Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, Technology and Policy Program, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 81-82). / Given the range of events that can occur at a nuclear power plant throughout its lifetime, the appropriate course of action associated with addressing these events is equally variant. While the issues concerning quantification of the frequency associated with these events can be addressed using reliability models or PSA, the actual path and decisions made concerning the appropriate outcome is not readily obvious. Decisions are made on the basis of importance of cost, health and safety to the decision maker. These decisions include external influences, such as regulation and media attention, as well as internal influences. Using a formalized decision making process, the importance of these factors to the decision maker can be determined utilizing sets of weights and values for cost, health and safety (performance measures). Having assigned weights and values to each performance measure, an integral part of the decision making process is comparing assigned values to ensure consistency. It is useful to examine the "value of a life" in order to perform these consistency or "sanity checks." A case study is performed on decision making for a nuclear power plant and presented reflecting the data collection process for formal decision making with the aid of consistency checks. The formal decision methodology is completed by the consistency checks. Having established consistency checks and completed the analysis through their use, the consistency checks may be applied toward standing policy. Specifically, the Reactor Oversight Process, developed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to establish a more transparent procedure for assessing licensee performance, is paralleled to a formal decision making process. A proposal for the use of consistency checks in this established / (cont.) policy is presented to promote a well-rounded and less subjective procedure. / by Juliet Leigh Outten. / S.M.

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, Technology and Policy Program, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 101-107). / The military aircraft industry is a cornerstone of national security and of the economic health of the United States. The Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program was sold as a solution to a host of needs, from advancing the capabilities of each Service, modernizing an aging fleet, countering sophisticated threats, enhancing inter-service cooperation, and implementing acquisition reform, all in a revolutionarily cost-effective way. Because of this tantalizing promise, the early JSF program was able to navigate through budgetary pressures while other aircraft programs were cancelled. This thesis argues that the JSF program is a manifestation of a collective action problem, wherein stakeholders, who should be providing a check on each other, are cooperating, even as the stakeholder who should be participating, remains uninvolved. Consequently, the acquisition policies brought in with the JSF program are not improving acquisition policy, but are exacerbating the inefficiencies to which the U.S military acquisition system has historically been prone. This analysis provides insight into how to improve the technology policies governing military aircraft acquisition, and the supply of aircraft to other nations. This analysis is geared for senior policy makers in both government and industry, as well as those who guard the public interest. / by Sean Hitchings. / S.M.

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, Technology and Policy Program, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 71-73). / Cars are one of the most recycled commercial products. Currently, approximately 75% of the total vehicle weight is recycled. The EU directives on End-of-life vehicles try to push the recycling process further: it fixed the percentage of recyclability (85%) and recoverability (95%) automotive companies have to reach for their new vehicles in 2015. Complying with these directives will imply a cost, which will be borne by one or several of the stakeholders of the automotive life cycle. This cost will not only depend on the type of the vehicle but also on where the vehicle will be recycled and which recycling processes will be used. The scope of this thesis is to study the recycling cost sensitivity to regional practices and to vehicle's type. A technical cost model has been developed to calculate the cost of applying the regulation. Based on the list of parts of a particular vehicle, this tool allows to determine which parts have to be removed to reach the recycling target and the cost associated with this removal. The model was run for a sample group of vehicles and for different regional inputs. The goal is to pinpoint the major recycling cost drivers and discuss how the total cost can be reduced. Finally, this work analyses the magnitude of exposure of a vehicle manufacturer in Europe. / by Delphine Dantec. / S.M.

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, Technology and Policy Program, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 287-293). / Malaysia has relied on private sector provision of toll roads for over twenty years using public- private partnerships (PPPs). While the program has been successful in providing close to 1,800 kilometers of highway in that time, it has several shortcomings that prevent it from better meeting societal needs. Lack of transparency, weak environmental protections, exclusion of public involvement, and higher tolls than necessary paid to politically-connected businesses are a few of the criticisms leveled at the Malaysian government's handling of the program. The CLIOS process is proposed as a method to improve the Malaysian toll road program. The CLIOS process as developed at MIT is designed to understand Complex, Large-scale, Integrated, Open, Socio-technical systems and to prepare robust strategies for meeting stakeholder goals for the system. Other researchers have used it for energy distribution, air combat command and control, and regional strategic transportation planning (RSTP). This last application provides a useful base for improving a toll road program but RSTP still requires significant adjustment before it can be applied to toll road PPP's. This thesis explores the application of the CLIOS process to Malaysia's toll road program. The application to a generic nation is explored first so more general results can be used for other nations. A specific program is then developed for Malaysia with the Kuala Lumpur Metropolitan Region as the focus for toll road deployment. The performance of two alternatives to handling the Malaysian toll road program is also explored to provide a well-rounded comparison to the CLIOS process. / (cont.) These alternatives are qualitatively compared using measures for technical, economic, environmental, political, and financial performance. Results show the CLIOS process producing the highest performance but the qualitative nature of the evaluation and limited Malaysian data introduce uncertainty into the results. / by John L. Ward. / S.M.

