Thesis: S.M. in Engineering and Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, System Design and Management Program, May, 2020 / Cataloged from the official version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (pages 77-87). / In September 2017, Puerto Rico, home to 3.2 million people, suffered catastrophic damages as category-5 Hurricanes Irma and Maria made direct landfalls on the Island. Their effects on people's health and safety were devastating and long-term. In the face of climate change, places like Puerto Rico are likely confronted with more frequent and more destructive natural disasters. The need to better prepare the Island for future disasters is immense and urgent. Combining primary and secondary research, this thesis applies a human-centered and system-minded design approach to identify and analyze the current strengths and gaps in the disaster response and recovery efforts in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria. I conducted interviews and participatory observations with individuals and organizations in the field, ranging from community-based organizations to aid agencies. This thesis reveals that although Hurricane Maria touched virtually all parts of the Island, the vulnerable populations were disproportionately affected. In response to the inefficiencies of local governments and federal agencies, citizens and community groups emerged to respond to the aftermath of Hurricane Maria. However, there is a clear gap in the current disaster management system in engaging and empowering citizens and communities to respond to the growing challenges of natural disasters. Based on these findings, this thesis lays out a set of design recommendations for leveraging disaster information and knowledge management systems to promote collaboration across key actors to enhance disaster resilience in Puerto Rico and other relevant contexts. / by Yiyuan Qin. / S.M. in Engineering and Management / S.M.inEngineeringandManagement Massachusetts Institute of Technology, System Design and Management Program

Thesis: S.M. in Engineering and Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, System Design and Management Program, May, 2020 / Cataloged from the official version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (pages 61-64). / The lifelong cost of mental health disorders to children, families, and society is substantial and far-reaching. Mental health conditions are also significant contributors to the global disease burden. To reduce this burden and improve well-being across the lifespan, a preventive approach to mental health focused on awareness and early intervention is necessary. Neural development begins soon after conception and rapidly continues for the first five years after the birth of a child. Preventive measures thus need to be taken even before birth. Better management of mental health during the perinatal and postpartum periods can improve child outcomes. This thesis analyzes the existing treatments and care delivery methods for maternal mental health conditions through systems and design thinking frameworks. The overall objective was to evaluate the efficacy of the mental healthcare system in the United States and to advocate for a patient-centric approach to care. The outcome of this study is a set of recommendations for innovators in the mental healthcare space. These are meant to serve as a guide to develop interventions that augment functionality with empathy. / by Ramaa Venkatachari. / S.M. in Engineering and Management / S.M.inEngineeringandManagement Massachusetts Institute of Technology, System Design and Management Program

Thesis: S.M. in Engineering and Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, System Design and Management Program, May, 2020 / Cataloged from the official version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (pages 74-77). / Current vehicle seat belts are not tested for performance with pregnant women and greatly ignore the damage that can be caused to an unborn baby. In fact, the automotive seat belt has undergone almost no change since it was first patented in 1958. The forces from the seat belt against an expectant mother's abdomen leads to the tearing of the placenta (known as placenta-abrupto) causing fetal demise. According to a study on Fetal Deaths Related to Maternal Injury, it was concluded that "motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of fetal deaths related to maternal trauma" (H. B. Weiss et al., 2001). This thesis analyses the invention of the car seatbelt and the evolution of its engineering, the data that some studies have provided in regards to pregnancy and the use of the automobile and the causes of injuries and death of the unborn babies due to the design of the safety measures. The outcome of this work is a compilation of data through interviews and surveys of pregnant women, doctors and specialists and a proposal for an updated design of the current seatbelt that is nowadays being used worldwide to minimize the risk of injuries during pregnancy. The analysis of the data is integrated in a proposal of improvement for the current design and future steps to be taken in order to enhance the material structure of the three-point seatbelt design. / by Helena Briones Panadero. / S.M. in Engineering and Management / S.M.inEngineeringandManagement Massachusetts Institute of Technology, System Design and Management Program

