Thesis: M. Eng. in Logistics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2014. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. "June 2014." / Includes bibliographical references (pages 64-65). / Given the importance of operational inefficiencies and their negative impact on the bottom line in today's competitive economy, CVS/pharmacy is very interested in implementing operational improvement initiatives across its inbound supply chain to minimize the number of non-value-added activities. Undertaking such efforts requires collaboration amongst all trade partners and a systematic approach in measuring the important performance metrics. Currently there is not a single procedure that defines the necessary metrics and the analytical tools necessary for identifying improvement opportunities. Leveraging research from the manufacturing industry, specifically supplier certification and statistical process control, this thesis aims to develop a comprehensive methodology for analyzing, monitoring and improving the operational performance of the retail industry supply chain. In this thesis, through an innovative approach to perfect order performance measurement combined with the practical application of statistical analysis methods, a complete supplier evaluation process is established. Further, by utilizing statistical sampling and based on the evaluation results, an inspection plan is provided that allows for accurate monitoring of ongoing processes with a reduction in inspection efforts. Finally through introduction of statistical process control models and root cause analysis, a complete procedure is developed for continuous evaluation and improvement, leading to efficiency gains and cost savings across the entire inbound supply chain. / by Tyler Haley and Hossein Nasseri. / M. Eng. in Logistics

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references. / The impact of intellectual property rights on the production, diffusion and accumulation of scientific knowledge has been a central concern of public policymakers and economists in both public and private institutions, and scholars in management economics and sociology. In this dissertation, I examine the central patenting debates over the role of patenting the life sciences and address a set of interrelated questions: (1) the impact of strategic intellectual property policies of institutions on their cumulative knowledge dissemination, utilization and commercialization; (2) the unique attributes of life science innovations captured by patents generated under different institutional settings; and (3) the degree to which patenting activities impact the rate and trajectories of scientific knowledge accumulation under varying intellectual property conditions. I take as my research setting, the Human Genome Project (HGP) and our mapping of the entire human genome that emerged from the project (as defined in both scientific publications and patents). The HGP was a 13-year, $3.8 billion research effort funded and coordinated by the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Institute of Health, and one of the most significant life science research projects ever undertaken. / (cont.) To address the first question, I study the seven key genome centers in the HGP, which produced almost all the genome sequence output and provide an unusually matched and well-controlled natural experiment to examine the impact of different knowledge institutions on the subsequent diffusion of scientific knowledge. To explore the second question, I build on the data set of the population of 4270 gene patents to systematically quantify and analyze the important attributes of these gene-based innovations. Through the construction of a set of validated measures, I specifically characterize the variation in these innovations when made under public versus private institutional settings and compare them to the innovations across broad technology fields from previous studies. To answer the third question, I identify and construct a large-scale, novel data set of 1279 unique patent-paper pairs from the gene patents and apply econometric models to shed light on the degree to which patent grant in the life sciences impacts the rate of follow-on scientific research. I find that publications with matched patent pairs are associated with higher citations on the average. Since only an institutional policy allowing patents results in patents, such policy does not stifle cumulative knowledge dissemination and use. In addition, patents contribute to technological innovation, commercialization and start-up. / (cont.) Furthermore, I identified a growing convergence of public/academic and industry innovations in the life sciences especially in terms of their "basicness" and appropriability as characterized by the Pasteur's quadrant, and that variation in institutional setting is associated with differential innovation characteristics. I also find evidence of "technological trajectories", coherence and persistence across various attributes of life science innovations. However, I determine that gene patenting impedes temporal knowledge diffusion and use and decreases citations of paired publications once they are granted and become "visible" to the public, as predicted by the anti-commons effect. I also ascertain that patenting hinders knowledge diffusion and use to a greater degree on private sector authored publications than public ones and for U.S. authored than non-U.S. authored ones, and that corporate patenting has a more adverse impact than public institution patenting. As the first study of its kind to directly test the "patent thicket" conceptualization, I find direct statistical evidence of the adverse effect of "patent thickets" and that the patenting of disease and cancer genes negatively impacts knowledge dissemination and use by follow-on scientists and researchers. / by Kenneth Guang-Lih Huang. / Ph.D.

Thesis (S.M. in Engineering and Management)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, System Design and Management Program, February 2011. / "November 2010." Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 57-58). / This thesis focuses on the use of non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) during the time of the 2009 HINI pandemic and its possible relation to RO and R(t). RO is defined as the mean number of people that a newly infected person will subsequently infect in a completely susceptible population whereas R(t) is the average number of new infections by an infectious individual at time t. RO is important for understanding the severity of an influenza outbreak while R(t) is a necessary tool to measure the progression of infection rate over time. A high RO value (more than 2) generally corresponds to a more serious outbreak. This thesis discusses a town in Mexico named La Gloria, which is thought to be the place where the HINI pandemic started, and the subsequent implementation of NPIs in Mexico City as the virus spread and people became aware of its novelty. An evaluation of Mexico's response to HlNl suggests that the emphasis on the use of NPIs may have related to a decreasing RO value. Further investigation of this relationship using news articles and Google Insights also shows interesting potential correlations. In short my thesis focuses on the possible relationship between ROs and NPIs in a pandemic setting. / by Sahar Hashmi. / S.M.in Engineering and Management