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, Technology and Policy Program, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 94-97). / This thesis uses an in-depth case study, with integrated data analysis, to compare and contrast globally distributed and co-located software teams within the IBM Corporation. Important differences in information sharing, collaboration and other behaviors were observed, along with a range of innovations in work operations. Technology and policy implications that draw on the benefits of each model are identified. The development of this thesis began with a seminar that was conducted at MIT to invite stakeholders in various areas of knowledge-based offshore outsourcing to discuss strategic, economic, organizational and technical issues raised in various environments. Large and small firms, various industries, and various business models were covered. The context provided by these stakeholders was used to design an in-depth case study at IBM, with the focus on a matched pair of software teams, which were studied for a period of one year. Both software teams were identical in aspects such as product scope, team size and domain; however, they differed in the key aspect that one team's members all work on the same hallway while the other team's members are geographically dispersed among multiple locations in the United States and India Quantitative technical data from the source control system of each team, the software problem report database, frequency and content of group emails, weekly meetings, and individual interviews were combined with qualitative data from stakeholder interviews to distinguish key benefits and challenges of each model. The quantitative measures gauged data such as frequency and methods of collaboration, social and technical networks, and differences in handling strategic and tactical decisions. / (cont.) The qualitative interviews discussed stakeholder perceptions of the quantitative data, and their motivations for decisions related to knowledge sharing. Key findings from the data include a number of observations about specific forms of knowledge sharing which differentiate the two teams. The distributed team used electronic mail as a forum for discussion which peaked around project deadlines, while the collocated team relied on e-mail as an announcement mechanism. Team meetings for the distributed team were much more tactical and task oriented in nature than meetings of the collocated team. With regard to the technical project itself, developers on the collocated team shared source code to a much greater extent, however status input to the software problem report database was much more interactive on the distributed team. This thesis is also important for pioneering highly precise indicators of team interactions based on the coding of archival data derived from e-mail, telephone, meeting and other interactions. The methods developed hold great promise for further studies of design teams, as well as a feedback tool that could be highly valuable for these teams. A number of emerging themes were found in the data analysis, which suggest that lessons from this study need not only apply to cases where geographic distribution is a factor. The teams consistently showed that the same technologies, processes and stages of the project lifecycle can be handled very differently based upon context. Also, social relationships and dominant individuals on a team can have an impact on technical productivity. / (cont.) Finally, the evidence in this case suggested that geographic structure need not define destiny, and in some cases geographic structure can be used as an asset. The data analysis points to preliminary technology policy implications at the individual, team, organization, and national levels. At the individual level, it is recommended that workers in distributed teams alter work hours to devote a few minutes after-hours to synchronous communication with team members in different time zones - something that happened more often among the members of the co-located team. On the other hand, in a collocated team, it is recommended that the team use software tools to discover technical expertise that is more formally recorded among the members of the distributed team. At the team level, specific added value gained unintentionally from one geographic structure - such as greater documentation of decisions on a distributed team - can be achieved in co-located teams. At the organizational level, this thesis provides methods for assessing an organization's tacit knowledge capital at a much more granular level than tabulating patents or licenses. A number of institutions such as corporate training and development departments, labor unions, professional associations and government education and training initiatives may be impacted by the changes to workforce training and work methods suggested by this thesis. / (cont.) At the national level, lessons from these teams demonstrate that the drivers for policy decisions related to offshore outsourcing need to be adapted in knowledge-based industries which have the potential for globally shared tasks, and export regulations dealing with intellectual property exchange in global software teams need to account for the daily trade of IP in geographically distributed teams. As the thesis focused on one in-depth case study, a significant effort is made to propose future research directions which can validate the proposals with broader data collection. / by Satwiksai Seshasai. / S.M.

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, Technology and Policy Program, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 120-124). / Network security ensures the consistency, integrity, and reliability of telecommunications systems. Authorized network access prevents fraudulent communications and maintains the availability of the systems. However, limited development time, cost reduction pressure and requirement for high reliability in software development have forced mobile carriers to implement the insufficient and inflexible authentication mechanisms. Technical specifications including network architecture, network protocols, and security algorithm are widely available to the public. In addition, both secured and unsecured networks are interconnected by global roaming services. The inadequate system design will make the mobile systems vulnerable to unauthorized access to mobile communications. Compared with GSM mobile systems, 3G mobile systems are equipped with more robust and flexible security mechanisms. The official position taken by mobile carriers, such as NTT DoCoMo, KDDI, and Vodafone, is that fraudulent communications, usually in the form of cloned mobile phones, are impossible with their 3G mobile systems. Examining the NTT DoCoMo's case, however, we find that this statement is based on weak security assumptions. / (cont.) In order to avoid potential threats and to secure the 3G mobile systems, this thesis (1) explores the security architecture and mechanisms in 3G systems, (2) analyzes the current platform architecture and platform innovations of the network software, and (3) suggests a secure system design and development. / by Yujiro Mochizuki. / S.M.