Thesis: S.M. in Engineering and Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, System Design and Management Program, May, 2020 / Cataloged from the official version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (pages 76-77). / Society's linear model of consumption - make, use, and throw - is not sustainable. Waste management systems have not been built to handle the production and consumption patterns of the modern age nor are they equipped to swallow the dramatic escalations and changes in product packaging. Single use packaging is an issue that resonates with customers and helps them understand the impacts of climate change, which creates an opportunity to engage with interested stakeholders and incite customer action that could lead to wider and longer-term behavioral and system changes that benefit the environment. This thesis leverages the human-centered design process to understand the context of and challenges with packaging today for a consumer technology company, uncover insights and form a specific research question, generate potential solutions, and gather user feedback on the potential solutions. This thesis presents findings from users on concepts to reduce the environmental impact of single use packaging and highlights themes in human behavior that could inform packaging design for sustainability. / by Sabira Lakhani. / S.M. in Engineering and Management / S.M.inEngineeringandManagement Massachusetts Institute of Technology, System Design and Management Program

Thesis: S.M. in Engineering and Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, System Design and Management Program, May, 2020 / Cataloged from the official version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (pages 48-53). / The retail environment in the United States has passed through several massive changes since the 1880's. From its beginnings, retail has connected buyers to suppliers; even today, that basic premise has not changed. This paper will walk through the various eras of retail highlighting innovations and trends that have carried forward to the present. It will analyze how retailers have survived or failed, and discuss the potential opportunities and disruptions currently occurring in the retail sector. We will discuss the effect of the world pandemic on businesses in the United States, asking questions such as: what gaps the pandemic has exposed in the industry and which retailers will be the ones to survive the pandemic. Finally, we will look at projections and trends for the next five to ten years in the future of retail. We will take a deep dive into new technologies, tools and business models that are helping retailers achieve growth and success. We will look at the winners and losers, the change in consumer buying behavior, and the types of disruptions, innovations and changes we expect in the future. The aim of this paper is to provide basic guidelines for retailers to plan for likely trends in the future; to showcase retailers that are successful and retailers that are failing; and to uncover new technologies, processes and tools used today to prepare for the rapid changes that will come in the future. / by Blanca Foncillas. / S.M. in Engineering and Management / S.M.inEngineeringandManagement Massachusetts Institute of Technology, System Design and Management Program

Thesis: S.M. in Engineering and Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, System Design and Management Program, September, 2020 / Cataloged from the official version of thesis. "September 2020." / Includes bibliographical references (pages 62-63). / It is estimated that 2.5 Quintillion bytes of data is produced everyday¹. Majority of this data originates from many business processes rapidly migrating to cloud solutions. Although this is an economic benefit to the organizations that are making this transition, many of the internal teams at the forefront of this change are ill-equipped to understand, analyze, and take advantage of these business insights; in other words there exists a deficiency in data-literacy. Our motivation was to explore the impact of this digital phenomenon on human productivity across 3 major fronts: traditional customer service channels, brand/crowd-generated instructional content, and peer networks. A user research survey was conducted to better understand the problem space, and an inference was made to address the issues surrounding data-literacy in the workplace. This concluded with a service framework, which was conceptualized to provide a starting point for organizations to begin this cultural shift, and empower their employees with the skills necessary to take full advantage of its vast data resource. / by Oladipupo J. Doherty. / S.M. in Engineering and Management / S.M.inEngineeringandManagement Massachusetts Institute of Technology, System Design and Management Program

Thesis: S.M. in Engineering and Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, System Design and Management Program, May, 2020 / Cataloged from the official version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (pages 65-68). / In the past few years, the Mental Health Crisis in Higher Education has captivated the nation. This may be due in part to high profile cases, shifts in cultural attitudes, or increased demand for treatment. Regardless of the cause, student mental health has now become an epidemic. At MIT, there are over 4,000 consultations, 200 wellbeing checks and 50-70 psychiatric hospitalizations annually. In order to combat this challenge, most institutions invest in services such as mental health counseling or emergency response teams. However, these services are primarily used for students who self-report symptoms or for extreme cases. Unfortunately, of the nearly 3 million college dropouts per year, more than 40% did not report their mental illness. While the institutions have promoted mental health awareness, many students, who suffer from mental illness, remain undiscovered. As a result, this thesis proposes an novel approach -- using artificial intelligence to identify those hidden students. By leveraging non-invasive data found within the institution, machine learning can predict at-risk students before any symptoms occur. By doing so, the institutions could prevent dropouts, leaves of absences and deaths due to mental illness. / by Ajay S. Rayasam. / S.M. in Engineering and Management / S.M.inEngineeringandManagement Massachusetts Institute of Technology, System Design and Management Program

