objects. It is a known phenomenon that humans tend to focus on life and lifelike processes. This propensity affects the creation as well as the observation of things. As social and emotional beings, humans experience a living presence of objects, and tend to not treat them as dead matter. Apparent for example in emotional attachments to devices like the computer, cell phones or robots. We have a long-standing practice of projecting social roles onto our surrounding as a way to relate and interact with things in the world. Differences in these relationships are affected by the appearance as well as movement of things, a phenomenon that is well-established, for instance, in cognitive psychology and gestalt/animation theory, where it has been demonstrated that abstract objects and shapes, when they move, tend to be interpreted less object-like and more as social and animate beings. Equally, in human-robot interaction, studies with real robots illustrate that people tend to 'anthropomorphise,' and attribute life-like properties to these technological objects with certain human or animal characteristics. The affinity towards the living affects not only the experience and observation but also the creation of technologically animated things. For a long time artists and inventors have been trying to mimic nature and develop technology simulating life-like qualities. These creations, as reported in this thesis, manifest for instance through animated creatures, artistic sculptures and artefacts, the creation of artificial systems, and robotics. The aim of this thesis is to learn more about the role of movement for human perception of the animate/inanimate by presenting movement as the common denominator on three levels. First, this thesis contributes to the understanding of the phenomena by bringing together work from various contexts and as such presenting an interdisciplinary approach to the topic. Second, as a result, a novel methodology is presented that provides a relational approach to examine move ment as a determinant of variances in the interpretation of an entity. Based on a feature-space, used to compare peoples' interpretative relationship to entities, the method allows to evaluate how an entity's movement characteristic affect the way thoughts and actions are directed to them. Third, results are obtained from the application of the methodology in an empirical study, assessing peoples' interpretation of a ready-made object, a technologically modified hairbrush moving autonomously. These show that the movement of an everyday object motivates an interpretation closer to humans and animals. The results correspond to the findings mentioned above. However, as the empirical work brings together people and an autonomously acting robotic object, which lacks anthropomorphic/zoomorphic or mechanoid morphology, in a real world scenario, it transfers these findings from cognitive psychology and computer graphic animation to the field of human-robot interaction.

A presente dissertação utiliza indicadores bibliométricos de patentes com a finalidade de levantar as características da produção tecnológica do biodiesel indexada na Derwent Innovations Index (DII) entre os anos de 1983 e 2015. Busca-se analisar os principais países produtores de inovação considerando as políticas de incentivo em pesquisa e desenvolvimento tecnológico adotadas nestas nações. Para tanto, dentre as características analisadas estão o volume da produção disponível na base, os escritórios de depósitos, os países dos depositantes, o tipo de depositante (pessoa física, jurídica ou misto) e as temáticas predominantes de acordo com a Classificação Internacional de Patentes (CIP). O uso de indicadores de patentes de biodiesel utilizados neste trabalho se justifica por revelar características únicas da produção tecnológica na área e provocar reflexões a respeito da configuração dos processos de inovação. O referencial teórico aborda os temas da produção e do uso de indicadores de Ciência Tecnologia e Inovação (CT&I), o sistema de patentes, as patentes como indicadores de CT&I e a tecnologia do biodiesel. A metodologia empregada é exploratória, descritiva, e conta com uma abordagem quantitativa dos dados. O corpus da pesquisa é composto de 3.070 patentes para o qual aponta-se duas fases do ciclo de vida tecnológico do biodiesel: a fase de emergência (1983 e 2002) e a fase de crescimento (2003 e 2015). Ao analisar os depósitos nestas duas fases foram identificados os cinco principais escritórios de depósitos (China, Organização Mundial de Propriedade Industrial, Estados Unidos, Japão, e Coreia do Sul), bem como as cinco principais nacionalidades