Thesis (S.M. in Engineering and Management)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2010. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references. / Boston, specifically Kendall Square, has a high concentration of technology startups. This concentration provides the opportunity to study the connection between the founding conditions and the outcome of the entrepreneurial effort in a relatively controlled environment. Through case studies including deep research and founder interviews we explore the role of people and places in the founding of four Cambridge technology start-ups. The findings indicate maturity of ideation, team size, experience - in startups in general and in the specific sector, understanding of the local entrepreneurial ecosystem, passion for the mission and ability to communicate are key factors in the success of a startup. Connectors - people and places - are best engaged to assist in completing a founding team who have a defined focus and to provide investor leads to a founding team post-ideation, but founders with the ability to make first-degree connections may be more successful than those who use connectors. / by Carrie L. Stalder. / S.M.in Engineering and Management

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2013. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 44-45). / The research presented in this thesis examines the technical benefits to using a collaborative network of Autonomous Undersea Vehicles (AUVs) in place of individual vehicles. Benefits could be achieved in the areas of reduced power consumption, improved positional information and improved acoustic communication bandwidth. However, current culture of AUV development may impede this approach. The thesis uses the Object Process Methodology (OPM) and principles of System Architecture to trace the value of an AUV system from the scientist who benefits from the data to the vehicle itself. Sections 3 and 4 outline the needs for an AUV system as they currently exist and describe the key physics-based limitations of operations. Section 5 takes a broader look at the system goal as data delivery, not just the deployment of a vehicle, and introduces the concept of networked AUV. Section 6 describes a potential evolution of networked AUVs in increasing autonomy and collaboration. Finally, Section 7 examines AUV development cultures that could impede, or foster, networked vehicles. / by Patrick L. Wineman. / S.M.

Thesis (M. Eng. in Logistics)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2007. / "June 2007." / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 65-69). / Understanding business needs arising out of both, external and internal environments, is an essential first step in determining the value of logistics in a large pharmaceutical firm. In this research, we have used a variety of conceptual models and frameworks to explore and understand the pharmaceutical business environment and its present & future business needs. Specifically, two questions anchored the research: What will be the impact of drug technologies on logistics activities? And, should logistics activities be outsourced? Drug technology contributes significantly to a pharmaceutical firm's revenue, but marketing also play an important role in a drug's success by influencing doctors' decisions in favor of the firm's drugs. Since it is difficult to ascertain the true value of a pharmaceutical drug, perception of service plays a critical role in conveying the positive attributes of the drugs to the potential consumers. In this context, this thesis investigates if logistics & supply chain strategy should be aligned with marketing and drug technology strategies to maximize pharmaceutical firm's competitive advantage. / (cont.) To this end, we investigated the impact of dominant drug technologies on the logistics function in the pharmaceutical industry as technology drives revenue growth in the industry. It was found that business & competitive needs lead firms to develop new drugs using different types of innovative drug technologies. Indeed, the requirements of different drug technologies are different and impact business decisions related to procurement, inventory, transportation, and facility network design in different ways. Therefore, by ignoring the impact of chosen technology on supply chain design, a firm will find itself in a difficult position. Thus, we strongly believe that supply chains play an important role in extracting the maximum value out of its huge investment in drug development and marketing. Therefore, outsourcing of logistics activities should be done only after analyzing how different drug technology categories will affect operational metric requirements of logistics activities and if logistics activities can protect the economic profits. / by Prasoon Tiwari. / M.Eng.in Logistics