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, Technology and Policy Program, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 83-86). / Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC), an advanced coal-based power generation technology, may be an important technology to help India meet its future power needs. It has the potential to provide higher generating efficiency, can be adapted to efficiently burn India's high-ash coal, and has the potential to do so with greatly reduced emissions and offers the longer term potential to assist India to manage its C02 emissions. Efficient gasification technology also offers India the potential to produce a variety of fuels, particularly transportation fuels, and chemicals. These potential benefits would be useful in a country that has coal shortages, runs inefficient power plants, and imports the majority of its transportation fuels. Driven by these potential benefits the Central Government-owned power generating equipment manufacturing company (BHEL) is developing a fluid-bed gasifier designed for Indian coals, but has not yet demonstrated it at a size larger than 6 MW. Outside of BHEL, there are many factors holding this technology back. First, the technology is projected to be more expensive than pulverized coal (PC) power generation. In the Indian environment, the capital costs are estimated to be 1.5 times higher, and the levelized cost of electricity is estimated to be 33 % higher than for PC power generation. / (cont.) Further, there are other technology options, such as super-critical pulverized coal technology, which are cheaper, more proven, and can provide immediate higher generating efficiency. The first supercritical PC plant is currently being built in India. To overcome these barriers will take further research and development, as well as demonstration at a commercial scale. This all needs to occur at a greater speed and with a greater urgency than is now apparent. The demonstration and commercialization will require significant subsidies, which may come in different forms. The Central Government may wish to subsidize the technology development for the pollution control benefits that it offers and do so via its linkages to BHEL. Foreign governments and institutions may choose to subsidize the costs for the carbon dioxide reduction credits that it can produce. In the end, the challenges facing IGCC in India are great. The cost and generating efficiency will have to at least rival those for other advanced coal technologies, and coal production and mining policies will have to be effectively enacted to increase the supply of coal available for new coal plants. / by Lori Allison Simpson. / S.M.

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, Technology and Policy Program, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 41-45). / This thesis reports findings from a study of best practices for university-industry collaboration. The study involved over 70 interviews at 17 large technology companies with company managers and individuals having responsibility for the portfolio of industry sponsored projects at universities. A primary finding concerns the role of boundary agents in a company, i.e. individuals that facilitate knowledge transfer across organizational boundaries. Boundary agents are shown to have a strong positive influence on the value of a project and practices are thus described that foster boundary agent activity. For the cases studied, it is also found that longer term collaborations produce results that have more impact on the company and that geographic separation between university researchers and the company has little affect on project outcomes. Three different types of alignment have been found to affect project results and practices relevant to achieving each type are presented. External alignment, the mutual understanding between university researchers and the company of a project's goals and methods, is achieved primarily through regular meetings and selection of a university researcher with an appropriate background. / (cont.) Internal exploitative alignment, in which the impact of the university project is enhanced by complementing research and development within the company, is accomplished through activities, such as technical review panels, that explicitly link a project with these internal R&D activities. Internal exploratory alignment, the degree to which a project can produce valuable results not in the original research plan, is achieved by actions such as testing the project outcomes on company equipment; these can take place after the main phase of the project is completed. / by Edward Spencer Calder. / S.M.

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Technology and Policy Program, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 110-112). / by Prashant Soral. / M.S.

Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Technology and Policy Program, 2005. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (page 66). / The Kyoto Protocol introduced emission trading to help reduce the cost of compliances for the Annex B countries that have absolute caps. However, we need to expand the emission trading to cover developing countries in order to achieve the maximum benefits from both higher environment quality and lower abatement cost. In this sense, the emission trading scheme at a global level in the future needs to consider the inclusion of countries with intensity caps as well as with absolute caps, since many countries, including developing countries and the United States, are interested in intensity caps. In this thesis, we aim to address the issue of two different emission cap-setting methods, absolute and intensity caps, under international emission trading; How would the changes in BAU emission levels and GDP affect the market-clearing price, total cost, and costs for the affected countries? What would be the differences in the price and costs when a country with an intensity cap is the trading partner instead of one with an absolute cap? A two-country mathematical model is developed to answer these questions. The model analysis shows that there are complex interactions among the elasticities of price and costs in response to the changes in emissions and GDP of the affected countries. For the same emission size countries, the BAU condition changes of a country have greater impacts on the own cost changes than the changes of the trading partner do. For the different size emission countries, the relative size of emissions of the countries is the key factor to determine the total cost and its distribution to each country. The changes of the bigger emission country tend to dominate the trading system in terms of price and costs. Generally, we can conclude that selection of proper caps should be made considering the relative size of emissions and commitment levels of the affected countries, their marginal coefficients and own characteristics of correlation between GDP and emissions. / by Jaemin Song. / S.M.