dos depositantes de biodiesel (chinesa, americana, japonesa, alemã e sul coreana). Salienta-se nestes resultados o proeminente papel do continente asiático em relação à amplitude do seu mercado e à posse de tecnologia. Verifica-se ainda uma significativa tendência de depósitos de patentes por aplicantes de um mesmo país, observado em 95,15% das ocorrências. Apesar da pouca colaboração demonstrada, destacase os Estados Unidos como o país com mais depósitos em colaboração com outras nacionalidades. As relações estabelecidas entre escritório de depósito e nacionalidade dos depositantes demonstram as diferentes estratégias e tendências de proteção tecnológica estabelecida pelos seus aplicantes e os mercados que visam explorar. Percebe-se que a maior parte dos depósitos é realizada por pessoa jurídica, (63,09%), seguido por depósitos mistos (23,26%), e finalmente de pessoa física, com o menor percentual da pesquisa (13,65%). Constata-se um total de 70 assuntos indexadores das patentes de biodiesel de acordo com a CIP encontrada nos documentos. Destes, 12 estão presentes em 91,63% de todos os documentos recuperados, sendo a subclasse C10L, relacionada ao uso de aditivos em combustíveis, a mais utilizada. Por fim, são abordadas as patentes brasileiras bem como as depositadas no Brasil à luz das políticas públicas em CT&I no país, no qual salienta-se a parceria entre organizações para a garantia da continuidade das medidas de fomento da produção de conhecimento tecnológico. / The present dissertation uses bibliometric patents indicators with the purpose of identify the characteristics of the technological production of biodiesel indexed in the Derwent Innovations Index (DII) between the years 1983 and 2015. The aim is to analyze the main innovation producing countries considering the policies of incentive in research and technological development adopted in these nations. Therefore, among the characteristics analyzed are the volume of production available in the base, the deposit offices, the countries of the depositors, the type of depositor (individual, legal or mixed) and the predominant themes according to the International Patent Classification (IPC). The use of biodiesel patent indicators used in this work is justified by revealing unique characteristics of the technological production in the area and provoking reflections regarding the configuration of the innovation processes. The theoretical reference deals with the topics of production and use of indicators of Science Technology and Innovation (ST&I), the patent system, patents as ST&I indicators and biodiesel technology. The methodology is exploratory, descriptive, and has a quantitative approach to data. The corpus of the research is composed of 3,070 patents, which point to two phases of the technological life cycle of biodiesel: the emergency phase (1983 and 2002) and the growth phase (2003 and 2015). When analyzing the deposits in these two phases, were identified the five major deposit offices (China, World Intellectual Property Organization, United States, Japan, and South Korea), as well as the top five nationalities of biodiesel assignee (Chinese, Japanese, German and South Korean). These results highlight the prominent role of the Asian continent in relation to the breadth of its market and the possession of technology. There is also a significant trend of patent deposits by applicants from the same country, observed in 95.15% of occurrences. The United States stands out as the country with the most deposits in collaboration with other nationalities. The relationships established between depository office and depositors' nationality demonstrate the different strategies and trends of technology protection established by its applicants and the markets they seek to exploit. It can be seen that most of the deposits are made by legal entity (63.09%), followed by mixed deposits (23.26%), and finally by individuals, with the lowest percentage of the research (13.65%). In the documents were found 70 index subjects of the biodiesel patents according to the IP. Of these, 12 are present in 91.63% of all recovered documents, and the subclass C10L, related to the use of additives in fuels, are the most used. Finally, the Brazilian patents as well as those deposited in Brazil in the light of the public policies in ST&I in the country, which emphasizes the partnership between organizations to guarantee the continuity of measures to promote the production of technological knowledge.

Thesis. 1975. M.S.--Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Alfred P. Sloan School of Management. / Bibliography: leaf 51. / by Alan J. Berger. / M.S.