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Biological Engineering Division, 2007. / MIT Institute Archives copy: DVD inserted in pocket on p. [3] of cover on v. 1. / "c2007"--p. ii. / Includes bibliographical references (v. 2, leaves 292-302). / A grand challenge of systems biology is to model the cell. The cell is an integrated network of cellular functions. Each cellular function, such as immune response, cell division, metabolism or apoptosis, is defined by an interconnected ensemble of biological pathways. Modeling the cell or even one cellular function requires a computational architecture that integrates multiple biological pathway models in a scalable manner while ensuring minimal effort to maintain the resulting integrated model. Scalable is defined as the ease in which more and more biological pathway models can be integrated. Current architectures for integrating biological pathway models are primarily monolithic and involve combining each biological pathway model's software source code to build one large monolithic model that executes on a single computer. Such architectures are not scalable for modeling complex cellular functions or the whole cell. We present Cytosolve, a new computational architecture that integrates a distributed ensemble of biological pathway models and computes solutions in a parallel manner while offering ease of maintenance of the integrated model. The individual biological pathway models can be represented in SBML, CellML or in any number of formats. The EGFR model of Kholodenko with known solutions is used to compare the Cytosolve solution and computational times with a known monolithic approach. A new integrative model of the interferon (IFN) response to virus infection is developed using Cytosolve. Each model within the integrated model, spans different time scales, is created by different authors from four countries and three continents across different disciplines, is written in different software codes, and is built on different hardware platforms. / (cont.) A new quantitative methodology and formalism is then derived for evaluating different types of monolithic and distributed architectures for integrating biological pathway models. As more biological pathway models develop in a disparate and decentralized manner, the Cytosolve architecture offers a unique platform to build and test complex models of cellular function, and eventually the whole cell. / by V.A. Shiva Ayyadurai. / Ph.D.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Biological Engineering Division, 2005. / "June 2005." / Includes bibliographical references. / Micro- and nanofabrication approaches have dramatically changed our society through their use in microelectronics and telecommunication industries. These engineering tools are also useful for many biological applications ranging from drug delivery to DNA sequencing, since they can be used to fabricate small features at a low cost and in a reproducible manner. The goal of this thesis was to develop techniques based on the merger of novel materials and nano and microfabrication approaches to manipulate cell microenvironment in culture. To control cell migration and to restrict cell or colony size, cells and proteins were patterned by using molding or printing methods. Poly(ethylene glycol)-based molecules and polysaccharides were used to control cell-substrate interactions and to prevent cell adhesion on specific regions of a substrate. To control cell-cell contact, layer-by-layer deposition of ionic biopolymers (i.e. negatively charged hyaluronic acid and positively charged poly-L-lysine) was used to generate patterned co-cultures. In addition, to control cell-soluble factor interactions, microfluidic-based approaches were developed. To pattern cells and proteins within microchannels, a soft lithographic method was developed to pattern microchannel substrates using printing and molding approaches. / (cont.) To easily immobilize cells within channels, poly(ethylene glycol) microstructures were used to capture cells within low shear stress regions. These techniques also allowed for the fabrication of multiphenotype cell arrays. In addition, techniques were developed to control the interaction of cells within hydrogels by controlling the spatial properties of hydrogels. / by Ali Khademhosseini. / Ph.D.

Thesis (M. Eng.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Biological Engineering Division, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 51-53). / Neurodegenerative diseases typically affect a limited number of specific neuronal subtypes, and the death of these neurons causes permanent loss of a specific motor function. Efforts to restore function would require regenerating the affected cells, but progress is limited by a narrow understanding of the mechanisms that underlie the generation of these neurons from their progenitor cells. In order to prevent neuronal degeneration and potentially repair or regenerate the damaged motor output circuitry, it will be necessary to understand the molecular and genetic factors that control, direct, and enhance differentiation, axonal projection and connectivity. While techniques are available to separate specific populations of neurons once they are fully-differentiated, current methods make it nearly impossible to monitor or control the development of a neural precursor in standard open culture. To carry out directed differentiation experiments effectively, it will be critical to control how signals are introduced to the cells. In this study, we present a microfluidic system to address the limitations of previous research. / (cont.) The device is capable of generating a controlled gradient of chemoattractant or growth factor of interest and directing axonal growth through an extra-cellular matrix material. Once the cells have grown into the device, signals and gradients can be applied directly to either the cell bodies or the axons. This device will serve as a platform technology for future experimentation with biomaterial scaffolds for neural tissue engineering, drug design or testing, and eventually directed differentiation of neural precursor cells. / by Johanna Varner. / M.Eng.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2013. / This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections. / Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 152-164). / This thesis considers behavior change strategies to increase CT residential energy efficiency uptake in the context of an action research pilot. Action research includes experimental pilot deployment within a realworld system, continuously analyzing customers participating in their daily lives. The approach allows for simultaneous planning, execution, and evaluation, as well as concurrent development of major program changes, real-time solutions, and innovative responses. The Connecticut Neighbor to Neighbor Energy Challenge (N2N), in which my research was conducted, was designed to determine the minimum conditions necessary to administer cost-effective community and behavior-based energy efficiency programs. Customers in 14 small towns complete energy savings actions, such as efficient lighting, weatherization, and upgrades, like insulation, appliance upgrades, advanced air sealing, and renewable energy installations. N2N meets customers where they are already going (e.g., in the field) by partnering with local community groups, town governments, low income and senior organizations, faith communities, education facilities, and business organizations, and using social and earned media channels. I describe the N2N opportunity; program design, execution, and evaluation; primary behavioral research, especially the DOE Home Energy Score behavioral economics experiment; and the post-grant transition process. Four main pilot implementation components were used, including: lead generation using behavioral marketing, research, and outreach approaches; a technology platform closely tracking the customer; a continuous process of evaluation; and frequently published results dashboards. The research discovered gaps in program performance that will hinder meeting CT's long-term energy, efficiency, and carbon reduction goals. N2N is also finding evidence of increasing rates of upgrade uptake, where word of mouth and self-herding (e.g., where people follow past behavior) leads to action for others, as well as additional actions in individual households, respectively. The research finds two main recommendations for CT energy efficiency programs: 1) Continue to fund fast-paced, testing grounds for efficiency programs outside of current regulatory constraints to: inform program design and policy decisions, as well as direct market innovation, and 2) Use social and behavioral approaches to encourage viral spreading of efficiency uptake. / by Kat A. Donnelly. / Ph.D.