Thesis: S.M. in Engineering and Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, System Design and Management Program, May, 2020 / Cataloged from the official version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (pages 59-62). / Commercial wearable activity trackers have sophisticated monitoring capabilities and digital user interfaces that report personal health metrics; however, these devices have not yet achieved their goal of dramatically improving the wellbeing and performance of users. This research identifies latent aspects of wearables that might improve wellbeing. A group of commercial wearable users are interviewed to determine unmet and latent needs. Qualitative interview data is leveraged to propose a case study of a flower robot as a figurative feedback interface that uses moving mechanisms to express the user's sleep quality and promote improved sleeping habits. The robotic flower user interface is divided into two components that are fabricated and tested separately: 1) a flower that blooms and 2) a stem that changes posture. The control system is fabricated, programmed, and tested to successfully retrieve the researcher's personal sleep data from a public API and actuate the stem and flower. The flower robot prototype is a proof of concept of a novel commercial activity tracking wearable interface. Further testing is required to determine if a robotic avatar can increase relevant task performance, change user behavior change, or improve health metrics. / by Christopher Noel Lloyd. / S.M. in Engineering and Management / S.M.inEngineeringandManagement Massachusetts Institute of Technology, System Design and Management Program

Thesis: S.M. in Engineering and Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, System Design and Management Program, May, 2020 / Cataloged from the official version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (pages 77-79). / Studies have shown that participating in creative hobbies is important for our physical and mental health. It has also been proven to boost our productivity and creativity at work. Yet, despite these benefits, we still have not seen the rise of a cultural movement similar to the exercising craze that has taken hold in the last two decades. Why are we not intentionally setting aside time to spend on our hobbies in the name of wellbeing and longevity? The answer is that creative hobbies are not "cool," and that is mainly because young urban professionals, the trendsetters of their communities, have not fully bought into them yet. The purpose of this thesis is to carve out a new space for a creative hobbies movement based on Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's concept of flow. Through both a human centered design and systems architecture approach, we look at the time allocation behavior of our target audience and determine how to best market this new space to them. We propose a set of design recommendations that are aimed at elevating creative hobbies and eventually bringing them into the cultural mainstream. Finally, we imagine the positive impact this could have on our society. Firstly, by offering more meaningful alternatives to today's most popular pastimes (watching TV and surfing the web) and secondly, by offering more equitable avenues to finding purpose. / by Sofia Blumencweig. / S.M. in Engineering and Management / S.M.inEngineeringandManagement Massachusetts Institute of Technology, System Design and Management Program

Thesis: S.M. in Engineering and Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, System Design and Management Program, May, 2020 / Cataloged from the official version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (pages 69-74). / It is never easy to start a company with a novel product, let alone building hardware that will be rigorously regulated by the United States Food and Drug Administrations (FDA). This thesis explores the difficulties faced by startups and proposes a step-by-step guide for the founders to navigate this challenge. The guide seeks information from the regulations database, and from interviews with stakeholders involved in medical product developments. First, the device requirements by the FDA and the device application process are presented in the style of a submission guide. The different costs to the startups are then discussed followed by guidelines to founders to steer their startup ship. The guideline focuses on 1) explaining the personas and challenges faced by the stakeholders in medical device development, 2) presenting the best practices in medical product development, 3) recommendations to adopt an electronic Quality Management System with software and tools and finally 4) pointers to useful resources those founders may have to spend months to collate. This thesis is a starting point for anyone thinking of creating medical devices regulated by the FDA, regardless of background and experience. / by Chinh Bui. / S.M. in Engineering and Management / S.M.inEngineeringandManagement Massachusetts Institute of Technology, System Design and Management Program