Accurate identification of small-molecule compound substrates and effectors, within specific tissues, represents a highly relevant yet equally elusive objective. Accomplishing this goal would have major implications on the assessment of compound efficacy and potential toxicity with significant impact on drug discovery and development. Computationally, there are no methods to elucidate a compound mechanisms of action (MoA) in cell-context-specific and genome-wide fashions. Experimental approaches are equally limited in that they are effective in identifying only specific drug substrate classes (e.g., high-affinity substrates of kinase inhibitors) rather than the full repertoire of proteins that effect compound activity in a specific tissue, including those that may cause undesired toxicity. They are costly, laborious, and the relevant mechanistic assays can only be performed in vitro. Here I introduce DeMAND, a novel algorithm for the regulatory network-based elucidation of compound Mechanisms of Action. The algorithm interrogates a context-specific regulatory network using at least six gene-expression profiles representative of in vitro or in vivo compound perturbation to identify compound dysregulated sub-networks as well as substrates and effector proteins. In experimental tests, the algorithm correctly identified proteins in the established MoA of over 90% of the tested compounds, including protein such as SIK1, a private effector of doxorubicin responsible for its cardiac toxicity, which is however not affected by less toxic topoisomerase inhibitors, such as camptothecin. Using gene expression profiles following perturbation of diffuse large B cell lymphoma cells with 14 and 92 compounds, respectively, at different concentrations and time points, I identified and validated several novel effector proteins. These include RPS3A (ribosomal protein S3A), VHL (von Hippel-Lindau tumor suppressor, E3 ubiquitin protein ligase), and CCNB1 (cyclin B1) as effectors of the mitotic spindle inhibitor vincristine, all of which significantly affected microtubule architecture and/or modulated vincristine activity when silenced, as well as JAK2 (Janus kinase 2) as a novel effector/modulator of mitomycin C, which desensitizes cells to mitomycin C treatment when silenced. Finally, I used DeMAND to evaluate compound similarity by comparing the proteins in their MoA. I tested the similarity of altretamine, a compound with currently unknown substrates, and sulfasalazine, which were predicted to have similar MoA and in particular to be inhibitors of the GPX4 (glutathione peroxidase 4) protein. Experimental validation confirmed this prediction as well as increase in lipid reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels, a recently established downstream effector of sulfasalazine. Critically, DeMAND suggests that regulatory networks reverse engineered de novo form large molecular profile datasets can provide novel mechanistic insight into drug activity, thus providing a significant novel contribution to our search for highly specific and non-toxic small-molecule inhibitors.

Microfabrication has given rise to numerous technologies and has resulted in new paradigms for how science and technology has advanced in recent years. Having originated from the microelectronics industry, microfabrication techniques have increasingly been leveraged in the development of various other fields. Such techniques have an increasing presence in the field of medical devices, especially with the advent of microfluidics. The capability that microfluidics lends to miniaturizing and making portable analytical tools was, and still is, extremely useful in the advancement of medical technologies. In this dissertation, we explore novel microfabrication techniques towards the development of next-generation medical devices. We can broadly classify these devices as devices that function in in vitro and in vivo settings. In vitro devices typically function in a non-invasive manner such as when patient samples are processed externally for diagnostic purposes. In vivo medical devices, on the other hand, normally play a role in disease treatment upon implantation into a patient, such as with stents, pacemakers and drug delivery devices. Here we demonstrate how microfabrication techniques can be implemented in the improvement of devices involved in diagnosis and treatment; two important branches of medical sciences that go hand in hand. Firstly, microfabrication and microfluidic techniques were implemented in developing a CD4+ T helper cell counter. This integrated device, where capture and analysis are performed on the same platform, also employs a chemiluminescence-based method of detection. This a rather simple and elegant technique that is amenable for miniaturization in future as it does not require the use of external complex light source (such as for fluorescence imaging) nor the use of image/data analysis methods. The second part of this dissertation describes novel microfabrication techniques for the development of a new class of implantable devices- hydrogel MEMS devices. This technique is comparable to additive manufacturing techniques such as 3D printing. Current 3D printing or fabrication techniques for biocompatible materials normally result in standalone structures. Using our technique, we are not only able to construct microcomponents entirely out of hydrogels but also have the capability to assemble and align various moving components to form a robust MEMS-like device. As these MEMS devices are constructed entirely out of biocompatible PEG-based hydrogels, they are ideal candidates for implantable devices. Once implanted, they can be wirelessly actuated using simple permanent magnets and the operation of the devices do not require onboard power-sources or electronics, which is common for current MEMS-based implantable devices. These devices can also be designed to deliver payloads and this delivery can be actively controlled. We also explore the use of hydrogel MEMS in the in vivo delivery of therapeutics, and assess its efficacy in delivering local, low-doses of a chemotherapeutic drug in a disease model. We envision that these devices, and the technology from which they are borne, will open up a new paradigm in the way implantable devices are developed.